Forward Thinking

I do like my HDTV and great home theater sound system, but the look of this equipment atop my antique jelly cabinet is just wrong. This house has such a cabin feel to it with large windows and exposed beam ceilings. I’m thinking I’d be better off, aesthetically speaking, if I used an lcd mount and put the TV on the wall over the cabinet. Then, I could put the home theater unit inside the cabinet and hide the peripheral speakers and wires so that I don’t have too much of a tech feel in the living room.

As much as I like new technologies and what they add to life, I tend to find comfort in surrounding myself with low-tech things such as primitive crafts and sturdy furniture. I like the “welcome home” these things offer to me. My quilted bedspread and shams, my Hull pottery, and my handcrafts all warm up this house a lot, even though I really enjoy watching movies on that TV!

Technorati Tags: HDTV, home theater, technologies

About a week ago, my son’s car got a flat tire. Now, normally this would be a no-brainer, easy fix. Just change the tire, right? Wrong. See, his car has BMW wheels with all locking lug nuts. He has to use a key, that looks like a hex wrench, to take the wheels off the car. Bear in mind, these wheels are made in such a way that the lug nuts sit flush with the wheel, so you can’t use any other tool to get them off, and each wheel has four locking lug nuts.

So, he starts to change the tire and breaks the “key” on the first lug nut. Yes, it’s broken and there’s nothing else we have with us that will work. The car has to sit where it’s at for several days before we can get back to it. In the meantime, I’m driving even more to get him and myself to work.

We finally have some time when we both are scheduled for the night so early in the morning we start making the rounds of parts places to see if we can find a replacement key. You’d think we were asking the auto parts guys for Parmigiani watches, the way they looked at us. No one had a key that would fit. We were advised to go to a BMW dealership.

OK. There are none within a hundred miles of here. There are no tools that will come close to fitting the stupid locking lug nuts. It’s 97 degrees and my car has no AC. We both look like bright red, drowned rats from driving all over the place and sweating like race horses. We are both getting more and more frustrated, and my thought is that dynamite will get those wheels off!

I call my oldest son and relate to him the problem. He says, “Come to where I work and we’ll get it figured out.” So, we drive there, show him the tiny, useless end of the wheel key, and he says to hold on a minute, he’ll be right back. Fifteen minutes later, he emerges from his work place with an iron “T” shaped tool, the end of which is a perfect match to the wheel lock key. He had gone inside and built this tool!

Now, why didn’t we call him when the key first broke? We are still asking ourselves that question!

Technorati Tags: flat tire, BMW wheels, locking lug nuts, BMW dealership

I’ll sure be happy when my car is paid off. I’ve traveled extra miles this week due to a variety of reasons. One of the reasons was going by the corporate office to deliver some paperwork. I was nearly at my job when I got the call to bring the papers by there, which meant turning around and heading in the opposite direction.

I felt like I had wasted the gas because this call could have been made sooner and I could have dropped the papers off on my way to work. I just needed to know that they needed them that day.

Once my car is paid off (in just about one month), that frees up a lot of money each month that I can put toward gas, minor repairs and such things. The minor repairs should make the car much more fuel efficient, but right now there just isn’t money left in the budget to have them done. Until them, I’m going to remind the “powers that be” that when they need me to do something for the corporate office, please call me early enough in the day so that I don’t make any extra trips.

Technorati Tags: corporate office, job

It’s only June, and where I live the temperatures are already going into the 90s many days. It’s blazin’ hot every afternoon when I drive to work. And, my car air conditioner doesn’t operate which means it’s like driving a sweat lodge. I leave early so that I can arrive at work early to cool down and dry off before I have to clock in. Yeah, it’s that hot.

I have been thinking about trading cars so I can have one with AC, but this car is so close to being paid for that I really would like to fully own it and drive it without the payments for awhile. It’s usually the way I do things. I get several years from a used car purchase. However, I am going to have to have some work done on this one, including having the AC fixed and a good tune-up, if I’m going to continue using it. In my opinion, it would be more economical to replace some car parts on it and just buy gas than it would be to pay car payments plus gas every month. The price of gas is really what’s got me thinking along these lines.

If I have a little work done on my car to make it more fuel efficient, and I get the AC running in it, then there really won’t be any need for another car for quite awhile. I can drive this one payment-free for probably another two years.

Technorati Tags: air conditioner, tune-up, fuel efficient

Here’s some good news — or is it? Yahoo! is selling out to Google instead of Microsoft. As if Big G didn’t already pretty well control everything on the ‘net from page rank to searches to blog hosting to ….well, just name it and the Big G fingerprint is heavily into it. Now, they’ll own Yahoo! Is there no stopping this internet giant?

Microsoft withdrew their bid when Yahoo! asked for more money. Big G, though, is apparently a source of limitless funds and can buy anything at any price, including the only search engine company I even use anymore, as well as the hosting provider for two of my blogs. Will things change? Not at first, I’m sure. But mark my words, slowly and insidiously, Big G will mark everything with the G brand and effectively eliminate the exclamation point.

Of course, the government will have to investigate all of this first before allowing the sale to be finalized. With Big G’s share of the search market already huge (bigger than everyone else combined), this could push them over the top of search marketing and effectively bring them before US government as a monopoly, or raise huge anti-trust issues. The door is still open for Microsoft to thwart this whole deal and gain a larger share of the market, if they will just swallow their pride and do the deal. After all, who needs a bigger G on the planet?

