ehowton ◾ Weekend Madness (Reply)

20-years ago, there was an infestation of tarantulas in the small town of Rhome, Texas. They were in the house, on the wall, in the tub, on the trees outside, they covered the back lawn and the sidewalks and the streets. There were a lot of them. I'd never seen them before, or since. This weekend, I saw one. I knew this day would come. They day, they returned!

He's a little smaller than my hand

Saturday morning we trekked into McKinney for the Farmer's Market. My dad took my brother and I to the one in Dallas as kids. Whole boxes of fresh apples, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries. Bags and bags of fresh vegetables. We'd go twice a month and feast of fresh food in between. There must've been 150 stalls - each farmer hauling in his wares.

The one in McKinney had four.

And one was selling candles.

Even my children were disappointed in the selection

So I hung the star my Father bought me as a housewarming gift. I slipped my Porter Cable 14.4 Volt HammerDrill into "Hammer" mode and slipped a masonry bit into it. Going through the brick was tougher than I remembered, but I blame it on standing on the step of the ladder which reads, "DO NOT STEP ON THIS STEP!" I had my wife hold the ladder to keep me from toppling, but I had no leverage. So then I drilled through the mortar (much easier). Then I swapped out the bit for the screwdriver, and drove a masonry screw in the hole. Wouldn't take. Found a much LONGER masonry screw, but it had a hex top. Swapped out bits again and drove that it - wouldn't hold. Dunno what the issue is, but most of it could probably be solved with a taller ladder!

Deep in the Heart of Texas

My wife finished painting my office - in all its glory its now Sun Microsystems purple & gray. I moved my 6-foot folding table in there but couldn't get any orientation around the rack which would work (I plan on putting EVERYTHING save monitor, keyboard and mouse in the rack) and close the door, keeping things nice and neat. My wife really wants her dining room back, so suggested, despite the fact that neither of us wanted to leave the house Sunday, that I go find a desk. I stopped at all the places once would normally stop, and finally settled on the Sharper Image 'Stockton' Desk at OfficeMax:

L-shaped...for her pleasure.

They didn't have any, but I could order some and they'd be delivered to my home (no delivery charge if I wasn't out of area) or their office and I could pick them up. (No.) Or...they could see if a nearby store had any? (Fantastic! Let's do that!) The other stores were out too. Fine, let's order them and have them delivered to my house. Oh, you live in Anna? I'm sorry - there's a charge for being out of area. (I'm 12 miles North of this store. That's 'in' your area, trust me on this. You're the closet OfficeMax to me. Fine - what's the delivery fee?) THEY DON'T CALCULATE THE DELIVERY FEE UNTIL YOU'VE AGREED TO PAY IT! (I'm sorry, but I would feel awfully foolish accepting those terms - tell you what, you've already wasted half an hour of my time, let's just get it delivered here. Thanks.) They're on backorder. (Until when?) One week. Or two. Or more. (With me so far? Ok - so I said, "Sounds like now is the time for you to make me one hell of a deal on your display - you don't have any in stock, you're not going to get any, and no one else has any.") They call up the manager. They explained it to her. She said she'd be happy to sell the display...for full price.

I walked out.

And ordered them online this morning.

No delivery charge.

Spent the rest of the day stuffing my rack full of equipment, cabling it up, configuring my router, building firewall rules, and re-IP'ing my boxes. WHAT a nightmare. That office has no lights, no fan, and a single tiny A/C vent. With every box in that rack running, it got damn hot. The office looks FANTASTIC (pictures with the purple & gray walls once I get my desk set up) and for the first time since I've been in IT, I have a very professional looking home office. Thanks sweetheart.