Nothing funny about feldspar

Have you had one of those days where it doesn’t matter what you get done, you don’t feel like you’ve accomplished anything? That’s my day today.

It doesn’t help that I’m annoyed with Plagioclase. He went out and bought a haunch of vacant land and said to me “Here! Cook it!” He’s quite busy doing stuff, so of course as the person who cares about houses I have to take care of building the place, with only seagull input from him and his mother, and a glacially-paced architect¹ who can’t be trusted to remember to invoice us for the work he’s done.

Actually, though, it’s not really Plagioclase nor the architect I’m annoyed with. I’m pissed off by The Project From Hell that I’ve been working on for way too long and It Just Won’t Finish. This is the one where all the components came in months after they were expected, and now the Project Manager is MIA, though still ostensibly In Charge.

To top it all off, it’s warm today and I’m stuck in the house, and tomorrow it’s supposed to be frigid again.

Grrrr.

1. Every three weeks he says “I made that change you asked for. How is it now?” What I really want to do is sit next to him at his computer and say “Put the sink there. Put the fridge here” and so on until all those little tweaks are done. We could be finished in an afternoon, but nooooo, we have to have a “design review” then a redraw then a “cogitation period.” The housing market will have totally recovered and started booming again before we’re ready to take even the preliminary plans to a builder.↩

I’m taking an exam-prep course for getting a residential builder’s license. It’s not that I want to have another certification under my belt, and it’s not even that I want to build houses for other people. However, since I’m not sure whether or not I want to be general contractor on our house, I figure it’s better to be prepared than not. (Sure, I can do it without a license if I’m building my own house, but a home-owner-builder doesn’t get the good trade discounts.)

Besides, even if I don’t go on for the license, at least I have some idea of how to talk to contractors and a bit of what they deal with. Assuming, of course, they’re licensed. Which they’re supposed to be. I have already bookmarked the state’s license-check website, to be sure.

The funny thing is, you don’t have to have any building experience to be allowed to build houses for people. You just have to pass a test. That information, in itself, gives me pause, and is probably more information than most homeowners buying custom homes have.

I don’t mean to trivialize the knowledge that contractors have. Most have worked their way up from their trade, and trade knowledge is tested. However, most of the trade knowledge is code-based¹ where it isn’t construction math. There’s nothing that someone who has obsessed over residential construction wouldn’t be able to glean. There’s also a business, law and project management section, which absolutely doesn’t require any trade knowledge.

I think that someone like me, who doesn’t have deep experience in the reality of a building site, may just have an advantage in this system, especially if they do well on standardized tests.

So state licensing, while intended to make homeowners feel better, makes me feel more paranoid. Thanks, State!

1. Interesting instructor comment: “You don’t want a house that is only ‘built to code’ — you want one that is built well.”↩

Nerello del Bastardo, Vino da Tavola Rosso
Italian Dry Red Table Wine
Vintage 2001

Trader Joe’s, $7

The label reads:

Nerello del Bastardo can only be described as a Super Piedmontese wine invented purely for fun. When winemakers in Piemonte wish to make a Barolo or Barbaresco, the laws governing these wines only allow a certain quantity after aging (minimum 4 years) to be classified Barolo or Barbaresco D.O.C.G.

I Superi (the excess) can only be sold as a table wine even though the wines are practically the same. Master winemark; Marco Dal Blanco and Italian Wine Guru; Dr. Zuliani Flavo camw up with this blend af aged wines adding just a touch of something secret.

This creation is a breakthrough in winemaking. One might say this is the illegitimate child of Barolo and Barbaresco hence the name; Nerello del Bastardo meaning; The Bastards Nerello. [No, really?--Ed.]

This full-bodied red wine is a perfect compiment to game, red meat past a rich cheese or even on its own.

We got this on spec because it was next to the Barolo (decent for $15 — must’ve been an awful year). We’ve always liked Nebbiolo, but it is really hard to find here — it’s very fragile.

It’s dry, not particularly soft, moderately complex. Not particularly fruity. We served it with Chile Verde, because that’s what we had, and it managed to stand up to the spice. It’s much nicer now that I’m having it on it’s own, however. All in all, an excellent value if you’ve got a TJ’s near you.

Orthoclase: A
Plagioclase: A

I took a cool class yesterday, basic bookbinding, run by a local paper store. I had to go earlier in the week to pick out the decorative papers (spine cover, front and back cover, flyleaves+pastedowns). I talked with the staff at the store and they told me to get this and that.

So I poked around the shop, found a decorative paper I liked (for the front + back covers), then matched a linen book cloth (for the spine) to it, and selected the flyleaf papers from the sample book the staff member showed me.

When I got to the class, we started right away on preparing and sewing the text block. After a couple of hours! doing that, we finally got to the point of cutting the papers to glue onto the cover boards.

After I cut the decorative paper, one of the instructors said, “Oh, that’s gift wrap. You’ll have problems with it.”

After I cut the flyleaf papers, the (same) instructor said “Oh, that’s too thick. You’ll have problems with it.”

“Well,” I said, “your staff told me to get this one.”

“Oh. Well, maybe it will be ok.”

I cut the book cloth without any issues.

Then we continue on and start gluing stuff, starting with the book cloth. It’s very pretty there, on my little cardboard covers, I think to myself as I pick up the decorative paper to attach it to the book.

Uh oh. I glued it on wrong-side out. Instead of this nice burgundy color that just matched the detail in the decorative paper, I’ve got magenta. It’s a nice color and all, but it looks stupid right next to the burgundy.

The “problem” papers all went on perfectly easily, and over all the book looks pretty good except for that little color problem. I think I surprised the instructors for how well it went together — most people end up with gluey blobs everywhere. Overall I’m pretty happy with it.

So for seven hours of work and $150 I ended up with a blank book that you could buy in a Borders for $8.00 (maybe $15 if you consider it’s hand made). Not bad for a Sunday.

I was all set to make another whiny post about being insomniac (no, it hasn’t abated and no, I haven’t seen a doctor) when I looked back to see what I posted recently and Lo! It’s a Post About Insomnia.

*sigh*