Toilet

Just a quick note to let anyone who happens apon this blog that I fixed our toilet. It wasn't a little "replace some crap in the tank" job either (pun not indended but also not removed).

The problem was that our toilet was wobbly and you could smell sewer gas (well you couldn't but we could). I'm taking a plumbing class and they thought the problem was rotting wood underneat and suggested that I fix it.

So I removed the toilet and like any good home fix-it job, it immediately became more complicated. The problem wasn't that the wood that the flange was anchored to was rotten, it was that the floor was concrete and the flange wasn't anchored at all. The only thing holding it in place was a lead pipe that was fluted out. In otherwords the only thing holding the toilet down was a small ring of soft lead and the weight of the toilet.

So, to make a boring story short, after another visit with my plumbing class, I got me some masonry bits and concrete anchors and anchored the flange. I did it all by myself (with some moral support from Arial).

BTW, I think that my weight is variable based on how hydrated I am. It makes me think that I should go on the no-water diet. Unfortunately, I really like water... and my kidneys. So I guess I should continue my "lose fat" diet.

mwz
213

Skunk or Burning Eraser

So, Arial wanted me to point out that the night of the Super Bowl, I also had a large quantity of salt and vinigar chips. They were quite good but also very salty. I think they may have exaserbated my sugar induced illness by dehydrating me. Meaning, it wasn't all the fault of her wonderful caramel corn mix. I also think that the salt is holding water in me, making me artificially weigh more.

It smells funny in here, like skunk or a burning eraser. Since I don't see any fire (or pencils for that matter), I'm going to assume that there is a skunk outside the house. That isn't a big assumption, there are quite a few skunks in this area because the neighboring suburb doesn't allow trash cans. The skunks get to live high of the garbage... and we all suffer... particularily me... right now.

mwz
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More SB

Yesterday, I had three beers starting at 4pm (I had an early supper before the Super Bowl). In college, I used to get really bad hangovers with surprisingly small amounts of alcohol but three beers should have been fine. Yet, this morning at 4, I was having those weird dreams that you get when your sick (or at least that I get). I got up, threw up, felt better and went back to bed. Three beers...

I actually think that what got me was the caramel corn. Arial made this delicious caramel corn with prezels and pecans in it. I ate too much. I think the large amount of sugar mixed the the small amount alcohol made for a bad combination.

When I was brushing my teeth, in the wee hours of the morning, I realized that we never disinfect our toothbrushes. Day after day, they just sit out and collect bathroom bacteria. But since we put toothpaste on them, they *must* be clean...

Did anyone see the Puppy Bowl on animal planet? It was the most bizarre television I have ever seen. It was litterally a station declaring defeat to the Super Bowl. The premise was that they would stick some puppies into this little pen that was shaped like a football stadium. Then the puppies did whatever they wanted. Some chewed on toys, some just hung out and some play-fought... for THREE HOURS. They rotated the puppies and sometimes did an instant replay of something moderately interesting (like a puppy slipping as it ran). It was almost as if they decided to broadcast a fish tank.

And yet I couldn't stop tunning in. I don't even like dogs but there was something so sureal about it. I never stayed for that long. And even though they repeated the whole three hours immediately after, I didn't watch more than 15 minutes total. Did you catch that? Three hours wasn't enough, they showed it again, back-to-back. Crazy.

mwz
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XXXIX

Well the Super Bowl is over and just as I thought, the Patriots are poopy and beat the team I was rooting for. That happens. I feel good though that I didn't have a lot of emotion tied to the Eagles. That would have been maddening to watch them piddle away the clock if they were "my team".

I actually went through that with the Hawkeyes. In the Cap. 1 bowl game, they blew nearly all of the last 20 seconds needlessly, they had a couple time outs left. But on the last play (that they managed to get off) they threw a long touch down to win the game. But if Tate would have missed on the throw or the receiver dropped the ball, it would have been sickening. Clock management shouldn't be that hard. They do it fine all year. Maybe there is something about a big game that screws with your head.

BTW, the next Super Bowl will be XL. Won't that be fun.

mwz
214

Insomnia

So, it's late and I can't sleep. I thought I would write a bit. Why not? Other than that I would probably fall asleep faster if I wasn't writing a blog entry.

Tomorrow/today is the Super Bowl. I'm excited because I got some Salt and Vinegar, Snyders, kettle something potato chips. I really like them. The kettle something (which I can't remember the exact wording of that) makes the chips really crispy. And for some unknown reason, I quite like salt and vinegar flavor. Arial doesn't like them and neither do our friends that are coming over to watch the game. That means that I am going to pretty much have to eat the whole thing (not in one sitting of course... maybe two though). So much for my momentary weight loss.

