@moonhat@UncleVinny@zinimusprime Sorry, I was out and about yesterday. So… once upon a time I worked for an e-commerce company. I was a CS supervisor and helped create the fraud department. At some point we took over the Kmart website, home of all crappy things Martha. Our developers carefully rebuilt the entire website, doing their damnedest to get it done in the expected time frame. A day or two before it was supposed to (re)launch, Martha Fucking Stewart put a hold to it, insisting she had to approve every single page that had any of her branded items on it. Well, Martha Fucking Stewart took her sweet old time, causing somewhere around a 3 month delay and complaining about everything. She was an absolute nightmare.
But, that’s not the worst of her. I have a friend who was an assistant director for a public television network. One of her associates worked on Martha Stewart’s tv show way back when. One day they made a bunch of food on the show. When it was over, instead of tossing the food, Martha Fucking Stewart informed the staff they could eat the food. Hey, seems Martha wasn’t as bad as they thought! Until they got their paychecks and found Martha Fucking Stewart charged them for the food.
@moonhat@UncleVinny@zinimusprime Oh yeah. That one will stick with me forever. I’ve occasionally seen an item that I like, until I see her branding and I refuse to buy it.
I’ve built a couple of wobbly tables, changed over was door to barn door style, done a fair amount of appliance repair by this point, rewired the garage since somebody had used solder and electrical tape instead of wire nuts (honestly the time it took them to do that had to have outweighed the 76 cents it would have cost to buy a few wire nuts), and patched a fair amount of crumbling grout in my stone foundation. I draw the line at additions to the house though.
@spacemart heh, it was actually modern-ish breakers and switches - probably 70s era for most of it. I don’t know if it ever actually worked though as the second I’d flip the breaker for the garage, it would trip immediately. Rewiring was easier and took less time than trying to rescue the horrific job that was left for me.
I think my home renovation spirit animal is the three toed sloth. Except that I’m less focused. I usually have no less than 4-5 unfinished projects basically stalled at any time.
I have done most of the remodeling/renovations to our almost 70yr old house myself.
My favorite project when completed has been my kitchen
Over the years I have added about 750 sq.ft which includes our master bedroom/master bath/walk-in closet, a den expansion and a dining room, re-done all the wiring, plumbing and gas lines, changed out every window and door in the house, totally gutted and redesigned the kitchen (see above), installed a new roof and siding, added porches to the front, side and back of the house, and built a 1500 sq.ft. shop.
@chienfou I wanna see pictures of that shop!
My family thinks my personal motto is Whoever dies with the most tools wins. I need a dedicated space like that.
@compunaut
the shop started out as a storage space and horse barn for the horse my daughter had for a short time years ago. I concreted the floor in the stall area, closed the walls up and made it into a woodshop. it’s about 500ft sq. (the rest of the building is storage, exercise space and “machine shop” area) and contains a table saw, planer, drill press, tons of wood storage space, workbench with space under for the miter saw, belt sander, circular saws, etc. The biscuit jointer, oscillating saw, spiral saw etc. are on wall shelving with all the sandpaper etc. It is currently full of crap stuff I will use someday. It also houses some of my yard tools, like the pole saws, wood chipper, electric tiller etc. There are 3 pineapple plants overwintering in it as well. I have plans to get in it later this winter/early spring and do a total clean out and re-org, but will see how that goes when it’s time to start getting the garden ready etc.
@chienfou How much acreage where you are? If I had a pole barn I’d be all set, but currently on a smallish city lot. I had plans for a 112ft sq shed/shop, but neighbor’s son - a lawyer - bitched to the city about zoning restrictions before I even had a pad laid out.
@compunaut
about an acre at the edge of city limits in a town of about 5k in Alabama… they pretty much won’t mess with you over that kind of thing around here…
I pay people to deal with that. I just wrote a check to my wife’s cousin who painted my whole living room because I hate painting. He did a fantastic job though. Way better than I ever could.
