They tell me the best sign you are ready to graduate is when you can't stand your boss anymore. I've been trying to move past the science equivalent of teen angst ("he doesn't notice how smart I am," "he doesn't understand what it is like to do these experiments!"), and today I think we turned a corner. And it was a corner that I really thought would be a clif. See, I tend to get irritated with my boss when he takes too much interest in what I am doing. He isn't usually up to the minute on things, so I feel like I have to slow way down and reach WAY back to explain things to him. (Picture adolescent eye-roll here) Other methods to tame my attitude were only partially effective (patience, looking for my own errors instead if his, setting my expectations more realistically), but I was pretty confident that the togetherness of actually writing a paper together would push my patience past the brink. Fortunately for everyone involved, I was wrong.
We are writing a part of a paper, for a collaborator, which is serving as a nice dumping ground for some data we can't follow up on. We got involved in this madness about a month ago, at which time Dr. Boss suggested I try (as a Go For It experiment) an extra experiment that would round out the data nicely. We want to get it done by early November. But we needed some more details, and there was waiting, and then I was kinda slacking last week... and yesterday, my slightly flustered boss says they want EVERYthing done by Saturday- which means we need to get it out by Friday, which means.... I need to get that experiment done! And also the written part, and make the figures. Arg!
I didn't want Dr. Boss to think I wasn't taking this opportunity (big opportunity for me) seriously, so I mashed out the data- but the writing, I can't really fake. Fortunately, he can. So I spent half an hour in his office today, writing up one short part of the paper. And it was really good- I felt like the paper was better because we both wrote it, and I felt like he'd say that too. He kept saying things like "Good point" and "Well put." I didn't feel defensive about it (since I didn't have anything written before), so it actually seemed quite collaborative. Awesome!
A relevant side note, my technical writing isn't any better than it was in high school. I still write like you get charged per period, and my liberal use of tenses makes me seem like a time traveler. Ah well, with luck, we'll write a couple more papers.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
It’ll be a long day
So...how’s it going for everyone? Good? That’s cool, that’s cool. Me? Sitting in the desert for a few hours, that’s all. Not a whole lot to do. I mean, there’s some tumbleweeds over there. Even got a little green on ‘em. Don’t see that too often, nosir. Quite rare, quite rare. It’s on account of the rain, you see. Had some rain last week. That’s what puts the green on them tumbelweeds, gives em a little color, you understand. Normally, o’course, they’re just brown and dry. Not much water, you understand, on account of it being the desert. Mostly just brown tumbleweeds as far as the eye can see. Not today, though. Nope, today we got a touch of green on those puppies. Just a touch, mind. Ain’t like we’re going to get a whole lot of color all over, but just a touch is enough. Yep, get just a little rain out here and you get just a little green. If we got more rain, we’d be more green, but then we wouldn’t be a desert, y’understand. Then we’d be just like anyplace else, if we got enough rain. Green and trees and whatnot. But out here we don’t get much rain. That rain last week is probably all the rain we’ll get for, oh, at least a month. And this time of year is when we get any rain at all. Yep, during the summer it’s just dry as a bone, and all those tumbleweeds are brown and dry all summer long. They have to wait until it gets on into fall and winter, sometimes, before they get a little rain. But that’s when it turns green, you see, when it gets some water. Plants need it to grow, tumbleweeds no different. Ain’t nothing grows without water, not even in the desert. Nosir. Not unless it rains.
I think this place is getting to me.
So I’ve made it successfully out to Barstow (not Baker, as previously reported to some) and have started my two weeks of work. Not a whole lot to report, actually. The collect is unclassified, but they generally frown on tossing about information too freely, even if it isn’t restricted, so if you want to know about it, you can ask me, but I ain’t postin’ it up on no internet site, nosir. AAH! keep it together, Noel. You’re not a hillbilly yet.
The biggest adjustment has been the wake up time. I got up at 4 AM today, though I could have probably slept in a little bit extra. I didn’t want to have too much to do and not enough time to do it. On the plus side, I did get to see a very pretty desert sunrise, and my rigorous plan of making myself go to bed and get up early paid off, it wasn’t that hard to get moving. For the most part, everything on the project is going quite well, yay for that. And most of my days will probably consist of sitting in cars, letting equipment run and pondering the green-ness of tumbleweed. I’ll take boring success over exciting failure, though, given the choice.
