Singer Billy Bragg has described a hate mail campaign against him as "the powerless ranting of a bitter individual".
Anonymous letters attacking Bragg, well-known for his left-wing views, were sent to his neighbors in the Dorset village of Burton Bradstock.
Bragg said he believed the letter, which branded him a hypocrite for moving to the area from London, was written by a "disgruntled supporter of the British National Party".
The singer has been a vocal critic of the far-right party and campaigned against it in the recent general election in his home town of Barking.
He said: "Fortunately, the BNP are a busted flush, their divisive politics rejected by the electorate at the last election, their organisation now collapsing into in-fighting. This letter is nothing more than the powerless ranting of a bitter individual who is angry that, even in a sleepy village like ours, people reject the politics of racism.
"I'm sorry if anyone who received this letter was disturbed by its contents. My advice to any recipients is to throw it in the bin where it belongs. I will continue to campaign against racism wherever I find it, comfortable in the knowledge that, after 11 happy years living in Burton Bradstock, people here have already made up their minds about me, one way or another."
Bragg rose to fame in the 1980s and played a prominent part in Red Wedge - a group of musicians set up to support the Labour Party.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
I believe in hole goop
Last night I put a decent amount of goop into the leaking hole, and now I checked this morning, and the hole looks much better.
Did all that make sense?
Go here you perverted sick freak.
Did all that make sense?
Go here you perverted sick freak.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Art and money
I watched The Art of the Steal this past weekend and I can say, it is both amazing and kind of disturbing. First, I like art and I like commerce, and I have no problem walking the line between creative artist and mass marketer. What Art of the Steal shows is a whole other game and if you watch it, be prepared to be a little upset.
All that said, I love street art and the people who create it. This clip is from a new movie and I really like what Alex Monopoly is doing. Enjoy.
All that said, I love street art and the people who create it. This clip is from a new movie and I really like what Alex Monopoly is doing. Enjoy.
Home repair update
OK, I got an email question the economics of a complete bathroom rebuild, with a budget of 1500 dollars and an actual cost of 900, even with mistakes and troubles.
I could break it down, but first, we saved a lot of money by actually reusing a tub that was in a run down bathroom on the third floor. The claw foot tub from the 2nd floor was moved upstairs, the tub that was there, that looked beaten down and unused for years, was brought down, cleaned up and used as a tub/bath. In our initial budget we planned to buy a new shower unit, when we were able to reuse the tub, we saved a lot of money.
I am also a big shopper at Construction Junction, which is a store that has all sorts of amazing finds. Basically if people are redoing any sort of construction, they often donate the old stuff to Construction Junction. The warehouse is filled with all sorts of materials, from entire kitchens to school lockers. The prices are incredibly low. My daughter and I bought the cabinets and counter top for our kitchen for 75 dollars.
OK?
Plus, we did not hire a plumber or any other trade professional for anything.
Finally, as of this morning, the leaking pipe, that caused me to rip out a portion of the living room ceiling, continues to drip, but less frequently. We are waiting until it is completely dry to attempt the repair. If that works, replacing the tiles and sealing the leak will have cost us less than 100 dollars. If it does not work, it will costs maybe 20 dollar more, and a lot of time, to replace part of the pipe. Doing the work myself saves the most money.
Enough with the questions. I have a fascinating sex/relationship email to get to, but now I must edit.
I could break it down, but first, we saved a lot of money by actually reusing a tub that was in a run down bathroom on the third floor. The claw foot tub from the 2nd floor was moved upstairs, the tub that was there, that looked beaten down and unused for years, was brought down, cleaned up and used as a tub/bath. In our initial budget we planned to buy a new shower unit, when we were able to reuse the tub, we saved a lot of money.
I am also a big shopper at Construction Junction, which is a store that has all sorts of amazing finds. Basically if people are redoing any sort of construction, they often donate the old stuff to Construction Junction. The warehouse is filled with all sorts of materials, from entire kitchens to school lockers. The prices are incredibly low. My daughter and I bought the cabinets and counter top for our kitchen for 75 dollars.
OK?
Plus, we did not hire a plumber or any other trade professional for anything.
Finally, as of this morning, the leaking pipe, that caused me to rip out a portion of the living room ceiling, continues to drip, but less frequently. We are waiting until it is completely dry to attempt the repair. If that works, replacing the tiles and sealing the leak will have cost us less than 100 dollars. If it does not work, it will costs maybe 20 dollar more, and a lot of time, to replace part of the pipe. Doing the work myself saves the most money.
