I'm getting sick unto death of all the "marijuana is evil and causes evil to come forth" nonsense that is plaguing the airways these days. I turned away from the final commercials of the CSI:Miami tonight because the cause of the fatal accident? Hiding MJ under the hood. This led to cutting the power steering line (which I have to say, as someone who has pillaged through an engine compartment with tools and duct tape, is totally bogus with regards to hiding a dime bag) which led his underage sister into crashing a car and killing two people. It's only the MJ that makes it a crime. Otherwise, it's just tragedy.
But really, how much longer do we have to hear crap about the demon weed? I even wrote into the local radio station after 3 solid weeks of hearing about "major marijuana busts!!!!" when we're just **two months shy from pretty well legalizing it. The point of view I expressed what that if the growers are paying for their own water and electricity for plants grown on their own land, as their neighbor, I don't care. I care when someone grows crops on parkland, just as I would be upset with someone growing commercial strawberries or grazing cattle there without permission. And I care when we waste police and prison resources on this.
Giant ass rant after the jump.
Showing posts with label condo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label condo. Show all posts
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Vanity, Thy Name is Orange
A week before getting eye surgery, I had no running water in my bath or sink, and the area was clouded with construction dust. Now it looks like this and I love it.
The mostly complete saga is here if you want to
The mostly complete saga is here if you want to
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Having an odd damn day
It was a good thing I left the condo today or I would have missed out on that whole daylight savings time change. I was sorely confused at 4:10pm when I thought we were still working through the 3 o'clock hour, but things are fine. I did sleep for at least 12 hours on friday and saturday night and am tired enough to sleep now, so hopefully I'll actually sleep and not just lay there thinking odd thoughts.
Because I had some odd thoughts last night/earlier today. The wacky dream started with the premise that the Irish celebrate St. Patty's day by taking cash to tax-free Caribbean islands to put in numbered accounts. That might have something to do with my recent re-watching of The Bourne Identity. Somehow in this dream I found some cash of my own to withdraw, convinced a friend to come with me and stayed at some wacky, hard to find hostel down a scary-steep road. Then I got distracted by the offer of a free hand-made purse. Mercifully, I didn't have to crawl through any small doors or hatches or tunnels, but it was still a pretty strange dream. I had thought recently that my dream frequency had fallen off, but both this weekend and last weekend had some pretty elaborate ones.
I tried again today to make beef stew. The cooks illustrated version had some good things going for it, but it cost too much, and I didn't really like olives in my stew. I found a similar recipe at the doctor's office, of all places, in the WebMD magazine they had a billion copies of in the waiting room. I risked the germs and brought a copy home and cut out the recipes. I might show some pictures of it tomorrow if I feel inspired, but it looked a lot like the other stew. The key difference was cost and beans. Instead of 3 pounds of meat, it took 1 and two cans of beans (kidney and black - I used "white kidney" beans). It didn't call for $8 mushrooms, or mushrooms of any sort for that matter, but I like them and added half a $3 box. It called for a cup of wine instead of a bottle, but I went with 2 cups and then doubled the broth too, only I used chicken instead of beef because the ethnic stores across the street do sell carrots and chicken stock, but no beef products. I followed the CI assembly order, added in their flour and orange zest, and it worked pretty well, but needed to cook a LOT longer than 90 minutes in the oven, even though it turns out my big oven overtemps by about 20 degrees. Anyway, I can buy the meat pre-cut, I like the beans better than olives, and it was $15 plus wine, not $40. So if I can handle the leftovers, it's a keeper.
Lastly, I stopped in at an open house in my complex today and talked to the realtor there (which is when I found out about the time reset). The place is the exact layout of mine, only upstairs so it has a vaulted ceiling and gets some light even though it also mostly faces north. And lists for 55% of what my condo cost me. My idea is that I buy a cheap place now (if I can) so I at least have one possible moneymaker while I can still get a good price. This realtor knows a mortgage person who'd be willing to talk to me about this. This could be cool.
Lastly for realzers, Jennifer Crusie's new book Wild Ride comes out on Tuesday, and I'm going to go see Suz Brockmann's play Looking for Billy Haynes in a couple weeks. I might be able to see a friend or several in Phoenix this coming weekend after a work trip. So there's good stuff coming.
Because I had some odd thoughts last night/earlier today. The wacky dream started with the premise that the Irish celebrate St. Patty's day by taking cash to tax-free Caribbean islands to put in numbered accounts. That might have something to do with my recent re-watching of The Bourne Identity. Somehow in this dream I found some cash of my own to withdraw, convinced a friend to come with me and stayed at some wacky, hard to find hostel down a scary-steep road. Then I got distracted by the offer of a free hand-made purse. Mercifully, I didn't have to crawl through any small doors or hatches or tunnels, but it was still a pretty strange dream. I had thought recently that my dream frequency had fallen off, but both this weekend and last weekend had some pretty elaborate ones.
I tried again today to make beef stew. The cooks illustrated version had some good things going for it, but it cost too much, and I didn't really like olives in my stew. I found a similar recipe at the doctor's office, of all places, in the WebMD magazine they had a billion copies of in the waiting room. I risked the germs and brought a copy home and cut out the recipes. I might show some pictures of it tomorrow if I feel inspired, but it looked a lot like the other stew. The key difference was cost and beans. Instead of 3 pounds of meat, it took 1 and two cans of beans (kidney and black - I used "white kidney" beans). It didn't call for $8 mushrooms, or mushrooms of any sort for that matter, but I like them and added half a $3 box. It called for a cup of wine instead of a bottle, but I went with 2 cups and then doubled the broth too, only I used chicken instead of beef because the ethnic stores across the street do sell carrots and chicken stock, but no beef products. I followed the CI assembly order, added in their flour and orange zest, and it worked pretty well, but needed to cook a LOT longer than 90 minutes in the oven, even though it turns out my big oven overtemps by about 20 degrees. Anyway, I can buy the meat pre-cut, I like the beans better than olives, and it was $15 plus wine, not $40. So if I can handle the leftovers, it's a keeper.
Lastly, I stopped in at an open house in my complex today and talked to the realtor there (which is when I found out about the time reset). The place is the exact layout of mine, only upstairs so it has a vaulted ceiling and gets some light even though it also mostly faces north. And lists for 55% of what my condo cost me. My idea is that I buy a cheap place now (if I can) so I at least have one possible moneymaker while I can still get a good price. This realtor knows a mortgage person who'd be willing to talk to me about this. This could be cool.
Lastly for realzers, Jennifer Crusie's new book Wild Ride comes out on Tuesday, and I'm going to go see Suz Brockmann's play Looking for Billy Haynes in a couple weeks. I might be able to see a friend or several in Phoenix this coming weekend after a work trip. So there's good stuff coming.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Picking Up
I forget some important things:
- it's difficult to host a party and do something like mix dough
- dusting the rolling pin and surface with flour or sugar will keep the dough from sticking so the cookies cut with cutters will actually detach and retain their shape (sadly, this didn't get figured out until late in the day. sigh)
- noise makes me more tired than just about anything
The cookie party was a rousing success. People stayed long enough to get some serious baking done. I coerced my newly widowed friend to get out of her pjs and join us. A couple people brought their kids. And a coworker brought her bluegrass quartet. They just jammed in the livingroom for about 3 hours while we fed them cookies. Funnily enough, they had been disappointed at a previous engagement when someone took the cookies away before they got off stage, so they were ripe for cookies. It was delightful to have them as it was fun music and they played well. (One of the players had a style much like the music from Chocolat - a kind of french gypsy cant.) But it also was almost overwhelmingly loud for much of the day. I'd ask them back in a heartbeat, but I might wear some hearing protection just to dull the roar.
The kitchen as I remodeled it has really good flow and several workstations in and out of the kitchen proper allowing 4 or 5 people to all be busy doing something at the same time without too much tripping over each other. I'm really happy with how it has worked out. (So far so good on the tiles too.)
Then only thing is, I still have a couple recipes to whip up and several batches of cookies that need cookie cutting to make progress and I just want to pass out and enjoy my de-cluttered condo!
- it's difficult to host a party and do something like mix dough
- dusting the rolling pin and surface with flour or sugar will keep the dough from sticking so the cookies cut with cutters will actually detach and retain their shape (sadly, this didn't get figured out until late in the day. sigh)
- noise makes me more tired than just about anything
The cookie party was a rousing success. People stayed long enough to get some serious baking done. I coerced my newly widowed friend to get out of her pjs and join us. A couple people brought their kids. And a coworker brought her bluegrass quartet. They just jammed in the livingroom for about 3 hours while we fed them cookies. Funnily enough, they had been disappointed at a previous engagement when someone took the cookies away before they got off stage, so they were ripe for cookies. It was delightful to have them as it was fun music and they played well. (One of the players had a style much like the music from Chocolat - a kind of french gypsy cant.) But it also was almost overwhelmingly loud for much of the day. I'd ask them back in a heartbeat, but I might wear some hearing protection just to dull the roar.
The kitchen as I remodeled it has really good flow and several workstations in and out of the kitchen proper allowing 4 or 5 people to all be busy doing something at the same time without too much tripping over each other. I'm really happy with how it has worked out. (So far so good on the tiles too.)
Then only thing is, I still have a couple recipes to whip up and several batches of cookies that need cookie cutting to make progress and I just want to pass out and enjoy my de-cluttered condo!
Cookie Party
Today's the day! I did better with the prep this year in that I'm basically ready now for people to show up -I need to stash some stuff and change clothes, but I'm not cleaning the bathroom frantically like last year. (And no one even used the bathroom, to my knowledge.)
It's been about a 3 week process to get to this point though. I have 3 giant bags packed for the goodwill, took out innumerable bags of trash (most of it paper) and recycling. And it makes me wonder why I am willing to live with such debris. I watch shows like Clean Sweep and Hoarders and get a grim sense of what my future will be if I don't get after this stuff. I think the important thing is to have a system for incoming stuff. I can maintain systems, but if I bring something in that doesn't have a place, it can set off a cascade of lazy. But for now, it's corralled.
