“Superman” by Three Doors Down
“Superman” by Three Doors Down
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See? I knew I should
See? I knew I should have been there.
I was at lunch when Roy called up. He had removed all of the aslphalt.
(That’s the good news)
He
discovered that the “foundation” for the asphalt was made of
cinders. Is that ok? Sure, I guess it is — remember I
don’t know anything about this stuff either. But he said the
cinders were fine. The problem was that only half of the driveway
was cinders — the remainder was loam.
discovered that the “foundation” for the asphalt was made of
cinders. Is that ok? Sure, I guess it is — remember I
don’t know anything about this stuff either. But he said the
cinders were fine. The problem was that only half of the driveway
was cinders — the remainder was loam.
This,
I know, is bad. He explained that over time the portion of the
driveway that sat on cinders hadn’t moved an inch, but that the
loam-side heaved every winter with contraction and expansion of the
frosts. Which turns a perfectly decent driveway in to rubble.
I know, is bad. He explained that over time the portion of the
driveway that sat on cinders hadn’t moved an inch, but that the
loam-side heaved every winter with contraction and expansion of the
frosts. Which turns a perfectly decent driveway in to rubble.
SHOCKING!! That’s why we’re doing this whole flipping project in the first place!
So, once again, previous occupants had taken a shortcut that shortened the life of the driveway.
Originally
he was going to dig down four inches and provide me and my brother in
law a four inch hole where the drive way used to be so we could pour a
four inch slab of concrete in there. Instead he dig down TWELVE
inches! Then he’s going to hustle off and bring back a truck-load
of gravel stones. He will fill the 12′ x 19′ hole with eight
inches of stones. What is that? 8 yards of stones, I
guess. That will leave us with enough space for the original
four-inch slab of cement!
he was going to dig down four inches and provide me and my brother in
law a four inch hole where the drive way used to be so we could pour a
four inch slab of concrete in there. Instead he dig down TWELVE
inches! Then he’s going to hustle off and bring back a truck-load
of gravel stones. He will fill the 12′ x 19′ hole with eight
inches of stones. What is that? 8 yards of stones, I
guess. That will leave us with enough space for the original
four-inch slab of cement!
Liz
says that Roy is really hauling ass out there. She says he’s
really working hard to get this all done by the end of today so we can
start tomorrow.
says that Roy is really hauling ass out there. She says he’s
really working hard to get this all done by the end of today so we can
start tomorrow.
Good man, Roy!
I think he’s going to take care of us on this one.
(and really, I guess nothing happened that I needed to be there for. I just keep feeling like I SHOULD be there)
Sphere: Related ContentI listened to several podcasts
I listened to several podcasts this morning:
- Queer Eye Hip Tips (they’re a hoot!)
- Nightline from Tuesday evening
- Steve Jobs interview with ABCNews’ Jake Tapper (also used to work for Salon.com)
- Battlestar Galactica (producer discusses season finale for 40 minutes)
The
Steve Jobs interview was interesting and I was suprised at how much I
got out of the Battlestar Galactica interview. It brings a whole
other dimension to a show I already enjoy.
Steve Jobs interview was interesting and I was suprised at how much I
got out of the Battlestar Galactica interview. It brings a whole
other dimension to a show I already enjoy.
Good stuff.
Sphere: Related ContentLiz bought me some ribs
Liz
bought me some ribs to grill! She dislikes the idea of “ribs” in
general, but with this weekend’s activities I think she wants to give
me and Roddo a little treat.
bought me some ribs to grill! She dislikes the idea of “ribs” in
general, but with this weekend’s activities I think she wants to give
me and Roddo a little treat.
I’ve never grilled ribs. If anyone has any ideas for it, please let me know.
However, I found this recipe which I think looks pretty great:
Everything
I’ve seen in cooking ribs has some method of tenderizing the meat — it
must be pretty tough stuff. And I think this recipe achieves it
by cooking the meat for 90 minutes. Does it need some kind of
sauce to go with it?
I’ve seen in cooking ribs has some method of tenderizing the meat — it
must be pretty tough stuff. And I think this recipe achieves it
by cooking the meat for 90 minutes. Does it need some kind of
sauce to go with it?
What should be served as well? Corn on the cob? Potato salad?