Barstow isn’t bad either, considering I was in China Lake last time. Barstow actually has a population. It’s mostly still fast food joints, but at least it’s got a few healthy ones, and even a Wall Mart and a Home Depot if we need supplies and stuff. I’ve picked up a ton of food, all sitting in my room, at the moment. O’course, there’s not a whole lot of time to appreciate the city. The days may be boring but they can be pretty long, too. Nothing absurd, I don’t think, though.
So I’ll just pass the time blogging and writing e-mails to Jessie. Not much else to do, on account of the isolation.
Yup.
-N
I think this place is getting to me.
So I’ve made it successfully out to Barstow (not Baker, as previously reported to some) and have started my two weeks of work. Not a whole lot to report, actually. The collect is unclassified, but they generally frown on tossing about information too freely, even if it isn’t restricted, so if you want to know about it, you can ask me, but I ain’t postin’ it up on no internet site, nosir. AAH!
The biggest adjustment has been the wake up time. I got up at 4 AM today, though I could have probably slept in a little bit extra. I didn’t want to have too much to do and not enough time to do it. On the plus side, I did get to see a very pretty desert sunrise, and my rigorous plan of making myself go to bed and get up early paid off, it wasn’t that hard to get moving. For the most part, everything on the project is going quite well, yay for that. And most of my days will probably consist of sitting in cars, letting equipment run and pondering the green-ness of tumbleweed. I’ll take boring success over exciting failure, though, given the choice.
Barstow isn’t bad either, considering I was in China Lake last time. Barstow actually has a population. It’s mostly still fast food joints, but at least it’s got a few healthy ones, and even a Wall Mart and a Home Depot if we need supplies and stuff. I’ve picked up a ton of food, all sitting in my room, at the moment. O’course, there’s not a whole lot of time to appreciate the city. The days may be boring but they can be pretty long, too. Nothing absurd, I don’t think, though.
So I’ll just pass the time blogging and writing e-mails to Jessie. Not much else to do, on account of the isolation.
Yup.
-N
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Rachel Maddow in AK
Just in case anyone missed it, Rachel Maddow went to Anchorage to chat with Joe Miller and a few of his supporters.
You may now resume regular programming.
You may now resume regular programming.
News from Walla Walla
It has been just a week since the trucks pulled into the driveway at our new home, first the rental truck I drove and then the pickup that Dave Berry filled carefully with fragile pictures, boxes also marked ‘fragile’ and some key plant containers.
It has been an up and down week, getting things unpacked, placed and starting the process of learning our way around a new home and a new community. I’m starting to remember which closet lights turn on from the inside right, and which turn on from the outside left, but there still plenty of habits to unlearn and new ones to acquire.
I approach home ownership a bit differently than Noel does . . . a little bit more concerned about thermostats and other devices that come with no instructions or instructions written for contractors needing to know clearance requirements and wiring diagrams.
There is a timer on the gas furnace that seems to turn on a fresh air exchange (for SIX hours a day) that cannot be adjusted other than cranking the timer around to some time zone in the EU so that it doesn’t come on at 2:00 a.m. in our time zone.
“Gas Fireplaces for Dummies” does not appear to be available in a Kindle edition yet but I’m still hoping . . . In Ballard, I took the fireplace apart, cleaned the glass and got it all back together. In WW, I did the same process, and started looking at the pilot light instructions.
The process looked the same in both places but there is a solid looking silver fixture built into the floor next to the fireplace here . . . that’s the gas control, the real estate agent had said confidently. I looked in the “stuff” drawer where the fireplace installation manual was thoughtfully left and sure enough there’s a big brass key marked “fire log valve control.”
But when I go to use the brass key on the silver valve . . . the key has a square opening and the valve in the floor is round. They do not match and I’m at a loss for how to turn the valve on the floor. I tried the pilot-lighting process anyway, and yay, the gas is already turned on, the pilot light sparks up, and when switched on, the fireplace fills the room with cheer and warmth.
