February funk

Football season is over. In my previous entry I mused over some Vikings QB and his future in the league. My guess is that he will return but it's even odds as to whether he will have a 2008 Jets season or a 2009 Vikings-type performance. I predict the former so feel free to post nasty comments here come December if I'm wrong.

Hunting season is over. I went out a few times but never got a pheasant. No matter, I enjoyed every minute of it and only regret I didn't get out more. Still, as Chicago Cubs fans say, just wait till next season! (And there is spring turkey season still ahead, shotgun can be used from April 14 through May 31. Maybe I'll take little Geoana and let her use the turkey call she got for Christmas.)

Six more weeks of winter? I wish. Cold times seem to last a bit longer up here on the prairie. Shoot, come April there will still be days that give us the shivers.

Went to Colorado a couple of weeks ago (work-related). Geogal and little Geoana did the fun touristy stuff while I sat inside a hotel ballroom listening to presenters drone on. Actually my professional-related activities were not too terribly boring but given my penchant for the outdoors it just seemed a sin to be in a windowless room.

Long day at work today. Two colleagues gone which means more work for those of us on the team. While the day goes much quicker if one is busy the fatigue factor come sundown is much more intense. So much so that when I got home I ditched the idea of cooking and persuaded the family to go to "be bad" and go to a local eatery.

It didn't take much persuasion.

The annual "will he or won't he??"

Yes, I'm referring to Bret Favre.

Good game, by the way. Going into overtime is exactly how you want a conference championship matchup to be. Especially when you don't really care who wins.

Geogal told me one of her close Arizona friends is suggesting we go there over spring break, citing Geogal's recent head cold as reason for us to visit the desert.

My response: "If Favre calls a press conference to announce he's retiring (again), I'm catching a plane to Phoenix so I can eat a chicken-fried steak at the TexAz Grill."

Why?

Last time I was there they had the TVs tuned to his (first annual) retirement press conference.

Just seems right.

Historic day in the Geohouse

Just a little after 6:30 this morning I took a shower.

Before you say “So what?”, this shower was significant in that it marked the first use of the new shower stall in the basement bathroom.

Yes indeed, the bathroom redo is 97% complete. As of today the only tasks that remain are to install a new towel rod, nail in the baseboard molding, and create a small door that will cover the shut-off valves that control the shower faucet.

Friday and yesterday D.K. (my project advisor, fellow worker, and guy who makes sure I don’t get in over my head) completed the shower install, marking the end of the job with caulking the outside edges (mainly for looks).

And man, does it look good!

D.K. made a great point on Friday. He said “this shower just fought us every step of the way.” Very true.

From the start we knew this would be more than a “demo the old shower and put in a new one” project. First we had to put in shut off valves which would enable us to have the water to the shower faucet cut off for the duration (in case you didn’t know this, most houses don’t have these). After that, re-route the plumbing to the new faucet location (behind drywall). Once we finished that task, then it seemed a simple matter of building the new shower stall.

But wait. We had to smash up some concrete in order to put in a new drain P-trap. (Apparently the drain for the old shower was non-standard and would not match up to a new shower stall without extreme jerry-rigging.) Trust me it was just easier for us to tear up some of the concrete and replace the P-trap. In the midst of this process a professional plumber strongly recommended we go with a brass drain rather than the plastic one included in the shower stall kit. As it turned out, once we replaced the P-trap it was very easy to fit up a brass drain. (Thanks for the free advice, Larry.)

But now we’re getting closer to having this finished! Or so we thought.

It comes time to install the faucet handle, just a typical Moen shower faucet kit. Uh-oh. Since the shower stall is designed to fit away from the drywall (rather than flush on a tile wall), a regular faucet kit is too short for the handle to go on. About 9/16th of an inch too short.

Much swearing and hand-wringing ensued.

But on to a possible solution. D.K. knows someone who does metal work. Maybe they can create the longer pieces we need. He starts looking into this, gets an answer in the affirmative, but in the meantime speaks to a Moen customer service representative.

Well, well. Turns out we did everything correctly. Moen sells a faucet extension kit for just these types of projects. D.K. orders one online, gets the run-around from the seller, but eventually the extension kit finds its way here.

Fits perfectly. Things are going swimmingly until D.K. accidentally drops one of the 3 inch stainless steel screws (for securing the faucet handle trim onto the faucet valve) down the wrong side of the shower wall. After trying a yardstick with packing tape wadded onto one end, busting my brain to think of other ways to retrieve the screw, then finally giving up, I try my luck with hardware stores.