The kitchen tile has been re-laid. A colleague of mine did the cut pieces for me and did just a fantastic job. I'm a little nervy in that the last cut tiles have only been in place for about 18 hours and grouted for 14. The instructions want me to wait 24 hours before walking on the tile and 16 for the grout so I've had fans going since last night. But it is SO nice to have a whole floor again and not worry about tile edges or wobbly tiles.
I've made a couple of stocking up runs and am now full up with 10# flour, 3 dozen eggs, 6# butter, and various and sundry nuts and fruits. I've got a nice list of the standard cookies and perhaps someone will bring one of their favorites too. Time for one last swipe of the swiffer and I'm off to change and bring butter to the masses. I'll let you know if the bluegrass duo shows.
It's been about a 3 week process to get to this point though. I have 3 giant bags packed for the goodwill, took out innumerable bags of trash (most of it paper) and recycling. And it makes me wonder why I am willing to live with such debris. I watch shows like Clean Sweep and Hoarders and get a grim sense of what my future will be if I don't get after this stuff. I think the important thing is to have a system for incoming stuff. I can maintain systems, but if I bring something in that doesn't have a place, it can set off a cascade of lazy. But for now, it's corralled.
The kitchen tile has been re-laid. A colleague of mine did the cut pieces for me and did just a fantastic job. I'm a little nervy in that the last cut tiles have only been in place for about 18 hours and grouted for 14. The instructions want me to wait 24 hours before walking on the tile and 16 for the grout so I've had fans going since last night. But it is SO nice to have a whole floor again and not worry about tile edges or wobbly tiles.
I've made a couple of stocking up runs and am now full up with 10# flour, 3 dozen eggs, 6# butter, and various and sundry nuts and fruits. I've got a nice list of the standard cookies and perhaps someone will bring one of their favorites too. Time for one last swipe of the swiffer and I'm off to change and bring butter to the masses. I'll let you know if the bluegrass duo shows.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Revenge of the Bromeliad
Happiness in pictures today. And go back and check out the pic I'm adding to the last post too.
The farmer's market here tends to have mostly common staples that are both boring and expensive. I've managed to figure out which things are a little less expensive and necessary or interesting and fun and how much I can eat in a week. Here and there we get some exotic or just fun variation, but it can be surprisingly uninspiring some weeks. For a while, everyone had multicolored beets which look amazing, but I don't like beets. The last couple of weeks, though, wow! This picture represents both this week's and last week's haul less a few fuji apples, navel oranges, and hass avocados.
This is two weeks together because last week was a little weird. I had an event on thursday and had to run out without doing my vinegar rinse, then I just kept not doing it. (Can't cook, reading!) My kitchen drain hooked to both the disposal and dishwasher got blocked up. I tried various schemes to unblock it, but didn't want to haul out the fruits and veg and risk blocking the other side. The last couple weeks have been more fruitful, so to speak, and cheaper than usual. The strawberries that are usually $7-$12 for a 3 pack were $5. The new sweet grapefruit hybrids are producing. There are rainbow colored cauliflower and carrots! I couldn't resist. I have orange cauliflower and purple, orange, and yellow carrots. (And the kettlecorn people now offer a $2 bag, not just a $4 or $6 bag so I got some of that too and ate it before the picture taking.)
The drain kept me occupied for a while. The admin at work got me this gorgeous bromeliad when I got my tonsils out. I forgot to water it before I left for Vegas and it kinda died. Only not so much with the kinda. It made me sad, but since the plant just popped off to indicate its state, I just ran it through the garbage disposal. And suddenly, the drain ceased to work. Not even a trickle of water got through. I know because I tried all sorts of tricks: filling the sink with hot water, pouring in vinegar, pouring in drano, bailing out the drano and diluting the remains, running the disposal grinder, etc. Nothing worked. Didn't even seep overnight. Finally today I took off the pipe connecting the disposal to the drain and found this lovely ball of goodness. The penny is in there for scale.
At first I thought the root ball had been the culprit, but I dug that out mostly whole. What happened was the leaves didn't really chop, but went through as long strands all in a bunch. When they got to the joint with the other sink drain, there's a pinch point because the T has a diverter plate in there to try and prevent both sinks from stopping up if one does, just in situation s like this. But the reedy bits jammed in there, spread out on the backside, and formed a really solid plug. But I'm happy I fixed it and so far so good on the drain not leaking. I put a dish under it just in case, but here's hoping.
In happier news, mom didn't send me a chocolate bunny this year, just the ears and some butter almond candy stuff. While tasty, it was not a rabbit. I would have been ok, but my brother got a rabbit. Mom said she didn't think I liked them. I don't eat them fast, and when I was a kid had trouble breaking through the body, but I use knives now and am better at sharing. She went back the day after easter and they were out of the normal size. But they had this! A solid milk chocolate easter bunny weighing two pounds six ounces. Let's just call it 2.5 pounds. It's GIANT. I ROFLMAO when I opened the box.
I put it next to the manhandle for scale, although it doesn't probably help. Trust me, it's huge. And mine! But I'll share!
The farmer's market here tends to have mostly common staples that are both boring and expensive. I've managed to figure out which things are a little less expensive and necessary or interesting and fun and how much I can eat in a week. Here and there we get some exotic or just fun variation, but it can be surprisingly uninspiring some weeks. For a while, everyone had multicolored beets which look amazing, but I don't like beets. The last couple of weeks, though, wow! This picture represents both this week's and last week's haul less a few fuji apples, navel oranges, and hass avocados.
This is two weeks together because last week was a little weird. I had an event on thursday and had to run out without doing my vinegar rinse, then I just kept not doing it. (Can't cook, reading!) My kitchen drain hooked to both the disposal and dishwasher got blocked up. I tried various schemes to unblock it, but didn't want to haul out the fruits and veg and risk blocking the other side. The last couple weeks have been more fruitful, so to speak, and cheaper than usual. The strawberries that are usually $7-$12 for a 3 pack were $5. The new sweet grapefruit hybrids are producing. There are rainbow colored cauliflower and carrots! I couldn't resist. I have orange cauliflower and purple, orange, and yellow carrots. (And the kettlecorn people now offer a $2 bag, not just a $4 or $6 bag so I got some of that too and ate it before the picture taking.)
The drain kept me occupied for a while. The admin at work got me this gorgeous bromeliad when I got my tonsils out. I forgot to water it before I left for Vegas and it kinda died. Only not so much with the kinda. It made me sad, but since the plant just popped off to indicate its state, I just ran it through the garbage disposal. And suddenly, the drain ceased to work. Not even a trickle of water got through. I know because I tried all sorts of tricks: filling the sink with hot water, pouring in vinegar, pouring in drano, bailing out the drano and diluting the remains, running the disposal grinder, etc. Nothing worked. Didn't even seep overnight. Finally today I took off the pipe connecting the disposal to the drain and found this lovely ball of goodness. The penny is in there for scale.
At first I thought the root ball had been the culprit, but I dug that out mostly whole. What happened was the leaves didn't really chop, but went through as long strands all in a bunch. When they got to the joint with the other sink drain, there's a pinch point because the T has a diverter plate in there to try and prevent both sinks from stopping up if one does, just in situation s like this. But the reedy bits jammed in there, spread out on the backside, and formed a really solid plug. But I'm happy I fixed it and so far so good on the drain not leaking. I put a dish under it just in case, but here's hoping.
In happier news, mom didn't send me a chocolate bunny this year, just the ears and some butter almond candy stuff. While tasty, it was not a rabbit. I would have been ok, but my brother got a rabbit. Mom said she didn't think I liked them. I don't eat them fast, and when I was a kid had trouble breaking through the body, but I use knives now and am better at sharing. She went back the day after easter and they were out of the normal size. But they had this! A solid milk chocolate easter bunny weighing two pounds six ounces. Let's just call it 2.5 pounds. It's GIANT. I ROFLMAO when I opened the box.
I put it next to the manhandle for scale, although it doesn't probably help. Trust me, it's huge. And mine! But I'll share!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
I've got a Smile on my Face
Wey, hey, hey it's just an ordinary day. Well, for many people it was not an ordinary day, being Easter. But for me, I slept in, fixed my shower controller, took a luxurious shower, started in on one of the books I bought while shopping with a friend yesterday, and finally found a good Indian food restaurant within 20 minutes. Whew! That, and talking to several family members, including grandma, on the phone, made it rather more than an ordinary day but still. Go listen to Great Big Sea and you'll see why it's still ok to have an ordinary day today.
Yesterday was a little less ordinary as I drove into LA, passed the blackened smoking shell of a car on the freeway, and used my Cued Speech for the first time in a while to help someone with their research project. (My cold-start lipreading ability, sans CS is at about 12%, or functionally no ability.) I even got paid for it, although I hadn't been expecting to. I was able to call up a friend at a good enough time that she was able to meet me at Borders where I pretty well shot the wad. Although I did have to kill a few minutes first and spent them replacing my windshield wipers which made up the rest of it. I don't use the wipers often in SoCal, but they were kind of shot and I have a bee in my bonnet about good driving visibility so it was time. I'm doing a test - an upgraded blade on the driver's side vs. the cheapest one on the passenger side. And then I found a book I'd been looking for and couldn't find in my town and had dinner with a friend. Yay!
Today's Good Stuff, detailed
On the surface, I didn't do much today - sleeping late, having a shower, reading, cleaning the kitchen, talking on the phone, going out to eat, watching the sun set over the harbor - but I figure any day that makes me feel good to be alive should put a smile on my face.
Yesterday was a little less ordinary as I drove into LA, passed the blackened smoking shell of a car on the freeway, and used my Cued Speech for the first time in a while to help someone with their research project. (My cold-start lipreading ability, sans CS is at about 12%, or functionally no ability.) I even got paid for it, although I hadn't been expecting to. I was able to call up a friend at a good enough time that she was able to meet me at Borders where I pretty well shot the wad. Although I did have to kill a few minutes first and spent them replacing my windshield wipers which made up the rest of it. I don't use the wipers often in SoCal, but they were kind of shot and I have a bee in my bonnet about good driving visibility so it was time. I'm doing a test - an upgraded blade on the driver's side vs. the cheapest one on the passenger side. And then I found a book I'd been looking for and couldn't find in my town and had dinner with a friend. Yay!
