In the last month, I have come to hate tile and grout. My respect for tileworkers and their brother the bricklayer has grown immensely. I see why the Masons are a mysterious and powerful organization. The amount of talent, knowledge and experience it takes to work with cement is huge.
Nothing I seem to do makes my new grout work. However I mix it, it dries into a crappy powder that doesn't do the job. If you use too much water, grout fails. If you use too little water, it fails. If the surface is too wet, it fails. If it's not wet enough, it fails. That, or Home Depot sells crappy grout.
The first time I was prepared to accept user error. The second time, I was disappointed, but willing to accept that I don't know what I'm doing. But now I'm just done. I wish we'd never started this project to begin with. (Which I wanted to do.) Trying to make our house prettier and better for sale has totally backfired and blown up in our faces. We should have just left the old tile the way it was and let the new owner deal with it if they wanted.
Good thing my wife never reads my blog.
Update: Home Depot does not sell crappy grout. I was just REALLY bad at mixing it. We have finally successfully put in new grout on most of our countertops. But God, that took too long.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Meetings and schedules
A guy posted an essay making an interesting distinction between makers and managers. Managers are always in meetings. Their days are divided into 1-hour chunks, and they schedule meetings at available times.
If they need to meet with you, and you're available when they're available, it's a good idea to meet.
Except some people who do work creating things need to concentrate. The creative enterprise can take a few hours to get going, and an interruption can throw off several hours of concentration.
Paul Graham's solution? Set aside a couple days a week for meeting-free productivity. Block out the time and get stuff done. And plan on other days being the day of meetings. Fill it full of talking, and accept that unless you're a hermit working at a forge in the woods, you need other people for your work to be successful.
If they need to meet with you, and you're available when they're available, it's a good idea to meet.
Except some people who do work creating things need to concentrate. The creative enterprise can take a few hours to get going, and an interruption can throw off several hours of concentration.
Paul Graham's solution? Set aside a couple days a week for meeting-free productivity. Block out the time and get stuff done. And plan on other days being the day of meetings. Fill it full of talking, and accept that unless you're a hermit working at a forge in the woods, you need other people for your work to be successful.
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