shower fixed

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In the Mundanities of Life file, I’ve had a leaky shower for several weeks. Conn and I have been shutting the hot water off at the valve after using the shower, and turning it on again when we want to use it. A little annoying.

It’s an old claw foot porcelain tub with a faucet fixture that pokes out of it going up. The old one (I know now that I’ve take it apart) was an odd mixture of very cheap plastic and nicely machined metal. The one metal part that wasn’t the best was a very small one that the rubber gasket abutted to when it was closed. It had several chips out of it that caused the hot water to drip when “closed”. Over years I’ve had to increasingly tighten the hot water valve tighter and tighter.

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I question the destruction.

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Destruction in war to be expected

The military incursion in Iraq, for brevity lets term it a war (though the Congress hasn’t declared it such, they did give President Bush the blank check to act as such) can be expected to cause much destruction. Much of the munitions being used are very good at minimizing collateral damage to both human life and property. But when a 1000 pound bomb explodes in your neighborhood, you have to expect a bit of damage. It’s war, that happens, lets get some oil money in there to fix it.

What I don’t understand is the mindless need for destruction. Not by looting hoards, which, as distressing as it may be, is typical human behavior. The mindless destruction that is bothering me is that being performed by our troops.

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Cheney v Clark

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Today Vice President Dick Cheney, addressed American Society of Newspaper Editors. (full text) He said some things I agree with and several I don’t, and definitely implied some things that are questionable, which seems de rigueur for the administration. However, right now I’ll only address one part of his comments. Going off topic he threw a personal jab, “In the early days of the war the plan was criticized by some retired military officers embedded in TV studios.”
I feel certain he was referring to retired general and former NATO commander Wesley Clark who is working currently for CNN. Clark has expressed reservations about the current military incursion, expressing the opinion that the diplomacy prior to the action should have been more resolute. He has also expressed questions about certain operational military details in Iraq. The Slate and others have opined that Clark may have an interest in running for president (as a Democrat) in 2004.

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TASP test

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Some people know that I’m applying to HISD‘s ACP program. I haven’t told many people, not wanting to jinx my application, having been unemployed for over two years and applying to many, many, many jobs. Everyone I’ve talked to has said I should get accepted automatically, but you never know.

Two monday’s ago I went in to give them the application, but I had not done my TASP tests (I read that portion of the application procedure and promptly filed it under “forget”), and I had failed to get my transcript from HCC for 3 hours of English I took in 1985. If I had not used it on my University of Texas degree, and thus it was on my UT transcript, they wouldn’t have known about it.

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Take me out to the ballgame

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Astros vs. Rockies

Ok, I can take myself to the ball game. And did yesterday. On my bike. It was a great day and an afternoon game between the Astros and the Rockies with the roof open. My secondary reason for going was it was magnetic schedule day, and I had to have a magnet (or many).
The ride there is a straight shot down Washington (has a passable bike lane) veers onto Preston (only mildly trafficked, easy to manage) downtown. It’s a little longer but smoother to take Heights Blvd to Washington, but I took Sawyer. It goes through an industrial area and is in very had shape. Not very bike friendly, but with fresh legs i don’t mind it. I tied up to a small city bike rack across Texas Ave from the ball park, and bought my ticket to the cheap seats in sec 432. Someone offered me a ticket in the “dugout” seats (1st – 3rd, lower section), but I sit there all the time, and could sneak a seat there if I wanted to. I wanted to sit up high.

ticket $5

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Book Club

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It’s like Fight Club, but we don’t hit each other with our fists… and a few of the participants are pregnant,… and…

For those that don’t know, I’m in a book club. It’s a very interesting and always changing hodge-podge of people, both home grown and imported. I’ve been involved off-and-on for two, three years; I don’t know, I’m not keeping score.

We meet about every 5 weeks. We all propose and then vote on what book will be next. Last month it was The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner. This coming month we’ve voted on The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

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