Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Low Point, Please?!

WARNING! Slightly depressing post follows! WARNING!

I'm not sure if a week can be much worse? An unimaginable number of things went wrong this week that has taken a pretty serious toll on my mood. Everything from lost files (with a broken backup so we couldn't restore it) to unplugging the production SQL Server in the middle of the afternoon, to disassembling a DAT tape autoloader to remove a bad tape from the embedded DAT drive. The week is only about half over, and I dread what tomorrow and Friday bring... I just hope I've reached the low point... Please!

The only bright thing is that we were able to convince the boss to allow us to spend a little money to purchase a piece of software that will safeguard the company's data. We've been working on the upper management on this for quite some time now.

Tonight's post was brought to you by the letters U, G, H, and the phrase "wrung out". The numbers get the night off.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

The New Member of the Family...

Please join me in welcoming Tree to the Harris family. I'm sure Karen will eventually tell you all about it. Yes, we did indeed acquire a Red Sunset Maple and located it in such a way that it should shade about half of our back yard once it fills out. (in about a decade! :)

Did you think I was announcing something else? HA!!! Anyway, There was a boatload of digging and a pretty serious amount of lifting done this weekend as I also installed an over-the-stove microwave oven on Saturday, the same day as the tree went in, and we had company today. There was a good bit of work that went into getting the house presentable for that occasion.

Let's see, what else... Oh! FYI, DO NOT write "wash me" on someone's car unless it's on the window. It actually scratches the finish and doesn't come off once the car is clean. No big worries, though I'm sure that a good waxing will fill in the scratches (surface scratches only) and make the car look really good. Maybe I'll re-clean Lizzzie (yes, 3 'Z's) some time this week and give her a good waxing. Then, the following week, I'll give a good cleaning and waxing to Karden. We'll see.

I'm tired and I really need to just go to bed early so I can at least partly recover from the weekend. I'm sure I'll be able to recover from the days off by going to work, right? :)

Anyway, I'm heading to bed. Tonight's silliness was brought to you by the word increment, the letters R, S, M, and the number 5.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Clean!

I washed the cars today. Both of them. You might think this isn't anything particularly noteworthy, but my wife and I know that it is quite significant. This is the first washing of this sort the cars have seen in very nearly a year. I know that's a sad, sad thing, but we've been living at Karen's parents' house and it just didn't seem like the thing to do. There were too many other more important things to do, but now that we have our own house and our own bills, I feel I can take the time (and water) to clean them sufficiently. As an added bonus, I'll be able to see out the side windows again. Yay!!! :)

On another note, we're getting little things around the house done bit by bit. I think we've both gotten it into our heads that it doesn't need to all be done immediately (just in a big hurry :), but we are allowed to take our time. Of course, it's not like anyone will be telling us what we can do and when we can do it (with the possible exception of Karen), so there's no real rush. We'll have our house-warming when we have it.

We're resisting the urge to go out and buy stuff for our new house, though I do go out and get things that I know we'll need, but only so often and a few things at a time, but there's this couch that I know Karen loves and to be honest, I like it too. :) It has a love seat that comes with it too, and we'll have to see what develops as to whether or not the set makes its way into our house.

OK. I've filled you in on a few things - I see no need to overwhelm you with a novelette in a single posting, so I'll end this one for now. Speaking of which, what kinds of things do my readers read? I'm interested to know if my audience is a bunch illiterate Tooks (Merri and Pippin), or brainiatic bookworms. Please post a reply so I can get a good count. Thanks muchly! I appreciate it.

This posting has been brought to you by the word expurgate, the letters X, R, F, and the number 9.

Monday, June 19, 2006

BOO!!!

I was just checking to see if everyone was still reading my blog. It's been so long since I updated this here thing-a-ma-bob that I figured you'd all fallen asleep! :) Heh! I guess it's time for me to stop slacking off when it comes to posting and updating my blog. That being said, I'll say good night for now and wrap my head around what I want to say to everyone.

Tonight's posting was brought to you be the word, existentialism (just for you, Bob) and I'm giving the letters and numbers the night off.

P.S. BOO!!! Are you awake yet?! :)

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Update pending...

Please bear with us. We know it's been a while since a good update has been provided, but we're moving! Give us a break! :)

We'll give an update to everyone as soon as everything's been completed.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Stop Waste - What?!

So, as you probably already know, we had another set back last night in that we had a pretty significant water leak come up and give us a smack down. I'm positive Karen has told you all about it, so I won't. Instead, I'll tell you how it was a false alarm and the water is back on at the house. I won't go into details, but the long and the short of it is that after turning the Stop Waste valve off and back on again, the massive leaking from that very valve stopped and it turns out that if the valve isn't 100% on or off it will do that as designed (it's designed to release the pressure in the sprinkler lines once it's turned off, but will release the pressure if it's partly on as well).

