Friday, November 13, 2009

Demolition Proceeds ReBuilding...sometimes.

Not around here, we demo in the middle of rebuilding too, like working on the flooring for the Master bedroom, 200 sq. feet of old carpet, been down on that floor since we replaced the original 1978 stuff some 20 years ago. It is ready to go. I have worked on this floor over the years, adding boards as I finished them, softwood floors, #2 knotty pine sort and they look great but the floor has been half finished for at least the past 5 years. So yesterday K and I moved the bed to a new location against the north wall and moved the desk against the wall by the bedroom door and that prepares the room for more flooring. So off to Home Depot to look over the stock of #2 Pine for ones that are ok for the job, knots in tight and only a few, no scars or edge damage allowed...minimum work that way and they can be usedas-is plus sanding and finishing with 5 coats of clear, semi-gloss lacquer. They look wonderful down though I haven't fastened any of the new stuff, drill with countersink, screw down in corners and mid-length and plug with matching (or nearly so) dowels. Only 90 bd feet to go. I sanded two this morning and applied the first coat, with luck and a bit of effort I'll get two coats on today, two coats tomorrow and the final on Monday. They will be laid in place Tuesday. One slow process in a garage that is so full I can hardly move around in it. AND a dryer is coming tomorrow to be packed therein as well. Ah the joys of moving.

___

I've installed Windows 7, Microsoft's latest and greatest version of the oh so common operating system. I had installed the Beta pre-release version on Kelly's machine last winter and had to change the date the machine told the software so that it would continue to run while I purchased and had delivered a "Family Pack" 3 license package. One to her machine, one to mine and one held out for the main machine in France when we go back...whenever that will be. So far Kelly likes it a lot, the interface is somehow easier to deal with and it is quite a bit faster in everything it does, especially online activities. I did a clean install for her machine as most of her activities are online...no...ALL of hers are. Mine I had to use an old 160GB drawer dog that I had from some time ago, reformatted it, set up the new partition and loaded the Windows 7 32 bit version (hers the same) as I need the compatibility for my older on-client software like Photoshop and FTP Pro etc. I had problems that seemed inexplicable at first, it took forever to boot...5 minutes! Her's was up in about 50 seconds. No useful error messages were noted and I hunted and hunted for the log entries but could not locate them...alas, I even tried reinstalling and that failed as well. The Recovery Process, while easier than with XP which this machine had before, still would not complete properly and said so.
I reformatted the 160 GB drive, placed the old drive on the system in the 2nd IDE port and the new one on the 1st IDE port, made them both masters and reinstalled Windows 7. That seemed to do it, it finally booted as quickly as Kelly's though a tad slower but this machine has the older IDE interface for the hard drives and had some startup errors in the BIOS that Microsoft references in the Windows 7 support site. I'mm happy with it too, I like the quickness and the look...we'll see how we both feel about it in the next few months.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

H.R. 3962: The Great Unknown...KaChooo!

You know I sneeze sometimes for no reason I can see, smell or observe in any way. Not just once either, maybe 3 or 4 times then the storm of sensation subsides and I'm my ol' self again. Not bad, and who doesn't enjoy a good sneeze now and again?
I won't be bothering a doctor in my trusty Kaiser HMO with this little annoyance as that is exactly what it is, an annoyance. I have a dear friend though who has a funny shaped area on her shoulder, about 3/4" in rough diameter and IF she had the healthcare as outlined by this newly passed House Bill # 3962 she would be able to see a doctor and get it looked at and possibly cured on-the-spot by freezing or excising it in some way familiar to doctors and that would be that. If she were so lucky to be in France today she could do the same at a very low cost to her personally even though she isn't a citizen. If she were an actual citizen of France this service would be free or nearly so. Here? In the US of A, Ha! Go give all the details of your financial status to the kindly clerk and when they ask if you have insurance, which they surely will, and you say "no", you might be turned away! Yes! True. We could test this to prove it for myself and my friend very easily but we would have to go to the Emergency Room to do so as no doctor is coming forth on a Sunday morning, believe me! In France however they will come to you! Yes! Really! It's no Big Deal and they come right away! Best health care system in the world says The World Health Organization. The Best! See this link for not so trivial information: http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
___

I watched the Tube the whole afternoon and into the evening yesterday as one gas bag after another restated his or her opinion of HR 3962 seemingly without ANY direct input from their so-called constituents except for one soon-to-be-lonely representative of the Republican kind from the state of Louisiana, he voted yes. He said many of his own constituents were poor and without insurance and it made him vote as he did. Gee, I wonder...what do all the other 215 Republicans have for constituents? Rich I guess, loaded with insurance policies, fine doctors, plenty of money for drugs and supplies, a Lexus or Mercedes to drive them there and tons of plastic with high limits to insure a positive financial result for themselves and their medical problem of the day. I'm cynical, yes, very...and those 215 disingenuous and heartless bastards deserve to get nothing from this administration for the next 7 years! If I were King...nothing, nothing, nothing! They would starve.
I'm not being fair am I? My friend's growth or whatever it is isn't fair either and by-the-way neither are any of the 215 bastards that voted the way they did in full knowledge of the truth of the situation...they represent (or should!) many, many poor and disenfranchised in these United States and to once again be the party of No is absolutely shameful. I'm ashamed for each and all of them. Now for the Senate version and finally anorther vote on the combined bill sometime in December I hope.