Saturday, August 25th, 2007
Sometimes people name things and think they are very very cool for doing so. People hear these cool new names and start using them in everyday conversation. I bet you know what I am talking about.
Let’s say…”24/7” for example. I for one, think this is a very stupid little saying, but it seems as though just about everyone has jumped on this bandwagon. At this point, there probably is no stopping it. Once the Pope says it, it’s over.
Lately, I have been hearing little things here and there about “Web 2.0.” I read “Revenue Today” magazine. There are articles with hints of the “Web 2.0″ phrase. I kind of roll my eyes each time I come across it because it seems like people are trying too hard to grab hold of something. This is what got me going.
Have you ever seen any shows on HGTV? Well, if not, let me explain. HGTV is a channel devoted to home improvement. I watch it because I like to see the gardening stuff. Sometimes I have to grin and bear it through the DIY shows. When you were a kid, what did you call the box in your house that you had all of your stuff and your bed in? Your “room,” right? Yes, your room. Not anymore. Now they call it your “space.” Since when did we call everything a space? “Yeeeeeezzzzz, well, hhmmmm, mumzy, pleeeease move the Range Rover into the space.” “You mean the garage?” “Yeeeezzzz, the garage space.” Do you get what I am saying? If not, here it is. I am saying that calling a kitchen a kitchen is good. Calling a room a room is good. Only those people call things “spaces.” Unfortunately, even the homeowners (those whose homes are being worked on by HGTV) are now made to call things spaces. “Yes, we sure would love a teensy weensy little bit larger coffee table in our space.” That just sounds dumb. It almost feels like there is some huge effort in Hollywood to change what we call a room. Can you imagine getting wicked pissed at your kid and yelling, “You little $%#^%, go to your space!!! No dinner for you!!!”
Anyway, sometimes it seems like this is what is happening on the web. Kind of like in the corporate world. If you have ever worked in that world, I am sure you are well aware of the idiotic things people make up names for. Someone has got to stop them.
So, without further ado, let’s get to looking at Wikipedia’s definition of Web 2.0.
The phrase Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second-generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. It became popular following the first O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004, and has since become widely adopted.
Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to Web technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the web as a platform. According to Tim O’Reilly, “Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.”
Some technology experts, notably Tim Berners-Lee, have questioned whether one can use the term in a meaningful way, since many of the technology components of “Web 2.0″ have existed since the early days of the Web.
Let’s look at the first sentence. “The phrase Web 2.0 refers to a perceived…” Ok, let’s stop right there. This is exactly what I am talking about. A perceived…this means that someone made this up and it is being pushed on the rest of the world. I gather that because this phrase has become so popular.
Let’s look at the first sentence in the second paragraph. “Although the term suggests…” Let’s stop again. The word “suggests” to me, means that I can not use this phrase with any seriousness in the least. I like actual meanings of things.
Let’s look at the third paragraph as a whole. I agree with Tim Berners-Lee. We are floating on the same brain wave if you are catching my drift. Why in the world would anyone try to give the simple and natural evolution of something a name like Web 2.0? Oooohhh, yeah, version two baby.
I remember back a few years ago, a local radio station tried the whole 2.0 thing. This is when the web was just getting all heated up. They were so proud of themselves. The announcer would say something like, “Yeah, the best music of the 40s, 50, 60s, 70, 80s, 90s and today!!! J98.6FM — version 2.0.” That didn’t last long. I think once someone in management realized that no one on the planet had any idea what they were talking about, they put a stop to it.
I was down at the hardware store this morning and the paint guy asked what I was up to. I told him that I was going to head home to really dive in to the intricacies of Web 2.0. I told him that I was going to envelope myself in what I would seriously consider the lightening fast and exponential explosion of how “Web 2.0″ has defined what we call the web. Ok, that didn’t happen, but I am sure it would’ve if I had gone to the hardware store.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I have truly noticed a shift in what has happened on the web. I am just not sure it should be called the second version. As a semi-ex website designer, I have noticed a squeeze in my profession. People still come up to me and ask if I can design websites for them. I am a little puzzled at why they are asking. I tell them to just set up a blog. They look at me all confused and then I remember that these people only spend a fraction of the time I do on the web. I mean, c’mon, just set up a site file, a folder structure, buy a domain name, set up a hosting account, download the latest version of Wordpress, set up a database and go to the install URL. Hit go, and if you want to get fancy, download a nice theme.
