It has been a really long time since I have posted more than a quip or comment and honestly, I am not sure why. I have been ultra busy, yet I am not sure anyone can be so busy that they don’t have five or 10 minutes to decompress. Isn’t that really what blogging is supposed to be – an opportunity to decompress?
A lot of things have happened in the past several weeks (or months) depending upon how you look at it. Since my last post in early October a lot has happened.
On the home front I managed to pull off quite a surprise party for Stephanie’s 40th birthday. I gained a level of respect for event planners and what they go through. Midway through the process we had a rush of unexpected expenses pushing several thousand dollars. This changed things greatly. I did not want to go into debt and had a specific dollar amount in mind. Add in the pressure of the unexpected expense and it got hairy. I had to cater the event myself. Good food for 65 people, along with an open bar is no easy task. Fortunately it all worked out great – the only glitch was running out of bottled water.
I am currently converting my daughter’s old bedroom into an office. When we bought the house the room was used for storage. The walls were unfinished and the floor was subflooring only. There was only one electrical outlet and no air conditioning. It is also the room with access to the crow’s nest. Yes, my house has a crow’s next.
When Madeliene returned from California after two years she moved into this room. My house is big, but the three boys each have their own bedroom and she chose this room over another smaller room. When we moved it we finished the walls and painted them. The the painters made a mistake (pale pink) but we lived with it and a discount too. For Madeliene we added a carpet remnant, a cable outlet and a safe, but convoluted extension cord system that gave her more power access.
About three months after she moved in she got a dog – not just a dog – but a puppy. Or maybe I should have called him a poopy. By the time she moved out in June the dog managed to tear up the room, the carpet in the room and the hallway – basically making the room uninhabitable. I know I am digressing, but there is a point here.
Anyway, because Stephanie and I are in the process of earning doctorates we need a better place to study. My “office” is actually the bar area of the house and it has no doors. With dogs and kids, doors are important. So we decided that we should use Madeliene’s old bedroom. First step, Kilz the floor – amazing what some paint will do to make the smell that no amount of bleach or Pine-sol could elimante. That was the easy stuff.
I decided that in order to be a proper office, suitable for two PhD’s in the making, that it needed adequate bookshelves. We literally have a ton of books in the basement still boxed from our move to Ohio in early 2006. These books, plus the 200 or so more we have accumulated, need a home. So, I am building a floor to ceiling bookcase, 14 feet long by 10 feet tall. There are seven shelves in four sections. An approximate total 98 linear feet of bookshelf. This should hold roughly 1200 books – depending upon how we stack them and how thick they are.
In the process of building this monstrosity I managed to upgrade the access to power – there are now three permanent outlets and a “flexible” outlet along an outside wall. I also hardwired cat5e cable into the room so I can have direct access to my home network. My home wireless is great (I am on it right now), but somehow I prefer the steady 100Mbps connection to a 54Mpps wireless.
I am not done, as it is a slow process when you have other things to do. Plus, no one will ever accuse me of being a master craftsman. I enjoy the process, but it isn’t even a hobby. Add my lack of skill to the fact that the wood I bought is not the straightest and caulk, molding and paint will be my best friends this weekend. Fortunately, the walls are straight and the floor is only uneven in one area and I compensated for that – I suppose.
We will move in the office before it is complete. I am leaving the floor alone right now, but will eventually put down hardwood – or at least a high quality laminate. An area rug on painted subfloor will do for now. I do not know if I want to do this myself or not. With the uneven floor, and odd shape of the room, I may need to hire someone. Also, I have a plan to put a duct from the main floor HVAC system into the room. It has an electric wall heater now, it works okay – but there is no air. The duct will come from the floor below and feed from one of three HVAC unit. It is actually easier to do it this way, as the third floor unit is AC only and the duct work would need to be seriously rerouted. With my current idea, I will take an unused duct from the main floor and reroute it through the service area above my kitchen (where the air handler is) right into the office. Seems simple enough. I have regretted those very words before, so we’ll see.
The new job has me hopping. I have already been on three trips: Tampa, Omaha, and Toronto. I return to Tampa Monday. I will be driving to the DC area right after Christmas for a school residency. After the first of the year I head to Amsterdam, Vienna, Budapest, and Frankfurt. I may also visit Bratislava and Lucerne. I will end up back in Canada and Tampa before too long and somehow I am going to have to fit in a trip to Chennai (India). I am worn out just typing it all.
Well I have rambled enough and I did not even touch on the people aspect of the new job. I will save those people interactions for some other time.