'cause it's the right thing to do

Almost every night for the past week, Sandy and I have gotten the cushions off the couch, put 'em in front of the slidig door, and just gazed out into the back yard after sunset.

Sometime during the eveing, inevitably, Gods furry creatures will show up. Possums, racoons, and deer all seem to appreciate the cuisine left for them by us.

Now I know that sometimes the furry rodents can get into mischief. Racoons have a nasty habit of causing property damage whilst foraging for food/a place to live. I know of friends and family who have ways of dealing with the critters and I can't blame them--if a furry critter is negatively impacting on your abode/livelyhood, then by all means seek ways of removing the problem.

This little blog isn't about the debate between of relocating/killing of rodents that are damaging your property. Rather, this is regarding something our good friend Lynn mentioned in her blog a while back.

See, out 'in the world' today there are people who kill animals for sport. One can say that the seal hunt that Lynn ranted about isn't 'sport hunting', but is done to protect the Inuit way of life, or protect tradition.

Well, traditions should be re-examined with the passing of time in order to see if they are still applicable. In the 21st century, is the seal hunt still applicable? Are there still valid reasons to have a seal hunt? Or is it just for sport?

I don't know the answer. However, I think someone in the government should open the dialogue. This dialogue should be opened for any 'sport hunting' excercise.

The reason I bring it up? Every night Sandy and I look through the window and we see a deer (two or more if we're lucky). The deer are very skittish--when they're eating, they stop, look around, tighten their muscles, and are prepared to bolt at the least bit of sound/movement.

However, every once in a while they look up and stare into the window where we are. They look at us as we look at them. I don't know if they're thinking 'thanks for the food', or something else, nor does it really matter. All that I know is--for me anyway--when a deer looks at you--really looks at you, how in everything that's good and just in the world could you kill it for sport?

I'm going to crib an entire passage from one of my favourite shows right now--

"(A story from Jeremy (Joshua Malina), the new associate producer of late night sports highlights show, Sports Night. He has just come back from a hunting trip that was his first produced segment. He was asked whether he had a problem and, because he thought he should conform to his boss, said no. This is what he said when his boss asked him why he ended up sick and hyperventilating in the hospital.)

Jeremy: Yeah. Bob and Eddie were using the IR-50 Recon by Bushcomber. It's got a sixteen-inch microgrooved barrel with 30-30 mags, side-scope mount, wire- cutter sheath, quick-release bolt, mag catches and a three pound trigger. So I figured we must be going after a pretty dangerous duck. We shot a deer. (pause) In the woods near Lake Mattatuck on the second day. There was a special vest they had me wear so that they could distinguish me from things they wanted to shoot, and I was pretty grateful for that. Almost the whole day had gone by, we hadn't gotten anything. Eddie was getting frustrated and Bob Shoemaker was getting embarrassed. My camera guy needed to re-load so I told everybody to take a ten minute break. There was a stream nearby and I walked over with this care-package Natalie made me. I sat down and when I looked up I saw three of them; small, bigger, biggest. Recognizable to any species on the face of the planet as a child, a mother and a father. Now, the trick in shooting deer is you gotta get 'em out in the open. And it's tough with deer, 'cause these are clever, cagey animals with an intuitive sense of danger. You know what you have to do to get a deer out in the open? You hold out a twinkie. (pause) That animal clopped up to me like we were at a party. She seemed to be pretty interested in the twinkie, so I gave it to her. Looking back, she'd have been better off if I'd given her the damn vest. And Bob kind of screamed at me in whisper, "Move away!" The camera had been re-loaded and it looked like the day wasn't gonna be a washout after all. So I backed away, a couple of steps at a time, and closed my eyes when I heard the shot. Look, I know these are animals, and they don't play bridge and go to the prom, but you can't tell me that the little one didn't know who his mother was. (pause) That's gotta mean something. And later, at the hospital, Bob Shoemaker was telling me about the nobility and tradition of hunting and how it related to the native American Indians. And I nodded and I said that was interesting while I was thinking about what a load of crap it was. Hunting was part of Indian culture. It was food and it was clothes and it was shelter. They sang and danced and offered prayers to the gods for a successful hunt so that they could survive just one more unimaginably brutal winter. The things they had to kill held the highest place of respect for them, and to kill for fun was a sin. (pause) And they knew the gods wouldn't be so generous next time. What we did wasn't food and it wasn't shelter and it sure wasn't sports. It was just mean."

I think that pretty much sums up my idea about sport hunting--it isn't sports and it's just mean.

'cause I can

comma.csv

This is for work. I may remove this message later.

Eh, my life is IS support...

but with no pictures

During our afternoon/evening of cleaning up and puttering around the house, we occasionally glanced out into the back yard.

The weather--kinda miserable. Rain/wet snow and everything's damp and cold.

That didn't stop Foo-Foo from partaking in some food. We felt bad for it 'cause it looked cold and wet, but nature takes care of its own. All we can do is offer a little food and help it on its merry...

After we finish up doing the household chores, we glance out the window.

A deer!

So we watch for a bit--the deer scampers off.

We decide to wait and see what happens.

Well, papa used to have this expression--'corner of King and James', implying how busy something is with traffic.

Well that applies to our back yard.

We grab the cushions off the couch, lay them on the floor in front of the sliding door, and just watch to see what transpires.

Well, first Scooter pops up right in front of the sliding door. His path to the food takes him under the nieighbours porch and behind our BBQ, which is just beside the sliding door. So when Scooter wants to eat, he sneaks along the edge of the house.

So there he is, eating away. Then he hears something and scampers off under the porch again.

2 seconds later, a deer shows up.

So we watch the deer for a bit. It was Junior. Junior was awfully hungry 'cause he ate for a long time.

Then he walked off.

Just before we were going to call it a night and get up off the cushions and go to bed, Papa deer shows up. Papa is a mite jumpy--any little thing causes him to tense and prepare to bolt. Thankfully he took enough time to grab a few bites. Junior showed up again, and Papa deer and Junior ate together.

