Jake McDermott’s Thought Press

So for the past couple months, I’d been sitting down in the living room in the morning, eating breakfast and whatnot, and I’d hear this rattling from my fireplace. It wasn’t consistent, and I could never go outside and hear it again. But I’d come back inside, and WHAM..there it is. Sounded like someone using an impact wrench. Definitely metallic.

I figure “Well, it’s Randy. He’s a car nut, he’s probably just working on one of his cars.”

It would end within about a half hour of starting.

Then I started hearing it later in the day – at dusk. At night, even. What the heck? Okay, maybe it’s the wind…vibrating the damper or something.

So today, I’m eating my cheerios in the morning…it’s sunny, and NO WIND. *BRAAAAAAAT*

….what the hell?

So I go outside…and I hear it now! Much quieter, though. *braaaat*

And then I look up at the top of my chimney, and see this:

Woodpecker. Using my chimney as part of his mating call for his sweetie over in the cottonwood on the neighbor’s property.

I haven’t stopped laughing for a half hour now. XD

So I’ve been getting a ton of calls from technical recruiters these past weeks. Depite the nuclear wasteland that is our economy, it seems people are hiring on in my area.

This would be great if I was looking for a job – which I am not. So, shout out – if you’re a techie and reading this, and don’t mind working int he Denver area, let me know, and I’ll make sure I keep your name handy in case I get more of the calls. So far I’ve gotten sysadmin calls, SAN guy calls, and one Tibco Administrator. Also, Artech (IBM Boulder) is always hiring, it seems…..

………D’AWWWWWW!

I was feeling sort of blah this morning, but these two blog posts made me feel a bit happer. I thought I’d share.

6 Utterly Loyal Dogs

15 Reasons Mr. Rogers Was The Best Neighbor Ever

One thing that has stuck with me this last week, and that one of my co-workers has shared, is the feeling of dread I have that, no matter what, people are setting their expectations too high with regards to President Obama.

Even if the man manages to move the earth and the heavens, and even if he manages to magically return all our 401Ks from the brink of destruction and return the troops from Iraq, still, people will be disappointed that he didn’t cure cancer at the same time.

I believe we need to keep in mind that, when the day is over, he is still human. He is still going to screw up, he is still going to be party to political influence in the capital. As much as I like the man, I cannot see him being more than a one term president, simply on the basis of the unrealistic hope that the American public has wrapped themselves around.

I hope I’m proved wrong.

I was asked when the next post would be…so it’s RIGHT NOW, BITHCES.

Been a crazy couple months, as holidays usually are. Mostly ran into some unexpected expenses in the form of more work done on the truck, and Buster (My dog) developing epilepsy. So that made Christmas a little thin this year, but you know, I’m not terribly in tune to the whole spending at Christmas game anymore, so the holiday is always a challenge for me, having to figure out what people would enjoy. Every year is harder than the last. But I always enjoy the holiday. I enjoy just relaxing, catching up with folks, going to small parties, etc.

I took quite a few photographs over the holiday – the weather was way too bloody cold, but the entertainment provided by watching squirrels and birds fight over the nuts placed outside in my mom’s bird feeders was worth of a few hours worth of picture taking. You can see them at my Flickr page.

I’m starting to ramp up for some winter home projects. The first of which is going to involve punching holes in the walls and wiringthe house for Ethernet and coax cabling. I still need to get a copy of the house plans from the city, and also read up on codes to figure out how anal I have to be about running the cable – if I can follow A/C ducts to use as a riser or what…

Change in schedule at work, which I’m actually looking forwards to. I was getting a bit burnt out on working Sundays – so now I’ll have both Saturday and Sunday off, which will make beig social a little easier.

Roommate and I are working together on a plan to keep certain foods out of the house, as the both of us are a bit more portly than we should be. I’m going to try and start going to the gym a bit more regularly, as the rec center is right down the road from me. I have no excuse.

Well, out of steam, see you all in another couple months!

…but go to work. Feh. But I figure making some extra bucks the last few months of the year is worth it if it means I can go through Christmas without having to worry about dipping into debt to do so. Also allows me to bump up my emergency funds, so that’s even better.

We’ve had a week of freeze temperatures and ice storms, so I started winterizing the house – blew out the sprinkler system this past week and started to cut the lawn short. Of course, this means the weather is now goregeous and warm. Go figure. Still, putting in new weatherstripping around the doors this weekend since I found out last year that the front one leaks like a sieve. Next week is likely buying some winter tires for the new car.

