He really is active sometimes.

When I last moved I got rid of his cat tree as, quite frankly, it was disgusting. Cats are fastidious about cleanliness but why, my god why, do they just throw up wherever they happen to be? After getting all settled in the new place I fully intended to buy a new cat tree but just never got around to it. They’re usually $150 or more and take up space that I could use for a lamp or decorative plant. So here I am, nine months later, and still no cat tree.

I stumbled across this on the Intartubes a few weeks ago and thought it was a great idea. I’ve been trying to decide what to do with my bare walls for some time and half-heartedly put up a few of my photos but there was still a considerable amount of empty wall space. I’m a big fan of efficiency and economy so the idea of these shelves and the space being devoted totally to Sidney was a bit much to buy into. Plus, what if he didn’t dig it?

I browsed around for different shelving at Ikea and inspiration struck. What I needed was a bookcase-type shelf that would hold items and have a top that Sidney could use to climb on. And here it is. I picked up 5 of them and some other odds and ends and took off for home.

I wasn’t planning to spend all weekend working on this but I had a few hurdles to hop before it was all over. Since it included a few trips to the hardware store and lumber yard it really was a guy’s birthday celebration.

My first hurdle was design. I suck at design. I won’t bore you with all the various layouts I came up with but you can see from the pics what I ultimately chose. Please, no comments about ‘what could have been’. That will only depress me. The difficulty lay in incorporating these elements: couldn’t be lower than 50 inches or I’d smack my head on them while sitting on the couch; had to be staggered so Sidney could climb up to the ceiling; required proper spacing so Sidney could hop up and down; avoid looking like TEH SUXORS when finished.

The next hurdle was exactly how to mount the shelves to the wall. Standard wall construction, at least in the U.S., is to have a stud placed every 16 inches behind the drywall. Maybe in Sweden it’s different because the mounting hardware with the shelves would require studs 45 inches apart. I tried three different calculators but I couldn’t get 16 to divide into 45 evenly so I needed an alternative solution. I googled the IKEA product plus installation and there were whole forums setup for this so at least I wasn’t alone. Unfortunately all those forums were populated by Swedish carpenters talking about french cleats and I quickly realized I didn’t have any tools for this or a woodworking shop.

I’ve watched a lot of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition so I figured I could handle this on my own. I decided to go with a simple, if inelegant solution. I’d mount a 1×3 board to the wall studs then mount the shelves to the board.

The board to which all this hangs.

So, with the design and mounting hurdles hopped, I was off to the installation. After measuring, making notes, measuring again, checking the notes, doubting my measurements, getting a second tape measure, making more notes, I began. I had my first board secured to the wall in about the same amount of time it would have taken the Egyptians to build a small pyramid. But remember, they had help. As I hoisted the 30 pound shelf up to the wall for a test fit a few things came to light.

Success! or was it?

The most obvious piece was that I would need a shim for the bottom half of the shelf, right? Of course I would. If the top half of the shelf is mounted to a 1 inch thick board, then the bottom half would require the same spacing. Duh.

The other thing, and it’s very minor, was how in holy hell was I going lift these damn shelves eight feet up the wall, hold them in place, screw in the mounting brackets, make sure it’s all level, NOT drop everything … all by myself?

Time for a sushi break to figure this out.

I was already concerned about the structural integrity of the whole shelving unit, given the mounting hardware from IKEA. I doubted it’s ability to hold even the 30 pound shelf, much less another 10-20 pounds of books or items AND a 10 pound cat running around on them. What I needed was some way to reinforce the shelf and assist during the installation.

I decided instead of a simple shim for the bottom of the shelf, I’d screw in another 1×3 board and place some angle brackets for the shelf to sit on. That would allow me to set the shelf on the brackets while I screwed in all the mounting hardware and leveled it. It should also provide some support for the entire unit.

Aha! Oh, that thing on the wall above the right edge of the board? It's a magnet. Best stud finder ever. Buy a bunch, toss them at the wall and see which ones stick.

