This post is primarily a test of the WordPress app for Facebook. I’ve started experimenting with Posterous as a way of making a single post and having that be forwarded to the various other services and publishing venues I use around the Web. But I want posts on this blog to originate here, not somewhere else and then be forwarded here, so I’m checking out other options for tying the disparate bits together.
The pool table’s here!
Thanks to my father in-law (and his employee discount) last night we received the 3-in-1 pool/air hockey/table tennis game table we’ve been lusting over for the last couple of months:
Pool table mode. (No that's not a wall mural in the background. It's our window covering)
Air hockey mode
The thing was damn heavy – requiring all four of us to unload it from the truck, stagger to the house and barely lift it over the door sill. Some assembly was then required – thank the Sundae Monkey for power tools! After all that work we of course had to bat the hockey “puck” around a bit and play a game of pool before heading to bed. When the table tennis panels (the blue squares to the left in the pictures above) are on it will double as a table for board games, puzzles and such.
We were also out shopping yesterday for more seating for the Game Room. The sectional sofa has moved into the Movie Room and the new plan for this higher-energy space is to have random, creative/unique/comfy seating options that can easily be re-configured as needed. (If you have any suggestions on where to shop please share.)
Not to be outdone, the Movie Room is also coming along nicely. The boxes previously living there have been unpacked and the sectional works even better alongside the fireplace and purple walls. The new TV has been ordered as well as a TV stand and coffee table.
How we chose paint colors for our house
A few weeks back it dawned on me that I’d never addressed Dan’s request to hear how we’d made our color decisions for the house….
To start out, let me make it perfectly clear that we’re both sick of white. Most of our adult lives have been spent living in apartments – with white walls, white ceilings, white counters, white appliances, white-white-white.
We did manage to paint the living room in our last apartment (with the agreement that we paint it back when we moved out). Since we generally find “traditional” decor boring we focused on a more earthy, comfortable flavor. Instead of lighter colors we went with a chocolate brown, accented by a soft green. I wanted to do the ceiling in light blue (evocative of an open sky), but we found it didn’t go very well with the other colors so we settled on a faint yellow. Friends and family were concerned the overall color scheme would be oppressively dark, but now admit it turned out surprisingly cozy.
The apartment was our first foray into home-painting, but it turned out to be good practice for the house:
Naturally, the desired result being both personal and fulfilling, our story begins with the kitchen. This was one of the most important aspects of our house selection. We both wanted a space with enough [cabinet] storage as well as room for both of us to work at the same time and enough counter space to spread out meal prep. Early on Katrina decided that she wanted purple for the kitchen. She’s not sure why, other than perhaps that it would go well with the cherry-wood-tinted cabinets. In the end I think this room turned out the best looking in the house (so far). My wife is so smart 
Kitchen with purple walls
As we continued to discuss colors and design for the rest of the house, everything leveraged off of 1) the purple kitchen, 2) room themes, and 3) wall murals we’d picked. (We also tried to re-use colors where possible.) So the original plan worked out thusly…
Original color plan for the house
- Purple for the Movie Room – to give it that slightly more elegant movie house look.
- A bright green for the Game Room – of a shade to complement the purple and to evoke a more energetic, fun atmosphere.
- We also went with the green for the dining/breakfast nook because we wanted it to be more bright and cheerful.
- And finally, a light blue for the ceiling throughout the house. (Finally got my blue ceiling )
To keep the complexity down (because we had – still have – so many projects on our plate) this original plan called for a single color in each room. We figured that we’d just rely on other decor to provide contrast, etc. This, as I’ve mentioned, changed when an artist friend came by to see our new place…
(to be continued)
Use the right tool for the job
Seen on Twitter:
I hate it when I’m tweeting someone I deal w/ professionally & the 140 character limit makes me sound like I’m 13 yrs old.
Um… here’s a suggestion: Don’t use Twitter for that.
Why do people continue to insist on trying to make one product/service be the end-all, be-all for whatever they want to do? I was listening to a podcast the other day where this guy was saying that the Twitter folks should let him make double posts because, “geeks create it, then the MBAs come in and take it over – that’s the way things work,” and the MBAs want to be able to tweet the same thing over and over again (e.g. for marketing).
Don’t straighten the claw on a hammer if you want to tighten a screw – go get a screwdriver. Use the right tool for the job.
CBS still not getting it
Yesterday I saw a “trailer” for the Wil Wheaton episode of The Big Bang Theory. After getting my hyperventilation under control I waited eagerly for the day to end so I could rush home to download and watch it on our Apple TV.
It wasn’t there. The entire show – all episodes – had apparently been removed from the iTunes store.
Stage 1 – Denial: I tried various searches, browsed the Networks section, and stared dumbly at the “This show is no longer in your Favorites” message.
Stage 2 – Anger: I vented my rage on Twitter.
Stage 3 – Desperation: I went looking for the YouTube video I’d watched earlier in the day, so I could show Katrina how nerdtastic it was. It too was gone – taken down, the message said, for copyright violation.