Enough with the questions. I have a fascinating sex/relationship email to get to, but now I must edit.
Cereal monogomist
Trader Joe's in my friend. It seems like a lot of good meals come off of their shelves. It was surprising to me that I woman I know told me recently that she has never been. This is a woman with fairly young children, and a husband. I was a little surprised.
Anyway, I have had all these dietary issues over the past year and recently found some sort of granola derivative cereal at Traders that has been wonderful. Strange histories of breakfast infidelities make me less that positive this cereal will be the one. The strange things about cereals is that they can entice you at first, show you how good they are and how good for you they can be, but experience has shown that down the road, that initial high can wear off. I am left with an empty bowl and the question of "is that all there is to you?"
It's a complex thing really, the shared moments, the time spent getting to know one another, the thinking that this is a trustworthy cereal, a cereal you can rely on and then one moment, say a sour dried fruit, or some external trouble like not so great milk, and all of a sudden you see cereals in a completely different light.
For the longest time I was all about pancakes. They could be manipulated into shocked disguises, sometimes plain and simple, sometimes bursting with blueberries that would make them more passionate and colorful. They allow you to do that in the hopes that showing more of themselves and their flexibility would make them a staple of your morning routine, but then, one day you wake up and realize there is more out there.
Options are important. I stuck with pancakes much longer than I think they really deserved. This new cereal, we have known each other for a year or more at this point and to be honest, while I believe this cereal is good and healthy and has done the job, I am already looking at other boxes and options. It might be my nature, with little to do with the cereal I am passionate about. I doubt that this is a bad thing, you bring a new cereal into your house, you share it with friends, you love it, but you also know it is not perfect.
I recently heard this amazing statement about relationships, that there never is a one, the perfect partner, there is a close to one that you accept. Sometimes you can not accept it and that one moves on, and sometimes you accept the imperfections of the one you are with, making them the one because you do end up spending your life with them, even though they are not the perfect one.
Anyway, I have had all these dietary issues over the past year and recently found some sort of granola derivative cereal at Traders that has been wonderful. Strange histories of breakfast infidelities make me less that positive this cereal will be the one. The strange things about cereals is that they can entice you at first, show you how good they are and how good for you they can be, but experience has shown that down the road, that initial high can wear off. I am left with an empty bowl and the question of "is that all there is to you?"
It's a complex thing really, the shared moments, the time spent getting to know one another, the thinking that this is a trustworthy cereal, a cereal you can rely on and then one moment, say a sour dried fruit, or some external trouble like not so great milk, and all of a sudden you see cereals in a completely different light.
For the longest time I was all about pancakes. They could be manipulated into shocked disguises, sometimes plain and simple, sometimes bursting with blueberries that would make them more passionate and colorful. They allow you to do that in the hopes that showing more of themselves and their flexibility would make them a staple of your morning routine, but then, one day you wake up and realize there is more out there.
Options are important. I stuck with pancakes much longer than I think they really deserved. This new cereal, we have known each other for a year or more at this point and to be honest, while I believe this cereal is good and healthy and has done the job, I am already looking at other boxes and options. It might be my nature, with little to do with the cereal I am passionate about. I doubt that this is a bad thing, you bring a new cereal into your house, you share it with friends, you love it, but you also know it is not perfect.
I recently heard this amazing statement about relationships, that there never is a one, the perfect partner, there is a close to one that you accept. Sometimes you can not accept it and that one moves on, and sometimes you accept the imperfections of the one you are with, making them the one because you do end up spending your life with them, even though they are not the perfect one.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Saving money the hard way
At some point I believe I have touched on our little ghetto house, which is neither little, well the rest is true. We bought this house at a time of personal desperation a couple of years and it was basically the price of a car. Of course cars have all their pipes, working electric and windows that work along with doors that close.
Either way, we have spent two years cleaning, fixing and growing to love our house. A couple of weeks ago I thought it would be a great present for my girls to have a new bathroom, one that would be steps from their own rooms, with a nice new shower and water saving toilet and a sweet vanity. I have had to plumb much of this house and while sometimes it can be sketchy, for the most part I was confident knowing that I could make almost anything work. It did not hurt my confidence that we had already worked on this particular bathroom, it being the first one we got working when we were preparing to move in. At that time we had to hook up pipes from the basement, install a new toilet and hood up the fitting for the claw foot tub. For over a year, when I wanted to take a romantic soak, this was the go-to bath.
