biggerboat's building boondoggle blog
I started this in H&F but this seems a better place for it. These are my H&F posts. A bit long-winded but hopefully entertaining. I'm sure more hilarity will ensue.
I've been debating about doing this, and I sort of thought it might qualify as health and/or fitness so I'm gonna do it.
A little background. I have a very old house that I started to remodel about 10 years ago, then ran out of money and WIM to finish it. I gutted it completely and moved walls and did a lot of interior work. But I never did anything with the exterior.
It is sort of falling apart now. The roof leaks and a lot of the wood siding is so rotten I can stick my finger through it. It needs to be completely replaced.
I just paid the house off so I can sort of afford to completely re-side and re-roof it..............if I do it myself. Another factor is I just got out of a serious relationship and now I have way too much time on my hands. I'm going a little stir crazy.
Now to the health tie-in. The last few years I just haven't been able to do things like this. I used to be able to work sunrise to sundown. But lately I'd be good for about 2 or 3 hours and my back would just tell me to stop. However, due to this forum, my back is really feeling strong again. I think I'm up for the challenge. The other health aspect is mental. I don't feel good unless I have some sort of challenge like this. It gives me something to look forward to. I'm really needing something like this about now.
So, I think I'll sort of log this activity as well as lifting. I'll have to cut back on lifting/running some. Mostly due to time considerations. I'll be working on the house on Saturday/Sunday so no lifting/running on those days.
I haven't committed to this quite yet, but I think I'm close.
On the house front. I went to the city website to see what permits I'll need. It was so confusing that I called, got an answering machine, and never got a call back. So, I went down to city hall to ask some very basic questions. Apparently the appropriate question answerers are only there MWF but a substitute question answerer was available. So, after waiting 1/2 hour the substitute question answerer informed me that he couldn't really answer my question so he told me to come back when the real question answerer was there.
I suspect this will not be healthy in any way.
I tweaked my back Wednesday doing deadlifts.
The back pain has nothing on the pain the city is inflicting on me, though.
Went back to talk to someone again. I at least got the right day. The girl was really friendly and helpful. However, she seemed to not really know what all I was supposed to do. Which, as you will see, nobody could.
The first thing she did was pull up my address.
Apparently, there were 3 expired permits associated with my house. About 10 (or more) years ago, I did a big remodel. I did it mostly myself. The first permit was for an interior remodel. I had to get electrical, plumbing, framing and probably more permits. I remember having each one signed off on. However, apparently there was a final inspection that I never got. This is just conjecture based on what she said and my hazy memory. The second was for a garage. I hired a contractor to pour the slab and I framed and finished it. Apparently the slab inspection failed but the framing inspection passed. I'm not sure how this happens. I really don't recall any of this. The third one was for a bedroom addition. I never did this. I do not recall even applying for this. But, it is there. More on this later.
So I asked a lot of questions and the girl was very polite when she had to repeatedly excuse herself to ask someone else that knew the answers. From what I gathered I can do most of the work on something they call an express permit. However, if I want add a small porch roof I will need site drawings, impervious cover documents, elevation drawings, detailed framing plans and flood plain people approval. At minimum.
Back to the old permits. The girl indicated that I could fill out a form to remove the permit for the addition since I never did it. She then sent me to someone named Tony on another floor to figure out what to do with the other ones. Tony, it seems, did not have his coffee this morning. Either that or he was just an *******. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. He told me they couldn't do anything about any of them since he had no idea if I even did any work or not. Which is problematic since I can't get any new permits with these on their computer. After much discussion he agreed to go back downstairs and talk to the friendly girl. Tony then came up and informed me that I needed a Life Safety for Expired Permit permit. He informed me that I needed to go back where I started (the line that I waited over an hour in) to start this process.
So, I go back to the window and explain to them what Tony said. They seemed a bit confused on exactly what a Life Safety for Expired Permit permit was. So, they suggested that what I really need to do is re-submit all three permits and get inspections on the work I did over 10 years ago. Even if I didn't do the work. They then put my name in the computer to talk to someone. However, the number of people waiting had swelled considerably and I had already been there 2 1/2 hours so I think I'll tackle this another day.
wait what, need more info - if someone sends you a wedding invite it's common courtesy to respond whether or not you'll be attending - is that what happened?
This wasn't a wedding invite. It was a link to a website to fill in my contact information, which I assume leads to a wedding invite.
This wasn't a wedding invite. It was a link to a website to fill in my contact information, which I assume leads to a wedding invite.
yeah sounds pretty reasonable on their end - this is common now since most people want to send nice invites in the mail but don't have contact addresses because all communication is digital/phone/text these days
the times have changed my friend and you were rude not to fill it out and completely in the wrong to get upset at them for asking you to respond - they are trying to include you to an important moment in their life (or because their parents used their quota on you) because they value you and you just told them you just dgaf
yeah sounds pretty reasonable on their end - this is common now since most people want to send nice invites in the mail but don't have contact addresses because all communication is digital/phone/text these days
the times have changed my friend and you were rude not to fill it out and completely in the wrong to get upset at them for asking you to respond - they are trying to include you to an important moment in their life (or because their parents used their quota on you) because they value you
well, except I don't even know her. I've seen her once, briefly. Never talked to her. Wouldn't know her if I saw her on the street.
well, except I don't even know her. I've seen her once, briefly. Never talked to her. Wouldn't know her if I saw her on the street.
she didn't invite you - her parents did
super common now, especially since the parents are often the ones paying for it - they demand to get a big guest list for their friends
this is not a shakedown
my brother recently got married and didn't really know a good 1/3 of the guests because they were friends of the parents - the parents wanted to have their friends there to celebrate this big moment with
why would anyone go to a wedding for someone they dont know or know very little. stupid to go and stupid to send money or gift.
i would even tell them that. although most would bite their tongue. or even send money.
the polite way was to return the email with "congrats, but i cant make it".
