Category: English language

Posts in English language

Ugly Pit

A few months back I started a small project, the aim of which was to remove extra siding bricks out of the garage. I didn’t know what to do with all those extra bricks and figured that a small fire pit would be a good idea – two birds with one brick.

I also have almost no experience with landscaping, however after few YouTube videos and Pinterest pictures I realized two things:
– Fire pit must be functional
– I don’t want to spend any more resources on it

So I took measurements and figured a little platform around the fire would be a good idea – easier to cut the grass around it. Additionally, the fire pit must have two fire areas, one for cooking on hot charcoal and another for general fire.

Despite the functional reasoning, I decided to cut on quality by not digging too deep. Less than half a foot was enough to level the ground and lay out the bricks. The entire endeavour took a few days and the fire pit was done.

The resulting landscape view quickly attracted feedback from my wife and friends. After careful consideration I decided to name my little creation “ugly pit” and present it as a postmodern take on a rustic outdoor cooking contraption.

 

Awesome TDD & Agile posters

Last week, at last, my little work related side project came to successful end. Together with an awesome in-house graphics designer, we finalized series of inspirational posters. I would like to share it and hope those posters will bring smiles and joy to any software development environment. You can print it and hang it all over your work space.

 

Links to full size files:

3 Laws of TDD: PDF | TIF

Uncle Bob – Test Driven Development: PDF | TIF

Agile Manifesto: PDF | TIF

 

EasyOn Gutter Guard

Owning a house comes with some maintenance work, which includes cleaning gutters at least once per year (the house surrounded by trees). Last year I paid $100 for someone to come in and clean gutters. Honestly I don’t like heights, ladders and climbing on top of a roof. However this spring I went up and cleaned gutters myself due to budget reasons. The work is not difficult but quite unpleasant due to height.

Unfortunately a couple of months later I had to climb again in the middle of rain, since gutter were overflowing due to plugged drain holes. I took out huge chunk of gunk and water started draining properly. The experience lead me to believe that gutters needs to be cleaned more frequently during the season – bad news for me. I started thinking and quickly figured that some preventative solution needs to be put in place. Market seems to provide such a solution – gutter guard. After asking around and reading positive feedbacks online, I decided to install “EasyOn” gutter guard that I picked up at the local Costco.

So far I managed to install the gutter guard around the garage, since it was the easiest thing to do and allowed me to experience installation process at relatively low heights. Installation process was easy enough, except for corners. Corners take some time, since you have to measure, cut and fit gutter guard properly. It took roughly 10-12 hours to do house attached (gutters on 3 sides) two car garage, most of the time was spent on cleaning gutters inside and out – personal preference. I figured to give gutters a good cleaning since I’m not planning on getting up there any time afterwards.

Currently I don’t have any feedback but I do look forward to a rain and upcoming fall, perhaps next year will reveal whether I wasted my money or found permanent solution to gutter cleaning.

Coleman 523

About a year ago I received a Coleman 523 stove for my birthday. The stove was used and had seen better times – scratches, small dents and missing parts. However gas tank held pressure and burner assembly seemed to have all parts in place. The only problem: almost everything was seized up.

Finally my vacation time came along and I decided – I will fix the stove and bring it back to working order no matter what. Initially I tried to take it apart in a civil way – some anti-seize lubricants, gentle pressure, WD-40; but with little result – most parts were still seized. So I took it to my friend and after few more gentle attempts all pretense of civility disappeared and the blow torch came in. I got to say, the blow torch seems to fix anything and everything that is seized. Side effect of such terrifying force is broken graphite seals/bushings. Fortunately for me, the stove had some spare parts included and missing parts were ordered from oldcolemanparts. After few days of waiting, cleaning and fitting everything back, the stove was ready for testing. Initial testing left me completely devastated – gasoline was leaking from valves, the only consolation prize was the fact that I stopped short of lighting it up, otherwise the stove would have turned into a gasoline infused bonfire. I didn’t know what to do, so I took it back to my friend, who in his infinite wisdom added automotive seal to both valves. This time around the stove started up… but some what intermittently – vaporizers were dirty. No big deal, less than an hour later vaporizers were replaced and stove was reassembled. This time around stove lightened up wonderfully and after warm up, blue flames were steadily burning along with gasoline hissing.

Working on such an old technology gives out pleasant feeling of simplicity and infinite possibilities – everything is straightforward, accessible and fixable. Of course any old tech comes with price tag – it must be maintained, adjusted and they all have quirks. I bet modern burners require less attention and probably work better under different conditions. In any case I’m very happy with the experience and the stove. I think I’ll run it again before lubricating and storing it.

Cheers!