Oh yeah, speaking of that:

So I am now officially a yuppie, I suppose. (Really, does anyone use that term anymore?) Finally settled on the BMW 335xi since it had the best ride/power out of them all, and the best salesman out of every car. Seriously, best buying experience ever. BMW goes out of their way to make you feel like you’re buying less into a car and more into a club or lifestyle. It’s actually pretty cool.

Got to take it out the last month to a wedding on the Western Slope, so this picture was taken at the bottom of Kenosha Pass. I have some pictures around Independence Pass, but those didn’t come out so well due to how cloudy the area was. (And snowy!) Beautiful drive, right as the aspens were turning. I have to admit, the way they did their wedding was the right way. (NOT VEGAS.)

This time of year is actually my favorite time, as the weather is just right. Not too cold, not too warm, but cold enough in the morning to wake you up and put a crisp on things. I’m not particularly looking forwards to winter, but hey, them’s the breaks with living in Colorado.

So this weekend was spent driving cars and going on a hike with a good friend.

The cars -

• Acura TL Type S – Tight suspension, lots of get up and go. Not enough to make my teeth come loose, but certainly decent. Only drawback is the lack of AWD. Supposedly AWD is coming, but that won’t be in a sport model. Doh! But, 10yr/100K powertrain warranty is hard to beat. And for a normally aspirated V6, the power is pretty damn nice.
• Inifniti G35x – Tight suspension, very nice Hp for a normally aspirated engine. The MPG was on the low side, I know that they could do better. The Nav unit was a bit confusing to work with, and the key, for being a prox key that saves driver settings, only saved wheel/seat position. No climate control or radio at all. (The Acura had this.) Lots of standard features than the BMW 335xi, but it just didn’t seem to have the same oomph. I liked this car, but the fact that iwas power EVERYTHING made me a little twitchy. Plus the salesman pretty much dropped me like a hot rock when I wouldn’t let him run my credit. Not cool.
• VW R32 – I felt like I needed to be 10 years younger and a bigger douchebag than I am in order to drive this car. Coupled with an anemic acceleration curve and lack of a 4-door option, I was not impressed.
• VM Jetta Wolfsburg Edition – AMusing, much better acceleration curve than the R32, but once it got to 60, it didn’t have anything else to give. Way too utilitarian. Pass.
• Subaru WRX – I mention this only because I found out why the suspension in the WRX I tried out last week was so squidgy. They apparently softened it for 08. Boo. Bad move, Subaru!

So Saturday was spent on a hike..took the dogs out to  Alderfer/Three Sisters Park.  It was a nice hike, and very enjoyable company, but the area reminds me of some things I don’t like about foothills hiking and hiking near a major city: The trails were too well groomed and thus too hot in places for the dogs, and the views were..well..there weren’t many. Too many trees, too little elevation gain. That said, I will be taking my mountain bike there, for sure. The look is a pretty decent workout. But next time, we go hiking in my old stomping grounds.

Ever notice how I tend to say I’m going to keep on top of things, and never do? I have no idea what causes that. Bleh. Anyways. I won’t promise that at all this time. Maybe it’ll have positive results.

So what’s been up with me? Well, finally plonked down on a good digital camera. I got a Canon 40D DSLR.  Which I would link to, except that Canon’s website is full of FAIL and won’t serve up a homepage right now. (GO ORACLE!) I so far LOVE the camera. I haven’t uploaded much, but you can certainly check out the cream of what I have taken on my Flickr account. I really want to get a macro lens for this bad boy and have fun. Things look so awesome close up. <3

Been working in the yard, as well. I took out all the white landscaping rock around the edge of the property and replaced it with sod. Unfortunately, this area gets so much sun, that while it was growing awesomely for a while, when the sun started to really shine and the days got hot, I got burned patches. I think what I need to do is plan for some shade trees, and plan out a new irrigation system. Right now, it is laid out so badly that I can’t possibly hit all the zones I need to. So….time to rip it up, get a controller that does two more zones for flowerbeds, and do it RIGHT. Also think I’m going to hire a landscape architect to draw up some plans for me – I’m hoping I can find someone who is just trying to get their foot in the door and would be willing to do it semi-cheaply. Well, here’s hoping, at least.

Also, my venerable F-150 truck seems to be showing its age. I believe I got screwed by a Grease Monkey franchise out here, because now I have rod knock where it never existed before, and when I brought it in to have it looked at, I was WAY low on oil – despite having no oil spots under where I park the car, or any indication I was burning oil. Le sigh. Not sure how much it’d be to get that fixed…. But I’ve been looking at a new/used car anyways. Now, my more ecologically-minded friends might kill me for stating this, but I started to do the math, and I don’t save all that much by going to a really high mileage vehicle. The Jetta TDI, which gets a real world average of 42MPG, would only save me $700 a year. Not a huge deal to me.