Papa seems to know we're there watching him. He looks up occasionally and stares straight at us staring at him. He doesn't seem to mind that bit, but any other noise sets him on edge.

When the two deer were finished eating, they walked off.

That's when we decided to call it a night.

We're almost afraid to leave the back door for fear of missing something. Today's tally was Foo-Foo, Scooter, Fred and Junior. And, the status quo--stacks of finches on the birdfeeders.

Oh wait--Sandy just reminded me--Chippy showed up as well. I think though that this is Baby Chippy 'cause he's alot smaller than he was last summer.

So there you are.

Yet another photo blog about nature

I was just about to go outside to fill up the food containers for the various critters that visit our home when I saw the deer.

A deer in the afternoon

So we just let the deer eat--we didn't disturb it.

Eating dinner

After the deer had its fill and went its merry, I loaded up the deer food.

Deer food

And this time, Sandy took a movie--

Deer movie

See all the latest pics of our semi-regular visitors--

Spring 2006 Pictures

We're pretty happy with how things are turning out.

no pics this time...

So dad and Di came over for dinner tonite. We showed them pics of the deer from the night before, and went onto the story about how there were two and such before we got the camera out.

And we told them how happy we were that the nature is showing up at our back door.

Before dinner started, we had a look out the window. We saw Foo-Foo, our rabbit friend. That was great--Di and Dad could see at least one of the furry woodland creatures that come to our back yard.

So dinner progresses, and Sandy has a quick boo into the back yard.

This time there was a deer. Not the baby deer we had the night before, but a really big one. It just stood there, looking at us while we looked at it.

Then we went back to our dinner and left the deer to its meal.

The rest of the night we had the occasional look out into the yard and didn't see much of anything.

That is, until we're getting ready for bed.

Sandy states with glee, "Scooter's here!!"

I came a runnin' and had a boo. Yep, there's Scooter, but this time he came with a friend.

Yep, two of our favourite furry creatures--possums.

And one was even sitting right next to our back step!

We're pretty excited about that.

All of this, of course, has led to this discussion--

"You know we can never move away from here," she lets me know in no uncertain terms.

Yeah, I'm pretty happy, and it' isn't because of the furry woodland creatures.

a deer!

Sandy called me downstairs all excited-like!

"Deer!!" she said.

This time there was no soap suds in my ears so I heard her.

Bringing the camera, we had a look. Right in our very own back yard was a deer eating the deer food we put out there.

It was the first time we saw deer right in the garden--we've been putting the deer food out there all winter but have never seen a deer eating it.

So we were a little surprised tonight to see one. Sandy saw two at first, but one decided to wander off before I got the camera set up.

A blurry picture of a deer!

The deer wouldn't stand still for a pic so we'll have to put up with these blurry pictures.

Another visitor earlier in the evening--our friendly neighbourhood rabbit

Better pic of the rabbit!

Now that we're getting these nightly visitors, we have to come up with names.

So to start--

Our racoon--Bandit

The possum--Scooter

Fuzzy rabbit--Foo-Foo

And the deer--Fred, Ethel, and Junior ('cause there's usually 3 of 'em)

We're pretty happy with our furry neighbours.

Possum and racoon dining together

I know the pictures are a little dark--I didn't want to use the flash and scare our little furry woodland creatures.

However, you can see in the pics that we had a few visitors last night.

Actually, last night was a very busy night as far as God's 4 legged animals and our abode were concerned.

Just around dinner time, whilst I was filling up the bird feeders, I heard some scampering coming from the other side of the railing behind our house. I looked up in time to see 3 deer scamper down the hill and across the valley. I had no idea they were there until they fled away.

So that was interesting enough.

Then, when I was doing the work on the new desk, I occasionally glanced out hte back window. Much to my surprise, we had a repeat visit from another skittish animal--our rabbit friend. He had shown up the other night, and we took pictues, but we decided to leave the rabbit to its meal last night.

Rabbit visitor the other night

Wow! That was two visitors!

Thinking that was the end of it, we were much surprised when, just before bed, we had a quick look at the back yard--

Possum and Racoon

A possum and a racoon! And they weren't fighting!! That was nice. It looked as if the Racoon was focused on eating the deer food, and the possum was busy eating the nyjer seed that we use for the goldfinches. Huh...

After a bit, the racoon went his merry, and we were left with the possum

The Possum

So it was a little busy around our home last night. We really liked it, though

Going back into the closet

After painting the closet (we'll need a few more coats, but that'll happen soon) and a quick trip to Ikea and a boo at the 'As Is' section, we whipped together a nice desk for our web server.

When we have time and materials, we'll build a shelf unit above to store stuff.

Mess 'o wires

We will also work on tidying up the spaghetti factory that usually comes with this type of operation.

But for now, we're pleased with the results thus far.

Sandy's and Sparky's Space--Welcome to your new home.

Well, the hackers couldn't do it...

So I'll do their work for them.

Yep, we were down for another few hours last night.

This on the account of some past CSA approved aluminum wiring in the house--

Note to self--never *EVER* use aluminum wiring for *ANYTHING*!!!

In the process of doing our room, I decided that now would be a good time to redo the plugs and switches. The ones we had in there were painted over so many times (not by us) and didn't look good.

A quick trip over to the Home Despot netted a few electircal items--box of plugs and switches, some 14 gauge copper wiring, marettes, and the most important thing--anti-oxidizing cream in a tube.

What's the anti-oxidizing cream for?

Well, that's the important bit, and brings back into the conversation the crappy aluminum wiring.

