THE WEISS CHRONICLES

Friday, August 24, 2018

Another dream that ended well 

I had a dream in which I was ready to depart a cruise ship to go to the airport.

In the dream, I thought I had misplaced my glasses in the cabin on the cruise ship.

But then I realized that my glasses were on my head, above their normal position where I had, perhaps, placed them in order to read something close up.

I made my way to the bus that was taking people to the airport.

Then I woke up.

This is the second dream I've had that (Irwin speculates) seems to imply I am in a post anxiety condition.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 6:54 PM

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

A Nice Dream about College 

I have had a lot of dreams about college in the past 50 years or so. However, I can't remember any of them being about something pleasant

This morning I had a pleasant dream about the subject. I was being congratulated by people, perhaps for winning a card or, more 'action-wise', a foosball game . 

Several young ladies gave me their business card and then I walked into an open air patio with nice trees and benches.

 
I looked into the matter of foosball after I woke up (I didn't have any business cards when I woke up).   

Walmart actually sells foosball tables for $79.00- see second image or the link.



All the college dreams I can remember having up until now were unpleasant.


Typically, I was trying to find a classroom where a test was to be taken or trying to remember the subject matter of the class I was supposed to be taking that day.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 2:05 PM

Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Another Baseball Game 

 For the first time I can remember I went to consecutive National's games.

Also, for the first time I can remember I went to a game  a few hours after the Nationals traded away two people who played in the previous Nationals game.

Also for the first time I can remember I went to a game which was hit with rain and lightning before the game was official.

The first image shows the 'Skittles' sponsored tarpolan on the field. The second image shows myself and Gerry Berg in the room behind where we were sitting.

We had seats under cover in the middle deck on the 3rd base side but because there was lightning, the stadium security force made everyone go inside. It was pretty crowded and uncomfortable inside and after about 30 minutes, we decided to go back home. However, the umpires restarted the game about 45 minutes after we left (just about the time I got home). 

The Nationals ended up with a 10-4 win (vs Philadelphia). The game ended after midnight.

.



.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 11:54 PM

Even 10 years ago I thought I would never see this 

I was on the way to the grocery today.


I noticed the building in the image.  They had a relatively new sign on the Nebel Road side (the right side as you see it in this post) that is not in the image in this post which said something like "Medical Marijuana Dispensary".


I looked this up when I got home. It turns out they have a menu and yelp comments like a restaurant. 

It is part of a national company whose website is here.

There was a report out yesterday that some marijuana users are becoming addicts or otherwise dealing with negative consequences.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 3:36 PM

Sunday, August 19, 2018

Nationals Crushed by Team 25 wins under .500 

I went to the Jewish Federation game at National's park today.  It is a chance to sit in one of the VIP sections and have catered kosher food during the game. George went also. We parked at the Safeway down the street for $15. That's us in the image (taken by the Jewish Federation photographer)


The other team was the Florida Marlins who came into the game 49-76 on the season.

It was one of the worse beatings I've seen since the Nationals came to Washington more than a decade ago. The Marlins hit 7 doubles and 3 HRs winning 12-1.

Even more incredible, the rookie pitcher, José Ureña (second image), threw a complete game 2 hitter. He only struck out 4 but even in the 9th inning, he was throwing 97 and 98 mph fastballs (per the stadium board).  This fellow will likely soon be serving a multi game suspension for having intentionally thrown at a batter earlier in the season but this game he was definitely on the top of his game without any funny stuff.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 8:47 PM

Fun Baseball Movie 

I was at the blood donation center last week (16 August).

The movie I watched while donating platelets was Major League: Back to the Minors (1998).

It is a comedy drama. I enjoyed it.

My favorite comedy part was when the manager of a minor league team (played by Scott Bakula who was captain of Enterprise on TV), calls in a reliever for his fast ball starter who has been hit hard by a particularly good fast ball hitter. The reliever is a junk ball pitcher. The reliever asks, 

"You want me to use off speed pitches on this guy?"

The manager asks, "Do you have any other pitches?"

The reliever says, "Actually, no."

The manager then says, "so use off speed."

The bad guy in this movie is played by Ted McGinley who basically plays the same character he played in "Revenge of the Nerds (1984)" with basically the same result.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 8:31 PM

Friday, August 17, 2018

Bad Pizza Delivery Dream 

I had a dream.  

In the dream I was delivering pizza using my car.


I got to the destination.  A criminal looking man with a big knife approached me and said he was going to steal the pizza.


I told him that there was too much pizza for one person to carry.

Then he ordered me out of the car and he took control of it.

Then I woke up.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 3:34 PM

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

A few dragon flies out this morning 

We've had a lot of dragon flies this summer.

Presumably it is because we've had a lot of rain (Irwin reports from Baltimore that they have had over 40" already this year and much of this was in May-yesterday).  

The summer rain has led to lots and lots of mosquitoes, gnats and other insects which are the food that dragonflies eat.

Anyway, the image of the dragon fly was taken near Richmond, Aug. 10, 2018 by Stephen Miklandric and posted on Capital Weather Gang.  




 
When I saw this image, I thought that the dragon fly must have been the inspiration for the design on the x-wing star fighters that the rebel alliance used in Star Wars. The second image is a lego version of the x-wing fighter.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 8:59 AM

Thursday, August 09, 2018

Plumbing Job Completed 

 It only took about an hour and a half.