Today's Good Stuff, detailed
- Shower! With the communal arrangement on our water supply and no interior shutoff for my shower, I worried that I'd have to shut off water to three buildings, roughly 30 condos, in order to fix my broken shower handle. I did find out that I could replace it pretty cheap - they sell the exact part I needed for a coupla bucks at any home improvement store here. Then I got to thinking about whether or not I'd just as soon replace it if I had to turn the water off anyway, which delayed the project by several weeks.
I finally decided that I was tired of mucking about with not being sure the water was turned off and worrying that one day it wouldn't be. I stopped at an OSH in the Valley on my way home and found that I could buy the turn-off handle for $5.99, or the turn-off handle AND the water temp adjuster for $3.99. Uh, ok. I checked the directions and it didn't say anything about turning the water supply off to replace it. The picture showed a faucet adjuster that had no way for water to shoot out, and thinking it through, I realized the plastic handles would never be able to withstand the water pressure anyway. So I've been watching the handle crack and fall apart for about 2 months more than I had to, since it turns out I don't have to turn off the supply! Now that I know that, I can also pull the handles off at intervals to clean off the soap scum that builds up behind them.
When the condo was inspected before I bought it, the inspector only found 3 things to point out - one was that the temp indicator on the shower was backward. It turns out that if it was rotated 180deg it would be on the right way, but would be harder to see while showering. Since I shower rather than bathe, I shrugged and replaced it in the "wrong" position. I was able to use my new shower handle and temperature adjuster today and took a luxurious shower. I still feel good and freshly showered hours later. mmmmm. - Family: I talked with most of my family today. I ate some chocolate rabbit ears that mom sent. I had sent baskets to my grandmas, one of whom I talk to on the phone. Grandma liked her Easter basket and took the other to my dad's mom on her birthday a few days ago (Thanks for being thoughtful that way, Grandma!) and my other grandma liked both it and the card.
When my friend was here we went shopping after brunch and found some adorable easter baskets. I hadn't sent anything to my grandmas at Christmas because I'm a dork. Mom suggested sending something for easter, and when I saw these, the inspiration became action.
Cost + World Market had these brightly colored felt baskets for about $5 or $10 surrounded by candy and toys. I picked out two - one like a picket fence around grass and another with a flower on each side - and enough candy to pack inside. I also found a funky chicken that dispensed candy out its "barn door" that I thought my step-grandpa would get a kick out of and I was right.
- Indian Food! Long time readers of this blog may recall my frustration with having no decent Indian food in town. It wasn't so bad when I was heading to El Segundo regularly to blow glass because the studio was near a tasty place (Indian Summer on Main St.) and I could get my fix in. But in town, there was a place and I can only say it was a mercy when it burned down. Sadly, the rebuilt, and the food is no better. There are some places in the Valley and Ventura, but the ones I've been to have not been as much to my taste, not offering my favorite dishes.
I have noticed on occasion that there's an Indian place over the grade but had issues finding it. Finally at lunch this week, we got off at its exit and I was able to figure out where it was. Then, after trying 3 places tonight only to get there at or after their closing time (closing early on Easter for reasons not clear to me), I remembered the Indian place while I was nearby, having just been craving some yesterday. It turns out that they make a tasty Matter Paneer and Chicken Tikka Masala. Even more, they offer a "dinner plate" where they serve a relatively small individual portion of a meat dish and a veggie dish with rice, naan (reg or garlic) with daal (soup) and kheer (rice dessert) for $15! It turned out to be too much food, now I know, but normally I have to buy a full entree of each, then pay for bread and rice additionally if I want them. Sure, it lasts for 2 meals and a snack, but it's usually around $35 plus tax. So happiness on my end - I have a local, affordable place to satisfy my Indian food cravings!
On the surface, I didn't do much today - sleeping late, having a shower, reading, cleaning the kitchen, talking on the phone, going out to eat, watching the sun set over the harbor - but I figure any day that makes me feel good to be alive should put a smile on my face.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Less Boy, More Man..Handles
Piece by piece the kitchen is coming together. I wanted to get a second opinion and a distance view myself before mounting my Soko Manhandles because they aren't at all a standard mount. I do wish it came with a template, but we made do with the H pencil and a nail set. The boy came over to assist in the form of reminding me to do stuff in the right order, holding a block of wood behind the door to prevent chipping, providing moral support and measurement doublechecks. Once you start the drill, there's no turning back. I got all three stickmen up and the two large handles on the big drawers before my nerves gave out. Although with IKEA cabinets, the worst thing that happens is you shell out $15-$60 for a new door and take 2-20 minutes to transfer the hardware. (Two for most of the doors, 20 for the trash pullout.) So far that hasn't been necessary. Wish me luck on the rest - 18 small handles.
Here's what we started with. Manhandles in shiny stainless (texture and colorant dulls it a bit) and Atlas Craftsman in brushed nickel. Sitting on the Wilsonart Milano Quartz countertop whose best and worst feature is you can't see if it's dirty.
I wanted this one for the trash bin.
A little crazy to put something worth real money on the trash you say? Well, not so much. Because I'm not as disciplined about using a trash bowl as Rachel Ray, so I open the thing about 40 times a day. And the way it's mounted with the drawer on the bottom means that a handle placed across the top would torque it a lot. A normal handle placed lower would look stupider than the strapping tape I've been using up 'til now. But a manhandle, a large climbing stickman, is mounted low enough to prevent torquing while I can still comfortably grab the head to pull it open.
The other two make quite the pair. They're on the pantry doors like so.
The upper one is climbing away. The lower one is in a bit of a bind.
And because I love the fool things, here's another shot. Along with all the stuff I haven't quite organized yet. But which will be easier to place now that I don't have to pry the pantry and big drawers open with my fingertips and a bit of friction. Cabinet boy particularly likes the way the shadows play on the doors, but I couldn't get a good picture with the flash off. Maybe later. But for now, Oh no, Mr. Bill!
Here's what we started with. Manhandles in shiny stainless (texture and colorant dulls it a bit) and Atlas Craftsman in brushed nickel. Sitting on the Wilsonart Milano Quartz countertop whose best and worst feature is you can't see if it's dirty.
I wanted this one for the trash bin.
A little crazy to put something worth real money on the trash you say? Well, not so much. Because I'm not as disciplined about using a trash bowl as Rachel Ray, so I open the thing about 40 times a day. And the way it's mounted with the drawer on the bottom means that a handle placed across the top would torque it a lot. A normal handle placed lower would look stupider than the strapping tape I've been using up 'til now. But a manhandle, a large climbing stickman, is mounted low enough to prevent torquing while I can still comfortably grab the head to pull it open.
The other two make quite the pair. They're on the pantry doors like so.
The upper one is climbing away. The lower one is in a bit of a bind.
And because I love the fool things, here's another shot. Along with all the stuff I haven't quite organized yet. But which will be easier to place now that I don't have to pry the pantry and big drawers open with my fingertips and a bit of friction. Cabinet boy particularly likes the way the shadows play on the doors, but I couldn't get a good picture with the flash off. Maybe later. But for now, Oh no, Mr. Bill!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy New Year 2009
Happy New Year!
Not a bad year overall. Pretty good, really.
Good: Got a new kitchen, got a regular date, work went okay, Prop 4 failed to pass, and the big one: Obama got elected president.
Cursed: Online book club blew up and is still reforming; Prop 8 got passed but has started more supportive activism; sleep is increasingly wonky but nose surgery might help, economy is tanking but it's the same everywhere and people are still buying cell phones.
Looking forward to: Better sleep resulting in better work and more time to spend doing things outside work including dating and maintaining friendships (that means you!). By the end of the year, I'd like to have plans in place and prep work done to start on a master's degree... in something or other. I'd like to have the major work finished on the condo - all floors and walls patched and repainted, all shelving where I need to have shelving, all plumbing sound and attractive, and all light fixtures where they need to be. I think if my space is settled, I can be more organized and productive. And have more time to post pictures to the blog.
What are you looking forward to in the coming year?
Not a bad year overall. Pretty good, really.
Good: Got a new kitchen, got a regular date, work went okay, Prop 4 failed to pass, and the big one: Obama got elected president.
Cursed: Online book club blew up and is still reforming; Prop 8 got passed but has started more supportive activism; sleep is increasingly wonky but nose surgery might help, economy is tanking but it's the same everywhere and people are still buying cell phones.
Looking forward to: Better sleep resulting in better work and more time to spend doing things outside work including dating and maintaining friendships (that means you!). By the end of the year, I'd like to have plans in place and prep work done to start on a master's degree... in something or other. I'd like to have the major work finished on the condo - all floors and walls patched and repainted, all shelving where I need to have shelving, all plumbing sound and attractive, and all light fixtures where they need to be. I think if my space is settled, I can be more organized and productive. And have more time to post pictures to the blog.
What are you looking forward to in the coming year?
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Gazelle Stacking Boxes
A friend of mine once watched me perform some task involving moving stuff around. His assessment was "You are graceful as a gazelle... stacking boxes" with the obvious point that gazelles are not particularly graceful at stacking boxes. If there's a way to carry something that involves bumping into every possible wall, scraping every corner and damaging the face? I'll find a way. Any instruction that says "protect using method A or "just be careful", I must choose method A or prepare to live with damage. I will never be able to be an appliance installer with this defect. Do not let me carry ladders. Cabinet boy, though, he's really good. Meticulous and careful - with the exception of one angled stud that will never be seen again without a teardown - and he can navigate through chaos with damageable parts no worse for wear. I'm impressed.
I've been dark this whole weekend working all out with cabinet boy to get the cabinets installed with meticulous detail. It was all I could do to get him to let me order a pizza by way of a break. At some point with insufficient water and food I become useless. I hit that point at 4 yesterday but we didn't quit until 5. Today, we thought we just had a little bit to do, but worked 10am-10pm. Yikes. About 3 hours of that was spent trying to figure out my corner cabinet. It faces out to the dining room and we had to install it then measure to recut the pony wall. And it had to be level with cabinets it was 3" away from. I got to the point where I barely cared if it was level or flush at some point and ordered the pizza.
