Recipe for cleaning moldy walls

I got this recipe for a solution to cleaning moldy walls, like my concrete block garage walls currently are.

• 1 5 gallon bucket
• 4 gallons hot water
• 1 cup TSP
• 1 cup bleach
• 1 cup pinesol

Mix and then scrub the walls. Then they'll be ready for paint.

Indiana Jones 4

Shanna and I just saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There was plenty of that Indiana Jones charm, and Harrison Ford seemed to pick up right where he left off with the last film.

Originally, I was worried that it would be all computer graphics driven, and that it would lose the feel of reality, but barring a scene of swinging on vines in the jungle, it wasn't too heavy on the CG.

What I always liked about the other movies was that even though some of the actions scenes were hairy and crazy, they were still plausible. Could someone hang on to a rope bridge after it had been cut? Maybe. Could someone avoid a rolling boulder and then escape from natives with poison darts? Maybe. Could someone survive a tank going off a cliff? Maybe.

This fourth movie however was full of too many ridiculous, over the top stunts that were not believable at all. This left very little suspense, as you knew that no matter what, the entire team of heroes was going to come out unscathed (the refrigerator scene in particular).

The story was interesting, but rushed. I felt that there was just too much action to pack in, that there was not enough time left to develop the characters and the story. My biggest beef with the film was that there was very little down-time. The moments of dialog with Sean Connery, the gross dinner scene at the Temple of Doom, the bar in Nepal. There was plenty of slow time to develop things in the other movies, but not in this one.

Overall, it was entertaining and met my expectations, but predictably not better than any of the other films.

More Isaiah Stories

Note: this entry has moved.

5/16/08

Bella. Daddy said, "She had to go potty real bad." She pushed me down the stairs.

That's it.

5/23/08

One day there was some stuff and we can't find the other piece of the Elmo puzzle. But we couldn't find it anywhere. Mama looked for it, but she couldn't find it. But I don't know where it went.

The End

Isaiah's first stories

Here are some stories that Isaiah has created in preschool:

4/8/08
Her name was Bella. She walks and runs.

The End

4/22/08
One day her name was Bella. She walks and runs.

The End

5/6/08
Once her name was Bella. She pushed me down the stairs. Daddy said, "Bella had to go potty really bad!". ...

Read full article

Great Granite Countertop Source

If you are shopping for granite countertops in the Seattle area, Import Stone has a great selection. While Pental probably has the best selection, they are too big and pricey. Import Stone is just the right size to not be overwhelming, but is big enough for you to find that unique special piece.

The folks there were very friendly and helpful, and we got an amazing and very unique slab from them.

Great Granite Countertop Installer

When we had our granite countertops installed, we used a great installer, Western Tile and Marble. They were very professional, and did a flawless job. They didn't make a fuss when we requested keeping the leftover bits (they had to make a second trip out to deliver the scrap pieces).

Additionally, we had ordered a marble-topped vanity from overstock.com that came with a chip in the corner. We asked for a price to have them take the square edge of the marble top (with the chip in it) and router the edge to make it rounded to get rid of the chip. They just decided to throw that in for free for us, and made a separate trip out to fix that edge. They routered the three sides of the marble top flawlessly right at our house.

I'd recommend them if you have any granite fabrication to do in the Seattle area.

My wallet is open, but the NBA doesn't want my money

I'm one of those people without cable or dish television service, so I get to miss all the good NBA games. Last year during playoff time, I purchased video of some of the games to download and watch on my PC from http://download.nba.com.

The interface was clunky, the shopping cart system broken at times, but I overlooked that as I was enjoying watching the exciting games like the double-overtime Lebron James extravaganza against the Pistons.

I was pretty certain the NBA would have come a long way with this technology over the last year, unfortunately it sucks just the same.

First of all, it's playoff time now, and I am ready to jump the gun and purchase the entire playoff series, including the finals. Unfortunately, even though ad banners on the NBA site mention that I can do this, when I go to the downloads site, there is no place for me to purchase rights to view any of the upcoming games. There is no mention of Playoffs 2008. I'm ready, they aren't.

