Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Taking A Leak



Well, It's Over!! I sucked it up and called the American Leak Detection Company. Surprisingly, I was happy with my $275 purchase. The found not only that I completely botched my patch job, but there was a pinhole on the other side of the pool. . . .A PINHOLE! If these guys weren't so amazing with the leak dtection geiger counter and futuristic equipment, I would be pissed about the $275.

I was very impressed. Now it's time to go swimming. . . . . . .Oh wait! Now it's to cold! DAG!

Saturday, August 26, 2006

The Mysterio Rebuttal

A few days ago, Wyatt posted the picture of the new (and quite delicious) statue of Mysterio. Of course, there is an equally impressive Scorpion one, but I digress. . . . .

I will not be taking part in the Mysterio statue extravaganza. The reason being that I have these beauties already in my possession:

Yes, this is a small sample of Deathlok's bedroom . . . . .EASSSYY Girls! Let's zoom in on the wonders that are the statues.

Of course, Spider-Man has to share the shelf with the Green Goblin. Wyatt's friend Mysterio accompanies the shelf with Doc Ock, while Sandman, Kraven the Hunter, Rhino and Electro round out the collection on the bottom shelf. Keep in mind the Kingpin, Lizard and Shocker are available and I think I see space. . . .

You are probably saying, "Gee, Mrs. Deathlok must have to go to the family room to get away from all this comic crap. . . . .But wait!

Fortunately, when she tries to get away in the kitchen, yummy food comes out. LET'S EAT!!!

Once more:



Okay, who wants to be me?

Thursday, August 24, 2006

The Levy Brakes!

First, is that how you spell levy? Let's see, "Drove my Chevy to the. . . . " It'll do!

Just got back in from Dulles (which isn't much different from Dullsville) and now the rest of the story unfolds.

Before I left yesterday, I checked the garden, looked over the house and checked out. . . . .THE POOL! The water was again about an inch low. This can't be!! Not with the season ending. My pool will slowly drain over the winter and I will be Fu* * *. . . .Functionally impaired, pool wise.

So I went to the pool store . . .the door actually makes that sound when you walk in. . . .BE WARNED!! I told them that I patch my leak and I'm still losing water. Can you sell me something. "HAH! Did you think it was going to be easy", NO NO NO!! We sell stuff but it's worthless. You need to call American Leak Detection. Fine! How much is a new liner. A new line is $235. Great! Oh, it's $585 to have it installed. I'M OUT!!

Hello? Is this American Leak Detection? How much? $275 guaranteed patch up to three leaks.
Come on down.

Now the wait begins. . . . . . . .

Monday, August 21, 2006

The Approaching Season

One month from yesterday starts the Flyers preseason. This is the time of year where Deathlok the Organizer goes into full swing.

First up, The FHL! The Fantasy Hockey League. Drafting Night for the FHL is still in the development stages, but is always a great time. The beer will flow and the draft picks will be circumspect. Wyatt will be there, and will Vinnie, and the other "friends" famed in song and blogging on Wyatt's Post History. Grimjack will be there . . .unless he figures just how much he owes from last year. Lord, knows that I would skip town if I owed that. I get the conflicting duty of being the Commissioner and being the GM of Team Pinchy.

After that is finished the second thing is scheduling Man's Weekend (MWE). My (female) boss asked "What's the 'E' stand for?" I said "Man's WeekEnd!" "Yeah, but what's the 'E' stand for?" I said, "that's why woman aren'y invited!" Later, it occurred to me that since a lot of people head down on Thursday night, technically it's Man's Week End"! SO, SHUT UP! BOSS! This weekend is where the guys go down to a secret location and drink and injury themselves playing sports that they should be playing. This year is "BACK TO THE BEACH" football. Yeeaaahhh!!!

Friday, August 18, 2006

Further Proof!

New Evidence to support the fact that John LeClair Blows!

