The Time Sink

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

I ended up pulling wire anyway. Too much rest, I guess. I went out to clean up the general mess that accumulates whenever I have a project going and realized it would only take a few minutes with the drill to finish fastening the last electrical box to the wall of the house. Of course then the fish tape is just sitting there... Not an easy fish; not at all; but then, all that's left to do is pull the low voltage wire back through...

I ended up soliciting Daniel's help at 2130 to push while I pulled; that made all the difference. ...and he does like to help. ...as long as it's not real work. But helping dear old Dad by pushing wire in as Dad pulls like a stevedore on the other end; hey, that's fun. ...and that finished me for the day.

Well, other than the post.

Tonight, while the boys are off to Vacation Bible School for a few hours; I plan to finish the wiring connections for the low voltage side of things. I'll likely delay the 110 feed until we come back from vacation; but I can probably get the transformer wired in within the next night or two. There's a water line at the other end of the trench I have open; I'd like to get that re-plumbed so I can close the entire trench before we leave.

Yep, we're leaving; back to the central coast for the July Fourth holiday. A parade in the morning; fireworks off the pier at nightfall; too darned many people in town that day; then peace and quiet for the rest of the week. ...or until my sister and her Incredible Teenage Eating Machines show up. ...or not. They aren't sure if they can make it; they run a contracting business and things just picked up. You'd like her though; when she set up email for the kids, she named the account "The Three Anchors". Ya' gotta' love that.

All in all, I think I'm ready for a break; work is going to heat up with a new contract in the next few months and our second week of vacation may end up truncated due to the family schedule. So, I'd best make good use of this one!

Got a moment? ...and a life? Take the time to read Doc Searls' Weblog for Sunday. ...ah heck, just read the entire page.

Yeah, that's me, introspective as heck. But it's shaping up to be an intense week (if Monday was any indication). I was gearing up for some more wire pulling in the back last night, and wondering if I'd live through it as I was darned tired. ...and the phone rang. Two hours of Dave, and I was pretty much detoxed from my day, no thought of even trying to work. I jumped in the pool and joined the boys with some of Shelley's Grandmother's Strawberry Pie recipe after they all got home from VBS. Then a post and off to bed.

It appears that the very talented and now very expert Mr. Syroid has Hydras humming like a well tuned engine. ...there's an analogy there from a little over a year ago that I'll leave as an exercise for the student. Actually, a research exercise... Here, I'll help <G>.

...and my personal definition of an expert? In reply to a very real question of how I seemed to know how to fix so many computers that had been messed up by the end user (or the office pseudo-tech), I replied:

Short shrift here lately. I've been spending my discretionary time readying the house for our absence. While we have a very nice neighbor who trades house minding duties with us, I like to minimize the things that need tending.

Last night was the final testing for the latest work on the watering system. Everything should hold until we return.

...and I'm ready to be gone. At least from the routine. ...but it seems the heat may be slightly ahead of us; the latest forecasts from the coast project the high eighties for the weekend.

It's a travel day for the Bowman family. Up at the crack of dawn (not even!) to finish packing the van, and then off with the rest of the lemmings trying to escape the valley heat for the holiday weekend. ...right into the heat wave hitting the coastal areas.

...wait one. News flash: now they say it's going to be cold at the coast! They've redone the forecast. Yeah!

...another moment, please. Okay, this is why technology is not embraced by some people: one forecast has the temp in the low eighties; the other service has things in the low sixties. Folks, I do know of a statistician I could check in with for the variation here; but I really don't think I have to.

<sigh> I'll just do it the old fashioned way: drive over and step out of the vehicle.

..and it's really of no matter what the weather is like as far as clothes go; from what I packed into the car last night, Shelley has the boys set for at least twenty degrees on either side of those forecasts.

Well, it turned out to be cool so far. ...and really cool as we entertained our first-ever guests at the condo: Brian and Marcia Bilbrey. They arrived soon after we got in Saturday and stayed until Sunday afternoon. Stories were exchanged around the virtual campfire and a good time was had by everyone. The boys did have a bit of a quandary; they ended up with four parents for the duration of the Bilbrey's stay. ...Four sets of eagle eyes!. ...and four people to play with them and keep them busy. Hmmm... Do ya' think Bradley overdid it on Saturday?

...and for the curious, here's a shot of Dan and Brian after some beach time: