Hey Kuan – and Kerry, wouldn’t it be a riot to get Noam Chomsky on This Old House?!

With tongue firmly in cheek. I could just see it....

Norm Abram: "It looks like the electrical wires need replacing."

Noam Chomsky: "There is no reason to accept the doctrines crafted to sustain power and privilege, or to believe that we are constrained by mysterious and unknown social laws. These are simply decisions made within institutions that are subject to human will and that must face the test of legitimacy. And if they do not meet the test, they can be replaced by other institutions that are more free and more just, as has happened often in the past."

Norm Abram: "Okay. How about we bring the wires up to code. We don’t want this old house to burn..."

Chomsky: " The U.S. will not permit constructive programs in its own domains, so it must ensure that they are destroyed elsewhere to terminate " the threat of a good example".

Norm Abram: "If you say so, Dr. Chomsky. Well, we need to fix the front gate too."

Chomsky: " The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people. "

Norm Abram: "I was just thinking that. Perhaps we can go to the local Ace Hardware, one of our sponsors, to get a good value on some building materials."

Chomsky: "The 'corporatization of America' during the past century [has been] an attack on democracy."

And so on... :p

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

You want fun with plumbing? Try a mobile home Everything Has to be adapted.....if you can find the correct damn adapter.
Anyhow, woke up this morning with water dripping from the ceiling in my daughter's bedroom Oh, how I hate this house!!
I figure fixing up an old house can't be a whole lot worse than just trying to maintain one of these Wal-mart homes. Any of you young guys ever decide to look into buying one as a "starter" home, as we did, one word: DON"T! If you do, move out soon as you can afford to move on.
I sat and talked to a frind of mine Sunday. He lives in what I knew was an older home, but I didn't know it was as old as it is. He said it's from the '30s. He has the post & tube wiring, but has just gone about replacing it as he's done the remodeling in it, mostly one room at a time. He loves the house, and says it's been all worth it. The place looks totally different than it did when he bought it 20 years ago. Plus now it's worth alot more than he has in it. So he was encouraging.

__________________
past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

Tracy:
That's good. You should forward it to the man himself. [email protected]

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Done!

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

There is nothing worse than an infernal mobile home. You have to go to places that specialize in parts for mobile homes to work on plumbing. I guess that standard fare stuff would have been too easy. Cheap does not describe them. I've begun recipricating the favours and time investments that my neighbours spent on helping me on my house. Theirs is a mobile home, and you'd be shocked to find out how little material there is in them.

Plumbing itself isn't really all that hard. I think the worst is trying to reuse older pipes. We fought for quite a while to get the PVC pipes to not leak under my kitchen sink. As for assembling new stuff, it's all a matter of knowing what you need, and making sure you brought the right stuff home. The rest is a matter of assembly. Electrical wiring bothers me alot more, and even that is simply a matter of paying attention to the color of the wires, and verifying them with an outlet tester.