Posted on 29th January 2010 by Ben Krasner in Day to Day Goodies | Home Improvement
Accidents Happen, Home Improvement
Accidents Happen During Home Improvement
As part of a seemingly never-ending list of related home improvement tasks, I was up in my attic searching for air leaks that might need sealing. I found plenty of such leaks where heated air from my living levels was escaping into my attic and therefore keeping my attic too warm – thereby heating my roof which is leading to significant ice damming conditions. While focusing around my upstairs bathroom (which is also allowing moisture to escape into my attic – always a bonus) I had identified what I felt was plenty of work sealing up gaps and drafts that I could do to improve the situation. Little did I know I was about to give myself some extra work and learning experience.
Just before I could leave the attic for the night, I created more work for myself
I pivoted to walk back in the direction I had come and placed my hand on a support beam so that I wouldn’t truly be on one foot in the attic, for fear of risking being off-balance and damaging the ceiling below me. In actuality this became a huge mistake as the support beam pulled right out from the ridge beam of the roof as if it hadn’t been attached at all, therefore leaving me on just one foot regardless of my efforts. Now I am drastically off balance and somewhat shocked that this beam is now falling towards me because I had no real grip on it, either. I grab the beam and of course realize that it’s not going to help me secure my position, so I quickly take a stab with my foot into insulation and pray I feel a stud. With no stud to be felt, I took another shot at getting my foot back on solid structure by heading towards one of the OSB boards I was using to travel in the attic – and I hit it. The problem: these boards were not yet screwed or nailed down as I thought I would be traveling much farther out into the attic space. Consequently, the weight I put on the board just tipped it over and into the cavity between two rafters, where my foot immediately went through the ceiling and I was knee-deep into my living area before I could pull myself back out.
Natalie was almost asleep at this time – she was in the bedroom just moments away from fast-forwarding about 8 hours – when she heard the awful crash and subsequent cussing-at-nobody-but-myself coming from the attic. Obviously, she was … upset… okay she was drastically more than upset… and was verbalizing to me how much she felt this was going to cost us. I told her to relax, that I would fix it, that I wanted to learn how to do drywall anyway and that from what I’ve seen it wasn’t that hard. Of course, I knew nothing of what I was talking about, but I was determined to fix my mistake on my own.
Now it is up to me to learn how to drywall to patch a fairly sizable hole that is irregular in shape and on a ceiling that is textured just to make me go that one step further. I was planning on doing some drywall work in order to learn on the topic, this summer. Obviously, this task has been given a higher priority and I will be involved with drywall much earlier than expected.
Look for a follow-up or two… or three… on how I fix it. I might even make it a step-by-step instruction guide in case any of you out there run into the same kind of scenario.
Take care!
Posted on 28th January 2010 by Ben Krasner in Day to Day Goodies
Drinks
Anyone who knows me knows that I favor liquor over beer on most drinking occasions. For me, beer is for ball games and other summer time activities where I want to be refreshed while in-taking a little alcohol, all the while still being quite capable of remaining active. Beer tends to affect me very little unless it’s an occasion where I’m on a completely empty stomach and I’m quite parched – so beer has always had a pretty well defined role for me and that role seems to be front and center right now.
A good whiskey or bourbon will always do me nicely when I’m looking to have a drink while being inactive. Depending on how I pace myself, I can get a perfect buzz going relatively easily while still enjoying what I’m drinking or eating at the time… and the company I’m in at the time. But lately it has been beer that I’ve been reaching for, and specifically Budweiser.
It’s funny to me that Bud Light’s current advertising push is built around the one-word phrase ‘drinkability’ because I can barely stand to drink it. I’ll give ‘er a go if it’s 90+ outside and I need water as much or more than anything else. Any other time than that I am passing it over if it’s at all possible. For me, the perfect balance of taste, heaviness and refreshment is an ice cold Budweiser.
