WordPress 2.0.4. New version!!

Yeah, that’s right. I installed a new plugin. It manages my automatically created links. Like Google, Yahoo, My Element, etc. The new plugin is called Auto Links, abbreviated by the author to aLinks. It’s a pretty cool plugin and looks to be extensible. At one time I thought I’d change Tony Bierman’s phpGiggle WordPress hack to make it into a combination of it and the SH-Autolink plugin. Turned out my feeble PHP programming skills were not up to the task. Now, using aLinks, it looks like I can just mimic other plugin extensions and get the same functionality included in phpGiggle. How cool is that?

The biggest beef I had with SH-Autolink was that if I included a keyword in an already-created link it would break the already-created link to replace it with the AutoLink. To give you an example, I had a link to NoNags Freeware, but when I added the keyword NoNags to my SH-Autolink, it rewrote the link to only include “NoNags” and not include “Freeware”. That was kind of annoying. In this example, both links (mine and the auto-created) are pointing at the same web site, so it really isn’t a big thing. What if I had an AutoLink to Honda Element (which I do – it points to a picture of my own Honda Element) and I created a link on Honda’s website to the Honda Element and it’s feature set. Two completely different results. SH-Autolink would have overwritten the link to Honda’s website with a link to a picture of my Element. Very bad.

If you are looking for a way to automatically create links associated with user-defined key words, then I suggest you choose aLinks.

Happy Birthday, Connor!

That’s the name of my town’s celebration each year: Great River Days. This year, it’s extra special. You can read all about it on this site, but I’ll hit what I want to do. Oh, for those of you who can come to Great River Days and want to, simply buy a button for $10 and you can get in to all the entertainment.

Wednesday: It all kicked off today, but today was mainly just the rides. I don’t do rides except at a place like Six Flags. So tonight after work, I cut up the tree that had fallen down. (Sweated my butt off, too!)

Thursday: The band is We’re Late And Smell Like Beer. I haven’t heard them, but my friend Chris says they’re pretty good. I’d like to catch some of their show. It runs from 7-11pm.

Friday: The bands are Spatterdash from 5-8pm and The New Invaders from 8pm-midnight. Spatterdash is my favorite local band (I do their website design and programming), so I’ll definitely be there. The New Invaders describe themselves as a 60s tribute band. Hmmm. The jury is out on these guys. Of course, with enough beer from the adult beverage tent any band can sound good!

Saturday: This is the big day. RAGBRAI ends in Muscatine that day. RAGBRAI is the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. The riders dip their back tire in the Missouri River and then begin riding east. Seven days and 424 miles later they dip their front tire in the Mississippi River; this year it starts in Sergeant Bluff, has stops in Ida Grove, Audubon, Waukee, Newton, Marengo, Coralville and ends in Muscatine. The bicyclists will only add to the party atmosphere. I want to watch the Watermelon Eating Contest (Muscatine is widely known in the midwest for its great watermelon and cantelope, both commonly called Muscatine Melons) and the Turtle Races. The bands are two I haven’t heard of: Hap Hazard from 3:30-7:30pm and OD TAPO IMI from 8pm-midnight. After a quick Google, Hap Hazard does classic rock (no web site) and I found this page on OD TAPO IMI. Sounds like both will be OK.

And hopefully some time in there I’ll get the fallen tree out of the back yard and install a new garage door! Oh yeah… and I’ll put coats of urethane on cabinets getting them ready to mount on the wall! No worries!

Happy Birthday, Sue!

So I’m driving to work today. I take what we here call “The Bypass” around town to get to our offices. It’s a 55 mph speed limit, but there are some stoplights to slow you down. Anyway, I get up to one of the stoplights and there’s a white pickup on my left. A semi tractor-trailer turns on to The Bypass and gets into the right lane. I’m thinking, “OK, I’ll jet out ahead of this guy off the line and then pass the truck.”, because I know that semi tractor-trailers are slow to accelerate and they don’t usually go the speed limit on The Bypass because there are enough stoplights to make it a nuisance for them.

So I tear out of the Mulberry Avenue stoplight on The Bypass, trying to create enough space to pass the white pickup… however, the pickup driver has other ideas. He (yes, it was a HE) stays up with me enough so I can’t change lanes. All too soon, the semi tractor-trailer is too close so I figure, “OK, I’ll slow down and get behind the pickup and pass the semi.” The semi seems to be going between 40 mph and 45 mpn, so this seems to be a logical thing to do.