Stage n – Acceptance: I consoled myself with watching various mashups of Sheldon’s “KHAAAAAN!!” tribute and eventually cried myself to sleep.
…
So today I read about Clicker (basically a search engine for TV and TV-like content online) and I decide to see if it can tell me where I can find this nerdlicious episode…
…:sigh:…
It’s not even available on their own website (although other shows are).
…:Siiiiiiiigh:…
When will these production companies get it through their thick skulls that I can’t watch their show, or even give them my money, until they stop making it so hard for me to do so??
The community approach to managing disasters
The Covington/Maple Valley Reporter has a story on the fire department training, and to a certain degree deputizing, members of the community to help when disaster strikes. This is news here due to recent warnings that an upstream dam might need to release more water than usual, in order to ease pressure on an adjacent bank that might otherwise give way under heavy rains.
Not being a fan of relying on the government for everything (and thus encouraging it to grow larger and more powerful), I think this is a wonderful idea. The very nature of a geographical community results in this effort providing a distributed network of first-responders and information gatherers that can help direct the efforts of experts to where they’re likely to be most useful.
I hope other communities are taking notes.
Slowly becoming a home
Pardon me if I’m not my usual coherent self. We finally handed in the keys to the apartment last night and I’m still recovering from the push to meet that deadline.
So, what’s happened since my last post about the house?
Fully painted dining Nook with Katrina
Nearly all the downstairs has been painted. All that remains is the kitchen, which will have to wait until we tackle a few other priorities.
We’ve decided the Office needs to come next – in part so I can do things like post here more often 
This weekend we’ll start the process of
- pulling up the carpet,
- painting,
- laying down bamboo hardwood flooring,
- putting up the wall mural
- and installing the full-room desk
Game Room sofa, window panels, Katrina and kids.
The kids, and we, have been settling in nicely. The sectional sofa for the Game Room was delivered a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve managed to get our chosen window coverings up on one window. This last weekend we even found some lamps for the Master Bedroom, which means we finally have light! Oh, and we’ve abandoned our planned tropical theme in favor of something with Asian influences instead. To that end, we’ve picked up a nice new Shanghai headboard and matching night tables from Pier 1.
Progress is slowly being made in other parts of the house as well. We’ve got the chest freezer set up the way we want it, and I’ve assembled two sets of shelves in the garage. We’ve also got most of the kitchen stuff unpacked and put away – at least in their temporary locations.
It’s all still an unholy mess, however. Now that the apartment is no longer hanging around our necks we’re hoping to be able to spend more quality time getting unpacked and set up. Still lots of planning, shopping, etc. in our future, but we’re looking forward to finally being able to do our own thing
The Movie Room (all painted) from the Kitchen
Oreo in the Nook window
I feel I must apologize for the quality of some of these photos. Somewhere in all the hustle and bustle I lost track of the camera and have had to experiment with taking still shots with the camcorder instead :-/
The Post Office’s new tagline
We don’t do that any more.
The welcoming information our HOA puts out instructs new homeowners to pick up their mailbox key at the local post office. Our carrier (who was kind enough to give us the mail that was collecting in our box) said the same thing. So I arranged to come in to work a bit late and swung by the post office (which isn’t open on the weekends) just after it opened….
“We don’t do that any more.”
Now, to be completely fair, the lady behind the counter had a bit of an accent and I may not have completely understood everything she said. But I’m pretty sure I got the main gist. “We don’t do that any more” (word for word) was the first thing she said, followed by something about that they used to, but the guy who handled the keys wasn’t there any more. She elaborated – explaining that they do hand out keys for the initial buyer of a newly built home, but implied that it was up to the seller/agent/${SOMEBODY_ELSE} to transfer the keys when the house was sold. Her parting advice to me was to call later in the day and tell them that I’d lost my key and needed the lock replaced – thus getting me a new key – which I did….
“We don’t do that any more.”
Seriously. Those were the first words out of the postal worker’s mouth. At this point I explained to her that I hadn’t really lost my keys and that I had been told – by the person working the counter – to call and tell them this in order to get new keys issued so I could retrieve my mail. She gave me the same “we used to do this, but don’t any more” story and also talked about a mysterious keymaster that wasn’t directly available. She took down my information, said she’d “put it in his book” and that he’d call me back.
This morning there was a voicemail on my phone when I got to work. (Answering a phone is problematic when on a motorcycle.) Yep, you guessed it:
“We don’t do that any more.”
The all-powerful keymaster informed me that I’d probably have to call a locksmith to come out and replace the lock – on my own dime, of course. He also said that he could come out and disconnect the lock (leaving it in the box) but that our address was too far out to be convenient for him, so he was going to try to talk to our carrier to see if he could do it.
I called this latest contact back and expressed my frustration at how difficult it seemed to be to get a simple key to my mailbox. This raised his hackles – he curtly informed me that they couldn’t be responsible for every individual’s mailbox and that I’d have to call a locksmith. (Apparently, our mail carrier didn’t know how to remove the lock.)
