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GRAFFITI -- February 18, 2008 thru February 24, 2008>> Link to the Current Week <<Last Week << Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun >> Next Week Welcome to Orb Graffiti, a place for me to write daily about life and computers. Contrary to popular belief, the two are not interchangeable. About eMail - I publish email sometimes. If you send me an email and you want privacy or anonymity, please say so clearly at the beginning of your message. |
 
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February 18, 2008
2010 - Good evening. I did some work on the splash rails for the vanity, and a whole lot of school work today. Got Jerry's Mailbag formatted and posted, then formatted the Column for tomorrow AM. Next it was bills, trash, etc, etc. Mondays remain my busiest day of each week. Ciao!
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February 19, 2008
No Post..
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February 20, 2008
Backsplash for the vanity |
22312 - Good evening. Yesterday was fun - a forced march to get a new webserver up and functional. The task had been in queue for a while, but the window opened to get the job done, so we dropped everything else and got it done. Worked out pretty well, actually, but it really helps making copies of all the pertinent configuration files. Then we can use the diff utility to ensure that only the intended changes made it in. But I was whacked by the time it was done - I took the evening off.
Tonight the secret is revealed. You can see the results of my handiwork in creating the rails for the backsplash on the vanity. Those aren't installed yet, just set into place to make sure we're happy with the look. We are happy with the look. What I did was use my stacked dado blades on the tablesaw to cut a shallow trough in each rail. One pass from each side ensured that I had a slot with even exposure on each side. Then I used construction adhesive to lay in a single row. That's been setting for a couple of days, and now it's grouted. Tomorrow I'll affix those to the walls after I figure out how to brace them properly.
Oh, also tomorrow I've got my second (and last for a while) certification exam. I'd best get some sleep. Ciao!
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February 21, 2008
1024 - Good evening. A late-ish night last night, a dog throwing up at 0500 this morning, the usual rash of open tickets at work, and yet another Check Point certification exam this afternoon. This one was for my CCSE. Hooray, I passed this one, too. I surely didn't feel as good about it while I was taking it, and it took me nearly 50% more time to complete this test than last week's. But when I was done, I'd gotten a 77, which means I missed one more question on this test. Enough for now — we all knew I was certifiable. I decided to just let the grout cure for another 24 hours, so no progress on the vanity tonight. Instead I did some work on one of the production Solaris boxen, during non-production hours.
Tomorrow's Friday (yay!), but the weather's coming in (boo!). That is, snow overnight, with freezing rain all day tomorrow. Talk about a screwed-up commute or three... Let's see how the closure board looks: not much now, betcha it's a much longer list shortly after 0500 tomorrow morning. Anyway, I'm whacked. See y'all tomorrow.
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February 22, 2008
Backsplash installed |
Backsplash detail |
1914 - Good evening. I'm going to try to power my way through the rest of the bathroom remodel tonight and tomorrow. I've got a little bit of work-work to do at about 2100, but I've got two hours before that.
What you're looking at is the backsplash and top trim, installed. I used silicone to seal the joints and between the wood and the top, and panel adhesive between wall and splash. The big hunk of crud in the middle is a board screwed into the side of the sink cutout. That's supporting a couple of shims that are forcing a spreader board against the back rail, to help hold it to the wall until tomorrow. The wall bowed one way, the board another. This should help (I hope, I hope, I hope).
Over the top is trim. I formed the quarter round with a slight reveal using the router, then carefully excised the feature off each corner with the table saw, generating two pieces totalling 10 linear feet of trim that I could use to make the three pieces I needed for this. I'd forgotten how much wood I could use to get just a small piece right. I'm sure glad that when we went shopping for cherry, I bought 20% more than I thought I needed. It would have sucked to run out.
While the adhesives are curing, I'll do some trim prep and painting. Tomorrow: plumbing and sink. Small bit on Sunday - final caulk around the sink and backsplash: biscuit around the sink and clear between tile and wood.
Today was a weather washout. The expected overnight snow didn't happen, the amount of icing was trivial. But it kept the school busses in their barns, which kept the kids home, which kept parents home. There was virtually no traffic at all, to or from work.
Okay, back to the grindstone. Ciao!
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February 23, 2008
Easier plumbing |
Dry fit the drain |
2140 - Good evening. I'm whacked, but I'm almost done. The light at the end of the tunnel is clearly not a train. Tasks done today:
Plumbing is much easier while the sink is upside down and out of the cabinet, you see. Of course, some of that work — the drain bits — need to be done with the sink in place. So I started setting pieces and measuring for the short straight runs of 1-1/2" PVC pipe. Finally I'd put together the whole drain assembly, everything aligned. So I marked the joints with a permanent marker so that when I glued it up, everything would still be aligned afterwards. A bit of sanding, priming, and gluing finished off that sub-task easily enough.
It's been a long bloody day. Well, no actual blood, but you catch my drift. Discounting dinner, about 11 hours worth today. Tomorrow I plan on finishing the project. Caulk. Door and drawer pulls on the cabinetry. Final electrical. Wall plates. Towel Hangers. Done.
See you tomorrow. Ciao!
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February 24, 2008
New framed mirror |
8' runner |
1857 - Good evening. The bathroom is done. Well, almost. There's a hook to install on the back of the door, and the shower curtain is still on order. Also, we've got some more organizational stuff to do, but overall I'm really pleased with the results.
After all the heavy lifting is done, it turns out there was more heavy lifting as I dressed the room. The mirror we picked has a neat beach/cliff faux material framing it, and it's correspondingly heavy. Getting it up on the wall was a teamwork item. The runner on the floor we picked out this morning, we like it not only against the vanity, as some of the colors are picked out of the tile highlights, but it'll go well with the shower curtain when that arrives.
Brushed nickel is the metal theme here. We found some nice pulls that complemented the sink hardware. The hinges don't match, more's the pity, but since they visually disappear against the wood, I'm not too concerned about that contrast. I made a couple of symmetrical templates to make sure that the holes I drilled for the pulls all ended up in the same/right place. Turns out that I probably should have made a separate jig for the two doors on the over-commode wall unit, because those doors were bigger, and I could have modified the placement of the pulls. But it looks fine, too.
I also replaced the two switches (for the light and fan), and I swapped in a GFCI outlet to replace the non-breakered outlet that was pre-existing in the corner. I don't understand why it wasn't one of those to start with - code pretty much requires one anywhere near water these days.
When I was done for the day, I took all the tools and whatnot back down to the workshop. That's trashed: rode hard and put away wet. I'll clean it up one of these days real soon now, certainly before we start remodelling the dining room. That'll hopefully be a much easier project... but there's wallpaper to remove. So I'd best not speak out of turn. I'll wait a couple of weeks before diving into that one. I just want that done before the spring gardening season starts.
It's time for me to pay homage to all of our serving troops, at home and around the world. The Middle East continues to eat tax dollars, and more importantly the lives of our fine young men and women. A local young man is on the rolls of casualties this week, too. To the family of Michael Matlock and all our fallen heroes this week, our condolences
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