Logic goes right out the window as the guy in the white pickup gets just up to the semi to where he’s not in the driver’s blind spot but refuses to go any faster. Meanwhile, I have switched lanes behind the pickup and he’s now going exactly as fast as the semi… AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH! I spend the rest of my time on The Bypass pacing with the semi and the white pickup. Maybe this guy should find out about the guy in the white pickup and deal with him appropriately?! This town has too many idiots; I’m tellin’ ya.. IDIOTS!

So I said earlier that I’d tell you about certain events; specifically I said I’d show you. First off, the story: KC and I both woke up this morning about 5:30AM or so hearing this weird sound. I hadn’t ever heard anything like it to my knowledge; of course, I was in a fog because it was so early! Anyway, KC got up to check it out (and go to the bathroom) and said that one of our willow trees had fallen. Luckily, it was early enough that no one was around and it didn’t fall on a fence or anything. Here’s the downed tree:
         

So, do you want to come over and help me cut up the tree and get rid of it?!

Well, not actually running but running around and getting things accomplished. On Saturday KC and I went up to the Quad Cities to do some shopping. She got a floor-standing vase with “flowers” (fake ones, of course) to put in the newly redecorated living room upstairs. That was at Pier One Imports. Then we went over to JC Penney’s to get a few clothes items – they were having a big sale (aren’t they always?). Anyway KC got some stuff since none of their stuff fits me – their idea of tall is 6′3″. Next, it’s up to Red Robin (newly opened in the Quad Cities) for lunch, and what a fine lunch it was!

After a very filling lunch (Red Robin Royal Burger and a chocolate malt), we went to WalMart where I purchased a Creative Zen Sleek Photo 20 Mb MP3 player. I’ll definitely use the storage capacity for work as well as the music playing! Then we hopped on down to Lowes to check out cabinets. I am going to replace a table and two shelves with a set of cabinets for more efficient and better looking storage; they will also take the place of the entertainement center stoarage that I lost when we got our new TV. Oh, man! I hadn’t told you all about THAT home improvement! I’ll include some pictures tonight. Anyway, we didn’t see anything at Lowes that was lower priced or better quality than we saw at Menards, so we didn’t get the cabinets at Lowes.

Lastly it was off to Sam’s Club to buy some food items that only they seem to have: sirloin burgers, chicken burgers and 10 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. We also got a mega-jar (plastic, not glass) of pretzels and Tootsie Rolls. Gotta have the goodies, ya know! Saturday evening was all about me figuring out how to set up the Zen player and how it interfaces with the PC and such. I’m still learning but I’ve made some headway.

Sunday morning (after church) we went over to Menards in town and spent about $300 on cabinets for the storage area. I’ll be taking before and after photos so you can see what a change it is. However with certain other events that have happened (I’ll show you later today) and are about to happen, I won’t be able to do a whole lot on the storage area for about two or three weeks.

So Breezomatic is back home and has been doing a lot of the house chores for us while she’s living at home. It’s kind of nice until you realize that maybe she doesn’t have the experience base to do some things. Take for instance mowing the yard. I hate mowing yard; it is almost like going to the dentist for me. We have a self-propelled walk behind model, so it isn’t as bad as it could be. Breezomatic wants to help out so she mows the yard. Well, she ran out of gas. This in and of itself isn’t a bad thing. She knows how to put gas in the mower. Then she thought she’d check the oil. Now the mower we have has a long dipstick to check. She didn’t see any oil on the dipstick so she put oil in the mower until it showed up on the dipstick. Now any one of you who has a mower like this with a long dipstick knows that it has warnings printed on the dipstick to NOT overfill the oil. In her enthusiasm (and with her lack of experience) Breezomatic overfilled the oil; and not just a little bit — a LOT. She overfilled it to the point of forcing the cylinder into hydraulic lock. What this means is that there was so much oil in the mower that it filled the cylinder so the piston couldn’t move. This locks the blade and the mower can’t even be started.

Well, to fix this hydraulic lock, first you have to drain all the oil from the mower. I did this and then disconnected the spark plug (no sense in actually starting the mower when there’s no oil in it – that could lead to REAL damage) and tried to start it. No luck; I still couldn’t pull on the start rope and turn over the engine. Luckily a friend (thanks, Kevin!) has a lot more experience with engines in general and suggested I remove the spark plug and drain the oil from the cylinder (there shouldn’t be any to begin with) and then see if that did the trick. Eureka! It worked! I could now pull on the start rope and turn over the engine. I replaced the spark plug, filled it to the proper level with oil and then tried starting it. Yeah, boy! It started on the third pull… and you should have seen the billowing clouds of blue smoke burning off the excess oil!