For those of you old enough to remember the original Ginsu knives - yes, they do cut through ANYTHING. MY kid brother was gifted several racing pigeons, and was in desperate need of a pigeon coop ASAP. We managed to find some plywood, chicken wire, nails, etc in Dad’s shed, but that was about it. I, ever resourceful, had my own little tool kit (I was always a landlord’s delight - did my own minor repairs), so I had a hammer, but no saw.
Yes, Ginsu knives can cut plywood, and wooden dowels, and even chicken wire, and after getting thoroughly sanitized - cut a roast beef a few day later.
The pigeons had a lovely two level coop, with a removable hinged roof, a front door, and a nesting box. And they say females shouldn’t do construction work…piffle.
@Faffs I dont know if Ginsu still makes THOSE kinds of knives that used to have the infomercials, but I got some Ginsu-brand steak knives recently, and they seriously CUT.
@zachdecker ok yes I guess that looks like you. What do you miss about the old meh? Should I be insulted because I’m conversing with you in the present-day meh?
I’ve uh, painted. Oh, and built and mounted some storage in my bathroom. I’m also planning on replacing all the fluorescent lights in the house with recessed lighting.
Red Green - heavy on the improvisation, occasionally successful, likely to injure myself in an amusing way.
My most remarkable project to date is probably my workshop itself. It started out as an unused, dirt-floored section of a barn:
And has evolved to this:
(Actually, since the second picture was taken, I’ve finished installing the stove’s chimney, acquired several more large tools, and added a runout table to the table saw.)
All of the materials are scrounged, reclaimed or donated (most notably the stove), and all of the tools are secondhand. For as complete as it is, I actually only have maybe $500 in it.
@dannybeans I love the recycling of the materials. It reminds me of the fort in our backyard that my dad made using old telephone poles and some electric cable spools.
@zachdecker There’s definitely a lot of satisfaction to be had from reclaiming materials, but I admit my main reason for doing it is that I’m a cheap bastard.
@dannybeans We’re the same way!
To outsiders we might seem like radical environmentalists, but the truth is we are just very cheap and don’t like to waste anything we have.
@zachdecker I learned the fundamentals from my grandpa, and honed my skills building sets with the local theater group. You really learn to make everything count when your teacher grew up during the Depression and you’ve got a budget of “nope” to work with.
My primary problem is a lack of motivation… Or a reason to be motivated? Idk. I’ve got lumber in the garage to build a bunch of shelves to clean up the garage. Wood for two top bar bee hives. Bunch of stuff in the house I could do. It’s to cold now to be doing wood work but I had all that last year/this summer… so…
Some require money especially the outside stuff but I have led replacement recessed bulbs I just have to screw in and I just don’t use them enough to be arsed to move the ladder.
I think my new years resolution is to try and start making one VERY small improvement each week and hang on to it … starting in February after working 7 days a week is over I hope
I mop the kitchen floor every now and then, pretty proud of that.
@awk That’s more than I do
/giphy trophy
Martha Stewart is a total bitch. (I have stories…)
@cinoclav we know, but we want to hear the stories anyway!
@cinoclav Give us the stories!!!
@cinoclav Clavvy, what? Did you meet her? Do you work in the corrections industry?
@moonhat @UncleVinny @zinimusprime Sorry, I was out and about yesterday. So… once upon a time I worked for an e-commerce company. I was a CS supervisor and helped create the fraud department. At some point we took over the Kmart website, home of all crappy things Martha. Our developers carefully rebuilt the entire website, doing their damnedest to get it done in the expected time frame. A day or two before it was supposed to (re)launch, Martha Fucking Stewart put a hold to it, insisting she had to approve every single page that had any of her branded items on it. Well, Martha Fucking Stewart took her sweet old time, causing somewhere around a 3 month delay and complaining about everything. She was an absolute nightmare.
But, that’s not the worst of her. I have a friend who was an assistant director for a public television network. One of her associates worked on Martha Stewart’s tv show way back when. One day they made a bunch of food on the show. When it was over, instead of tossing the food, Martha Fucking Stewart informed the staff they could eat the food. Hey, seems Martha wasn’t as bad as they thought! Until they got their paychecks and found Martha Fucking Stewart charged them for the food.
