Shared Bits 6-Year Anniversary

Contents

---

• 01 – Overview
• 02 – Kitchen Faucet Replacement
• 03 – Major Update to Prior Post
• 04 – Replaced Office Chair
• 05 – Toilet Tank Rebuild and Toilet Alcove Repaint
• 06 – Gave Up on the Idea of Making Money from My Blog
• 07 – My Dentist Retired
• 08 – Began Catching Up on Recording Blog Statistics
• 09 – Discovered a Yellow Jacket Ground Nest
• 10 – Outdoor Liquid Ant Bait Protection
• 11 – Conclusion

01 – Overview

---

Shared Bits set another milestone this year. In November 2023, I surpassed the 2,000 visitor hurdle. Although visitor counts can be exciting, the counts are tempered by the fact that not many people spend much time on my site.

I published 6 posts this year and retired 2. Therefore, Shared Bits now has a total of 72 published posts, including this post.

I like to replace the main site header image and the site identity icon image every three years. Since this is the sixth year of my blog, I replaced both images on 09/11/2024.

I had been thinking about reducing my posting frequency. However, even if I had wanted to publish more posts, a number of issues and projects prevented me from doing so.

02 – Kitchen Faucet Replacement

---

In December, our kitchen sink faucet began leaking from the handle. The issue has happened once or twice in the past and I just called up Pfister Faucets, explained the issue, and they sent replacement parts. The pull-out faucet had a lifetime warranty.

However, I tired of having to replace the worn parts and I decided it was time for a new faucet. I spent a great deal of time researching faucets and I finally settled on another Pfister Faucets faucet, a pull-down style called Norden in stainless steel.

It took me two days to install the faucet. Initially, I didn’t want to lay down in the sink cabinet and on the kitchen floor to perform the install because of concerns about aggravating my spine. However, I wasn’t able to tighten the faucet retaining nut without getting in the sink cabinet. I came up with the idea of using one of our sofa cushions to provide more length so that I could lay comfortably in the sink cabinet and on the kitchen floor without aggravating my spine.

I connected everything and turned the water on and there was a leak from the cold water shutoff valve. I did some research and I discovered that the Keeney quarter turn shutoff valves that I had installed years ago had a reputation for leaking. Therefore, I decided to replace both shutoff valves with SharkBite quarter turn shutoff valves.

I cut the CPVC pipe just below the old shutoff valves. After cutting each shutoff valve, water dribbled from the supply line, necessitating absorbing the pooling water in the sink cabinet using a sponge. I spent about an hour cleaning up water for each shutoff valve; about two hours total.

After installing the new shutoff valves and hooking everything up again, I turned on the water and to my relief there were no leaks.

03 – Major Update to Prior Post

---

After many months of work, in January I finally updated my post on installing and maintaining Debian Unstable. It took me so long to work on the update that I had to redo most of the screenshots because Debian changed the desktop theming. I also changed my mind about desktop metapackage installs I was going to cover resulting in my discarding quite a bit of work that I had done. I’m quite pleased with the update.

04 – Replaced Office Chair

---

In January, an issue developed with the back edge of the seat pan on my Herman Miller Embody office chair that I purchased in 2016, making sitting in the chair unbearably painful. For a few weeks, I alternated between using a kitchen chair and a dining room chair. Neither chair was comfortable for use while working on my computers.

I finally decided to purchase a new office chair. I spent quite a bit of time researching a replacement office chair. I finally decided to purchase the Eurotech 4X4XL high back computer chair from Beyond the Office Door in February.

Before using the new chair, I removed the arms because I can’t sit facing straight forward in a chair. I have two disc bulges/protrusions in the thoracic area of my spine. Sitting at an angle helps to somewhat relieve the pain in my thoracic area when I’m sitting in a chair.

Initially, I was very happy with the chair. Unfortunately, the second time I used the chair, my right greater trochanter area became quite painful when I went grocery shopping. I have bilateral greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS).

I’m quite certain that the resulting pain in my right greater trochanter area was due to sitting at an angle in the seat pan. The seat pan was quite firm and it had curves, kind of like a bucket seat. So that meant one of my buttocks was pressed against one of the curves while I was sitting.

After close inspection, I discovered that the seat pan of my new chair was secured to the chair frame with 6 bolts. I removed the bolts and then the seat pan was easily removed.

I had a piece of scrap 1/2-inch plywood sitting in the basement and there was enough that I could cut a platform to make my own seat pan. I cut the scrap plywood with a handheld jigsaw and I drilled holes in the plywood to attach it to the steel frame of the chair.

I tried using my Tempurpedic seat cushion for cushioning, but it nearly bottoms out which irritated my greater trachanter area in both hips. I checked with a company I’ve purchased buckwheat hull pillows from in the past, but they don’t sell chair cushions. Therefore, I checked the Comfy Comfy site and they sell a 18-in x 18-in cushion insert (chair cushion). I purchased the chair cushion in March.