So I test drove a BMW 135i and 335xi, Subaru WRX, and a Mazda 3.

1. BMW 135i – God Jesus is this a fun car. Zippy as heck, gets 25MPG, feels like it is on rails. 0-60 in 4.7 seconds, I was in “hello Mr. Officer!” territory before I knew it. My gripes about the vehicle is near-useless back seats and the convertible had shitty rear visibility -  But the real dealbreaker was a request for low speed from a stop. It just felt like the car had to make up its mind, and when it did, it was a hyperactive GO GO GO that I really didn’t want.
2. BMW 335xi – Same Engine as the 135i, slightly larger frame, All wheel drive. I cannot stop thinking about this car. Handled like it was on rails, low speed requests were answered with refined haste, and it was still zippy as all heck. No roll AT ALL. Corners like a fighter plane. Good god, I know why BMW can command the prices they do.
3. Subaru WRX – Granted, the guy I had to test drive with was a bit of a prat. But this car was zippy, sure..not off the chain like the 135i was, but still nice. But good lord, the handling was ass. Rolled over more than my dog. Not impressed. Not for $30K.
4. Mazda 3 – This car totally surprised me. It’s a non-turbo 4 banger, but was plenty zippy, and handled much much better than the WRX. It’s not AWD, which sucks for here, but FWD is a little better than rear for snow, at least. I was amzed at this vehicle. For $21K and 29MPG, it had no right to be as nice a drive as it was. I would definitely want to add a turbo onto it – the Speed3 only comes in standard. (Sorry, it’s semi-auto or nothing for me anymore.)
5. Lancer EVO – I got to sit in it. They wouldn’t let me drive it. The seats can’t fit my fat American ass. The salesman was apologetic, but they want to keep those low mileage. Whatever.

Anyways – the search continues. Right now, the BMW 335xi and the Mazda3 are in the top running. If the BMW was $10K to $15K cheaper, or if I could find one used, I’d already be driving it. The experience was THAT good. Seriously. If you haven’t, go drive one. These are truly class machines.

So, I’ll leave this post here. Maybe more in another couple months.

I’m not sure why, either. Ahwell.

When I bought this house, I got an inspection done on it, like any responsible buyer. The inspector brought to my attention some water in the basement, but he theorized that it was due to grading problems in the front lawn, since we could turn off the water to the house, go look at the water meter, and not see the little red splotch move at all. Thus, no leaks between the city and the valve in the house.

Fast forwards to this year, where the problem has gotten worse. I figure it’s time for me to have someone do an injection seal on the foundation where the pipe penetrates from the outside. But I look closer…that’s a lot fo water dripping out of there..hmm. I turn off the main valve, and go look at the meter. Sure as anything, that little red splotch is spinning. Slowly, but….ARGH.

So tomorrow is a $4300 adventure. Maybe more. Ugh. They have to yank the whole pipe out and replace. Sigh. I’m handy, but I’m not that handy. I suppose if I was more inclined to do things myself, I’d trench it out myself and save money, but…argh. Ohwell. At least I get a 10yr warranty out of it. The house has already done its settling in its 30 years, so this should be the last time.

In other news, life goes well. The job I got back in October has proven to be one of the best moves ever. The management rocks, my co-workers are all great, I can see myself staying there for some time. I’m always challenged. And for me, that’s about all I can ask.

Going to start going to the gym a bit more often. I had wanted to get a personal trainer, but I think with this new expenditure, I’ll hold off on that and just do what I already know to do. I’ve told my dog he’s going to have to eat puppy chow for a few months, while I feast upon ramen. Money just got tight.

I’d been wanting to do some landscaping projects around the house, as well as replace the flooring in the living room, as well as string in some data cables and coax cables into all the rooms. I’m going to have to scale back my projects and only do things that I know I can do myself. The flooring shouldn’t be a big deal, I thinkthe pussywillow and Aspen I wanted to cut down are going to get another year, though…. But most of it is something I can do, given the right tools and a little training. (Read: A few days with the Internet.)

I love Spring. I love Summer and Fall, too, but Spring holds a spot in my heart as the time of year where everything miserable about winter goes away, and you’re left with sunny, but cool days. The flowers are already coming up in the beds, I think after this whole adventure is done, I’ll start putting in some real planters out there…as good of a time as any, I suppose.