But we got it done and knocked out the concrete anchors and pony wall in, comparatively, no time flat. It looks really nice. Moving the entrance over a foot does make it slightly more awkward to turn on the light. I anticipated that. But everything else is all good. I thought it might feel smaller, but it actually feels bigger because you don't walk in with the fridge right in your face, but off to the side. Because the fridge is so bulky, it really takes up a lot of physical and visual space. Coming in to the side of it makes it visually smaller in the same space. I did not anticipate that, but I like it. Also, the way I'm re-doing the shorter wall, it'll be easier to watch TV while I chop stuff up.
For the cookie party, it will allow 3 or 4 distinct places for people to be inside the kitchen,
Also someone can be grabbing things from the pantry and someone else can sneak by into the kitchen. Handy. I'll still have the bar too, which can seat three, and I'll pull out the table which can handle four. It's going to be really, really nice. Yay!
Countertop guy comes tomorrow to template for the final fit. I've decided to go with mostly cove (integrated) backsplashes for easy cleanup and I prefer them for laminate. Under the bar, it will be a separated backsplash because they can't make the coved one full height. I've got an idea for the window layback. It'll work, but whether or not it works well is the question. It might involve being careful, which means I should get someone else to do the execution.
Pictures to come. Most of them are of the total mess my dining/living room is. But too sleepy to cope with them now. Must go back to work to pay for countertops.
I've been dark this whole weekend working all out with cabinet boy to get the cabinets installed with meticulous detail. It was all I could do to get him to let me order a pizza by way of a break. At some point with insufficient water and food I become useless. I hit that point at 4 yesterday but we didn't quit until 5. Today, we thought we just had a little bit to do, but worked 10am-10pm. Yikes. About 3 hours of that was spent trying to figure out my corner cabinet. It faces out to the dining room and we had to install it then measure to recut the pony wall. And it had to be level with cabinets it was 3" away from. I got to the point where I barely cared if it was level or flush at some point and ordered the pizza.
But we got it done and knocked out the concrete anchors and pony wall in, comparatively, no time flat. It looks really nice. Moving the entrance over a foot does make it slightly more awkward to turn on the light. I anticipated that. But everything else is all good. I thought it might feel smaller, but it actually feels bigger because you don't walk in with the fridge right in your face, but off to the side. Because the fridge is so bulky, it really takes up a lot of physical and visual space. Coming in to the side of it makes it visually smaller in the same space. I did not anticipate that, but I like it. Also, the way I'm re-doing the shorter wall, it'll be easier to watch TV while I chop stuff up.
For the cookie party, it will allow 3 or 4 distinct places for people to be inside the kitchen,
- baking at the stove,
- stirring at the right wall by the pantry
- stirring at the pony wall over the dishwasher
- washing stuff at the sink.
Also someone can be grabbing things from the pantry and someone else can sneak by into the kitchen. Handy. I'll still have the bar too, which can seat three, and I'll pull out the table which can handle four. It's going to be really, really nice. Yay!
Countertop guy comes tomorrow to template for the final fit. I've decided to go with mostly cove (integrated) backsplashes for easy cleanup and I prefer them for laminate. Under the bar, it will be a separated backsplash because they can't make the coved one full height. I've got an idea for the window layback. It'll work, but whether or not it works well is the question. It might involve being careful, which means I should get someone else to do the execution.
Pictures to come. Most of them are of the total mess my dining/living room is. But too sleepy to cope with them now. Must go back to work to pay for countertops.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Drainage
Sink now drains and drain does not leak. Will still need to be replaced shortly, but until then, I can brush my teeth and wash my hands and dishes. Joy!
Friday, November 28, 2008
I need Joe the Plumber
Well, not the famous one who's not actually a plumber, or Joe for that matter, but the metaphorical Joe. There is a Joe the Plumber about 10 miles away and according to the updates on his website, his business and notariety have picked up tremendously. I hope he keeps the momentum, given that he is actually a licensed plumber and sounds like a nice guy.
Currently I have no kitchen sink, so I've been using the bathroom sink. The bathroom sink has clogged up semi-regularly since I moved in, but hot water and a draino type treatment have done the trick - that, or the neighbors getting their drain unclogged made my lines run better. This sink clogged up today and for the first time will not get unclogged. (No I have not dumped anything larger than remnant tea leaf flakes into it.) So I took the drain apart. The bit that I've been told is the AC drain which branches into my drain was clogged full of orange, sandy goo. My suspicion is that whatever this crud is, it is leaking into my drain and clogging it with sand. Which Draino doesn't touch. The clog has to be further than 12" into my drain which is as far as I can reach. (Don't get me started on how useless plumbers snakes are.)
Now I need a plumber to fix it. I'm not sure if the plumber is also the person to fix the AC drain - I need to stop the crud from getting in there or the problem will repeat. I'm hoping I can just get the drain unclogged for now, though, and here's why:
I have a new sink to replace my cruddy looking, non-level, stained on.
I have a new faucet to replace my cruddy looking, backwards hooked up, rust flaking, leaking one.
I have a new drain stem to replace the one that leaks.
I have a new drain segment to replace the one that clogs, although it may be unnecessary.
I have a new vanity cabinet to replace the one that is water damaged and ugly with glued on knobs. However, the new vanity cabinet is not assembled, and I don't want it to get water damaged either while this whole mess gets figured out.
There's a little irony going on as my new dishwasher arrived just this morning and my primary complaint is that I can't wash dishes. Rather I don't really want to wash them in the tub even though it got a good cloroxing just yesterday.
So, I've looked up plumbers on line and sent an email to the date asking for a recommendation. We'll see what kind of response I get. As the toilet and tub still work, we're only at semi-emergency status. But I don't want to get ready for work without a sink. That's what camping is for.
Currently I have no kitchen sink, so I've been using the bathroom sink. The bathroom sink has clogged up semi-regularly since I moved in, but hot water and a draino type treatment have done the trick - that, or the neighbors getting their drain unclogged made my lines run better. This sink clogged up today and for the first time will not get unclogged. (No I have not dumped anything larger than remnant tea leaf flakes into it.) So I took the drain apart. The bit that I've been told is the AC drain which branches into my drain was clogged full of orange, sandy goo. My suspicion is that whatever this crud is, it is leaking into my drain and clogging it with sand. Which Draino doesn't touch. The clog has to be further than 12" into my drain which is as far as I can reach. (Don't get me started on how useless plumbers snakes are.)
Now I need a plumber to fix it. I'm not sure if the plumber is also the person to fix the AC drain - I need to stop the crud from getting in there or the problem will repeat. I'm hoping I can just get the drain unclogged for now, though, and here's why:
I have a new sink to replace my cruddy looking, non-level, stained on.
I have a new faucet to replace my cruddy looking, backwards hooked up, rust flaking, leaking one.
I have a new drain stem to replace the one that leaks.
I have a new drain segment to replace the one that clogs, although it may be unnecessary.
I have a new vanity cabinet to replace the one that is water damaged and ugly with glued on knobs. However, the new vanity cabinet is not assembled, and I don't want it to get water damaged either while this whole mess gets figured out.
There's a little irony going on as my new dishwasher arrived just this morning and my primary complaint is that I can't wash dishes. Rather I don't really want to wash them in the tub even though it got a good cloroxing just yesterday.
So, I've looked up plumbers on line and sent an email to the date asking for a recommendation. We'll see what kind of response I get. As the toilet and tub still work, we're only at semi-emergency status. But I don't want to get ready for work without a sink. That's what camping is for.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
New Carpet 'n Stuff
Here's what my room looks like with new carpet and some of the stuff out of the way.
Here's the old (top) and new (bottom). If you notice something that looks like a patched hole in the old carpet, that's because it's a patched hole.
They're not terrifically different, but I'm very pleased with the new carpet. The difference is that the old carpet was in really bad shape. It was dingy, matted, patched, and from the view of the bottom, stained from numerous incidents. The new carpet is more orangey dunn than mossy grey. Just for kicks, here's the sample on the old stuff.
Now for the technical details. Here's ripping out the old carpet. The image is dark, but does show several patches on the door side, probably where a previous owners dog liked to dig. They told me the carpet was not the original. I don't know how old it was but it was pretty gross. I'd always planned to replace it, but after putting all my stuff on it, the idea got overwhelming. But there are good sales in these trying times.
This is how the installers bundled the carpet remains for removal. They created a knot by slicing a 2-3" strip of half the width, slicing 2 parallel lines in the roll, and twisting the strip through the resulting loop. Pretty handy. They kept their knives sharp.
The carpet pad is an upgrade partly because I requested it and partly because this particular short-nap carpet seems to call for it. It's much cushier.
Then the carpet gets laid out and rough cut to size. They replaced the threshold tack strips but reused the remainder. They lay out the carpet like this, bang it onto the tack strips on one side, then put the spreader in. They stretch the carpet across the room and bang the opposite side onto the tacks. Then they do the other direction. Finally, they do a final trim on the edge and tuck the ends downward.
I highly recommend having professionals do this task. It took them longer than I rather thought it would but they did a nice job including sweeping up before and vacuuming afterward. And moving all my stuff...
Starting here, ALL of this stuff got taken out. And all the stuff under the bed, which is designed to allow a lot of storage.
Some got put in the in-progress kitchen
and the rest on the patio.
Someone walking up the staircase to the upper 2 units would have this view of my patio totally packed with stuff. It's mostly cleared back out again, but not entirely. And I took 4 purses and my old mauve suitcases out to the recycling and left them with another box labeled "free purses". If no one picks it up I'll go grab it and donate it somewhere. It still works, but I haven't used it more than once in the last 10 years. Very little other stuff left though. Yikes.
I'm making a standing offer of temporary SoCal accommodations for anyone who is good at organizing and editing stuff.
Here's the old (top) and new (bottom). If you notice something that looks like a patched hole in the old carpet, that's because it's a patched hole.
They're not terrifically different, but I'm very pleased with the new carpet. The difference is that the old carpet was in really bad shape. It was dingy, matted, patched, and from the view of the bottom, stained from numerous incidents. The new carpet is more orangey dunn than mossy grey. Just for kicks, here's the sample on the old stuff.
Now for the technical details. Here's ripping out the old carpet. The image is dark, but does show several patches on the door side, probably where a previous owners dog liked to dig. They told me the carpet was not the original. I don't know how old it was but it was pretty gross. I'd always planned to replace it, but after putting all my stuff on it, the idea got overwhelming. But there are good sales in these trying times.
