Solar Eclipse
Solar Eclipse : The solar eclipse is the main reason I came out west for vacation. I have seen a partial solar eclipse before, but never a total solar eclipse. It was like Continue Reading →
Snorkeling in Alaska
Snorkeling in Alaska : While planning for my vacation in Alaska, I learned that there is a company, appropriately named Snorkel Alaska, that leads snorkeling tours near Ketchikan. If there is a way for Continue Reading →
Carrie Blast Furnaces
Carrie Blast Furnaces : I’m in Pittsburgh for the long weekend. Today I took a tour with Rivers of Steel of the Carrie Blast Furnaces. The area is part of the former U.S. Steel Continue Reading →
Nuttallburg
Nuttallburg : I started exploring New River Gorge National Park today. It is second on my list of things to see in West Virginia after the capitol. The park is really spread Continue Reading →
Bridge Walk
Bridge Walk : I spent today doing more exploring of New River Gorge National Park, but I started the day by walking across a bridge. The walk across the bridge was under the Continue Reading →

Changing a Lighting Fixture

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I will do all sorts of things around the house, but I admit that doing electrical work sometimes scares me. I think it is the issue that if you do it wrong, you could kill yourself or catch your house on fire, but no pressure! Really most of the work is not that difficult. I still leave the big stuff to professionals, but little tasks like changing a lighting fixture can be done easily by yourself. First thing you need to know is turn off the fixture by the breaker. Not electrocuting yourself is a good thing. So here is the light fixture I removed, and now you understand why I replaced it.

Like a lot of fixtures, this one was attached to wall via a large screw. Remove the nut in the middle of the sconce, and the sconce can be removed.

Then unscrew the wire nuts and remove the old sconce’s wires, and the sconce can be removed from the wall. Then remove the old mounting bar from the outlet box by the removing the screws that attach it to the outlet box.

Here is the new fixture. Note that it has a black wire, a white wire, and a bare grounding wire. It came with a mounting bar that has a green screw on it. That is the grounding screw.

Install the new mounting bar. The fixture grounding wire needs to be attached to the outlet’s grounding wire and also the mounting bar’s grounding screw. This fixture’s instructions said to attach the outlet’s grounding wire to the grounding screw, then attach the fixture’s grounding wire to the outlet’s grounding wire. Because the grounding wire in this outlet box was already wrapped around a screw in the back of the box, there was not enough wire to do this. So I wrapped the fixture’s grounding wire around the mounting bar’s grounding screw, then wrapped the fixture’s grounding wire to the outlet’s grounding wire and secured with a wire nut. Then I attached the fixture’s white wire to the outlet’s white wire, and black to black, and secured with wire nuts.

Here is an up close view of the wiring attached to the grounding screw.

I then shoved all the wires back into the outlet box.

The sconce is then attached to the wall via the large screw in the middle of the mounting bracket and secured with the decorative nut.

The glass shade is then attached, and in the case of this fixture, secured with a metal ring that came with the fixture. Add a light bulb, and ta-da, and new working, beautiful light fixture.

 

Dampening Citizen Involvement

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I moved to my new house and metro area about a year and a half ago. I paid a premium on my house because it is in a municipality that is very close to the main downtown area and is a downtown area onto itself. My house is a block from a street, which I will call CP, that is a major bus corridor. A bus comes by my stop on CP every few minutes to various subway stations. I can take the bus home until rather late in the evenings and really late on weekends. I can take the bus to the grocery and as I indicated in a previous post, I can take my cat to the vet on it. I take public transportation to church on Sundays. I absolutely love it. I can go weeks without using my car. I know many people who can’t bear to not use their car, but I’m not one of them. Yes, I have to wait for a bus, but I get exercise walking around, and I don’t have to deal with the absolutely insane traffic in the area.

For the most part I love my new area and specifically my municipality. I think for the most part, the municipality is designed to support those of us who like to walk and bike. I have had one annoyance for a while that has to do with the above mentioned street CP. When crossing CP at most, if not all, intersections, you have to press one of those buttons to get the pedestrian walk symbol and countdown. However you only have to do this when actually crossing CP and thus walking in a north or south direction. If you are crossing one of streets that intersect CP, thus you are walking parallel to CP or in a east or west direction, then you automatically get a pedestrian walk symbol and countdown when it is safe. I have yet to figure out a logical reason for this. I have to cross CP every weekday morning to get to my bus stop to go to work. I also cross CP and its intersecting streets at various intersections at other times. As far as I have observed, just as many people cross CP as cross its intersecting streets. Because of the way the bus stops are located, essentially diagonally across the intersections, you would expect people to be going in all directions. Obviously I have thought about this for a while, and I would like to get it changed so that when crossing CP, the pedestrian walk symbol automatically comes on. Too many times, I have had either had to wait out an entire traffic light cycle because I wasn’t sure if I had enough time to cross, or I have had to gamble and quickly get across the intersection watching the traffic light the whole time to see if I need to run. To me, this is a safety issue. Too many people cross CP to catch a bus, and I would bet that there are constantly people crossing when it is not safe because they don’t realize how little time is left.

