home archaeology, updatery
I've not been on LJ much lately, mostly just posting quick things to Facebook instead. This week, though, something worth at least a small note.
After months since moving in of dealing with low water pressure and sporadic bursts of rust in various places around the house, as well as at least two minor leaks, we're having the pipes redone this week. Now in day three of the process. We looked at the options, pipe replacements of various kinds and settled on relining our pipes rather than replacing them. Basically, the process amounts to disconnecting all ends of the pipes and hooking them up to a bunch of hoses through which they can basically sandblast the insides of our pipes (happen to be galvanized metal in our case), and then push through an epoxy substance that is cured onto the insides of the pipes. The advantage being that the pipes should never rust any more unless the epoxy wears out and that should take a while.
The company is also replacing all the fittings under the sinks, showers, etc. as that's where they have to attach their hoses. They have to do every connection, including the outside ones and the ice maker. Yesterday they had some trouble with things getting gummed up in the pipe while they were sandblasting. Turns out there was a connection they had not connected up because no one knew it existed! We're now pretty sure that there used to be a bar sink in the living room as there are hot and cold water pipes that no longer come out of the wall in that area. Water remaining in those pipes was causing the sand to gum up.
Living without water in the house has not been too bad, although not having a local shower is a pain, and you definitely have to be careful of the hoses running everywhere in the house. As John remarked, it's kind of like Gypsy's umbilicus exploded in our house.
On other fronts, I've been making a little progress on prep for the Labor Day triathlon in Austin, but I don't know that I will be as ready as last year. It has been extremely tough to do the biking and then go running and I've yet to finish the full 10K distance on the run following the cycling. It's been so blasted hot and humid, but I think my body just isn't responding as well this year. I think I'm pretty ready on the swimming front, just as slow at it as ever. There is definitely no way I will be ready for a half Ironman in October, so I guess the idea will be to do one sometime next year. Maybe once it gets cooler I'll feel more motivated again.
John has started back to school, so I expect he will be busy a lot again. Fortunately, gaming has gotten going in the NASA area weekly if not more often now, so I keep busy. Also, been reading _Evil Genius_, which I've been enjoying. Now, though, i really need to study for a few days for the Series 63 test which is next Monday. Then I'll be a full fledged stock trader.
Life's had its up and downs lately. Had a good trip to the World Boardgaming Champs in Lancaster, PA. Had a friend die recently and that hit me harder than I expected. There's been some family troubles too, on John's side. And work has definitely seemed to become more of a job lately than it has been in the past. Complexity and annoyances have gone up, excitement and pleasure in the job have definitely gone down some. Still it's a good job and hopefully most of the problems are not long term.
After months since moving in of dealing with low water pressure and sporadic bursts of rust in various places around the house, as well as at least two minor leaks, we're having the pipes redone this week. Now in day three of the process. We looked at the options, pipe replacements of various kinds and settled on relining our pipes rather than replacing them. Basically, the process amounts to disconnecting all ends of the pipes and hooking them up to a bunch of hoses through which they can basically sandblast the insides of our pipes (happen to be galvanized metal in our case), and then push through an epoxy substance that is cured onto the insides of the pipes. The advantage being that the pipes should never rust any more unless the epoxy wears out and that should take a while.
The company is also replacing all the fittings under the sinks, showers, etc. as that's where they have to attach their hoses. They have to do every connection, including the outside ones and the ice maker. Yesterday they had some trouble with things getting gummed up in the pipe while they were sandblasting. Turns out there was a connection they had not connected up because no one knew it existed! We're now pretty sure that there used to be a bar sink in the living room as there are hot and cold water pipes that no longer come out of the wall in that area. Water remaining in those pipes was causing the sand to gum up.
Living without water in the house has not been too bad, although not having a local shower is a pain, and you definitely have to be careful of the hoses running everywhere in the house. As John remarked, it's kind of like Gypsy's umbilicus exploded in our house.
On other fronts, I've been making a little progress on prep for the Labor Day triathlon in Austin, but I don't know that I will be as ready as last year. It has been extremely tough to do the biking and then go running and I've yet to finish the full 10K distance on the run following the cycling. It's been so blasted hot and humid, but I think my body just isn't responding as well this year. I think I'm pretty ready on the swimming front, just as slow at it as ever. There is definitely no way I will be ready for a half Ironman in October, so I guess the idea will be to do one sometime next year. Maybe once it gets cooler I'll feel more motivated again.
John has started back to school, so I expect he will be busy a lot again. Fortunately, gaming has gotten going in the NASA area weekly if not more often now, so I keep busy. Also, been reading _Evil Genius_, which I've been enjoying. Now, though, i really need to study for a few days for the Series 63 test which is next Monday. Then I'll be a full fledged stock trader.
Life's had its up and downs lately. Had a good trip to the World Boardgaming Champs in Lancaster, PA. Had a friend die recently and that hit me harder than I expected. There's been some family troubles too, on John's side. And work has definitely seemed to become more of a job lately than it has been in the past. Complexity and annoyances have gone up, excitement and pleasure in the job have definitely gone down some. Still it's a good job and hopefully most of the problems are not long term.