As previously referenced on this blog, but now with pictures.
I can watch bald eagles fish from my kitchen window. Two days ago, I got within about 40 feet of one roosting in a tree. I will be the bigger person here and not gloat.
Tags: eagle2 Comments
Co-Optimus, a site dedicated to coop gaming, just ran a submission by me on couples gaming. Check it out here!
It’s a great site and resource for all things coop. They organize coop events and have an amazing database of information on coop games so you can figure out if a game has the features you’re looking for.
Tags: co-optiums · coop · gamingNo Comments.
I’ll update this later on with some descriptions, but for now, enjoy some photos!
Update: Okay, so I promised an update. Below are some pics of what has been going on over the last week. I was getting them thrown up quickly as we had a friend’s Christmas party to go to and I wanted to show some of these things off. Below each picture is now a description of what you are seeing.
This is a set of double entry doors we picked up at ReStore, the Habitat for Humanity store in Kansas City, which rocks! I hadn’t been there before, but the place is simply amazing. It has new and reclaimed stuff for houses: sinks, windows, doors, tubs, trim, flooring, lumber, etc. It is officially like crack for the DIY remodeler. The prices are amazing. We picked up these doors, about 90 square foot of brand new hard wood floors (to finish one room), some plumbing supplies and a new exterior light for about $220.
Here is the hardware on the door, it was still wrapped up in plastic, so it’s not a great pic. I’ll get some pics of the hinges later on too, they’re huge!
I think we will actually use these in our bedroom for the master closet. They will fit almost perfectly and be a real feature in the room. They are just under five foot wide and just over seven foot tall.
This is a window that our friend Don picked up at an auction a long time ago and it’s just been taking up space, so he deeded it over to us. It’s about 4 foot by 4 foot. I believe we will replace with the existing bathroom window with this behemoth and have a ton of light.
The tub. Another wonderful pickup by Don at auction. It’s a Kohler, extra wide, oval tub. The thing is huge for a five foot long tub. And looks super comfy. Hopefully we’ll have it installed within the next couple of weeks.
Finally, this is the shot looking from the littletheorist’s bedroom at the back of the house all the way to the front wall in the master bedroom. We gutted everything on this third of the house to move a wall, re-do the plumbing and re-insulate the walls. I’ve been trying to get some good interior shots, but it’s hard to tell what’s going on when there are only studs.
It felt really good to buy some stuff to actually go in the house. After weeks of destruction, the prospect of putting things back together feels really good.
Tags: house · remodel2 Comments
My friend Don has been helping out at the house tons. Framing new walls, adding in some joist supports in the cellar, planning out the plumbing, and more to come, I’m sure. I can’t express my appreciation of all his time and work enough. But I thought I could send some traffic his way. Beyond being an awesome friend, he also creates some amazing pieces of art through bodycasting. The ladytheorist commissioned the piece above as a gift for me when I finally graduated. Go check out some of the work he has at KC Bodycasting. Be aware that some of the galleries would probably be considered NSFW as they do contain works of art depicting the naked body.
Tags: art · don · house · kc bodycasting · kcbodycasting.comNo Comments.
Another week, and more surprises. The dismantling continues, though we are very nearly down as far as we need to go. Some re-building has begun. We’ve got the new master closet and bathroom framed in. My friend Don and I also planned out the plumbing for the new bathroom this weekend. Hopefully by next weekend, we’ll start putting the bathrooms together and at least have in-door plumbing again.
Anyway, first on the surprise list: Rocks! The east rooms of the house were added on at some point, and they just hung sheetrock on top of the old exterior siding. To properly redo the electrical, we tore the siding out this weekend and discovered that at the bottom of the wall, between the studs, were rocks, fair-sized limestone rocks. Does anyone have any clue as to why this would be? I haven’t been able to come up with any credible ideas. I thought maybe some kind of early vermin control, but that doesn’t seem to have worked.
Next surprise: a hidden room (kind of)!
We tore out the floor in the old utility room due to a fair amount of water damage on the floor. The water heater had a small leak that looked to have gone unnoticed for quite some time. I was tearing out the floor at night, with just some flood work lights, and so didn’t notice this at first. The shadows covered it up when I only had two floorboards out. I’m relatively lucky I didn’t drop a leg down into it. Below the floor is what appears to be an old water cistern, for gathering and storing water when the house was built. The chamber appears to be about six to seven feet across and about five feet deep. I could get through the hole if I really wanted to, but it would be tight. If the entire thing was a bit bigger, I would totally build a trapdoor on top of it and have the hidden room I’ve always wanted. But, as it is, I don’t think that is very feasible.