Thursday, August 17, 2006

POOL IT! - Part 2

Pool patching requires planning. You must have the following items:

The Repair Kit – The repair kit consists of
A sheet of plastic. The size of the plastic would at first glance make you think that the kit is good for 5 or 6 repairs. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY THIS! The reason that there is ample plastic sheet is that you will be required to throw most of it out in frustration and you try to accomplish this task.
Glue! Krazy glue be damned! Gorilla glue? It is to laugh! This stuff will glue your hand to the water. It’s insane. It also smells like intensified airplane glue from the days of old. . . . .just like Mom used to make. Once you put this on the first sheet of plastic, you will screw it up and throw it. The plastic sheet will adhere to you lawn and become a permanent fixture in your yard.
A metal wire with a fuzzy tip – This looks like an applicator, but make no mistake. You will be using your fingers before the final product is ready for application.
Scissors – when you are fixing a hole in your pool liner, nothing feels better than bringing sharp objects up to the pool deck.
Goggles – Normally used for seeing under water. In this case, they are just something to glue to your head. This goes over well at work when you are up for a promotion.
A second pair of hands – With the departure of Moon the only other pair of hands available belong to my daughter. When you give her instructions to follow while you are under water, you will sit at the bottom of the pool, wondering why she isn’t following your instructions and will she do something before you suffocate.

Okay, so we are ready. Begin.

I cut the first piece of plastic and I screwed it up and throw it. That thing about the sheet adhering to my lawn? I was kidding . . . .it stuck to the pool deck. . . . .because the lawn wouldn't have been costly.

Take 2 - I took the "applicator" and smeared the adhesive thoroughly. Then I placed the "applicator" on the discarded plastic glued to the deck and began to use my fingers to distribute the adhesive "liberally". As instructed I folded it in half to protect the adhesive until I could get it under water. I gave it to my daughter and said "When I stick my and up, hand me this!" . Now, I'm underwater with my hand up and . . . . . . .nothing. I began to feel like Tom Cruise in Minority Report. When I pop up, she sitting there hold something that kind of resembled the thing I left in her hand. I couldn't peel it apart. I also couldn't figure out how something like this could get that screwed up in a matter of 15 seconds.

Take 3 - No applicator this time. Just squirt, rub, fold, submerge! Wait! My goggles are on my head and my hands are full of Space Shuttle technology adhesive. My daughter now has to secure them to my eyes. . . .Flawless! Now to go under and patch the leak. All that I have to do is hold my breath. NOTE: When the human body hold air in its lungs, it floats. The hole was at the bottom of the pool. To fix it, I had to take a deep breath (oxygenate the brain. . . .or what's left of it) and then let all the air out. . . . and then stay under water and patch-a-plenty. The directions say to make sure that you smooth out the liner. I'm not sure how much 12,000 gallons of water weighs, but in the unwrinkle battle, I lost. I had to resort to pathing in a wrinkle shape.

So far the patch seems to be holding.

On a good note, there was not a snake or spider anywhere to be seen AND I didn't have to crawl under the house. Sorry JT.

POOL IT!

If you’ve read my recent “Busy and Back!!” post, you will understand that I don’t have 5 minutes to myself these days. If fact, I squirreled 5 minutes last night so that I could shave. I indulged myself because three people yesterday walked by me and said “Hey! You growin’ a beard!” I’m not!! . . . .Well, technically I am. . .but it more of a time constraint than a fashion decision.

With all the other things going on in my life, last Saturday I was in my yard, looking at the pool. With the lack of rain that we have had and the excessive heat, there is bound to be some evaporation going on, right? Earlier in the week, I asked my neighbor, “Jade, is your pool low?” Yeah, I just put water in it!” To which I think “AWESOME!” My neighbor’s neighbor (my neighbor once removed?) also put water in his! Even Better!
Now we are back to Saturday. The water again looks about an inch lower than the night before. “Not Good” thinks I.

Now the problem of finding a water leak where there is no water coming out (similar to the sound of rain when it’s not raining). If there is water leaking there would be no way to find it unless the leak was so bad that your yard was flooded . . . .a mixed blessing. Fortunately, I have a 6 year old and am familiar with the Blue’s Clues “Thinking Chair”.

What changed from the time that there wasn’t a leak and when there was a leak (a maybe leak). I did have problems with the ladder. The screws got loose and the steps shifted. I don’t know how that could be a problem but I got nothing else. Goggles On . .. . and Under! I turns out that there isn’t a hole . . . . there are 3 of them. Apparently, if the ladder is cocked (heh heh . . .cocked) and your son is jumping around on it, the ladder wears a hole in the liner. I don’t know how much a new liner is, but I estimate that it will cost 2-3 times more that the cost of the liner to have it installed. Plus, if I don’t get this taken care of, the water will slowly leak out all winter and the pool will collapse sometime in January.

