First Inspection

Posted on June 20, 2005 by Frog

Here are the first pictures of our screened porch project. We passed our first inspection today. The inspector told the better-half that he doesn’t get many screened porches any more but that he preferred them to decks. Amen, brother. The inspector was also pretty impressed at how straight our holes are considering we dug them ourselves.

This picture was taken around 5:30pm on Friday afternoon (the 17th):

This picture was taken 2 hours later:

Here’s what happened to the deck:

We started digging holes Saturday after lunch. We finished half:

We finished later on Sunday then either of us anticipated but we were all ready for the inspection on Monday:

Posted in House Proud | 3 Comments

Can You Dig It?

Posted on June 20, 2005 by Frog

We’re done with the pier digging for the screened porch. We will have a total of 9 piers and let me tell you 9 holes that are 2′X2′X2′ produce a lot of dirt. The better-half called the county’s voice response unit last night to request an inspection. I’m sure the inspector has never seen such beautiful holes.

I’ll be sure to post pictures (before, during and after) of our porch project over in House Proud. We have taken some pictures already but there was just not enough energy left in the house last night for anyone to download the pictures off the camera, make them web-worthy and post.

Coming into the office today to sit in a nice desk chair is so nice. There’s nothing like shoveling dirt all day for a couple of days to make you appreciate the comfy desk job.

Here’s a piece of advice from a lesson learned over the weekend. The slow hand kills the most horse and green head flies.

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Let the back breaking begin

Posted on June 17, 2005 by Frog

We received all the permits necessary to begin work on our new screened porch. The better-half thinks we can rip off the old deck and dig the new footings this weekend in time for an inspection of the footings on Monday. The concrete truck is coming on Tuesday to dump concrete into the footings for our foundation.

I’m not sure how well I’ll be moving on Monday after we get finished. As much as I love destruction, I’m a little worried about our timeline.

Pictures showing our progress will appear over in the House Proud section. Riveting pictures, I’m sure.

Posted in Generic Thoughts | 2 Comments

Fill up and you don’t have to pay

Posted on June 16, 2005 by Frog

I secretly hope every time I take the car to the dealer that they’ll wash the car and today it came true. When we drove onto the Honda lot to pick up the car, we saw it sitting right out front. I hardly recognized it because it had been cleaned. Only, they didn’t just wash the car they freakin’ detailed the car. Driving home, I was stunned and amazed at how every single surface had been cleaned and buffed. The glass sparkled. It hasn’t looked that good since I bought it two years ago.

And, I love not having to pay for my inspection.

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And on the mike, I’m known to be the freshest

Posted on June 16, 2005 by Frog

The words running over and over in my head lately: occipital lobes. I have no idea why these words keep turning over in my head. This pete and repeat has been going on since the weekend.

The better-half gave me a ride in to work this morning because the car is getting inspected and lubed up. My payment for a ride in is always a cup of coffee. We tried the hot Italians down the street but they don’t open until 7:30 so we had to go to another joint on a side street. No matter, the coffee rocks. If it could just rock occipital lobe out of my head.

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Brains, More Brains

Posted on June 15, 2005 by Frog

Two days in a row I’ve had all day meetings. I’m brain dead. I also have a test that I have to complete for the Instructional Design class I took in May. I haven’t cracked the seal on the envelope containing the test. It is due on Monday. Apparently, the test is hard and all the answers are not easily found in the manual. Great. Take a class, not use the lessons learned and then get tested on the stuff nearly a month later–great retention is to be expected, no? If I fail the test, I have to take the course again. I was ready to poke a pencil in my eye the first go around. I sincerely hope I pass that test.

From the good news files, we’re ready to submit our paperwork for a building permit. We’re tearing off a small deck and adding a screened porch. I’m not looking forward to digging footings in July, but at least we’re not doing the block/brick work ourselves this time. Bricklayers have a real talent and we don’t.

Another item from the good news files: Mexican for dinner tonight. Ole!

Posted in Thinking | 2 Comments

Called On the Carpet

Posted on June 14, 2005 by Frog

Yesterday my boss told me I had to either come in later or leave earlier. I’ve never had someone tell me “too much time in the office”. I got home and told the better-half. He looked at me in disbelief. I told him that I get paid to work there–how cool is that?

Over the weekend we purchased two leather chairs from La-Z-Boy and the better-half is picking them up today. Of course, we walked in expecting to see all kinds of coolness because of the Todd Oldman line. Not in Richmond. The coolest chairs were the ones we bought. There were plenty of chairs that your grandparents would have found very nice. I know, because I spotted some of the chairs my grandmother had in her den.

Here’s what we purchased:

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In Walked a Jelly Fish

Posted on June 10, 2005 by Frog

Today, on the way home a car rode right up on my bumper (she was so close I couldn’t see the hood of her car) and then finally veered into the other lane*. I gave her the Look but then started to smile because her license plate spelled out Rock Lobster.

We sat out on the deck of a local sports bar for lunch today. We were the only ones out there and our waitress told us they were really busy inside. My co-worker helped himself to soda several times. I now consider him dangerous because he knows how to work the soda gun and you never know when that might be used against us if the situation is just right.

I’ve been sifting through loads of documents recently and have found that they are mostly full of misspelled words. I’ve also been reading slides from PowerPoint presentations and, lord, have mercy, some people should just step away from the PowerPoint. One presentation I read had 5 different backgrounds in as many slides.

*Sorry for all the driving related references this week. I’ve seen loads of crazily bad driving this week.

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Put it into high gear, baby

Posted on June 9, 2005 by Frog

Take a look at my new ride:

Detail on the detail:

Posted in Generic Thoughts | 1 Comment

Is it idiocy or what?

Posted on June 7, 2005 by Frog

Do you know someone who does this and, if so, will you please ask them what’s up with them?

When you see someone with their blinker on trying to go around a really slow dump truck and there’s plenty of room (more than 3 car lengths) between you and the person trying to change lanes, why do you speed up?

When you see a stop sign and just sail through it, why do you do that?

Why do you pass on the right when the left lane has no one in it?

Why do you speed up to someone’s bumper only to zag at the last second into the other lane when the lane was open the whole time?

Why do you tailgate someone when it is clear from, oh I don’t know, visual clues, that the person in front of the tailgatee is going too slow?

Why do you not hang up the phone when you nearly run off the road and then, when compensating, you swerve into the other lane?

Why do you think it is OK to ride in both lanes on a two lane road?

Posted in Thinking | 2 Comments