Full Version: Annoyances
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| QUOTE (Adam @ Jan 17 2005, 09:44 AM) |
| 2. Me working out that Ihaven't enough time to cook all the thinks I want. Due time etc, I mostly do cooking projects on weekends. I am so behind that at the moment I am having trouble deciding between cooking Japanese, Greek, Slavic or Mexican in three weeks time. |
Why, what is happening in three weeks time?
First free weekend since Xmas.
Had to work today. Gave my employee the day off but had to attend and take a deposition and prepare a client for a deposition tomorrow. However, the deposition I took turned out to be amusing and productive.
| QUOTE (Ron Johnson @ Jan 14 2005, 11:53 AM) | ||
Scenarios like this are why I told my friends to stop setting me up on blind dates. |
Don't give up hope. Lippy and I met on a blind date.
My best friend met her husband on a blind date. But he wasn't the blind date. She was sitting in a bar waiting for the blind date when this fellow started chatting her up and asked for her number. They are about to celebrate their thirteenth anniversary.
At the local shopping center today there was a Hummer parked – blatantly, unapologetically – smack in the center of two parking spaces. If I didn't know it would hurt me terribly, I'd have punched its damn lights out.
not having a south-facing driveway. the driveways opposite ours don't need to be cleared of snow--the sun just melts them clear. while ours looks like the north pole 3 sunny days after the last snow. broke down and shovelled today.
Perhaps you should take a compass when next house shopping. Or move where it does not snow. 
we rent. but after this experience there is no way we are buying a house without a south-facing driveway. actually an east or west facer would do as well. it isn't the snow, it is the fact that the bastards opposite get off so easy.
boulder is beautiful. the weather would never make me want to move--the lack of decent chinese food might.
boulder is beautiful. the weather would never make me want to move--the lack of decent chinese food might.
Boulder is beautiful, but the lack of humidity during my year there (for much of which I was pregnant) made me itch and itch and itch.
We arrived at the lake house Saturday and I went to the wine cellar to get some bottles to bring to dinner to discover a foot of water had risen through the concrete floor. Friday's monsoon rains and frozen surface had created a subterranean flood. Off I raced to Home Depot for a powerful submersible pump and fifty feet of unfrozen garden hose. Took about three hours but I got all the water out. Fortunately, I installed the wine racks two feet above floor level in anticipation of just such an event. But I think I should get a dehumidifier to dry the place out.
What a shock. I had to put on my Wellies to get in to pick out the wine.
What a shock. I had to put on my Wellies to get in to pick out the wine.
| QUOTE (Melonious Thunk @ Jan 17 2005, 10:48 PM) |
| We arrived at the lake house Saturday and I went to the wine cellar to get some bottles to bring to dinner to discover a foot of water had risen through the concrete floor. Friday's monsoon rains and frozen surface had created a subterranean flood. Off I raced to Home Depot for a powerful submersible pump and fifty feet of unfrozen garden hose. Took about three hours but I got all the water out. Fortunately, I installed the wine racks two feet above floor level in anticipation of just such an event. But I think I should get a dehumidifier to dry the place out. What a shock. I had to put on my Wellies to get in to pick out the wine. |
Oh, hydrostatic pressure. I used to regularly have the same problem. That is, until I extended and rerouted the downspout leaders about three feet from the house into 'drain-away' positions. Problem solved on the cheap. We were a hair from installing a sump and french drains under a floating slab. Saved thousands with this cheap fix.
| QUOTE (tanabutler @ Jan 17 2005, 08:20 PM) |
| Boulder is beautiful, but the lack of humidity during my year there (for much of which I was pregnant) made me itch and itch and itch. |
i am very humid. indeed i am a fetid swamp of a man. i ooze primordial at all hours of the day. and so on.
| QUOTE (ngatti @ Jan 16 2005, 02:13 AM) | ||
Oh, hydrostatic pressure. I used to regularly have the same problem. That is, until I extended and rerouted the downspout leaders about three feet from the house into 'drain-away' positions. Problem solved on the cheap. We were a hair from installing a sump and french drains under a floating slab. Saved thousands with this cheap fix. |
Good idea. I saw these drainpipe extensions that unroll when there is a high volume of water. Would they work? The downspouts from the screen porch empty onto the ground at the base of the house. They probably add to the problem.
| QUOTE (Melonious Thunk @ Jan 17 2005, 11:54 PM) | ||||
Good idea. I saw these drainpipe extensions that unroll when there is a high volume of water. Would they work? The downspouts from the screen porch empty onto the ground at the base of the house. They probably add to the problem. |
As long as it took the water away from the base of your house. Usually this will fix it. I also learned the importance of keeping your gutters clean. I've only had water in the basement once since the fix and that was Hurricane Floyd.
I just took 3' lengths of pipe and pushed them onto the downspouts.
Had them replaced with something more appealing looking just today.
