Chase the wind around the world

Woot! Just finished the great project of installing a ceiling fan. And yes, there was no existing light fixture so we had to do it the hard way. By we, I mean Merl (My puck!) and myself with some knowledge help from Phil.

The project didn't start off too well, as I picked a spot in the ceiling, drove a screwdriver up, and hit a beam. My luck as usual. Then came the part where crouching at a very uncomfortable angle, I was drilling a hole for the new wire, and was in the wrong space. Luckily putting the hole in for the fan box, and wiring that part up wasn't too bad. Uncomfortable, but not too challenging. The big disappointment came from the fact that after getting the fan up, the blades on, and the light fixture attached, we had no power. The wall switch had power, but nothing was getting to the fan. Something about the circuit wasn't quite right (the capped off white wire from the existing circuit should have been a clue). But we had put a good 5-6 hours into this, and we had to go to work. So we double checked that nothing was going to cause the house to burn down, and called it a night.

By the way, I'm still incredibly tired (though happy!), so this probably won't be my best literary work.

I decided to accompany my wife up to her gaming session to conference with Phil & Merl. The capped white wire was still bothering me, but I am not the best electrician in the world so I kept my mouth shut. After much discussion, three circuit diagrams, and many stupid questions (by me) later, we had a plan. Well, THEY had a plan, I was the one who was going to follow it. It was going to be easy as it was all in the switch box.

Unfortunately, I had already taken the fan completely apart so I could test the power coming in to the top. This was my bright idea to save time after Gavin went to sleep. Rewiring the box took about 5 minutes, re-installing the ceiling fan took about an hour. Amusingly enough, taking the fan down only took 10 minutes.

But joy was mine as my father in law hit a switch and the lights came on. I had installed a ceiling fan and my house was still intact! I'm ignoring the fact that I have to go BACK up into that freaking attic to do prep work for the next fan into Gavin's room. I will instead bask in the glory that is my intact house, and dwell on the rewards that will fall upon Merl for his hard work, and Phil for his electrical knowledge.

Speaking of light bulbs (we really weren't, but I don't feel like finding a better transition), a couple of researchers came up with a really neat idea for pen based desktops (http://honeybrown.ca/Pubs/BumpTop.html). The basis of the idea is that on people's desk, they work in piles, not folders. Its so simple its brilliant. Watch the video for a bit and you'll get the hang of it. I think this could really be adopted to the mouse system as well. In my opinion, the brick wall we've run into on the desktop is the folder. While they group things, they're not convienent to use, or navigate. The concept of piles is so much better. Watch the video, its hard to describe in a blog.

And to wrap it up, I'll give you the song for the lyric since its one of my all time favorites. Available Light by Rush. I think this comes pretty close to my philosophy of life. So read the lyrics, maybe I'll make more sense then.
(http://www.lyricsdepot.com/rush/available-light.html)