Snowball fight..

Ok, so maybe there wasn’t enough snow to really have a snowball fight or even build a snowman, but it did sknow here in Memphis, TN.  It was the usual Memphis snow.  It snowed and then pretty much melted bt the end of the day.  I really wish we would get about a foot of snow.

More photos of the Memphis snow at Flickr.

Not as bad as a dirty diaper in a parking lot…

…but it is something that I have noticed almost every night between 6 and 8 pm since I have lived in my neighborhood.   I am all for people having a cold one after work, but not while they are driving.  Some moron has been drinking his his Coors Light Tall Boy after work on his way home.  Even worse is that they have been leaving the can and its little brown bag at the intersection of my street.

I have been tempted to sit out there and see who is doing it and calling the cops to sit out there and bust him.  Is it too much trouble to just take the empty can home and put in in the trash or recycle it?  Wonder if that would stop them.

Cold Water

For the past year, it seemed that the hot water was not as hot as it was when I purchased the house. I put off calling as plumber as it would cost $50 just for them to walk in the door, plus another $100 for labor and probably over $50 for any parts.  A new water heater would cost over $300 plus about $150 in labor. 

Well, the cold weather and the less than 5 minute shower got old. So I did a little research at Lowe's and the Home Depot on water heaters and how to repair them.  Most problems with electric water heaters is that either the heating element goes out or the thermostat dies.   The Home Depot had a kit with 2 heating elements and 2 thermostats for $31. 

So, I figured I would give it a shot.  I purchased the kit and followed the directions.  Overall I would say it was pretty simple.  Just have to be very careful or you will get spayed like I did.  Followed the direction, but the heater didn't empty completely.

I changed the elements first and then tested it.  That did not do it, so I changed the lower thermostat and it worked. I can now take an hour shower if I really wanted to.  Below is a shot of the old heating element and in case you didn't know new ones are chrome..  More photos can be found at Flickr.

Snow today, gone tomorrow or sooner

This morning I woke up and got ready for work. Shortly after I got my trash ready for garbage pick up. I opened my garage door to find a Blizzard.

With the site of snow my hopes for over a few inches started to circle my mind. It would be nice, but as most know it would never happen. It snowed until 9:30 am and for the most part has melted completely.

Just once, it would be nice to have it snow and stick for a few days. I guess I can keep dreaming.

Wireless is great, but…..

I want to start off by saying wireless internet is great, but is still needs some improvement. I have had wireless internet ever since it was available to the general public.  I have actually gone through 4 different wireless routers.  They always seem to work great if you are close to the router, but once you are on the other side of the house there seems to be some lag. There is sometimes a little lag if you have some major appliances between you and the wireless router.

The above is pretty much the reason I decided to run CAT5 cables through out the house.  It is faster than the wireless, especially when I have my work and personal computer running at the same time. I actually ran CAT5e cables to the below rooms.

• 1 connection in the Master Bedroom
• 1 connection in Bedroom 1
• 1 connection in Bedroom 2
• 1 connection in Bedroom 3
• 2 connections in the living room
• 1 connection in the garage

I opted for the connection in the garage in case I wanted to work on something and needed some visuals for directions.  I still need a little work as I need to purchase an ethernet switch since I still only have my 4 port router. I am thinking about purchasing a 16 port in case I plan on adding the adding connections in the kitchen, outside, and by each TV.  The additions should not be a problem since I still have a good amount of CAT5e cable to use. 

Below is a tiny view of what it looks like by my office desk. As you can see, I still have 4 available ports.

My World in Miniature

Today I ran a cross a web page where you upload your photo and it makes it look like a miniature model. I tried this with a photo from Krakow and thought it looked pretty good.

Go to Tilt Shift Maker to convert your own photo into a miniature. Let me know how it goes. here is a photo I did of the Cloth Hall in the Main Square in Krakow, Poland.

Original photo can be found at : Flickr

Anyone want Pizza?

Normally when you see a pizza delivery car it is normally some beat up car. Times must be tough, because I saw Dominoe’s Pizza Delivery guy driving a BMW. Not sure which model. Can anyone tell?

Sealed off Door.

For those that know, I have been wanting to drywall my garage for some time now. I actually purchased sheet rock back in July and have been storing it in my garage.

Last week I finally put some of it up and it made a huge difference.  I also sealed off and insulated a door.  Now all I have left to do it cover one wall and seal the seams with drywall mud.

I am guessing that the office used to be a storage room as it has it has a door leading to the garage. I also sealed that off completely.

Once it is done, I can finally paint the garage and put up all my cabinets.

Lot of Leaves

For those that have seen my house they know that it is surrounded by lots and lots of trees. It seems that last year was not as bad as this year. Of course, I had more help raking the leaves last year and it was not as cold.

It seems I had twice as many leaves this year and it rained like crazy. My electric blower wasn’t going to do the trick, so I went out and purchase a gas blower. The gas blower made a huge difference. It had tons more power than the electric blowers.

Thanks to my trees and my neighbors trees, I was able to fill over 70 bags with leaves.

Oranges and I am not talking about OJ.

Every year my parents get a nice Christmas present from a friend.  They have actually been getting the same gift for over 6 years.  And the truth is, we all look forward to them.  By them, I am referring to Cushman’s Honeybell Oranges.  These oranges have got to be the juiciest oranges I have ever had.  They are so juicy, that they even arrive with bibs.   Bad part is that the Honeybells are only available between January and February.

My parents got some this past week and I got to enjoy a few.  If you want to give them a try order a box or 2 from Cushman’s Honeybell Oranges.

Office Prank

Sarah, one of my co-workers, was on vacation for 2 weeks so we figured we would give her a surprise.

Felica got here a little early and was able to record her reaction.

Of course, the main reason for the wrapping job was due to my desk being decorated with Hanna Montana stuff. All because I purchased boxes of raisins that had Hanna Montana on the box.  I just wanted raisins.

This was done after hours and during lunch. For those that think we have too much time on our hands.

We also worked on it as a team. Perfect team building exercise in case you want to do the same.

More pics can be found at Flickr.com.

Link to the reaction will be posted later.