it's hard to kiss the lips that chewed your ass all day long

a funny youtube post sent by one of my former coworkers. i'm not a real country western fan, but this song just cracks me up. kind of reminds me of my first (practice) wife. i'm damned lucky these days, because i married a keeper. finally.

The Notorious Cherrybombs

calling all StarWars fans

need a little humor today? are you like me, a die-hard StarWars fan? check out Chad Vader, Dayshift Manager

today's email joke, an oldie but goodie

given my profession, i've liked this joke since first hearing it. a loooooong time ago.

A stranger was seated next to a woman on the airplane when
the stranger turned to her and said, "Let's talk. I've heard that
flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow
passenger. " The woman, who had just opened her book, closed it
slowly and said to the stranger, "What would you like to talk
about?" "Oh, I don't know", said the stranger. "How about nuclear
power?" "OK". she said. "That could be an interesting topic. But let
me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat
grass, the same stuff. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a
cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried
grass. Why do you suppose that is?"

The stranger thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea." to
which the woman replies,

"Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you
don't know shit?"

hockey humor. hell, just humor

two videos to pass on. both are funny as hell.
first, i finally learned where the term hoser comes from while watching this video. one of the cleverest sports videos i've seen ever. Clark: The Canadian Hockey Goalie

and in what makes more sense than i ever imagined, how about Pulp Fiction Hockey. hey, Samuel L. Jackson as a coach. who knew?

Random Photos: Reloading Bench

bench loaded
Originally uploaded by bothenook.

another in the random photo series. this is the reloading bench i built last year using maple locker room benches. the blog entry is in the comment section for the flickr group this photo is in.

patio project phase 2 98% complete

phase2 posing
Originally uploaded by bothenook.

here's the 8 1/2 foot bbq deck. i'm sweeping in the fine grit setting sand to lock the pavers into place.
next, level all the dirt around the two decks, build a cover for the large deck, and pour cement walkways.
but that's all for phase 3.


for a look at the phase two flickr photoset, follow this link

Where are the grown-ups? Peggy Noonan

One of the things i look forward to on Friday is the Peggy Noonan column in the online Wall Street Journal Opinion site. you will find a link to the site over in the news and opinion section of my bloglinks.
today's column is as good as always, delving into the responses to the Virginia Tech horror. check out the whole article at this link. i am not sure how they archive these articles, so i'll just give you a taste of one paragraph.

The anxiety of our politicians that there may be an issue that goes unexploited was almost--almost--comic. They mean to seem sensitive, and yet wind up only stroking their supporters. I believe Rep. Jim Moran was first out of the gate with the charge that what Cho did was President Bush's fault. I believe Sen. Barack Obama was second, equating the literal killing of humans with verbal coarseness. Wednesday there was Sen. Barbara Boxer equating the violence of the shootings with the "global warming challenge" and "today's Supreme Court decision" upholding a ban on partial-birth abortion.

One watches all of this and wonders: Where are the grown-ups?

geezer rock!

check out this video. not only is it pretty good music, but the folks singing are all certified geezers!
go to youtube and read the poster's writeup. amazing.


ah, to hell with it. here's the entry in it's entirety

www.myspace.com/thezimmersband
The oldest and greatest rock band in the world - meet The Zimmers and their amazing cover of The Who's "My Generation".
Lead singer Alf is 90 - it's quite something when he sings "I hope I die before I get old". And he's not the oldest - there are 99 and 100-year-olds in the band!
The Zimmers will feature in a BBC TV documentary being aired in May 2007. Documentary-maker Tim Samuels has been all over Britain recruiting isolated and lonely old people - those who can't leave their flats or who are stuck in rubbish care homes.
The finale of the show is this group of lonely old people coming together to stick it back to the society that's cast them aside - by forming a rock troupe and trying to storm into the pop charts.
Some massive names from the pop world have thrown their weight behind The Zimmers... The song is produced by Mike Hedges (U2, Dido, Cure), the video shot by Geoff Wonfor (Band Aid, Beatles Anthology), and it was recorded in the legendary Beatles studio 2 at Abbey Road.
Look out for the single being released from May 21 - with proceeds going to a good cause.
And check out more photos and info at:

www.myspace.com/thezimmersband

Random photos

another in a continuing series of random photos i've taken.
click for other size options. recommend you look at this one in the original size. spectacular scenery.

