Porch Covering

I like my porch.  It is my favorite place to be, even though all the spiders in the city have moved there.  I like to do the following things on my porch: drink beer, read, nap, drink more beer, sweat profusely in the sun,  eat, drink wine, stare at my dog, and accidentally flash my neighbors (sorry, neighbors) (kind of... you seem like maybe you're a bunch of dicks).

The thing about Oregon is that summer is about 3 and a half weeks long, and then there's something like 15 months of rain.  I don't want to be chased inside just because of the rain, but I also don't want to get wet.  So!  A covering!  A lesser and more practical human being would just buy something like this: A tarp canopy! or this: Another one!

So those are almost exactly what I want to build, but not quite.  I've looked into it, and I'm pretty sure if I spend around $300, I can make my own out of 2" PVC pipes and tarps.  To the diagram:

Now, let's break this thing down in all its glory:

So, I figure I'll head to a hardware store, buy some 10' lengths of PVC pipe, some random fittings at random angles, like three rolls of duct tape and BLAM I'll have a structure that will look like these diagrams, but BETTER.

Then, I can just like fling some tarps over it, and it will pretty much be the best lookin' thing in the neighborhood.  And not at all trashy.

God, blogging makes me tired, anyone have a beer for me?