Tool Days, Tool Days

Took advantage of the Craftsman Club tool sale at Sears today and picked up a compound miter saw and a lightweight 2-ton floor jack that weighs less than 45 lbs. Haven't put the saw together yet, but had to take the jack back to Sears for a refund after discovering a leak at the lift valve.
I'd gotten the thing out of the box, and was following directions to purge any air that had set up in the cylinder during shipping (it's made in China), but just couldn't seem to get the darn thing purged. Then I noticed a small pool of hydraulic oil under the jack and started really looking the unit over carefully. After all, a floor jack that won't hold a car can be a bit off-putting! I finally found a leak right at the fill valve attached to the pump handle that was blowing oil out on lift and sucking air in on release.
Back I went to Sears, where the really nice folks apologized for my inconvenience and offered to get me another jack. After my experience, I decided to just take a refund for now and make a decision later. In all the years I've been purchasing Craftsman tools (30+), this is the first one I've had a problem with. I have an old Sears 1 1/2 ton jack that's about 25 years old, is American-made, and weighs almost as much as it lifts! It still works great, I was just hoping to get a jack that was a little easier to maneuver in my old age.
On the lighter side, I felt a little bit better knowing that the Chinese Army may have a million soldiers, but if they ever get a flat tire on their transportation they're gonna be stuck by the side of the road for a long, long time.
Now, I did see a really great price on a Craftsman scroll saw while I was waiting for my refund......

Rams 31 Titans 27

In a game that saw two teams combine for 7 turnovers, the St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans at the Edward Jones Dome in the Gateway City. The Titans jumped out to a 10-0 lead before Adam Archuletta's interception of a Steve McNair pass gave the Male Sheep their chance to get back in the game. Later in the contest, the Rams had their opponents on the ropes before several miscues opened the door for a Titans rally. Fortunately for my blood pressure, McNair's 4th down pass fell incomplete, giving the Rams possession with just 29 seconds left in the final quarter.
Tennessee coach Jeff Fischer must be wondering how his team can play so hard against the Rams and still come up empty, especially with the similarities between Sunday's game and Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000. Once again, the Titans were driving for victory near the end of the game, only to come up short in the final seconds.
For Rams fans, one hopes the fire that Archuletta lit jumpstarts a team that had played fairly mediocre football, at least on offense, in the first two regular-season games. Losing to the 49ers (pain!), and barely squeaking by Arizona (only because the Big Red exhibited poor game clock management), wasn't exactly inspiring confidence in the team's 2005 prospects. At 2-1, the Lambs now have a chance to get back in the driver's seat in the NFC West, provided they can get past Seattle. That showdown with the Seahawks and Shaun Alexander will be the real deal, and may well determine who goes to the playoffs and who goes home.
But for now, it's time to savor the moment. The home opener ended in victory, both the Ram defense and offense came to life, and Torry 'Big Game' Holt turned in another spectacular performance, pulling down 9 catches. RB Steven Jackson showed the stud he is with his bruising running style, and Marshall Faulk showed he's still got gas in the tank when he lines up in the backfield.
Now...if Kansas City can keep winning, it could be an all-Missouri Super Bowl in Detroit!!

Katrina/Tsunami Comparisons and Media Bias

Following Hurricane Katrina's assault on the US Gulf Coast, the news media rushed to bash President George W. Bush for the slow response of federal relief efforts. Forgotten was the malfeasance of New Orleans Mayor Nagin and the mayor's political enemy Governor Blanco. 'W' was pilloried for everything from broken levies to stranded residents to global warming. News propagandists from the major media outlets cited the superior effort afforded to victims of the December 26, 2004 tsunami that devastated parts of south/southeast Asia and eastern Africa. If only Bush the Younger had been more vigilant, homes, businesses, and lives would already be rebuilt and thriving.
The problem with all the hyperbole, however, is that relief efforts in the tsunami-affected areas are still ongoing at a painfully slow pace. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (www.ifrc.org) reports that more than eight months after the earthquake and tidal wave struck, tens of thousands of people are still living in tents, huts, and other temporary shelters, and hundreds of thousands still depend on outside assistance to obtain food and clean drinking water. With roads and airports still out of service in many locations, aid deliveries take days instead of hours, and many evacuees wonder when their lives will regain some sort of normalcy (sound familiar?). Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like the IFRC are working with the United Nations and local governments to provide aid and begin rebuilding, but all realize the recovery will be a herculean task that will last for years.
The American news media didn't report these facts about the tsunami because after a few days of newspots where TV reporters and print journalists got their Pulitzer Prize-submission pictures taken, they went home. What self-respecting network celebrity wants to hang out in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, or Indonesia when they can hang out with the beautiful people in New York or Los Angeles and write about Brad and Jennifer and Angolie? Besides, they have bigger fish to fry in the person of President Bush, a known eater of red meat (BBQ!) and worse yet, a Christian!
So many of the anti-American Left claim to be outraged at the supposed lies the Bush Administration told in preparing the United States for the Iraq liberation. Strange how lies perpetrated by their cohorts in the mainstream media don't bother them at all.