Whee! Another trip to the hardware store!

Back at the apartment the new plan seemed to be working out well.

I ended up using another angle bracket on the top of the shelf for a bit more security. It’s all probably over-engineered but I figure now they’ll either all stay up or the entire wall will come down. No point in going half way, right?

I tacked on a few pieces of cheap floor mats to the top of the shelves so Sidney could have some traction when he climbs around.

All done.

I also put a new cat bed up top. He’s very clumsy and I know if he just lays down on the bare shelf he’ll roll off. Even if he doesn’t take to it, I’ve got some new shelving to use.

Of course, if he does take to it and starts spending time up there, I predict it will only take 2 weeks before he vomits over the edge of the top shelf and creates a spectacular mess.

On the running front I’m making progress. For the last week I’ve run every other day and I’m up to 1.3 miles at a constant jog. I even ran in the ran yesterday! Don’t get the wrong impression, I still hate all forms of exercise, but I was slacking for a few weeks and lost all my progress.  Gotta get back into the habit.

My new shoes, the Brooks Beast, aren’t cutting it. The part of the shoe that comes up the back and rests against your achilles tendon is lower on this shoe than any other shoe I’ve owned. While the shoe feels great just walking around, after I’ve been jogging for a bit a blister forms on the side of my achilles tendon. I guess it rubs it just the wrong way but I never notice until it’s too late.

So I’m back to the Brooks Adreneline and will order a new pair of those when I get back from my Christmas trip to see the family.

Looks like Winter rolled in this week. It rained all weekend and even dropped down into the mid forties on Sunday. I think yesterday was the first day I didn’t have the windows open at all.

I was looking for inspiration for the last couple of gifts I needed so I drove over to Capitola to wander around the beach-side district. I’d driven past it a few times but never actually walked around. After getting about three minutes away from my parked car I had to turn back. It was too warm for the light jacket and I just had to drop it off.

Ahh, the last day of November.

It’s a very neat little downtown area. Kitchsy shops, touristy stuff and very tiny. Seems like a small-scale Santa Cruz. I want to say there’s a lot of Mediterranean influences to the architecture and layout.

Venice perhaps?

Nope. No snow here.

I was thinking I needed to buy a nice overcoat for when I wear suits in NY on business. I might as well leave it there at the hotel I stay at all the time. Certainly don’t need it here.

At least it is a turkey sandwich.

The forecast called for 60 degree weather today so I packed a lunch, got the bike out and took off for a ride. Rode up 9 then took 236 through Big Basin Park, 35 up to La Honda and over to 1. I stopped at Pescadero beach for my Thanksgiving dinner then headed back down to home.

The road through Big Basin is fun. It’s a tiny, unmarked road barely wide enough for two cars.

It was still a bit damp and wet leaves covered some stretches so I didn’t get too wild. I had a couple of heel-scrapes which is always exciting. My pegs are just a little forward of putting my feet right under me so my heels hang lower than the pegs. If I get too far over in a corner my heel drags on the pavement. Wee!

View from the cockpit

I didn’t go far as I only had about an hour in the morning. I’m off to DC and NYC for a week on Sunday so I needed to run errands, clean the apartment, do laundry and pack. Ran up 9 through Felton and then back down to SC. I’m going to try and post some sort of Google Earth track or maybe just a screenshot. We’ll see how that goes. Until then, here’s a pic to make you jealous of the 70+ degree weather here on November 15.

Looking down at Monterey Bay. Monterey is across the water.

The pic was taken from here.

The socks are special running socks designed to eliminate that sort of thing. Never had a problem before, but these are my new shoes. Guess we’ll just see how things go.

November 14, 2008

I really like the synthetic stuff I’ve picked up at the running store though. I’m a firm believer in the base-layer clothing. At $20-$40 a pop though … yeesh.

November 12, 2008

Instead of dropping them into the album in some order based on when and where they were taken, I grouped the black and whites at the end.

Enjoy.