Bill Cosby have a wonderful gift with words and I was fortunate to find a closed captioned clip by him. One day I'm going to try and translate them into ASL.
Bill Cosby's reflections about his grandparents and childhood
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Watch out or you may just lose a finger
Today I am gonna talk about carpentry safety.
Well, what brought this up on carpenter safety? I almost injured myself today and it was a completely preventable injury but at that moment, I was in a rush and didn't feel the need to don on safety equipment since it would only take sec to do a crosscut. I walked away uninjured but had a renewed and profound respect for safety. Through hard experience, I have learned that no matter the amount of experience a person may have, people can still get careless and get injured. Things comes at you unexpectedly and with disastrous consequence especially in a construction environment.
One summer when I was only 12, I worked full time my mother's boyfriend whom was a master electrician. I drilled holes and laid several spool worth of wires all over the house. I also hooked various receptacles such as 120 volt, 220 volt and larger with ease. He taught me how to do electrical, plumbing and carpentry. As much as I learned and enjoyed the work, I have made some mistakes that almost killed me due to carelessness, unearned confidence and outright ignorance. One time I was hooking a 120 volt receptacle in the guest bathroom and forgot to verify the power on that line was off and got shocked. The screwdriver flew across the room and impaled into the unfinished drywall. He came running when he heard me screaming and torn me a new hole for not doing proper safety checklist.
For example, I got shocked standing on a wood ladder! I was stupid enough to have one of my hands on the wall while looking at the old receptacle and accidentally touched the hot wire.
So here we are, I thought, since I almost got a free ride to the hospital that I should review safety tips.
1. Read Operational Manuals especially when you are using that tool for the first time.
2. Watch your surroundings and be aware of all variables such as co-workers, weathers, equipments and especially internal emotions. For example, you don't want to be pissed off while doing a dangerous task because your mind wont be on the task.
3. Make sure to have enough understanding and experience to do a project safely and to the satisfaction of the Code dept. Imagine the loss in labor and money if I had to redo a project because I didn't get the necessary inspections.
4. Always keep the work-site clean and free of cutters especially during a multi-story project. Imagine the damage a small hammer can have on a tender head after being dropped from a 2nd story scaffolding. OUCH
5. Make sure everyone on a work site have appropriate personal safety protections for whatever they need to do. Remember, if you work for a construction company, they are required by OSHA to provide all necessary safety equipments.
6. Always stay in complete control of the tools being used regardless of safe you may feel.
7. Don't take a dump in a Porta-potty that is too close to a work site. You never know ;-) something may tip it over.
8. Keep all equipments sharp and clean.
9. Know the local amendments to the International building codes to prevent any subsequent lawsuits or expensive redo.
10. Avoid putting sharp tools in pockets.
11. Finish tools hurt just as much as framing tools–if not a little more because of the smaller dimensions and closeness of fingers to blades, sandpaper, and nails.
Well, what brought this up on carpenter safety? I almost injured myself today and it was a completely preventable injury but at that moment, I was in a rush and didn't feel the need to don on safety equipment since it would only take sec to do a crosscut. I walked away uninjured but had a renewed and profound respect for safety. Through hard experience, I have learned that no matter the amount of experience a person may have, people can still get careless and get injured. Things comes at you unexpectedly and with disastrous consequence especially in a construction environment.
One summer when I was only 12, I worked full time my mother's boyfriend whom was a master electrician. I drilled holes and laid several spool worth of wires all over the house. I also hooked various receptacles such as 120 volt, 220 volt and larger with ease. He taught me how to do electrical, plumbing and carpentry. As much as I learned and enjoyed the work, I have made some mistakes that almost killed me due to carelessness, unearned confidence and outright ignorance. One time I was hooking a 120 volt receptacle in the guest bathroom and forgot to verify the power on that line was off and got shocked. The screwdriver flew across the room and impaled into the unfinished drywall. He came running when he heard me screaming and torn me a new hole for not doing proper safety checklist.
For example, I got shocked standing on a wood ladder! I was stupid enough to have one of my hands on the wall while looking at the old receptacle and accidentally touched the hot wire.
So here we are, I thought, since I almost got a free ride to the hospital that I should review safety tips.
1. Read Operational Manuals especially when you are using that tool for the first time.
2. Watch your surroundings and be aware of all variables such as co-workers, weathers, equipments and especially internal emotions. For example, you don't want to be pissed off while doing a dangerous task because your mind wont be on the task.
