For my friends who love chemistry and groaners:
Rock Ready
The first wall rewired, blocked, shimmed, plumbed and ready for (sheet)rock!
The blocking has made the walls much more sturdy, to the point that Camille quipped that in the next earthquake, we should run to the kitchen!
We’ve been without a functioning kitchen for over a week, so all of my spare time is now disappearing into this black hole, to the extent that I have lost track of everything except showing up at work on time on weekdays.
The good news is that we are now in the home stretch. All of the major changes (rerouting plumbing, rewiring the 220 and kitchen outlets) are completed, and I am now preparing the walls to be as flat and smooth as a slate billiard table in preparation for the sheetrock. Rock arrives tomorrow, and goes up this week.
The cabinets are next, and I expect the entire project to be wrapped in less than two weeks!
2013 Mini-Med School (Session 1)
The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) presents a series of lectures every year that highlight the cutting edge research and community outreach that the UWSOM is involved in. It is primarily a PR program to encourage people to send their kids to the school, and a polite request for contributions: “The series is free, and we encourage people who enjoy their experience to contribute to UW Medicine. Learn more about UW Medicine’s priorities, or search for areas that interest you, and take a moment to give online. Every gift makes a difference!”
This week, there was a welcome lecture with an overview of the school, and a description of academic pathways developed to produce doctors equipped to “Serve the Underserved.”
There are four principal “Pathways:”
Indian Health Pathway (created in 1992), Global Health Pathway (created in 2003), Underserved Pathway (created in 2006), and the Hispanic Health Pathway (created in 2008). The programs include mentorship, clinical rotations and community service in the target communities.
The great thing about this (in my view) is that the social and cultural aspects are built into the four years of med school, as opposed to being a brief survey that is applied near the end like a band aid. Students are introduced to the diseases, cultural constraints and belief systems unique to the community they will be serving in their practice. Very cool, methinks.
There were four students (two sophomores, two seniors) from each of the Pathways, and they gave personal observations about their studies, aspirations and expectations.
To The Dump
Stuffed to the gills, with 820 pounds of crumbling drywall, collapsed cabinets, and the cheapest studs I’ve ever seen!
It amazes me that there is an endless steady stream of people filling this transfer station with everything you can imagine. Far down on the left, there is the contents of a house that the US Marshals seized. You can tell, because it is all good stuff, and includes things people would not usually throw away – shoeboxes full of family photos, kids toys, new furniture… a shame to see.
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Strikeout
Behind the kitchen cabinet, I see that some doofus tried more than TWENTY FOUR TIMES to find a stud with a nail, and never did connect. Nothing unusual behind the drywall, just evidence that there are people out there who are so deeply stupid that they should not be let loose with a hammer.
To The Studs
All opened up, with a house full of plaster dust and the stink of years of bad cooking and nonexistent hygiene. I should have worn a mask for this…
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Dinner at Stanford’s with Jeff, Kim, Kali, Summer, Tristan, Robin, Camille and Erin Monroe!
Boom Time
This weekend, the complete tearout!
Mackerel Sky
As an eight year old, I remember walking along Porter Avenue in Buffalo with my father. We were talking about the weather, that I was interested in understanding it, and he told me that the proper name for the study of weather is “meteorology.”
He suggested we should stop at the public library, which was on our way home,[1] and I remember the startled look on the librarian’s face when asked for books about meteorology.
Part of the reading led me to folk expressions, adages, and “old-wives’ tales” regarding weather forecasting, many of which remain burned into my memory. One of them is “Mackerel sky, mackerel sky. Not long wet, not long dry.” Every time I look up and see altocumulus clouds scudding the sky, I know change is coming.[2]
“Mare’s tails and mackerel scales / Make tall ships carry low sails.”
[1] Now called the Niagara Branch, at 280 Porter Avenue on the corner of Niagara Street.
[2] “A mackerel sky is an indicator of moisture (the cloud) and instability (the cirrus-cumulus form) at intermediate levels (2400–6100 m, 8000-20,000 ft). If the lower atmosphere is stable and no moist air moves in, the weather will most likely remain dry. However, moisture at lower levels combined with surface temperature instability can lead to rainshowers or thunderstorms should the rising moist air reach this layer. In the winter it is often said to precede snowstorms and flurries.”
Freezing Fog
It’s beautiful, but lots of locals would rather have rain. We’ve had a solid week of freezing fog, while temperatures in the mountains are in the 50s and 60s – similar to conditions you’d expect in May. It is a temperature inversion, where a blanket of warm air has trapped cold air near the ground.
There is a burn ban, and folks are complaining about the smell and taste of smog.
Soffits Begone
We’re making slow progress. I’m tearing a little out at a time so I can fill our 64 gallon garbage bin to the hilt every week, thereby minimizing the weight I wind up trucking to the dump and paying (by the pound) to get rid of. I hope.
The last trip to the transfer station was 741 pounds, a lot of which was tile. Hopefully, I can keep the next trip under a ton.
The soffits are exposed, so now I see additional problems I have to solve before I close everything up again. The kitchen is still somewhat functional, but I am right on the cusp of pulling the trigger for the complete tearout. All I have to do is line up a plumber (the new range needs gas) and an electrician (the new oven needs 220) – then the rest is up to me!
A Mild 2012 in the PNW
In 2012, the Pacific Northwest was relatively quiet earthquake-wise, despite more than 4,800 small events:
Chillin’
Deeply engrossed in the history of the Congo, under the rapacious exploitation of King Leopold of Belgium.
The book, “King Leopold’s Ghost” by Adam Hochschild, was a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law, Jenifer. It describes the genocidal plundering of the Congo during the “Scramble for Africa” in the late 1800s.
My interest in the topic was sparked by a Global Studies class I completed in the Summer of 2010, which centered on the links between capitalism, Imperialism, Colonialism and modernity. Under all of it – greed. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Maury Christmas
Master Bedroom Lighting
Expanding the master bedroom lighting. When completed, it will run the full fourteen foot length of the soffit.
