HOUSE: Lawn Mower Blade

Saturday afternoon, after the Area 21 Toastmasters Contests in Cocoa, I made a stop by Lowe's to pick up a new lawn mower blade (wasn't sure which was right so I bought two), and when I got home, found out both were wrong -- the diameter of the center hole wasn't large enough. My visiting friends called to say they wouldn't be available until that evening, so I thankfully had time to make a trip to find another blade -- first to Ace Hardware (no luck), then I ended up at Home Depot.

Home Depot didn't have the blades either but Steve from plumbing walked me over to and handed me a lawn mower blade sharpening kit containing a hand drill attachment (some sort of grind stone) and a tool for checking that the blade's balance. Was I up for the challenge?

Heck's yeah.

This would be my butch moment of the week -- power tools, metal machines, getting dirty. I thought of all my friends that were very "DIY" and channeled all the people I've seen on HGTV (okay, so maybe not so butch), but I just got to work and sharpened my old lawn mower blade myself. And it all turned out well actually. I mowed my lawn with confidence. Weeds trimmed down look like normal lawn, and I can now breath easy for another week.

Here's some pics of the project:

Asides from the sense of accomplishment that accompanied a job done and a more-spiffy-looking lawn, I saved a lot of money sharpening the blade myself -- the kit only cost ~$7 versus $18 for a new blade... or $36 for a new blade that would actually fit.

MOM would be proud. I haven't even posted about the ceiling tile frame I reattached myself a few weeks ago. That'll be an easy post for another day. I wonder what my next project will be.

HOME: A/C Fix

Yesterday, as JJ & Joy were pulling out of the driveway to head back to SC, I heard a "liquid"-ish noise. I turned my head to discover that my A/C air-handling unit was leaking water all over the garage floor.

I heard about such A/C perils and was quick to resolve to the fact that it was my time. I was just bothered by thoughts of impending hassle.

Fischer was there and helped me sop up the water. Then he went with me to pick up a shop vac at WM -- $30, it was on sale (score!). Outside saw an incredible storm, so fixing the A/C that evening was an impossible.

So today after work, I came home and attended to it...

(the fix and pictures can be found after the jump)
...
I had turned off the A/C since discovering the issue, and after work today, I quickly changed clothes then headed to the back of the house with the shop vac to where the A/C compressor unit was.


I hooked up the shop vac and took its hose to the end drain line pipe.


And it sucked up a lot of horrible liquid.


Since the shop vac was already out, I went to see if my neighbor, Kevin, wanted me to do the same to his A/C fan unit. He said that he actually had the same issue a few months ago, and per the advice of one of his plumber friends, he said that he cut into the pipe of the unit inside the garage, shot pressurized air through to clear out any clogs, then he poured some bleach though to fight any of the mildew, etc. He then came over to my garage and showed me step-by-step what he had done.

First, he remove the panel from the side of the A/C air handler unit. We poured some water on the evaporator coils to see if my using the shop vac helped clear the way for the drip pan. It seemed like there was more of a blockage on this end of the pipe.


So, he cut the drain pipe using jig saw and applied some compressed air through the pipes. After that, he used some duct tape to reconnect the pipes -- this was perfectly acceptable because I can use this break in the pipes if I have to troubleshoot a leak in the future.


We poured some more water in on the evaporator coils / drip pan and heard the liquid flowing quite nicely. We then poured some bleach in there to help fight and prevent mildew.

And that was it. It was a very quick and cheap fix (and yay, I now have a shop vac!). My neighbor was really awesome, plus I learned a lot from this experience.

Yay!

[MOM, I think that I can fix the A/C at your house too now. I'll bring the shop vac on my next trip up there. Just remind me :)]

HOUSE (CAR): Defogging the Headlights

No... the title isn't code for something dirty. On Sunday, I actually defogged my headlights. I used a $20 silver packet kit (from any auto store) that Jordan and Brian had recommended, saying that it was quick and easy... and it actually was.

Here's a picture of what was in it (minus the tape, water bottle, laundry dryer, and dragon):

...

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Basically, here were the steps:

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tape around headlight #1

spray said headlight and the brown sandpaper w/a mist-er

aggressively rub brown sandpaper on headlight for 3 mins.

wipe headlight w/wet paper towel

again spray headlight & now also the blue sandpaper

use said blue sandpaper on headlight for ~1 min. (do it good)

wipe headlight w/dry paper towel

apply lotion #1 using one of the special cloths included

let dry for 2-3 minutes

slowly & lightly apply lotion #2 using another of the special cloths

repeat above steps on headlight #2

let both sides dry for a few more minutes before applying another packet of lotion #2 on each headlights.

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done. simple. really. even I did it. without complaining.

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Here a few pics that will surely convince you how worth it it was...

Before (dark around because garage door is down)
During (the brown sandpaper stage)
After (ooo... shiny, and it looks like it has "guy-liner")

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And here is a side-by-side of the other headlight (before & after):


What a difference!

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It was very worth it and didn't take much time. This coming weekend, I need to change my oil before I head over to Orlando. Yeah, I'm going to start doing that myself again. Wish me luck.

:)

HOUSE: Well-Hung

During my staycation, I cleaned-up and re-organized my home office. Clearing the floor, I decided to finally hang up my "first marathon" frame (2006 Disney!) and to put up a couple sets of hooks I got from Target (mini-project). Anyways, it feels noticeably nicer. Yay!

