Murphy's Law is in Full Force Today...

I had one job for today: Swap doorknobs from master bathroom (on-suite) to Older Daughter's bedroom so that she can have a locking knob. Previous owners had placed a closet knob on that door, which of course doesn't lock.

Procedure:

a. Remove our knob and go down the hall to her room.
b. Remove her doorknob and install ours in its place.
c. Go back to our room. Reinstall her doorknob on our bathroom door, only to discover that - somewhere in the process - a piece had disappeared. The loss of said piece, the collar which grips the square shaft, prevents the inside knob from turning the latch, thereby neatly trapping the occupant (either me or my wife, usually me) in the bathroom.
d. Grab a flashlight and turn the master bathroom, hallway and her room upside down. The missing piece apparently fell into a black hole, nevermore to be seen again. Or perhaps it was a temporal rift, from whence the little piece of stamped metal will reappear a few years from now.
e. Go to WalMart and buy a replacement knob ($12).
f. Bring it home and begin replacement. Discover that the new knob is different from our existing hardware, and would require inletting on the solid wood bathroom door. I wasn't in the mood for it today, so ...
g. Go to different store, farther away, and buy another knob ($16).
h. Bring home & install.

Should have been a simple & easy 10-minute job. Four screws, easy-peasy, right?

Actual elapsed time to swab two doorknobs: 2 hours.

It's Always Something

For 10 years, Blogger has notified me when comments are posted here, via e-mail. About four days ago, that stopped.

No, I haven't changed any settings. But I have to remember to check the posted comments on the Blogger site, versus my inbox. So if I'm late in replying, you'll know why.

Grumblegrumblegrumblegrumblegrumble ...

Have I Mentioned

how much I hate getting involved in others' lawsuits?

Without going into too much detail, one of our long-time contractors is going through a very, very messy divorce. And the husband-and-wife team is fighting over control of their company.

It's a large company, at least by local standards, with many employees, a fleet of trucks and heavy equipment, trailers, etc.

Even though we haven't used them in over a year, one of the soon-to-be-ex-partners wants us to provide a copy of every scrap of paper and e-mail exchanged from 2003 to 2015. (Hint: it's a lot.)

Have I mentioned that I work alone? As in "there's no staff to whom I can assign the copying duties"?

Grumblegrumblegrumblegrumblegrumble ...


p.s. I did get a kick out of one thing in the request: they want copies of "verbal agreements". 

:)

It Figures: Bought, Sold and Useless

For years, Alaskans have petitioned the State Legislature in Juneau - a city in southeast Alaska, accessible only by air and sea - to move the capitol to Anchorage ... or Fairbanks ... or anywhere on the road system.

In fact, Alaskans have voted three times to move the capitol, and all three times, the Legislature has ignored the will of the people. It would be too hard on Juneau's economy, they tell us. And while that's arguably true, it also leaves the capitol more-or-less inaccessible to most Alaskans. Legislators seem to enjoy having a private playground for ... well, use your imagination. Booze, hookers, and mistresses come to mind.

So we've also petitioned the Legislature to take Alaska off of Daylight Saving time. It's stupid to change the clock when the sun doesn't set.


Seriously. So what are our oh-so-responsive elected officials debating?

There's a proposal on the table to move Alaska to Pacific Time - you know, West Coast/Lower 48 time.
If that's not a solution in search of a nonexistent problem, then I've never seen one.

Hey Texans: wanna be in the same time zone as Pennsylvania? That's more-or-less what our darling legislators are proposing, here.

Makes perfect sense. To them; not to anyone I've asked.


Yessiree Bob, the finest legislature Big Oil can buy.

Now That We've All Removed Our Snow Tires For the Season

From Mitch at Channel 2 Weather (Anchorage):

SNOW RETURNS TO ALASKA...

After warm summer-ish temps, big changes are coming next week. I've been tracking this situation the last day or two but held off on getting word out due to relative uncertainty. As of this morning, numerical wx models indicate several upper air and surface features positioned more favorably for snow to be a threat for parts of the state.

Potentially Impacted Areas: Bristol Bay region, Cook Inlet Region, Denali Park area, Lower & Upper Kuskokwim, Mat-Su valleys, and the Central and Southern Interior regions.

Timing: Monday night thru Friday. Beginning in the west and spreading south and east by weeks end.

Potential exists for accumulating snowfall in higher terrain and for localized lower elevations seeing several inches.

Snow is not a big threat in Anchorage as of now, but the picture will become clearer in the coming days. Plan now for chillier and damper weather next week over much of the state.