The Deck is Done!
Well, sort of. There’s still plenty of work to do, like installing railings, stairs, evening out edges, installing facia, and other such things, but the bulk of the work (framing and decking) is complete!
Now, it’s been a while since my last update, and some people are really interested in seeing some pictures. So, I thought it about time to post a few shots of my work. First off, I have a couple photos showing the completed framing:
As you can see, it turned out pretty well (thought not perfect… the right-most joist on the upper deck isn’t quite square with the rest of the frame). Truth be told, I think framing was the most enjoyable part. It’s not terribly tedious, but it really gives you a feel for what the final outcome is going to be like.
Speaking of which, second, I have a couple shots of the completed deck. The first is an attempted overhead panorama. Unfortunately, the image is a bit warped, but it gives you a decent look at the final product:
And lastly, an elevation shot, showing the deck in profile against the house:
Not too bad, eh? Again, there are a few warts that I, having built the thing, are probably more likely to notice, and only one semi-major thing: it appears the lower deck shifted forward a bit during construction, and so the front beam and posts are leaning forward slightly:
I suspect this is minor, so I’m not terribly worried about it, but worst case I can unscrew the joists, lift the deck (which isn’t has hard as you’d think), push the beam back, and rescrew.
So there you have it! ‘course, now we need to find a way to actually use the 250+ square feet of deck we now have…
Garden Update
This is a bit of a belated entry, but hey… better belated than never, eh? Well, I suppose that depends on the content of the entry…
Anyway, last weekend I decided to ignore the fact that it’s so late in the season and planted a garden anyway! After which we had near-monsoon weather, but… so it goes… hopefully my seeds don’t drown. The end result is depicted below:
As you can see, I’ve planted a few crops:
- Romaine Lettuce
- Corn
- Parsley
- Peas
- Dill
- Carrots
The idea was that, hopefully, these crops all can be started late (with the exception of the corn… that’s mostly an experiment). So, in three months, hopefully we’ll have some fresh veggies for the bunnies! Oh, and a few carrots and peas for us.
Update on the Vim Switch
Well, it’s been almost two weeks now, and the vimming continues unabated. So far, I have to say, I’m pretty happy with the change. The simple fact that I can run it in a screen session without feeling crippled has been wonderful, particularly since I’ve been frequently moving my editing sessions between work and home lately (all I need to do is ssh in, and do a ‘screen -DR’, and voila, my work environment is migrated over).
As for the RSI, other than the usual stiffness from long periods of typing, the other symptoms (things like shooting pains in the hands) have been reduced or eliminated, proving once more that emacs finger is real and dangerous! And yes, I realize that I could’ve just swapped my capslock and control keys, but I use my capslock as a third modifier, so that doesn’t work as nicely for me. :)
Meanwhile, my vocabulary of vi commands continues to expand. My biggest problem is simply remembering to use vi/vim shortcut keys and commands instead of doing things manually. This is especially a problem for me since I’m a fast enough typist that I’ll often resort to brute forcing things, rather than trying to be speedy and clever. Thing likes Ctrl+n for completion while coding is incredibly convenient, and a significant timesaver, assuming I’m smart enough to remember to use it. And being able to type things like ‘ct;
' is really darn handy, when I don't accidentally find myself typing 'xxxxxxxxxxi ' by mistake. But, given time, I suspect I'll internalize more of the commands and my editing speed will continue to increase. So, the moral of the story is that it looks like Vim has a new convert! I have officially switched sides in the infamous Editor_war.
Fun With Etymology
As Lenore can attest, I often find myself curious about the various idioms from the English language that we all take for granted. It’s really quite remarkable how many phrases we use day to day without truly understanding their meaning or origin. In this particular case, while I was watching the second intermission of the Buffalo-Carolina hockey game, Darcy Regier, the Buffalo GM, knocked on wood before speaking about the success of his team. We’ve all done this: you knock on wood to ward off bad luck. But have you ever wondered where the heck this expression came from?
The most fascinating thing about this and many other idioms in our culture is that it can become nearly impossible to track down their roots. Over time, they become lone cultural artifacts with no identifiable origin. In the case of the phrase “knock on wood”, the most likely origin is actually in ancient druidic beliefs. In particular, it was once believed that trees, specifically the Red Oak, were inhabited by spirits which could be invoked for protection by performing a ritual involving tapping upon the tree.
Incidentally, it turns out NPR has an episode of On Words covering this exact topic, as well as exploring the phrase “gesundheit” and briefly touching on the roots of the idiom “spitting image” (believe it or not, it’s actually rooted in old traditions of black magic).