In hindsight, I also think this heavily contributed to the rot in the floor. We covered the hole up for an afternoon so no one would drop through it. When I picked up the board later, I discovered a ton of water condensation on it. I’m going to need to figure out some way to effectively seal the hole to stop that.
Tags: cistern · house · remodel · rocks · surprise3 Comments
This is a bit dated, as the ProStore features I’m discussing were released in the spring, but I was late picking up on them. My previous disappointment in some ProStores features hadn’t led me to be a quick adopter on some of their changes. I was also delayed further by activating the two features below as they required a complete product description re-design for me. ProStores is a website host specializing in retail stores. It is owned by eBay.
With ProStore’s 9.0 update earlier this year allowing truly synced inventory between eBay and a ProStore’s retail website, the potential of the host is finally meeting reality. We’ve used ProStores to host our retail website CKC Computers (www.ckccomp.com) for a little over two years. For those who don’t know, we deal exclusively in laptop parts and accessories, mostly Dell, Toshiba and IBM/Lenovo (though we occasionally have parts for Acer and Compaq models too). I’ve questioned the logic many times of using a company owned by eBay to host my site, thinking that branching further out and escaping the eBay umbrella for more of our business would be a good idea. I originally chose ProStores because of the promise of sharing data between my website and eBay, but have never been impressed with the features available. Until now.
Tags: business · ckc computers · ckccomp · eBay · ProStoresNo Comments.
These two ads hang in the men’s restroom of one of my favorite pizza places, George’s Pizza in Lenexa, KS. The man in the first one seems to have an unhealthy interest in the boy’s excitement. I get a “purity vs corruption” vibe from it. The look on the kittens’ faces make me wonder what might be tied to the track just outside of what we can see. Some poor mouse, struggling to escape before being crushed by the toy train.
The owner of the restaurant really likes toy trains, there is a track suspended above the dining area with a train circling all the time. But I really do wonder why anyone would want to hang these two pieces anywhere, let alone a restroom.
Tags: 2 Comments
It’s like discovering that while you were staring out of the coffee shop window, some stranger had wandered by and taken a bite out of your croissant and sipped some of your coffee. As though you had looked out your front window after a heavy snow storm, to watch the world glisten in white, only to see that some stray dog has taken a big steaming yellow piss in the middle of your yard, ruining that rare moment. You know the one, before the cars are out. Before the lights and neighbors have been turned on. When the world is still, and dead, and all it wants is for you to appreciate it.
It’s like the first time you discover that there is another person in the world with your name. And you lose just a little bit of what makes you special.
As a child, when you discover something new, sometimes you think you must be the only person in the world who has ever noticed this wondrous thing. Found that clearing in the woods. Discovered the hiding hole under the loose floorboard. Braved the broken glass to explore the abandoned warehouse. Surely no other spirit had tread these waters before, as you would know. You would intuitively sense the ghosts of explorers past and wordlessly commune with them.
The first time you enter a new girl’s bedroom, that sense of crossing a threshold into some strange, but wonderful, territory. The quickened beating of your heart.
This must be like how the bears felt, to discover some interloper had trespassed on that which was theirs. Sullied. Used. Dirty.
It just never occurred to me to check. Or maybe I just didn’t want to know. The mind shies from asking certain questions. I suppose it’s the same reason that you don’t wonder why no one else is dating that cute girl you just met. Surely, she was just waiting for you. You don’t want to ponder the implications of where she might have been or what might have been done to her.
In this day and age, I suppose it’s hard to find one that hasn’t been with someone else. Why couldn’t it have been a shoestring salesman? Or a theoretical physicist? I could have handled that, even been intrigued.
I thought…I thought we had something special. And then I discovered this:
My website used to be with someone else. Self-described “avant-garde” writers. They wrote about dead girls and argued politics by quoting Bob Dylan. They wrote Jazz music reviews. Maybe I’m just jealous, as at least one has gone on to become a full-fledged novelist.
My website used to be with other people. Other writers even. I should have asked, so I wouldn’t have to discover it this way. Would I have been happier had I never known?
Don’t worry website. I think I can forgive you. Someday.
They were avant-garde. And now they are gone.
Tags: archive.org · meta · shoestring theory · shoestringtheory · wayback machine1 Comment
I’ve been trying to get some better photos of the landscape around the house. I didn’t think the one I put up the other day did the view justice.