See, aluminum wiring, being approved by the 'smart people' over at the CSA is what many contractors used in the late '70's and into the '80's for household wiring. Under 'normal' conditions, aluminum wiring is perfectly fine. Unfortunately, under not-so-normal conditions, aluminum wiring has a tendancy to oxidize. When that occurs, there is resistance to the electrical current in the wire, and thus the wire heats up. When the wire heats up, the rubber coating melts. When the rubber coating melts, the aluminum wiring is exposed and can cause sparks and/or fire.

"But wait!", says the masses, "why would anyone use aluminum wiring in the first place??"

Well, back then it was cheaper than copper wiring. And in a contractors business, cost is the bottom line when you want to build houses and make a profit.

Again, if aluminum wiring is done properly, no worries at all.

The problem arises when the aforementioned cost factors in--aluminum wiring may be cheaper than copper wiring, but the plugs and switches rated for aluminum wiring are at least 4 times as expensive as plugs and switches for copper wiring (as I noted at the Home Despot).

So this is what happens--the contractor installs aluminum wiring (cheaper than copper wiring) and then also installs copper-rated wall sockets and light switches (cheaper than aluminum plugs and switches).

And any high school science student can tell you that if you put two different metals together, oxidization will occur.

So the aluminum wiring is oxidizing on the copper terminals on all the switches and plugs throughout our house.

And in at least one spot, this oxidization caused the protective rubber coating on the aluminum wire to melt. That, in turn, led to sparks coming out of one of our wall sockets. The fuse went (thankfully) and I took out the oxidized material, and we're good to go.

Unfortunatley, that was one plug out of about 30 we have in the house.

So I decided to start doing all the plugs. And switches. And probably the lighting junction boxes (we'll see about that one).

The very expensive fix is to rip off the drywall and rewire the entire house with copper from the fuse box to wherever. But I'm not in the mood for that kinda mess and financial outlay.

Another option is to buy aluminum rated switches and plugs and install them. As I stated earlier, aluminum rated hardware runs at least 4 times the price of copper rated ones, and you don't get the wide range of stylish options available in the less expensive copper rated hardware.

So what does one do?

Well, one talks with 'experts' in the field!

My good friend Mark (who Mike Holmes want to be when he grows up) tells me that you cna get some copper wiring, marette it to the aluminum wiring and use this special anti-oxidizing stuff--NuLox, if I recall.

So that's exactly what I did--I spliced 6 inch copper wires onto the aluminum wires, coating the joining ends in the anti-oxidizing stuff before I twisted them together and maretted 'em, and we're good to go. Shoulda taken pics of the operation but forgot until after I was done, but eh, whatever.

Put the copper rated plugs nad switches onto the copper wiring, pushed everything back into the box, put in the cover plate and we're as good as new--3 wall sockets and 1 light switch done. Many more to go...

This leads right to the first point--of course the web server is in the room that we're working on, so it had to be off fore a few hours last night as I rewired the wall sockets.

Sorry about that. I think I'm done for now. We should be up for a while...

And the best news of all--I didn't electocute myself. That's always a good thing.

And my eyes get a little misty

Maybe I'll talk about being "on the outside, looking in" in more depth at some point in the future, but for now, here's something special--

Grand Slam 2006 - Day Three, in which our former Next Gen star and wonderful writer, Wil Wheaton, takes us behind the scenes at a sci-fi convention.

I've appreciated science fiction basically my entire life. From the first episide of Star Trek that my brother made me watch when I was a wee lad, to the current 'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Doctor Who', I've loved sci-fi in most of its various iterations.

And I've always wanted to be 'in on the in'--wanted to get my hand into the science fiction universe. My 'little successes' were the 'LEGO Wars' movies I made with my friend Jake back in high school, and a few 'written for class' sci-fi stories (which actually got me above my C+ usual mark, if I recall)

Anyway, my delving into the science fiction universe has always been at most little more than an interest for reality doth concern me greatly--no time for 'childish pursuits', as my papa would state.

But it's always been there and my appreciation for the genre has never waned.

So when I read Wil's blog entry, specifically--

"I knew Ron was coming to the show, because I'd read it in his blog late Saturday night, and I hoped that I'd get a chance to talk with him one-on-one, but I didn't expect that I'd run right into him backstage before he went on.

He lit up when he saw me for the first time in over fifteen years, and my prepared speech about how I didn't know if he remembered me flew out of my head. . . . I felt a surge of emotion well up in my chest, and before I knew the words were coming out of my mouth, I said, "When we worked together on TNG, I was too young, and too immature to appreciate what you gave me as an actor, and what you did for my character. I know it's fifteen years late, but I wanted to say thank you."

He smiled warmly. "Thank you," he said. "It really means a lot to me to hear that.""

I can just picture the scene, and it just reminded me of that feeling I used to get--'looking in from the outside'.

Wil's chat with Jonathan Frakes reinforced that--my eyes got a little misty reading about the meeting between two friends.

All my life's choices has gotten me to where I am today. There is nothing that would make me think about changing who I am or where I am right now--I've never been happier or more content. But the beauty of science fiction is the imaginging, 'What If...?'

Thank you Wil Wheaton for bringing us readers along on these trips. I may never know first-hand what it's like to be part of 'your universe', but thru your blogs, I can experience the 'what if...?'

And I appreciate that.

Yet another reason why I'm not a church goer anymore.

A GRACIOUS CORRECTION OF THE JERUSALEM POST, in which Jerry Falwell posts a 'correction'--

"Earlier today, reports began circulating across the globe that I have recently stated that Jews can go to heaven without being converted to Jesus Christ. This is categorically untrue."

Categorically untrue? The part where Jews can get into heaven without believing that the 'blood of the lamb' is the only way to salvation??

I've stated this before--dunno if it was in a blog or elsewhere, but I'll state it here for all to see (in case you missed it)

Israel is God's chosen, according to the Old Testament.

There's no getting around that. The entirety of the Old Testament is about Israelites and their relationship with God.

Again, to be perfectly succinct--God Chose Israel. Out of all the nations on the planet (and there were many already), God chose Israel to be His people.