Of late, I’ve noticed myself choosing Budweiser over other drinks all of the time. It’s nothing right now for me to pick up a dozen-bottle pack and start pounding them as soon as I get home. I am working around the house quite a bit sealing up the drafts in the house and other items so I can only assume that the dryness in our house coupled with constant work that we need to complete is leading me too drink the beer as if it were summer-like conditions. I definitely get parched and there’s always so much to do that I guess I want to stay active .
Whatever the reasons may be, I’ll just keep enjoying them… right up to the point where I switch back to Whiskey or Bourbon again.
Cheers!
Posted on 28th January 2010 by Ben Krasner in Day to Day Goodies
My birthday was yesterday – I turned 32. Today, I check my email and I have a message from Hoveround advertising power wheelchairs.
“Hoveround has been helping people regain their mobility for over 17
years and we want to help you get your independence back.”
Someone needs to check their mailing list purchasing procedures or something because this e-mail couldn’t be more off track. I suppose it could be SPOOF e-mail or an attempt to infiltrate my computer if I click on the links. Whatever it is, it was just marked as SPAM and I hope to never receive that kind of message again. For crying out loud, people! I’m not that old!
Posted on 24th January 2010 by Ben Krasner in Desired Items
Wish List
Breaking Benjamin – Dear Agony
… yet another album from these guys that I like a lot. Is it weird? My name’s Benjamin, and I really have a strong liking for the band Breaking Benjamin? Huh… not sure what that’s all about, but I’m definitely listening to their music a lot on my iPhone.
All the usual suspects have it – so I’ll give them all a little linkage:
Best Buy:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dear+Agony+-+CD/9494317.p?id=2040974&skuId=9494317&st=dear%20agony&lp=1&cp=1
Amazon:
http://amzn.com/B002POMLHY
Borders:
http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=050087126407
Ok, that’s enough free links for today.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dear+Agony+-+CD/9494317.p?id=2040974&skuId=9494317&st=dear%20agony&lp=1&cp=
Posted on 19th January 2010 by Ben Krasner in Day to Day Goodies
Annoyances
On the occasion where I swing through McDonald’s for a quick breakfast – come on, you know you love McDonald’s breakfast – I always have to remember to avoid their “new and improved’ premium coffee. To me, it is so terrible that if I forget and just go with my default “coffee…” response at the drive through I end up driving away with a steaming hot cup of something that I will thoroughly not enjoy dumping down the drain.
Their old coffee was fine: simple, basic… hot coffee in a cup. After Starbucks showed everyone that people would buy ultra-caffeinated, over-priced and truly horrendous coffee if you just made it sound and look cool, McDonald’s made the smart business decision to try to take some of that market share and claim it as their own. Only thing is, not all smart business decisions leave a pleasant taste in the mouths of everyone and often there are those on the outside looking for something else. Apparently, this is where I am situated.
I’m not going to call McDonald’s new coffee the worst coffee I’ve ever had – it’s not. I’ve had worse. But this is easily the worst coffee that I have had which has had so much time, effort and marketing behind it. It seriously makes me long for a can of Maxwell House or any of the other typical off-the-shelf brands. It’s so bitter and leaves a horrible after-taste behind it, for me, almost like it’s been blackened. Every time I make the mistake of getting a cup, I try to make it more palatable. Add sugar – no. Add more sugar – no. Add sweetener – no. Add water – no. Poor it out and dilute it with another more favorable coffee – no. Dare I add cream… ? Why? Coffee is not supposed to need cream, or vanilla, or chocolate or Frapp-a-shit-o or anything else along those lines… it’s supposed to be a morning cup of coffee; period!
This morning was one of those mornings where I made this mistake and I am still paying for it. Even a piece of Extra Spearmint gum has not gotten rid of the disgusting taste in my mouth. Thank god it’s almost lunch time; I can eat something and brush my teeth to change this awful taste into something fresher and cleaner. Blech.
On a more serious note… I’m glad that this is the biggest problem of my morning. No traffic accidents, no earthquake devastation , no joblessness, no asthma problems and no ice damming or roof leaking – I’m pretty thankful, today.