I guess I never updated the wedding thing.
It really was pretty great. Everyone had a great time. But, it was over the top.
My fishing update is somewhat frustrating. The last three times we've fished the sharks have been really bad. You can't reel a fish up without a shark taking it away. We even tried a completely different area, 30 miles from where we normally fish. Same thing. Sharks at every spot we stop at. These aren't little sharks, either. You can't reel them in with the tackle we use. Not that you want to. Fighting a big shark for an hour is hard on this old guy.
The novel is coming along, but it's a grind. I just keep plugging away. The first 3/4 of the book I'm really happy with. But resolving the conflicts need some work I think. I'm trying to come up with creative ways to do that. I'll get it, eventually. I still think I have at least a year before it is done.
Not much else going on.
I was just thinking the other day that it's been a long time since Mr. boat's had any fishing pictures. That 'splains it.
how long does it take you to head out to those fishing spots and how many gallons of gas does it require if you don't mind me asking
i always fish inland and can see the house from the boat at all times casting amongst the rocks for stripers so it's a whole other world - i want to get a big boat but it's a huge commitment and i'm not here full time so can't justify it
how long does it take you to head out to those fishing spots and how many gallons of gas does it require if you don't mind me asking
i always fish inland and can see the house from the boat at all times casting amongst the rocks for stripers so it's a whole other world - i want to get a big boat but it's a huge commitment and i'm not here full time so can't justify it
I'm on the gulf coast which slowly slopes down. Generally you can start catching small snapper, grunts and gags around 10-12 miles offshore. When the kingfish are around you can catch them much closer. For the better snapper and keeper red grouper you need to go around 25 miles. We generally fish about 30-35 miles out.
It takes us about an hour to get to our preferred spots once we get out of the bay. Generally about 100 gallons of gas for the entire trip. However, we have to travel about 15 miles to just get out of the bay, then it's another 35 miles.
On the east coast, it drops off much faster. I don't fish it but I've seen posts of people catching good fish within sight of land.
Yeah, boats are a commitment. You have to find a place to put it, which isn't easy around here. Routine 100 hour maintenance on an outboard is around $1000. It's definitely a money pit.
oh yeah but way more fun than hookers and blow imo
thanks for the detailed response
Follow-up question: How big are the tanks?
To use 100 and have a safety margin to ensure your return, I'm imagining something like 150?
How many machine guns do you have? Any bombs or claymore mines? Stockpiled ammunition?
The wedding is the gift that keeps on giving. Now we have pictures. LOTS and LOTS of pictures. Over 1,000 easy. My wife and her daughter have spent hours analyzing every one in detail. Please, make it stop.
sounds like someone had fun!
According to Word, I suck at commas. In almost every paragraph I write it tells me one should be there when I don't put it there, and one shouldn't be there when I do.
on the east coast of florida you can catch most of the fish that are in the ocean as they come into the bays as well. or even off the docks and piers.
sailfish are even caught right off the inlet. few or no sharks inside ever.
its hard to burn 3 gallons of gas.
So, I'm trying to lower our car insurance rate. It's pretty ridiculous.
We currently have a policy with state farm so I decided to see if progressive could do better.
First thing I found out about was uninsured motorist protection. It's a significant part of our bill. Turns out it is only for medical expenses, which, if you have health insurance you don't need this. And, they have this thing called "stacking" which in theory covers anyone in the car at the time. Had no idea. Anyway, I didn't see the need for it so I got rid of it.
I tweaked a few more things and it gave me a quote. Great, it's a lot less that what I've been paying. Then it asked me if either one had any claims int the last three years. I told the system my wife did (replaced windshield). I punched the button to pay and it said "oh wait, we found something that you didn't tell us about." Apparently they run it through a third party app that finds stuff. The app said that it didn't match what I told them about my wife's car. It said that I had a claim on my vehicle - same month, same windshield replacement. So, it's gigging me for two claims when there is only one.
I called and the woman basically said she can't fix anything the computer comes up with. We went around and around about how the computer is wrong. The conversation was long and involved a bunch of stuff like who exactly called in the claim and, maybe I could sign up for that thing that watches your driving to lower my rate, which had nothing to do with the fact they have the info wrong and they won't fix it.
I decided to take a breather and call back to see if someone else might be more helpful. They told me the name of the company that supplies the info and suggested I try to get it fixed. I figured fat chance with that.
After all that, she finally told me to just start a new quote and tell it I filed the claim. Geez. It actually worked. Oh my.
In other news, I'm trying to sell my boat trailer. Lights don't work so I've been trying to debug them. No clue what the problem is so I guess i'll be rewiring the whole thing.
almost always a bad ground. so clean all of them. then i bet it works.
Hire a lawyer, if they can’t fix it they can always sue!
That was my guess too but I just couldn't get it to work. I ended up getting a proper 7 prong to replace the old 4 prong. Has a junction box which is nice. Worked like a charm.
Really wasn't that hard.
Now I'm dealing with all the Facebook idiots trying to lowball me, or scam me.
with all ads i put, firm price and only deal in person. and text with a real number and name. then i google them and see if worth calling them back.
nice to see you ray
wingspread casting spiral shadow patterns across flathead waters or a long gone west coastal wave break
like a turkey vulture lazily floating thermal convection elevators outside a tsunami zone
