5 Thoughts for March 9, 2017

1. And Now, for Something Completely Different, Light Gauge Steel Construction: This one post will have zero mentions of a certain orange guy as I feel confident that there remains a very big shoe dropping soon. Rather than become overly obsessed with politics, I've actually been researching and reading on residential light-gauge steel construction. It is somewhat surprising that there are no libraries of details publicly available, and there is very limited free information of prescriptive methods (aside from the IRC which takes all their cues from the Low-Rise Residential Details manual from 2000). Fortunately, I've found the AISI's links to free versions of very expensive publications. Pay close attention to AISI S230-15 (Prescriptive Method for One and Two Family Dwellings) as it's a vast improvement over the old Low-Rise Residential Details manual. You're welcome.
2. Eddie Bauer: For some reason, they've decided that they're only giving members of their Adventure Club the extra discounts on their outlet deals. Apparently it wasn't enough that I was subscribing to their email list and received their catalogs in the mail, so, I dropped them. They don't get it. In 2011 their email vendor was hacked and EB's customer emails were stolen, then just last year they were hit by a POS skimmer breach. I don't trust you if you keep getting hacked, because it means you don't have strict protocols in place. Thus ends my relationship with Eddie Bauer. 
3. NFL Combine: Most people just pay attention to the results tracker, but when you watch the drills you can get a better sense of the quality of the athlete. For instance, Ardarius Stewart, Juju Smith-Schuster, and Ryan Switzer all looked like they were putting maximum effort into going after the ball and following through. By contrast, there were some other players (who shall go unnamed) who dropped balls and others who tried to walk through them. Davis Webb clearly has one of the strongest arms at the combine, but his accuracy is off the deeper he throws. Deshaun Watson made all of his throws. Adoree Jackson didn't put up blazing (re: John Ross 4.22) numbers in the 40-yard dash, but he ran through the gauntlet faster than anyone else and on cone drills never once looked down to the cones to check if he was in the right spot.
4. Nature Early yesterday morning my dog was using the toilet while two squirrels ran up the tree and peered down at us, while they did their business. Yes, I saw two squirrels have sex. Lasted all of about 15 seconds, but afterward, they were affectionately playing around with each other. Spring is in the air and the squirrels are excited to start a family. My dog is excited, too -- more squirrels to bark and chase after.
5. The Worst Driver: So, I parked my vehicle at the NW Glisan Trader Joe's today and while doing so there was this woman who was using her phone to take photos of her vehicle's bumper. I don't know if she thought that someone had hit her, but she was taking her sweet ol time even though the lot was, as one would expect, full. 15 minutes later I return to my vehicle and she's just now starting to pull out, but she's being extremely slow about it.  I didn't think she'd have trouble backing out in her white Audi A3 Sportback (lic plate "O WOOF"); I was wrong. Instead of turning her wheels while backing out, she backed out completely straight...right into a stingray metallic Scion xB. She didn't stop, instead, having to go back and forth twice to get her vehicle turned around to pull out of the lot. Damn. Tomorrow, she's probably going to get upset that someone left a stingray metallic imprint on her rear bumper, and look around to see if she can spot the offending vehicle.