Yeah, total bitch.
@cinoclav @moonhat @zinimusprime Jeeeeeeeeezuz! That food story is especially galling.
@moonhat @UncleVinny @zinimusprime Oh yeah. That one will stick with me forever. I’ve occasionally seen an item that I like, until I see her branding and I refuse to buy it.
/image Muppets Animal
I’ve built a couple of wobbly tables, changed over was door to barn door style, done a fair amount of appliance repair by this point, rewired the garage since somebody had used solder and electrical tape instead of wire nuts (honestly the time it took them to do that had to have outweighed the 76 cents it would have cost to buy a few wire nuts), and patched a fair amount of crumbling grout in my stone foundation. I draw the line at additions to the house though.
@guyfromhawthorn solder is still code if you’re tying into k&t
@guyfromhawthorn
Love those barn doors!
@spacemart heh, it was actually modern-ish breakers and switches - probably 70s era for most of it. I don’t know if it ever actually worked though as the second I’d flip the breaker for the garage, it would trip immediately. Rewiring was easier and took less time than trying to rescue the horrific job that was left for me.
I built a robot for my 5th grade science fair. Took 1st place too!
Rebuilt the motor on my 69 Camaro back in the day! She was my baby!
@Lynnerizer Wow!
I think my home renovation spirit animal is the three toed sloth. Except that I’m less focused. I usually have no less than 4-5 unfinished projects basically stalled at any time.
@tweezak
Lol. Give yourself some credit. A three toed sloth would have never started 4-5 projects. Maybe ADHD?
@bookerttt @tweezak Exactly! Congrats on starting things! One step at a time
@togle @tweezak
Exactly! You know what Hadrian said about Rome: 'Brick by brick, my citizens’.
I’m learning that very often I need to slow down to speed up.
@bookerttt @togle I’ll be sure to put “self starter” on my resume.
I have done most of the remodeling/renovations to our almost 70yr old house myself.
My favorite project when completed has been my kitchen
Over the years I have added about 750 sq.ft which includes our master bedroom/master bath/walk-in closet, a den expansion and a dining room, re-done all the wiring, plumbing and gas lines, changed out every window and door in the house, totally gutted and redesigned the kitchen (see above), installed a new roof and siding, added porches to the front, side and back of the house, and built a 1500 sq.ft. shop.
@chienfou so you are handy with a hammer then? Lol j/k that is impressive
@chienfou I am impressed!
/giphy applause
@chienfou
/giphy applesauce
@chienfou I wanna see pictures of that shop!
My family thinks my personal motto is Whoever dies with the most tools wins. I need a dedicated space like that.
@compunaut
the shop started out as a storage space and horse barn for the horse my daughter had for a short time years ago. I concreted the floor in the stall area, closed the walls up and made it into a woodshop. it’s about 500ft sq. (the rest of the building is storage, exercise space and “machine shop” area) and contains a table saw, planer, drill press, tons of wood storage space, workbench with space under for the miter saw, belt sander, circular saws, etc. The biscuit jointer, oscillating saw, spiral saw etc. are on wall shelving with all the sandpaper etc. It is currently full of
crapstuff I will use someday. It also houses some of my yard tools, like the pole saws, wood chipper, electric tiller etc. There are 3 pineapple plants overwintering in it as well. I have plans to get in it later this winter/early spring and do a total clean out and re-org, but will see how that goes when it’s time to start getting the garden ready etc.@chienfou How much acreage where you are? If I had a pole barn I’d be all set, but currently on a smallish city lot. I had plans for a 112ft sq shed/shop, but neighbor’s son - a lawyer - bitched to the city about zoning restrictions before I even had a pad laid out.
@compunaut
about an acre at the edge of city limits in a town of about 5k in Alabama… they pretty much won’t mess with you over that kind of thing around here…
Biggest accomplishment: I woke up one morning.
