Saturday, April 11, 2009

Teamwork triumphs

Photobucket

Our condominium is currently having its siding replaced.

Two-weeks ago they replaced the board on which our DirecTv dish is mounted. Not surprisingly, in the unmounting and remounting process it was no longer properly aligned. It took us several days to notice because we were watching local TV or Tivo programs.

Last weekend I tried to align it, but I didn't have a compass -- and I wasn't able to get it fixed.

I called DirecTV and found out we get one free technician visit a year, so I made an appointment for next Friday.

During the week Thing2 found a compass and today we gave it another shot. With Thing2 helping by calling-out the signal strength I was able to find the right angle. It's a great feeling of accomplishment when we can successfully tackle these little projects together.

The image is of the Stanford dish.

The Congo Memoirs

I hope that none of my readers thought the title of this post had anything to do with my home life right now. Happily, it doesn't. Life is uneventful but busy. Thing2 continues her slow recovery.

The title of the post comes from an amusing blog I ran across while over at Science Blogs
Congo Memoirs
Here's a bit from the first chapter, which finds our hero in knee deep water.
On dry land, an angry hippo runs quite a bit faster than a frightened human, but the hippos can't climb trees like a human being chased by a hippo can. In knee deep water, the hippo runs as fast as it does on land while the human slogs along in a dream-run. Like in one of those nightmares, no matter how hard you try you just don't get anywhere, while the monster bears down on you. And there are no trees in the lake.


The rest of the chapters:
The Zodiac

The Big Park

Pirate Island

The Crater and the Crocodile

The Story of Wally the Waterbuck

Zorba and The Crew

How to make an elephant turn invisible

It Had to Be Snakes

The Lion That Ate The Earthwatcher

Peter and Greg Piss Everybody Off

Biker and Greg get Eaten by Lions

Fire On the Mountain

The Greg Layer

Kenyatsi. Place of evil.

A Hippo Runs Over Rudy

A Day In the Life (Bathing with the Hippos)

Out of the Flying Plain and Into the Fire (Congo Memoir)

The Mountain Giveth, The Mountain Taketh Away

If You Build It, They Will Fly Away

On Edge

Gunfire at Night

The Lion, The Tent, and the Anthropologist

Return Of The Green Pickup

Ready ... Aim ... Fire

The Crossing

The Empty Truck