[Adam]

First free weekend since Xmas.

[ranitidine]

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.

[ranitidine]

Ron Johnson, on Jan 14 2005, 11:53 AM, said:

Daisy, on Jan 14 2005, 11:46 AM, said:

I know everyone's been on a bad blind date or two but I need to vent about the worst one ever.  Perhaps in the history of the world.

When I arrived at the bar of the restaurant where we had arranged to meet, Mr. X was chewing gum. Which he subsequently disposed of by wadding it up in a cocktail napkin, which he left lying on the bar.  He snapped his fingers to get the server's attention.  He complained about the prices on the menu and the winelist--he picked the restaurant, not me. He bragged about the bonus he'd gotten at years end and spent a half hour describing various luxury automobiles he is considering acquiring with said bonus. He made several not-so-subtle allusions to his prowess in the sack---as if.  He stiffed the woman checking coats (I slipped her $5).  He got pissed off when I declined to continue the evening, apparently believing that a meal and some wine entitled him to various sexual favors.

Wait until I see my friend who set us up--I am going to kick his ass.

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.

[Daisy]

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.

[GG Mora]

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.

[mongo_jones]

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.

[winesonoma]

Perhaps you should take a compass when next house shopping. Or move where it does not snow.

[mongo_jones]

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.

[tanabutler]

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.

[Melonious Thunk]

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.

[ngatti]

Melonious Thunk, on Jan 17 2005, 10:48 PM, said:

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.

[mongo_jones]

tanabutler, on Jan 17 2005, 08:20 PM, said:

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.

[Melonious Thunk]

ngatti, on Jan 16 2005, 02:13 AM, said:

Melonious Thunk, on Jan 17 2005, 10:48 PM, said:

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.

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.

[ngatti]

Melonious Thunk, on Jan 17 2005, 11:54 PM, said:

ngatti, on Jan 16 2005, 02:13 AM, said:

Melonious Thunk, on Jan 17 2005, 10:48 PM, said:

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.

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.