Then I looked around and thought, what the hell am I doing up now?
I thought we all just got our ideas from Pinterest…
I pay people to deal with that. I just wrote a check to my wife’s cousin who painted my whole living room because I hate painting. He did a fantastic job though. Way better than I ever could.
For those of you old enough to remember the original Ginsu knives - yes, they do cut through ANYTHING. MY kid brother was gifted several racing pigeons, and was in desperate need of a pigeon coop ASAP. We managed to find some plywood, chicken wire, nails, etc in Dad’s shed, but that was about it. I, ever resourceful, had my own little tool kit (I was always a landlord’s delight - did my own minor repairs), so I had a hammer, but no saw.
Yes, Ginsu knives can cut plywood, and wooden dowels, and even chicken wire, and after getting thoroughly sanitized - cut a roast beef a few day later.
The pigeons had a lovely two level coop, with a removable hinged roof, a front door, and a nesting box. And they say females shouldn’t do construction work…piffle.
@Faffs I dont know if Ginsu still makes THOSE kinds of knives that used to have the infomercials, but I got some Ginsu-brand steak knives recently, and they seriously CUT.
@Faffs i think your correct use of the term “piffle” confirms your age more than your memory of Ginsu…
I’m somewhere in between the Tim Taylor and Bob Villa. Although thanks to the pandemic, I am competently bearded.
@zachdecker nice!
@zachdecker Zach, that is not what I had imagined you look like. But you are tall, right?
@moonhat I’m 6’2".
I’ve posted pictures and video before. Looking for examples led me first to The Fritotaler video.
I miss the old meh.
@zachdecker ok yes I guess that looks like you. What do you miss about the old meh? Should I be insulted because I’m conversing with you in the present-day meh?
@moonhat Obviously I miss the daily videos. -I didn’t realize how good we had it at the time. Also the stupid, nearly pointless contests.
Pastadrop was fun. Maybe something like that again sometime.
@moonhat @zachdecker
NO contest is pointless if it demonstrates my superiority!
I’ve uh, painted. Oh, and built and mounted some storage in my bathroom. I’m also planning on replacing all the fluorescent lights in the house with recessed lighting.
Red Green - heavy on the improvisation, occasionally successful, likely to injure myself in an amusing way.
My most remarkable project to date is probably my workshop itself. It started out as an unused, dirt-floored section of a barn:
And has evolved to this:
(Actually, since the second picture was taken, I’ve finished installing the stove’s chimney, acquired several more large tools, and added a runout table to the table saw.)
All of the materials are scrounged, reclaimed or donated (most notably the stove), and all of the tools are secondhand. For as complete as it is, I actually only have maybe $500 in it.
@dannybeans I love the recycling of the materials. It reminds me of the fort in our backyard that my dad made using old telephone poles and some electric cable spools.
Second place goes to the treehouse on the far end of the property. It’s really more of a small guest house, complete with heat, power, and wi-fi.
@zachdecker There’s definitely a lot of satisfaction to be had from reclaiming materials, but I admit my main reason for doing it is that I’m a cheap bastard.
@dannybeans We’re the same way!
To outsiders we might seem like radical environmentalists, but the truth is we are just very cheap and don’t like to waste anything we have.
@zachdecker I learned the fundamentals from my grandpa, and honed my skills building sets with the local theater group. You really learn to make everything count when your teacher grew up during the Depression and you’ve got a budget of “nope” to work with.
My primary problem is a lack of motivation… Or a reason to be motivated? Idk. I’ve got lumber in the garage to build a bunch of shelves to clean up the garage. Wood for two top bar bee hives. Bunch of stuff in the house I could do. It’s to cold now to be doing wood work but I had all that last year/this summer… so…
Some require money especially the outside stuff but I have led replacement recessed bulbs I just have to screw in and I just don’t use them enough to be arsed to move the ladder.
I think my new years resolution is to try and start making one VERY small improvement each week and hang on to it … starting in February after working 7 days a week is over I hope