With all the bloggers who have been shot down as far as page rank goes, you’d think that somebody, somewhere, would have the ‘nads to stand up to Big G and really fight for a larger share of the search engine market. Apparently, ‘nads get tucked away when a dollar bill is flashed around.

Technorati Tags: search market, search marketing, Microsoft, search engine

Son reminded me last night that I need to backup my laptop. I haven’t done this in awhile and I don’t want to wind up like he did - losing everything in a crash. I installed a memory stick some time ago, but that doesn’t mean my computer will remember anything if it crashes!

He suggested that I use a DVD for my backup instead of a CD. DVDs have more space on them to record the backup so it’s less likely that I’ll have to insert additional disks. I hadn’t thought of that before, but he’s probably right. He has a few blank DVDs upstairs, so I’ll get one and perform the backup later today. First, though, I think I’ll do a disk cleanup and maybe defrag the machine, too. I really am overdue on both of those tasks.

I really should be more consistent in doing all of these things. We do a full backup at work every night on the computer and server there. I don’t know why I fail to do this on my home computer or my laptop.

Technorati Tags: laptop, computer, disk cleanup, defrag

I’ve got a lot of old hardback books. I’m not even sure I’ll read them again, I’ve had them so long. Some of them were my Father’s books and as such, are treasures to me, so I don’t want to get rid of them. So, I’ve thought about what to do with all these books without shelving them or storing them where they might be damaged. I think I’ve come up with a solution that you might want to think about using, too.

I’m going to stack them into four columns in my bedroom and use a piece of glass on the top of them so I have an interesting table. I’ve already got the glass, so I’m ahead there.This could be done with any old books you have around. You could even get old books from a flea market or yard sale just for this purpose. This could keep a lot of old books out of the landfills. Books like old Reader’s Digests, which often have beautiful colors and pretty printing on the spines, would work out wonderfully for a repurposing project like this. If you wanted to make it a permanent piece, you could glue the books together.

I’ve seen this used to make table lamps, and I see no reason why it couldn’t be taken a step further to make unusual, unique tables. Because I have a very active little dog, this table will go near a wall, though I’d like to use it as the coffee table in front of the sofa. I’m afraid she’ll knock it over if it’s there, though. You will want to consider children and pets before you place this item in your home, of course.

I was originally going to use this idea in my bedroom, but I like it so much that I think I’ll make this “table” in my living room for added visual interest.

Technorati Tags: hardback books, table, old books, flea market

This house would be great for entertaining family and friends. The layout is
such that there is a great flow from the kitchen to the living room. The kitchen has plenty
of counter space and a large bar to allow for serving food and drinks. The dining table
sits just beyond the bar, between the living room and kitchen, but can be moved over to the
wall for extra traffic flow.

The living room isn’t huge, but it is open to the point that there is plenty of room for
extra seating if it’s needed. People can go out onto either the back deck or front deck, so
the living room is expanded by the use of those two decks.

Under the bar in the kitchen is wide, open shelving. Those shelves make a good place for
appliances that aren’t being used daily but I am also thinking that they would be good for
something else while entertaining. Maybe it’s time for me to look at wine refrigerators to
see if I can find one that will fit in the shelves there. They are pretty roomy and I think
there’s enough room for something like that.

Technorati Tags: entertaining

I think the first room I’ll tackle is my own bedroom. I’ve got it partly arranged and partly decorated, but there’s still more to do to make it the haven I really need after a hard day at work. Right now, there are books still in the boxes I moved them in, and a variety of other things that need to be put in place. I have a corner picked out for my rocking chair and ottoman. I’ll put a hanging light in that corner and a small table so I can have my laptop there beside me or just sit and read.

I also need to put the mirror on my dresser and get my personal things in the drawers. I still seem to be living out of a box and a laundry basket!

My closet has some things in it that really need to go upstairs to the room I’ll use as my craft and actual office space. There’s a lot of work to do there, as well, getting things organized so I can access them easily. It’s a small, third bedroom but it’s a lovely space with lots of light that streams in through the high, transom-style windows near the ceiling, the 15 pane door that leads to the balcony, and the regular window on the wall opposite the transom-style windows.

We live in a hectic world. Always on the go. Always competing. Stressful. I need a place to remove myself from all of that on a daily basis and get back in touch with my true self. Don’t you?

Technorati Tags: haven

I finally got two days off in a row and today is Day 1. I was so exhausted that I wound up sleeping until just a little while ago and now it’s nearly noon with nothing accomplished. However, I’m up now and will dive in to working in my house, getting things arranged better, and cleaning.

I’ve got to check my solar floodlight and find out why it hasn’t been coming on at night. I have it pointed toward my front door so I don’t have to use a regular porch light. It’s really dark there when I come home from work and it’s hard to find the keyhole to open the door without some light in that area.

In between chores today, I’ll surf the ‘net to read up on more solar resources, do some price comparisons, and learn more ways to live green. I’ll also read some diet pill reviews, catch up on the news, compare some solar resource prices, and figure out what I can do in this house to reduce my electric bill.

Technorati Tags: solar floodlight, solar resources