I don't know if you have used an impact driver before or not, but they are my new favorite tool for putting screws in. I used to use a conventional drill, which works okay, but an impact driver has dramatically improved the effort it takes.

Basically it (look up impact driver on wikipedia) combines rotational and downward movement in a small "jolt" but multiple times a second. So it is turning similar to a drill, but really in short, little jarring motions. It is very helpful when putting in Philips screws for basic household or yard renovations. It sort of makes it "grab" quicker in to the material and prevents you from stripping the head of the screw.

I used my friend's Makita impact drill and after that I had to have one. I already use the 18V Ryobi cordless tools, so I thought I would add to the set. They have an 18V Ryobi impact driver that takes the same batteries.

Post a Comment ... (0 Comments)

If you enjoyed this post, then subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates.

I had brown, rusty water coming out of the bathtub faucet in a new home I had purchased. It only came out of the bathtub faucet portion and not the shower head when I pulled the diverter up. It also only lasted for a few seconds before clearing.

What causes this?

Well a visit to the hardware store and a half hour of repairs I figured out why. There is a "nipple" that connects the pluming in behind the bathtub all to the faucet where the water comes out. Someone had used an iron nipple. These rust and when you are not using the shower, the water that is sitting in there behind uses collects the rust particles. This rusty water is the first to come out the next time you use the shower.

The Fix

For your own handyman fix (you really can do this yourself), you need to replace this iron nipple with a brass one (or some other metal).

I needed the following tools and supplies (all available at the hardware store):

• small pipe wrench
• teflon tape
• brass tub nipple (you will want the right size)
• tile and bath sealant

I removed the tub faucet by just turning counter clockwise (some have a set-screw and slide off). Then I could see what the tub nipple was made of. I used the pipe-wrench to remove it.

Next you wrap teflon tape clock-wise around the threads of the nipple (both ends). Thread it into the plumbing behind the wall until tight. Next put the tub faucet back on until back in the right spot.

Lastly, apply the tile and bath sealant around the faucet where it contacts the tub wall. This will prevent water from getting in behind and you will probably want a mildew resistant one.

Post a Comment ... (0 Comments)

If you enjoyed this post, then subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates.

Have you ever had the carpet tack poke through the carpet when you step on it and poke your foot?

Carpet tack is a little thin strip of wood with nails sticking up. It is placed along the edge of walls (and in my case the doorway to the bathroom as it changed to tile). When carpet is installed, it is stretched and hooked on the carpet tack nails to keep it tightly stretched across your floor.

I recently purchased a home where this was happening in the doorway to the bathroom. There is a strip of carpet tack along the threshold of the door that grips the carpet. When you step on it with your bare feet in certain positions, there is a enough pressure to push the carpet down and expose the nails in the carpet tack so they poke your foot. Rather annoying and kind of embarrassing when you have company.

Anyhow, I read up on-line for solutions and there were a few of them. What I ended up doing was the cheapest of them all. All the spots where I could press my thumb down and feel the point of the nails, I took a hammer and hit it down. The carpet is depressed along the threshold now (it was already) and the pointy carpet tack is now gone.

I have heard you need to be careful when hammering it down. This is what is holding the carpet tight here. So that won't be the case anymore. If it is tight on either side you should be okay. Be careful to not pull the carpet out from under a transition or hit whatever flooring is along that border (hardwood, tiles, etc).

Post a Comment ... (0 Comments)

If you enjoyed this post, then subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates.

My wife and I were on a week long tour of Israel for 7 days in July of 2010. The experience was really great and I thought I would write about it a bit.

We booked our tour through the site Israel a la Carte and the tour was specifically the Holyland Tour - 7 Nights (Sunday Arrival). Our email contact was someone from Diesenhaus, whom I am assuming is the parent company. When we arrived, we discovered that the tour operator was Rent A Guide.

Guide

The tour guide we had was Yossi Gelem. I found him to be an excellent guide. An Israeli, Jewish guide, he was very knowledgeable about the country and even history/politics in the rest of the world. He has a passion for the news and history and has had an interesting past that gives him some perspective as well. If he is running the tour, I would highly recommend him.