And now, Mr. Jerry Falwell (and others like John Hagee) are stating that God's choice isn't good enough because there's this line in the Bible--well, I'll let Mr. Falwell state it--

"In this age of political correctness and diversity, the traditional evangelical belief that salvation is available only through faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is often portrayed as closed-minded and bigoted. But if one is to believe in Jesus Christ, he must believe in His words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). I simply cannot alter my belief that Jesus is The Way to heaven, as He taught."

Mr. Falwell, you cannot alter your belief which basically states that Jews are going to Hell unless they convert to Christianity?

How else can we interpret it?

Sure you say, "While I am a strong supporter of the State of Israel and dearly love the Jewish people and believe them to be the chosen people of God, I continue to stand on the foundational biblical principle that all people — Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Jews, Muslims, etc. — must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to enter heaven."

I'm calling you on it. i'm calling you, and Mr. Hagee, and any other leader of the Christian Church to put aside your blinders. This isn't the 'political correctness' of the 21st century--this is about justice and you making unequivocal statements that condemn anyone who does not believe as you do to eternal damnation.

I do not believe as you do. I've seen many folks standing in the chapel on Sunday morning belting out the hymns of yore and then stand in a bar on Monday evening belting out profanities and vulgarities that would make a sailor blush. They believe in Jesus Christ--they say His name often enough through the week.

On this part we agree--

"I want to reaffirm that I am a Zionist in terms of Israel’s entitlement to its homeland. I continue to pray daily for the peace of Jerusalem, as the Bible instructs Christians to do. And I have dedicated my life and ministry to working for the peace of Israel. I dearly cherish the highly esteemed Jabotinsky Award which was given me in 1981 by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. I have led thousands of pilgrims through the Land Of Israel during my 31 tours over 36 years. I seriously believe that few Americans have invested more time and resources in the defense of Israel in this generation."

I too, pray for peace. I've attended rallies and have called and written politicians to not begin wars and to resolve things in a peaceful manner. We have both done our bit for 'King and Country'.

But I believe that everyone is equal before the Lord--no matter what they believe in. If people follow His law that is written on their hearts, that is what matters. As others have pointed out--even satan believes in Jesus Christ. Believing in Him isn't the way to salvation.

As a personal note, I have a few family relatives that are staunch athiests. They don't believe in any higher deity at all.

However, during my life's travels thus far, I have not witnessed any greater 'Salt of the Earth' people--folks who would give you the shirt of thier backs, even if it's their last shirt. They have always been there for family, friends, strangers, and the entire community. They give to others, they've done for others, and they have done so without wanting glory for themselves. No cursing have I heard form them, no malicious slander--all I have ever heard from them is words of encouragement for the well-being of everyone around them. At no time have I heard, "Look at us! We 've done all these things! We're great! People must listen to us!" Unlike, say, "I have led thousands of pilgrims through the Land Of Israel during my 31 tours over 36 years. I seriously believe that few Americans have invested more time and resources in the defense of Israel in this generation."

Mr. Falwell--if you ever have the time, sit down at the kitchen table with these people and you will truly see the work of the Lord coming from people who don't believe in the Lord.

And yet your beliefs can't encomapss them being in heaven because of a verse in the Bible.

"Well done, good and faithful servant" is another line in the Bible. It didn't have anything to do with Jews or Gentiles, believers or heathens--it states in the most simplest of terms that if you follow the laws He put in your heart, you'll do all right by Him.

Mr. Falwell, you say, "Like the Apostle Paul, I pray daily for the salvation of everyone, including the Jewish people." I think that you're "preaching to the choir"--the Jewish people are already saved, no matter what you personally believe. And by saying, "I continue to pray daily for the peace of Jerusalem, as the Bible instructs Christians to do"... well, I pray because it's the right thing to do (for me)--not because the Bible 'told me to'.

Actually, I think right there is the issue. From this article and from what I've seen from the telly, you treat the Bible as if it's your parent--"The Bible says this! We have to do what the Bible says! If we don't, we'll be in trouble!"

I'm not 6 years old anymore. I'm an adult. With adulthood comes discernment. Books cannot dictate to me what is right and wrong, nor can you.

As for me and my house, we pray daily that the 'selective interpretation' of Bible quotes becomes a thing of the past. We pray daily that leaders of the church may some day understand that salvation doesn't come from a line in the Bible, but from following on a daily basis His laws that are written on our hearts.

Finally, we pray daily for understanding and peace between all peoples.

it blowed up realll good!

To prepare for the reno in the television/computer room, almost everything had to be moved out.

"But wait!" the masses cried, "We want 'Sandy's and Sparky's Space!!!"

Knowing your needs, I had the idea to move the web server into a corner, out-of-the-way like.

So that's what I did--set up the server in an obscure corner and went to turn it back on.

I hear this *bzzzzzt* coming from the power supply, and the system wouldn't turn on.

Having been in the system repair business, i knew the power supply was shot.

"Eh, maybe it's just a little dust causing the short!" says the bad voice in my head.

shaking some dust out, I turn the system on again. Ahh, the fan is spinning now...

*Bzzzt!* accompanied by smoke this time.

Maybe I didn't shake enough dust out. I give the power supply a good solid blow.

*Cough* from all the dust.

There. That should do it.

Now at this point, I shold state that this is the wrong way of system repair--shaking out the dust doesn't do a wee bit of good. However, in my defence, a) I'm fundamentally lazy and b) I was thinking about the floor installation.

So it should be no surprise that the third time, being the charm and all, when I turned on the power switch a very loud *BANG!!!* and a huge puff o' smoke comes billowing out of the power supply.

Yep--quite dead.

Waittaminit--my spare system has exactly the same power supply!

Within 2 minutes, I had the dead power supply in the trash and the replacement in the server.

However, the damage done--the system wouldn't turn on at all. Not even a beep.

I'm figuring at least the mother board (for no beeping on startup). Probably the CPU and memory as well, but without actually swapping parts, I won't know.

