Sennheiser CX300 s Review

I know this isn't a DIY thing, but I've been so happy with these earbuds for my Apple Nano that I just need to share. I got some Sennheiser CX300 silver ear bud headphones for Christmas. I had asked for replacement ear buds for the ones that came with the Nano. The original ones didn't do a good job of blocking out the sounds in the gym that I workout at.

Here's the quick synopsis:

Pros: Good bass response, noise canceling and more comfortable than the original Nano earphones

Cons: I wish the length of the earphones where even. The left cord is shorter than the right.

For the past year I had been using the standard Nano earphones that came with the player. Because of the level of ambient noise at the gym, I've had to turn up the volume to sometimes three quarters of the way up to hear my music. So this year I asked for some replacement earphones for Christmas. What I got was the Sennheiser CX300. It came with three different size covers. I ended up using the medium ones. When I first tried them on I immediately noticed all the background noise in the house was gone. I was also pleasently suprised at the better bass response I was getting from them.

The real test was when I worked out yesterday. I was able to cut the volume by 45 - 50% over what the previous levels were. At least now I don't have to worry as much about damaging my hearing. The only thing I found kind of annoying was the fact the cord for the left earphone was shorter than the right. Call me old school, but I like both cords to be the same length.

Together For The Holidays

I just wanted to say, it was a lot of work getting the house ready for the holidays, but for me it was worth the time I spent with my family. Gotta go early this time.

Thank you to everyone that got me gifts, and especially the gift cards to Home Depot and Lowes. I'm like a kid in a candy store there. :)

Table Saw Deal

I was shopping with my brother-in-law at the Lowes this last weekend. When we entered the store we started straight up the main aisle when you enter, and came across some clearance items placed in the middle of the aisle. There were things like power washers, a toolbox for a truck bed, gardening stuff, and some power tools. Not thinking anything of this, I started to walk by everything at least until I hit the power tools. It’s a given that I’ll stop for some tools. My heart started to race immediately when I saw the prices they were marking things down to, from 25 – 60% off.

A lot of the things I saw were open box returns and some damaged box items. There was a Dewalt contractor table saw there for $200 that was normally $400, a Porter Cable router with plunge base (had one already), some deeply discounted tool set (no interest) and a Delta ts350. Upon closer inspection of my two options, it became quickly apparent that the Delta was going to fit my needs better than the Dewalt. The main reason was the Dewalt had a composite plastic top, which I’m sure was sturdy and would remain true, that was designed to make it easier to set-up and take down at a job site. What I was looking for was a table saw for use in a workshop or garage. That led me to the Delta even though it was only discounted from $400 to $300. It had a cast iron surface, 4” receptacle for dust collection and a metal stand. You could guess by the amount of detail I just gave about the Delta that I purchased that one.

New Carpet and Ceiling Painting

This weekend was spent preparing for the carpet we purchased at Home Depot to be installed today. Unfortunately this included finishing up the painting of the ceilings, left over from removing the ceiling popcorn, before they got here.

Painting
For the paint, I had originally purchased the Behr ultra white flat paint. Good thing I happened to go to Lowes before painting. While I was there I came across the Olympia paint end cap. I was able to pick up a 5-gallon container of flat white interior paint for around $35. This sure beat the close to $20 per gallon I was paying for the Behr version. Truthfully, the Olympia paint probably doesn’t have the same ability to cover previously painted walls with one coat, but I was painting a freshly textured ceiling. I came to this conclusion because I got sloppy in application in a couple of places, and painted a bit of the walls too. Not that it really matters too much because I’ll repaint all the walls to try to brighten the place up a bit.

Carpet installation
The carpet installation crew that was contracted by Home Depot was pretty professional. They arrived within the first hour of the time frame they gave me, and finished the installation of a little over 1000 sq ft of carpet plus stairs in 5 hours. All in all I’m pretty pleased with the outcome of purchasing my carpet with Home Depot even with the large chunk of time I spent initially with the sales person.

Cleaning and Quick Exterior Furniture Refinish

Today was a clean-up day in preparation of moving a bunch of stuff from storage, none of it light, to the garage. The house came with an older Toughshed, but in the move and popcorn ceiling, removal things where just put in randomly.