Anyway, we've decided it would be better if we concentrated on the upper level and the furniture, then the rest of the house incrementally as time allows (we might have time to do the rec room before moving in and maybe not). I'm fairly certain that the main level will have to wait until next week some time. Perhaps longer, depending on the other projects that need to be addressed.

Anyway, that's the update so far. From my point of view at least. :)

Special thanks to the letters, R, S, T, L, N, E and the number 8.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

OUCH!!!

Can anyone out there tell me why my lower back would hurt when I spent a lot of time painting ceilings?! SHEEESH! Anyway, I'm way behind on my hoped schedule. Hopefully I can get back on track (read that as not loose any more time) and be able to use some of the down time I have built into my schedule to finish on schedule.

---Beginning of Product Critique---
By the way, the Wagner Power Roller is NOT the tool to use when painting ceilings. It weighs about 3-4 times as much as a conventional roller and isn't as long as a conventional roller with a short extension. I haven't tried it on walls yet (it may be the perfect thing for walls), but I will when I start to paint the many walls of Baked Scone :) The roller itself provided good coverage when I had the energy to hold it to the ceiling for more than a moment. The edging tool that comes with the Power Roller is useless though. I get much better results with a conventional brush. The cleanup time is abysmal as well. It takes 45 minutes plus to perform the cleanup tasks they recommend which is much longer than you want to use the thing if you try to use it on a ceiling. I'm not sure it was worth the money to get it, but I'll wait until I use it on a bunch of walls before I judge that one.
---End of Product Critique---

So there is one coat on the ceilings of the bedrooms and hallway upstairs. There's the vaulted ceiling in the living room and kitchen/dining room on the main floor to do and the ceiling of the rec room on the lower level to do. I got a chance to look at my work today. I wasn't impressed with my work. Too many missed spots, though the coverage was pretty good. I'll stick with a conventional roller for the remainder of the ceilings in the house to be sure I have a good result.

Tonight's painting plan is that I'll get the second coat on the ceilings of the bedrooms and the first coat (at least) on the shelves of the pantry. I'll do it first and see if it needs a second coat (I hope not). The rest of the evening may see me working on the ceilings of the main and lower levels or furniture. It just depends on what's needed and when we need it.

The washer and dryer pair arrived today. The guys were really quick with the install and testing of the units. I'm happy with the machines and I think Karen will be as well.

The Landscaper is supposed to show up today to complete the sprinkler system repair and then we can get the lawn watered properly so that it will green up.

I'll be happy when the AC is installed as well since it is really hot these days. It's supposed to get up to 97 today! The swamp cooler just doesn't cut it and anyone who says it does is smoking something. You should try to locate their stash and share! :)

OK, enough ranting. I'm glad to be back in the home owners' club even though it is going to be a boatload of work for a while. I look forward to getting it finished enough to live in it and get a little rest before the next big project. Who are we kidding?! There's always a next big project!! I'll rest eventually.

I'll try to give another update tomorrow. For now I think I'll just ache a little. :)

Later!

Saturday, June 03, 2006

37 to go...

Hours that is, until we take possession of out new home. (I just HAD to get that out before Karen could. Hee Hee :)

In case you didn't know it, I'm pretty stoked about getting outta my mother-in-law's house and into my own. I'm also happy to be re-entering that elite club of home owners. It feels GOOD!!!

I'm NOT looking forward to all the work and long hours that will be put in over the course of the next week, but I'll manage.

Anyway, I just wanted to get you all know how happy I am.

Tonight's entry was brought to you be the letters H, O, M, E, and the number 37... Hee Hee...

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Tick, Tock.

There are less than 13 hours until I begin signing and initialing the pages of what usually looks like a book. It's called home sale closing or something to that effect. The upshot is that you sign on the order of 40 or 50 places and vow to adopt an infant ostrich in order to pay and arm and a leg for 30 years. All of this is in order to procure a house to live in. It's an insane process, but that's the only way to buy a house these days. I wish I had a stamp of my signature so I could save time.

Anyway, we're happy to be getting our house and I'm looking forward to that, but I'm NOT looking forward to the boatloads of work I'm going to have to do in order to prep the house to our satisfaction. I'll have a large jetted soaking tub to relax in for a while anyway. :) That sounds pretty good! Assuming I can manage to get Karen out of it.

That's it for now. Tick, tock - watch the clock!

Tonight's silliness was brought to you be the letters K, F, and the number 3. Thank you, and good night!