Thursday, January 29, 2009

Inordinately Amused

This link to google maps should work, but if not go ahead and enter in 844 Cherry St, Denver, CO in google. Go ahead. Right. So if you use street view in look west there is a black Geo Prizm with stuff in the back seat. This in fact looks to be before I removed those rolled up posters from my back window last fall. And that is my second favorite on street parking spot.

I do find it a bit weird that they fuzz out the text on the parking signs (Go to 808 Cherry Street and look west to see what I'm talking about). It would not do to rely upon a picture of a street to know what the parking rules are there, but surely it is more useful than problem causing. And who in their right mind would fully rely on a picture six months old? And they don't also fuzz out business signs. Also, why do they fuzz out some car tires? I suppose I could go looking, but it is late now.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The Appeal for Storage Space

Related to my last entry I am going to try to find some help for my parents.

My parents have to move out of their house due to foreclosure. They're not going to be able to find a place to live until May due to everything that is going on and they have to be out by April 8. Anyone in the greater Denver Metro area have a garage or basement they're willing to volunteer from now until the end of July to store my grandmother's dinning room table, six chairs, and a sideboard? It is the same size as my current dinning table and so if I took it in I would then have the problem of what to do with my dinning table.

That's the big thing, but any space that they could beg for would be helpful. Like me my parents have box after box of books they're packing up. Not to mention the assorted items they will not be able to use, but they want to keep until they're in a better position. For example a couple sets of cross country skis and so on.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Progress and Dread

Well, work continues on getting out all the things from the house that the bankruptcy will allow my parents to keep. One very small positive is that the cleaning down to the baseboards has allowed me to find the legs that belong to my coffee table. This isn't just any coffee table. This table has a three inch thick maple top created from the strips used to create bowling ally lanes from, the legs are stripped pins, and the whole thing is very 1960. It was made by my grandfather who was a carpenter by trade when he had more time than money. My father related how he borrowed time on a band saw to get the curve right and the way he rounded the edge by hand. It is one of two things I inherited from my father's family. I value it very much and I'm quite happy to have moved forward on getting all the parts together and protecting the top with polyurethane. Another coat of the stuff and it should be ready for use.

But despite some good things happening there is still a huge amount of dread. So much has gone horribly wrong this past year that I have nightmares when I stay at my parents' house. I still do not have a job and there is no more family safety net. I'm afraid.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Random Idea On Glass Tabletops

A problem with putting a sheet of glass over a tabletop to protect it is that if any liquid is spilled on top it will sort of 'curl over' the edge and run under the top for a distance. Could this problem be solved with some sort of small channel just inside the rim that would serve to break the run?