But I have a floor to install, so out goes the dead web server, not to be looked at until the renos are finished.

So that's what I did. WHen I was done the floor installation, I went back to figuring out what I could do to get our website back on-line.

Well, I do own a P4-3.0 GHz with a gig of memory and a half gig video card that I purchased over a year ago so I could play EverQuest 2. And since I started dating Sandy, that system just kinda sat around for the whole year--maybe i'll make that into the new web server.

That's what I did--took the hard drives from the old server and started copying over the web site to the new system.

Turns out that, along with the power supply, the mother board, probably the CPU and memory, that I toasted 2 of the 3 hard drives that were in the old web server. Note to self--no being lazy in the future where systems are concerned!!

Thankfully, my backup scripts that run all the time worked like a charm and there was a recent copy of the entire web site on the one remaining working hard drive.

After a quick copy, I started to get Apache running.

I'll spare the details of the installaion of Apache and all the other things that take to run Sandy's and Sparky's Space. Bottom line--we're (mostly) up and running.

We're mising a few things, like the web cam and such, but eh, I don't have the robot set up at this time anyway.

Well, again, welcome back. Sorry we were missing for 30+ hours.

We'll endeavour to keep the site up for your viewing pleasure.

or "Why was the web server down so long, Charlie Brown?"

Nice floor...

Saturday, a little after lunch, Sandy and I get this great idea about continuing the house renovations. After painting the room, we decided that now would be a good time to do the floor. What we had in there was some really old--let me rephrase--extremely ratty and ancient carpet.

So out came the carpet, and in goes the fake hardwood (laminate, they call it--Ikea Tundra clickable flooring.)

K, it wasn't that easy. Of course, that's status quo.

When I removed the carpet and started prepping the sub floor, I found out what the major obstacle was going to be.

Concrete block lip above the subfloor

Turns out that the top of the 10 inch concrete block wall separating the units in the condo complex was higher than the sub floor. Maybe I'll try my hand at a Calum-type picture home reno picture--

Professionally drawn diagram of floor issue

The exposed top of the 10 inch blocks from the main floor were higher than the sub floor of the second floor.

Normally this wouldn't be a problem because if there were 2x3 walls with drywall, the concrete lip would be hidden under the wall.

Unfortunately, I found out that the drywall on the second floor is basically glued right to the 6 inch concrete blocks on the second floor. Thus, there's about an inch wide concrete lip running along one side of the room.

Now there are basically two things you could do to remedy this issue--you could raise the sub floor--which requires additional outlay of money for plywood, or you take down the concrete lip to below the sub floor.

(You could also ignore the issue alltogether and just butt the hardwood to the concrete, but that would look pretty uglay, if you ask me, so that option was off the table)

I decided for the 'getting rid of the concrete lip' avenue.

Got some power tools off my good friend, Bill, and went at it. Took a little longer than anticipated, and created quite the mess, but in the end, the concrete edge was gone.

Concrete lip all gone

Then the clean up, and finalizing the floor prep

3 inch wood screws every few inches along the joists to stop the squeaky floor

Important prep work

Won't bore you with too many more details about the installation--check out the pics if you're so inclined.

At the end of the day, after all that hard work, the result--

Finished floor

And then with the moving of furniture back into the room--making it all gezzelik-like--

Done and done!

All in all, it was a good way to spend a weekend. The concrete was a bit of a surprise, and the really disgusting carpet/underpad... will remain commentless... but now that it's done, I think it was definitely worth the extra effort.

And this is why I didn't get around to fixing 'Sparky's and Sandy's Space' until Sunday evening.

We still have to do the closet and the baseboards, so there'll be a few evenings over the next couple of weeks.

Now we have a cozy telly room!

See all pics for this renovation--Television Room Reno

sorta...

I'll expound later, but Sandy's and Sparky's Space blew up.

Blew up reallll good!

So I had to put together anotehr webserver quickly.

Compounded with that--I've done regular backups of the actual website (so that's the good bit)--but I didn't do any backups of the OS and Apache configuration. It's amazing how much I've added sporadically over the years to Apache--Perl, PHP, other things, so we can bring you blogs, picture galleries, and other things.

I'm still working on teh picture bit but thought I'd say hi and giving you a heads up.

There's going to be some things not working and a few red X's where pictues should be, but we'll get there.

By the way, we were down from about 4 p.m. yesterday to about a half hour ago--10 p.m. today. That's 30ish hours. That's the longest I've been without a webstie since I started this thing back in '93. Eh...

There were extraneous reasons why this didn't get back up quickly as well, but those'll be other blog entries.

Welcome back to Sandy's and Sparky's Space.

Didya miss us?

So to my little friends, stop reading this.

It's been on my mind very much as of late, so I have to talk about it.

But it's an 'adult discussion', so to my little friends out there who might be reading this, talk to mom or dad and don't read the rest of this--go MSN or something...

South Dakota, seemingly in a rush to overturn Roe v. Wade, has recently passed legislation that makes 'almost' all abortions illegal. Any doctor performing abortions can be jailed for performing one. Presumably, they are doing this because the Supreme Court is leaning towards the right. We'll see about the fallout of that when it happens.

For one opinion, read Molly Ivins opinion column on CNN--South Dakota's stand

Her facetious response to the state legislation--

"I find this so profound I am considering putting Sen. Napoli in charge of all moral, ethical and medical decisions made by women. Certainly lucky for the women of South Dakota that he's there, and perhaps that's what we all need -- a man to make decisions for us in case we should decide to do something serious just for our own convenience.

. . .

In South Dakota, pharmacists can refuse to fill a prescription for contraceptives should it trouble their conscience, and some groups who worked on the anti-abortion bill believe contraception also needs to be outlawed. Good plan. After that, we'll reconsider women's property rights, civil right and voting rights.

