I have temporarily lost access to my home E-mail account. That account died completely (and probably won’t be resureccted) around Jan 10. I’ve got a few hundred E-mail boxes available on the server that serves up this very site (thanks to 1 and 1), so I’ve created a new acount there.

I’m not going to post the address here, but if you have an address for me just take the username (the part before the @ symbol) and graft it onto @jeffratliff.org, and it will probably work. If you get it wrong I’ll probably get it anyway as all mail going to jeffratliff.org gets to me eventually.

If you have my Gmail address that one is still good also. If you don’t have it, it’s because I usually only use that one for mailing lists and other boring stuff. It’s not because I don’t like you. 🙂

Sorry about all the chaos. I prefer stability, but I can’t control a lot of things (or actually anything).

OK, so I’ve got too much time on my hands (lately). I read a lot, but mostly non-fiction books. I like to have something around just for pleasure so I don’t feel like I’m working all the time.

 I went to Half Price Books and picked up a copy of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card for a few bucks. It’s one of the many Science Fiction books I’ve always wanted to read and never got around to.

I’ve read nearly everything Robert Heinlein ever wrote. I’ve read Asimov’s Foundation trilogy and the Robot novels and a few other things. I’ve read Dune, the Hitch Hiker’s guide series, 1984, Brave New World and a lot of other books. There’s still tons of good Sci Fi out there I haven’t read, though.

I found a list of the top 20 Science Fiction novels (evar!!!) that I had saved somewhere, and plugged all the ones I haven’t read into my Amazon wishlist. It’ll give me something to work on for the next few months. Probably won’t make me any less of a geek, though.

I’ve finally gotten around to adding a link to my Amazon Wishlist here on the blog. See it at the right under “My Stuff.” This is a pretty cool feature, and if you haven’t got one I’d recommend looking into it.

Even if you have no intention of shopping at Amazon, it’s nice to have a list of books (and other stuff) located somewhere on the web. You never know when you’ll be dislocated from your normal resources and need remote access to your brain. I’m sold on having stuff available across the web, especially if someone else is paying for it. 🙂 I give Amazon money on a pretty regular basis, though, so I don’t feel bad.

Pat doesn’t have comments enabled on his blog, so I will respond here. He’s working on getting his basement remodeled.

Having just gone through serious water damage in my basement, I’ll relate a bit of my experience. Unless the sump pump is new, spend $100 and replace it. It’s good insurance. Check that the outflow plumbing is OK with a good backflow check valve, and follow instructions to the letter. I installed my replacement pump with a union (before the check valve) so it could be unscrewed and removed from the pit for maintainence now and then. I’d also recommend a battery backup auxillary pump if you have anything valuable in the basement and you think the electricity will ever go out during a storm. I didn’t install one because my pump failed without a power failure.

When it somes to flooring, avoid carpet unless you’ve really waterproofed the basement, your sump system is in good shape, and you plan on checking it periodically to see that it still works.

Good alternatives are solid vinyl flooring and laminates. There are laminates out that look like hardwood, are reasonably water resistant, and not too expensive.

It’s also worth looking at using mold/moisture resistant drywall or greenboard for the first 4 feet of wall (from the ground up). Your basement could never flood, but if it does it’s nice to be prepared. You can also get discounts on your insurance if you have some of these features.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck Pat.