I think something without flatware.
Sphere: Related ContentRoy, the demolition-guy has
Roy,
the demolition-guy has finally shown up at the house! Liz called me to
see if I could hear the jackhammer. Roy has his jackhammer, a big truck
with a long trailer behind it. He’ll deposit the asphalt in the truck
and the trailer has the bobcat.
Its just one man and his ‘cat!
I wish I could be
there to make sure everything goes well. I’m sure Roy is good at what
he does and everything, but it makes me a little uncomfortable to not
be there.
No, I didn’t get on
No, I didn’t get on the bicycle again. 5:30am is so early!
So
I’ve been naughty and have been awful at exercising over the last week.
I feel good when I exercise and less-good when I don’t. But last night
I was really pooped and just didn’t feel like making up the workout,
you know? What if consistent exercise gives you the additional energy
to continue exercising while a lack of consistent exercise means that
you don’t have the energy to work out? So the person who has been
saving their energy by engaging in a sedentary lifestyle is actually
less able to climb out of the hole than the person who maintains some
level of exercise.
Just a thought.
Anyway,
this morning I reset the odometer on my car and tried out the route
that I believe would take me from home to work via backroads instead of
highways. HOLY COW, is that a long ride! I got lost towards the end but
I’m fairly certain the odometer would have read about 18 miles! So the
highway is faster and shorter. But for a bicyclist I think its also
illegal. The backgroads include a couple of VERY daunting hills. And
driving in to work this morning and imagining being on my bicycle …
the ride just seemed to go on and on and on and on.
Its
a long ride. I’ll have to carefully consider the idea. I broached it
with the little woman and she seemed generally supportive of the idea.
Right down to coming to get me from work at the end of the day if I
needed it. So that’s encouraging.
The new version of iTunes
The new version of iTunes has a pretty cool feature. The iTunes server over at http://www.itunes.com collects podcasts from all over the internet. Then users, such as myself can go through a catalog of podcasts and download them. All by itself that doesn’t sound so interesting.
BUT,
you can also subscribe to a podcast so every time a new one is
published your iTunes client software will synchronize with the server
and download the most recent copy. For instance, Al Franken has a radio show every day on Air America Radio.
I’m always at work @noon when the show is on so I always miss it.
However, they save the show to an mp3 file and publish it as a “podcast“.
Apple goes and collects this mp3 file and distributes it to everyone who “subscribes” to the Al Franken Show over at iTunes.
How cool is that?
I
like the idea, but I have to be honest: My attention is so fragile that
I can’t really listen to it at work. If I’m working then I have to
focus on work and have a hard time not being distracted by what’s on
the radio/iPod.
So this may not end up being a useful thing for me. We’ll see.
More at 11.
No surprises here. I didn’t
No surprises here. I didn’t get out again for a bike ride. Its just so hard to get up at 5:30am!
I
did get my haircut. The stylist I normally like so much, Kerri did
something wierd with my hair and slicked it back like a used car
salesman’s. I rumpled it up and I’m happier now. Despite the soupy
humidity of the air I will probably drive home with the top down so my
hair can settle in to something I like more.
Work
has been very busy. I have a lot of details to keep track of. The good
news is that my different systems seem to be paying off and nothing is
getting left behind. I have some research to do on some different
proejcts too.
I
also went to the bank and got Honda North their check. I called my
insurance agent and everything is looking good. With the purchase of
this new car my insurance bill will go up by $50 a year. eh. not so
bad, is it?
I
told Liz last night that I wanted to get to the gym and she didn’t give
me a hard time or anything. And when the time came to go down there I
skipped it. We wound up sitting on our asses and watching television –
oh yeah. It was the baseball game. Boston played Cleveland and it was a
really good game. Right up to the 9th inning when Boston blew it and
cleveland got a grandslam!
While
I was putting away the car I saw my neighbor come home and I went over
and kind of ambushed them with all my news. They were friendly and
didn’t leave me rambling to myself, but afterwards I realized I kind of
ambushed them.
Roy
hasn’t shown up yet to demo my driveway. I guess he’ll come by
tomorrow. I tried to pin him down but he just kind of chuckled and
assured me it would be done in time for the cement to be poured.