New year. New house. Yet somehow, in an astonishing replay of last year's events, we have a boiler on the blink. I spent last night wrapped in a duvet with the cat squeezed almost under my jumper. 
| QUOTE (Melonious Thunk @ Jan 17 2005, 10:48 PM) |
| I had to put on my Wellies to get in to pick out the wine. |
How English of you.
| QUOTE (Miss J @ Jan 16 2005, 08:29 AM) |
| New year. New house. Yet somehow, in an astonishing replay of last year's events, we have a boiler on the blink. I spent last night wrapped in a duvet with the cat squeezed almost under my jumper. |
Well that sucks arse. Hopefully it will be something minor like in the case of our boiler.
| QUOTE (Miss J @ Jan 16 2005, 08:29 AM) |
| New year. New house. Yet somehow, in an astonishing replay of last year's events, we have a boiler on the blink. I spent last night wrapped in a duvet with the cat squeezed almost under my jumper. |
If that happened at our lake house, everything would freeze. It is 5 degrees F there now. I think I burned $250 worth of heating oil for two days last weekend!!
Stupid f*#@ing experiments not working!
Burkholderia why do you mock me so!!!!
Burkholderia why do you mock me so!!!!
| QUOTE (ngatti @ Jan 17 2005, 08:13 PM) | ||
Oh, hydrostatic pressure. I used to regularly have the same problem. That is, until I extended and rerouted the downspout leaders about three feet from the house into 'drain-away' positions. Problem solved on the cheap. We were a hair from installing a sump and french drains under a floating slab. Saved thousands with this cheap fix. |
I've had to pay a bunch to bail out our downstairs room because of the endless rains in LA (stopped at last!) and am wondering what to do about the future. The problem is the room has a wall below grade and I don't think it's a downspout issue. Probably just a huge buildup of water in the hillside (which held!) and the pressure causing seepage (an understatement) into the room. The French drain has been proposed but of course a patio slab would have to be partially removed to install it. Any suggestions--cheaper or otherwise?
Don't know wood. My house is sited on the most elevated position. With Floyd we never had any water actually reach the house, but it so covered the surrounding area that the pressure eventually caused about 6 inches to seep through the concrete floor. I guess a sump pump might have helped in that case.
FEMA gave us enough money to replace the carpets and clean up. I had an expensive Federally mandated flood insuranc epolicy in effect, but since all the damage was confined 'below grade' and none of it was 'structural' they said they were absolved from paying.
Consequently, I paid off my mortgage and dropped my useless flood insurance.
FEMA gave us enough money to replace the carpets and clean up. I had an expensive Federally mandated flood insuranc epolicy in effect, but since all the damage was confined 'below grade' and none of it was 'structural' they said they were absolved from paying.
Consequently, I paid off my mortgage and dropped my useless flood insurance.
Thanks, Nick. Where's my FEMA? Oh well, at least I didn't waste dough on flood insurance.
| QUOTE (hollywood @ Jan 18 2005, 10:31 AM) |
| The French drain has been proposed but of course a patio slab would have to be partially removed to install it. |
can we all agree that french drains are superior to american drains?
| QUOTE (guajolote @ Jan 18 2005, 12:04 PM) | ||
can we all agree that french drains are superior to american drains? |
They are more expensive.
I know; rule no.5.
| QUOTE (guajolote @ Jan 18 2005, 09:04 AM) | ||
can we all agree that french drains are superior to american drains? |
Face it. The French drains have terroir.
| QUOTE (hollywood @ Jan 18 2005, 12:12 PM) | ||||
Face it. The French drains have terroir. |
This goes back to the eighteenth century when the king agreed with the peasants about having a great drainage system something which caught on in other countries because tourists frequently passed through France to learn about cooking and noticed the terrific drains.
Damn it! I'm so used to responding to posts that when I read the online NYTimes, I find myself looking for the reply button and getting really pissed when its not there
(Iknow, I know, they have a "discussion" area but have you ever seen what gets written there? Its a testament to the lunacy of the general public)
(Iknow, I know, they have a "discussion" area but have you ever seen what gets written there? Its a testament to the lunacy of the general public)
Er, I actually e-mailed a critic at a newspaper this morning to explain the errors in the column last week. Pity one can't simply post the alternative view. Or edit their column online.
| QUOTE (hollywood @ Jan 18 2005, 08:31 AM) | ||||
I've had to pay a bunch to bail out our downstairs room because of the endless rains in LA (stopped at last!) and am wondering what to do about the future. The problem is the room has a wall below grade and I don't think it's a downspout issue. Probably just a huge buildup of water in the hillside (which held!) and the pressure causing seepage (an understatement) into the room. The French drain has been proposed but of course a patio slab would have to be partially removed to install it. Any suggestions--cheaper or otherwise? |
The only thing that will work is to get the drain lower than the floor. Usually a lot of work.