Do you know how hard it is to find these types of screws? Mighty difficult. (It doesn’t help that these are screws for plumbing purposes, rather than regular construction.) I finally go to the Fastenal web site, pick out what I need, create an account, and place the order.

A few days ago the screws (I wanted to make sure I had backups in case we had another “drop”) arrived and on went the trim. Rest of the faucet handle goes on without a hitch, get the sliding door onto the shower, caulk everything up good, and Geogal and I now have a fully functional 3/4 bath in the basement.

Not only is it aesthetically much more pleasant, this bathroom is much improved over the previous version:

• Toilet, sink, and shower all are designed for lower water usage
• Replaced the regular electrical receptacle with a GFI
• Re-routed wiring allowing for a safer layout
• New cork flooring is not only “green,” but it looks great to boot
• Old drywall replaced with moisture-resistant “greenboard”
• New shut-off valves for toilet and sink

As soon as I find my camera (no joke) I’ll post a couple of pictures to illustrate what I could never describe in prose.

Chilled and chillin

Even though today's high never got out of the single digits and the wind chill was minus something way colder than living beings should have to endure it was still a mighty good day. Got to see sunshine for the first time in 2010. Really, all the preceding days were a mixture of windy snowy cloudy gray gray.

But not to worry, by Sunday the high is supposed to be around 40. Downright balmy, I might get out the Hawaiian shirts.

Overall I don't miss the Arizona desert but the last few nights have had me nestled all snug in my bed, while visions of saguaros danced in my head. Truth be told just a quick recollection of doing any kind of manual labor outside in the 110 degree heat in June breaks me of my "it's too cold" whinyness.

What else is going on? Obviously we're confined to the great indoors for the present. In this day and age of Internet and Netflix the cabin fever can be kept at bay. Plus since the holiday season is a memory a routine of work and chores beats the winter blues.

Netflix movies? I've written before that I've been enjoying older films and recently had a doozy of a double feature. "Zero Hour!" followed by "Airplane!"

You've never heard of "Zero Hour?" Neither had I until I did a little research. Turns out this 1957 celluloid was the inspiration for "Airplane!" Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker bought the rights and "Airplane" took a whole lot of dialogue from the earlier movie. Lines that were written and performed with Serious Intent but just come across with hilarity. Lines such as:

"You're a member of this crew. Can you face some unpleasant facts?"

"I might bend your precious airplane, but I'll get it down in one piece."

"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit smoking."

And the best one of all:

"The survival of everyone on board depends on just one thing. Finding someone who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner!"

Most of my ilk have seen "Airplane!" and probably own it, either on VHS or on DVD. Do yourself a favor, rent "Zero Hour!" Just for funzies, Geogal and I tried to see how long we could watch it before bursting into laughter.

Came at the 4 minute, 25 seconds mark. Let's just say it's a scene involving a military psychiatric hospital.

Other movies we've enjoyed? The old Disney Kurt Russell movies, seemed like they produced about 5 each year. "The Music Man," cited by many as the best con man movie of all time. "The Apartment," showing the worst side of corporate America, at least until "Wall Street."

Plenty more good ones to see, I'm sure. Oh, I almost forgot to mention "Mamma Mia!" It's not that great of a flick but amusing to watch anyway. Geogal was overheard saying: "Hey get a load of this--James Bond can't sing!"

And I missed my chance to see this station

It's not often that a full-power, network-affiliated TV station signs off the air for good. So when I learned (via Web chatter) that KSNB-TV in Superior, Nebraska went dark the first of this month I figured I needed to do some digging.

Sure enough, it's off the air and not just for some temporary, equipment-related deal. No sir. Off the air for good.

What happened?

In short, the transition to digital killed this beast. For decades this station operated over-the-air on VHF channel 4. In the olden analog television world this channel assignment was coveted, offering a signal that could travel quite a distance. Transmitting out over the rolling prairie of southern Nebraska and northern Kansas this meant great coverage. KSNB was originally an ABC affiliate then switched to Fox in the 1990's. Fast-forward to the near-present and KSNB was part of a two-station setup providing Fox programming to the area (the other was KTVG in Grand Island).

