Useless Conversation

[Lantyssa]

Sam was asking if you've ever tried to use your TV to split wood.

[Polysorbate80]

Hydraulic splitters are only for serious processing. I hand-split about 6 face cords a year right now, I'd be willing to double that before even thinking about hydraulic.

It's a well-established fact that you're not normal, though.  Nobody who relies on wood heat around here splits any significant amount by hand, except my in-law out at his river property--because the splitter isn't at that site.  And by significant I mean "more than kindling".

Well, except for the local fraternity that sells wood for fundraising every year.  But they're young and dumb.

Mind you, I can still do everything I did when I was 20 years old...it just hurts waaaaaay more the next day.

[Fraeg]

just got a tentative job offer, moving to a place I don't really want to be in, but for a 2 grade (government GS series) raise.   I know in these times I must sound like a royal prick lamenting something like this but... I can't say no to the raise, but fuck me I don't want to work in that office.

[Lantyssa]

Even in rough economic times I think it's fair to be concerned with your work environment.  And change is always scary.  As someone who's been suffering through this period, I'm not offended.

[Morat20]

just got a tentative job offer, moving to a place I don't really want to be in, but for a 2 grade (government GS series) raise.   I know in these times I must sound like a royal prick lamenting something like this but... I can't say no to the raise, but fuck me I don't want to work in that office.

I'm not 100% on GS grades, but I've worked with civil servents. That's a significant jump,  although I suppose that depends on where you are in the first place. How long will you have to work there before you can put in for a transfer without, well, being a dick?

If it's two years in Fucking Nowherestand for a two-grade jump, that might be worth suffering through -- especially if you're in the middle or closer to the top of the grades. I know the jump from 11 to 13 (or is it vice versa? Fuck if I can remember, I just remember looking at jobs in that area) was pretty big in terms of salary, responsibilities, and the like. (Not that government pay is ever really comparable to public pay, though the benefits are better).

[Minvaren]

If there's one thing that's more tedious than removing wallpaper, it's removing wallpaper from textured walls.   

[Merusk]

   I think I'd rather just rip it all down and redrywall than do that.

[Chimpy]

How the fuck did they even get the wallpaper to stick on a textured wall well enough to stay more than a short period in the first place?

[Minvaren]

Apparently they really soaked it and then mashed it into the wall for awhile.  Good thing is several large patches came right off as it didn't make good contact.  

This is just a border trim ring that was around the kitchen.  Think I'm going to stick with the original plan of primering then texturing over the 2 full rooms that are wallpapered - every wall in my house is either textured or popcorned, and I'm not repeating this on a larger scale.

(edit: clarity)

[Paelos]

I turned 30 yesterday.

[DraconianOne]

I turned 30 yesterday.

Commiserations.

[Pennilenko]

I turned 30 yesterday.

Congrats, 31 is easier.

[DraconianOne]

So - I found out today that someone I knew well enough to have a drink with has been jailed for two years for kiddy fiddling and then the vet called to tell me that my dog has a very agressive form of cancer.

A fantastic day for news so far. 

[ghost]

I turned 30 yesterday.

Hope you had a great birthday.  I turn 37 today.   

[JWIV]

So - I found out today that someone I knew well enough to have a drink with has been jailed for two years for kiddy fiddling and then the vet called to tell me that my dog has a very agressive form of cancer.

A fantastic day for news so far. 

Fuckin hell.

[Paelos]

So - I found out today that someone I knew well enough to have a drink with has been jailed for two years for kiddy fiddling and then the vet called to tell me that my dog has a very agressive form of cancer.

A fantastic day for news so far. 

Fuckin hell.

I would have made a joke if it wasn't for the dog. Sorry about that.

[Morat20]

Wow. Shit day. I sympathize.

[Sky]

  I think I'd rather just rip it all down and redrywall than do that.

I don't even fuck around with walls any more. New drywall is too easy (though I do get tired of the dust). Plus you get a chance to make some changes behind the walls if you want.

[ghost]

If you do your "sanding" with a wet sponge drywall is even easier because you don't have to deal with the dust.   

[Sky]

If you do your "sanding" with a wet sponge drywall is even easier because you don't have to deal with the dust.    

Our maintenance guy at work is always bitching at me for not wet-sanding.

Next time!

[Rasix]

A complete network outage makes for a very dull day at work. 

[WayAbvPar]

A complete network outage makes for a very dull day at work. 

This is why I never go anywhere without my Kindle.

[Morat20]

Finally got all my tires replaced. Did the front pair a month ago, replaced the others today. Holy shit, what a difference having treads makes. :)

Also, work sucks when half the needed software and permissions are missing from your system -- including the ability to access the help desk directly. I have like 15 open tickets, one of which is for a dozen pieces of software I have to have -- and that should have been loaded.

Hell, I don't even have Adobe Reader. This whole damn place runs on pdf's, and I can't open them.

[Pennilenko]

If you do your "sanding" with a wet sponge drywall is even easier because you don't have to deal with the dust.   

