Another redesign
So I’ve done it again. I still have a few things I need to fix, but I’m really happy with the new look.
What do you think?
4 comments November 27th, 2005
Archive for November, 2005
I just saved a bunch of money. . .
No, I didn’t switch to Geico. I changed the brake pads on my van instead of paying a shop to do it.
The front brakes have been squeaking like crazy for a few weeks now, and I’ve been too busy to do anything about it. Kathy called Les Schwab to see what they charge for a brake job, and they quoted her $200 something dollars. That’s just completely nuts. I called around to auto parts places, and found the brake pads for as cheap as $13. Kathy picked up the next best pads yesterday for $20. Now, since they were going to charge me ten times this much to do it, I thought I was going to have my work cut out for me. I went out to the van today expecting to be working on it for hours. I mean, why else would it cost $200, unless it was really difficult, right?
30 minutes later, I came back in the house, greasy and dusty, with the old brake pads in my hands and the new brake pads on the van. So if an all-thumbs complete amateur, with only the stock spare tire jack and a basic socket set, and without benefit of hydraulic lifts and pneumatic tools, can do this in 30 minutes, how can they get away with charging $200?
6 comments November 19th, 2005
Word of the day, part 8
Word: “U.P.S.” (As in United Parcel Service)
Usage: Spoken as a word (like the plural of “the opposite of down”) instead of just initials.
Example: (A conversation with my mother-in-law many years ago):
Her: “I read that deliveries have been delayed quite a bit since the ups drivers have been on strike.”
Me: “Umm, since the what drivers?”
Her: “You know, the ups drivers. The ups drivers are all on strike, so the ups managers and ups secretaries are all trying to make the ups deliveries.”
Me: “Huh?”
2 comments November 17th, 2005
I’m So Old, part 1
This is the first in a series of posts about how I’m so old.
Continue Reading 4 comments November 13th, 2005
Bill is unstable
The following is an example of how much of a dork I am. The faint of heart should probably refrain from reading this post.
Continue Reading 4 comments November 12th, 2005
Road Trip Games
As promised way back in early September, here are a few games that we’ve found make road trips a bit more enjoyable, especially with kids cooped up in the car.
1. License plate game, Hayes style.
I took the standard license plate game, and kicked it up a few notches. I created a page with a picture of every state’s license plate, as well as Washington DC’s plate. You can download it as an 840KB PDF format here (and yes, I’m aware that I have North Dakota twice, and that there is no South Dakota. Sue me. Or create your own.)
I printed five copies, one for each of us. When we would see a car from a certain state, we would put a line through that state’s plate. The first person to cross off all 51 plates, or the one who crosses off the most plates by the time we reach our destination, is the winner. We only count single-family passenger vehicles, like cars, pickups, SUVs, minivans, and even RVs. No busses or semi trucks. We only counted cars that we saw driving, not parked.
2. Alphabet game.
The standard alphabet game can be played on road trips of any length. The basic rules: Find words on signs that begin with each successive letter of the alphabet. It is a collaborative game, with everyone helping to find words in order; in other words, each person does not have his own alphabet to run through. You can’t use any word on any part of any car, including the make, model, or any ads or logos printed on the car. You can only use one word on any single sign, so if a sign has the words “Alpha” and “Beta”, you can use “Alpha” as the A-word, but you then must look for a B-word on a different sign.
On shorter trips, including trips that include driving through town, the game can be more fun when several rules are relaxed. It can take a loooong time to find an X-word for example. You can choose to either allow a word that has X anywhere in it to be the X-word, or you might purposely drive near a sign that has an X-word, like a copy place that has the word “Xerox” in the window, or by a hospital that has an “X-ray” sign. You can even choose to find the X-word out of order if you come across it before you’ve reached X in the alphabet.
Happy driving!
Add comment November 5th, 2005