Thus, I am determined to see if I can get things changed. I have no delusions that I could just call someone up at the municipality and get things changed in a couple of weeks. However, things don’t get changed if no one tries. I have been searching for a while with whom I need to talk. Last week I met someone who gave me the name of a municipality staff person who might be able to help. I also found out that there is a citizen pedestrian advisory board. I decided the best place to start was with this board.

At this point, I should explain that before I moved to this new metro area, I lived in a small college town. The college being where I got my Ph.D. I love this little town, and during my seven years there, I got involved in numerous ways. One way I got involved was by being a member of the town pedestrian and bicycle advisory board for five years. Being a member of this board is an unpaid, partially thankless job, that many people would hate, but that I liked. Members are appointed by the town council and are citizens of the town and surrounding areas. Like other advisory boards, we reviewed special use permit applications for things under our purview. Staff would have already reviewed the applications, but we looked at them for the standpoint of, for example, they have the required number of bicycle parking spots but are they in a safe and useful location. We did other things and worked with other boards and departments, but the goal was to help give input as active cyclists and pedestrians to improve our town. Our meetings were always open, and on a regular basis, citizens would come to our meetings to complain about something or seek our support on something else. We couldn’t always help, but we always listened and tried our best to see what could be done. Many times things would come down to limited funds. Many times things would come down to reality or legalities.

In my old town, getting the advisory board’s support added more weight to its importance with the staff and town council. So when I found out that my new municipality has a citizen pedestrian advisory board, I thought this was the best place to start. They meet once a month, and there was one tonight. It started at 7, so I went straight from work. I was hoping to say my peace, perhaps stay for a little bit to see how things worked, then catch a bus home and get dinner. Oh the best laid plans of mice and men. . . I made some assumptions that the meeting would be at least partially like my old town’s. The town was a municipality of less than 60,000 people, and there were nine members of the advisory board. The first thing on our agendas was to welcome new people and ask if there was a specific reason they were there. They were of course welcome always, but most of the time people come to the meetings for a specific reason. My new municipality has a population close to 220,000. I figured the board might be larger, and the meetings have a larger attendance. Then, I got to the meeting, and there are six other people there. One of those people was actually presenting something to the board and wasn’t a member. Another person walked in late, and I never found out who he was. At the beginning of the meeting everyone introduced themselves, I said I had lived here for a year and a half, and I am one of those annoying citizens with a demand (or something to that effect). I said it with a laugh and a smile, and everyone took it as a joke. The staff person then introduced himself as a staff person who deals with annoying, demanding citizens. The meeting started with a person presenting information about an ongoing project. He then left, and the chair immediately brought up another item on the agenda. They discussed several items for quite a while, and most of the time I didn’t understand what they were talking about as they were issues with which I was not familiar. At no point, did they ever ask me why I was there. They never asked me what my demand was that I had joked about when I introduced myself. It just didn’t seem to occur to them. I have to wonder if they ever get members of the public just show up at their meetings. They were nice to me, but evidently they thought I was just there to watch them. I have no idea.

I finally had to leave the meeting at 8:40. I needed to catch a bus that only came every half hour. I was really hungry, and I had no idea if I would ever be allowed to speak about why I was there. When I got up, the chair thanked me for coming. I can’t remember exactly what he said, but I finally asked when do they allow for items not on the agenda for people like me. Again, I don’t remember exactly what he said, but I got the impression that 1. they don’t get many people like me wanting to discuss something not on their agenda and 2. if someone like me shows up, they are just supposed to say their peace when they get there. I have no idea if that is really what they expect. Their meetings are really informal, and perhaps they don’t actually vote on anything. Perhaps because on my old town’s board, we did vote on things, we had an agenda and followed, or tried to follow, Robert’s Rules. I was never given an agenda for this meeting, so I have no idea when I would have had a chance to talk, or when this meeting would end.

