Well, the kid started back to school this week. Middle school, or junior high as we called it when I was a whippersnapper. This is going to free up time for DIY projects and really important stuff like training for the marathon.

Not only am I relieved from summer kid control duty, but this year she decided to start taking the bus. It’s amazing how much time dropping her of at school and picking her up used to take out of the day. Not that I’m complaining - far from it.

I appreciate all the time I get to spend with her by working out of the home.

So what DIY is on the agenda? To begin with, almost everything needs a fresh coat of paint. And then there’s always refinishing the woodwork. First there’s the kitchen cabinets and then there’s the chair rail in the dining area.

And then…

Subscribe to the I Can Fix Up My Home Newsletter! Just send an email to subscribe@icanfixupmyhome.com and then respond to the confirmation email you’ll receive. And, to ensure that your newsletters don’t get filtered out, add listserv@icanfixupmyhome.com to your email white list or address book.

What can I say? It was good for the soul. Yesterday my running club held their 9th annual pub crawl. The theme this year was the Woodstock Pub Krawl. Every year has a theme. The more outlandish, the better.

Bay Area Running Club Woodstock themed pub crawl 2009

This year we drew a lot of attention from cars tooling along NASA Rd. 1. And what else could be expected? 130 slightly inebriated 1960s-hippie-lookalikes running along the sidewalk flashing the peace sign.

I guess I represented the good old industrial military complex, wearing my camo boonie hat left over from when I was an ammo troop in the Air force.

Hot weather running can really take it out of you, so constant hydration is critical.

The route was approximately a 10K with 9 pub visitations and 1 water stop along the way (whazzup with that?). Most of the bars are just regular joe kind of spots. Just to throw in a bit of class, we stop at the bar in the Hilton every year.

You might remember that fine hotel from the news a couple of years ago. That was where that lady dentist caught her hubby cheating on her there, so she ran him down with her car in the parking lot. And then she circled the parking lot and ran over him again just to make sure he had expired. Can you say cooky?

Anyhow, the whole crawl thing took about five hours to complete and I don’t know how long the festivities lasted at Sam’s Boat, the final stop. It starts in Webster, Texas and ends in Seabrook, Texas. The route is flanked by NASA’s Johnson Space Center on one side and Clear Lake on the other.

A fine time was had by all. Come join us next August. No registration fee required. Just sayin’.

Subscribe to the I Can Fix Up My Home Newsletter! Just send an email to subscribe@icanfixupmyhome.com and then respond to the confirmation email you’ll receive. And, to ensure that your newsletters don’t get filtered out, add listserv@icanfixupmyhome.com to your email white list or address book.

Yesterday I got an email from a reader asking about emergency back-up generators. Like myself, she lives in a hurricane-likely area and is serious about hurricane preparation. Hurricane Ike kicked my butt last year, but hey, that’s the price I pay for living in the paradise that is South Texas!

The real question is having a method of alternative energy production that doesn’t rely on the commercial power grid. Here are a few choices:

Emergency Back-Up Generators

These are great, especially when fitted with an automatic transfer switch. There are two issues though. Price is the first one. A good one with a realistic capacity will set you back thousands of dollars to run your stuff what, two days? Once every few years?

The second issue is fuel. Your emergency back-up generator can have diesel, gasoline, or natural gas. The liquid fuels have a shelf life and the gas supply will likely be cut off in a natural disaster.

Wind Turbines

Wind turbines are fine in most cases, but they don’t play well with hurricanes. Of course, if you have the type fitted with a hinged mast, you could fold it over before the storm and put it back up afterwords.  Given that it wasn’t wiped out.

But in normal circumstances, wind turbines are a great way to supplement the power grid.

Solar Panels

Conventional solar panels made of silicone wafers are more hype and hope than a realistic alternative energy source. It’s a great idea, but they are just too expensive and cumbersome. They lack ROI. The good news is that they have ushered in the research that produced the new thin-film solar technology.

This is the way to go. It’s inexpensive to produce, and it’s malleable so the applications are really mind-boggling. The only issue is that it’s so new, it’s rare. It should be more available in a year or so.

Which way to go? That’s your call. Just don’t rely on the old hamster cage.

