May 31, 2008
Raising Barn
Over the weekend, a bunch of coworkers, myself included, went to Rich's house for some Stick Barn Building. I've never done much in the way of construction work, though I learned a lot from this short experience. Such as: Nail guns are way better than using hammers, building a barn from a kit really isn't that hard (it just requires a bit of sweat equity), and cheap winches, like cheap wenches, just don't get the job done they should.
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| Slaves^WContractors hard at work putting the finishing touches on a truss |
Rich owns an absolutely gorgeous piece of property out by Potlatch, with views of the Palouse as well as Gold Hill (doubtful that it ever had any gold in it, given that the area is still habitable). Like all good country folk that I've met, he has a tractor, a plow, and emergency provisions in case a winter storm leaves him snowbound (as it did for a bit this winter).
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| No snow on a day like today, though... |
Rich's previous barn burned down a few years ago, leaving him with the wreckage above. It used to be a snazzy classic car of some variety, or so I'm told.
Our morning of building started at 5:30am for me, with a leisurely jog around the neighborhood. At about 8am I set to work with hammer and nail, throwing crossmembers on the barn. By the afternoon, we had the trusses built, and the front and rear trusses lifted with winches. Unfortunately, the winches both gave way on the heavier middle trusses (seen in the picture above, the rearmost of the middle is raised only partway, which was as high as we could get it). We went home at dusk some defeated, although we did make great progress on the place (most of which I can't take credit for).
Building can be a heckuva lot of fun, something I hope to garner a little more experience with in the next few months...
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
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Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
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Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005