Once I finally had the board’s attention, as I was leaving, I stated in a vey polite manner that I had served on my former town’s bike and pedestrian advisory board for five years, and the first item on the agenda was always people who randomly showed up. I said that since they were a citizen advisory board, I would assume they want citizen input. If they want a meeting conducive to welcoming citizen input, then when someone new shows up, they need to ask them if there is a specific reason why they are there and give them time to speak. Perhaps other people would just interrupt, but I am not like that. You can’t expect someone to sit through an entire meeting waiting for a chance to speak, especially if that person is never given an agenda and never informed when they can speak. All of them seemed quite surprised and perhaps to an extent concerned by my comments. I think they would have welcomed my concerns, it just didn’t occur to them that they should ask me for them. I am quite surprised by all this. This is quite a large municipality, and I can’t believe no one shows up with a concern. Then again, it took me forever to find out about this board, and I was actively searching. Perhaps barely anyone else knows they exist.  Once I shared my annoyance and disappointment with the board, they then seemed to want to know what my concern was. I had previously given the chair my e-mail address, so he asked if he could email me. I said of course, I just had to leave to catch a bus.

So now I am annoyed. I wasted two hours of my life and got nothing accomplished. Not only did I not get to talk to the board or anyone else about my concern with pedestrian walk lights, I am now annoyed with the way this particular board operates. I want to know if other citizen boards work like this. How do they expect to get input from the public if they don’t make their meetings conducive to receive input? How are concerned citizens even supposed to find these boards when they are not advertised all that well. So now, I have a new quest. Besides getting pedestrian lights changed, I now want to change how this board operates. I want my municipality to advertise these citizen boards better. So who do I have to talk to about this?

Thus my new municipality, I am putting you on notice. Geeky Girl Engineer is annoyed. I did not sit idly by when I get annoyed. No, I go annoy other people until I get things changed. I am a persistent little bugger, too. You have been warned.

Ferdinand is Hungry

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Since my previous post showed how laid back Ferdinand is, and with the exception of his tail, how little enthusiasm he shows when I get home. I thought I would show that he can show enthusiasm. The enthusiasm is for food of course. This is how he tells me that he is hungry.

Cat in a Bag on a Bus

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I live about a mile from my veterinarian’s office. While I can drive there, the parking situation is kind of annoying. Often if it my dog that has an appointment, we will walk there. If a cat needs to go, I will just take the bus. Puck, my 17 year old, very laid back cat, needed to go today. I have taken him to the vet before in the car where I just stuck him in a shoulder bag because, seriously, he doesn’t care and won’t try to escape. He will stick his head out to observe, but he seems to like the adventure. I really need to get a soft over-the-shoulder carrier because they are so much easier to use than the hard bulky carriers that I have. Today I decided to take him on the bus via a shoulder bag that can be zipped up. I think he enjoyed today’s adventure. Here he is on the bus to the veterinarian.

He did have to come out of the bag at the vet, so he could get his blood drawn and be examined. Once it was over, he happily returned to the bag while I paid the bill.

Then he rested on the bus ride home. I am fairly sure no one on either bus realized I had a cat with me. [Pets are allowed on the bus as long as they are secure.]

 

Women Don’t Need Pink Tools

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Evidently, Bic has decided that women can’t use normal pens and has decided to market a pen specifically for us. “Bic for Her” they call it because we need more pink crap. [I am not the only person who finds this demeaning and stupid. They have been inundated with sarcastic reviews on Amanzon.] I tweeted my indignation about this, and I asked what else do they think women need especially for us. You know, pink stuff. Do we need special hammers and power drills? I was quickly informed that the pink insanity does not stop with pens. There really are tools marketed especially for women, and yes they are pink. There are Little Pink Tools, which quite frankly make me want to hurl. There is also Tomboy Tools, which seems to be almost anything as long as it is pink. As if women can’t or won’t use something if it is not pink.

To be clear, I actually like the color pink. I use it in doses in my home decorating, and I have plenty of pink clothes, shoes, and jewelry. It is not my favorite color though. Pink does not mean something is “girlie,” and something does not have to be pink to be feminine. I am sure plenty of little girls love the color pink, but not that many women do. Women don’t need pink things just like girls don’t need pink legos or any other pink toy just for them. You know what kind of legos little girls like? They like legos, plain and simple. We could do a lot to end gender stereotyping if we stop shoving pink frilly stuff at girls and “manly” toys like guns and trucks at boys. If a girl likes pink and frilly stuff then great, but don’t assume just because she is a girl that that is what she wants and wouldn’t want to play with trucks and other stuff. And vice versa for little boys.

