Category: House

Now that a proper TV stand is in place, I thought it time to revisit the audio setup.  I say this because the stand slightly modified the arrangement of some speakers, and music sounded just different enough that I couldn’t let it go.  So when the girls went out grocery shopping, I used the rare moment of silence to begin a calibration.

In theory, the measurable amplitudes of a sampling of sine waves across the spectrum of 20Hz to 20kHz should register a similar decibel score.  In practice, the physical limitations of speaker drivers prevents this, but settings can be tweaked to reduce the disparity.  I lack any sort of professional calibration equipment, but in reality a good sound setting is merely defined as preference by the listener, so I opted to use what I had on hand and simply settle for a mere approximation.

iTunes has, through whatever typical obscure Apple methodology, determined the above frequencies to be focal points in the human range of hearing.  I’m sure there’s some kind of math behind it, but I didn’t care enough to research it.

So, I YouTubed each of these frequencies for a test tone, played the tone, then measured the decibel level with a free sound meter app on my phone.  I’m not sure how accurate this method was, but I aggregated the figures as guidelines (chasing the dogs out of the room in the process as they did not appreciate the test tones above 1kHz):

I noticed an amplitude dropoff at the high and low ranges, which I found satisfying in that I had already adjusted the levels to compensate, based on my hearing alone.  I made some minor adjustments.

So my hearing may be getting worse, but I can still identify amplitude variations across the audible spectrum.  At least now when I’m forced to watch M*A*S*H reruns, I can at better appreciate the audio balance.

–Simon

The Christmas tree is up.

That statement carries heavy implications, to which family men everywhere shudder from mild PTSD.

Seriously, it’s a lot of effort for such a bizarre holiday decoration.  In years past we had opted for an artificial tree, mostly because we lived in rented property, but also because I didn’t want to deal with the mess.  That’s when we acquired would would be known thereafter as “The Martha Stewart Tree”, because we bought it at K-Mart (of all places that’s where Martha Stewart had her brand sold at the time), and it looked better than any artificial Christmas tree we had seen elsewhere.

But the tree came with very questionable pre-wiring (which I later removed), and the clipped wires of the tree’s frame were lethally sharp.  And the damn thing dropped fake needles everywhere which the vacuum refused to pick up.  Fuck that tree.

So we’ve since made the switch to real trees.

Of course, real trees have their own set of problems, but whatever kind we got this year has been especially awful.  This one doesn’t have any real branches, just a bunch of fluff that can’t support any weight, so I only have half the lights on it that I would normally.  And the sap gave me an allergic reaction.

Plus, the ornaments keep falling off.  Look at the kid’s consternation as she debates their placement:

This was a terrible species for a Christmas tree.  I sure hope Liz remembers what it was so we don’t get that kind again.  I’m about to go Griswold on the neighbor’s spruce.

–Simon

When we bought the house, we had a fence installed.  Factors such as the pipeline and the honeysuckle hedgerow prevented a full circumference of the lot, much to our dismay (see any post where I talk about a certain neighbor).  But, we at least needed a corral for the whippets, since their potty runs can measure into the quarter-hours.

And so, we ended up with a nice little 4-foot gothic picket fence.  The quality of the install was, shall we say, mediocre, however; and the railing spacing varied from 4 to 8+ inches.  Consequently, the little whippet quickly figured out that the fence was a mere suggestion–a suggestion which became less and less considered throughout the summer months.  So when I let her out, she would chase a squirrel, immediately slip through the fence, then when she decided to wander back, mysteriously couldn’t figure out how to slip back in, resulting in me having to go get her.

This culminated in a recent day in which I was working at home, had joined a conference call, then had to let the little whippet out (because she always waits until I’m busy to tell me).  I quickly became occupied with work and forgot about her…until The Heckler (The Village Elder’s wife), returned the dog to the front door.  True to her name, she then offered select commentary on my negligence, ultimately telling the rest of the village an embellished story about how I was mindlessly engaged with something unimportant and consequently unobservant to the world around me.

It was the final push I needed to proceed with the project I had already considered: attaching wire to the fence, thereby sealing in any canines wishing to turn feral.  Thus, as part of the shop light project, I acquired 150 feet of fencing wire.

Armed with staple gun, wire clips, fencing pliers, gloves, tape measure, and determination; I got to work.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t so easy as stretching the wire for the entire run.  Since my goal was to also make it aesthetically-pleasing, the wire couldn’t be simply attached to the posts, 4 inches away from the pickets.  Nor could the wire be attached to the outside.  This meant that I needed cut-to-measure individual segments.  And, since the segments weren’t always rectangular, but various forms of parallelograms, I often had to cut to fit while in the process of stapling.  In short–it was incredibly time-consuming and physically painful.  Between squeezing wire clips and the staple gun, my hands and forearms got a good workout.

I also greatly under-estimated the time required.  My 2-hour prediction turned into 6.  And it was the last hot day of the year too.  But my stubbornness was rewarded and it looks quite nice, or as nice as fencing wire can look anyway.

I feel I need some sheep in there with this setup.  And then I wouldn’t have to mow inside the fence!  Bonus!

And the best part was when I let the little whippet outside to test it.  She quickly returned, and after being let back inside, laid down in her bed and started me down with indignation and betrayal.

–Simon