Nugland

I got myself an Agri-Fab 42 inch lawn sweeper, and I am very glad I did so. I bought mine when it was still properly summertime, and I ended up saving more than $50 compared to the current price. Fallen leaf season is upon us, apparently.

Yeah, it fills up… Continue reading

Sailing on Tuesday, if the current plan holds up… Continue reading

The boat is ready to sail… Continue reading

Hot-linked:

So now they tell us.

Seriously, though, the GOP has been claiming that reducing spending (mixed with, what, Unicorn farts?) would bring the economy back around for months now. Why the shift? Oh, right, because cutting spending has done the exact opposite. It is, like, actual economics or something… Continue reading

Still no pictures, sorry, but by the end of the day last Friday I was just too tired to take pictures. But I did get a lot done:

• All of the blocks have been set up and the sheets have been rove through and are ready to use.
• I finally set up the little bungee hangers (similar to these) to keep all

Poor little fried powerstrip. I hope nothing downstream got fried. I guess I’ll know in a minute… Continue reading

On Wednesday night, at around 9 pm, a small but strong thunderstorm came through Munith, the town where the house I live in is located. I heard a crack, and then the house’s electrical system went a little berserk.

Some lights got really bright and some others went dim. Some lights stopped working at all, and the ‘fancier’ electronics went haywire. (Power adaptors started giving off bizarre smells, other… Continue reading

India’s batsmen couldn’t hold on to force a draw. England bowled them out with 8 runs and an entire innings in hand.

Tendulkar fell 9 short of his 100th century… Continue reading

We went down to the marina for a couple of hours today, and things are looking good.

The new battery seems to do the job; the engine fired right up and ran fine (as long as the the engine cover was open; it will still choke on its own exhaust unless the cover is open or the boat is underway).

We bent the mizzen, so now we just… Continue reading

Fair warning: the fact that the current debate in Washington is between two (nearly identical) ‘austerity’ plans means that my country is ruled by assholes that apparently hate us citizens, and that the next ten years (guessing) will be miserable, and that after surviving that misery the country may be broken beyond immediate repair.

Normally it is just one side of the debate that insists on being ignorant of… Continue reading

I was screwing around with my Pentax Optio W20 (a waterproof point-and-shoot that is, apparently, worth more now than what I payed for it a few years ago), and I rediscovered its time-lapse functionality.

The above movie was shot from pre-dawn to post-dusk from the balcony of the condo we’re staying in near Dillon, Colorado Continue reading

… many of the current Republican leaders apparently believe that their own cockamamie ideas represent economic reality.

They think that history will somehow prove them to be prescient. They think that the Democratic party’s approach to economic problems will leave the US in a ditch (and that the voters will blame the Democrats for getting us there).

The problem they are going to have with that is that… Continue reading

Talking Points Memo is telling us that ‘McConnell Proposes Giving Obama Authority To Raise Debt Limit Alone’.

The gist of what McConnell is saying: ‘We [Republicans] can’t get you to see this our way, so you can have your stupid debt ceiling raised. But we’re warning you: you’ll have to face the consequences!’

The funny part is that they think government spending is actually the problem… Continue reading

The Republicans are holding up approval for raising the debt ceiling (translation: refusing to pay America’s bills) unless they get $2 trillion in budget cuts. That is a ridiculous position right now, for two obvious reasons: 1, cutting spending in a recession is very tough on the economy (and would lead to another recession) and, 2, not paying your bills leads to people not trusting you enough to lend you… Continue reading

Our inexpensive little weather station is now reporting online. Cool.

Here is a rough but accurate diagram (click to enlarge) of the Centennial’s electrical system.

The A/B/Both/Off selector can connect or disconnect the two batteries (A, engine, and B, house) to the switch panel.

Set to ‘A’, the engine battery would run everything, and would also be the only battery connected (for… Continue reading

This is the battery that is supposed to start the engine. It had died and gotten so badly corroded that it has lost its connection to the boat’s charging system (the wires just corroded right through and separated).

It will need to be replaced before the engine will start, and it will need its… Continue reading

Centennial is back in the water. July 3rd, 2011. We’re all kinda tired, but the thing is done… Continue reading

When I was first invited to join LinkedIn, I did. It was easy enough to do. I honestly didn’t think much of it (or much about it).

Over time, I would get emails asking me to join my ‘friends’ ‘professional networks’, and I usually would. It felt, well, sort of pointless to do so, but I would (usually) do it.

My initial unease with LinkedIn was caused by… Continue reading