Ryan McFarland's blog

kyowa otenki ga ii

zieak ♦ April 10, 2004 ♦ Leave Your Comment

I tinkered around the yard a lot this afternoon. I tore down the WT part of the fence to try and motivate me to actually finish up that section of the fence. I relocated three rhubarb plants from stand-alone planters to the planter i built along the south face of the house under the eve. We’ll also move some red raspberry plants there that Amy and i found last fall. They should get plenty of sun and a bit less rain there – i just hope not too little. I collected quite a few sheets of scrap plywood and 2x4s from a project at work, brought them home, and pulled nails from them. I cleaned out part of the shed and built a bracket for stacking the 2x4s above the sheet pieces. I cleared out about a quarter of the crawlspace under the house, spread a sheet of plastic on the soil and then started putting the crappier pieces of plywood on the plastic to walk on. The plastic will provide a bit of a moisture barrier for the underside of the house and allow me to work under there without having to put on my rubber boots. I found the one spot in the pipes that squeaks when you shut off the water and silenced it. (The builders suspended the plumbing about 8 inches below the floor joists so if there is ever a water leak that it is easy to find and doesn’t damage the structure too terribly much.) I cleared out the collection of extension cords, christmas tree stands (yes, plural), and garbage that has collected under there over the past few years. I still have three more sheets of plastic to spread under there and then will finish the skirting insulation so that in the future there will not be as many battles with frozen pipes. I hope to connect to the municipal water in the next few months. I kicked one of the flattened balls for Marley quite a bit. (You wouldn’t believe the number of soccer or basketballs that end up with knive holes in them at work.) I trimmed tree branches, pulled from the ground and threw away an old extension cord that provided power to the shed, and i burnt a collection of cardboard boxes. The funny thing is that it would be impossible for me to list this day’s tasks chronologically since i frequently jump from one job to the next and back to the first. So my few hours of work this afternoon was even more chaotic due to my disorganized approach to work like this. To me it is akin to play.

Commute

zieak ♦ April 8, 2004 ♦ 3 Comments

A week ago or so i was driving back to work after lunch and saw a sizable pod of killer whales. Can a seven minute commute get much better than that?

NMOA

zieak ♦ April 6, 2004 ♦ 5 Comments

I mentioned my brief stint in NMOA before. Well here are a few digitally remastered (not really) mp3 files of our stuff. Sadly I have only one full song of the four original songs. Sloth is now available as a single file. Arthropod Murderers was cut off at the end so some of the good parts are missing. Aw heck, who am i kidding? There aren’t any good parts.
Sloth
Arthropod Murderers

Lyrics:

Sloth
This is… N.M.O.A.!
Sloth! Sloth! (Two-toed, that is.)
Sloth! Slo-[cough]
Is a sloth a marsupial?
Wombat!
Sloth! Sloth. Sloth.
Sloths are not marsupials.
Sloths are marsupials.
Sloths are mammals.
Marsupials are mammals.
Sloths do not nurse their young in a pouch.
You murse your nung in a pouch.
(Unintelligible) Marsupial! Marsupial!
Marsupial! Sloth. Sloth!
Sloth! Sloth! Wombat!
(Unintelligble) Sloth! Sloth! Sloth! Sloth! Sloth! Two-toed sloth!
Nurse your young in a pouch! Raaaargh!
(Unintelligble) …nurse their young in a pouch.
They do! Nurse their young in a pouch. Marsupials.
Rrrargh. Sloth Sloth Sloth! Sloth!
Marsupials! Sloooooottttthhhhhrrrrrghhhh…

Arthropod Murderers
We’re sorry, you have reached the wrong album. Please try again at the sound of the tone.
Arthropod murderers! (Unintellible for about a minute with the occasional “arthropod murderers” or “arthropod death” coming through the gibberish. There also is a little something about killing spiders in the shower.)

The time I went to the Latino Music Awards

zieak ♦ April 1, 2004 ♦ 3 Comments

Did i ever tell you about the time i went to the Latino Music Awards with Jennifer Lopez? No? That’s because everyone thought i was Marc Anthony and i went unrecognized. Fortunately US magazine ran a photo and Cena’s brother spotted it. I had seen the photo already and had to deal with Amy’s anger over my date with J Lo. So I was trying to keep this all under wraps. Now that the cat is out of the bag i think everyone may as well know.