Meanwhile, at the pool store. . . . . .
I walk in to the pool store and get a “patch kit”. Before I go I inquire about a new ladder. The style of ladder that I already have is $80. Nice! After 5 years will it fall apart and begin to shed its paint into the pool . . . . . .probably! Hey! How about the PVC looking on? $100! I’ll take it! More on that latter. . .I mean later!

Drink All Around!

The Philadelphia Flyers announced that they have signed 6’2”, 210-pound free agent defenseman Nate Guenin (GEH-nihn) to a two-year Entry Level contract, according to club Assistant General Manager Paul Holmgren. Per club policy, financial terms were not disclosed.

Saturday, August 12, 2006

Two For Two!!

As many of you bloggers know, you have to be careful with who you meet on the internet. Personally, I remove my daughter's fingers if she were blogging. I've already heard questionable stories from my neighbors (who lack something called "Parenting Skills").

That being said, I have had two internet "meets" in my life. (Not counting multiple meetings with Wyatt . . . . .I would recommend CAUTION if you are inclined). . . .but I digress.

The first meet was actually a group meeting. As I have posted before here:
http://temerityhm.blogspot.com/2006/04/welcome-zippy.html
I met my friend Diane. It was great.

July 22nd, my wife was scheduled to be in a "Feis" in Washington. (That an Irish dance competition.) With what was going on at the time she wanted to cancel. I made her go. She did well and got a bunch of first and second place medals. While she was with her friends, I arranged to meet up with creator of radiohidebound and parttime visitor to the blogsphere "radio gnome". He picked me up for dinner. Barb had a tracking device place just inside my Achilles tendon in case he abducted me or something. Anyway, I would highly recommend the Rat Skeller for dinner if you are near our Nation's Capitol. . . .1,000 kinds of beer. Note: Don't let the waiter talk you into the $23.00 bottle of beer. Not worth.

Anyway, Thanks Radio Gnome. I had a great time.

In September, there is Round 3 as we are trying to get a meet in NYC that will bring San Diego, DC, Syracuse and Japan together for the first time. Can't wait!

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Busy and Back!!!

Well, I'm kinda back! Life's been moving in fast forward lately and don't have much time for Blogging tomfoolery. I noticed that JT changed his location. . . .but I found him. You'll have to hide better next time.

I don't even know how to recap the last month. Let's try.

Moon passed away on July 23rd. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and concerns. It's been very hard trying to pick up the pieces. He did a lot. As he deserved a lot for all he did, a few phone calls was all it took to accomplish the following two things (I very proud that I got this done for him):
- For his 6 years in the Philadephia Police Force - A Police Escort to the cemetary
- For his time in the Navy and Merchant Marines - The color guard blowing taps and presenting my Brother-In-Law with the flag. If taps doesn't bring a tear a the cemetary, your heartless.

Trying to get everything organized for my Mother-in-Law has been (and continues to be daunting) . The man saved everything. Without dwelling on it right now, I decided to honor Moon by doing my top 10 list of things that I came across while sorting through is bedroom (7'x5'. . no lie).

10. No less than 30 clocks/watches of different shapes, expense and age.
9. A present for my daughter Erin that turned out to be the same VCR that he gave her last year. (He lost a box approx 25"x11" in a bedroom closet).
8. Sheet music for the saxophone. Nobody knew that he played the sax.
7. Police Academy Training Manuals from 1955.
6. Every paystub from his years of employee at the Philadelphia Bulletin (the newspaper when under in 1982.
5. An X-Ray bill from when my wife broke her arm as a kid. Price - $7.50 . . . .and he was making payments.
4. His police badge, skeleton key, hand cuff key and gun (We are gong to bronze this stuff and put it on a plaque with #3.
3. His picture from the Police Force circa 1957
2. His ID from when he play minor league football in Philadelphia
1. 8mm film that supposedly has footage of Moon's time on the USS Ware during WWII. I have to find someone that can handle it. I'm terrified to even look at it.

Besides dealing with that and trying to sort out and clean up, work has been incredible. I have been so busy that I go into my little hole in the morning and nobody sees me until I go home. . .well, that's not right. When I go home, everyone else is gone. I've gone from my cushy 4 10-hour day schecule to my 5 10-hour day schedule.

The scary part is that there is an opening for a promotion that closes on Monday. I feel as though, should I be overlooked, I may go insane. Here's hoping!!!!