The annual Society for News Design awards were handed out last weekend, and a secret ballot determined the winner of the contest’s “best in show,” known as the World’s Best Designed Newspaper.

Some years, multiple papers win, some years none do. Here’s a bunch of pages from this year’s lone winner, Portugal’s “i”.

Some truly beautiful ideas in there.

Also, Stephanie started her own blog! Turns out Tumblr has just the right mix of features and simplicity that was preventing her from posting more around here. So, until I find a way to pull those posts into this blog, definitely bookmark her new spot on the web: stephanievankat.tumblr.com

Now that I’m relegated to inside home improvement projects thanks to sub-zero temperatures, I’m tackling a few nagging issues.

First up: kitchen water pressure.

Since we moved in two years ago, the kitchen sink, it seems, had only released water by accident. An anemic, pathetic stream. Jokingly, I would tell people that you could make a trip to the bathroom in the time it took to fill up a pan with enough to make pasta. Then one night I actually did just that. (Another, equally annoying, option would have been to just fill up the pans in the bathroom. That, though, is more difficult to explain at dinner parties.)

Occasionally, there would be a sign that the pressure might return. We’d turn off the main water line to fix something else, and when turned back on, the pressure would surge in the kitchen, then promptly return to a trickle.

Our (and by “our,” I mean Dad’s) main theory was that the mix of copper and iron pipes in the basement had combined to form a corroded road block of sorts, causing the low flow to the kitchen. We scheduled several exploratory sessions that mainly involved a lot of grasping our chins and staring knowingly at the pipes in the basement ceiling.

“That’s got to be the problem,” we’d both say, as we tried to come up with another excuse project that DIDN’T involve hack saws, a blow torch and hours of work.

I’d cautiously taken the sink handle apart on several occasions, thinking there wasn’t much damage I could cause as long as I put things back together in the right order. No luck there either. Same wimpy flow.

Seeing strong pressure (blasting pressure — seriously, the basement shower can take off skin) at the other faucets in the house only made it worse. Here’s a 95-year-old house taunting me to find the problem. So, a few weeks ago, I did what any clueless homeowner does — he backtracks, thinking to himself, “Maybe I missed something last time. If I just try it again, I’ll find the solution.”

And I did.

I grabbed a bucket, then pulled out the trash can from under the sink and disconnected the lines. When I turned the valve, water shot out. A steady stream. “See! Look! The pressure from the basement is great right here. The problem is somewhere beyond the valve!” (This was me talking to myself at 1:30 in the morning.) Five connect-disconnect experiments later, I had isolated the diverter (I only know the name because I found a parts diagram online) that sends water between the main spout and the sprayer.

That diverter had three parts, giving me a choice: Do I just order all three parts from the internet, or do I go with the cheapest one, hoping it’ll work? And of course, stupidity prevailed again. I ordered only the cheapest one. $18.73 from the Moen online store, delivery in 5-7 business days.

I even sent Dad and Stephanie an excited, 2:30 a.m. email proclaiming a theoretical solution that didn’t involve potential basement flooding. Understandably, they responded with the email equivalent of rolling their eyes: “Good! I hope it works.”

At this point, I should probably apologize to my family, who had a hell of a time finding Christmas presents for me this year. For about a week mid-December, I was truly so excited about this sink part that I didn’t even WANT any other gifts. I wasn’t going to be bothered with a list — all of my problems could be solved if I could just fill a bowl of ramen noodles with water in less than 20 seconds!

Imagine my disappointment then, when the part never came.

After eight business days, I emailed Moen customer service:

“Hi, I bought this sink part and you said it was coming this week, but it never did. Can you tell me what happened? And maybe refund my shipping cost?”

(Of course, I never got a tracking number on the package when I placed the order because that would have cost me two more bucks. “$1.99 for Priority Mail? Pssssh. Heck naw, that’s a ripoff.”)

The response from Moen was predictable: “We usually advise customers that shipping will take 8-10 business days. And we have no idea where the package is because you didn’t want that option. No refund.”

So, I waited another, excruciating week. One night, I thought it had arrived. Smallish, yellow envelope. Plastic cylinder inside. Strange, unknown return address. Yes!

Nope. It was Mom’s stupid Christmas present watch. Seriously, my happiness at that point was attached to the unknowing mailman’s daily deliveries.

Another email, two weeks after the shipping confirmation: “Come on now, Moen. Quit playing games with my part. It’s been 13 business days and two full weekends. Where is my Product #14960, Pre ’09 Model?! This time I’m formally requesting a refund.”

“Mr. Vankat. We are sorry. We don’t know where the part is. Let us send you a new one, free shipping. But still no tracking number.”

The part finally arrived at our door on Dec. 21.

And the damn thing worked. It just worked.