Today dawned sunny and warm and we took advantage of the break from yesterday’s rain to walk a few blocks over to the nearest park. Which turns out to feel a lot like Shadle Park, with a lot of play fields, open spaces, and magnificent maple and other deciduous trees, just turning into fall colors.
I have two job interviews next week and have already been to a community meeting sponsored by a group called the “Grandmother Round Table” where a speaker described people like us as "quality of life immigrants."
I think we’re going to like it here.
It has been an up and down week, getting things unpacked, placed and starting the process of learning our way around a new home and a new community. I’m starting to remember which closet lights turn on from the inside right, and which turn on from the outside left, but there still plenty of habits to unlearn and new ones to acquire.
I approach home ownership a bit differently than Noel does . . . a little bit more concerned about thermostats and other devices that come with no instructions or instructions written for contractors needing to know clearance requirements and wiring diagrams.
There is a timer on the gas furnace that seems to turn on a fresh air exchange (for SIX hours a day) that cannot be adjusted other than cranking the timer around to some time zone in the EU so that it doesn’t come on at 2:00 a.m. in our time zone.
“Gas Fireplaces for Dummies” does not appear to be available in a Kindle edition yet but I’m still hoping . . . In Ballard, I took the fireplace apart, cleaned the glass and got it all back together. In WW, I did the same process, and started looking at the pilot light instructions.
The process looked the same in both places but there is a solid looking silver fixture built into the floor next to the fireplace here . . . that’s the gas control, the real estate agent had said confidently. I looked in the “stuff” drawer where the fireplace installation manual was thoughtfully left and sure enough there’s a big brass key marked “fire log valve control.”
But when I go to use the brass key on the silver valve . . . the key has a square opening and the valve in the floor is round. They do not match and I’m at a loss for how to turn the valve on the floor. I tried the pilot-lighting process anyway, and yay, the gas is already turned on, the pilot light sparks up, and when switched on, the fireplace fills the room with cheer and warmth.
Today dawned sunny and warm and we took advantage of the break from yesterday’s rain to walk a few blocks over to the nearest park. Which turns out to feel a lot like Shadle Park, with a lot of play fields, open spaces, and magnificent maple and other deciduous trees, just turning into fall colors.
I have two job interviews next week and have already been to a community meeting sponsored by a group called the “Grandmother Round Table” where a speaker described people like us as "quality of life immigrants."
I think we’re going to like it here.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Home, home on the range
Writing from the Desert, more or less. I’m currently in Barstow (not Baker, as previously reported) a much more civilized home base from which to do testing than was China Lake, which was really just a tiny main street and a bunch of fast food joints. This place has a much larger main street and a whole lot more fast food joints. Some of which even sell healthy food, so I’m excited about that.
I’ve been waking up earlier and earlier as time has progressed, and even though I don’t have to meet anyone until 9:00 today, I still got up at 5:00 because I’m probably going to have to get up at 4:00 tomorrow and I don’t want to waste all the effort. This means I’ve had time for a leisurely breakfast, a stroll around the hotel, and a morning skype-call with Jessie. The internet in this place is unfortunately slow (I’m pretty sure it’s either shared or *dramatically* throttled) so I can’t get video of her, but she can get video of me, which is nice at least.
I’ve also set up my Xbox, so all is well. I’m planning to do a little bit of exercise, take a shower, and then goof off with video games until It’s time to meet up with people. The work promises to be generally boring, but pretty long. Maybe 10 to 12 hour days. I doubt much longer than that. Today is mostly ‘fill out forms and attend safety briefings’ day for me and my travel buddy, and then tomorrow the testing begins in earnest. I’ll try and drop little updates on people as things happen but other than ‘sat in a car for many hours today: glad I brought books’ I doubt there will be much to report.