Is that too much to ask? Sorry, did I answer the question?
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Saturday, August 4th, 2007
If you know me, if you know who I really am at the core, you would know that I love mulch. I think I may have described my love for mulch in a few past posts, but let’s say it again…I love mulch.
Ok, now that the tender intro is out of the way, I will tell you a little story. When we moved in, I noticed a little problem with the back yard. It seems as though there has been a bit of erosion over the years. Every time there is a hard rain, more and more of the dirt, or topsoil, if that’s what you want to call it, finds its way down to the bottom of the hill that makes up the yard. I think the poor schlub who lived here before us tried to spread a bunch of topsoil out over the area and plant grass seed, but before he knew it, that rolled down the hill as well. It’s not really that big of a slope, it’s just that the soil around here doesn’t have much organic content in it. If there isn’t grass growing on it, it turns in to dust and is gone with the wind. What’s left is a nice layer of crappy dirt and rocks. This isn’t much to look at and really causes problems when I try to mow the lawn. If there is grass growing, it tends to be thick and green. Strange, I know. The trick is to get the grass to grow.
Since I didn’t want to end up like the last guy, I decided to travel a tried and true route. I had ten yards of mulch delivered just this morning. Two things - First, I think I got a small ten yards. Either that, or I got a big five yards last time. Second, I thought it would be a real blast to get out there and shovel the mulch in to the wheelbarrow and wheel it to the back of the house for spreading. Well, it is 2:52PM and I am inside feeling a little heat on my neck. Sunburn. Not bad, but enough to make being outside annoying. I think I’ll wait until about 6PM before I pick up where I left off. I am just glad I have a project. I am not fun to be around when I am bored, just ask Laura.
Here are some photos of what I am talking about…
This is the pile of mulch before I tackled it with the shovel.
I put some mulch around the arborvitae and holly that I planted. I didn’t go crazy under the porch, because that will hopefully be covered up by the bushes soon.
You can see how I am spreading the mulch over the bad areas. I would say the layer is a few inches thick. I did this same technique on another area of the lawn last summer and the grass is nice and thick there now. All I ask for is a few nice rains to get the mulch packed down to stay. If we get a torrential downpour, I think I may have ten yards of mulch at the bottom of the hill. After one season, the mulch should be broken down enough to plant some grass seed. It is also good at holding the dirt and rocks bad from eroding even more. An additional bonus is that this mulch was recycled from a bunch of old stumps right down the road from me. I watched the guy do it last year, it’s really cool.
Unfortunately, I though ten yards would be enough, but I think I may need twenty to get where I want to be. Mmmmmm, that’s going to be fun.
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Wednesday, August 1st, 2007
My mother emailed me and told me to look for a patio set at Target.com. I had already looked there, along with everywhere else, but I guess looking again couldn’t hurt. Especially after this morning’s episode (pic here).
I looked and found a pretty nice one that had a table with a ceramic table top. Also, there were cushions on the chairs. Those things along with a decent look is good enough for me. I called Laura and she looked at it online too. We agreed to give it a whirl. I ordered the patio set online and called the customer service to make sure they actually had it. They said yes and that the shipper would call me to set up a ship date. Good enough.
The set is called the “Sean Conway™ Tiverton 2006 Dining Set” and came with free shipping. That’s good because the shipping was like $342.99. Ouch.