Cat Blog (day before) Friday

petmenow
Originally uploaded by bothenook.

good ol' spooky cat. she's been really really attentive since sheba-kitty wandered off to kitty heaven last month.
here she is letting me know in no uncertain terms that it's time to get a little loving in. as a matter of fact, she's letting me know that there are really bad places to get clawed if i fail to perform. i complied. i am not a slow learner.

pulsing a TRIGA

here's a shorter version of a video i posted a while ago. i converted this segment to a WMV and put it on youtube.
just another day at the office!


you can hear me in the background laughing at the poor dude standing next to me who jumped about 2 feet when we fired the transient rod out. the rest of my conversation was "That is so cool. It's no wonder why i like my job."

edit for you navy nuke types out there, a brief explanation of what $1.60 means. $1.00 of reactivity is B(bar)eff, or at $1.00 of reactivity, the reactor is exactly prompt critical. so we instantaneously add 1.6 the amount of reactivity to take the reactor prompt critical. cool thing about trigas. they were designed to be operated by a bunch of college undergrads at midnight sunday night after a long weekend of partying and cramming for finals. almost bullet proof

cloud flyer

cloud flyer
Originally uploaded by bothenook.

thought i'd occasionally post a "Picture of the Day" from my flickr sets.
today's picture: Cloud Flier. This was taken as we were exiting the Tracy Arm Fjord in Alaska a couple of years ago.
click picture for other size options. check it out in large or original. cool shot, and i was glad i had my camera out.

browning buckmark 7 1/4" contour lite

browning buckmark 7 1/4" contour lite
Originally uploaded by bothenook.

bad shakes day at the range. first it looked like i was shooting a shotgun with the 9mm. then i got out the 22. the left target is 15 yards off hand. it was not the first target. nobody but me will ever see THAT one. after a couple of magazines full of rounds, i finally got my shakes settled in, and shot the left one. the last target of the day was the righthand one. each target had 10 rounds. during these sorts of practice sessions, i put 8 one inch targets on a sheet of paper. i start with the top left and work my way down just like reading. the last target is the lower right spot. then i cut out representitive samples and throw the really crappy ones away. kind of makes me look like a better shooter than i am. but hey, this is the internet, so i'm taller, more handsome, trim, and much more intellegent and interesting than in real life.

browning hipower

browning hipower
Originally uploaded by bothenook.

some days i should just stay home. forget that. even shakey days at the range are good days!
i decided to go to the range last night as a reward for all the work i did in the yard this weekend. little did i know that my hands, arms, shoulders, back, etc etc were all a bit worn out and shakey due to the physical workout of actually, gasp, doing some physical work.
so here's the browning hipower 9mm i had to send to the doctors for a bushing repair. it's still a little off regarding final site adjustment. but this target is all about ME being off, not the pistol.
25 yards off hand, one box of 50 handloads. things settled down after this, honest.

4.1 - 4.2 grains w231 over winchester small pistol primers. 115 grain Oregon Trails lasercast bullet, seated to 1.10 inchess

home improvement project: Phase I

boy did i spend a physical weekend. my neighbor put a pool in last fall, and asked me if i'd like the pavers he'd pulled to install the pool. so i said "hmmm. YES"
see, i have this area in the back yard that was probably a great garden spot once upon a time. but over the years the trees in the area grew so big that the spot is in constant shade. not good for veggies or roses. so i'd been thinking about tearing the area up and doing something different. Carl's offer of pavers solidified my idea.

here's the area, a before picture if you will. i'd already moved some dirt out to level the spot a bit.

as always, click pix for other size options


then i had to clean all the pavers, since they will not fit up properly if there is any residual mud or junk. after cleaning (an all day affair i might add), i separated and stacked them in the back yard.


day 2, i laid out the area, framed the patio and leveled the frame. this section has a slope, so i had to move some serious dirt to get this accomplished. then i dug down for a 2 to 3 inch sand base. the patio section measures about 8 x 12 feet.



then i tamped the area to compact the base. note the large amount of dark surrounding the area in this picture. i may not work fast, but i work until i achieve that day's goal, even if it is after dinner....


day 3: sand. 3/4 yard of sand. wheeled from the front drive to the back, shoveled in, spread around, and eventually leveled. after the initial leveling, i tamped it lightly to settle the sand in place:


a few shovels of sand in front of the screeding board, and pull to final level:


then i laid the cobbles in a 45 degree herringbone pattern. that means i alternated both paver color and direction for each course. since this is old cement, most of the color segregation entail a lot of guessing...
after the pavers were laid, i dumped a 50 pound bag of 30 mesh silicate sand on top and swept it around. this allows the sand to fall between each of the pavers, filling the cracks. that in turn helps set the pavers so they don't shift and buckle. this took almost the entire bag to fill the cracks. i was amazed how much sand it took. if you stand on the deck, the pavers are interlocked together tightly, and it doesn't look like there is any space between them. toss on the sand, and it looks like there is a canyon's worth of space between.

next i took the tamper and set all the pavers lightly by going over the entire surface a couple of times. bump, move, bump move, repeat...
then i hosed it all down to wash the sand into the spaces better, added more sand, and will leave it like that for a couple of days. by leaving the sand on and walking on it for a couple of days, more sand will fill the spaces and further set the pavers. little trick a contractor buddy of mine passed on.
so here's the final shot. it has sand on it, but this is what the patio looks like.



phase II will see a sun cover built, cement boarder walk laid, an 8 1/2 foot circle of pavers set to the side for a BBQ area (about where the wheel barrow is), and who knows what else. hey, it's still early in the year...

here's a link to all the photos in the set for phase I on flickr. LINK