Yossi very much tried to give just the facts and non-biased information. He would also expand on it quite a bit if you wanted to get into it and ask more questions.

Pros

• Great guide
• Quick pace (this can be bad if you wanted to spend more time in some sites
• Price was way cheaper than anything else we could find on the internet.
• All the hotels were nice and worked just fine.
• Included breakfast and dinner every night.
• Buses had good air conditioning.
• We were a fairly small group so got to know everyone quite well and had lots of time to speak with the guide if we wanted.
• Good selection of site to see. 75% religious, 20% historical, and 5% other.

Cons

• Quick pace so you won't get a lot of time at each site if you were wanting it.
• A couple of the lunches were at "tourist trap" types of places. They drop you off but it is really the only option you have and the prices are high. Other times it was totally fine. Just carry some snacks with you so you don't have to worry about it.

Summary

Overall, I would recommend the tour. Especially for the price.

Itinerary

This is a just a copy and paste from the itinery on the site we booked through

Holyland Tour (7 Nights) Sunday Arrival

Language: English Tours - Israel

Sunday - Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, where you will be met by a Diesenhaus Unitours representative and transferred to your hotel. Overnight in Tel Aviv.

Monday -Caesarea / Megiddo / Haifa / Acre
Depart Tel Aviv and drive along the coastal plain to Caesarea, the capital of Judea under the Romans.Visit the excavations of the ancient city, the Roman theatre and aqueduct. Continue to Megiddo, identified as the site of Armageddon; Visit the archaeological excavations including the well-preserved water supply system. Drive to Haifa, view the Persian Gardens at the Bahai Temple. From Haifa, drive to Acre to visit the ancient city and harbor. Continue to Kibbutz Lavi for overnight stay.

Tuesday - Tiberias / Capernaum / Banias
After a short tour of Tiberias, we take a boat ride to Capernaum. Visit the remains of the 2nd century synagogue. Proceed to Tabgha, the site of the miracle of fish and loaves, and visit the Church of Multiplication with its 4th century mosaic floor. Continue to Mount of Beatitudes, the place where Jesus delivered the sermon on the Mount. Drive to the Banias Springs and waterfalls and tour the Golan Heights. Return to Kibbutz Lavi for overnight.

Wednesday - Nazareth / Beit Shean
Drive to Nazareth via Cana of Galilee. Visit the Church of Annunciation, St. Joseph's workshop and Mary's Well.Drive to Yardenit, where the Jordan river lies, the Sea of Galilee, and Baptism place, Continue to Beit Shean, a newly excavated city, and visit the Roman theatre. Drive along the Jordan River to Jerusalem. Overnight in Jerusalem.

Thursday - Jerusalem - Old City
Drive to Mount of Olives for a panoramic view of the city; visit the church of All Nations, King David's tomb and the room where the Last Supper took place on Mt. Zion. Enter within the walls of the city and visit the Cardo, Temple Mount (entrance to the mosques not included), Western Wall, Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, oriental Bazaar. Overnight in Jerusalem. Friday - Jerusalem - New City and Bethlehem Drive to Ein Karem to visit the Church of Visitation; proceed to Yad Vashem, the memorial to the holocaust; Visit the Israel museum, the shrine of the book, where the dead sea scrolls are housed, and the miniature model of Jerusalem as it was during the second temple period. Proceed to Bethlehem to visit the Church of Nativity. Overnight in Jerusalem.

Saturday - Dead Sea / Massada
Drive to Qumeran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls where found. Visit the ancient city of Qumeran and drive along the shore of the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth, to Massada, which was the last stronghold of the Jews after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D. Ascend Mt. Massada by cable car and visit the food storeroom, water irrigation system and Herod's Palace. Return to Jerusalem . Overnight in Jerusalem.

Sunday
Transfer to Ben Gurion Airport for departure.

Post a Comment ... (0 Comments)

If you enjoyed this post, then subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates.