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Thursday, July 12th, 2007
Laura and I went out to Sam’s Club and Lowes last night to get some stuff. By the way, I think it was “Obesity Wednesday” at Sam’s Club. We really have to get out of that place. I can’t stand looking at those people any more. I try…I really try to be a nice guy, but when I see someone who obviously has some issues load their cart up with soda, cookies and other junk, they are just stupid. Wow…what a rant. Maybe we will try Costco or something.
After we sqeezed through the herd at Sam’s Club and made it through the doors without any potato chip grease on us, we went across the parking lot to Lowes. We really needed to get an area rug for under the dining room table. Every time I pull a chair out, sit on it and slide it back in, I cringe. SCRAAAATCH. I even nailed those plastic sliders under each chair leg and table leg. The problem is…if there is any dirt on the floor, the plastic slider slides the dirt too, for a nice big scratch.
So this is the rug we picked up. I wanted to go cheap…really cheap. I found one for about $29 and received a look of disgust from Laura. She has standards I guess. We looked around a bit and found this nice one for around $100. I think it was the nicest one in the store. It measures 7′x10′.
Well, what do you think? Do you love it? If yes, write a comment. If no, keep your thoughts to yourself. HAHA.
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Saturday, June 9th, 2007
Remember when I told you about how I was having a problem with my lawnmower? If I remember correctly, I told you that I would let you know how it goes when I received the replacement lawn mower parts.
So, here I am. I received all the parts last week and put the lawnmower back together last evening. Again, this is the list of parts that I ordered, along with part number…
- Lawnmower Carburetor (697415)
- Foam Air Filter Cleaner (698369)
- Spark Plug (Champion RJ19LM)
If you wanted to just order the diaphragm and manifold seal o-ring, here is what you would need…
- Carburetor Diaphrarm (495770)
- Manifold Seal O Ring (270344S)
Of course, this is all for a Briggs & Stratton engine Model Series 10G900. I put the whole thing back together last night and started the mower up. It runs perfectly. I can’t believe that I fixed it. In addition to the new parts, I changed the oil and asked Paul to sharpen the blade, which he did. Here are some photos of the reassembly below…
This is a photo of the top of the carburetor.
This is a photo of the underside of the carburetor. The longer tube sticking out is the primerpump tube and the shorter one is the fuel suction tube.
This is just a picture of the air filter element in the housing.
This is a photo of the extra parts the carburetor kit came with…the diaphragm, the carburetor/gas tank gasket, the fuel screen, the manifold seal o-ring and the diaphragm spring.
I put the spring in its spot and added the gasket as well as the diaphragm just for fit. After this, I actually took them off (except for the spring) and placed them on the proper spot on the gas tank. It is easier to screw the carburetor on that way. I also placed on the fuel screen.
Here is the new carburetor mounted on the old gas tank…
…and this is the gas tank mounted on the lawnmower engine.
This is a photo of the final reassembled lawn mower right after I mowed a little grass. Back together in a snap, but the only problem is…I have two lawnmowers now!!!
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Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
I have always known that we have a little grub problem in our lawn. Grubs are such ugly, disgusting little creatures.
Remember when I told you about planting our two new trees over the weekend? Well, when I was digging the hole for the Plum, I came across three grubs in the dirt. That’s a pretty high concentration for such a small area.
Grubs are bad for lawns because the eat the roots of grass and leave nice big brown areas. Last year, I spread out some insect control and fertilizer which seemed to help. This year, they are back. It seems like every time I dig a hole, I come across these ugly little things.
A while ago, I purchased some Spectracide® Triazicide® Once & Done!™ Insect Killer Granules. The price was right and the bag made a lot of promises. I don’t have a spreader, so it has taken me some time to pin down my neighbor Tim to let me borrow his.
Last night, before Laura and I went to the track, I decided to spread some of the Spectracide out over the back yard. I wanted to test it out back there, just in case it kills everything. I don’t know why it would kill the grass, but I am just being careful. I also had a small window because you need to spread the stuff either right before it rains or you need to water it in. So, it was drizzling last night. The time was right.
If nothing goes wrong in the backyard, I will spread it across the front yard and closer to the house. I’ll let you know what happens.