This is how the installers bundled the carpet remains for removal. They created a knot by slicing a 2-3" strip of half the width, slicing 2 parallel lines in the roll, and twisting the strip through the resulting loop. Pretty handy. They kept their knives sharp.
The carpet pad is an upgrade partly because I requested it and partly because this particular short-nap carpet seems to call for it. It's much cushier.
Then the carpet gets laid out and rough cut to size. They replaced the threshold tack strips but reused the remainder. They lay out the carpet like this, bang it onto the tack strips on one side, then put the spreader in. They stretch the carpet across the room and bang the opposite side onto the tacks. Then they do the other direction. Finally, they do a final trim on the edge and tuck the ends downward.
I highly recommend having professionals do this task. It took them longer than I rather thought it would but they did a nice job including sweeping up before and vacuuming afterward. And moving all my stuff...
Starting here, ALL of this stuff got taken out. And all the stuff under the bed, which is designed to allow a lot of storage.
Some got put in the in-progress kitchen
and the rest on the patio.
Someone walking up the staircase to the upper 2 units would have this view of my patio totally packed with stuff. It's mostly cleared back out again, but not entirely. And I took 4 purses and my old mauve suitcases out to the recycling and left them with another box labeled "free purses". If no one picks it up I'll go grab it and donate it somewhere. It still works, but I haven't used it more than once in the last 10 years. Very little other stuff left though. Yikes.
I'm making a standing offer of temporary SoCal accommodations for anyone who is good at organizing and editing stuff.
Reno Binge
I mentioned I was getting new carpet in the bedroom, right? While gutting my kitchen and sitting on the supplies to replace my bathroom sink and vanity. Yep. The bedroom is my only carpeted room; the rest is tile or Pergo-like wood-like floor. They guys are here right now and literally the only place I can sit down is at the computer. I've been hovering over them, seeing how it's done.
I'd had some notion that the carpet stretcher went all the way to the edge of the wall and the tack strips and somehow attached the carpet to the strips of nail points. Not so. They stretch the carpet from edge to edge, but the spreader stops a half foot shy of the other edge and they just bang the carpet onto the tack strips with a hammer, or in this case, the back edge of a dull hatchet. Or the front edge in corners. And trim with utility knives. The edge at the threshold is done by taking a blunt chisel and cramming the carpet egdge between the tile and tack strip.
One reason I didn't do this earlier is that my bedroom is packed with stuff. The store said they moved furniture so I signed up. They technically don't move boxes of stuff, but they did today... My bed is designed to be a storage unit, and there are boxes aplenty underneath, plus I had a half dozen other boxes of stuff. And 4 shelving racks of clothes, a dresser, and 2 end tables. They'll put the bed back and the furniture, and hopefully the furniture racks. I tipped them $20 already. It's a hard enough job without being movers too.
I'm always amazed at how fast someone who is dispassionate about my stuff can move it. They date unloaded the kitchen cabinets in the time it took me to shower. It would have taken me 3 days. Now the trick is putting everything back. One problem is that I don't want to put everything back just as it was because it was not working for me. But I can't leave it on the patio! I swept and washed the patio last weekend and this weekend it's even dirtier - all sorts of ash dust in addition to the usual sand colored dust. Ah well. I'll post some pictures. The piles of stuff are kind of horrific.
My neighbors are currently moving out (bummer) and are in the process of just getting that last little bit of stuff, which takes as long as the first 95%. The movers in Boston call that the "chowder". Or rather, the "chowda". They've let the carpet guys use their parking space so they don't have to walk far. We've been having discussions on how to get rid of stuff. She gave away a complete set of JD Robb books to a battered women's shelter fundraiser just before I moved in. I think once I have a good storage system for seasonal decorations and scrapbooking/art stuff, it will work better. And I have to part with sweaters. I did wear some last year, but really, I don't need a full set anymore. I know this but...
So I'm sitting here, with my view totally blocked by the giant pile o crap from my bedroom. Knowing intellectually that stuff needs to go, but able to think of good, or at least marginal, "reasons" why I need to keep it all. No wonder the top real estate market in growth mode is storage units.
Oh, and I bought a new dishwasher last night. Not to worry, I will not be keeping the old one.
I'd had some notion that the carpet stretcher went all the way to the edge of the wall and the tack strips and somehow attached the carpet to the strips of nail points. Not so. They stretch the carpet from edge to edge, but the spreader stops a half foot shy of the other edge and they just bang the carpet onto the tack strips with a hammer, or in this case, the back edge of a dull hatchet. Or the front edge in corners. And trim with utility knives. The edge at the threshold is done by taking a blunt chisel and cramming the carpet egdge between the tile and tack strip.
One reason I didn't do this earlier is that my bedroom is packed with stuff. The store said they moved furniture so I signed up. They technically don't move boxes of stuff, but they did today... My bed is designed to be a storage unit, and there are boxes aplenty underneath, plus I had a half dozen other boxes of stuff. And 4 shelving racks of clothes, a dresser, and 2 end tables. They'll put the bed back and the furniture, and hopefully the furniture racks. I tipped them $20 already. It's a hard enough job without being movers too.
I'm always amazed at how fast someone who is dispassionate about my stuff can move it. They date unloaded the kitchen cabinets in the time it took me to shower. It would have taken me 3 days. Now the trick is putting everything back. One problem is that I don't want to put everything back just as it was because it was not working for me. But I can't leave it on the patio! I swept and washed the patio last weekend and this weekend it's even dirtier - all sorts of ash dust in addition to the usual sand colored dust. Ah well. I'll post some pictures. The piles of stuff are kind of horrific.
My neighbors are currently moving out (bummer) and are in the process of just getting that last little bit of stuff, which takes as long as the first 95%. The movers in Boston call that the "chowder". Or rather, the "chowda". They've let the carpet guys use their parking space so they don't have to walk far. We've been having discussions on how to get rid of stuff. She gave away a complete set of JD Robb books to a battered women's shelter fundraiser just before I moved in. I think once I have a good storage system for seasonal decorations and scrapbooking/art stuff, it will work better. And I have to part with sweaters. I did wear some last year, but really, I don't need a full set anymore. I know this but...
So I'm sitting here, with my view totally blocked by the giant pile o crap from my bedroom. Knowing intellectually that stuff needs to go, but able to think of good, or at least marginal, "reasons" why I need to keep it all. No wonder the top real estate market in growth mode is storage units.
Oh, and I bought a new dishwasher last night. Not to worry, I will not be keeping the old one.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Hardly Working
Quick Political tidbits for the day. Much angst. Skip to the "---------" if you want just the happy updates.
Bush: One of the top headlines today is "Bush says he's working hard on economic turmoil", emphasis mine. Every time he says he's "working hard" on something, it means I'm probably trying not to snort Dr. Pepper out my nose while laughing hysterically. It means something has gone horribly, catastrophically wrong and he has only just noticed, when most of the country could have given him a head's up months in advance of that announcement. It means he's playing catch up. It means he's being utterly useless. Worse than useless. I am just counting the days to where I never have to hear of another absurd piece of garbage about him working hard while the rest of the country is bleeding through the ears.
Palin: At a town hall meeting someone "volunteered" a highly engineered softball question asking, in about 5X this many words, which skills she has that can be applied to foreign policy negotiations. She said she's "ready" and "enthusiastic". That's what you need in a band booster, not a VP. She couldn't volunteer even one skill to discuss in an overly friendly forum. Ok, clearly she's such an underqualified bully that she barely deserves discussing. What brought me to it is that SOMEONE needs to point out that she was asked for a skill and couldn't give one because the NPR summarizer failed to point out this obvious defect.
It's not reporting to just echo soundbytes; it's being lazy. It's not bashing to point out defects to a populace less entrenched in the lingo. It is the journalist's duty to analyze and interpret what is being said, to provide context for understanding. I have seen or heard very little of this is years, but it's starting to turn around. Playing sound bytes without analysis and calling it news is like throwing raw tomatoes at me and calling it serving marinara sauce.
McCain: Found out a couple things recently. No, I was never going to vote for him anyway, but here's why you shouldn't either. (1) One of his primary economic advisors was the same guy who degregulated the very things that are causing our economy to crash this year. This guy wrote up the bill and pushed it through congress 5 days before Christmas, knowing there would be little challenge and no time for assessment. No matter if McCain distances himself from him now, his fist is in the basic policy and strategy McCain is working from. (2) After graduating in the bottom 5 of his naval academy class, he crashed 5 planes. That sounds like a lot to me. No one but an admiral's son would be given a pilot slot for that lousy class rank nor kept it after several crashes. My friend's husband is a highly competent pilot and reviewed the available literature. His assessment is that one crash was not his fault, one could go either way, and the other three were almost certainly due to his lack of competence. Hardly the grand war hero. And as far as I understand it, other pilots are not fond of him.
While it's hard to say that a 72 year old man should be judged on his college record, part of his "appeal" is his war experience. But by all accounts, he was miserable at that. And while someone has to graduate at the bottom of the class, do we really want that person to be president? Lots of people grow up a lot after college. Do smarter things. I'm not convinced McCain is one of those people. He's still a thoughtless hothead who gets the people around him into hot water. Not someone I'd like at the helm in these trying times.
Biden: Sponsored the "Violence against Women" act that led do a reduction in battered and killed women, and in men killed by the women they batter by making police and legal response to domestic abuse more standardized. I hear it was overturned as unconstitutional, but it's a step in the right direction that shows he values the quality of women's lives. Unlike some other VP candidates we can now freely ignore.
Obama: Calm, cool, collected, and talking to every big name expert in economics. Go to the head of the class. Oh, wait, he kinda did that already. Maybe not valedictorian, but they don't put just any old schlub in charge of the Harvard Law Review. Competence makes a nice contrast to some other presidential candidate I could name.
---------
Other stuff going on today unrelated to politics. All good, but too lengthy to waste space with bullets.
