New Garage Door Day

Even when we moved in to our house just under two years ago our garage door didn't shut properly (our neighbour later told us that it hadn't shut properly in the twenty years he's been living nextdoor).  As we didn't plan on storing our regular sized car in our small garage this wasn't initially a problem. 

The issue came to a head this summer when one of the mechanisms that held on side of the door became detached from the garage structure. I reattached the arm briefly but the old rotten wood just could not withstand the preassure of the spring loaded door mechanism (and another neighbour hinted that this kind if opener may no longer be considered safe). 

So once we finally realized that our garage door was no longer moveable (it could stay in either the open or closed position but not move between the two) we agreed to buy a replacement door. Because we don't plan on using the garage as a garage we went for the cheapest uninsulated garage-openerless door we could find. 

We eventually lucked into a sale and managed to find what we were looking for for only a few hundred dollars (installation included). The only downside was that they did not have the door in stock and once it arrived we would have to fit ourselves into the installer's schedule. 

So now, over two months after we originally ordered the door, it is being installed. Unfortunately for the installer it is snowing steadily. The only good news for him is that it is a small, light, opener-less door. He isn't expecting it to be a long job. 

That said, I'm quite excited to see the finished product after this long wait. 

A Few Quick Notes 616

-Today has been see-sawing between sunny periods and grey periods.  Despite the less than perfect weather, it is much warmer and generally much nicer than when we arrived in Regina at this time of year two years ago.  At the time Wascana Lake had already frozen and it wasn't until Spring that we had temperatures this warm.

-Yes, we've now been in Regina for just over two years (though three Halloweens).  Last night we had dinner at the restaurant we first visited on our first night in town.  The time has really flown by.

-Yesterday we went to Moose Jaw for the day to participate in an Ultimate tournament.  Because we're too old for that kind thing (though we did manage to beat two younger teams) we're really feeling the effects today in a bad way.  Hopefully we won't be in too much pain by the time we need to head to work tomorrow morning.

-My Margaret Wente pumpkin was a bit of a bust - not a single kid (or parent) commented on it.  Maybe today's kids just aren't up on their national newspaper columnists?  Or maybe I did a bad job carving her likeness? Or, more likely, both?

Reverse synergy?

Over the course of the past few years I have listened to several episodes of podcasts about terrible movies.  Unfortunately, I've found most of these explorations of this topic have been rather underwhelming and really aren't what I was hoping for.

These discussions tend to be rather superficial and just discuss aspects of the movie that didn't work/how they are bad.

What I keep hoping these these will be are real discussions of how experienced companies can have so many major multimillion dollar projects go so far off the rails. (One brief interview I heard about the making/meddling of Jaws 3 was quite enlightening.)  It would seem that in some instances some form of groupthink so overwhelms the process that reverse synergy (or synergy that brings out the worst features of a project rather than the best) dooms the project.

Of course, I suspect that one of the major problems - if not the major problem - is that anyone who could speak to these matters authoritatively could only do so at the risk of damaging their career in the industry.  Consequently the viewing public is left with Hollywood's true movie magic - no meaningful explanation of how experienced movie studios/makers allow themselves to regularly produce truly horrific duds for staggering sums of money.