I like Sherwin-Williams products. I use their products. Good paint should help you achieve good results; it is easy to apply, has flow quality that helps smooth out your brush strokes, don't dry too fast or slow, and gives good coverage (I think they call it "hiding"). Sherwin-Williams products always help me get good results. Their paint looks great. I also have one of their sash/trim brushes and I remember that not one time did I wish for a better brush while I was using it.
Painting is such a big and time consuming task that you might as well get the best you can for the job. Having to re-work a paint job is painful.
Benjamin Moore is probably another good bet. I just haven't tried their products.
I find church bulletin bloopers absolutely hilarious:
Every so often, a carnival comes and sets up in a large parking lot somewhere in town.When the power is out, a small flashlight is handy; it can be kept in a pocket, ready for action at any time. Handy, too, if it's glow-in-the dark in the event that it gets dropped and turns off when it hit the ground. Its glow makes it easy to find. If yours isn't glow-in-the-dark, I think there is glow-in-the dark tape that you can get and apply.
Our music minister decided to change the sung Our Father. The new arrangement is AWFUL. Bleccchhh! I hope everyone will continue to NOT sing this version. Our music minister is unfortunately not very qualified ... doesn't know how to direct, can't play an instrument very well, and is frequently prone to bad music choices. Hey if any of you are contemplating pursuing music ministry, please do. Apparently there is a shortage of qualified music ministers.
I was messing around with templates for this blog. Looks like I lost a few things. Well a lot of things. Not sure I'd bother with restoring them.
Yo, T.O., if you're still lurking out there, send me an e-mail will ya? I finally got around to creating an e-mail account just for this blog. Thanks in advance. And happy Canadian Thanksgiving Day in advance.
For variety, here is my participation in this week's Friday Five.
So for today's Friday Five, you're invited to share your experiences with the exciting, challenging world of business travel....
1. Does your job ever call for travel? Is this a joy or a burden?
There has been some occasions where my job calls for travel. Not often. Most of the time, it's more "joy" than "burden." I mostly don't mind but one time it meant that I'd miss a certain event at church and I wasn't happy about that. It's also very helpful that I have someone who will take care of the pets while I'm gone.
2. How about that of your spouse or partner?
not applicable
3. What was the best business trip you ever took?
One time most of my team went. It was nice because I liked my team; we worked well together and we also had fun after work.
4. ...and the worst, of course?
I think all of the trips went well, meaning that the objectives were met. The worst, though would be the one where it was all-day meetings for three days straight. They have to justify your pay so they stick you in a meeting, whether or not that particular meeting was relevant to you. There was nothing else to do ... if we were not in a meeting, we'd be loitering.
5. What would make your next business trip perfect?
hmm...may God surprise me
Our former pastor presided over a few masses at our parish this past Sunday. I don't think I was the only one who was totally surprised that he was there. It was kinda awesome. It just seemed so right--him there at the altar presiding like he's done for so many years for us. I imagine this is what it feels like for parents whose kid went off to college. Then come the holidays and the kid is back and things just seem right, and home feels like it used to.
I didn't get to talk to him since I was working my volunteer gig. Then just like that he's gone again. I'm sure he was concerned about us--how things fared with Hurricane Ike coming through. He probably stopped by just to kinda check on us.
The in-sink garbage disposer didn't want to re-start after the power had been out for a week. I guess it rusted a bit while sitting up. Fortunately, it has a motor overload switch that pops out to protect the motor. If you turn it on and nothing happens, then check the reset switch. Open the cabinet door and get access to the outside bottom of the disposer. If something is jutting out from what is otherwise a flat bottom, it's reset the switch. Push it back in. If it hums but doesn't turn, then it needs a little help. Turn it off. In the center of the disposer bottom (on the outside, accessed from under the sink) is probably a hex indentation. We used to have a "key" that fits that socket, stored in a vinyl pocket stuck to the side of the disposer. It's not there any more. Just get a hex wrench that fits that socket and allows you to turn whatever thingamajig that's in the disposer. Turn it a few times, remove the wrench, then try to turn the disposer on. If it doesn't turn on, turn it off and repeat the manual turning. After a few tries, the disposer should start.
** absolutely never put yourself in danger of being caught in the rotating parts of the garbage disposer, or in danger of having foreign objects flung by the rotation of the garbage disposer **
I had replaced the in-sink garbage disposer when we first bought the house. On hindsight, it probably merely needed the manual turning ritual to get started again.
from the Catholic Relief Services website http://crs.org/newsroom/releases/release.cfm?id=1501
"CRS staff around the world has heard stories of families who are stretched to the limits of life itself by the high price of food," Callahan, told a subcommittee hearing of the House Agriculture Committee.
In some regions of Niger, he said, families have started eating only one meal a day. In dire circumstances, people have resorted to eating anza, a wild plant with bitter leaves, to supplement their diet. In northern Ghana, students have been taking CRS-provided lunches home to share with hungry family members, sharing their only meal of the day.
"Some families must make do with eating less at each meal. They are already skipping meals, or even not eating on a particular day," he said. "Tragically, they may even have to decide which child or children may have the best chance of survival and which, already so ill and weak, will be allowed to die. These are the agonizing choices the global food crisis is forcing the poor to make."
It so happens that when the power went out, it was during premier week. I'm not a TV fan, but someone around here is. The TV nut was quite upset but didn't really make life miserable. Shown here is a portable TV. The little TV ate batteries like crazy. One set of rechargeables (500mAh) was only good for maybe one hour.
It normally takes 4 AAA batteries. We eventually went through all of our AAA's. The AAA is 1.2 Volts each according to the labeling. Four in series (typically the case when you have to flip flop the orientation from one slot to another) is 4 x 1.2 V = 4.8 Volts.
Here I've rigged up three double-A batteries. Double-A batteries are 1.5V (on the label), so 3 x 1.5 V = 4.5 Volts and it apparently was good enough. Stacking them as shown is the easiest way to make them connect to one another. The butt (the flat end) of the stack is pushed up against the last spring in the battery compartment. The top (with the nipple) is connected by a wire the contact tab (the non-spring) in the battery compartment. The triple-A battery is used to jam the wire up against that tab for a good contact; there is tape between the jamming battery and the wire to avoid making electrical contact to the jamming battery. Then I used tape all over to kinda hold things together with the right tension and such. (Oh, the hair band around the TV is for some other situation and is irrelevant here.)
Doggie is almost 80 pounds now. He was diagnosed with heartworm some weeks back. He was supposed to start treatment but then the hurricane came and it got re-scheduled. We took him in to the vet yesterday morning only to find that we had the date wrong and was a week earlier than scheduled. But we have great vet and she went ahead and started treatment. He's back home today. He has to be very still. Keeping him still is probably like trying to hog-tie an octopus. So we use drugs. He's sleeping right now. Unfortunately he's going to have to be still for at least a month. This is just the first half of the treatment. Poor dog. Poor pocketbook too.