So after all this it seems that I won’t have to buy a new mower and claim it as a home improvement!

It’s done! The deck is done! Well, actually it was done Thursday night, but I didn’t want to take pictures at night. So I took these pictures Friday night. I didn’t post them because we then left for friends’ house for hamburgers on the grill and a nice evening with them. Anyway, here’s the pics:
         

So as you can see, the entire floor is the composite material (a combination of wood fibers and recycled plastic) that looks an awful lot like wood. The short 4×4 posts, the toe rails and the hand rails are all made of the composite material as well. The balusters are anodized aluminum painted black. Each of the composite 4×4s are hollow and large enough to fit a wood 4×4 inside; there is a 16″ treated 4×4 (from the old deck material) inside each one that is anchored to the 2×10 joist plate running around the deck frame. Five of these composite 4×4s have a cap on the top and two have solar lighting mounted on the top. The pergola frame is made entirely of cedar which I stained and sealed with Wolman cedartone stain before assembly. There are four 4×4s holding up a 2×6 header where all the 2×4 cross members are attached. The 45 degree supports for the pergola 4×4 supports are 2×4s. On top of the pergola there is vinyl lattice. There isn’t a nail in the entire deck (except for on the joists and joist headers, which had nails before) – it uses all screws of varying lengths.

I used cedar and composite in the hopes that I won’t have to worry about staining and sealing the wood every year or every other year. Hopefully this will last at least four or so years before I even have to think about staining and sealing the cedar again. The composite will never need to be stained and/or sealed. The aluminum balusters should never rust. It should be a good looking deck for many years to come.

So we’re off and working again. Man, I gotta get back to the office – I work WAY too hard at home. Here’s the rundown on the latest with the home improvement stuff.

First off, the painting crew finished up and the house was a nicer shade of gray with white trim. I think they did a tremendous job and they did it in three days; well, actually about two and a half. Once that was done, we put up our new blue shutters ordered from Builder’s World (a local family-run lumber and home improvement store). Blue shutters mean the front door needs to be blue, so we took one of the fasteners in to True Value and matched a gallon of blue paint to paint the front door and the house numbers. We also got rid of that old ratty looking, too-narrow mailbox and got a nice white one. So here’s the result (at least near the front door):
   

Most of that happened Friday night as the shutters were pretty easy to put up. We did put up the mailbox and the house numbers (now blue also) on Sunday, but that only took about 30 minutes or so. Also, the front door is blue; we just finished putting that up. Very cool; even KC thinks it looks great. Now the gutters will have to wait; we are waiting for them but the contractor is booked for the next six to eight weeks.

Saturday morning found us at Pierce Furniture (a local family-owned furniture store) and ordered the new recliner, love seat and couch. They are all La-Z-Boy brand, one that we consider to be high quality (yeah, they did cost more). The recliner they had in stock; the love seat and couch we had to order… at a price several hundred dollars less than the La-Z-Boy store in Davenport that actually had the pieces in stock. Again, very cool and KC thinks so as well; of course, the recliner is “her’s” so there was some incentive there.

We also picked up a bunch of stuff at Menard’s. We picked up the fence posts for the deck fence and the cedar for the frame of the belvedere. (I have since found out that the belvedere is actually a pergola.) So I spent my weekend sawing, screwing and planing boards. We got the rest of the composite deck boards down and then began putting up the fence posts around the outside. Two of the posts will have solar lighting attached (you can see the lights in the pictures) that will light the deck enough to see but not so much to attract bugs. Al and A-Train came over to help KC and I put the vinyl lattice on the top of the pergola to help block out more direct sunlight than just boards themselves. The wood is all cedar and I’ve also used a latex stain on it to make the wood more uniform in color. I think it looks pretty good, but I’m not happy about the structural strength. I’m going back to Menard’s to pick up four more ten foot cedar two-by-fours to cut up into angle braces for the pergola’s load-bearing beams. That should be enough strength to make the handrail strong enough; I have all the parts for the handrail so it’s just a matter of time before we’re out on the deck enjoying a nice cherry ale from Rick! Here’s the photos of the deck so far:
                  

Happy Birthday, Helen!