The Johnson Blog

Ramblings of a geek with a few hobbies…

  • Laser

    Last Friday I ordered a Green Laser Pointer and it arrived today. I tried it out in a room without light and wasn’t able to see the beam like you’re supposed to, kinda disappointing but it may have been because my eyes weren’t really dark adapted at all. I can’t wait to take it outside tonight once the sun goes down.

    The weekend was nice and relaxing. Friday was spent mowing the lawn and looking all over town for the laser pointer. Had to order it since nobody carries them. Friday night we (myself, Ana, Jay, and Katherine) watched Spanglish (suprisingly good) and an episode of The Office (BBC). Ended up being a late night, but fun.

    Saturday involved us enslaving Jay for some yard work because he had mentioned on IM that he was bored. That’ll be the last time he mutters those words. We all enjoyed a huge meal on the grill though.

    To top off the weekend we went to the Springfield Air Rendezvous to catch the Blue Angels. It was sunny, cold, and windy. Both our faces are red with a sun/wind burn combo.

  • 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