What I wanted to do was remove the claw foot tub, which was installed one floor up in my tiny but wonderful bathroom. I wanted to run larger supply water lines so the shower would have some good water for girls showers. We tore out the bathroom, all the fixtures, all the flooring, everything. Then we took out the existing plumbing and ran all new water lines from the basement to the bathroom. We repaired drain lines and began plumbing the new bathroom. We installed the new bathtub enclosure, hooked up the complex drain system and poured water into the tub to make sure it worked right. It did not.
So we had to cut out the new drain system, replace it with a newer drain system, put it in place and test it again. Once again, it leaked, which meant some pipe cutting and repairs. Once done, no leak. So we installed the flooring and we were well on our way to getting everything hooked up. Then we started to notice water leaking in the living room, below the new bath.
We again pulled up the tub, this time it was even more work because of the new flooring. We tested it again and could not find a leak source. What was strange is that at that point, no water was running in the bathroom, it had all been turned off after the most recent test.
After a series of tests, I found that while cutting the drain off the tub at some point, I nicked the underside of the toilets drain. Because we had added the floor, there was very little room to actually try and repair the sewer line, which was tough, because the line ran right under the tub, which was now in place. It could not be moved at all.
I tried a toxic glue that I could barely fit into place, but it seemed to hold. We completely sealed up the floor, installed the tile and plumbed the new vanity. It all came together and looked kind of sweet.
Then this morning, a leak in the living room. While the water was now connected in the bathroom, nothing was on, and there were no obvious leaks. Because the floor was now sealed, with tile no less, there were very few options. The one I chose, tear out the ceiling in the living room.
Now, to you non-do it yourselfers, this might sound like a complex issue, but trust me, what you do is find where the water appears to be leaking and stick a sharp screwdriver into it, once you get a stream from the hole, that is where you need to remove ceiling tiles. Now, that all makes sense, unless the water is pooling somewhere else and just kind of flowing to the low power, which is where you put your screwdriver.
Much of the ceiling is now is trash bags. The leak has been found and a large bucket continues to tap tap tap of water dripping from the hole in the pipe above it. When it is done leaking and dried out, we can patch it. Then we replace the ceiling and we are done.
You are thinking to yourself, "hah, you thought you would save money doing this job yourself and now you must be so far over budget and bitter about your idiocy, etc etc etc."
See, I wanted to save money when we came up with this plan. We initially budgeted 1500 dollars for the job, the new tub, the plumbing, everything. Instead we are below budget by doing this job wrong, but by ourselves. The expense that remains unknown right now is the ceiling tiles, but because I was able to save the majority of tiled, I need to replace only 6 of the originals. Those six, plus the glue to install them and then the paint to cover the entire ceiling will probably be less than 100 dollars. So, with a budget of 1500 for the bathroom we are still at about 800. Do it yourself indeed.
Either way, we have spent two years cleaning, fixing and growing to love our house. A couple of weeks ago I thought it would be a great present for my girls to have a new bathroom, one that would be steps from their own rooms, with a nice new shower and water saving toilet and a sweet vanity. I have had to plumb much of this house and while sometimes it can be sketchy, for the most part I was confident knowing that I could make almost anything work. It did not hurt my confidence that we had already worked on this particular bathroom, it being the first one we got working when we were preparing to move in. At that time we had to hook up pipes from the basement, install a new toilet and hood up the fitting for the claw foot tub. For over a year, when I wanted to take a romantic soak, this was the go-to bath.
What I wanted to do was remove the claw foot tub, which was installed one floor up in my tiny but wonderful bathroom. I wanted to run larger supply water lines so the shower would have some good water for girls showers. We tore out the bathroom, all the fixtures, all the flooring, everything. Then we took out the existing plumbing and ran all new water lines from the basement to the bathroom. We repaired drain lines and began plumbing the new bathroom. We installed the new bathtub enclosure, hooked up the complex drain system and poured water into the tub to make sure it worked right. It did not.
So we had to cut out the new drain system, replace it with a newer drain system, put it in place and test it again. Once again, it leaked, which meant some pipe cutting and repairs. Once done, no leak. So we installed the flooring and we were well on our way to getting everything hooked up. Then we started to notice water leaking in the living room, below the new bath.