In the end he grudgingly agreed to come out and remove our lock (new ones can apparently be purchased at standard hardware stores – he specifically mentioned McLendon’s) since he’d been informed that there was damage to another mailbox unit in our area that he needed to inspect (the Postal Service-owned portion, of course). But he continued to reminded me how inconvenient our address was for him.
I understand that folks are understaffed and organizations need to cut back, but sweet monkey sundae, people! When did the Postal Service start acting like the DMV?
Of cats and hissing and darkness
Sorry about going dark for so long. We made The Big Move last Saturday. It had been my original intention to post often about what was going on, but well…
All of you existing homeowners can stop laughing now.
Yes, a house sucks all the free time out of you (not that we had much to begin with), and most especially moving into a new house for the first time. To say nothing of the old axiom that; No plan survives engagement….
Our plan had been to take a couple of weeks between possession and move-in to
- wire every room with CAT 6,
- paint the interior,
- put up various wall murals, and
- install a closet system for the master bedroom
The wiring effort never got beyond installing the (empty) panel box and running a PVC conduit from there to the attic and crawlspace. This means I’ve only had Internet access from work since going offline for the move.
As previously mentioned, the walls wound up requiring two coats of paint, rather than the one we’d expected, and we never even got around to ordering the murals. The downstairs ceilings are done, as is the Game Room (the green walls seen in the previous post’s pictures). One wall of the movie room (purple walls) is also done, but the kitchen walls haven’t been started on and the rest still needs another coat.
The closet, of course, had various fits and starts but was finally finished Monday night. Kudos to my lovely and talented wife who fussed and swore, and eventually persevered – from initial design and ordering all the way through construction. I’ve got videos that I’ll be uploading somewhere if they turn out to be any good.
Speaking of the video camera; we bought it specifically to record the kids‘ reactions to the new house. (Other than the house they were born in, they’ve lived in the one apartment their whole lives.) Yeah… this didn’t go so well either – not the video recording, the reaction.
In typical fashion, our boy was not too perturbed – a little confused, but still curious. He wandered all over, poking his nose into every nook and cranny. His sister was a whole ‘nother story….
I wasn’t there (Katrina had taken the kids early while I remained at the apartment to direct the movers) but Mango started hissing and growling right away. This – predictably, based on previous experience – progressed to hissing and swiping at her brother. By the time I’d arrived, they were shut in separate rooms because she wouldn’t abide even his mere presence.
Unfortunately, her behavior continued to escalate. If Mango so much as heard the bell on her brother’s collar she would start growling. When he came into view she’d lunge at him and chase him into hiding, hissing and spitting the whole way. Worse yet, she started hissing at us when we told her “No!”.
After much agonizing and debate – including a disastrous attempt to force her into a spare bedroom – we decided they needed to work this out between themselves. We shut them out of the bedroom and went to bed, which was hard because they usually sleep with us.
This has proven to be a better strategy. Mango has slowly settled down over the last few days. No more hissing. No more swatting. They’re eating together, and laying on top of each other again. Peace at last
Aftermath of the Great Painting Party of September 2009
All downstairs colors seen from the dining room. (Note; the wall in the foreground was washed out by the flash. It should be a gray-blue.)
As is to be expected, things didn’t go as smoothly or as quickly as intended. It became clear about half-way through the painting that we were going to need to apply two coats – both to the ceiling and the walls. And to make matters worse I’d used up a lot of the ceiling color attempting to make spot fixes before we’d made this determination. All of which meant that by the end of Saturday we didn’t have enough paint.
In these pictures (and the rest on my Picasa web album) the only walls that are complete (have two coats) are the two green ones. For everything else we’ll be getting more paint today because the place that carries the paint we like (heavy Flash) wasn’t open on Sunday.
Better shot of the gray-blue color on the accent wall
A quick aside…
Several people have been confused about the difference between our Game Room (with the green walls) and the Entertainment Room (purple), since each are going to have a TV and couch. I like to think of it in terms of activity; the Entertainment Room is for sinking into your seat and vegging out in front of a movie, show, etc., while the Game Room is for more interactive activities.
Now back to the show…
Network control box and cabling pipe in the closet
Fortunately, even without paint, there were plenty of other projects to keep us busy:
I finished assembling the PVC pipe for running cables to the attic and crawlspace, and mounted the network control box in the wall. A little tip: Make sure you have someone help you get your T-joint lined up exactly where you want it before you cement the pipes together. I thought I was being clever turning the pipe myself (from down in the garage) until the “T” hit the wall, but just wound up with the opening turned in towards the wall at an angle. It’ll work, but is a bit awkward.
Katrina also got started assembling the Easy Track closet system she’d ordered. She’s been a real stickler for getting everything level and properly measured, so it’s looking very nice
Easy Track is a modular closet organization system - kind of like Californa Closets
And, last but not least, the cable installer came and hooked us all up. Turns out that neither the cable nor the phone connections were ever completed in the house – even though we’re the second owners. All the cables were in place, but the Comcast guy had to cap off the ends in the garage and drill out to their box on the side of the house (which was already there).
I also learned from him not to put a cable modem on a coax amplifier.
