Skills I've Learned in the Last Year

How I spent my weekend

Recently, I learned how to mix Thoroseal waterproofing paint and apply it to the prepared cement and brick walls in the basement, I have to specify the prep work involved. First step was to scrape all the damaged, crumbly cement and brick off the walls, power wash them, air dry the walls and after the walls are dried, mix up the hydraulic cement, let it cure and then trowel it onto the walls. Before the cement gets too dry, after the Thoroseal has cured, you apply it everywhere on the walls with a stiff bristled brush and you do two coats. I would say that is enough new skills for me for the year. I'll check back in next year.

Obama Holds the Cards — If He Will Play Them Well

I know that I have been saying this for a while but the democrats have got to find a way to convince the other half of the American people that all these charts that show that the short term deficit all go back to the horrendous economic policies implemente­d by the Bush administra­tion. Two tax cuts while engaging in two wars overseas is humongous economic stupidity. Then you have an economic meltdown on top of that where jobs are lost by the millions, you will have extraordin­arily less revenue and there you have a sort term deficit. The CBO has shown that by simply letting the Bush tax cuts expire, we get out of the hole that we are in so it stands to reason that any agreement has to have revenue increase especially in the wealthy category. What really gets me however is that there isn’t a need to do all this we can’t raise the debt ceiling without an agreement over the budget. The two are separate issues, one can be done without the other.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Are There Any Republican Adults in the Room: The Challenge Confronting Our Country

This solid block of the GOP committed to derail the U.S. economy unless they get exactly what they want has forced us to think outside of the box. There is all this talk of the rating agencies and how they are now threatenin­g not only to downgrade the U.S. credit rating if the debt ceiling isn’t raised but now they are talking about attaching spending cuts to it as well. Since when does a credit ratings agency tell a nation how to budget for their constituen­ts. Certain members of the E.U are demanding studies into changing how the ratings agencies do business. Especially since they were part of the fraudulent debacle of the sub prime toxic loan mess. They can’t be trusted. The President ans Mr. Geithner need to invoke the sanctity of the U.S debt as stated in the constituti­on and explore more fully the idea of coin seignrage , I read about this on Alternet in an article by Joshua Holland, the treasury could mint say 2 trillion in coins, they pick the metal and the monetary value of the coin, puts in on account at the Federal Reserve, that doesn’t contribute to the deficit because they haven’t sold any notes or issued bonds, that money is used to pay down the debt ceiling so that we are now clear of it for the short term and move on to budgetary business without the “end of the capitalist world” crashing down on our heads.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Describe your dream house.

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postaday2011

Right now I am in my dream house. My house isn’t the Taj Mahal but it’s mine and I love my home. It’s an old house, built in 1760, and still settling, which gives it a quirky charm. Over the years what I loved most about my house is that my children would have their friends over and I would still have peace and quiet. They could run around the house and I wouldn’t even hear them while I was doing other things. Playmates were so easy because this house is great for hide and go seek, we also have a nice backyard for outdoor games. Having four bedrooms also made sleepover’s relatively easy, didn’t have to worry about overcrowding.

My second favorite feature of my house is my kitchen. It is large with a breakfast nook or dining area and a separate counter top with kitchen stools. Whenever, we have friends or family over, everyone congregates in the kitchen. That is usually the norm for everyone when entertaining. What makes my kitchen special for me is that mine is large enough to accommodate quite a large group without feeling squeezed.

In the future when I’m older and this house becomes too much to keep up, I hope to retire to the southwest of France near my family and purchase a smaller house in the small town of Le Canon. My future dream house will be stucco walls with a red terra-cotta shingled roof as is customary in the area. The house would have two bedrooms, a living room/dining room and a medium-sized kitchen. My children and hopefully grandchildren would be visiting and since I doubt that they would all come at once, the number of rooms would be enough. I would definitely want two bathrooms, which in France means something different from here. In France the bathrooms are separated into two components, the toilet is the water closet and the shower/bath and sink is the bathroom. So I would definitely love to have two water closets and one bathroom. Each room would have french doors leading out to the wrap around terrace and the house itself would be set back away from the road. I would have a big enough garden to tend to myself, smaller than what I have today. My house would be right down the street from the farmer’s market that is open daily from 7:00 a.m to 11:30 a.m. I would be only 45 minutes from the beautiful city of Bordeaux so culturally I would have the opportunity to visit museums, the opera house and nice restaurants. Mostly, I would be relaxing in my comfortable home near the ocean and the bay. The town of Le Canon is located on the small isthmus south of Bordeaux which juts out into the Bay de Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean. Those are my two dream homes, present and future. I’m happy in my home right now but I do hope to retire to my dream home sometime in the future.