My sophomore year of college I moved into an apartment with several roommates. While moving in, I needed some basic tools. I think I was putting together a desk or something. I went to Walmart, and I bought a toolkit called Do-It-Herself. Yes, it was actually called this, and all the tools had baby blue handles, except for tools like the socket wrench, which were pure metal. I didn’t buy it for the silly name, and I certainly didn’t buy it because everything was matching baby blue. I bought it because it was a toolkit with a nice selection of basic tools that came in an organized, easy to store carrying case. I actually still have many of those tools, including the pliers, socket wrenches, and screwdriver. I still have some of the screwdriver bits too, but of course the philips bit has been replaced numerous time. It was a nice toolkit that fit my needs at the time. Looking back, I guess I should be happy that it wasn’t pink because evidently companies have decided that’s what we really want.

I am currently renovating the third house I have ever owned. I have renovated all my houses. With each house, the renovations have gotten more intense, and I have done more and more of the repair and renovation myself. Over the years of home ownership, I have bought more tools and replaced old ones or upgraded to better ones. Years ago, I bought a power drill and small drill bit case with bits of about ten different sizes. It served most purposes. Then years later, I bought a drill bit case with about 30-40 different sizes of bits. Last year I bought a circular saw, reciprocating saw, and a rotary tool. I’ve rented those before, but if you do enough renovation, it is cheaper in the long run to just buy them. You can also buy higher quality power tools than you can rent. Also when you rent, you have to buy your own blade anyway. And no, none of the tools I have bought since that original toolkit have been baby blue or pink or any other girlie color. I don’t buy tools because of how they look. I buy, or try to buy, tools that will last, that will work well, and that are reasonably priced. I would never buy a pink tool, partially because it is stupid, but also because if the tools is being sold because it is pink, then it is probably not being sold because it is a good quality, reasonably priced tool.

In short, women don’t need pink tools! We need good quality tools with easy to understand directions. We want them reasonably priced and easy to use. In the case of power tools, we want them to come to come with safety features, so we or anyone else who uses them doesn’t injure themselves. In short, we need exactly what men need.

For the record here are my tools, or almost all of them at least. You will notice a few baby blue ones from my original, aforementioned toolkit. However, not a single pink one among them.

My manual and power tools

Baseboard Painting

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I need advice from someone who has painted a baseboard that has a stained wood quarter round in front of it. [See photo below.] I can’t figure out how to paint it without getting paint on the quarter round. I have tried to tape the quarter round with painter’s tape, but it is not a perfect seal, and paint gets below the tape. I have tried holding a painter’s metal straight edge on top of the quarter round, but that also does not give a perfect seal. Once the paint gets on the quarter round, if it is still wet, I can wipe it off with a wet rag. Problem is that the paint is also wet on the baseboard, and it is impossible to just wipe the paint off the quarter round and not constantly pick up wet paint from the baseboard. I have had some luck scrapping the latex paint off the quarter round once it is dry, but if I scrap hard enough to remove the paint, I risk damaging the wood. Thus, does anyone have any advice on what to do?

Magnetic Wall

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I painted the short wall in the kitchen with latex paint over the magnetic primer. The magnetic primer adds texture to the wall, probably because of the metal particles in the primer. It’s not too much texture, but the wall is definitely not smooth. I ended up putting about four coats of primer on the wall, so that added to the texture. After all those coats, the wall is not that magnetic. [Technically the the primer itself is not magnetic, but supposed to be attractive to magnets, but I am calling it magnetic for simplicity.] It will attract magnets, but it needs to be a strong magnet with not a lot of weight on it. I have some plastic clips with magnets on the back. They are attracted to the wall, but it is not a strong enough attraction to keep them on the wall. I have another magnet with three plastic hooks on the front. It will stick to the wall with a potholder hanging from it but not with the potholder and an oven mitten also. In summary, the magnetic primer is neat, but it’s not great. Here is a photo of how the wall looks now after the paint. The paint is Behr interior flat Garden Medley (470B-5) from Home Depot. The aforementioned magnet with plastic hooks is on the wall in this photo with the potholder hanging from it.

Magnetic Primer

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One wall of my kitchen is sort of a half wall. It is full height, but only about five feet long. I decided to turn it into one giant magnetic board. All my appliances are stainless steel, so magnets won’t stick to them. It’s kind of nice being able to use magnets in a kitchen, so the only option was to make a wall a magnet board. I used magnetic primer, which is nice because then you can paint on top of it. So now the wall looks like this covered in magnetic primer.

The only problem with this primer is that it is not latex. I thought it was water based because it says you can paint latex paint on top of it. However latex paint is easy to clean up. This stuff is not. Also, it does not come off skin easily, and my arm now looks like this.