Sunday, March 26, 2006

FW: News from MN, 6/27/2004

Yeeppi-i Hi,

Been a month since I last wrote. We had another graduation, Nick's this
time, complete with a fun visit from both Grandparents.

Zack has still only had the one probably (unwitnessed) seizure. We (mostly
Zack) have decided not to start the Tegretol drug. Fingers crossed.

Zack quit his pawn shop job a few weeks ago. He was going to start a
roofing job, but decided against it. He has instead been working on various
car projects. On Friday night, he started a project on a car stereo that
was designed to enter a contest on today. He and the owner worked on it
through the night and finished mid-afternoon on Saturday. They were a
couple of zombies by the time it was done. They stuffed 4 LARGE bass
speakers, along with 4 big amps and 6 car batteries into the back of a small
Honda. Figured it could hit 150 db. They test these systems with
microphones only. 150 dB is enough volume to liquefy a cockroach!

Last weekend I painted all our external doors. Biloxi Blue. Kind of hard
to get used to a new color, but I think it looks ok. While I was painting,
Nick decided to go for a walk. Turns out he walked to 2 different
graduation parties (such a party animal!), in different directions from our
house. The 2nd one was 5+ miles from here, and he got a bit lost, so ended
up walking all afternoon (3 hours) and ended up late to the 2nd party. The
party host felt bad Nick missed it so she took him to a movie instead.
"Dodge Ball", Nick recommended, Father approved.

For Father's day, they boys approved the purchase (I mention them, they say
good idea, then I go buy them) of 2 new Father toys: a new robot toy from
Best Buy called Robosapien and a large 30" LED sign. I'm in the process of
integrating both of them into MisterHouse. Our living room is getting
stranger every day ;)

The project this weekend was to replace our kitchen and bathroom faucets.
The old ones were 20 years old, leaking and corroded. Sounds like a simple
enough process, but it turned into quite the comedy. At least thats how I
hope I'll see it in about 10 years. Lots of leaks, mis-sized connectors,
missing or faulty parts, and 7+ trips to Menards. Every few years I do
something like this and remember why I choose not to be a plumber. The
worst problem was the big valve that controls the water coming into our
house sprung a serious leak. That's the sort of thing a weekend plumber can
not fix, but I by using a bunch of plumbers putty, 1 pair of old underwear,
10 feet of duct tape, an old plastic garbage can, and 10 feet of garden
hose, I was able to contain and divert the leak well enough to get us
through the weekend. At least so far! I'm calling a real plumber first
thing in the morning ;)

Bruce

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