Nick Johnson

Windows XP can be an annoying POS sometimes. Especially when it thinks it knows better than I do how many lines my taskbar should be. I like it to be 2 rows high. For reasons unknown, Windows wants it to be one row less than whatever I set it to. Every time I reboot, Windows reduces the height of the taskbar by one row of buttons.

Or it did. I made it stop. It seems like this is related in some way to Windows' theme support. One way to make it stop is to disable that. In the Control Panel, open Administrative Tools | Services. Look in the list for "Themes". Right-click it and choose "Properties." Change the Startup Type to "Disabled" and click "Stop."

Now Windows XP doesn't change my taskbar anymore. And before you ask, yes I tried locking the taskbar first. It had no effect, other than making it take one more step for me to resize the taskbar back to where I set it.

Labels: shitware, windows

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Why am I so excited about a faucet to put in not just one but three exclamation points after the word in all-caps? After all, it's not normal for someone to get so excited about a faucet, is it?

First, note the handspray. That's a nice handspray isn't it? When I first ordered this faucet from Fixtures and Faucets in San Mateo, they erred in entering the order and I received the faucet without the handspray. So I took it back and asked them to order me the faucet I had originally requested.

Over a week went by, and I hadn't heard anything from them. (The last batch of faucets took just under a week to receive.) I called to see what was happening. They checked into it and returned my call later to tell me that the faucet I wanted was backordered and would not be available until the first week of MAY. Might have been nice to receive that news before the granite countertops went in and before the plumber was scheduled. A call to the manufacturer confirmed that they were indeed out of stock and backordered.

Then I was on to the mad scramble to find my faucet in less time. I found an online store that happened to have exactly one of them on-hand. Their price was a little bit more expensive, and they wanted another $100 to overnight the faucet to me. I started calling around locally, and found that Floorcraft in San Francisco had one on-hand. The cost was more than Fixtures and Faucets, but less than the online store, and I wouldn't be paying for overnight shipping.

Today the faucet arrived. The plumber comes tomorrow. All is well.

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Last night I decided to stop talking about it and finally book my trip. I will be climbing Mount Shasta this year, June 20-22, with help from Mount Shasta Guides.

My original plan had been to make my attempt on the July 4 weekend, but after attending a talk by Chris Carr (co-director of Shasta Guides) I decided sooner was better. It turns out that one climbs the mountain in the dead of night, because it's a lot easier to walk on frozen snow (ie, a layer of ice on top of the snow) than on soft snow. Later in the summer the odds of having good, solid, frozen snow decrease and the odds of avalanches and rock falls increase. These combined problems reduce the odds of making a successful and safe summit at worst, and at best make for a more grueling climbing experience.

I would have scheduled the trip in May, but my new team at work has a release coming in May. Earlier in June is out, because AIDS/Lifecycle is the first week in June (and I need a little recovery time and work catch-up time after that). The last weekend in June is out, because that's Pride weekend. So the third weekend in June is really the only window this year.

To date, my biggest climb was Black Butte, and my highest hike was to the Panther Meadows sacred spring (roughly 7900 feet). These both pale in comparison to an ascent up Shasta. Still, I feel reasonably confident that I can do it. I'm in the best shape now that I've ever been.

Update: my dad suggested I check, so I did: the full moon will be on June 18, just prior to the start of the climb... so we should have ample light for our ascent! It's quite by accident, but certainly most welcome.

Labels: hiking, shasta

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Because we took out that 5" wide wall, now the plumbing no longer lines up with the sink base cabinet.

Fortunately, the kitchen wall is directly in front of the supporting wall (maybe an artifact of condo-style construction?) so it's just a matter of cutting another hole and moving the pipes over. This is what plumbers are for.

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

All this half-wall thing did was eat up 5" of counter space and reduce the amount of light getting into the kitchen from the living room. It served no other purpose.

Labels: kitchen

The hump was caused by a construction defect in which a pipe was cut off too high where an elbow was fitted to it, such that the elbow ended up sticking up above the floor joist. Rather than re-fit the pipe, the original builder opted to just nail down the plywood floor on top of it. The defect has been corrected.

Labels: kitchen

Faux brick on its own is tacky and stupid enough. Dark faux brick in a gally kitchen that has no windows just adds to the stupidity. The faux brick has been expunged.

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen

This is a clock my parents made for me (in the shape of a giant wrist watch). The new cabinets are just a little bit lighter in color than the stain used on the clock.

Labels: kitchen

Labels: kitchen