So this year I am going to root for the eagles. I felt bad for them last year when they lost in the AFC (or NFC, what does it matter? The NFL is just the place where players go when they retire from college football) championship game. More importantly, I had McNabb in fantasy football (until he started sucking it up when I ditched him for Manning (about three weeks later than everyone else did)), so I've gotten used to rooting for them. Plus, their colors are so bad that I would like to see some bandwagon people buy ugly green jackets.

I'm also rooting against the Patriots because they beat two of the teams I was rooting for, the colts (with Dallas Clark) and the Steelers (who can resist cheering for the rookie). So, I have gotten used to rooting against them. They'll probably beat a third team that I was rooting for. Jerks.

I have to say that I am impressed with the bloggers who have something to say everyday. I think for some of them, it's kind of their job. Or at least part. I guess if I was a professional pundit or wrote books or something, I might dedicate more time to a blog.

I think I would still run out of things to say. Although that doesn't stop the folks (or is it just one person?) at Talking Points Memo. If they have nothing else to say, they just play he said, she said with legislators, telling us who has shown support for the Presidents SS plan, who is opposed and who has remained silent. Oooo Excitement... Especially when they report who hasn't said anything... Riveting...

I'm going to bed.

mwz
213

Rambling post

So, my only reader (Arial) pointed out that last nights post was a little rambling and uninteresting. I was going to edit it but she was right, it was too boring. So instead I'm gong to post this quick little bit more, which is expected to be just as rambling and uninteresting but shorter.

Okay, the Dems say that the Republicans are trying to phase out SS. I don't think that is what the Republicans are trying to do, although deep down inside I wish they would.

Anyway, the Republicans seem to be trying to add more junk to it. The only reason that I can see for doing this is to somehow stimulate wall street somehow. So if you care, that's where I stand. SS is a crazy cover for a welfare plan and the "persenal" accounts seem pointless.

On a side note, have you ever noticed that bloggers shorten democrats to "dems" but never republicans to "reps". That's kinda strange, especially since republican is such a long word.

mwz
214

Soc Sec

Okay, so everyone is talking about Social Security lately. Since the purpose of this blog is for me to work out what my opinion is (or express it), I'll write about it.

First let me describe the situation as I understand it. This may be completely wrong but this is what I've got to go on.

SS has fewer and fewer people left supporting it. When it was started there were 30-40 people working for every retired person. Now there are 3 workers per retired person and that is projected to dwindle. To me that seems like an issue. In the teens of this century, SS is supposed to finally pay out more than people are putting in. That seems like an issue as well. The big question that everyone wants to argue is whether SS will run out of money in the 2040s or 2050s or 2060s or whatever.

Atrios was talking about the length of solvency. Krugman had argued that it would be solvent for 75 years. Atrios responded to some critisism of the by saying, "how many years of guaranteed solvency do we need to satisfy these people? 5000?" I would answer forever. Putting off the problem is not the right way to handle finances. It's like saying "No payments 'till next year? Next year will never come."

There are some crazy-complex arguments that say that SS will be solvent forever. I get too bored with the subject to actually figure out if these make sense, so I'll just go along with that. For the rest of this entry, we'll say that SS is solvent forever.

But of course that assumes that the "Trust Fund" is real. Talking Points Memo (not affiliated with Bill O'reilly) points out here that the trust fund holds treasury bonds and that those bonds must be honored. Hence the trust fund is real. Of course that puts even more of a debt burden on our government than is already factored in.

I might point out that the Gov't could decide that there is a better way to do things and move the SS trust fund back into the general fund, thus forgiving that debt.

Okay, so that is what I know about SS. Here is what I think about it.

I think that SS is stupid. It is the gov't forcing us to save for our retirement. I would like to take that money and invest it how I see fit with out gov't oversite. The Democrats great legacy basically says that I'm to stupid to save for my retirement. I would much rather have control of my money than allow the gov't to control it.

Dems *great* argument for SS is that it is also a type of insurance for disabled or orphaned people. That's stupid. If we want to have a "safety net" for those people, let's call it what it is, welfare. Make some crazy welfare program for them and we can argue the virtues of that. But including that in SS is basically dishonest.

In the SS sytem, if you earn more, you get more back out (theoretically). That is so dumb. If you earn more, you should have more money saved up. But this allows people to pretend that SS isn't just a well disguised welfare system. If we drop it back down to a welfare system, then people who need it will still get it but people who don't won't be sucking money from the rest of us.

While I'm on the topic, I'm not terribly thrilled at Bush's new plan. It just seems like more government mucking with my money.

Well that's enough for now.

mwz
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