-N
I’ve been waking up earlier and earlier as time has progressed, and even though I don’t have to meet anyone until 9:00 today, I still got up at 5:00 because I’m probably going to have to get up at 4:00 tomorrow and I don’t want to waste all the effort. This means I’ve had time for a leisurely breakfast, a stroll around the hotel, and a morning skype-call with Jessie. The internet in this place is unfortunately slow (I’m pretty sure it’s either shared or *dramatically* throttled) so I can’t get video of her, but she can get video of me, which is nice at least.
I’ve also set up my Xbox, so all is well. I’m planning to do a little bit of exercise, take a shower, and then goof off with video games until It’s time to meet up with people. The work promises to be generally boring, but pretty long. Maybe 10 to 12 hour days. I doubt much longer than that. Today is mostly ‘fill out forms and attend safety briefings’ day for me and my travel buddy, and then tomorrow the testing begins in earnest. I’ll try and drop little updates on people as things happen but other than ‘sat in a car for many hours today: glad I brought books’ I doubt there will be much to report.
-N
Monday, October 25, 2010
Skype is so great
I’ve gotten a taste of Skype, and now I’m pretty much addicted to it.
It started out with a few ‘calls’ to the Pittsburgh residence to get the families to say hi to each other and check out how slick video calls can be, and now I’m using it pretty much all the time. Jess and I have been Skyping back and forth at least once a day, and usually twice. It’s really great to see her, and it’s really great to see the house behind her, looking all normal and familiar. It’s much better than I would have guessed. It’s good for Jess, too. She gets to see my face, she calls me ‘cute’ over and over, and it usually makes her feel better, too. She has stomach cramps and headaches and she always says that just looking at me and relaxing makes her feel so much better, so evidently my super powers work over Skype, too. She wants to cuddle me, too, which we can’t do over skype, but we’ve gone from audio calls to video calls. By the time I’m 80, who knows?
The pregnancy is going well. If I can convince Jess it’s a good idea, I may have her post up some of her weekly ‘pregnancy e-mails’ here. They’re great reading. It’s just two more weeks until we get the ultrasound where they try to divine the gender of our baby. That’s a thrill waiting to happen right there.
I’m still in Vegas for a few more hours, at least. I’m meeting up with someone at 3:00 today at the rental car center to head down to Baker. Not much happens today, other than checking into hotels and meeting up with people. Tomorrow we have a meeting to go to, and then it’s off to do some data collection, or something. Honestly, the work promises to be long and pretty boring. Similar to other collects I’ve done in similar scenarios, if everything is working correctly, there’s nothing to do. It’s only when stuff goes wrong that there is any excitement, so if we’re good at our jobs (and we are) it should be a snooze-fest.
Even extra snoozy given that we have to get up so darn early. I’m expecting to be getting up at 4:00 AM most days, so I’ve been moving my days up earlier and earlier. I was up at 5:00 today, so plenty of daylight still ahead of me. I plan to do some laundry before heading off today.
I made cinnamon rolls for the family here, which turned out pretty well except it didn’t rise the first time. I added the yeast and everything and nothing happened. I think I bought some dead yeast. So I just bloomed some yeast from another source and then sort of kneaded the yeast-slurry back into the bread. It was a mess, yes, but at least the dough rose. I tell you, though, between that false start and heading out to the casinos It took me all day to make a single batch. Came out good, though.
-N
It started out with a few ‘calls’ to the Pittsburgh residence to get the families to say hi to each other and check out how slick video calls can be, and now I’m using it pretty much all the time. Jess and I have been Skyping back and forth at least once a day, and usually twice. It’s really great to see her, and it’s really great to see the house behind her, looking all normal and familiar. It’s much better than I would have guessed. It’s good for Jess, too. She gets to see my face, she calls me ‘cute’ over and over, and it usually makes her feel better, too. She has stomach cramps and headaches and she always says that just looking at me and relaxing makes her feel so much better, so evidently my super powers work over Skype, too. She wants to cuddle me, too, which we can’t do over skype, but we’ve gone from audio calls to video calls. By the time I’m 80, who knows?
The pregnancy is going well. If I can convince Jess it’s a good idea, I may have her post up some of her weekly ‘pregnancy e-mails’ here. They’re great reading. It’s just two more weeks until we get the ultrasound where they try to divine the gender of our baby. That’s a thrill waiting to happen right there.
