Get Off Pine Sap With Rubbing Alcohol

I got an advertisement from Mary Janes Farm magazine today that told me I could get pine sap off my hands with rubbing alcohol. I will have to try that. So far, the best solution that I've tried is dirt. That requires a lot of scrubbing your hands with dirt to get all the sap off and then a lot off scrubbing your hands with soap and water to get all the dirt off. Alternatively, you can just get enough dirt into the sap that it's not sticky anymore, wash your hands, and live with a dirty spot on your skin until it wears off. Rubbing alcohol sounds like it might be easier.

Chicken Mansion

Andrew did most of the work on this project, and he took all the pictures. That's why he's not in any of them.

I'm cutting pieces for the trusses in this picture, but you can't see the miter saw

Andrew constructed a jig for quality control (no wavy roofs for us)

 We have truss issues (get it? get it?)

paint, paint, paint

Buddy says "what are you doing up there?"

Cupola Roof

Almost done

Hopefully my next post will show you a picture of a chicken house with hardware close, door and chickens...

A Pretty Picture

A View from the 7th Floor Balcony at Work 

Employed Engineer

For the longest time, my "about me" description has described me as an "unemployed engineer."Actually, it still says that, but it's not true anymore. I got a job...and it's in my field!
I got the job back in March, so I might have told you all about it in person. If you haven't heard from me, well... the job might be why. I work at a company called Arcadis. It's a consulting firm. My office in in downtown Portland in one of the big tall building with pretty views. It's pretty great.

Buddy Playing Fetch

We're at the dog park in this video. As you can tell, Buddy loves the soccer ball.

Today's To Do's

I'm sore before I even start. Why does my list have to be so freaking physical? Woe is I!

0. Do Pilates (3 minutes version) 55 lbs of exuberant dog sure makes that harder
1. Sand the wall
2. Put on another coat of skim
2.5 Fill hummingbird feeder
3. Go to Ace for primer
4. Put up the window trim
5. Sand the wall (again)
6. Touch up wall ? (maybe it won't need it) It needed it
7. Paint the wall with primer
8.
Well I almost did it all. I got distracted and did some laundry, went to the dog park, played with the ferrets. I call it a good day.

Double Edged Ambition

Procrastinating on a task that you hate by working on another task that you hate is an effective way of getting things done. However, when it is overused, it can have the unfortunate side effect of making you miserable.
Unfortunately for me, I have an obsessive one-track tenancies that become exaggerated when I feel out of sorts. If you knew me during certain years of college you may remember when all I talked about was the martial arts. I am that way. I think a lot of people are. It mostly serves me well. Sometimes it doesn't.
There are two big obstacles in my life that are bothering me right now. One: the unfinished state of the house. Two: my lack of money-making employment.
In both cases there are actions I can take to clamber over the aforementioned obstacles. In both cases it's challenging and frustrating.

One
I don't feel like I have an natural aptitude for construction/home renovation work. Maybe nobody does. I can learn it and I am. I guess that's all there is to it. Unfortunately, I can't help comparing myself to Andrew, who, whether due to natural talent or merely years of experience, is exceptionally competent. I can't say I really expect myself to ever quite keep up with him in this area, but I strive to come close. In my own opinion, I am not learning fast enough.
I have a healthy dose competitiveness infused deeply into my nature. It drives me. I struggle to outdo myself; I struggle to outdo others. Healthy? Maybe not since it has me feeling bad about myself.   Drive and ambition  are mostly a good things, every attribute has it dark side.

Two
The job thing is a "soul crush." I'm not along. So many people my age have felt this or are feeling it. We work hard. We struggle through school. We apply to the jobs. We get rejected over and over and over. Sometimes we get rejected before we even start the application. "Ah, an entry level job in my field...oh, they want ten years of experience." It's rough, but here are some words that I find darkly comforting. I read them on the blog of an acquaintance. She was about my age meaning 30ish with some serious relationships and life experience under her belt. She said that the soul crushing pain of the fruitless job search was the worst she had ever been through. She said no boy trouble came close.

I remember reading that with mixed pity and revulsion. Those are the words of a person who has never truly been in love. She'd had the chance, too.
"no boy trouble came close." I think of those words now, and I think to myself, "well, at least I'm not like that!"
If those are the words of a strong or empowered human being then count me out. I don't want to be that kind of strong, and I'm sorry if I ever tried. "Boy trouble," at its worst, is the experience of losing someone that you love deeply. That should hurt. It should hurt like hell.
No matter how hard the job search gets or how many times my applications get rejected, the heartbreak of losing somebody I love will always trump the dull discouragement of another rejected cover letter.
I have lost people that I loved, to death and to the necessary parting of ways that follows the bitter end of a relationship. Job related rejections may hurt my pride but they won't break my heart. I love my people far, far more than I love my employment status.
So there they are, my words of dark and petty comfort; "At least I'm not like that."