My wife and I were recently in Rome and did a walking tour of Vatican City. It was basically just the Vatican museums, the Sistene Chapel, the catacombs, St. Peter's Basilica, and briefly around some of the outside.

My wife had done some research and read some reviews about 7 Hills Tours. They seemed to offer the same value of a tour for less price (though we didn't actually do another tour, so we don't know).

Booking

We made a reservation through the 7 Hills Tours website. We didn't have to pay ahead of time, just made a reservation and got a confirmation email. We showed up that day and had no problems finding our guide (they meet along an easy to find point of the Vatican wall).

FYI: We showed up early (they say you should be there at 8:45AM but the tour doesn't start until 9:15AM), so he takes you to a nice little cafe so you don't have to stand around and wait for everyone. Good chance for a capuccino and some breakfast if you want.

Experience

The guide was super-friendly and spoke excellent English. His name was Andrea. Great sense of humour and seemed genuinely concerned about giving us the best tour possible. For example, he ran ahead at one point to secure a demo location where we would be able to actually sit on a bench. He was also upset that a hall of statues was closed so got us to bend the rope a bit to peer around the corner and get a glimpse. He also didn't rush anything. Our tour was supposed to be 3 hours long, but we did get a good 4 hours worth.

It started with a brief intro outside the city walls and then you proceed through security and into the gift shop. If you are not in a group, there is a much longer line-up outside just to get in, by the way. Inside the gift shop he gets organized, collects the payment (was 39 euro/adult...I believe the actual entrance fee is around 15 euro so they are charging an extra 24 for the guide), and then issues headsets that made it very easy to hear him even if you aren't standing close.

He also had a lot of tips for things outside the tour. For example, if you were planning on ascending to the top of the Dome on St. Peter's Basilica, he will tell you when the line will be smallest (i.e. late afternoon) and will answer all your questions.

We had a group of 18 and he told us they don't go over 25. Compared to the other groups we saw around the Vatican this was very good. Most groups were way bigger, which makes it a lot slower to move around.

Overall

The money was well worth it. We were not disappointed in the least. Andrea did an amazing job and if you want to get more out of your Vatican experience, I highly recommend you spend the money to avoid the lines and just learn a lot more. Bottom line, I would recommend 7 Hills Tours

Post a Comment ... (0 Comments)

If you enjoyed this post, then subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates.

I was recently on a tour of Israel and stayed for 4 nights at the Park Hotel Jerusalem. Our guide also referred to it as the "Jerusalem Park".

It was the base for our stay in the area as we did day trips to Old Jerusalem, other parts of Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, and even left from it the morning we caught our flight in Tel Aviv.

Pros

• Rooms were "fairly" modern and included fridges.
• Air conditioning that worked very well. We left it off most of the time as it was too cold.
• Meals were very good, but not as much variety as other hotels we had.
• There was free wireless internet in our room (we stayed on the 5th floor).
• Huge dining area and very spacious (they actually have two there).

Cons

• Location isn't the best. Being on a tour it didn't matter, but if you were backpacking on your own you would want to be closer to Old Jerusalem. That being said, there was a tram line that was there but not running yet. This could dramatically change the accessibility to other parts of the city, but I don't know where it will actually run to.
• Food was basically the same thing every day (mentioned in the pros as well).
• They were slow when you would call down and ask for stuff (i.e. new towels, didn't seem to understand we wanted extra towels for a trip to the Dead Sea, etc). This could have been due to it being super busy while we were there too.

Summary

Overall I would recommend this hotel, but maybe not for 4 days. A little far from Old Jerusalem if you are on your own and you may get sick of the food. 2 days would be perfect for me.

Post a Comment ... (0 Comments)

If you enjoyed this post, then subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates.

I was on a recent tour of Israel and stayed at a hotel run by the community of Kibbutz Lavi so it was of course named the Lavi Kibbutz Hotel. If you are wondering what a kibbutz is, they are socialist communities in Israel that people can choose to join. Your work for the community. All money is shared and it is similar to living on a commune.

