2007-07-30

2007-07-25

Smelly sandals

I own Teva sandals and love them but even though the sole is supposed to be anti-bacterial they still smell bad. Awful, in fact. Yes, I can clear a room. God help you if you have to share a car with me in the summer.

That is until now.

Yesterday I Googled the problem and learned that you can spray your sandals down with spray deodorant. I got some Old Spice spray deodorant on sale and have used it for the past 24 hours. So far, so good...

I have tried Lysol in the past but found my feet got dry and cracked from it so this is a nice compromise (I am assuming the deodorant is a little easier on me but maybe not as it is just the first day).

My technique is to spray the sandals down when I take them off and then spray my feet right before sliding them into the sandals the next time I wear them. I have noticed a big difference so far.

2007-07-18

Missing Blog!

I just had a little scare there. I set up Google Apps for this domain this morning while waiting for my rice to cook. When I came into work I loaded up my blog and found a 404 page that looked very much like Blogger.

Anyway, after some searching and logging in through the main blogger.com page I learned all the content was still there (I back it up into Thunderbird by pulling down the RSS feed anyway) and then found a newsgroup post that helped me fix this problem.

All I had to do was go into the Custom Domain config area (Settings->Publishing) and switch my domain from www.repulsemonkey.com to blog.repulsemonkey.com and then back to www (just made a change, saved it, made another change to put it back the way it was). Whatever happened kickstarted everything and I am no seeing the blog again.

2007-07-17

Cable TV? Gone.

Once again, I have no cable. This is good. We decided to get rid of it since neither of us was watching it much and lately I have found myself watching it late at night when I should be sleeping.

Anyway, I returned the digital cable box tonight and am now downloading things like crazy (just kidding). I am looking forward to reading more, sleeping more, and spending more time in teh yard.

How to Travel the World with 10 Pounds or Less (Plus: How to Negotiate Convertibles and Luxury Treehouses)

Cool gearlist from the author of 4-hour Workweek: How to Travel the World with 10 Pounds or Less (Plus: How to Negotiate Convertibles and Luxury Treehouses)

This is particularly cool and a great idea for people who travel, shop, then suddenly realize they need another bag: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BNGHJO?ie=UTF8&tag=offsitoftimfe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000BNGHJO

2007-07-12

Hamachi House - Portland St., Dartmouth, NS

Food was excellent, service top-notch, bill was pricey but fair.

I started with Calamari, breaded with Panko breadcrumbs and deep fried to perfection. The sauce provided was delicious. We then had a wide assortment of sushi, all spectacularly good and very fresh.

Great place for special occasions but too pricey for every day. It is very refreshing to be able to eat at a place of that quality in Dartmouth.

2007-07-07

Things I have learned (part 1,203,321)

This is the first post in a series of what could be many on things I have learned during my short time on Earth. These are presented in no particular order of important, chronology, or relevance and I make no pretensions to their profundity.

  • Dogs love to sleep and many are photogenic.
  • Montreal Style bacon from Pete's Frootique is the best form of meat ever.
  • Energy drinks really do work but there's no substitute for a good night's sleep.
  • Sometimes people really don't "see the humour".
  • GTD is really effective only when you actually do things (DT).
  • Index cards are the perfect size for grocery lists, todo items, and general notes. You can fit many of them in a small "snack-size" ziploc along with a Uni-Ball Vision pen. This is better than a PDA for me as long as I process these notes into electronic form (calendar entries, TODO items, emails sent off, reference material filed, etc) on a regular basis.

Stone Walkway

I am slowly building a stone walkway with some old concrete to reuse the concrete and improve our yard a bit. For details on how I am doing it and why I am doing it, read on.

The materials for our walkway come from some concrete steps that were on the back of our house. These steps were demolished so a wooden deck could be built in their place... The steps were hollow and there was lots of gravel under them. I saved the larger concrete slabs and all the gravel. The remainder of the steps will be left in place under the deck, out of the way.

By the way, if you need to remove a set of concrete steps you can probably do it with a long-handled sledge hammer. Be persistent, use long swings of the hammer, and let the weight of the hammer do the work. Just drop it down on the block. It might take a few hits in the same spot but eventually a crack will form and the steps will fracture.

Here is the technique I am using to build the stone walkway:

  • Find a nice stone slab and identify the next place to put it (about one easy stride along the eroded pathway)
  • Orient the slab and cut around it with a shovel
  • Flip the slab over so it is out of the way and dig straight down according to your outline
  • The slabs are about 4 inches thick so I dig down around 7 or 8 inches
  • Find some larger rocks in the dirt they hauled up while digging the post holes and place them in the hole in the bottom
  • Pour about 2 inches of gravel in there and level it off
  • Roll the stone into the hole and see if it is sitting ok, if not use gravel to level things up
  • Roll the stone in until it is sitting flat and not rocking then jump up and down on it or hammer it in with a bucket of gravel or earth
  • When it is flat (sort of, you want to bias it so water runs off it and away from the house) pack in as much dirt as you can around the stone and really hammer it in (I used the end handle end of my sledgehammer as my father showed me to do). :)
  • Finally, move around on the rock and make sure it doesn't wobble. If it does wobble a lot you didn't do a good enough job with the gravel... if it wobbles a little, just pack more dirt in.
  • There is lots of left-over soil from this... We are using it to build up the gardens and what isn't needed I dump at the base of a tree in the back corner of our lot.
Why would someone build a walkway like this:
  • Reduces wear and tear - people and dogs will tend to (or have a chance to) use the stones and not the grass to walk on... so the grass tends to grow up between the stones. Right now I have dirt or mud when it is wet.
  • Drainage - this heavily used area used to be packed dirt... now it has little areas with good drainage into gravel sinks every couple feet... it will keep that area drier and allow it to drain which also reduces wear and tear.
  • Looks nice - a stone walkway looks better than mud or dirt.
  • Reuse - what else am I going to do with all that concrete from the steps?!?

2007-07-06

North Country (2005)

North Country (2005)

Hard to watch at times, this movie deals with very serious themes. I think it would be too much for smaller children but could be OK for teenagers to see.

Basically, it is the story of a landmark lawsuit that won rights for women in the workplace (in this case a tough-as-nails steel mine). This is just a glimpse into the lives of these women but almost overwhelmed me with the cruelty and abuse they put up with. If you need a good laugh, watch something else, but take the time to watch this too... and keep the kleenex handy.

2007-07-05

Knocked Up (2006)

Knocked Up (2006): hilarious comedy with lots of non-suitable-for-kids content. All I can say is this may hit a little close to home for many people but is more enjoyable because of it. I would recommend this to anyone who finds pregnancy, relationships, or juvenile male humor funny. Yes, there is something for everyone. I laughed a lot and cried a little.
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