hamper dump

It's been a while. Here's everything floating around in my melon.

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Our bed frame was not meant for a split-box spring as it essentially has no support in the middle of the bed. So I had to go to Lowe's to buy support beams. I measured the notches and realized I needed beams 62" long, 1.5" wide, and 7/8" high. The two dipshits at Lowe's tried to help. They grabbed a wood plank marked 1 x 2. They got out their tape measure and marked 1/2 an inch on the width. They tried to put it through their super-giant-saw but it just split. They basically told me they couldn't help me.

So I went the Home Depot a block away. The dipshits that work there were equally unhelpful and listened to what I said and basically didn't know what to do. Then I noticed a chart comparing nominal sizes with actual sizes.

It looked like this.

This was breaking news to me. All my life I had heard about a 2" by 4" and had assumed it was actually two inches by four inches. Apparently not.

So I asked the Home Depot dipshit if he had a tape measure. I measured the 1 x 2 beam, and sure enough it was the perfect width and the difference on the height was negligible: 3/4 " x 1.5."

So I just had him cut the 8 foot beam down to 62" and I was set.

But the moral of the story is that I talked to 3 people who work in the wood department, 2 at Lowe's and 1 at Home Depot. When I asked for a piece of wood that was 1.5 inches wide, everyone acted like that was a problem, despite the fact that every pieces marked 2 inches was really 1.5. These people work in the lumber department. The guys at Lowe's used a tape measure and didn't know the piece they were holding was 1.5 inches wide.

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African-American really is a poor term when used as a description of skin color. You could be a black guy from Jamaica or Haiti, etc. You could be a white guy from South Africa. You could be a British black guy. You could be a man born of a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas; just as much white as black.

White people aren't referred to as European-Americans. And good thing as that opens up just as many worms.

I know that race is a social construct and we really don't need labels. But as long as we have them, they should be better.

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Lots of Chiefs news in the last few days. Here's a sampling of the craziness:

Aug 30, 2009 6:12 PM CDT: Cassel out 2-4 weeks with MCL sprain
Aug 30, 2009 6:19 PM CDT: WR Darling likely out for the year
Aug 31, 2009 10:16 AM CDT: Gailey fired as Off. Coordinator
Aug 31, 2009 1:02 PM CDT: Head Coach Haley announced as new Off. Coordinator
Aug 31, 2009 5:41 PM CDT: Sounds like Cassel will be ready for Week 1
Aug 31, 2009 6:26 PM CDT: LB Zach Thomas retiring
Aug 31, 2009 7:12 PM CDT: LB Zach Thomas not retiring
Aug 31, 2009 7:37 PM CDT: QB Thigpen has been playing with two broken ribs
Sep 1, 2009 1:09 PM CDT: QB Croyle named starter for last preseason game

Cassel is the guy, but he's questionable for a little while. Thigpen re-energized the team last year but couldn't win games and played like crap last week with broken ribs. And Croyle, Herm's boy who could never stay healthy, is apparently our QB without injuries and might be starting in the season opener.

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I read for about an hour a day on the train. I've been reading nothing but Kurt Vonnegut for weeks. Life seems more amusing.