Evidently business deals expiring and the lack of any perceived need to keep a digital TV station on low-band VHF in a sparsely populated area contributed to the decision to permanently cease operations on channel 4. Both the Wikipedia article and this piece from the Superior newspaper give sufficient explanation. (Beware--the Superior "newspaper" site smacks of 1995.)

And for the title of today's entry? I had a chance to see this signal back in May when I went on a roundabout road trip with my trusty MacBook. On US 36 near Montrose I parked, powered up, set up the antenna, but did not get KSNB's signal. Why not?

Bad information.

Using TV Fool I checked to see which location would give me the best shot at a viewable picture. However the TV Fool site already had KSNB as broadcasting their digital signal on channel 4, presumably having already done the analog shut-off. Try as I might, I just couldn't get the channel 4 digital signal.

A few days later I learned that in fact, KSNB hadn't yet switched off analog. But due to my impatience and the info I had at the time, I didn't bother letting the Eye TV scan the whole channel spectrum for a signal. I just kept trying with the lower channels and eventually gave up.

Had I switched over and done an analog channel scan, I certainly would have seen them.

But, to use the cliche, that's all water under the bridge. The station is gone.

I doubt anyone will pony up funding and buy the license in an effort to get this signal back on the air. However should that happen it won't be a Fox affiliate. It may end up as an infomercial-heavy channel or a bad-preacher station. Either way it won't be anywhere near its former glory.

Just another chapter in Nebraska TV history. Actually, once you get out of the Omaha market, Nebraska television is about as odd as it gets. I'll soon post an entry with the reasons why.

Snow-filled Sunday

It’s becoming a holiday tradition, I believe.

Drove to Kearney yesterday (yes, a Sunday). Don’t any of you start the backsliding talk--I went to early service and enjoyed the traditional Christmas carols accompanied by nothing more than a piano. After church I topped off the tank then hit the road.

My purpose was twofold: Buy a Christmas tree and finish out some holiday shopping. Yes, you read that right. Finish out. Between my cybershopping and Geogal’s talent for picking out the child’s big gift some time ago I was down to just a few items, mainly for the stockings. Today is December 7 and I cannot recall when I’ve ever been this ahead of the Christmas shopping game this early. I’m enjoying it.

I learned my lesson last year--don’t wait too long to buy the Christmas tree. First I visited a few retailers, stopped at Qdoba for lunch, then picked out a nice-looking spruce. The nice folks at Earl May loaded it into the back of my trusty Toyota and I struck out for home.

Normally the drive from Kearney back home is about as routine as they get. Yesterday though, the weather pundits predicted one to two inches of the white stuff for the area.

Right.

Flakes falling, I headed down the highway, thankful I was with the wind (my payback for being against it all the way to). No real accumulation on the road for which I was thankful. Driving through the occasional town I noticed more conglomeration on the road itself (no wind to blow it away). As I got closer to my own burg the snowpack got more pronounced. FInally the last 30 miles I was using the four-wheel drive for the most part.

One to two inches? Try five.

And we’ve got more expected for tonight. Little Geoana is already banking on tomorrow being a snow day.

What is the tradition I referred to in the opening sentence? Driving to Kearney in less-than-ideal conditions. Remember this?

More thoughts before more football

Last night's game (Texas versus Texas A&M) was quite the nail-biter. I (along with a lot of others) wasn't expecting anything close. All game I kept thinking: "Are these even the same Aggies who got humiliated earlier this season by the University of Arkansas?"

Of course, that's why everyone likes these rivalry games this time of year. And yes, I plan to catch Alabama against Auburn, Nebraska going up against Colorado, and the Backyard Brawl today and tonight even if it means doing a little channel-hopping.

__________________________

Bathroom project update: Painting is done and the cork flooring was installed just today. It looks beauty-licious. The shower install is slated for tomorrow and the toilet and sink will likely go in during a couple of evenings next week.

So close to being done I can taste it!

__________________________

No waiting-in-line-wake-up-way-early Black Friday shopping for Geogal this year. Probably a good thing, too. She had physical therapy in Nebraska today and her therapist related a Black Friday story. In summation: therapist's husband has wanted a particular TV for some time now. Went to the McCook Wal-Mart very early, thinking "how many people could possibly be there this early--after all this is rural southwest Nebraska." Turns out a whole lot of folks were there, so many that he had trouble finding a parking space and added there was scarcely any room for this crowd of folks to get through the doors.

Yep, I'll pass. I think I mentioned before I'm doing just about all my shopping online this year.