JOURNAL: Memorial Day Weekend Update/Summary

I spent my 4-day Memorial Weekend at home. I didn't go to Disney. I didn't even go to Orlando. I just stayed at home. And you know what? I was fine with that.

The price of gas was a big consideration ($3.81/gallon), but also my body needed the time to recover from the big races the past couple of weekends.

Sleep
Going to bed without an alarm on the other side of sleep was a much needed luxury. This didn't mean that the bad neighbors behaved -- I've simply found ways of dealing with them. Take for instance, it's let's say 11:30pm and their dogs start barking... all I have to do is turn on my back porch lights. Like Pavlov's dog -- the neighbors assume that next I'll call the police, so they take their dogs in. Still, the bad neighbors were drunk at 3am Friday night/Saturday morning and got into an argument that ends up in discharged firearms and a visit from the police. The drama. Yeah, but I was deep in sleep and got the recap from a good (but tired) neighbor.

House
In addition to the more-restful sleep, being around the house has been refreshing. I took the opportunity to get my home office cleaned up and re-organized. I also tackled a couple of mini home projects -- finally hanging up my marathon frame and putting up a couple sets of hooks -- both of which provided me a good inhale-exhale. I just needed to put more things up on the walls to feel more "at-home" and boost that feeling of ownership. Granted, there are plenty more projects to accomplish (I'm meaning the never-ending work on the lawn), but I've done well for now and feel like I've made progress.

Entertainment
As for keeping entertained, I went to the movies Thursday night with my friend Chuck to go see Narnia then again with Chuck on Friday night to see Indiana Jones; both movies were fine but lack-luster but it was nice to get those out of the way early on. Next, I caught up a lot of TV shows online: ABC, NBC, Fox, and even Bravo, but there wasn't anything on CBS worth watching. Then yesterday, a friend called up and we went sailing on his Laser. And today, I'm doing absolutely nothing. I'll do Disney next weekend.

Anyways, that's about it. Almost out of things to watch/do. Maybe it's all just-in-time. Okay, I think I'm going to go water my lawn now.

RUN: 3.95 miles @??:??, Home<-ss->Fran Jamieson, Viera, FL

Today, after work, I went right to pruning one of my trees in the backyard. A neighbor had informed me of some caterpillar webs on some of the branches, and that those buggers can kill a tree. He let me borrow his long pruning stick thing, and it was hella-fun to use.

My [caddy-corner] neighbor's dog had immediately started barking and continued barking for an hour-and-a-half (seriously?!). I had my camera and took a picture of that bitch and the horror that is their backyard.

satan's dogwould you rent to these people?(just above is dog #2 of 4)
That hellion dog is the same dog that barked all Friday night. The chatter amongst the disgruntled neighbors is Desperate Housewives-ish (yeah, desperate to get them white trash kicked out of our community); and I'm so giddy! (*tee hee, giggles*)

Anyways, finished up pruning the tree for the most part (didn't see anymore webs up):

my treeand I went inside and changed for my run since there's no point taking two showers.

[yep, just Satellite tonight]
I ran with music (Netcot podcast, Star Tours and Parades) and goo. I took the short way out of the subdivision so I wouldn't have to run by the offender's house. The skies looked dark and suspicious (a mix of royal purple and bug-light yellow), and my right knee quickly started to ache, so I ran very slowly -- no worries because I had made the conscious decision not to time tonight's effort.

I ran from the house to the far end of Lake Andrew (straight shot); and kept the return-path the same because it'd be easier to gmap. Plus it was the shorted way home... even though it didn't rain, I was still scared of getting hit by lightning.

By the end of it, my legs and knees felt much better. I took a shower, ate leftovers then made a lot of fried food, and that was pretty much the night. It's only Monday.

Sweaty Ceddy pics:

extra sweatyjust the legs jumping

HOUSE: Lawn, Kitchen, and Head Refurbs

Lawn Refurb #1 -- SOD!
I dug out two trash-bins' worth of dead lawn, added some bug treatment and water, then laid down the sod.

It actually looks better than it does here.

Lawn Refurb #2 -- Sprinkler Heads
I replaced three 4" sprinkler heads (that were buried under the lawn) with 6"-ers. It was actually more difficult than one would think.


And there's endless other sprinkler heads that need attention. Yowsers!

Kitchen Refurb -- Garbage Disposal (Pt. 2)
I got the plumber's putty and put it all together. It's done. It works. And I didn't electrocute myself.  :)

I feel so handy.

Head Refurb -- Haircut
May I now present... the Nohawk. It is MOM-approved.

I still have some frosty frosty here-and-there. This is as normal as I get.

HOUSE: Kitchen Refurb -- Garbage Disposal (Pt. 1)

At 1 AM, I finally get around to replacing my broken garbage disposal in the kitchen. On the way home from Orlando, I stopped by Lowe's and picked up a 1/2 HP Insinkerator unit

After flipping the circuit breaker for the disposal, I removed the old unit.

Here's the new unit out of its box.

And even though I didn't have to replace the sink flange (the old unit was also an insinkerator), I wanted the fresher-looking font found on the flange.

In order to install the new flange, I need non-hardening plumber's putty, which I don't have, so that's my work-stoppage (I'll get it tomorrow). Until then, my kitchen'll look like this.

Well, there you go... I haven't electrocuted myself yet. Looks like it'll be done tomorrow.

Good night.