I’m still in Vegas for a few more hours, at least. I’m meeting up with someone at 3:00 today at the rental car center to head down to Baker. Not much happens today, other than checking into hotels and meeting up with people. Tomorrow we have a meeting to go to, and then it’s off to do some data collection, or something. Honestly, the work promises to be long and pretty boring. Similar to other collects I’ve done in similar scenarios, if everything is working correctly, there’s nothing to do. It’s only when stuff goes wrong that there is any excitement, so if we’re good at our jobs (and we are) it should be a snooze-fest.
Even extra snoozy given that we have to get up so darn early. I’m expecting to be getting up at 4:00 AM most days, so I’ve been moving my days up earlier and earlier. I was up at 5:00 today, so plenty of daylight still ahead of me. I plan to do some laundry before heading off today.
I made cinnamon rolls for the family here, which turned out pretty well except it didn’t rise the first time. I added the yeast and everything and nothing happened. I think I bought some dead yeast. So I just bloomed some yeast from another source and then sort of kneaded the yeast-slurry back into the bread. It was a mess, yes, but at least the dough rose. I tell you, though, between that false start and heading out to the casinos It took me all day to make a single batch. Came out good, though.
-N
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Boohoo! We're all alone!
Sadly, the fam just left Pittsburgh. Speaking only for myself, I had a fantastic week. I never cooked, except for apple butter and apple sauce. We indulged in great food from ALL my favorite ethnicity (Mediterranean, Thai, Indian, Italian, Ethiopian...) and I got to show off some of my favorite places in Pittsburgh. But mostly I just got to enjoy being with my family. Nana hemmed some pants for me, we drank some hot tea and laughed at the cat. It just felt like normal time with my family.
Nana's photos got posted to Snapfish, and at some point I'll create an album of the pictures I took too. Then maybe we can talk about all the fantastically fun stuff we did all week. In the meantime, I need to mope around a bit more since I have to go back to cooking AND working next week and no one is hanging out at my house anymore.
Sigh. I leave you with this one happy memory, of dinner at the Church Brewworks.
Nana's photos got posted to Snapfish, and at some point I'll create an album of the pictures I took too. Then maybe we can talk about all the fantastically fun stuff we did all week. In the meantime, I need to mope around a bit more since I have to go back to cooking AND working next week and no one is hanging out at my house anymore.
Sigh. I leave you with this one happy memory, of dinner at the Church Brewworks.
Friday, October 22, 2010
I’m so freakin’ tech savvy.
I’m sitting here with my laptop downstairs in Jean and Ray’s house connecting wirelessly to the internet through their router. I have configured a Virtual Private Network (VPN) that allows me to logon to my work network and then remote desktop view my computer back at work and check on it’s process in running the simulation that’s cranking on it even as we speak. My phone is connected to a 4G tower nearby and beeps at me whenever I get an e-mail or text message. Soon I will attempt to video conference with my family in Pittsburgh just to say *hi*.
We are living in the FUTURE.
-N
We are living in the FUTURE.
-N
Saturday, October 16, 2010
You are jealous
Right this very minute, I am waiting for the arrival of Mom and Nana. Yes, here, to my very own apartment. It feels pretty adult to be receiving guests in your home who aren't college buddies that would have happily crashed on the couch. We are Hosting. They are going to visit me for a WEEK (with Dad showing up at some point too), which means good times are sure to follow.
Our things to do, outside of eating gobs of ethnic foods and showing off the city in fall colors, include: Making some stuff with the half bushel of apples I picked last weekend, hemming some pants, seeing Nana's pictures from China, Skyping with the siblings (or anyone else who wants to get on Skype), cheering Matt at a Mtn Bike race, meeting our friends, showing off my lab and the ceramics studio. We've cleaned up our house and we are totally ready for fun times. I'll try and update with pictures as we go, but it might be ahrd to take a break from all the fun and stuff. You might just have to wait until everyone goes home to hear about how fantastic it was. Or Skype us. Your call.
