grumble. ah well.
Jun. 9th, 2005 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7Am currently feeling low-grade gnawing hunger in belly. Contrary to what you might think, I sort of like the feeling at the moment, because it means I haven't been noshing on junk all day and do, despite my relative lack of exercise, have room in me for a proper dinner. Now I just have to think of what to eat.
Have a care package to katy nearly ready to go: three burned CDs and a big tube of moisturizer I picked up on impulse at the store. I am sure she has some way more intense moisturizers there, but this one I kind of like, and thought she might appreciate-- it's the Aveeno one with soy that's supposed to somehow make you less hairy. It sort of worked for me, when I went through a phase of using it-- I have fairly fine and pale hair anyway, but it noticeably reduced. Katy's hair's darker than mine, and I know she used to be self-conscious about it. I doubt she still is, but it's nice moisturizer. And I figure, if you live someplace that has wind that feels like a hair dryer, you probably need all the moisturizer you can get.
I'm trying to think what else to throw in there to fill up the cracks, though. Nonperishable, non-heat-sensitive things, for sure. Too bad i think it's illegal to mail liquor, or I'd send her some miniatures. Maybe I should make her up a batch of 'rocket-proof pixie dust' out of glitter and happy thoughts; it would be very me in tenth grade. :D
Good news and bad news:
1) Good first, as it's simpler. My mood is better, from talking on the phone to my dad for a while. Other good: I came up with a thought that may salvage the ice cream. It may be too milky and not creamy enough, which means it'll be icy, but I'm going to beat a ribbon of heavier-concentrated chocolate cream into it as it freezes, with the hopes that it turns out tasty. It may wind up as two batches.
2) Bad: The outlet I wanted to replace is plastered in place. The wire coming out of it is inside the plaster wall, and is clamped in at least two places. More likely, it is clamped every four inches, as per code, since it seems to be original. Which means it's over 50 years old now. It is most definitely not grounded. I cannot do as I had hoped, and tape the new wire to the old wire and pull the old wire out, thereby pulling the new wire in-- the old one is really firmly fixed and can't be removed.
My options are:
a) Just install a new outlet next to the old one. Cover the old one up, or use it only for lamps. (Install new outlet in corner so I can find the wall more easily.) Downside: Have to chop holes in plaster. Upside: Actually possible to do, and I know how to do it.
b) Install a grounding circuit. Take a bare copper wire, affix it to the receptacle, drill a hole into the wall, fish the grounding wire down through it, and attach it to the grounding bar in the circuit breaker in the basement. Downside: Hard to do. Lots of drilling in plaster. God damn my plaster walls. (They predate the invention of drywall. Motherfuckers.) Upside: I could get a number of outlets onto it relatively easily, provided I can fish the wire through the walls to the other outlets. Other downside: I really don't know if it's up to code. But then, it's definitely not up to code to have ungrounded 1950s outlets all over the house, some of which have had their faceplates replaced so you can plug grounded plugs (the three-prong kind) into them in perfect ignorance of the fact that the third prong doesn't go anywhere.
I dunno. But it was nice to talk to Dad, anyway.
Have a care package to katy nearly ready to go: three burned CDs and a big tube of moisturizer I picked up on impulse at the store. I am sure she has some way more intense moisturizers there, but this one I kind of like, and thought she might appreciate-- it's the Aveeno one with soy that's supposed to somehow make you less hairy. It sort of worked for me, when I went through a phase of using it-- I have fairly fine and pale hair anyway, but it noticeably reduced. Katy's hair's darker than mine, and I know she used to be self-conscious about it. I doubt she still is, but it's nice moisturizer. And I figure, if you live someplace that has wind that feels like a hair dryer, you probably need all the moisturizer you can get.
I'm trying to think what else to throw in there to fill up the cracks, though. Nonperishable, non-heat-sensitive things, for sure. Too bad i think it's illegal to mail liquor, or I'd send her some miniatures. Maybe I should make her up a batch of 'rocket-proof pixie dust' out of glitter and happy thoughts; it would be very me in tenth grade. :D
Good news and bad news:
1) Good first, as it's simpler. My mood is better, from talking on the phone to my dad for a while. Other good: I came up with a thought that may salvage the ice cream. It may be too milky and not creamy enough, which means it'll be icy, but I'm going to beat a ribbon of heavier-concentrated chocolate cream into it as it freezes, with the hopes that it turns out tasty. It may wind up as two batches.
2) Bad: The outlet I wanted to replace is plastered in place. The wire coming out of it is inside the plaster wall, and is clamped in at least two places. More likely, it is clamped every four inches, as per code, since it seems to be original. Which means it's over 50 years old now. It is most definitely not grounded. I cannot do as I had hoped, and tape the new wire to the old wire and pull the old wire out, thereby pulling the new wire in-- the old one is really firmly fixed and can't be removed.
My options are:
a) Just install a new outlet next to the old one. Cover the old one up, or use it only for lamps. (Install new outlet in corner so I can find the wall more easily.) Downside: Have to chop holes in plaster. Upside: Actually possible to do, and I know how to do it.
b) Install a grounding circuit. Take a bare copper wire, affix it to the receptacle, drill a hole into the wall, fish the grounding wire down through it, and attach it to the grounding bar in the circuit breaker in the basement. Downside: Hard to do. Lots of drilling in plaster. God damn my plaster walls. (They predate the invention of drywall. Motherfuckers.) Upside: I could get a number of outlets onto it relatively easily, provided I can fish the wire through the walls to the other outlets. Other downside: I really don't know if it's up to code. But then, it's definitely not up to code to have ungrounded 1950s outlets all over the house, some of which have had their faceplates replaced so you can plug grounded plugs (the three-prong kind) into them in perfect ignorance of the fact that the third prong doesn't go anywhere.
I dunno. But it was nice to talk to Dad, anyway.
