Enjoy Every Sandwich.

This article about a guy who is thinking about writing a book called "The Power of No," should be required reading. For *everybody*. Money shot:

Chapter 7 should be “Realize What an Idiot You Really Are.” The ancient dictum “Know thyself” is the distilled essence of philosophy. And to know yourself is to know that idiocy has no bottom. It is fathomless and without limit. There is no stupidity that cannot ensnare you, no folly that cannot suck you in. As Dirty Harry famously said, “A man’s gotta know his limitations.” The more clever you seem to yourself, the more likely you are nearing some hard object about to strike you upside the head.

Truer words were never spoken. Now go read the whole article. You'll thank me.

--------------------------------------------------

What does Coppi Cat do in his spare time? Watch bike racing, of course.


That's him, watching Stage 20 of the Tour. For real. Rescued by a bike racer after a bike ride, named for a bike racer. He may not even like the racing, but like all cats, he knows where his bread is buttered.

-----------------------------------------------------

What I Did Today

I took the day off and with a friend removed the enormous old crapulent French Doors that had previously made egress from the ManCave onto the ManPatio pretty difficult. The doors weren't properly sized or installed for our townhouse; I suspect they were remnants from a commercial job, producing an enormous doorway of 72 inches width. The sliding door you see is the largest you can get without a special order; it's big enough that we'll have to keep it lubricated because the glass door is *heavy*. Anyhow, demo went pretty easy because my house was built by assclowns, and things like hinges, which should have been secured through the 1"x6" sheathing of the door frame to the 2"x4" underneath with 3" drywall or exterior screws were secured only to the 1"x6" with 3/4" brass finishing screws. Guess that explains why the "frame" (i.e. the sheathing) was warping inward and the heavy doors were sagging. At any rate we got the old doors and storm doors removed, found it easy to rip out the sheathing and 2"x4" frame, and soon had a bare hole. One trip to Home Depot and $200 later, we drilled holes in the concrete, lagged in a solid set of pressure treated 2"x8" studs, and basically slipped the new door right in. We pulled off a bit of a slick job, measuring it close enough that the new door slipped in level, with no shims needed, and snug up against the studs. So there's no complicated framing involved. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. We'll be fabricating up cosmetic facing and installing interior and exterior molding tomorrow, caulking and air sealing it. Nothing major, just a few hours of trim work. It improves the lighting in the ManCave in a big way, to the extent that I'm thinking about re-christening it The Hall of Injustice*, or perhaps Not Carol Gilligan's Island.

Carol Gilligan**

* As opposed to the Hall of Justice. The name change is due to the fact that treble damages are available under copyright laws, and while my friends are pretty cool, they are not super friends. Super Hammered Friends, or Super Irritating at Times Friends, maybe. But not plain super.

** Not amused by the amoral combination of vaginal imagery and misogyny embodied in the term, "Man Cave."
---------------------------------------------

Now for some tunes. Warren Zevon. He died of cancer in 2003. At the time, he noted, "I may have made a tactical mistake, in not seeing a doctor for 20 years."



---------------------------------------------

Bob Dylan with probably my favorite song by him. It's like a prayer, almost.



---------------------------------------------