The whole experience was super interesting and I highly recommend it if you are in the area. It is very close to the Sea of Galilee as there are a lot of interesting sights in the area (Golan Heights).

Pros

• It is located in a Kibbutz. The community itself it very interesting and you can just walk around any time of the day to get a feel for how they live.
• There is a pool facility both indoor and out plus a sauna.
• The buffet dinners and breakfasts were very good. Lots of options.
• The rooms were clean and had good air conditioning. Not super up to date, but apparently there is a range of this as one wing is recently updated.
• There was free wireless internet.
• We had a free information session from a local kibbutz member describing what is was like to live there and you could ask him questions. It was in the evening right after dinner time. The guy was actually from Baltimore (USA) and had been living there for 30 plus years.
• Ping-pong, bar, computers for internet (you have to pay for these).
• Close proximity to the Sea of Galilee.

Cons

• You are a bit isolated as you are on a kibbutz, so you basically have to eat at the hotel. Our package included breakfasts and dinner, so not sure if that is the only option they have when you book (half-board).
• Really busy with families and lots of kids when we were there, so your meals aren't the most peaceful experiences.

Summary

Overall I would recommend the hotel. We enjoyed our time there. The pros definitely out-weight the few cons.

Post a Comment ... (0 Comments)

If you enjoyed this post, then subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates.

In July of 2010 I was in Israel on a tour for a week. Anyhow, I stayed at the Deborah Hotel in Tel Aviv for one night. I'll summarize my experience on it.

Overall it is a decent hotel in my opinion. The cost was hidden from me as I had paid an overall package tour price. Our guess was that it was around US$130 a night for the room.

Pros

• It was only a few minutes walking distance from the beach. The hotel provided towels for the beach as well.
• There was free, wireless internet that worked throughout the entire hotel (I was on the 11th floor!).
• There are dining facilities as well that served a decent buffet for both breakfast and dinner.
• The rooms were clean and had air conditioning.
• The street it is on has a bus that runs right in front of the hotel that will get you to the old town (Jaffa). I think it was bus #10.
• Across the street there is laundry facilities and just south half a block is a grocery store.
• Across the street to the south is a money exchange shop that doesn't take a commission. When comparing to other tour group members I definitely got the best rate as far as I could tell.

Cons

Not really much to complain about. The stairway to the dining room seemed rather dirty. We also had an unfriendly receptionist when we arrived at 3AM, but she continued to be unfriendly on future occasions as well.

Summary

Overall I would recommend it and say you will be satisfied with staying there if you are looking for a cheap place with quick access to the beach. For reference, it is really close to the Sheraton which is right on the beach.

Post a Comment ... (0 Comments)

If you enjoyed this post, then subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates.

My sister has recently started her own site where she talks about fashion and thoughts on style. The site is called Dress Me Dearly. Anyhow, I thought I would put a bit of a plug in here for her and a bit of "link love".

I have to say I am quite impressed so far with the frequency and quality of the content being posted. Lots of images, articles, and even a video entry have been posted so far.

Post a Comment ... (0 Comments)

If you enjoyed this post, then subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates.

I was recently having problems getting my Apache web server to start up the other day. If I tried to start it with the Apache Monitor or in the Services window, it would just try to start and exit. No message and nothing would be left in the Apache log files.

So I went to the command prompt and tried to start it there. That is when I received the following error.

(OS 10048)Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted. : make_sock: could not bind to address 0.0.0.0:80 no listening sockets available, shutting down Unable to open logs

Solution

Turns out the problem was with Skype. I had installed it recently and when I rebooted my computer, it took control of that port before Apache could. You can fix it by exiting Skype and then starting Apache, before starting Skype again. Alternatively, you open Skype and go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Connection. Turn off the checkbox that refers to port 80 and 443. Then restart Skype.

I found similar information on this problem on this page about Apache Not Working On Vista.

Post a Comment ... (0 Comments)

If you enjoyed this post, then subscribe to my RSS feed or subscribe for email updates.