Saturday, July 05, 2008

High Wiring Act

Taking a bit of a break from wiring today, though I'll be up at the house in the last hour or so of daylight to get a little done for the day, mostly things not involving drilling or sawing, which require the laying out of 150 feet of extension cord, too time-consuming for a mere hour's work. Yesterday I was up on the high ladder hanging the boxes for ceiling fans. On the top story, they are about 14 feet off the ground, which is a bit high for my tastes, but I managed to get through it, only to find out I had done it wrong. I won't go into the details, not because they are technical and boring, but because they are extrememely embarrassing.

So tomorrow morning, when Karen is around to hear me scream if I should fall off the ladder, I have to go up and redo those two ceiling fan boxes. Fortunately, I figured out my mistake in the middle of doing the second box, and did the remaining three the right way. Of course, none of those was on a cathedral ceiling. That's what I get for trying to do the hardest part first and get it over with.

Today I decided to spend more time with the boys. We went in to town so they could play at the park while we waited for Tom to get off work, then we made a short visit to the local craft fair for some fried dough and water

I also decided to get a little groundwork done on the new version of the Web site. It will look different, though at Karen's request Thomas will still be on the banner. If he doesn't send me pictures each month I'll grab them from video chat sessions or (if there have been none of those) I will doctor another photo with thick glasses and a handlebar moustache as a reminder to him that he is being remiss.

Today I started moving the galleries to the Google service Picasa, which I've chosen for the time being as my online picture album site. Videos will go to the ubiquitos YouTube, although I will keep copies of the best of them on my server so that you may view them in a higher-quality format. I will also be setting up a "podcast" area where you can listen to us talking about our adventures at the click of a mouse.

Since we will be on the road for a couple of weeks, we will be providing some different ways to contact us as well. And Thomas will get a page that he can update as he sees fit.

We went to see the fireworks in town, which was something of an adventure. Since we live so far north, darkness does not fall early this time of year, and the fireworks start an hour and a half past the young ones' bedtime. And we had to give a couple of people rides home, so everybody got to bed late.

And today was not a day for sleeping in! Thomas started a new jub yesterday, as the dishwasher in one of our better local restaurants, with the chance to train in the kitchen if he does a good job. The job starts at 7:30 am, and Thomas still has no license and no car, so guess who gets to take him to work. That will change by the end of the month, though.

The boys are swimming in the pond at the moment; when they are done (or I am) I'll find them something quiet to do while I help prepare for a birthday party here tonight (don't panic, family, you didn't miss someone; it's for Tom's friend Jeremy), and then head up for some minor buttoning-up work at the house.

Fortunately, Tom's workday starts a bit later tomorrow, and Karen has a later shift, so we both get to sleep in a little in the morning.

Sleep? What a concept!

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