It wasn't all for nothing. Cleaning allowed me to take an mental inventory of what I had and what came with the house. The previous owner had done a remodel to the master bath, and had purchased extra tile. I also took a close look at the finishes I had accumulated either through past projects or close-out specials. A little side note, there was a time I was doing a lot of research and experimenting with various finishes for woodworking. The result of this was lets just say .. leftovers.

I happen to find part of a spray can of gloss spar-var, and move an older outside table in bad need of a new finish on the table top. These are the steps I did to do a quick refinish on the table top:

• I set about washing down the piece and cleaning it abit with a brass wire brush
• Letting it dry while continuing to clean in a different area. I didn't feel like cleaning it again so I made sure the piece was away from where I was working.
  
• Once it was dry, I did a quick knock down of the fibers that were raised by the water and wire brush with some 180 grit sandpaper. I used 180 grit because the surface was relatively smooth from the previous finish.
• Next, I tacked the piece to remove any dust from sanding with a slightly damp shop blue paper towel.
• When applying the spray finish I held the can about 4-6" away from the surface, and tried to spray in a consistent sweeping motion. I did this repeatedly from different angles to make sure complete coverage.
• Once sprayed, I let it dry overnight in the shed to make sure no debris was blown on it by the wind.
• There's enough finish in the can for another coat. Tomorrow I'll do a light sanding with either 180 or 220 grit sandpaper, tack it and spray one more coat.
  

Mortared Stone Around Mailbox

Now that the basic setup is done for the mailbox, its time I started to think about how to mortar stone around the mailbox. I found this one site that does a good job of giving a quick overview for using and not using mortar. I think I want to do a stacked stone look. Not sure if I'll use the prefab stuff I've seen at the Depot or go with o' natural. Probably the latter.

Sore Hands

I was able to put in the heavy gauge galvanized steel post for the new mailbox on Sunday. Sure wish I had a post hole digger. I dug the 2.5 foot deep hole with a shovel. At least I got a workout. Things pretty much went as planned. One of these days I'll learn to use work gloves. You don't realize what a little nub on the end of a shovel will do to your palm within an hour of repetitious use. I have a blister the size of a quarter on my right hand and the pinkie side of my left is really tender. Yup, I'm complaining like a wuss. Its OK. I kinda like the little bit of pain. Its like when I workout really hard and my muscles are sore. I love that feeling.

That was my Sunday. Saturday I helped a family member move into an upstairs condo. Enough said. On a related note, why is it you go to U-Haul, see a truck rental price of around $30, rent it and end up paying $90? For the amount they charge a mile you'd think the trucks were in kick ass shape, not something pushing 200k miles from the early 80s. Another thing is the insurance. The way they sell you on the $15 insurance. While we were driving we saw a new Ford GT something, the one that looks exotic. I told the guy driving we should test the max of the $15 insurance and plow into that vehicle. By the way, that's the second one I've seen within a couple of days. They must be more "affordable" or there's a club in town or something.

Putting In a Secure Mailbox

With the raise in identity theft we want to make sure someone can't just take our mail easily. This weekend I'll be installing a new mailbox. I plan on doing this project in two stages. First will be setting the mailbox and post in concrete. Next stage will involve building a stone surround around the box. If I didn't need the mailbox right away and have limited time, I would pour a concrete footer and build the surround.

I've read a couple articles online about setting posts in concrete and they seem to have these things in common:

• It seems a bag of concrete mix can be used for a 10" by 2' hole with a 4" post
• Since the mailbox uses a metal post I need to use a rust inhibitor like POR (paint over rust) or rustolium
• The hole needs to be three times the diameter of the post and about 2' deep
• Put gravel at the bottom of the hole and 6" around the base
• Place the post in the hole, level it and anchor it in place with stakes and wire or by nailing a couple of 2 x 4s to it
• Mix the concrete. I'll be using a concrete mix so I don't have to worry about any other proportion than mix to water.
• Pour in concrete level to the ground and poke air bubbles out with some scrap wood
• Check level of the post and adjust if necessary
• If I didn't plan on building up a surround I'd add some more concrete around the base to form a mound so the water runs off the sides

The only thing I'll be doing a little different is making a square section of concrete so I can use it for a footer later.