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Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
As mentioned in my previous post, our dryer stopped working last night.
Ok, here it is…when I pressed the start button, I only heard the motor struggling, with no turning of the drum. If I had the front door open and fooled the dryer to think it was closed by holding the switch, I could get the drum turning with my foot. It wouldn’t turn very well and I would smell something buring. It wasn’t the belt because I had already replaced that earlier and it was still tight. You know what? I didn’t even care. This is the same dryer that was leaving grease type stains on our clothes.
I thought it was time for a new dryer. I tried Home Depot to no avail. You can read about that mess here. I am sick of that store. It’s starting to turn into something similar to a dirty Wal-Mart. Well, that’s the one I go to anyway.
Paul was gracious enough to meet me at the Newburgh, NY Lowes to pick up a new dryer. I was going to get the GE dryer that cost about $350, but after talking with the sales guy and learning that most of the dryers they sell have the same parts, just different features, I opted for the less expensive Amana product. He also informed me that Whirlpool owned both Amana and Roper. Hmmm, interesting. Upon further inspection, I discovered many similarities between many of the dryers.
I got in a tiff with a guy at work. He kept telling me that I just have to get one of those $800 jobbers because they were real quality. I tried to tell him that this was a dryer to leave in this house after we move in a few years. I didn’t particularly need all that much expensive quality when I was going to hand it to someone else. I was basically looking for an “on” button with some good features that wouldn’t leave stains on our clothes. I mean, c’mon, how many options do you really need or use with a freakin’ clothes dryer? Perhaps the more expensive ones fold the clothes too.
Anyway, I got home and set the whole thing up. I turned it on and immediately heard this scraping noise coming from the back. Who knows what the heck that was. After a few minutes, it went away. I am going to chalk that one up to its break in period.
I think this may be a pretty decent dryer if it doesn’t break. Hey, let me ask you a question. How much money is a guy going to have to spend right before he and his sweet baby doll have to pay for a new porch? This is getting absurd. I mean, the lawnmower (I still haven’t received the parts for the other one), the air conditioner and now the dryer…I am not even going to ask you what next.
PS - Thank you Paul for doing me this big favor.
UPDATE: That scraping sound was driving me nuts, especially when I put in a load of wet laundry. I turned the dryer off, unplugged it and turned it around. Then, I noticed that the back cover was pushed in so it was in turn, pushing the exhaust fan housing against the exhaust fan. That was causing the sound. I popped it back out and now it is fine and quiet. I guess that happened during shipment or something.
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Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
I won’t boycott them, because I like them, but Home Depot is definately not on my good list anymore. Lowes is just blowing them out of the water. I thought that my trip to Home Depot the other night was tragic because of all the dying plants I saw, but this trip topped the cake.
Ok, here goes…our dryer bit the dust last night. After troubleshooting and diagnosing, I decided that our 30 year old dryer needed to be replaced. I will write another post about that later, but I wanted to share the exchange I had today with the salesperson…
ME: Hi, I want this dryer, let’s load it up.
THEM: Wait, you can’t have that, we have to order it.
ME: Ok, so you don’t have it in stock?
THEM: No, we can have it to your house on Friday.
ME: Ok, deliver is free since you don’t have it in stock, right?
THEM: No, it will cost you $55 for delivery.
ME: Ok, well, let’s just have it shipped to the store and I can come back on Friday to get it.
THEM: No, we don’t do that. I asked the manager and he said no.
ME: So you are trying to tell me that you don’t have the dryer in stock and if I want it, I have to have it delivered to my house for an additional $55? There is no way for me to pick it up from the store?
THEM: Yes. Well, we can give you a mail-in rebate for the delivery cost.
ME: Ok, well, does someone need to be at the house in Friday? I ask because I have a job.
THEM: Yes, someone needs to be at the house.
ME: Thank you. Goodbye. I will look at Lowes. (Thinking: Can you make this purchase any more difficult for me?)
