Regular readers of /dev/null know that I'm not one to miss a day of posting. And even though several days of February and March went without posts on the main page, I actually was writing but not posting—because of the house purchase. When we first got started on our house-hunting...
We've got keys and have started the move!...
I've had a long-standing battle with my triglyceride count. The aforelinked count was taken when I first started at Microsoft, and was at 192 mg/dL—when I first started the 20/20 program, the numbers were all the way up to 272 mg/dL, ostensibly due to all of the fat in my...
Here's Aleph's butt, and more importantly, the stack of paperwork we signed today for the house we're buying. It's a lot of paper....
I haven't talked much about the upcoming wedding (I'm saving that, ahem, for after we move) but since we're planning on having the reception at the house, it's going to be necessary to install a walkway along the side of the garage and into the back yard before the event...
I've avoided posting about the house so far partly because we've been bitten once already1, but mostly because you'll be hearing more than your fill about it next month when we actually start moving. The big news, however, is that we're having our final walkthrough tomorrow and expect to be...
I'm usually skeptical about automotive parts or chemicals that aren't somehow used by manufacturers, mostly because the vast majority of the time, they're complete snake-oil. Any product which makes big claims but isn't yet snapped up by an automotive manufacturer or oil company (or something similar) is almost exclusively full...
What's cooler than a chainsaw, you ask? How about a freakin' chainsaw on a 12' pole. Hot damn....
I mean seriously, RuTube? Do remember to turn down your volume first. There's nothing better than poorly sampled day-old thrash rock....
A few unexpected oddities I've encountered with the truck so far:Even though it's a 1976, it's got disc brakes in the front. Hoorah! The power steering doesn't groan like crazy. The transmission leaks ... a lot. I'm guessing I've put a half-quart of Type F into it already since I...
I can't recall exactly where I heard the above quote, but it's been used to describe the Boeing 747 LCF, an enlarged plane used to haul the composite fuselage sections of the 787. Although you can't really tell from this photograph, a 747 LCF overflew our townhouse a few days...
Legal opinion isn't always dry stuff—the opening two paragraphs from this Seventh Circuit opinion describes two flatulent toys, and how one's intellectual property was infringed with the other. If you continue to read the copy, you'll find that Tekky Toys was awarded nearly a million dollars in compensatory damages, punitive...
I just read about the housing situation in Detroit. If I were taking a job in that city, I'd take my signing bonus and get 5% down mortgages on as many properties as my monthly budget could afford. And then sit it out for as long as was comfortable. The...
Now that we're getting close to moving out of our apartment (likely in the next month or so), I figured I'd finally post a picture of the screwed-up staircase we've got in this place. The view at right is directly down the handrail that goes from the top floor of...
Now that the truck is largely operational, I've got a chance to make it functional, as well. Do any of you have experience with those roll-on bedliners (e.g. Rhinoliner)? I looked into it years ago (for, you know, coating the exterior of a VW bug) but even then wasn't able...
After a grand total of about six hours hammering at it, I've solved the brake light problem. The culprit? See the connector at the right? Well, this is the connector that ties the wiring harness into all of the functionality on the steering column—specifically, the turn signal, hazard flasher, horns,...
I never get tired of these. Rock the non-YouTube (818kB WMV)....
I've got some newfound boredom now that I'm in the "waiting" phase of the imminent home purchase, and so tonight I wandered through a bunch of ancient posts and ran across this paleolithic example from nearly two years ago. So, Spiderman ... how long is going to be until you're...
As you may be able to tell from the photo, Zinsco was a manufacturer of inexpensive residential electrical panels. Zinsco panels were apparently popular in the 1960s, and were installed all over the place. The house on which we've placed our offer happens to have a Zinsco panel in it....
Washington State Department of Transportation: completely out of touch since 1904....
Oh, the hidden pleasures of car ownership....
Here's the deal with earthquake insurance: insurance companies calculate the value of your dwelling based on (1) the appraised value of the property, (2) the square footage of the house, and (3) a modifier based on the relative values of dwellings to property, determined by the geographic location. Any one...
I stuck the F-250 in the garage yesterday because the taillights don't appear to be working properly. I'm really scratching my head over this one—not the taillights, but how the hell I fit the truck in that garage. No seriously, I'm still baffled about the tails, too. Given the condition...
I've given you the basic details already, but here's what's up. Our first house completely fell through. Once we found out the seller was a huge dorkotron, we started considering terminating our offer. Shortly thereafter, we toured fifteen houses—that's where the superlong post from yesterday came from. We ran across...
Our offer was accepted—I'll post more details once we're further along in the process!...
Over the last two days, we saw fifteen homes. If you happen to be, you know, shopping in the eastside of Puget Sound for houses in approximately our price range, here's a list of what we saw. 27033806: Holy crap, they completely remodeled a tiny shack! Be sure to check...
We've officially terminated the offer. The seller is a dick and isn't worth dealing with. ...and we've already placed another offer on another house. Man, what a weekend....
Just a hint, fellas: remember to use short nails....
So in, uhh, response to my last post about buying a house, I'd like to say that the tactics I outlined don't always work. It turns out that despite the comparably very poor condition of the property in question, the seller had absolutely no intention on budging on repairs, concessions,...
Stuff like this amuses me. Oh, and the rust. At least there aren't (too many) penetrating rust holes....
Negotiation, much like practically everything else, is often best served by creativity. So we're stealing a page out of someone else's playbook and will be attempting to renegotiate the sale price of our home down instead of getting credits for issues raised in the inspection. The heart of this lies...
So uhh, due to my somewhat abbreviated schedule, it seems I didn't really give a whole lot of time between when I first queried about full-size pickups and when I actually took the plunge. On to the details: it's a 1976 (sixth generation) Ford F-250 standard-cab/medium-bed with a 390 FE...
To all you other car nuts out there: I'm looking at buying a cheap fullsize pickup (around, say, $1,000), and have found a handful of late-1970s Ford F-250s out there. I'll be checking all of the usual things when I inspect possible candidates—is there anything specific to these trucks that...
Today is a big milestone for me, since I weighed in today at 198.8 pounds. All of the dieting in the past only ever got me to 199 pounds—and since I've been developing a whole ton of muscle, I'm actually leaner than I was even then. I'll post more later,...
We had our inspection today. Of note:Lots of leaks and a few pests. We'll have to relay the vapor barrier in the crawlspace, patch a bunch of dripping plumbing, fix ten of the twelve crawlspace vent screens, and fumigate everything below the floor. Oh, and did I mention the four...
Even though we're working hard to get the seller down on price, we're also working our asses off to figure out how much remodeling we can do pronto. Currently on the agenda is:Ripping out all of the acoustic popcorn and dropped soffits Taking down four walls, two each dividing the...
I'm not sure what manner of shenanigans those kids are trying to pull this time, but holy crap....
I'm really sick of this delay-posting nonsense. Nevertheless, when you read this (surely a week or so from now), you'll know that our offer was countered, and we accepted! The house's status has officially been changed from Active on Market to Subject to Inspection in the MLS, so that means...
Layla asked me earlier this week if farts are characteristically funny to all men, or if there's just something wrong with me. So I'm glad to respond with a story about what happened to me at the gym earlier. I was stretching after my workout tonight, and in the room...
As you may expect, the left one is slightly larger than the right. So that's, you know, how they hang....
