For people at the University of Illinois, a lot of students don’t really know how the Altgeld Hall bell tower works. It wasn’t until after I saw this youtube video that I finally know!
(even though the video is old, it probably hasn’t changed much)
I can’t help but get distracted by the internet while writing my final paper.
This is just too hilarious to not watch over and over…clever Mountain Dew marketing folk!
If you remember from 2004 presidential election, the good folk at JibJab created a highly successful parody called “This Land“. It’s clever and well done, I am pleased.
Anyhow, they just released the 2008 version, which is embedded in this post. Good stuff yet again!
Imagine a house without molding, nasty! Good thing some smart people invented the idea to put a piece of wood between the floor and wall.
(By the way, on my search for baseboard photos, I found this crazy modern house, slick!)
Most houses these days have baseboards and quarter round molding for that purpose.
AmbientBP has a great illustration:
(Ignore the hidden gap, that’s usually floating floors, which is a topic for another day)
Anyhow, once they’re installed, they’re pretty hard to get out.
In almost all cases, framing nails are blasted in with a framing nailer, which is recessed into the molding and almost invisible after the right color of putty is put on.
First of all, decide whether or not you want to save the molding or not. In most cases, the molding in all the rooms are matching. So if you can’t find replacement molding in the same style, then you should try to save it, especially for older houses. In my case, I just didn’t feel like buying new molding when the existing ones were fine, and just needed a bit of refinishing.
So, the best way to get it out safely is with the good ole pry bar, specifically a pry bar designed for molding.
1. Get the quarter round out, slide a putty knife underneath to give room for the prybar.
2. Sometimes the nails will rip right out with the quarter round, or may rip right thru, don’t worry about that. (Wood filler to the rescue!)
3. Once all the QR is out, you can finally get to the baseboards.
4. Start reading here.
If you’re like me and you have plasterboard walls, knowing plaster repair would be nice. Otherwise, you can be ghetto like me and just fill it with joint compound (i.e. heavy duty version of spackle.)
With all the molding out, you can easily refinish it somewhere more convenient, like a garage, whee.
For many of you, it’s a day of relaxation from work and school where you can spend some time with family and friends. But don’t forget what that day means to your country! So read up on this wiki.
And finally, if you haven’t seen National Treasure, check it out! (and the sequel as well, and eventually the third sequel, which I can’t wait to see!)
Lowe’s has a ‘Project Starter’ coupon for $10 off $25 that you can sign up for online, that comes out to be 40% off!
I’m usually a Menards fan, but after shopping around, the prices are actually competitive with Menards for the flooring stuff that I was looking at.
With the coupon, that makes the deal especially amazing!
I’ve already used it 5 times by breaking up my orders into about $25 chunks!
I just came across the new version of the Citizenship Test on MSNBC, which is part of their July 4th special section.
If it weren’t for the Political Science 101 class I’m taking right now, I probably wouldn’t have done too well!
Note, it’s probably harder since apparently actual test takers don’t get multiple choice.
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