A few hours later, I called Lowes to see if they had the same exact model in stock. Here is how the phone call went…
ME: Hi, do you have this model in stock?
THEM: Yes, come and get it.
ME: Thank you. I love you.
Now, mind you, I asked Home Depot about three different models on the floor. They didn’t have any. They had four in stock of the cheap one. The salesperson told me that they didn’t have enough room for all those dryers. Well, I guess they don’t want my money. Sorry guys. Lowes had enough room…so much in fact that they had five of the model that I wanted.
It really pisses me off about how they wouldn’t work with me at all. They wouldn’t even entertain the thought of getting the dryer to the store for me to pick up. I mean, my debit card was almost falling out of my pocket it wanted to be used so badly.
Maybe Paul was right.
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Monday, May 28th, 2007
So I broke down again. I couldn’t have my sweet honey baby sitting in our living room sweating from the summer
(or late spring) heat. The curtains are working well, but we still needed something to take the edge off.
I hopped in my car last night and headed for Lowes. Laura asked if I could drop her off to do some walking. I did that and went on my merry way. On my way to Lowes, I listened to the Irish show on NPR…more of that in the next post. So listen to this…I get to Lowes and pull in the parking lot. Hmmmm…seems like there aren’t too many cars here. I was on a mission because I wanted to get the new air conditioner as well as two more trees to plant close to the house. I want more shade on the front windows.
I saw a bunch of employees pushing the lawn tractors back inside, so I stopped and asked what time they closed. The girl told me 7PM. Man!!! I forgot it was Sunday. Oh well, I decided to drive over to Home Depot. This really screwed me up because I had the perfect air conditioner picked out online from all the reseach I did. It was Energy Star certified and everything. All I had to do was to go get it.
I walked into Home Depot and took a look at what they had as far as air conditioners. The big 24,500 BTU ones were absolutely huge and would never fit in my car. They also required 230 volt and I have 115. the one I was going to get at Lowes was the “Samsung 12,300 BTU Electronic Window Type Air Conditioner with ENERGY STAR®.” Seemed like a sweet ride. All I could seem to find was an 800 BTU air conditioner that was good for a 340FT room. This really sucked. I thought that maybe I could just get two of them and split them up among rooms. I put one in my cart and strolled into the garden center.
Gee…what happened to all the good trees? All gone. Boy, people sure do wipe these places out. I guess it is a good thing because that means people are intelligent enough to plant trees. Doesn’t help me out any though. I left there and went back to the air conditioner section again. I looked to my left and discovered all the air conditioners that I missed before. I noticed a nice LG 11,500 BTU air conditioner that covered about 550FT, so I was in pretty decent shape with that one. I plopped it in my cart and left.
Well, today Laura and I just got home from her parent’s house and turned on the new AC. Boy is it nice to cool the place off just a bit. I feel totally guilty, but we are going to keep it to a bare minimum. Also, Paul and I are hopefully going to hit the other Home Depot tomorrow to look through the slim pickins of trees again.
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Friday, May 25th, 2007
If you have ever asked yourself that question, just click this link to learn more about Bug Zappers.
I purchased a new bug zapper from Wal-Mart last Spring. Just to let you know, these things aren’t that easy to find. For some reason, Home Depot and Lowes don’t sell them. Whatever. The reason that I bought one is because the gnats out where I live are terrible.
Laura and I went for a walk two nights ago and were followed the entire way by them. I have made it my goal to reduce their population.
When I hung the bug zapper last year (and even this year), I did so about 8 feet from the ground. I thought this was a good place. When I turned it on, I didn’t hear much zapping. You know the sound…ZZZAAAAPPPPPP!!! I guess I just figured it worked a different way than all of the other ones I have seen.
Well, last night, I screwed a hanger to the side of our porch floor joist. The bug zapper now hangs about 2 feet off the ground. I turned it on and within 2 minutes, ZAP ZAP ZAP…about 3 per second. I was amazed.
So, the moral of the story; Hang your bug zapper closer to the ground, no matter what anyone tells you.
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