| QUOTE (Rose @ Jan 18 2005, 09:57 AM) |
| Damn it! I'm so used to responding to posts that when I read the online NYTimes, I find myself looking for the reply button and getting really pissed when its not there (Iknow, I know, they have a "discussion" area but have you ever seen what gets written there? Its a testament to the lunacy of the general public) |
I e-mailed Safire once. I got back an auto form response. I responded to that and got another identical form reply. Guess he doesn't really want to engage.
| QUOTE (hollywood @ Jan 18 2005, 02:07 PM) | ||
I e-mailed Safire once. I got back an auto form response. I responded to that and got another identical form reply. Guess he doesn't really want to engage. |
Doesn't seem like the engaging kind
He's going, going, gone anyway
| QUOTE (hollywood @ Jan 18 2005, 11:07 AM) | ||
I e-mailed Safire once. I got back an auto form response. I responded to that and got another identical form reply. Guess he doesn't really want to engage. |
I sent Safire a postcard once, in the Eighties, and got a typed and signed postcard in response. Ditto Dave Barry.
| QUOTE (Rose @ Jan 18 2005, 11:22 AM) | ||||
Doesn't seem like the engaging kind He's going, going, gone anyway |
That's what I thought, but then why have an e-mail address?
I think he's still going to do the language column in the Sunday magazine.
| QUOTE |
| I sent Safire a postcard once, in the Eighties, and got a typed and signed postcard in response. |
Are you sure it wasn't signed by Rumsfeld?
| QUOTE |
| Ditto Dave Barry. |
Are you sure it wasn't signed by Foxworthy?
No, I'm never sure of anything except death and Texas.
Engineers.
Well, not all of them. Only the ones who, for example, respond to a query like “Hey Dave, shouldn't 'DATC' in this case be replaced by the more generic 'A/CCM'?” by saying emphatically “No”, then keeping me on the phone for 20 minutes while they shuffle through 10 sources of documentation only to come back at me with “Actually, you should use A/CCM, because it covers all bases, which DATC doesn't”.
Fucking engineers.
Well, not all of them. Only the ones who, for example, respond to a query like “Hey Dave, shouldn't 'DATC' in this case be replaced by the more generic 'A/CCM'?” by saying emphatically “No”, then keeping me on the phone for 20 minutes while they shuffle through 10 sources of documentation only to come back at me with “Actually, you should use A/CCM, because it covers all bases, which DATC doesn't”.
Fucking engineers.
You, too? 
Bigger annoyance since yesterday: a sore throat without the benefit of a sexy voice. Croaky, old-lady voice, one step removed from my great-aunt Estelle (the chain smoker).
Bigger annoyance since yesterday: a sore throat without the benefit of a sexy voice. Croaky, old-lady voice, one step removed from my great-aunt Estelle (the chain smoker).
| QUOTE (tanabutler @ Jan 18 2005, 12:14 PM) |
| No, I'm never sure of anything except death and Texas. |
Don't mess with Texas.
why isn't "worm" spelled "werm" and why isn't "warm" spelled "worm"?
| QUOTE (Rose @ Jan 18 2005, 11:01 PM) |
| why isn't "worm" spelled "werm" ? |
It is. It's worm that's spelled worm.
| QUOTE (Rose @ Jan 18 2005, 02:01 PM) |
| why isn't "worm" spelled "werm" and why isn't "warm" spelled "worm"? |
WARm is spelled correctly in my, uh, book (?) but my little sister says WAHrm.
| QUOTE (Rose @ Jan 16 2005, 08:01 PM) |
| why isn't "worm" spelled "werm" and why isn't "warm" spelled "worm"? |
From the OED.
In this word [WORM], as in WORSE and WORT, the spelling wo is an early graphic substitution for wu (cf. ME. wolf, wolle, wonder, for OE. wulf, wull, wunder), and this again is a reversion from OE. wy (i.e. wü) to the unmutated vowel through the influence of the following r. More normal developments of OE. wyrm appear in the ME. (eastern and Sc.) wirm and (south-eastern) werm.]
I hate it when AOL sends me those little metal boxes in the mail containing CD-ROMs and promising 1,099 free hours. What a waste of packaging.
| QUOTE (NeroW @ Jan 19 2005, 11:19 AM) |
| I hate it when AOL sends me those little metal boxes in the mail containing CD-ROMs and promising 1,099 free hours. What a waste of packaging. |
I black out the address (thoroughly) and toss them back in the mailbox at the post office.
i put them in my neighbours' mailboxes
| QUOTE (mongo_jones @ Jan 19 2005, 11:45 AM) |
| i put them in my neighbours' mailboxes |
They probably do the same to you.
Whenever I get a piece of direct mail including a reply-paid envelope, I put the lot into the reply-paid envelope and mail it. It's my little protest
| QUOTE (ivan @ Jan 19 2005, 12:51 PM) | ||
They probably do the same to you. |
are you the bastard on my street who steals my paper?
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