We again pulled up the tub, this time it was even more work because of the new flooring. We tested it again and could not find a leak source. What was strange is that at that point, no water was running in the bathroom, it had all been turned off after the most recent test.
After a series of tests, I found that while cutting the drain off the tub at some point, I nicked the underside of the toilets drain. Because we had added the floor, there was very little room to actually try and repair the sewer line, which was tough, because the line ran right under the tub, which was now in place. It could not be moved at all.
I tried a toxic glue that I could barely fit into place, but it seemed to hold. We completely sealed up the floor, installed the tile and plumbed the new vanity. It all came together and looked kind of sweet.
Then this morning, a leak in the living room. While the water was now connected in the bathroom, nothing was on, and there were no obvious leaks. Because the floor was now sealed, with tile no less, there were very few options. The one I chose, tear out the ceiling in the living room.
Now, to you non-do it yourselfers, this might sound like a complex issue, but trust me, what you do is find where the water appears to be leaking and stick a sharp screwdriver into it, once you get a stream from the hole, that is where you need to remove ceiling tiles. Now, that all makes sense, unless the water is pooling somewhere else and just kind of flowing to the low power, which is where you put your screwdriver.
Much of the ceiling is now is trash bags. The leak has been found and a large bucket continues to tap tap tap of water dripping from the hole in the pipe above it. When it is done leaking and dried out, we can patch it. Then we replace the ceiling and we are done.
You are thinking to yourself, "hah, you thought you would save money doing this job yourself and now you must be so far over budget and bitter about your idiocy, etc etc etc."
See, I wanted to save money when we came up with this plan. We initially budgeted 1500 dollars for the job, the new tub, the plumbing, everything. Instead we are below budget by doing this job wrong, but by ourselves. The expense that remains unknown right now is the ceiling tiles, but because I was able to save the majority of tiled, I need to replace only 6 of the originals. Those six, plus the glue to install them and then the paint to cover the entire ceiling will probably be less than 100 dollars. So, with a budget of 1500 for the bathroom we are still at about 800. Do it yourself indeed.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The end of being awkward
On New Years eve I generally stay away from people, because I am no longer drinking, and when around people who are drinking, it can be awkward.
What happened then, to sober me and possibly drinking her, was a great way to end the year, but also a terrible way to begin a new one.
Let's understand the history. Last summer, or really, this past fall, my lawnmower would not start, no matter how many times I threw it against the basement wall. Now, there is this swell sort of alternative woman, a single mother, who seems smart and dedicated to both the neighborhood and her family. I enjoy coffee and chatting, but I would certainly not consider us anything more than people who live near one another.
When the lawnmower died it was at a time when I was traveling a lot, so I did not seem to be able to find a way to get to a store or find a repair shop. So, one warm Saturday, with the lawn getting out of control and me with the knowledge that our city will fine you for not mowing your lawn, so I asked my friend if I could borrow her lawnmower and without hesitation she said yes and had her young daughter push it over to my house.
Well, of course I got everything mowed and then it started to rain. I called the lawnmowers owner and explained that I would hold onto the mower until the rain gave up. That night I went on a date, ended up spending the weekend in Boston and when I got back, it seemed like fall was a lot closer to winter and I just forgot about mowing lawns and focused on more important things.
That was late September.
On the 31st of December there was a community party, or gathering, I am not sure, but many people met at a local house. I showed up around 10 because I have been focused on another major project and I just forgot about the party. I had a snack, chatted up neighbors and was preparing to leave when Ms. Lawnmower saw me, bee lined to me, and demanded to know what sort of scummy thief steals a lawnmower. First, I was a little taken aback, because I did not know what she was talking about and she was obviously a little intoxicated and speaking loudly.
It took me a couple of seconds to remember that my basement was housing the purloined lawn mowing device and once that clicked, I tried to explain, but she would have nothing of it. "I thought you were a nice guy, you have kids, you have cleaned up your house, and you are a part of the neighborhood, but you stole my mower and now I think you are a scumbag. AND I want my mower back."
Yikes, the problem with not drinking is that when people who are a little drunk start berating you, instead of meeting their energy, you understand the situation and probably want to leave, which is what I wanted to do, but she obviously wanted to engage. I told her I would have the lawnmower back at her house the next morning, but that was not good enough. She wanted to know why I kept it, why I thought that was OK and what sort of person uses another person like that.