Subscribe to the I Can Fix Up My Home newsletter! Just shoot me an email to subscribe@icanfixupmyhome.com and then respond to the confirmation email you’ll receive. And, add listserv@icanfixupmyhome.com to your address book to ensure the newsletters don’t get filtered out into your spam or junk folders.

It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been wanting to add a newsletter to ICFUMH for a long time. It’s a great compliment to the growing article base, the forum, and this blog.

I’ve also had many requests for one. A lot of folks seem to like the format better than the RSS feed. Originally, I tried going with PHPLIST. After all, it’s open source software (free), I’ve had great results from phpBB for the forum, and the developers have done a great job.

But I ended up spending an entire week trying to configure the dang thing. Me, with a background in software development! Long story short, the forum gurus didn’t want to, or couldn’t help and respond to my question. So I went with the trial version of SendBlaster and it works fine.

If you care to sign up, drop me a line at subscribe@icanfixupmyhome.com. Just be sure to include your name and your email address. Your location is optional. I just like to see where my readers are from.

Be sure to add listserv@icanfixupmyhome.com to your email white list or address list; some email clients will bounce or consider the domain spam when they don’t recognize it. So if you do not get a confirmation email in a reasonable amount of time, check your junk or spam folder.

Other than that, what’s new in my world? My marathon training for the Houston marathon next January is going well.I’m just going into week 4. The link above will take you to week 1, but I set up the weekly schedules in such a way that you can navigate from one week to the next.

And, (drum roll, please) today is my birthday! So why am I working ;-?

If you live in the southern US and haven’t addressed the issue of hurricane preparation, there’s still time. Until tomorrow at least.

One of the most important things you need to take care of is protecting your windows. Windows are the most vulnerable parts of the home, and once they are compromised in hurricane force winds, all bets are off.

Listening to the radio the other day I heard an ad for Armor Glass security window film. It’s not only rated for hurricanes, but bomb blasts as well. So if you have any Al Qaeda scumbags in your neighborhood, you might want to consider this.

Seriously though, I see 2 prime benefits to this product. First, they claim it’s cheaper than storm shutters. Second, once it’s on, it’s on. No more plywood chores when it’s bug-out or hunker-down time.

When you’ve got to run, you’ve got to run, and the fewer issues the better.

There are other things to do as well. It’s a good idea to stock up on canned goods. Not just basic stuff either; get things that you will enjoy eating. When Ike rolled through here, the shelves at Kroger and Walmart were plenty bare.

It took them more than a week to get the “good stuff” in. All but the basic canned goods took a while to be trucked in. Fresh eggs, milk, cheese, and sausage? Fugitaboutit!

Load up on those favorite snacks for the kiddies. They really need some sort of normalcy.

And don’t forget to stock up on ammo. I’m just sayin’…

Cash for clunkers? Huh? If the Obama administration can use my tax dollars to subsidize other folk’s new car purchases, why can’t they buy me a new table saw? Or drill press?

I mean, if we are going to redistribute the wealth, let’s do it right! Personally, I would like to see some of this stimulus money making its way to the woodworking and DIY community. After all, my favorite vendor is doing their part. Free Freight on Jet and Powermatic tools at Rockler!

That’s what I think.

Sure, I know the car companies are suffering. But why is that? Because of mismanagement and outrageous union deals. I know; hard-working, blue-collar, yada, yada, yada. Bull feces and bollocks. The auto workers have become another entitlement program.

And when the big three couldn’t afford to pay their extortion any more, the government took over (our money). When the government couldn’t make people buy cars from them, they came up with Cash for Clunkers (our money).

The health care thing is going nowhere fast. People are starting to understand that socialized medical care is not really the right way to go. Do you want a government proctologist? Do we really want the people that run the post office running our health care? Check the price of stamps lately? They’re even trying to sell them on the Internet now. Unsuccessfully. Nuff’ said.

So if Obama is going to redistribute the wealth, why not throw some my way? I don’t want a new car, I want tools! Anybody want to organize a DIY union? It’s a great idea; I think I’ll do it. UWDIY. United Workers of Do It Yourself.

OK, I hereby establish UWDIY local #1 right here. To sign up, email me at admin@icanfixupmyhome.com. Get the ball rolling and I’ll come up with t-shirts and bumper stickers.