The buckwheat hull chair cushion is quite firm, but I’ve become accustomed to it.

05 – Toilet Tank Rebuild and Toilet Alcove Repaint

---

Toward the end of 2023, I decided that I was going to purchase an add-on bidet for the toilet in the master bathroom. However, after looking at the toilet tank internal parts, I also decided that I was going to do a toilet tank rebuild. I purchased all of the necessary items from Amazon in December.

I then got to thinking that since I was going to have to remove the toilet tank, it would be a good time to repaint the toilet alcove in the master bathroom. Most of the paint in our home is flat paint, including in the bathrooms of all places, which I absolutely hate because it cannot be cleaned. I also wanted to see how a bright yellow would look. So I also purchased a gallon of semi-gloss paint tinted with a color called lemon peel in December.

The toilet rebuild was placed on hold until I finished repainting the toilet alcove. I didn’t get started on repainting the bathroom until February. The repaint didn’t turn out that great. I thought I could paint in phases, which turned out to be a bad idea when I researched painting techniques later on YouTube. The repaint isn’t horrible, but it definitely doesn’t pass as professional in appearance in my opinion.

I finally finished everything in April/May, except for the add-on bidet. I installed the add-on bidet, turned on the water, and water shot out from the hose connecting the water supply to the add-on bidet. The instructions recommended using teflon tape, but I didn’t get warm fuzzies from the idea of teflon tape being the only thing preventing a leak. I ended up trashing the add-on bidet since it was past the 30-day return period.

The repaint project was a learning experience. I learned that I can no longer paint a whole room because I can’t be on my feet for more than 2.5 – 3 hours due to my having degenerative disc disease.

06 – Gave Up on the Idea of Making Money from My Blog

---

In April, I decided to give up on the idea of making money from my blog and I officially dissolved my limited liability company (LLC). I spent quite a bit of time in 2023 researching and trying ad providers, but I wasn’t able to find an ad provider that wanted to serve ads on my site and whom I desired to work with. You can read more about my experience here.

Since I wasn’t going to make money from my blog, I also decided to stop using FlyingPress and FlyingCDN in April.

07 – My Dentist Retired

---

I received notice in early May that the dentist I had been seeing for just over 7 years was retiring.

I spent quite a bit of time looking for a new dentist. One criteria that my new dentist had to meet was offering the option of manual instrument cleaning because I absolutely hate and refuse to have an ultrasonic scaling unit, also known as a cavitron, used to clean my teeth.

I finally found a dental office near the end of May that didn’t require the use of an ultrasonic scaling unit for dental cleaning, two of the three dentists in the office are highly rated, and the office is very close to where I live.

I’m glad I found another dental office because the back outside corner of tooth #3 disintegrated in June when I was flossing. The tooth had a large filling. The tooth was crowned near the end of August. I was also told that my lower right wisdom tooth has two cavities, one of the cavities isn’t repairable, and that I would probably need a root canal. When it rains, it pours!

08 – Began Catching Up on Recording Blog Statistics

---

I somehow got way behind in recording my blog statistics (visitor counts, pages viewed, etc.) in the LibreOffice Base database I created. I’m still trying to catch up as of the date of this post.

09 – Discovered a Yellow Jacket Ground Nest

---

On July 05, I went outside to set up another rat trap for catching chipmunks. When I walked back to go down the exterior basement walkup, I discovered a yellow jacket ground nest in our backyard near the top corner of the exterior basement walkup.

I spent quite a bit of time researching how to eliminate the nest. I didn’t sleep well for a few nights because the thought of the nest and how I was going to eliminate it weighed heavy on my mind. You can read more about my experience here.

10 – Outdoor Liquid Ant Bait Protection

---

We began having trouble with ants coming into the house during the warmer months not long after we moved in. Initially, I used indoor ant baits, which worked, but the ants had to come inside the house. I then learned about exterior ant baits which seemed like a better idea; get them before they come inside the house.

I began using Terro Outdoor ant baits and they have worked quite well. The only problem is that some form of wildlife is attracted to the liquid inside the bait stations. Every year I’ve installed them outside, a few of them end up with the tops ripped off.

Last year I tried ant bait stakes from the same company, but I didn’t think they worked well at all. They were also difficult to push into the soil. Therefore, I decided to use the ant baits I’ve used in the past and I would come up with something to protect them from whatever creature was ripping off the tops.

I came up with an idea and implemented it, but the idea isn’t quite perfect. I need to perfect the method I came up with. I don’t want to disclose the idea I came up with because it will be good material for a future post.

I finally finished the project in August and I then installed the ant baits outside near the end of August.

11 – Conclusion

---

While I’m somewhat disappointed that I will not be able to generate revenue from my blog, I still enjoy blogging so I plan to continue into the forseeable future. Leave your comments and questions in the Comment box at the bottom of the page. Thank you for visiting.

Post header image courtesy of Pexels at Pixabay.

2024-006