For years, the women's movement has been going around asking, "Who decides?" as though that were the issue. Well, here's the answer. Bill Napoli decides, and if you're not happy with that arrangement, well, you'd better be prepared to do something about it."

In a similar vein, there's a guy out there running his own website--Calling all Wingnuts. What he does is call all the right-wing radio shows--Bill O'Reilly, Rush... whoever, and engages them in 'debate'. As far as I'm concerned, debating personal values with persons so firmly entrenched in their own ideals is a waste of time, but all the power to you if that's your goal.

But anyway, here's an entry--

Wilkow: When in doubt, shout!

If you want to listen to the audio, go ahead, but it ends in a shouting match.

The hypothetical situation that is mentioned is thought provoking, however--

"In a nutshell… One of the bloggers at firedoglake asked a key question that should be asked of all pro-lifers that claims to believe that life begins at conception. To wit:

You find yourself in a blazing fertility clinic - the fire is ferocious. In one corner there is a two year old girl. In another, there is a petri dish with five fertilized blastula in it. You can rescue one or the other, but not both. Which do you rescue, the girl or the petri dish?"

As the host of the show rightly points out (during the shouting match, of course), this is a 'Catch-22' scenario and there is no right answer. If he chose the kid, then the fertilized eggs aren't really human. If he chose the 5 eggs, then what's he thinking not choosing the kid.

But wait! There is a right answer--the right answer for yourself.

And, for me, that's what this entire pro-choice/pro-life thing comes down to--the right answer for yourself.

If the situation was black and white--'life begins at this exact point!'--then there would be no debate. However, we haven't come to a consensus as to when 'life' actually starts. Some say it's when the sperm meets the egg. Some say 2nd trimester. Some say when the baby can survive unaided outside the womb, and some say not until the baby actually comes out of the womb all natural-like.

So there's differing opinions. And since there's differing opinions, how can I dictate to someone else what the right answer is. I know what it is for me, but what is right for me in this case might not be right for someone else.

What would I do if I'm in a blazing fertility clinic and I could only do one thing? I wouldn't hesitate to grab the 2 year old and run out.

See, that's where the host was wrong--there is a right answer--the right answer for yourself. If you have convictions, you stand up for them, no matter what the repercussions are.

Listening to a followup, we find that 'God' is with the host.

"Also in this call, you’ll hear more of what I like to call, “What we’re up against.” The very next caller was a gem… She was some old Christian lady that told Andrew that I was godless and he should expect challenges since he had God on his side…"

Well, if someone has God on their side, then they are definitely suppose to stand up for their convictions. I mean I've heard it in Christian circles basically my entire life--"What Would Jesus Do?" If you want to put aside hypothetical scenarios, there's a role-model right there. The Pharisees were always setting up 'hypothetical scenarios' for Jesus-- (Matthew 22:15-22, NIV)

"15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"

21 "Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away."

Jesus answered. He didn't complain and shout about a 'Catch 22', or whine about no right answers--He gave an answer--His answer--what He believed was right.

At least have the courage of your convictions! Who cares what other people think! Do what's best for you!

I think, for me anyway, this is why I'm having such a difficult time with Christianity lately. I was raised in a Christian house, attended church on a regular basis, and even spent some time going to a Christian university. All that said, it still amazes me to this day when I hear and see supposed believers of God berating others. When Christians dictate to everyone else what is morally right and morally wrong, I cringe. When they pass legislation--well, that's just way over the line.

Here's a fascinating website I stumbled across whilst researching this topic--"The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion" and one excerpt--

"In 1973, after Roe v. Wade, abortion became legal but had to be performed in a hospital. That of course was changed later. For the first 'legal abortion day' I had scheduled five procedures. While scrubbing between cases, I was accosted by the Chief of the OB/Gyn service. He asked me, 'How many children are you going to kill today?' My response, out of anger, was a familiar vulgar retort. About three months later, this born-again Christian called me to explain that he was against abortion but his daughter was only a junior in high school and was too young to have a baby and he was also afraid that if she did have a baby she would not want to put it up for adoption. I told him he did not need to explain the situation to me. 'All I need to know', I said, 'is that SHE wants an abortion.' Two years later I performed a second abortion on her during her college break. She thanked me and pleaded, 'Please don't tell my dad, he is still anti-abortion.'" (Physician, Washington State)"

We just never know what's going to happen in our lives. Compounded with the idea that there is no definitive point in the pregnancy that we can point to and state emphatically, "There's a child", then we have no right, nor should we have a right, to tell someone else what they can or cannot do to their own bodies.

Don't start with the 'Dave believes that all abortions are on the table--what kind of person is he?!?' I didn't say that. I have a very firm belief that partial birth abortions is killing a baby, for the baby could survive well on its own that late in the pregnancy.

But at the other end of pregnancy, studies have shown that more often than naught a woman’s body may naturally flush out a fertilized egg during menstruation--that's part of a natural cycle, yet many pro-life advocates state adamantly that 'life begins when the sperm fertilizes the egg!'

Getting back to Molly's opinion article, here's another bit that I found worthy of note--

"The South Dakota Legislature has made it a crime for a doctor to perform an abortion under any circumstances except to save the life of the mother. There are no exceptions for rape, incest or to preserve the health of the mother. Should this strike you as hard cheese, State Sen. Bill Napoli, R-Rapid City, explains how rape and incest could be exceptions under the "life" clause. Napoli believes most abortions are performed for "convenience," but he told "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" about how he thinks a "real-life example" of the exception could be invoked:

"A real-life description to me would be a rape victim, brutally raped, savaged. The girl was a virgin. She was religious. She planned on saving her virginity until she was married. She was brutalized and raped, sodomized as bad as you can possibly make it, and is impregnated. I mean, that girl, could be so messed up, physically and psychologically, that carrying that child could very well threaten her life.""