Since this spring, I’ve received several coupons from eBay, ranging from $5 off shipping up to 10 percent off one purchase (up to $100 off). I think I’ve received a total of 6 coupons, give or take one. I’ve had problems getting two of them two work, both of them were 10 percent off ones.
I have no idea if my two experiences are wide spread or fairly isolated. If anyone else has had experience using eBay coupons, let me know in the comments section
The problem here is eBay’s advertising versus its implementation of coupons. eBay issues coupons through email, mailers and advertisements on the site. But, PayPal actually redeems the coupons. The coupons are not tied to your eBay account, they are tied to your PayPal account. In the case of my first problem using one, a coupon was sent to both of my eBay accounts. However, because both accounts are tied to the same PayPal account, only one of the codes was technically valid. At the time, the language included with the coupon certainly did not reflect this and eBay still hasn’t clarified the language in the newest batch of coupons. Here is the full text of the coupon I saw this week (actual code omitted):
10% off*—save up to $100
Please note:
Make sure the email address on your eBay account is also on your PayPal account.
Find out how.Who’s eligible?
Only invited, registered eBay users who receive the coupon by email from us or see the coupon in My eBay are eligible. Sorry, no forwarding—the coupon is not transferable See terms and conditions below.Here’s how to redeem this offer:
1. Start shopping on eBay. Be sure the seller accepts PayPal.
2. Pay for your item with PayPal before the expiration date (October 30, 2008). Make sure the email address on your eBay account is also on your PayPal account. Find out how.)
3. Enter the redemption code: ********
*Terms and Conditions:
The offer will expire at 11:59:59 PM PT on October 30, 2008. Receive 10% off (maximum discount of $100) the purchase price (excluding shipping, handling, and taxes) of a single item on eBay.com. Recipients of the coupon must be registered eBay members and pay for the item with PayPal.The coupon is non-transferable, void where prohibited, not redeemable for cash, for one-time use only, and has no face value. The coupon is subject to U.S. laws and cannot be combined with any other coupon. eBay reserves the right to cancel, amend, or revoke the coupon at any time. Use of automated devices or programs to redeem the coupon is prohibited.
Purchases made through any customized checkout system and/or eBay Live Auctions are excluded.
You’ll note that while it notes multiple times that you must pay with PayPal and that the email address must match, it does not state that the coupon is only valid once per PayPal account. It’s not uncommon for eBay users to have multiple accounts and eBay knows this.
Earlier this week, I signed into my personal eBay account and an ad popped up on the main page advertising the above coupon and linking to the page with the full details. I didn’t need the coupon that day, but saved it, knowing I had a couple of days to use it. Today, I bought an item, went to use the code, and it came back as invalid. Grrrr. In this case, it appears that the advert shouldn’t have popped up for me at all. The coupons were sent to a random batch of customers, of whom I was not one, but for some reason the ad for it popped up on my account, even though I wasn’t eligible to use it.
If you have a problem, the natural inclination is to call eBay, who issued the coupon, at which time you will learn that the customer service reps, while friendly and sympathetic, actually have no power to assist you. In both cases, the eBay reps had to transfer me to PayPal, where I got to tell my story again. Also in both cases, the PayPal rep said the coupon couldn’t be activated for me, but that they would credit back the 10 percent to my account after I paid for the item.
I greatly appreciate the fact that the customer service reps for both eBay and PayPal were friendly and did all within their power to help me. I also appreciate the coupons eBay is sending out. But, if coupons are to be a long term part of the eBay experience, they need to get the process functioning flawlessly. In both of the problems I had, I bought items valued at about $300 solely because I had a coupon. Because you can’t test a coupon until after you’ve commited to buy something, you’re on the hook if the coupon fails for any reason, even one out of your control. eBay is very clear about this on their coupon help page:
If you buy or win an item, you’re required to purchase it even if you can’t use the coupon you intended for that purchase. If that’s not possible, you can contact the seller by clicking the seller’s user ID on the item page.
These issues with coupons are very close to being a “bait and switch” kind of problem because of the structure of eBay’s business. I bought something because eBay advertised a particular price on the item by offering me a coupon. Then, once I had already committed to buy the item, I learned I had to pay a higher price. If I could have easily backed out of today’s purchase after discovering the coupon wouldn’t work, I would have. But to do that, I would have had to contact the seller and ask them to cancel the sale, always an iffy situation.
I want eBay to continue this program, but only if they can get their implementation in line with their advertising. I’ll be very leery to use any more coupons and will be tempted to call support to verify eligibility prior to big purchases in the future.