Been busy at the office for a couple weeks working on two cool projects:

First is the Mayor Suttle recall signatures database that lets people search the 28,000+ petition signers by name or zip code. We threw in a couple charts for some easy data analysis and turned it loose on the public last week. As expected, the feedback has been of two varieties: (1) “Hey that’s really cool. I thought the World-Herald only employed writers,” or (2) “Hey, that should be illegal! Why are you publishing my name?”

And for those of you less politically inclined, check out our local holiday lights map. We’re taking submission photos from people around town and making it easy to find the best lights nearby.

At first, I was a little mad that the U.S. isn’t going to be hosting the World Cup in 2022.

“Qatar?! It’s hot there! It’s small there! Don’t they know there needs to be a U after the Q?”

But then I saw the stadiums that they’re going to build. Convertible upper decks! Outdoor air conditioning! Water taxis!

Now I’m trying to find Qatar on a map to see if I can get a plane ticket there.

Uh, apparently it’s winter.

Instead of shoveling, we gave the neighbors something to smile about in the morning.

Here’s the latest from the patio. As you can see, all of the full-size stones are in place now. Another few blocks to finish off the edges and it’ll be ready to go.

Last weekend was spent breathing in stone dust as I cut odd-shaped pieces to fill in around the edges. At one point, I was worried I was going to run into a roadblock when the hammer-chisel method provided unpredictable results.

Dad to the rescue. He whipped out the circular saw, and I made a quick trip to Lowe’s for a diamond-tipped blade, which the internet promised would cut through stone and skin alike with no trouble whatsoever. After a quick backyard tutorial where I learned some survival tips (adjust the blade with the power off; keep the cord under control), someone might have confused me with Bob Vila if they didn’t look close enough.

Other than being deaf for two days thanks to all the noise, I made it through with all 10 fingers. Success.

Dangerous power tools cutting through stone with a cloud of dust enveloping the back yard and sparks flying everywhere. Of course, I made it all weekend without getting any action shots of the manliest thing I’ve ever done. Go figure.

Anyway, I’ve the bags and piles of materials are finally cleared from the driveway, just in time to bring out the snow blower.

We’re checking the schedules for a Saturday afternoon party next weekend to celebrate the near-finished state of backyard affairs, so plan to stop over in the afternoon on the 20th for some drinks and patio sitting.

Exactly two months later, it’s time for a patio update.

Here’s where we left off, on the 23rd of August.

Following the digging of the trench, I did lay most of the blocks for the wall on the weekend of Aug. 29 (with some help from my construction adhesive expert):

Then I promptly took a vacation from patio work during the first three weekends in September. Went to Lincoln for a football game. Then Mother Nature stopped cooperating and turned the patio into a swamp for a couple weeks.

During this time of no progress, I had plenty of time to think about ways to complicate the project. The idea of a single, giant 15 x 20 space had been bothering me a bit. The patio needed an additional “something.” So I decided to add a second, lower level to the patio plan. (And remember, the “plan” for this project was never really more than that sketch I showed in the original blog post about the patio.)

So, the last weekend of September was spent adding a few more wall blocks and digging out the space for the lower level, which is just a single step town from the upper part:

October has had plenty of spectacular weather, which allowed for real progress.

I moved the rest of the crushed rock, a wheelbarrow at a time:

Added sand to the lower level:

And started laying the paver stones:

By the end of last weekend, I had moved all of the raw materials from the driveway. All that’s left now are those two palattes full of stone down by the garage:

This weekend: I’ll rake flat the rest of the sand on the patio’s upper level, then start laying the stones. I’m hoping to finish all but the very edge, which is going to need some special cuts to fill in the cracks and small leftover spaces. More pictures on Sunday night.

I promise a patio pictures update soon, but first I’m sharing some work I did for a friend.

Bryan Redemske is a former World-Herald guy who now runs the Trek store on 72nd Street. For the past couple years, he has organized a charity bike ride / scavenger hunt to benefit the Omaha Food Bank. Last year, he and the riders donated 1,800 pounds of food and nearly $700.

I’ve been lucky enough to help him out with a couple posters.

Here’s our latest iteration:

So, if riding around northwest Omaha in search of canned goods is your idea of a fun way to spend a Saturday morning, or if you’re searching for a way to help some people put a good meal on the table, definitely come out and ride on November 13. Obviously, it’s for a good cause. Even if riding’s not your thing, definitely stop by and eat a bowl of chili. The more the merrier.

[Cranksgiving 2010 - more info]

We’re sitting here watching the Nebraska game and a commercial comes on in which we kind of recognize one of the actors. Trying to identify the guy is driving me nuts. Chris says to “ask the internet.”

So I did.

Typed “Who is that guy in the Lowe’s commercial?” in to the search box.

First result is a page on answers.com where someone asked the same question.

Answer: “His real name is RJ Kelly and he’s the same guy who rips off the kids in the Ally Bank commericals.”

No context. No clues. I didn’t even specify which Lowe’s commercial I was talking about. And in 10 seconds, I have the answer to my question.

Love it.

1000 tweets a second! So, twitter is popular, huh?