Sen Bill Napoli is already making exceptions for his 'God believing' constituents--only the 'religious' and virtuous who have been 'brutally raped' are allowed to have an abortion, and only if there could be severe emotional trauma to carrying the baby.

Well, what about a non-religious person? If that person was brutally raped, by Bill's criteria--no abortion for her.

Again, this is where the Christian hypocrisy shows quite clearly.

We all frame the issue to make our side look better--Pro-lifers ask, "Is death created when the sperm fertilizes the egg?" The question itself is biased. But again, courage of convictions--I say, "Death wasn't created". At this point, the pro-lifer wins the argument with, "Well, if death wasn't created, then the opposite must be true--life was created!"

Nope. That's wrong. We don't know when life starts. We do know that the sperm and the egg form into a cell, which begins a process which leads to a baby. When in the process actual life shows up, we don't know. This isn't 'the best sound bite wins the day'--this is real life, with real complexity. This isn't won or lost because someone has a pithy "Is death created" argument.

And if we don't know, then we shouldn't pass 'moral' legislation which denies the freedom of choice to half the population.

Furthermore, the entire focus is on the fertilized egg. If I were to frame this issue my way, I'd start talking about guys keeping their zippers zipped up. In this particular instance, it really does take two to tango. If you want abortion clinics to disappear tomorrow, you get your boys to keep their pants on. Within 9 months, no more abortions. And yet there'll be people who whine that "we can't supervise our kids all the time! We can't control every part of their lives!!" Well, if you can't stop your kids having sex, then you certainly shouldn't take away a medical procedure when they get themselves in 'an expectant way' and can't handle it.

Well, this has gone way too long and I didn't say everything I wanted to say, but there you are.

Sandy taking the wallpaper off the wall

I'll try to keep the pics organized by room...

Anyway, Sandy and I were just finishing up a good hour of watching Gilmore Girls when she got hte great idea to start our renos on the television room.

Sandy wants to get painting this weekend, so we're prepping the room for that.

So on went the water and wallpaper glue remover, and up with the scraper, and we get one big mess.

Mess on the floor

Actually, since it was only a border, it was quite easy to take off the wall--so we had a good time doing it.

I don't think I'll be rivaling Holmes on Homes in the near future, but I'm having fun with these little house renovations.

We took pics of some potential problems we may have before we start painting. The first is a relatively easy one--a hole in the plaster from the door handle--

Hole in the wall

The next issue probably won't be as easy to fix. When these townhouses were first built 30ish years ago, they didn't seem to do the soil compression tests, so the house settled quite a bit. This caused some pretty major cracks and twists in the drywall--

The corner of the room not looking very good

But we'll get some expert advice from the people we know, and then we'll probably wing it--it'll be fun no matter what happens.

So this is the first step, and it's a good one.

Thanks to Sandy for making this place our home

See all the Television Reno pics here--Television room renos. More pics will be added as we go along.

Note the top of the wonderful DVD cabinet in the last pic!

Glass Cabinet

This isn't the epic that our last trip to Ikea turned out to be, but it was a little fun so we're posting it (and this time, Sandy was there, so there's that bit...)

We're in the 'Sauga this weekend. After the robot competition yesterday, we decided to remain in the GTA and enjoy the weekend with Momma Jean and other friends in the area.

Part of the stay, of course, was a trip to Ikea--not the Burlington location, but the one right there on Kipling and Queensway. I'm told that it's the biggest Ikea in the area--it had it's own double level parkinglot, so that's big!

Well, we park the mighty Dodge in the lower level ('cause it was emptier) and walk straight to the 'As Is' ('cause that's our favourite spot).

We look for anything resembling antiquee. There were a few pieces there, but no matching buffet for our kitchen.

There was, however, this little shelving unit with glass doors--

Pretty nice, eh?

It holds like a gazillion CD's and almost as many DVD's. We're using it for the DVD option in our den. But you didn't need to know that bit.

The bit you needed to know was the bit at the checkout counter--

"Hey Sandy and Dave!"

Wha-? Derek??

"Hey Derek!"

See, Derek was also at Ikea that day. He happened to notice that, whilst in the underground parking lot, there was this rusty mighty Dodge, and there just happened to be all this plywood and stuff in the back of the pickup--all painted grey-like.

So he deduced that the truck was probably ours.

So whilst he was looking for what he was there for, he kept an eye out for us. We were just on our way out.

So we had a great chat with Derek, and we got another 'As Is' antiquee piece of furniture for the house.

Yep, we always seem to be surprised when we go to Ikea.

Many robots competing on the field

Update March 6, 2006

Added a picture of the virtual gear train

A virtual image of the motors and gearing

As well, here's the MLCad file--MLCad file of rtl20 scanner robot

- - -

After all the work on my 'bot, the day of the competition arrived.

We descended on Oakwood Library in Toronto, Ontario with our creations.

This is the first rtl competition where more than two robots were competing at the same time.

There were 8 entries. 6 of them had the transfer mechanism and the transfer openings on the same 'bot.

Chris getting ready to run his 'bot

Two contestants decided to separate the two different functions into two different robots.

Wayne having a boo at his stationary transfer station

There were two robots that basically sat there and waited for other 'bots to come to them!

Calum examining his house robot

In the end, the moving robots ruled the day--Iain and Jon's synchro 'bot and my scanner 'bot had the highest scores.

Iain and Jon's robot had the best chance of receiving a block overall--through all competitions their robot received 10 unique blocks.

My robot had the best chance overall of giving blocks to other 'bots--13 blocks were transferred to other 'bots.

All in all, it was a very fun day.

Here are some videos--

Sandy's video of a competition

Rob A's video from the robot POV

Harry A's documentary style

Rob A's video in the dark

Thanks to Sandy for all the support behind the scenes!

All of us and our robots

Pictures of the competition--

Dave's Pictures

Rob A's pictures

Calum's pics

Thousands of hits over the last day!

