It finally happened. Morandi’s bridge in Genoa, Italy, finally collapsed. Yahoo! Engegniri USA Today Mr. Bohnert, our instructor, was correct. Poor design, materials, & construction: people die. This bridge was build in the 1960s and was plagued from the start with its proven unreliable technology. Is its use of pre-stressed steel and reinforced concrete to blame? When a storm came, with heavy rain and lightning, the thing collapsed.
dismantlement of Alpine Sprite
I began this afternoon the dismantlement of the Alpine Sprite 400 caravan (camper trailer). I didn’t use it last year and haven’t this year either. Its contents; two 6-volt deep-cycle batteries (12-volt in series), 140-Watt solar panel, 2500-Watt inverter, 3-stage charger, fresh- & gray-water tanks, water pumps (pressure & draw), 16,000 BTU propane forced-air furnace, on-demand propane water heater, 1000-Watt microwave oven, stereo & speakers, two propane tanks with auto-switch-over regulator, sink, faucet, shower, LED lighting, and a few other things; will all be used somewhere else. The shell of the trailer will be up for grabs.
8/9/2018 3:38 PM 96051610 Sprite Alpine 1965 20180809_153453 dismantlement.mp4 8/9/2018 3:41 PM 3365771 Sprite Alpine 1965 20180809_154127 dismantlement.jpg 8/9/2018 4:23 PM 4155610 Sprite Alpine 1965 20180809_162349 dismantlement.jpg 8/9/2018 4:23 PM 4500010 Sprite Alpine 1965 20180809_162353 dismantlement.jpg 8/9/2018 4:23 PM 4180302 Sprite Alpine 1965 20180809_162356 dismantlement.jpg 8/9/2018 4:24 PM 5571340 Sprite Alpine 1965 20180809_162359 dismantlement.jpg 8/9/2018 4:24 PM 5313196 Sprite Alpine 1965 20180809_162403 dismantlement.jpg 8/9/2018 4:35 PM 3636103 Sprite Alpine 1965 20180809_163557 dismantlement.jpg
update
Wow. We were just talking about this the other day. The Water Tower (formerly Ric’s Grille) is reopening. news I wonder if they’ll be more successful than the Ric’s Grille restaurant franchise.
Yesterday was a bit of a bust.
M&F got a flat tire yesterday. The only time Floyd leaves without his phone, and he gets a flat tire! They called me, but for some reason my phone didn’t vibrate. Floyd began to jack the van up and had 4 of 5 lug nuts off, but the last one was a locking nut, and the lug nut key was nowhere to be found. A Hutterite man stopped to help and looked for the missing key, but it simply wasn’t there. Someone else came by and called AMA. It all got sorted out in the end. Today Floyd went to Murray to ask them where the hell the lug nut key was. It’s on order.
I witnessed an accident yesterday. A Jetta came flying around the corner, and a Silverado couldn’t stop in time. Scrape! Nobody was hurt. I stopped, offered witness, took pictures, and gave my phone number. I even wrote up a report, like a good citizen. accident near Safeway 2018-07-03 I like details. The unfortunate thing is that a couple of days before I took the chips out of my dash cams, so I have no video. The only day my dash cams aren’t working, and there’s an accident!
I put on an office shirt and nice trousers and went out to a couple of places to hand in my resume. I didn’t actually get to any place. I had a list yesterday longer than my nose of things to do. The day got away from me.
And, Floyd’s computer crashed, seemingly while doing a Windows Update. I tried and tried to get it working again, but disk errors abounded. (Yes, that’s a word.) In the end, it turns out the disk isn’t the problem. The computer itself has a faulty piece of hardware. So, he’s getting the little red Gateway laptop our neighbour gave me. It’s not the fastest machine in the world (another AMD), but it’s not 9 years old, either.
Yesterday has come and gone – thank goodness. Today’s a brand new day.
Triple M Housing
I went to Triple M Housing today to remind them that I am very much interested in architectural design, drafting, engineering, and all things related. I was there on May 31st of this year, but today my resume was no where to be found. Long story short, it might’ve ended up on a production manager’s desk.
finger nail brush
The dumbest of things. I bought a finger nail brush today from Princess Auto. It was 99¢, so I know it’s not of the highest quality that money can buy. But have a look at the label.
“This product contains chemicals, including lead, known … to cause birth defects… Wash hands after handling.”
So I have to wash my hands after washing my hands with this brush. Plus, I have to buy another nail brush to get the damn sticky stuff off where the label was. Or Goo-Gone.
I actually saw a packet of peanuts on an airplane once that stated, “Caution – May Contain Nuts”. As well, on the bottom of a frozen TV dinner, it said, “Do Not Turn Up-Side-Down”.
Speaking of blowing a gasket <ahem>, the rubber seal on my coffee pot finally broke today. Life has come to a grinding (no pun intended) halt.
2018-06-26 update:
You’ll be happy to know that the ant killer I just bought does not contain nuts! For all those ants with peanut allergies. … I know, right?
Philips L3G03T radio
As payment for helping G&A with their computer, I was given a radio, the Philips L3G03T (“T303“), the latest item in my collection of old technology.
It was purchased in England in the 1960s before G&A travelled to Canada with their three kids. It was kind of a major purchase back then for someone counting pennies (pence, actually) to immigrate to Canada. The radio takes two type 276 9-volt batteries. I can get them online for only … get this … $22 each! (plus $120 shipping), and All-Tra Batteries here in Lethbridge doesn’t carry them. Too bad. It also has a power input port, but I have no idea what voltage it would take. The batteries are connected in series, making this an 18-VDC radio, but there is some circuitry between the batteries, so I don’t want to take any chances and blow the thing up. So I’m guessing I won’t get to hear it play just yet.
Mom’s biopsy is today
Mom’s biopsy is today. I was thinking of going, but Mom says there wouldn’t really be anything to do – just go and wait for her to finish.
I’ll stay here and do some maintenance on the house instead. I am digging around the rear of the house to stop the house itself from sitting on the ground and to replace the rotten wood that had most likely been there since the house was placed here. Lots of work.
tiny houses getting big
The idea of the tiny house is catching on. The homes as well as the trend itself are getting to be not-so-tiny. There are a few shows on TV about people building their ideal tiny home. Floyd saw something in the paper today about a website devoted to organizing and marketing tiny house plans called Tiny House Plans. I found another called Tiny House Basics. Pretty interesting if you ask me.
half of “the room”
Have you ever sat through a movie that was just awful? I watched something on Netflix called The Disaster Artist, a movie about the making of another movie called The Room. So when The Disaster Artist was done, I tried watching this B-movie about directed, produced, and acted by Tommy Wiseau. Oh my frakking god! It’s now 56:00 into the movie, and I just can’t watch it! Give it a try, see what you think.