I don't download music, hell, I don't even know how to download music but I do know that I haven't bought a new CD since the RIAA started suing teenagers and grandmothers a few years ago. That's ok, I own over 500 CDs so it's not like I don't have anything to listen to. I really like streaming radio these days too. I seem to have more money too - jeepers, 15 bucks (or more) is a lot of money for a CD. I only paid $12.50 to see Led Zeppelin in 1973; $4.50 to see Grand Funk in '74.

I've heard all of the arguments about copyright infringement and touring bands who whine and bitch about downloading. I just don't care. I've thought about it, I've tried to care, I just don't. I've been a musician since 1970 and I've created a lot of music. Some of it was good and was regularly requested when I would play at parties or solo in bars back when I had a good singing voice. I've even recorded some of those songs, but most of them were never recorded, I just played those songs and they went out into the air and were gone.

RIAA wins key victory, accused file sharer must pay $220000
CNET News.com - 2 hours ago
UPDATE (8:46 pm PT): A Minnesota woman must pay $220000 to six of the top music labels after a federal jury found on Thursday that she violated their copyright. Thomas was ordered to pay $9,250 for each of the 24 songs that the RIAA concentrated on.

cartoon is from: http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/

This is the area was previously known as "The Pit," so named because it was a large hole in the ground with eroded  banks and it became a weed infested pit. It is actually part of the city's storm water drainage system but the city wasn't interested in the fact that it was ugly and a pain in the ass to keep mowed. Each week, it was either me or my next door neighbor in the pit with a weed whacker. It was also a safety hazard because the grass and weeds grew up between the eroded gullys and became a great place to turn an ankle or bottom out a mower, I've done both. Mowing was just dangerous, one false move in here and you lose a limb.

At the beginning of summer the next door neighbor approached me about doing something about The Pit. I'd actually contacted the city twice about it and he exchanged several emails. The city said that they aren't interested in making any repairs or changes and that we are on our own. They'd better not piss and moan if they don't like what we've done because we gave them every opportunity to do this work themselves.

The next few months were hot so nothing happened to the pit. Weeds grew huge and more topsoil disappeared into the drainage system. Finally, we built the wall pictured below. We started in the late morning and finished it by yesterday afternoon. Not bad really, it's fairly large and took almost 130 bricks.

Brasil 4      USA 0

A huge problem is, why is Greg Ryan, whose most recent head coaching position was at Division III Colorado College, where he was a rather lackluster 40-28-6, making decisions for the Women's National Team? Whose brilliant idea was it to hire him when other, more qualified candidates were interested in the job?

Ryan benched goalkeeper Hope Solo, who was undefeated in this World Cup with three shutouts, in favor of backup Briana Scurry because he felt Scurry's style gave the Americans a better chance against the Brazilians. Scurry is arguably the greatest goalkeeper in U.S. history, starting on teams that won two gold medals and a World Cup. But she also hasn't started a game since June, and she looked rusty. Probably because she is rusty.

Two of Brasil's goals slipped right through her hands, and there appeared to be a communication breakdown on the 20th-minute own goal by midfielder Leslie Osborne on a Brasil corner kick that opened the scoring floodgates. From the angle I had on the replay, had Osborne done nothing, Scurry could have easily caught the ball.

“I don't think that move affected the game,” Ryan said afterward. “I think Bri played a great game.” You're kidding, right? That's right up there with  "You're doin' a great job, Brownie," which have to be six of the stupiest words ever uttered.

Solo was understandably upset on the bench and in the postmatch interview area.

“It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody who knows anything about the game knows that,” Solo said. “There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. The fact of the matter is, it's not 2004 anymore. It's 2007, and I think you have to live in the present.” So true.

Ryan tried to shift the focus to Swiss referee Nicole Petignat and her yellow card on midfielder Shannon Boxx in first-half injury time. However, just because Petignat was blind does nothing to absolve Ryan of his blatant incompetence. 

Replays indicated Boxx accidentally tripped Brazilian forward Cristiane, but it was her second yellow card of the game and two yellows mean automatic ejection. They were both bad calls. The first yellow was issued when Boxx tackled Brasilian player Formiga. I must've watched the replay of this 20 times and it was ALL BALL. The second yellow card and the one that saw Boxx ejected from the match occurred when Brazilian striker Cristiane tripped Boxx from behind  --  Boxx never saw the player! It would be fitting if Petignat never officiated another game at the international level.

