Sorry my fellow geeks, but this ain't no computer upgrade post :(
So, my Dad and I went up to the ol' cabin this past weekend and this is what we found:
1. A foundation leek that soaked a corner of the basement carpet
2. A leak through the tin roof into the attic
3. A dead mouse (thumbs up to mouse traps!)
Anyway, we decided that we'd eventually have to take all the tin sheets off the roof and redo it since they didn't do it right the first time...hence the leaking.
While we were on the subject, we started discussing converting the attic into another bedroom. We've had the idea for awhile. There are three obstacles the bedroom design would have to overcome:
a. It gets friggin' hot up there in the summer. Tin roof with 1 little window...you get the picture.
b. The very peak of the roof is about 6 feet tall. A little on the short side, especially since there cross members every 2 feet that smack me in the nose!
c. Building permits are hard to get, especially if you are adding more livable space to your house. (ie: not just a cosmetic changes/enhancements)
So, what I've been thinking is that when we fix up the roof, we put a couple big opening skylights in on either side. This will allow for better circulation and more light.
Sometime after that, we figured we'd put in a dormer on each side to give a bit more room under the slope of the existing roof. It would also allow for some more windows to cool things down.
Unfortunately that doesn't really solve the height problem. I think if we changed things around a bit, I could make it so I could walk down the tallest part without having to duck...but barely. Fixing the problem properly would be a little more difficult! Raising the roof (oh yeah!) would make the attic into livable space...which gets complicated and messy :(
Anyway, it would be a sweet project and a nice addition! I'm stoked! However, there's lots of work to do before that. We have to take apart most of the walls on the top floor to get rid of a wood bug problem, and to make sure the walls were built well enough to support a room in the attic.
Here's a pic of the roof for a visual
It's unfortunate the current roof leaves so little room in the front for a window (hence that little tiny one at the top).
So I just read this essay called What You'll Wish You'd Known by Paul Graham.
The article basically talks about what people regret they didn't do in High School, and what they wish they had known.
I think it's important to have a mentor in High School. Someone to give you the straight goods about what life is really like, and what is possible. When you're in HS, it's pretty hard to see past graduation, and damn near impossible to see past University. Crap, I'm done Uni, and even 6 months out is a hazy blur!
I also see most of the population doing things they don't really enjoy. Too many people bored and beaten down. It's disturbing!
Not sure how school could help change this. Maybe they could focus more on broadening kids minds. Letting them experience a wider variety of things. Perhaps a whole semester could be used to research something or design something. Running a real business in High School would have been pretty cool! Even a course that lets you get hands on experience on how to setup a business. Not sure if it's a very practical idea though. I think Paul forgets how many morons there really are in this world! I'm not talking about stupid, I'm talking about the 3/4 of my school who smoked pot across the street and didn't give a crap about anything else. Somehow I don't think this article would have changed them much.
Perhaps nothing can be done at the school level. I know a lot of my perspectives changed when I got out into the real world. I remember back in HS, I always used to think "Man, doing that looks impossible! They must have come up with some easy way to do it!" Well people, most of the time they haven't! To get those things done, it takes a LOT of hard work and you genuinly have to be an expert at what you do! On top of that, I thought "Hey, that's what school's for. If I graduate with XYZ degree, I'll be all set". Not so! Especially in computers. 10% of what I need to know to do my job came from Uni courses. The other 90% came from hands on experience and me screwing around in my spare time! I think that's similar in a lot of different areas.
I guess what I'm saying is that back in the day, I never realized how good I'd have to be at my job to get things done, and how much you have to work at it.
I think I regret not having a broad spectrum of professional experience. Yeah, I'm only 25, and it's expected. However, I think it's important to have a hobby, completely different from your day job. One that you could convert into a new profession at any time. Something that would never go out of fashion for extended lengths of time. It would provide more security and greater flexibility.
I closing, I think it's important to realize that this world is all about getting things done. If you can take an idea and implement it from start to finish...you're set. That is what school should be focused on. Since school sucks at that, my suggestion is to hone that skill yourself.
I found this in a slashdot article if you're interested.
Hey Y'all!
So, the Fellowship of the Aubrey house is breaking up and starting their own adventures. The end of February is our move out date.
My adventure is taking me back to my old hood. Yup, I'm moving back home to White Rock!! :P I'm still working downtown, so the commute might suck a bit more, but the bus only takes an extra 30 minutes, so it's nothing crazy.
I'm going to be moving back into my old bedroom at my mom's place, and making an office in one of the spare rooms at my dad's.
Why am I moving all the way out there you ask? Well, I'm gonna start saving the $$. What am I going to do with my extra cash? Well that's a damn good question! G-Dog wants me to give a third of the proceeds directly to him...I'm open to suggestions ;) The two leaders at this point are buying a house or going travelling.
I was thinking this one looked mightly nice ;)
Party on!
OK, I don't really give a crap about Nickelback, but I found this while I was surfing around, and I thought it was kind of amusing!
It's pretty obvious they have a song "formula", this just proves it.
Same goes for the Tragically Hip's Fully Completely album. I always thought you could swap out the music and the lyrics on a bunch of those songs and they'd still sound the same!
Hey, shake your money maker if ya got it...I would!
So, went for some snowboarding action this weekend. It was pretty sweet, but a little painful!! Everything was smooth except for the 3 times I was on my backside edge and hit a patch of ice! Ass hits ice at high speeds...nuf said!!
Renting equipement up at whistler is a REALLY good deal. We got the lift pass from 7/11, but you can also get a rental pass too, and it's only $20! So, lift and rental was $88 or something like that. Manning costs that much...but sucks ass!!
So, it was a bunch of friends from Overwaitea that I went up with. One of the guys hooked us up with this sweet condo to stay in.
Good times had by all...especially in the hottub! ;) You can make interesting mohawks when your wet hair freezes in about 2 minutes :P
OK people, I've jumped on the blogging band wagon. Lets see if I can stay on, or fall off and get trampled a la ParvBob ;)
Things I promise:
1. I will not post about my boring day-to-day life.
2. Complaining will be kept to a minimum
3. I'm going to post at least once a week.
4. I will make my posts interesting...at least to me, so that's not saying much ;)
5. I don't promise to keep my promises
Warnings:
1. I'm a geek and therefore will probably be posting occationally about software and other geeky stuff.