Buddy Love

Bean Bag Chair!

Buddy And Me In My New Beanbag Chair

If you look closely at this picture, you might be able to tell that I have joint compound in my hair from patching the ceiling. Do you see that cup? That is coffee. Coffee, Beanbag and Budinator, who wouldn't be grinning?

I wrote a new post about Michelle's visit, but it's backdated to Nov. 21 which is when she was actually visiting. So scroll back to Nov 21 if you want to read it.

Drain Face

I like the way this style of bathtub drain looks like a face

I like household objects that look like faces, electrical sockets for example. According to some sources wall sockets that look like faces are actually upside down. That's funny, I always think the other way is upside down. Andrew and I intentionally installed our kitchen outlet "upside down" because we think it looks right way up that way and it's nice having it look like a face.

I was telling Andrew that I like the bathtub drain because it looks like face. He said he likes it too, but that it looks like a little pervert with a long nose.

"Why do you think it's a pervert?"

"It's watching you take a bath."

He has a point, but I think it looks peaceful rather than sneaky. I don't think the drain cares much about me one way of the other. I think it's a warm water spirit enjoying the bath and dreaming about steam. That's what I think.

The Drain Face

The Impossible Achieved

I finally discovered a task that I find odious enough that I will apply to jobs as a means of procrastinating. I thought it was impossible, but it's not. That task is skim coating. It's dusty. It's strenuous. It's slow, and the process is not very satisfying. The end result is worth it, but oh how I dislike the journey. I realized how much when I found myself applying to a job to put off going back to it.

By the way, I am writing this blog entry from inside a cardboard box. Buddy has grown too big to sleep in the bed with us. He's only 55lbs, but is a bed hog. I haven't been sleeping well. He has a dog bed but it gets cold at night.
A few days ago a package arrived from my Amazon wishlist, Bean Bag Chairs! The shipping boxes are just the right size for Buddy's dog bed. Buddy's not so sure about the whole idea. At first he refused to go in the box. Once I was in the box he walked in a laid down. It is nice and warm in here and Buddy's dog bed is pretty comfy. Who knows maybe Buddy will just keep sleeping in the bed, and I will end up sleeping in the box.

The Bean Bag Boxes Waiting On The Front Porch

The Budinator At The DP

Buddy wants to go to the Dog Park. He knows;Cuteness will get you everywhere.

We call it the DP when we don't want him to get all excited.

Oh how he loves the Dog Park!

What Joy!

"Will you throw that ball again?"

The Budinator is getting tired...

...but he loves his friends

Otaku Died Yesterday

This Picture was taken a few hours before Otaku died. (Bear is the dark one above. Otaku is in the middle on his back. Pip is lower left.)

When I went into the office to check on Otaku yesterday evening, he was stretched out of his back, asleep. Pip and Bear were both curled around him almost protectively. It was very sweet.
I wondered if Otaku was just asleep or if he had died. I called Andrew to see Pip and Bear before I woke them up. Andrew could tell just by looking at him; Otaku was dead. His body was cold and stiff. Pip and Bear were trying to keep him warm, but his body was cold, all but one little spot where they had managed to keep it warm. Our old friend had slipped away in his sleep. Andrew wrapped Otaku in a little towel  and laid him in a shoe box. Then he added a soft peace of the fleecy blanket material that Otaku always loved to chew along with a sponge and a washcloth (Otaku loved to steel sponges and wash clothes chew them. We used to find stashes of them.). I stood by blubbering, all tears and snot. Andrew buried the box in the back yard next to the snow ball bush.

Death

Our old fat ferret is dying. Otaku is eight or nine years old. For a ferret that's like being over a hundred. He's had cancer for a while and he's been sleeping more and more, but he's been happy and willing to make trouble especially when he has a had a bath. He was up and about yesterday and scrambling around the office doing ferret things. Today when I picked him up to cuddle him, all his feet were cold and he would hardly wake up even for a bath. We had to hold is head up for him to keep it out of the water for most of the bath, and he didn't get riled up to dry off. If he makes it though night we're going to take him to the vet tomorrow for a peaceful goodbye. He's had a very good life, but I'm not going to lie I'm still crying.

Goodbye to Toothless

A couple of weeks ago Andrew got in a car accident. All stories match and both insurance companies agree, it was the other guy's fault.