I had one of those a-ha moments right about there, that this was not lawnmower related at all, this was former husband related. I was her blurry version of her husband, who had apparently lied, used, abused and left. Once I clued into that, I had a couple of choices, continue inching my way to the door with the promise of the return of said lawnmower, or point out the obvious. I leaned in and told her, "I borrowed your lawnmower and forgot I had it. That does not make me a criminal, it makes me forgetful. You on the other hand seem to be thinking I am someone else, and your issues with this other person should be dealt with when you are drunkenly standing in front of them."
I should have waited for the a-ha moment to subside, because instead of throwing water on her anger, I apparently threw gasoline. The eruption was fast and fierce, her eyes turned red, she threw her hair back and she lit into me, "when someone does you a favor, you don't abuse it, you should learn some manners. You are a liar and a user."
It went on, but I was close enough to the door to grab the handle, push and escape. This morning, I woke early, had a cup of coffee and pushed the lawnmower to her house. As I was quietly trying to get it to her garage, the back door opened, she in a robe, also with a cup of coffee in her hand, said, "good morning, oh, I was wondering what became of that lawnmower..."
What happened then, to sober me and possibly drinking her, was a great way to end the year, but also a terrible way to begin a new one.
Let's understand the history. Last summer, or really, this past fall, my lawnmower would not start, no matter how many times I threw it against the basement wall. Now, there is this swell sort of alternative woman, a single mother, who seems smart and dedicated to both the neighborhood and her family. I enjoy coffee and chatting, but I would certainly not consider us anything more than people who live near one another.
When the lawnmower died it was at a time when I was traveling a lot, so I did not seem to be able to find a way to get to a store or find a repair shop. So, one warm Saturday, with the lawn getting out of control and me with the knowledge that our city will fine you for not mowing your lawn, so I asked my friend if I could borrow her lawnmower and without hesitation she said yes and had her young daughter push it over to my house.
Well, of course I got everything mowed and then it started to rain. I called the lawnmowers owner and explained that I would hold onto the mower until the rain gave up. That night I went on a date, ended up spending the weekend in Boston and when I got back, it seemed like fall was a lot closer to winter and I just forgot about mowing lawns and focused on more important things.
That was late September.
On the 31st of December there was a community party, or gathering, I am not sure, but many people met at a local house. I showed up around 10 because I have been focused on another major project and I just forgot about the party. I had a snack, chatted up neighbors and was preparing to leave when Ms. Lawnmower saw me, bee lined to me, and demanded to know what sort of scummy thief steals a lawnmower. First, I was a little taken aback, because I did not know what she was talking about and she was obviously a little intoxicated and speaking loudly.
It took me a couple of seconds to remember that my basement was housing the purloined lawn mowing device and once that clicked, I tried to explain, but she would have nothing of it. "I thought you were a nice guy, you have kids, you have cleaned up your house, and you are a part of the neighborhood, but you stole my mower and now I think you are a scumbag. AND I want my mower back."
Yikes, the problem with not drinking is that when people who are a little drunk start berating you, instead of meeting their energy, you understand the situation and probably want to leave, which is what I wanted to do, but she obviously wanted to engage. I told her I would have the lawnmower back at her house the next morning, but that was not good enough. She wanted to know why I kept it, why I thought that was OK and what sort of person uses another person like that.
I had one of those a-ha moments right about there, that this was not lawnmower related at all, this was former husband related. I was her blurry version of her husband, who had apparently lied, used, abused and left. Once I clued into that, I had a couple of choices, continue inching my way to the door with the promise of the return of said lawnmower, or point out the obvious. I leaned in and told her, "I borrowed your lawnmower and forgot I had it. That does not make me a criminal, it makes me forgetful. You on the other hand seem to be thinking I am someone else, and your issues with this other person should be dealt with when you are drunkenly standing in front of them."
I should have waited for the a-ha moment to subside, because instead of throwing water on her anger, I apparently threw gasoline. The eruption was fast and fierce, her eyes turned red, she threw her hair back and she lit into me, "when someone does you a favor, you don't abuse it, you should learn some manners. You are a liar and a user."
It went on, but I was close enough to the door to grab the handle, push and escape. This morning, I woke early, had a cup of coffee and pushed the lawnmower to her house. As I was quietly trying to get it to her garage, the back door opened, she in a robe, also with a cup of coffee in her hand, said, "good morning, oh, I was wondering what became of that lawnmower..."
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