I woke up feeling like it was Friday. I got a text from handy boy - I can't really call him flake boy after all the lovely cabinet work - asking was it Friday yet? I got to work and the guy who was supposed to bring Friday breakfast? Brought it today! It was Hawaiian which means there was Spam. Ask most mainlanders if they eat spam and they say no. But give it to engineers and they will take it without question. I still have an actual Friday to get through, a technical document to write, and then have a class in advanced JuMP analytics Monday and Tuesday. But yay! Food! At least Friday is Talk like a Pirate day.
There are a couple of techs I work with. I like them and think they look cute together. I have been dying to ask if they're still dating, but figured it was none of my business. Turns out they're no longer dating - they got married this weekend! Yay! They're both very friendly, upbeat people. I think it'll work out for them.
I've been slogging, just slogging through a re-read of Cryptonomicon. I loved that book when I read it the first time. I'm seeing a lot of infodump in it now, and a lot of blather that doesn't move the story forward much. But there are enough bits of genius, interrelation and hilarity that it's all worthwhile. "Randy, how common is 'Waterhouse'"? I hit page 516 (of 900 some) and got to the "pig truck incident" involving the running theme of "enhancing shareholder value" and a jeepney's "secondary, ternary, and quaternary honking systems" that made me laugh until I cried. It took me 15 minutes to get to page 518. Shortly after that, a scene started in Bobby Shaftoe's POV and I was expecting the infodump and it went a completely different direction, following Shaftoe's addled train of thought. I think the problem I had with Quicksilver (aka "Craptonomicon") was that there was lots of the slogging without sufficient early payoff. I think I made it to page 200 and still had no idea where it was going or why I should read it. Snow Crash I loved from the first page.
I assembled my second to last cabinet of the current batch - the 12" base cabinet for the trash can. It's loverly but it was more fun and 3X faster to do the assembly with handy boy, so I'm going to wait until he's available before diving into the corner cabinet. I've submitted a request for a quote to a local sheet metal shop to resize my range hood. I'm hoping to hit up IKEA soon and order the final batch of cabinets. And see if I still like the sink I picked out at Lowes.
Bush: One of the top headlines today is "Bush says he's working hard on economic turmoil", emphasis mine. Every time he says he's "working hard" on something, it means I'm probably trying not to snort Dr. Pepper out my nose while laughing hysterically. It means something has gone horribly, catastrophically wrong and he has only just noticed, when most of the country could have given him a head's up months in advance of that announcement. It means he's playing catch up. It means he's being utterly useless. Worse than useless. I am just counting the days to where I never have to hear of another absurd piece of garbage about him working hard while the rest of the country is bleeding through the ears.
Palin: At a town hall meeting someone "volunteered" a highly engineered softball question asking, in about 5X this many words, which skills she has that can be applied to foreign policy negotiations. She said she's "ready" and "enthusiastic". That's what you need in a band booster, not a VP. She couldn't volunteer even one skill to discuss in an overly friendly forum. Ok, clearly she's such an underqualified bully that she barely deserves discussing. What brought me to it is that SOMEONE needs to point out that she was asked for a skill and couldn't give one because the NPR summarizer failed to point out this obvious defect.
It's not reporting to just echo soundbytes; it's being lazy. It's not bashing to point out defects to a populace less entrenched in the lingo. It is the journalist's duty to analyze and interpret what is being said, to provide context for understanding. I have seen or heard very little of this is years, but it's starting to turn around. Playing sound bytes without analysis and calling it news is like throwing raw tomatoes at me and calling it serving marinara sauce.
McCain: Found out a couple things recently. No, I was never going to vote for him anyway, but here's why you shouldn't either. (1) One of his primary economic advisors was the same guy who degregulated the very things that are causing our economy to crash this year. This guy wrote up the bill and pushed it through congress 5 days before Christmas, knowing there would be little challenge and no time for assessment. No matter if McCain distances himself from him now, his fist is in the basic policy and strategy McCain is working from. (2) After graduating in the bottom 5 of his naval academy class, he crashed 5 planes. That sounds like a lot to me. No one but an admiral's son would be given a pilot slot for that lousy class rank nor kept it after several crashes. My friend's husband is a highly competent pilot and reviewed the available literature. His assessment is that one crash was not his fault, one could go either way, and the other three were almost certainly due to his lack of competence. Hardly the grand war hero. And as far as I understand it, other pilots are not fond of him.
While it's hard to say that a 72 year old man should be judged on his college record, part of his "appeal" is his war experience. But by all accounts, he was miserable at that. And while someone has to graduate at the bottom of the class, do we really want that person to be president? Lots of people grow up a lot after college. Do smarter things. I'm not convinced McCain is one of those people. He's still a thoughtless hothead who gets the people around him into hot water. Not someone I'd like at the helm in these trying times.
Biden: Sponsored the "Violence against Women" act that led do a reduction in battered and killed women, and in men killed by the women they batter by making police and legal response to domestic abuse more standardized. I hear it was overturned as unconstitutional, but it's a step in the right direction that shows he values the quality of women's lives. Unlike some other VP candidates we can now freely ignore.
Obama: Calm, cool, collected, and talking to every big name expert in economics. Go to the head of the class. Oh, wait, he kinda did that already. Maybe not valedictorian, but they don't put just any old schlub in charge of the Harvard Law Review. Competence makes a nice contrast to some other presidential candidate I could name.
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Other stuff going on today unrelated to politics. All good, but too lengthy to waste space with bullets.
I woke up feeling like it was Friday. I got a text from handy boy - I can't really call him flake boy after all the lovely cabinet work - asking was it Friday yet? I got to work and the guy who was supposed to bring Friday breakfast? Brought it today! It was Hawaiian which means there was Spam. Ask most mainlanders if they eat spam and they say no. But give it to engineers and they will take it without question. I still have an actual Friday to get through, a technical document to write, and then have a class in advanced JuMP analytics Monday and Tuesday. But yay! Food! At least Friday is Talk like a Pirate day.
There are a couple of techs I work with. I like them and think they look cute together. I have been dying to ask if they're still dating, but figured it was none of my business. Turns out they're no longer dating - they got married this weekend! Yay! They're both very friendly, upbeat people. I think it'll work out for them.
I've been slogging, just slogging through a re-read of Cryptonomicon. I loved that book when I read it the first time. I'm seeing a lot of infodump in it now, and a lot of blather that doesn't move the story forward much. But there are enough bits of genius, interrelation and hilarity that it's all worthwhile. "Randy, how common is 'Waterhouse'"? I hit page 516 (of 900 some) and got to the "pig truck incident" involving the running theme of "enhancing shareholder value" and a jeepney's "secondary, ternary, and quaternary honking systems" that made me laugh until I cried. It took me 15 minutes to get to page 518. Shortly after that, a scene started in Bobby Shaftoe's POV and I was expecting the infodump and it went a completely different direction, following Shaftoe's addled train of thought. I think the problem I had with Quicksilver (aka "Craptonomicon") was that there was lots of the slogging without sufficient early payoff. I think I made it to page 200 and still had no idea where it was going or why I should read it. Snow Crash I loved from the first page.
I assembled my second to last cabinet of the current batch - the 12" base cabinet for the trash can. It's loverly but it was more fun and 3X faster to do the assembly with handy boy, so I'm going to wait until he's available before diving into the corner cabinet. I've submitted a request for a quote to a local sheet metal shop to resize my range hood. I'm hoping to hit up IKEA soon and order the final batch of cabinets. And see if I still like the sink I picked out at Lowes.
Monday, September 15, 2008
About Halfway
Here's today's progress. Have to figure out level on my little base cabinet and stuff the drawers in, but aside from that and putting up the pulls, I'm done with the current batch - and got most stuff crammed back in. "That's not a cabinet, that's a garage!" the boy said of the over-fridge monster.
While wiping down the walls, I realized that there were patches of the wall that had never had paint on them and were absorbent. I thought that might be bad, so I got out some random paint I have no plans for and now there are yellow patches on the wall. They will not stay there, but they make the pictures look unfinished. He was very patient while I put up all that yellow paint. Only rolled his eyes once or twice.
And here it is all put together! Well, minus 4 drawers, but it's done enough there are no mission critical parts left before reloading.
So I reloaded. And it gets better - after working all day to finish up most of the cabinets we could install, the boy (Justin) helped me clean up! OMG! Unprecedented. Here's the cleaned up, restocked version.
So a bit more work with the drawer stack (turns out I have a piece of marble slab just the right size to serve as a temporary countertop), and putting on my hardware, some paint and a bit of fiddling with the range hood and I'll be all set to start the last half!
While wiping down the walls, I realized that there were patches of the wall that had never had paint on them and were absorbent. I thought that might be bad, so I got out some random paint I have no plans for and now there are yellow patches on the wall. They will not stay there, but they make the pictures look unfinished. He was very patient while I put up all that yellow paint. Only rolled his eyes once or twice.
And here it is all put together! Well, minus 4 drawers, but it's done enough there are no mission critical parts left before reloading.
So I reloaded. And it gets better - after working all day to finish up most of the cabinets we could install, the boy (Justin) helped me clean up! OMG! Unprecedented. Here's the cleaned up, restocked version.
So a bit more work with the drawer stack (turns out I have a piece of marble slab just the right size to serve as a temporary countertop), and putting on my hardware, some paint and a bit of fiddling with the range hood and I'll be all set to start the last half!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Kitchen Aide
So the boy keeps saying he'll help me with my cabinets. He's a little flaky about showing up for things so I haven't been holding my breath. But he got all fired up to help this weekend, took a half day today, and significant progress was made. It looks FANTASTIC already!!! I'm so exited! (I just can't hide it.)
Here's the starting point. Notice the canning pots and Zojirushi "gourmet d'expert" and various trays on top of the cabinets because there's no interior space in the kitchen that fits them. While I like the color enough I had it matched to get the living room neutral wall color, I'm not so keen on the 1983 styling. But mostly it's a problem of my stuff doesn't fit in them.
There's a narrow vertical cabinet that is a 1/4" too narrow for my lazy susan to fit in. I use that lazy grrl for my cooking oils and whatnot. It has been living in my pantry and baking supplies and candy sprinkles lived by the stove. Not handy. No sir. I've tried going without the spinner but I knock stuff over. I tried to find a smaller one, but then the fixed shelf was in the way too. Plus the doors are odd. On the left, even though it's more functional to have left hinges on both doors, it feels awkward every time I use it. I'm all for function, but this was just weird. See?