Andrew and I were in Salem because I had an interview and Andrew went with me to be moral support.  While I was in the interview Andrew went to a T-mobile store. He was on his way back when he got in the accident. He was driving past a shopping center in a 35mph zone with two lanes each way. Andrew was in the middle lane.The SUV next to him turned right into the shopping center ,and a mini van took the opportunity to turn left out of the shopping center. The mini van driver should have made sure there wasn't a car in that blind spot behind the SUV, but it really was exceptionally bad timing. The mini van couldn't see Andrew because of the SUV and Andrew couldn't see the mini van. For Andrew, the end result was that a mini van appeared magically on the road from nowhere about ten feet in front him. 

Andrew has incredible reflexes. It serves him well. There was no one in the oncoming lane, and he had the presence of mind to swerve into it while breaking (instead of merely locking up the breaks like I probably would have done.) As a result Andrew and Toothless (Toothless was a 2002 Ford Taurus) didn't T-bone the mini van. Instead, the nose of the mini van hit Toothless in the passenger side headlight and slid down the side of the car denting everything in its path. 

Thanks to Andrew's quick thinking, the people involved were not severely damaged.  Andrew is seeing a chiropractor for his neck and had to miss a day of work, but it could have been much worse. I imagine the mini van driver is in similar shape. The cars are another matter. 

The body damage was too much for Toothless. The Insurance company counted the car a Total Loss and we should be getting some money next week that will be enough to buy something comparable. Poor Toothless. He died heroically. He will likely be reborn as something with a salvage title or maybe he will donate his organs and become part of many cars. Maybe he will be reborn as dishwasher. 

I'm hoping we can claim compensation for the missed day of work and maybe some of the time spent recovering from a neck injury that would have been spent having fun or working on the house. That would be nice. By the way, did you know that it's actually a good thing to brace yourself for impact when you're in a car accident? So says the chiropractor that Andrew saw. Evidently the idea that it's better to be relaxed on impact is a misconception. Being braced protects your joints. Who knew? Not me. 

The FE

Practice Problems With My Favorite Pen

Did I mention that I've been studying for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam (FE)? The FE is a certification exam. If you pass it, you can be registered as an Engineer In Training, an Engineering Intern or Intern Engineer. It all means the same thing, but different states use different titles to keep it interesting.
I guess some people find the term Engineer in Training to be confusing because it sounds like the Engineer is not yet an Engineer. Personally I think engineer in training sounds like a training bra... Anyway an EIT/EI/IE is an engineer, just not a certified Professional Engineer (PE). You have to work as an engineer for several years and take yet another exam to become a PE. A PE is the person who signs off on/ takes responsibility for the quality of work on a project. So if the bridge falls down... the PE is the  one responsible. I'm not likely to be designing any bridges as I'm in environmental engineering not civil, but you get the idea.

Passing the FE is a step along the road to becoming a PE. It's a six hour exam with a 25 minute break in the middle. There are a limited selection of calculators that you are allowed to use. You can bring in cough drops, but they must be unwrapped prior to entering the testing room. You may not bring in scratch paper or a pen. The staff at the testing center give you a grease pencil and a reusable pad of laminated paper stuff with which to do all your scribbling. I took it on Friday Nov. 20th.

My Study Buddy

I got my results yesterday; I passed!  What joy! No more studying for that! Now I can apply to all the jobs that want an EIT/EI/IE whatever they want to call it.

Michelle's Visit

Michelle came to visit us at our house in Newberg. Due to her miscommunication between Andrew and me about timing, her visit lined up with the week before I took the FE. So, I was stressed out for most of it. Michelle made things way easier for me by having Buddy sleep with her a couple nights so that he wouldn't wake me up.

Michelle Looking Cool In Goodwill

Me, Looking Frazzled In Goodwill

Michelle and I did some paintings.

Michelle's Painting

My Painting

Michelle and Andrew made end-grain cutting boards. I was off studying so I only participated through these pictures that Andrew took and by occasionally admiring their progress.

Michelle Using The Table Saw

Michelle Sanding A Cutting Board

Finishing The Cutting Boards With Mineral Oil And Bee's Wax

The Cutting Boards Wrapped Up To Fly Back To California

Buddy Is Sad That Michelle Went Home

First World Dog Problems

Andrew has been putting treats in the bathtub to make Buddy get over his fear of baths. Buddy refuses to climb in the tub and get the treat. Instead, he stands there and whines until, half an hour later, Andrew gets fed up and dumps the unwilling Buddy into the empty tub. Buddy happily eats the treat licks up the little bit of water that lingers near the drain (drain water always tastes better)  and hops out.

"Oh the pain!"

"Whine, whine, whine..."