I don't know if I've made it to 'The Big Time' now, but over the past 24 hours, my log file was at 8 meg. Normally a week would net me a 3 meg log file, but the last day--8 meg.

And mostly spammers.

And, for the most bit, Mod Security kept 'em at bay. Sure, there were a few trackbacks spammed, but now I've added (yet) more words to the exclusion list and we're pretty mcuh good to go.

What impresses me is that no matter how dirty I let my mind get to to come up with words to add to the excusion list, the spammers find dirtier words (and deeds) to spam with.

Nice.

I also started to add the remote hosts to the exclusion list--I've noticed that multiple spamming posts--all different links and such, were coming from the same host systems on the 'net.

They are now added to the 'You can't come here' list.

So that's about it, really. Some have argued that it's a never ending battle against spam and that spammers will win in the end because they have the money and resources.

My rebuttal--web sites cost money. Web site names cost money. I know--I shelled out a whole 20ish bucks for 'SandySparky.net' a few months back.

Pittance, indeed.

But here's the thing--If I add a web site to the exclusion list, that website can no longer spam here. Any posts or spam containing that website name cannot be posted here. Therefore, that website cannot generate any revenue from this website.

Think aobut it--if everyone was using my exclusion list, that website couldn't generate revenue at all--thus you see these spammers using multiple website names--for every one that's blocked, they go get another one.

Yes it's a visious cycle.

The good news, at least for me, is that every website I block, that's 20 bucks per year that these spammers are out. I blocked 10 different website names today, and have some generic words that no normal person wold use in the course of a conversation. Took about, oh... 2 minutes, and there goes 200 bucks of theirs.

Ain't that a shame...

Yeah, I might not win the war on spam, but Sandy's and Sparky's Space will continue to be here, and we will continue to allow you, the reading public, to post as you please, and every time I update my blacklist, we will continue to cost the spammers money without costing us a thin, red, penny.

Hey, that's good enough for me.

So I say to all you spammers, 'Have fun stormin' the castle...'

As for me, I'll just sit back and enjoy our little corner on the web...

Leksvik Buffet

Yeah, so my trip to Ikea is almost worthy a blog entry...

I took a late lunch today. The plan was that I'd scoot over to Ikea, have a boo at the 'As Is' section, if I see something, get it, and get back to work before anyone misses me.

At least, that was the plan.

THe first part of the plan went off without a hitch--getting there.

Second part--scoping the 'As Is'--still pretty much following the plan.

After that is when the wheels started coming off the wagon.

See, I saw me this Leksvik Buffet unit in the 'As Is', and I fell in love with it. It's a really nice piece of display shelving for the kitchen/dining room, and knowing that we needed more storage in that area of our house anyway, I decided to go for it.

And besides, the antiquee--that's soooo cool!

So I get the thing on a cart to go to the check out. A very helpful patron of the store helped me with that bit.

Get to the check out, pay for the thing--100 bucks off due to some very small scuffs on the edge of the moldings-nothing you could see unless you looked close--and proceed to, well, outside.

Well, didn't get there because the buffet on the cart woudn't fit through the door--it was too high.

As well, my truck was halfway across the parkinglot, so I asked a passing Ikea person to watch the buffet whilst I got the truck to the loading area.

So that's what I did--get hte truck back and all that, and a very helpful Ikea worker helped me carry the buffet to the truck, so there wasn't the cart/height problem.

Well, we get to the truck and Ikea guy puts his end down on the bed. The idea, I guess, was that he was going to hop onto the bed of the truck to help get the whole buffet into the truck.

The problem was, he put his hand on the buffet door when he tried to jump onto the bed of the truck--

*CRACK!*

The door breaks. Not just any break, mind you, but right down the middle of the piece of wood--split right in two.

"*Expletive!*" from Ikea guy.

He looks at the door.

He looks at me.

"I'll be right back", he states.

Few minutes later he comes back out with a manager-type looking guy.

Manager guy assesses the situation--"Maybe we have another door out back"

He disappears for a while. Now we're beyond the half hour mark at Ikea.

Comes back 10-15 minutes later with a door--holds it up and states that it's the right one. Before I could point out that the door in his hand looks like it was thrown under a tank during war games, he's off to find a screwdriver.

Another 10-15 goes by.

He comes back out with a screwdriver, but before he started, I, with my best non-high-maintenance customer voice, let him know that I can't take the door that he wants to replace the broken one with.

"Why not?" he asks.

"Well, it's in pretty rough shape--I can't take that home. The scuffs on the edge here you can't see from across the room. That door, on the other hand, looks like it's been thru the mill..."

And then, since I do have a fiancee now, I use that card--"She wouldn't accept that door. THe scuffs she'd be fine with, but that door... not so much."

The manager looked like he was about to say that the buffet was 'As Is' anyway, but he stopped himself ans said, "Well, we can give you a refund."

At this point, I was good with that.

So we take the buffet back inside--carrying it 'cause it wouldn't fit under the door, and then I sit in the 'Returns' area.

Well, there goes another 10-15 before the Returns guy gets the paperwork processed (though the returns guy was extremely friendly about it). He tells me that he's heard the whole story and how 'bout he just sell me a brand new in-the-box buffet for the same price as the 'As Is' one that I just returned.

Uh, sure--sounds good to me.

So, again after a little wait, a brand new box was wheeled out to me. I took it out to the truck and loaded it (all by myself this time, I might add). Wrapped it in a tarp, tied it down so it wouldn't move, and proceeded back to work. Got there at 3 p.m.

So all in all, over an hour for that little expedition.

But Score!!!! Got a brand new Leksvik Buffet for 100 dollars off the regular price.

Me thinks that was worth the minor hassle.

Took me the better part of an hour this evening to put it together.

Sandy came home and we put two kitchen chairs in front of the thing and just kinda looked at it for a while.

Yeah, we're pretty happy with it.

The same pic as above, but in case you missed it the first time--

Leksvik Buffet in our kitchen