Prior to today, my dad and I assembled the 3 cabinet stack for the upper left corner. Yes, those drawers are sideways. See, I'm all for odd, but not awkward. I'm going to use those as pull out spice racks. If too many people think it's just nuts, I'll fill in the holes before I sell.
Then dad and I did some tourist stuff and hung out. He patched some walls and did other projects that required time and being handy. Instead of putting cabinets up, I took him out to Brophy Brothers and he got the platter that would probably put me into anaphlactic shock, but looked excellent.
Today, I decided to start at the corner where I already had cabinets built. We managed to pry the old cabinets off, but it was tricker than expected because we couldn't see all these nails from the front.
The boy and I got going and realized we should probably start with the over-fridge cabinet as that would set the height for all the others. We assembled that cabinet in no time! Seriously, like the whole cabinet was together in the amount of time it took me to put the backs on those other cabinets. So we did the adjacent cabinet and that was superfast too. It probably helps that the boy has mad carpenter skilz since he used to be a cabinet maker. Handy :)
Then we had to take those cabinets down, but by then we knew some of the tricks with the nails, and here he is cutting away the several layers of paint that also didn't want to let go.
Finally, success! All my upper cabinets have come down and are in the boy's truck to go away. We've started putting up the cleats that IKEA cabinets hang from. The one of the left we have to move up a little tomorrow...
Of course, the other side of the kitchen doesn't look nearly so neat. Most of the cabinet contents are in the living room, but some of them and tools and boxes of doors and all sorts of stuff make a rather alarming still life.
With all the demo and constructing and quite a bit of measuring and hoisting, the first two (2nd and 3rd of the kitchen, 1st two of this wall) cabinets are up! That over-fridge cabinet is a heavy monster. I can fit in it with the doors shut. Even better, so can the "gourmet d'expert" and my cookie serving trays. The deeper cabinet fits much better in the space and looks great. Due to a little learning curve, we had to mount it twice. And now, miracle of miracles, I can actually fit my cooking supplies next to the stove!
And here are the cabinets with the doors shut to show them off. They're IKEA Adel White. I love the cherry too, but it was too dark for my cave. Also lets me buy white appliances. I was worried the tall cabinet would be too close to the fridge, but it's just perfect. Had I gone 12" instead of 15", I couldn't get it with glass, which I really wanted. You'll see why when I'm done. In the meantime, kudos to IKEA for engineering mostly straightforward pieces that are easier to put together correctly than not.
Ta Da! I'm not quite sure the picture captures just how great these are, what with the extra paint and tarps still in place, but if I waited, you might never see them. And the boy's got to come back for more, since I can't kiss him with the tonsillitis going on, and I think he deserves a big smooch. I took him to Brophy Bros too, but it's not quite the same.
Here's the starting point. Notice the canning pots and Zojirushi "gourmet d'expert" and various trays on top of the cabinets because there's no interior space in the kitchen that fits them. While I like the color enough I had it matched to get the living room neutral wall color, I'm not so keen on the 1983 styling. But mostly it's a problem of my stuff doesn't fit in them.
There's a narrow vertical cabinet that is a 1/4" too narrow for my lazy susan to fit in. I use that lazy grrl for my cooking oils and whatnot. It has been living in my pantry and baking supplies and candy sprinkles lived by the stove. Not handy. No sir. I've tried going without the spinner but I knock stuff over. I tried to find a smaller one, but then the fixed shelf was in the way too. Plus the doors are odd. On the left, even though it's more functional to have left hinges on both doors, it feels awkward every time I use it. I'm all for function, but this was just weird. See?
Prior to today, my dad and I assembled the 3 cabinet stack for the upper left corner. Yes, those drawers are sideways. See, I'm all for odd, but not awkward. I'm going to use those as pull out spice racks. If too many people think it's just nuts, I'll fill in the holes before I sell.
Then dad and I did some tourist stuff and hung out. He patched some walls and did other projects that required time and being handy. Instead of putting cabinets up, I took him out to Brophy Brothers and he got the platter that would probably put me into anaphlactic shock, but looked excellent.
Today, I decided to start at the corner where I already had cabinets built. We managed to pry the old cabinets off, but it was tricker than expected because we couldn't see all these nails from the front.
The boy and I got going and realized we should probably start with the over-fridge cabinet as that would set the height for all the others. We assembled that cabinet in no time! Seriously, like the whole cabinet was together in the amount of time it took me to put the backs on those other cabinets. So we did the adjacent cabinet and that was superfast too. It probably helps that the boy has mad carpenter skilz since he used to be a cabinet maker. Handy :)
Then we had to take those cabinets down, but by then we knew some of the tricks with the nails, and here he is cutting away the several layers of paint that also didn't want to let go.
Finally, success! All my upper cabinets have come down and are in the boy's truck to go away. We've started putting up the cleats that IKEA cabinets hang from. The one of the left we have to move up a little tomorrow...
Of course, the other side of the kitchen doesn't look nearly so neat. Most of the cabinet contents are in the living room, but some of them and tools and boxes of doors and all sorts of stuff make a rather alarming still life.
With all the demo and constructing and quite a bit of measuring and hoisting, the first two (2nd and 3rd of the kitchen, 1st two of this wall) cabinets are up! That over-fridge cabinet is a heavy monster. I can fit in it with the doors shut. Even better, so can the "gourmet d'expert" and my cookie serving trays. The deeper cabinet fits much better in the space and looks great. Due to a little learning curve, we had to mount it twice. And now, miracle of miracles, I can actually fit my cooking supplies next to the stove!
And here are the cabinets with the doors shut to show them off. They're IKEA Adel White. I love the cherry too, but it was too dark for my cave. Also lets me buy white appliances. I was worried the tall cabinet would be too close to the fridge, but it's just perfect. Had I gone 12" instead of 15", I couldn't get it with glass, which I really wanted. You'll see why when I'm done. In the meantime, kudos to IKEA for engineering mostly straightforward pieces that are easier to put together correctly than not.
Ta Da! I'm not quite sure the picture captures just how great these are, what with the extra paint and tarps still in place, but if I waited, you might never see them. And the boy's got to come back for more, since I can't kiss him with the tonsillitis going on, and I think he deserves a big smooch. I took him to Brophy Bros too, but it's not quite the same.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Delegation, Power of Three
My desire to get stuff done without doing it myself came to a head this week. I have now paid people to:
I also need to make a decision about what to do with the refund before I spend it twice over. I'm thinking about:
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Also, I've had HGTV on in the background while I picked up clutter and did laundry because it's kitchen reno week on my favorite station. The show on right now is looking at the exact laminate I want to put in my kitchen (I picked it out when eagle eyed friend J visited) and it looks even better large than on the swatch. Cool. Other coincidences have happened too. There was a househunters episode last night in Portland, OR where the couple bought a condo from a building I toured when I interviewed there. It was super funky fresh and modern and I liked it a lot, but was still surprised to see it on TV. Two of the on-the-cheap kitchen remodels have featured IKEA cabinets and answered the question I had about whether or not people will care if my upper cabinets perfectly align with my lower cabinets. (No, apparently not.) IKEA is cheap because they don't do custom sizing. You cram whatever they have into the space you have and put up filler in the rest. Unfortunately, their selection of 12" wide cabinets leaves something to be desired but if I go with 15", there are some challenges. I figure at worst I buy the 15" and have to replace them with 12" before I sell. In the meantime, I have to custom fit a 28" wide vent hood for over the stove, and someone on the bookclub did just that and loved it so I'm feeling optimistic.
Oh no way - Househunters is on again (not my favorite, wasn't quick enough with the remote), but OMG!! These people are touring a house plan I recognize from the elevation! They're in the town my brother lives in near Austin, TX. He just plunked down a deposit for a new house this week to improve his view. But on monday, he had a different house in mind for a lot located closer to his current place (and the tollway noise) and sent me to the builder's website to see the house plans they offered. One of them has just come to life on my TV. Not bad. But the builders were not willing to make a modification that was a dealbreaker for the brother and he found a quieter lot and more accommodating builder.
I like those coincidences (all outsourcing all the time, HGTV overlapping with my actual H) better than the ones at work. Last week was office supply issues week: I ran out of staples, I ran out of tape, the printer jammed several times requiring me to dig paper out of every possible orifice. This week it was metrology issues: the 4 point probe ran out of memory and needed a software reconfiguration, the stress tool lost control of one laser... Fortunately I had no trouble with the profilometer which was on the critical path and couldn't be delayed.
One more day and my buddy (Esperanto Guy in the sidebar) gets here for nearly a week's stay. I'm taking a couple half days off so we can do stuff because if I take whole days I'll just sleep until noon and we won't have that time together anyway. He's going to help me with the computer tasks I have piling up, so I might not make him move bookshelves. Well, at least not many.
Oh, and go read this post at New Door Knobs and the one after it if you like pithy, comical conversations with kids.
.
- prepare my taxes
- pay my bills
- clean my condo
- put new tires on my car
I also need to make a decision about what to do with the refund before I spend it twice over. I'm thinking about:
- spending a little on something fun (of course, by my definition that means kitchen cabinets I install myself, or a custom range hood but I already have a budget for that),
- spending a little on travel (I'm still debating alaska in June, plus I want to see my grandmothers)
- putting a hunk in a Roth (I haven't contributed to those in a while and gutted my early ones for the downpayment on the condo.)
- buying glass studio time for playing around or classes (whee!)
- paying down debt (blah)
---
Also, I've had HGTV on in the background while I picked up clutter and did laundry because it's kitchen reno week on my favorite station. The show on right now is looking at the exact laminate I want to put in my kitchen (I picked it out when eagle eyed friend J visited) and it looks even better large than on the swatch. Cool. Other coincidences have happened too. There was a househunters episode last night in Portland, OR where the couple bought a condo from a building I toured when I interviewed there. It was super funky fresh and modern and I liked it a lot, but was still surprised to see it on TV. Two of the on-the-cheap kitchen remodels have featured IKEA cabinets and answered the question I had about whether or not people will care if my upper cabinets perfectly align with my lower cabinets. (No, apparently not.) IKEA is cheap because they don't do custom sizing. You cram whatever they have into the space you have and put up filler in the rest. Unfortunately, their selection of 12" wide cabinets leaves something to be desired but if I go with 15", there are some challenges. I figure at worst I buy the 15" and have to replace them with 12" before I sell. In the meantime, I have to custom fit a 28" wide vent hood for over the stove, and someone on the bookclub did just that and loved it so I'm feeling optimistic.
