Dumpster Digging

More like sidewalk collecting. Despite my best efforts, I have inherited a complete lack of shame when it comes to picking things up off the streets. I've been doing this for years and I've gathered (in no particular order):

• a rowing machine
  
• an elliptical trainer
  
• a shortboard
  
• about a dozen computers
  
• printers
  
• monitors
  
• fax machines
  
• a number of fans
  

Oh yes, the vacuums. I'm fairly certain that's what started it all with my father. Can't forget those!

Anyway.

Part of the appeal was getting to take things apart. I was a habitual taker-aparter-of-things growing up, an early "deconstructionist". I was one of those kids who just HAD to know how things worked.

The other side of the coin is the fixing and reassembly. The diagnosis and remedy for any given mechanical or electrical problem was the height of the challenge taxing not only the cognitive but the creative as parts and materials were not always readily available. Reassembly although still a challenge, was usually relegated to the status of "annoying task to get done before I can enjoy the fruits of my fixing".

That was my motivation for a long time. The primary motivation I should say. Another part I like is finding good homes for the restored items. Homes where they will be used and appreciated and not left on the curb.

As I've gotten older (and hopefully wiser)I've found an even better reason. Fixing things keeps them out of the landfill. We've got precious little land as it is and using it (even the seemingly unusable land) to dump all of our disposable goods in seems like a massive waste.

By the way, disposable goods these days include TVs, refrigerators, furniture, sporting goods, and as ever, vacuums and fans.

Even funnier are the people who are the complete opposite. The hoarders. People who have storage for the things that they cannot let go of. I understand this to a certain degree. What I cannot figure out is paying rent for stuff that you never see until it rots away and is of no use to anyone. I'm not talking about documents and old yearbooks and stuff. I'm talking about the same stuff I see being thrown out. Doesn't anyone donate anymore? WTF is going on? Am I crazy? Who knows? All I know is I just rescued about 26 board feet of mahogany worth around a hundred bucks that will now be used for either trim or shelf material. I was going to grab an old office chair too but chances are it'll be there tomorrow anyway so I may pick it up then.

Whatever. You don't have to fix things. You don't have to want to fix things either. Whether you subscribe to the "One man's trash is another man's treasure" theory or not, I'm telling you it's true. All you gotta do is find a way to not throw it away. Sell it for parts, fix it, give it away, I don't care. Just try not to throw it on the curb if you can.

P.S. All the window trim is up and I'll be posting the links to the Flickr feed soon. Late.

Happy belated New Year to all those keeping up with this black hole of a blog! If you know me which you probably do, skip down to the what's happening section. If you don't, here's the story:

Boy meets girl, boy and girl buy house, get married, move to Hawaii. (Yes, in that order). Boy starts fixing up the house, finds job, loses job, fixes some more on the house, finds another job, loses job, begins ripping out the downstairs ceiling in a fit of rage at the overall crappy condition of the house. Boy sits down and has a cigarette before getting back to work. (This last one happens more than it should)

The renovation is almost done and despite boy's, oops, MY self-described position as "Professional Renovationist", the time has come once again to get a "real job".

---

So What's Happening

Having second thoughts about the curved shower curtain rod I bought. Not that curved rods aren't a great idea because they are. I'm just not so sure about the one I paid for. I bought the Crescent Rod at City Mill (local hardware store) for around $40 bucks and I picked it over the one at Home Depot because it was a one piece stainless steel bar. One piece meant smooth shower curtain action and the stainless meant no rust. What I didn't count on was the flimsy, allen wrench, set-screw type connection between the bar and the mount. The mounts go on the shower wall first then the bar ends go on the bar, then finally the bar assembly goes into the mounts/brackets. The brackets are solid. The bar is solid (one piece, remember?). The bar ends are solid. The connection between the ends and the rod itself? Meh. Not so garens.

After a little more digging I found Lowes has a Moen branded two piece adjustable that looks a whole lot sturdier than both the one piece I installed and the two piece I saw at Home Depot. I will be keeping you posted.

The baseboard trim is mostly cut and waiting to be installed upstairs so we can get the carpet in. I prepainted most of it since I'm using Power Grab to avoid nailhole filling fun. It grabs tight once you press the pieces into the adhesive meaning the trim doesn't slide off the wall or move once it's in place. Good stuff. Not so good is the near constant rain which prevented me from cutting anything for almost a week. The trim is all MDF because that's all I could afford and once it's painted and caulked, nothing save a hurricane is going to give me moisture problems. The windows and base I installed 2 years ago looks the same as it did when I installed it. So there.

Anyway, you ever try cutting MDF? Easy enough but the dust is fine and gets everywhere. Cutting inside the house with the semi cleaned floors and painted walls was not an option. Rain. Fucking rain.

In the meantime, I've installed the vanity light in the bathroom as well as a towel rod and glass shelf. There's more but considering what's been done, the rest is relatively minor.

Locksets are going to be ordered sometime within the next week once I see if I can knock down the shipping to Hawaii a bit. Even if I can't they look great, the price is right, and I believe they're ADA approved levers.

Carpet for the upstairs priced out to approximately $2000 for roughly 400 sq.ft. Even with free installation from a couple of my brother's friends it's still too much right now. Back to the showroom to find something more economical.






I am also recovering a bit from the holidays. Not from too much food or too much family, just from too much of "not my regular schedule". Scored only 2 points at the annual KaneshiroFamilyChristmasOldiesVsYoungiesBasketballGame. 2 years ago I showed up on time and scored I think like 19 points. This past year I showed up at the half and scored a very, very painful 2.

Family dinners were fun and once again I have resolved to keep in touch more (completely independent of the New Year) with everyone. This time I'm planning on making it stick as the house (a huge stress) is almost done and I'm planning on having more free time this year. More on this later.






We're already a couple days into January and hopefully by the end of this month I'll have a new job. That's all I want to say right now just to make sure I don't jinx it as I'm prone to doing.

That's it gang! Questions? Email me. Comments? Leave 'em here.

Happy New Year!