Christ, I hate that.
ugh,
I took Salon.com’s suggestion and downloaded some music from “Stand up
and say yeah” — its kind of chirpy depression rock. yeesh. I need to
get rid of that stuff and quick!
The final topic this
The final topic this evening is the kids.
They had their last day of school today and had a great day. They came
home with very good report cards. They had parties in each of their
classes. Each of their teachers wrote wonderful things about them on
their report cards. Ben got the best card of his life. Every time we
get a report card from him its an improvement over the last one!
I’m very proud of how well he’s doing. A couple of years ago he got a
“1-” on his reading skills. I was very concerned (read: distraught) and
wanted to know what was going on. I think part of it was that he didn’t
test well and I think part of it was that he really wasn’t very good at
reading. Since then he’s fallen in love with reading and reads for
enjoyment often! And it shows in his grades. Super kid.
Likewise, Gabriel also had his best report card ever. You can see on
the card his stead improvements over the year and he’s got solid grades
that he should be proud of. He’s got good scores in math, science and
reading. He’s doing just great.
Chloe had (get this) a PERFECT report card! Her marks are a little
different in kindergarten than the boys. I think there’s “Needs
improvement”, “Improving” and “Proficient”. I don’t think those first
two are quite right, but the point is that she got ALL PROFICIENT’s!!
How great is that?!
I’m so thrilled for her!
To say congratulations we took all the kids to Barnes & Noble and
treated them each to two books. Most weren’t really noteworthy. Except
for the one I suggested to Gabriel.
He wound up getting “Owl Puke”!
Its a book about owls and their lives and dietary/predatory habits.
They made it a pretty interesting book all by itself. But it also comes
with a dissection kit for an “owl pellet”. See, they swallow their prey
whole and then allow their digestive juices to take care of the meat
and soft tissue. The remaining fur, feathers, bones etc etc are all
compressed using strong muscles in the gizzard. Then the owl yakk’s up
this very dense hairball made up of undigested mouse-parts.
Pretty foul, eh?
Anyway, this kit COMES with an owl pellet for some lucky 7-year old to
dissect! How cool is that?!
Gabriel thinks its pretty cool.
They’re looking forward to getting the summer started tomorrow. I think
they’ll have a good time. They don’t have any special plans for this
week.
I have: A new car to pick up A haircut tomorrow A driveway has to get
demolished A driveway has to be poured on Friday A driveway has to be
ground down and smoothed out on Saturday Fireworks on Monday
Miscellaneous tourist-type activities with visiting guests
Busy.
At 9am I had a
At 9am I had a meeting with my workflow
administration group — we’re supposed to be coming up with standards
and policies and procedures that will govern how my company performs
the care and feeding of the SAP Workflow system. We recently found out
that the VP of information technology was peaved with us for not being
more productive. So we had a lot to discuss and now I’m trying to
motivate my colleagues in to working harder. It was a stressful
meeting.
After that we had a kick-off meeting for the First Responders. I’ve
taken some basic first aid and CPR instruction at work and now the
company wants to set us up as “first responders”. They gave us a first
aid kit in a fanny pack and showed us around the building to see where
the equipment is. All this took two hours.
Ugh.
Anyway, its done now. I had to cut out a little early so I could go to
my dentist appointment at 12:15pm. Kathy, my hygenist is so nice and so
good at her job! She’s a sweetie. I took the opportunity to bring a
Baja Burrito from Baja Fresh back to my desk at work.
By then it was time for my weekly team meeting. This time we got to see
a new monitoring product called Horizon from Tidal Software. It looks
pretty great and could enable us to be a lot more proactive in our
problem resolution. If only we can round up the $30k!
That took an hour.
Finally I had a meeting at 3pm with the server team — I need the UNIX
guys to install Kerberos on a test machine so I can get SAP’s Single
Sign On functionality working. Our parent company has some instructions
but they were originally written in another language by a college
student and its difficult to read. The UNIX team wants me to provide
them with clear, step by step instructions, which I can’t. So I’m
trying to convince them to work through it. I think they’ll come
through for me.
At last I was able to place a couple of personal calls regarding the
new Odyssey. We’re taking posession of it on Thursday evening at 6pm. I
need to tell the insurance company what’s going on, too. And I need to
call the bank to get a certified check. Whew!! There’s a lot going on!