Oh no way - Househunters is on again (not my favorite, wasn't quick enough with the remote), but OMG!! These people are touring a house plan I recognize from the elevation! They're in the town my brother lives in near Austin, TX. He just plunked down a deposit for a new house this week to improve his view. But on monday, he had a different house in mind for a lot located closer to his current place (and the tollway noise) and sent me to the builder's website to see the house plans they offered. One of them has just come to life on my TV. Not bad. But the builders were not willing to make a modification that was a dealbreaker for the brother and he found a quieter lot and more accommodating builder.
I like those coincidences (all outsourcing all the time, HGTV overlapping with my actual H) better than the ones at work. Last week was office supply issues week: I ran out of staples, I ran out of tape, the printer jammed several times requiring me to dig paper out of every possible orifice. This week it was metrology issues: the 4 point probe ran out of memory and needed a software reconfiguration, the stress tool lost control of one laser... Fortunately I had no trouble with the profilometer which was on the critical path and couldn't be delayed.
One more day and my buddy (Esperanto Guy in the sidebar) gets here for nearly a week's stay. I'm taking a couple half days off so we can do stuff because if I take whole days I'll just sleep until noon and we won't have that time together anyway. He's going to help me with the computer tasks I have piling up, so I might not make him move bookshelves. Well, at least not many.
Oh, and go read this post at New Door Knobs and the one after it if you like pithy, comical conversations with kids.
.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Riki Tiki Tavi
Lots of things making me happy this week. It got started off right when I dropped my friend at the airport and went to shop for a wine glass rack and a way to enclose my open shelving. Well, the stemware rack didn't pan out, but I did find a fun outdoor tablecloth that I used on the patio. And I found a name for the tiki totem - Riki Tiki Tavi, with the middle word being /TEE-kee/ instead of /TIH-kee/ like the mongoose.
This is as good as I could come up with for "before" pictures. When I first moved in, before the patio closet got reworked, I had a bunch of junk in a heap. Hard to use.
It got better, but was still being used for storage of stuff I didn't really want to leave where it was. When Riki showed up, I cut out the rest of the stuff from the picture, but these were his surrounds.
He deserved better, and my friend helped me throw stuff out and resort the rest. The dead and dying plants are gone. Then I cleaned off most of the dust and dead leaves, wrapped the open shelving (dark pink in the first pic), and got this. Much more user friendly and cleanable - it's really dusty this year.
And my mom wants to see a picture of my couch. Here it is before I moved my desk, although I still have the gap between the 2 pieces because I like it like that for now, with an end table and lamp between. I've gunked it all up again with a pile of pre-tax paperwork or I'd take a better picture.
But when placed together, it looks like this.
Other good stuff this week:
This is as good as I could come up with for "before" pictures. When I first moved in, before the patio closet got reworked, I had a bunch of junk in a heap. Hard to use.
It got better, but was still being used for storage of stuff I didn't really want to leave where it was. When Riki showed up, I cut out the rest of the stuff from the picture, but these were his surrounds.
He deserved better, and my friend helped me throw stuff out and resort the rest. The dead and dying plants are gone. Then I cleaned off most of the dust and dead leaves, wrapped the open shelving (dark pink in the first pic), and got this. Much more user friendly and cleanable - it's really dusty this year.
And my mom wants to see a picture of my couch. Here it is before I moved my desk, although I still have the gap between the 2 pieces because I like it like that for now, with an end table and lamp between. I've gunked it all up again with a pile of pre-tax paperwork or I'd take a better picture.
But when placed together, it looks like this.
Other good stuff this week:
- My friend is having a baby tomorrow and I got invited to go see her in the hospital. To me, this whole concept of scheduled birth seems both wrong and civilized. I can't quite wrap my mind around them not being in a startled panic when things start to happen. It's weird how much the whole birth concept is tied with uncertainty, even today.
- On that theme, I'm continually taken aback by the fact that we can't sex human skeletons without a pelvis. For all our outward differences, men and women are built on the same frame with one different main hinge.
- Work is not sucking the life out of me. I'm leaving while there's still plenty of sunlight. Partly because we had a fab shutdown to do facilities work so I didn't have to split my attention between projects and sustaining, partly because I don't have a deadline stackup this week.
- So I found out my desire to start every sentence with "so" (and likely "but" or "and" as well) is very Minnesotan. Ya, sure, you betcha. Have some hotdish.
- The weather here is idyllic. A little chilly in the morning (mid 50s), gorgeous at lunch (80), warmish after work (72 at the farmer's market). The sun shining through the cirrus clouds today felt wonderful.
- It's blood orange and strawberry season at the farmers market. And the Japanese hydroponics ladies reliably provide my cucumbers and the varietal of cherry tomato I can eat raw.
- I submitted my FSA medical reimbursement paperwork and they already cut the check. It will pay for most of the fridge. I might also get some "missing money" from Mass - my brother found my name on a website and I unearthed the paperwork this week and filled out forms. We'll see.
- I really like these curtains. Not sure if they work in my scheme or if I'll be ready for them before they get discontinued, but they make me happy now.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Start of New Kitchen
It was wonderful seeing my friend again. We ate some good food, talked until the wee hours, and she helped me organized my life again. While she posted a bunch of my stuff I don't love anymore on Crai.gslist, I finished up my cabinet.
As requested, here are pictures from the start of my kitchen reno. I started with a wall that had no cabinet, test swatches of paint, and a microwave taking up counter space.
So I went to IKEA, bought a cabinet and spent waaaay longer than I expected putting it together just the way I wanted. Its first home was the middle of the living room.
I don't know how well this will show, but in my studfinding attempt, I woodpeckered the wall but good.
Visiting friend bought me a studfinder to save my future walls. In my defense, up until this dwelling, I had plaster and lath which are contraindicated for electronic stud finders.
I also repainted. I don't know why, but I can't stand the thought of the wall being unfinished behind the cabinet. Even on decorating shows it drives me nuts, so here's the paint job.
But wait! I measured again and I needed to move the outlet down so the cabinet base wouldn't rest directly on it. I thought it would be a good idea to turn it sideways too. But wow, I had to dig through a lot of drywall and whatnot to make the hole.
I persevered. I had to dig out way more wall than I anticipated to get the old outlet box uncovered and removable.
At the Ho.me D.epot with a view
I found that sockets for sideways outlets are not thick on the ground. I also decided to hire an electrician I met there to split the outlet in two so I could have a dedicated microwave plug. In the meantime, I bought a selection of screws to figure out what would be best for mounting the bracket that holds the cabinet. The #12 2.5" machine screws were the winner. (The wood screw sheared off.)
The outlet work went well but involved an ever larger hole in the wall.
In the meantime, the cabinet was settling in as a remote holder and stuff was building up around it.
I got the patch done, the paint got a second coat, and aside from the sheared off wood screw, the hanging bracket went up smoothly.
And here it is, all hung up. My neighbor helped me lift it twice, my friend once for leveling.
I placed the cabinet lower than usual (10" up from the countertop) because it holds the microwave and I don't want to tip hot stuff down my front. Plus I don't use that section of counter for prep work anyway. But having it clear so I can sweep crumbs over to the sink will be nice.
Here it is with some stuff in it.
And here it is, all done but for the handle (coming in tuesday) and the interior stemware rack. (Don't get me started. I went to 6 stores and none have a standard stemware rack. Gah!) Even so, it's as done as I can get it for now. Adel White door front. I like it.
 | Then she laughed with my neighbor over my new decorative acquisition - the tiki totem - while the neighbor's husband helped me haul my old loveseat out for the person who claimed it 30 minutes after listing. No, the tiki totem was not an impulse buy - check the design collage! The tongue modification I did myself. |
As requested, here are pictures from the start of my kitchen reno. I started with a wall that had no cabinet, test swatches of paint, and a microwave taking up counter space.
So I went to IKEA, bought a cabinet and spent waaaay longer than I expected putting it together just the way I wanted. Its first home was the middle of the living room.
I don't know how well this will show, but in my studfinding attempt, I woodpeckered the wall but good.
Visiting friend bought me a studfinder to save my future walls. In my defense, up until this dwelling, I had plaster and lath which are contraindicated for electronic stud finders.
I also repainted. I don't know why, but I can't stand the thought of the wall being unfinished behind the cabinet. Even on decorating shows it drives me nuts, so here's the paint job.
But wait! I measured again and I needed to move the outlet down so the cabinet base wouldn't rest directly on it. I thought it would be a good idea to turn it sideways too. But wow, I had to dig through a lot of drywall and whatnot to make the hole.
I persevered. I had to dig out way more wall than I anticipated to get the old outlet box uncovered and removable.
At the Ho.me D.epot with a view
I found that sockets for sideways outlets are not thick on the ground. I also decided to hire an electrician I met there to split the outlet in two so I could have a dedicated microwave plug. In the meantime, I bought a selection of screws to figure out what would be best for mounting the bracket that holds the cabinet. The #12 2.5" machine screws were the winner. (The wood screw sheared off.)
The outlet work went well but involved an ever larger hole in the wall.
In the meantime, the cabinet was settling in as a remote holder and stuff was building up around it.
I got the patch done, the paint got a second coat, and aside from the sheared off wood screw, the hanging bracket went up smoothly.
And here it is, all hung up. My neighbor helped me lift it twice, my friend once for leveling.
I placed the cabinet lower than usual (10" up from the countertop) because it holds the microwave and I don't want to tip hot stuff down my front. Plus I don't use that section of counter for prep work anyway. But having it clear so I can sweep crumbs over to the sink will be nice.
Here it is with some stuff in it.
And here it is, all done but for the handle (coming in tuesday) and the interior stemware rack. (Don't get me started. I went to 6 stores and none have a standard stemware rack. Gah!) Even so, it's as done as I can get it for now. Adel White door front. I like it.
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