Holy crap, you have revolutionized my little drywall projects. I work in and around lots of construction. I have never seen a drywall guy use that technique for sanding. I must live in an area with horrible drywall guys.

[Chimpy]

If you wet-sand you can't paint right away. And pro drywall guys almost all have sanding screens that are hooked up to shop-vacs so the dust is minimal.

[Merusk]

Only in Cincinnati.

Watching Kitchen Nightmares/ Master Chef/ Etc has got me itching to try a nice fine-dining establishment.  Cincinnati used to have "The Maisonette" which was the only 5 star restaurant in the area.  Now when you do searches you get chains and downtown places with reviews like "The lunch buffet..." 

No.  No.  No.  Fine dining doesn't go with "buffet."   

[Morat20]

Started watching Pawn Stars on Netflix, and have come to the following conclusions:

1. Even obviously aiming for the audience, pawn shops are just sad. They don't totally ignore the "I just need 5 grand on this 30 grand item at 8% for a month" stuff, but they really downplay it.

2. A good chunk of the items are rare, and thus fetch a better price from the shop than something like an Xbox would. I can't see people pawning jewelry or electronics getting 40% of retail.

3. I should probably start going to the odd estate sale. 90% of everything interesting that wasn't an heirloom seems to have come from one. Seems interesting, and my mother-in-law loves the things.

[ghost]

If you wet-sand you can't paint right away. And pro drywall guys almost all have sanding screens that are hooked up to shop-vacs so the dust is minimal.

Yes, but if you aren't a pro it can save you a lot of headaches. 

[Merusk]

Without a dobut, but he was answering Penn's questioning of the pros around him, not saying that wet sanding wasn't how you (a non-pro) should do it.

[Sky]

I always think I'm going to have to do minimal sanding and then find my mudding wasn't as good as I thought it was. I still make the mistake of not starting the taping and finishing in the less-visible areas, so those parts are generally fine, and then there's a huge gob on the part the sun rakes across

There's a small peek of my last drywalling in the PC build thread, behind my pc. Still need to put in the windows jambs and trim it up.

Speaking of which, looks like it's time to get a table saw. I've gone around this about a hundred (thousand) times, I just have a hard time spending $$$ on anything that's not decent quality. So far the front-runner keeps coming back to this Bosch. Seems to be decent quality and the stand would be good to move it into the basement in the winter, or at least out of the way. The other possibility would be a fixed unit like this Porter Cable. The fixed unit has a better top on it and seems more versatile but then I have to find a permanent spot to park it. Would be nice to wheel the Bosch into the driveway to make cuts out there and not deal with the sawdust.

The little DeWalt is nice, but the bigger one isn't as nice (my contractor has used both, and I've used his little DeWalt). The Bosch has the nicest portable stand out of any I've seen thus far (in my price range).

[ghost]

I used to have a fixed table saw, but when I moved I got rid of it and got a portable.  I highly recommend a portable unless you're going to be using it a ton.


Edit: 

Apparently a huge dust storm hit Phoenix.  I wonder if Rasix was able to see his computer.   

[Rasix]

I'm in Tucson!  All of that went down pretty close to where my parents live.

Bolted out of work early as to miss the rain, because people in Tucson turn retarded once it starts getting a little wet outside.

Surprised we didn't get any power outages in my part of town.  The wind got pretty bad here.  You could see telephone poles swaying a bit.  People's garbage cans were being blown down the street.

[Chimpy]

The little Bosch portable table saws are the only ones I have used that were not utter garbage, but overall I loathe anything that does not have a top that small.

[Soln]

I have a programming friend who's very spacy and wishes to start his own business.  For instruction, I've told to him to watch all episodes of Gold Rush: Alaska, and any episodes of Storage Wars and Pawn Stars.

With Pawn Stars you almost always have the following scenario:  Guy brings in rare item; rare item is authenticated by Pawn People's "Expert"; item receives a value by Expert; Pawn People then offer25-35% of that item's proposed worth.

Here's the set up(paging Goumindong):  the Expert (usually) confirms the item has value, thus pleasing the Guy.  Pawn Monkey then says "yeah, it's worth $3k [best case][in mint condition][in a good market][for the right collector][if I could sell it today][etc.] and lures the Guy with quick cash at a huge discount.  And usually the person sells.  It's crazy.  And it's a good lesson in negotiation -- there's no point splitting the difference, bargaining up, whatever WHEN YOU TRUST THE EXPERT'S OPINION of what the item is worth.  Point is, nobody's knows what their real cost is and subsequently almost always undersells. 

[Sky]

I wouldn't recommend Storage Wars, it's very cherry-picked. The only ones working that realistically (and even they up the drama for the camera) is the couple with the used crap store, because most of what you'd get from storage is just used crap.

I watch all those shows though, or at least used to when I had cable  Antiques Roadshow I've loved forever, but it makes me nuts (and now my fiancee) because I keep a perspective through the show "That stupid vase is worth 4 Gibson LPs??" Also, modern art is the greatest con ever and I should really get on that.

Anyway, Chimp. Why do you like small tops on table saws? I thought the bigger the better?