UPDATE: October 2007, Ryan is sacked. I guess we'll just have to wait and see who the next coach is. Mia Hamm is on the search committee so that is a good sign.

As you can see, the fireplace that the contractor built was butt-ugly. They slapped up some tile and used a crappy pre-fab mantlepiece - no imagination. When we'd build a fire in this thing, most of the heat was lost because the tile didn't warm up at all. The tile on the floor never warmed, it was just too far away from the source so not only was this thing ugly, it was inefficient.

Approximately two years later, I'd had enough. It was cold outside and I needed a project so I began tearing the old fireplace out. The first thing to go was the mantlepiece and it went straight into the table saw then into the fireplace; at least it was good for something. We made a couple of trips to the masonry supplier before we settled on the brick we wanted.

I made some pretty horrendous holes in the wall when I removed the tile so my first task was to repair the drywall. For this project, it didn't matter that my drywalling skills suck, it was all going to be behind the brick.

I chisled the tile off the floor, did some math to get the arch I wanted, constructed a form out of scrap wood, and got busy laying the bricks.

This picture is really dark but in the upper left-hand side of the brick face, there are two spaces cut out of the brick where I later inlaid two ceramic tiles created by kids in the JAMS Program; there is a close-up below.

I used a board of red oak from my wood shop as a temporary mantlepiece. I didn't really know what I wanted as a mantlepiece so for the time being, a board would have to do.

Then I saw the piece of wood below and I knew that this is what I've been waiting for.

I made the mantlepiece out of a huge piece of Chinese elm. As you can see, it is edge wood, with the side of the tree clearly visible. Very beautiful. I finished it with Watco Danish Oil.

Yes, as a matter of fact, that is a carving of a cod on the left-hand side of the mantle.

After 3 years, it's finally done. Right on time.

Here are the finished shed doors:

We built this shed a couple of years ago and ran out of materials to finish the doors so I slapped together some 2 x 4s and plywood, never a good material to expose to the elements, and swore I'd finish it properly at a later date. Between then and now, I sold my truck and bought the Xterra which is incapable of safely transporting 4X8 sheets. By this time, the plywood had begun to self-destruct and it looked terrible. I was able to complete the doors after a friend and his truck came to my aid.

Naturally, I painted the new doors so the shed could finally be declared a done deal. However, I was relaxing after painting when my wife appeared and said, "Honey, did you mean to paint the shed doors blue?"

"No, they're supposed to be green like the rest of the shed; are they blue?"

"Yes."

Being extremely color blind, I had no idea what color they were. My wife went and got the correct paint and helped finish the job, which is fitting since we collaborated on every other aspect of the building from digging out the area, building the forms for the cement guys to actually constructing the building.

Next, I'll post the fireplace project.

WORDS OF WISDOM

from a co-worker

I have been too busy to post anything lately but at least I have photographic evidence to support my claim of being busy.

Two weekends ago we cleared our entire living room and I put down laminate flooring:

This was followed by the next weekend project, replacing temporary doors on the shed with the doors I imagined in my head when we built the shed 3 or 4 years ago. The reason I didn't finish this project a long time ago is because I sold my truck and had no means to bring the materials home. I finally asked a friend and we went to Home Depot and bought 2 8 X 4 sheets and several cedar boards, behold:

We finished painting the shed doors tonight so perhaps I'll post a picture later.

Expect the unexpected

Actually, I'm being curiously drawn to this:

A 2007 Royal Enfield with a sidecar except in British racing green

I'm seriously thinking about buying one of these:

2007 Royal Enfield 500ES Classic

It's much smaller and slower than anything else I've ever owned, that being a 1968 H-D Sportster then a 1973 Triumph Trident, but I think it would make a nice "putt around town" motorcycle. It supposedly gets 70 MPG!

I particularly like the classic styling and it's nice that I can buy something like this rather than trying to search the globe for a Rudge. Pictured below is a beautiful 1934 Rudge Ulster. Definitely my kind of machine.