The plumbing team showed up a few minutes to 9am today.

The placed drop cloth to keep the kitchen clean than they removed the cracked pipe.

The cast iron pipe actually had two leaks in it. Both leaks were on the upper part of the pipe so the pipe would only leak when a surge of water was going through it.  The first two images (which expand if  you click on them a few times) show the cracks in the pipe.

The third image shows the PVC pipe after it was joined to the cast iron adjacent pipe.  The use of a band with tighteners is apparently the standard way of doing things now and is less messy than using caulk or other material at the joint. 

The last image shows a PVC trap under the hall bathtub. This was leaking also. They had the part in their truck. The hardware and labor for this weren't in the contract I signed but they only charged me about $50 for it. 

After installation, they turned on every spigot they could find up stairs and flushed the toilet a few times and everything seemed to hold together (although the water going through PVC is much noisier than water going through cast iron).

Total cost was a bit under $900.

Everything was cleaned up and they were on their way by 1030am.

.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 10:50 AM

Tuesday, August 07, 2018

An Odd Towing Story with a twist 

A week or so ago George was in Prince George county doing some work at the court. 

He parked in a commercial lot and paid for 3 hours parking. When he came for his car after 2 hours, his car was towed. Looking around, he saw a poorly made hand lettered cardboard warning sign that said that the parking permit must be on the dash and visible from outside the car.

He took an Uber to the towing place, paid the towing charge, came home and wrote a complaint letter.

Today he got a call from Duff's Custom Towing and Recovery Company. Adolphus Horne, son of the company founder and owner, Duff Horne, said that he (Adolphus) went to the commercial lot and found the warning sign to be an embarrassment. He uncharged the towing fee plus $25 and said he would tell the commercial lot owner that he would refuse to tow any more vehicles from that lot until they placed a legitimate warning sign. 

Not quite rocket science (per the cartoon) but still a nice ending.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 12:42 PM

Sunday, August 05, 2018

Thursday at Natl Gallery of Art (West) 

We had decided to go to the National Gallery of Art today. The main reason was to see a special exhibit of 17th century paintings of water scenes from the Dutch Golden Era.

The Dutch Golden Era was golden for several reasons.

First the Dutch won independence from Spain in 1648 (after a multi decade conflict). During this time, the Dutch were commercially successful but also suffered some reverses, e.g., the Tulip bubble of 1637.

Then they fought England to a draw in a 2 year war ending in 1654. 

Then they won a decisive victory over Britain in another 2 year war ending in 1665. 

This led to a multidecade commercial driven prosperity. The Dutch are generally thought to have had the highest per capita wealth and income of any nation from the early 17th century to the mid 18th century.


Some of the paintings are idyllic with people skating on frozen canals but some are kind of frightening like the first image. This shows a 1667 painting by Ludolf Backhuysen and is called Ships in Distress off a Rocky Coast. It is a big painting, about 4' by 5'. One Dutch ship (right foreground) has already been wrecked and two are in serious trouble and they've taken the sails down to try to control the ships (the flag was the Dutch flag back then and still is their flag). 

We saw a few other paintings in other galleries, for example the self portraint of Vincent Van Gogh which is in one of the Impressionist galleries and which was featured on the National Gallery's map/brochure. It is the second image.

Then we went to have soft drinks at the lower level which is where the last two images were taken (with the camera phone which doesn't take quite as good pictures as the camera). 

The third image is me with  a Napoleon poster showing part of the painting by Jacques Louis David.  The actual painting is also at the National Gallery.

The 4th image is Ann in front of the waterfall in the corridor between the west wing and the east wing (the east wing has modern art).

posted by Martin Weiss  # 6:13 PM

Thursday, August 02, 2018

Rickland Conley Update 

I posted in August 2017 about a checkout/bagger who had cancer.

Today, about a year later, I saw him again when I was at the store. We discussed a few things. 

He said that in a few weeks it would be 7 years since he had been categorized with stage 4 cancer. 

Also in a few months he would turn 78.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 5:08 PM

Another update on the leaking pipe 

I had the plumber come back after we  had additional leaking.

He pulled more of the ceiling down so it exposed more of the pipe.

There was a long meandering crack roughly parallel to the long dimension of the pipe, although the end of the crack (which you can see) is perpendicular to the long dimension.

Then I had the estimator come.

This is when we finally got some tentative good news. 

The section of pipe with the crack does not extend into the cabinet area on either end. This makes the pipe replacement much less expensive (about $800 rather than 2000 or $ 3000.).  After the plumbing company replaces the pipe (a PVC pipe will replace this cast iron one), we'll turn on every faucet in the house and see if there are any other obvious leaks.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 11:18 AM

Wednesday, August 01, 2018

Wet July but only the second half 

We had almost no rain from June 25 to July 17.


Then the rain came down big time and we ended the month with a wet month. 


It was so wet that on two days, our sump pump had to go to work to get water out of the sub-basement.  To make matters worse, we also had a gutter problem which led to one day of a minor water leak in the front of the basement.




However, the first chart only shows the rain at Washington Reagan Airport.


Baltimore Washington Airport had almost 17". The second chart shows the way the precipitation bunched up there with over 10" in the three wettest days.

posted by Martin Weiss  # 1:34 PM

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