Second, even just clicking through their site to look at previous regular season games throws "Object reference not set" errors. Sloppy.

Third, the interface hasn't changed one bit from what it was like last year (searching is difficult, navigation sucks, integration with the rest of the site nill, throws errors).

I find it pretty hypocritical that an asshole commissioner like David Stern who is so concerned about profit that he deems Key Arena in Seattle unacceptable, would completely ignore this revenue stream for an entire year, and make no improvements at all.

Insulating Radiant Heat Tubing in a Crawl Space

I haven't been happy with the performance of my radiant heat system over my crawl space, so I've been spending some time re-doing the insulation job underneath.

The company I bought the radiant tubing system from recommended that I would only need to insulate my crawl space joists by simply stapling up sheets of thin reflective foil-bubble-foil insulation to the bottom of the joists, and then tape the seams between each sheet with some foil seam tape.

I did just that, but after a cold winter this year, I was not satisfied. My joists are 2x12s, and that left a lot of airspace between the tubing stapled to the subfloor, and the foil insulation stapled along the bottom of the joists. When I would go check the crawl space, the foil felt warm to the touch, but the crawl space was frigid, and it just seemed to me that a lot of heat was lost trying to warm up that airspace and the foil.

So now I'm going back and redoing each joist bay, and individually insulating it with both the foil insulation, and then regular fiberglass underneath.

My first task was to go back and re-do some of the stapling. My first time through I left the staples a little too far apart, and the tubing was starting to sag in between, so I went back and moved them closer (about 12 inches instead of 18). That made the tubing flush with the subfloor everywhere.

After that, I cut several 20"x48" strips of the foil (the roll comes in a 48" width), and began stapling it up about 1.5-2 inches below the tubing, in an upside down "U" shape. I got the 20" measurement by using the tape measure to figure the approximate amount I needed for the U shape between the joists. I could have cut a couple of really long strips that spanned the entire length of the joist bay, but at 20" I could have only gotten two strips, and would have had a wasted 8" strip leftover.

I stapled one side first, and then pulled the other side taut to keep it flatter, with a lower arc, and away from directly touching the tubing.

I used an electric stapler to make things go quickly. Of course, the chincy PowerShot stapler I used had to get a jammed staple, which cracked the plastic track on the bottom, ruining the unit. After a trip to Lowes, 45 minutes later I was back in business with a really good stapler made by Arrow. I bought the Arrow model because the whole chamber and track where the staples go is all metal, and not subject to cracking.

After finishing the first piece, I started stapling up the next piece, slightly overlapping the original piece by 1/2-3/4 inches. I continued down the joist bay like this - it took about five sheets per bay.

When I was done with the foil, I went back and used a foil tape (like the type used on ductwork) to tape the seams.

Finally, I used rolls of R25 insulation (not batts) underneath, and hung it up with insulation hanger wires (much easier than stapling everything).

NOTE: If you are using Kraft (paper) faced rolls of insulation, make sure the paper side is facing up. In a crawl space, it would be a fire hazard to have the paper side exposed. I prefer the ComfortTherm rolls, because they are wrapped in plastic and less messy to work with.

Fun times. Right :)

Another Reason not to Check Luggage

I was in Chicago for a business trip and had a 5:30 PM flight back. It was snowing in Chicago that day, so I decided to catch a taxi cab to the airport really early, at 2:00 PM. I didn't want to get stuck in bad traffic and watch my plane take off from a cab.

Traffic was a breeze though, and I got to the airport too early. Additionally my flight was delayed 45 minutes to an hour. I headed over to the gate, and noticed that there was another flight to Seattle about to board, so I asked if there was any room left, and was put on standby.

It was a long shot, since there were lots of people in front of me, but I eventually made it on, saving me quite a few hours. The catch, though, was that if I had checked any luggage already, I wouldn't have had that option.

It pays to travel light sometimes.