3. Make sure to have enough understanding and experience to do a project safely and to the satisfaction of the Code dept. Imagine the loss in labor and money if I had to redo a project because I didn't get the necessary inspections.
4. Always keep the work-site clean and free of cutters especially during a multi-story project. Imagine the damage a small hammer can have on a tender head after being dropped from a 2nd story scaffolding. OUCH
5. Make sure everyone on a work site have appropriate personal safety protections for whatever they need to do. Remember, if you work for a construction company, they are required by OSHA to provide all necessary safety equipments.
6. Always stay in complete control of the tools being used regardless of safe you may feel.
7. Don't take a dump in a Porta-potty that is too close to a work site. You never know ;-) something may tip it over.
8. Keep all equipments sharp and clean.
9. Know the local amendments to the International building codes to prevent any subsequent lawsuits or expensive redo.
10. Avoid putting sharp tools in pockets.
11. Finish tools hurt just as much as framing tools–if not a little more because of the smaller dimensions and closeness of fingers to blades, sandpaper, and nails.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
What is the similarity between girls and stoves?
I'm working on a foreclosure that I purchased a few months ago to renovate. I decided to replace and update the entire electrical system. At that time I was out of town so I decided to hire an electrician to do the work.
When I came back, he did a satisfactory job... his job did not meet my high standard of work but it passed inspection so I cant really complain. After I was done putting down tiles, et cetera in the kitchen, I went out and got a nice looking used stove for cheap. I was proud of myself for shagging a good deal after some heavy negotiation. Alas, when I carried the heavy sob in the house and tried to plug it in.
Here's what I was faced with.
Apparently the nice stove I bought did not have a grounding prong so I had to go to Home Depot and get a replacement that set me back by 25 bucks. If I had paid attention in the used appliance store, I could have made them replace it since the new building codes changed after the stove was built.
What's the similarity between girls and stoves? they seem not to find me compatible; guess I have to continue looking for a lady that fits my unique receptacle. Now that sounds dirty...
That's just a normal day for me, mister carpenter with $25 bucks less.
When I came back, he did a satisfactory job... his job did not meet my high standard of work but it passed inspection so I cant really complain. After I was done putting down tiles, et cetera in the kitchen, I went out and got a nice looking used stove for cheap. I was proud of myself for shagging a good deal after some heavy negotiation. Alas, when I carried the heavy sob in the house and tried to plug it in.
Here's what I was faced with.
What's the similarity between girls and stoves? they seem not to find me compatible; guess I have to continue looking for a lady that fits my unique receptacle. Now that sounds dirty...
That's just a normal day for me, mister carpenter with $25 bucks less.
Nothing is worse than painting.
Today I have to paint the trim work, walls and ceilings. The walls and ceiling are the easy part since I can just use a 12" inch roller and pesto it's done after only a few hours. Now, the hard part is the trim work. You see, I installed custom made wood trims that I did with a table router. It looks beautiful but I made a colossal mistake; I should have painted the trim work before nailing them in place.
Now I have to tape everything around the trim work and that's no fun and what's worse, I have to use a half inch brush to pain the trim work.
I'm ready to burn the house down.
Now I have to tape everything around the trim work and that's no fun and what's worse, I have to use a half inch brush to pain the trim work.
I'm ready to burn the house down.
Monday, October 11, 2010
A wedding
My mother is going to have a wedding this Sunday after postponing it three times already. What's more odd is that they are only marrying under God which mean they wont be getting a Marriage License and be able to reap various tax benefits. I do understand why since the soon to be her husband is deep in debt and my mother doesn't want to ruin her credit score. Smart move since if my mom finds out that they are not compatible then they can just break up without going to court.
In fact that what everyone should do since a million lawyers will find themselves bankrupt and have to pursue an actual careers other than being vampires. The only difference between lawyers and vampires is that the lawyers are immune to the destructive sun.
I personally will never consider him to be a step-dad regardless if they legally got married. He will always be regarded as a guy living with my mother.
In fact that what everyone should do since a million lawyers will find themselves bankrupt and have to pursue an actual careers other than being vampires. The only difference between lawyers and vampires is that the lawyers are immune to the destructive sun.
I personally will never consider him to be a step-dad regardless if they legally got married. He will always be regarded as a guy living with my mother.
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