Saturday, November 3, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: pumpkin spice and ginger pancakes with butter and maple syrup, hot earl gray tea, 8 ounces of orange juice. House chores: washed dishes, swept and tidied in the back yard, prepped and installed another Hangman Products S-2040A No Stud TV Hanger Mount TVs up to 55-Inch, this time in the office for the second display that mostly Patrick uses. It took much longer than the 45 minutes last time because I didn't have the right size of screws. I looked in my tool supply and found two screws that fit but they were too long. I then wanted to cut them with my Dremel Multipro Cordless 7.2 Volt 2-speed, but the battery was dead, so I had to wait for it to charge. While waiting I couldn't find my safety eyewear, which took a while but I did find them. Then I began cutting. While cutting, the screw kept slipping loose from the adjustable wrench I had set it in and then put a 20-pound barbell on top. I didn't have a vise. I also ended up with a minor abrasion because I didn't realize for a few seconds that my unprotected arm was in the path of the metal being shaved. I did wear thick gloves but didn't have protection for my arms. I put on a long-sleeve shirt and tried again but still the screw wiggled too much for comfort. I abandoned the Dremel. While searching on YouTube for alternate ways to cut the screws, I realized that I had the same kind of wire cutter that was used in one video to simply cut the screw like with scissors. I was unable to perform this cut like in the video perhaps because the metal was stronger or thicker in the screw I was trying to cut or because I was weaker than the woman in the video. However, I realized that the threaded hole enabled the screw to remain in an almost perfectly fixed position, so I resumed work with the Dremel and eventually was successful. Screws were cut and the display mounted with not too much more trouble after that. Start to finish: about four hours. Shower. Nap. Rode UberX to 15th Avenue House for a late Dias de los Muertos and fall harvest party. I wore a partial skeleton costume: shirt, socks, and gloves with bones on them. A beautiful ofrenda was set in the back yard. Lots of food and drink. This was the first time I saw the outdoor sink, which is in place but not yet hooked to a drain. This was also the first time I saw the outdoor dining table heat lamp in place and working. There were two culinary highlights of the evening. First was the trio of cakes: Mike and Richard made a red velvet cake with white frosting; Quyen made a cake with passionfruit, raspberry, and chocolate; and Wayne and Peter brought a layered sponge cake from Kee Wah Bakery. The second highlight was a late night, fourth meal noodle soup by Danny. In attendance: Danny, Romy, Drew, Phil, Paul, Quyen, Dave, Maneesh, Jonathan, Wayne, Peter, Marci, Jim, Richard, Mike, Amanda, Jonny, John, John, Alyssa, Tim, Brandon, Perry, Adrienne. Drew was surprised that the fire pit gas tank lasted as long as it did. Adrienne told a hilarious story about four pennies in Burger King. Paul took a long nap upstairs during the middle of the party. Brandon recommended a film called Stranger by the Lake. Rode UberX home. To bed late.