The Johnson Blog

Ramblings of a geek with a few hobbies…

Category: General

  • Long Weekend

    Now starts my three day weekend. It’s been a long three or four weeks at work so I’m taking a day off tomorrow. Really don’t have anything planned, maybe a little yard work then kick around with Jay.

    I considered mowing the lawn when I got home tonight, but was quickly preoccupied with cleaning up after my neighbors (directly behind us) who put up a fence and left all the post hole dirt strewn into our yard. 12 5-gallon buckets of dirt and an hour later, it’s all cleaned up. Slightly annoying to say the least.

    In addition to the new fence out back, the Springfield Public Works crews came by today and poured new concrete for the three sections of sidewalk that were removed a couple weeks ago. We’ve been very pleased at how quickly they came to repair, all started with a single friendly email.

  • Garage: Complete

    Photos here.

  • Third Post??

    Three posts in a day, odd I know…

    The brand new Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is now open in Springfield, with the official dedication set for Tuesday. President Bush is scheduled to be in town for the event, which is pretty cool. Hopefully Air Force One won’t get stuck in the mud like it did in Champaign a few years back.

    We’ve been in the library portion of the complex, but not the museum yet. We’ve heard great things about it so we’re looking forward to visiting sometime.

  • Night Out

    Friday night we went out with Jay, a good friend from work, and his fiancee. Started out with a fantastic dinner at Alexander’s Steakhouse, followed up with a viewing of Sin City. We all agreed the movie sucked, but we had a great time regardless. Next time we go out, we’ve decided to let the women choose the movie (we’ll still have a combined veto though).

    About the movie – I knew it was going to be violent going in, so that didn’t bother me. I was really attracted to it by the filming style, which was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. But about 45 minutes in, the novelty wore off and I was just plain bored. There were several plot lines that I expected to see get tied together in a very clever way, but it was just ho-hum. Four thumbs down, way down… on the floor.

  • Garage Phase II: Complete

    Building on the work we did last weekend, Ana and I painted the garage today. We had to sand the second application of joint compound before painting, but that didn’t take too long with the orbital sander we purchased last weekend.

    The garage is now Steeple Gray (scroll near the bottom)! The painting was accelerated greatly due to our new Wagner Power Painter, even if it did take a little while to get used to.

    Tomorrow I plan on getting the shelving up and be able to call the project complete. I’ll also have pictures.

  • Lowes

    Our weekend started out with a simple trip to Lowes on Saturday morning. We picked up a pair of lamps for our family room to match the new tables and then headed down the shelving aisle to see what we could get for the garage. I picked one shelving unit out, even had it in the cart before thinking about how I’d rather not lose the floor space in the garage. I’d much rather have shelves mounted on the wall. The thought process continued until we realized we first needed to tape and mud the garage walls before painting, before hanging shelves.

    So that’s what we did alllllll weekend. Clean out the crap, tape, apply joint compound, sand, apply more compound. The final sanding will probably occur next weekend before painting. We’re both exhaused (Ana is also refinishing the bench we have on our deck) and it was a lot of work, but finally getting to paint will be rewarding.

    Click to see the finished product.

  • Pope

    The following is from a CNN article regarding the burial of the Pope:

    Vatican officials say it is likely Pope John Paul II will be buried in the grave once occupied by Pope John XXIII in the grotto beneath St. Peter’s Basilica. Spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls says the pope will be buried there “unless he left other instructions in the will. … But we don’t know because we haven’t read the will yet.”

    Now, I’m no expert, but shouldn’t they have taken a glance at that will by now? I suspect there’s an explanation in the “…”, but I still found it pretty funny.

  • Briefcase in Windows

    Unbelievable. Today I actually found out how useful the Briefcase feature in Windows is. I now have a briefcase on my JumpDrive that can be synchronized between computers with a click of the mouse. It seems to work suprisingly well and I’m glad the feature is there. I now almost feel bad for making fun of it since its appearance in Windows 95…almost.

  • New Tables

    The tables we ordered 3 weeks ago were delivered today. It took a long time to find a set in town that we liked, but it was worth the wait. These complete the furniture purchases for the family room, next up is the living room.
    table set

  • Fantasy Baseball

    I just finished creating my league and team on mlb.com’s Ultimate Salary Cap fantasy baseball game. If anyone wants to join my league, just let me know and I’ll get you the password. This game is slightly different than other fantasy baseball games because the startup time is a lot shorter – just pick who you want on your team (max of $50 million) and you’re done, no long drafting process. It costs $20 for a team ($18 if you sign up within the next day), but if we get 10 people in the league then the winner will get $50. http://fantasygames.mlb.com/baseball/fullseason/ultimate/home.html

    If you aren’t too hot on paying for it, they also have a free game which is similar but with fewer roster spots (9 versus 14), lower cap ($30m instead of $50m, and fewer prizes. I have a league and team setup there as well (Free Hot Stove/Free Dozers).

    Should be fun for those of us that are baseball fans, even if our team(s) don’t do well during the year.