Our things to do, outside of eating gobs of ethnic foods and showing off the city in fall colors, include: Making some stuff with the half bushel of apples I picked last weekend, hemming some pants, seeing Nana's pictures from China, Skyping with the siblings (or anyone else who wants to get on Skype), cheering Matt at a Mtn Bike race, meeting our friends, showing off my lab and the ceramics studio. We've cleaned up our house and we are totally ready for fun times. I'll try and update with pictures as we go, but it might be ahrd to take a break from all the fun and stuff. You might just have to wait until everyone goes home to hear about how fantastic it was. Or Skype us. Your call.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Name changing and marriage
I obviously should have taken care of this a MILLION years ago, but I finally sent out my passport to get my named changed. Remember when I got married? Yeah- that's how long ago I should have dealt with this. I finally decided when we bought our tickets to Belize, that now would be an appropriate time to make this final upgrade. The passport arrived today, and my favorite bit is that the inside cover has a picture of the moon- which is now the next place I want a visa stamp from. Satisfyingly, this is the last big name change that I am going to worry about. Four years later, I guess I am really committed to this marriage. (I joke!)
I've been listening to a lot of Mumford & Sons this week (love the album), which, being Folk music is all about honorable love and honorable death and pious heartbreak. It puts one in an introspective frame of mind. This one line in particular has really gotten stuck in my head (due in part to the rockin' banjo)...
Love that will not betray you, dismay or enslave you,
It will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be.
-Sigh No More
While I think we can argue about whether or not I am living the life I was meant to live, it does seem quite plain to me that without Matt around, I'd be living a much suckier version of this life. I'm not sure I would have been brave enough to venture to grad school, let alone so far from home. I surely wouldn't have the time, energy and leverage to pursue the other things I've done since I've been here (ceramics, WISC, teaching...). There would be no really compelling reason for me to leave work before dinner, or to ever come to the conclusion that working more doesn't mean more gets done. All the little emotional dramas of grad school would be the main emotion of my life, which would make them much harder to bear. Most details of my life are quite unlike folk music, I'll give'em the affectionate description of love.
I've been listening to a lot of Mumford & Sons this week (love the album), which, being Folk music is all about honorable love and honorable death and pious heartbreak. It puts one in an introspective frame of mind. This one line in particular has really gotten stuck in my head (due in part to the rockin' banjo)...
Love that will not betray you, dismay or enslave you,
It will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be.
-Sigh No More
While I think we can argue about whether or not I am living the life I was meant to live, it does seem quite plain to me that without Matt around, I'd be living a much suckier version of this life. I'm not sure I would have been brave enough to venture to grad school, let alone so far from home. I surely wouldn't have the time, energy and leverage to pursue the other things I've done since I've been here (ceramics, WISC, teaching...). There would be no really compelling reason for me to leave work before dinner, or to ever come to the conclusion that working more doesn't mean more gets done. All the little emotional dramas of grad school would be the main emotion of my life, which would make them much harder to bear. Most details of my life are quite unlike folk music, I'll give'em the affectionate description of love.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
I think I may actually qualify as Handy.
I made so much stuff this weekend that the only way to contain all my productivity is in a list:
1) Decided to fix pretty much everything
2) Disassembled and reassembled the dripping kitchen faucet to learn how to do it.
3) Tried to disassemble the master bathtub faucet
4) Failed
5) Did some internet research
6) Succeeded!
7) Went out to Lowes to buy a whole bunch of replacement parts and a ceiling fan.
8) Jess took a nap
9) Fixed tub.
10) Fixed kitchen sink
11) Hung up a ceiling fan (good arm exercise)
12) Jess woke up from her nap
13) Assembled a rocking chair (for future nursing-of-of-baby)
14) Did some Laundry
15) Replaced some light bulbs
16) Hammered some nails
17) Wrote some music.
That last one doesn’t count as handyman work, but I did accomplish it, so it goes on the list.
You want to *hear* my music? Of course you do. Click here and enjoy with your ears, not with your hands.
Preamble-Vengance on spooky mountain
-N
1) Decided to fix pretty much everything
2) Disassembled and reassembled the dripping kitchen faucet to learn how to do it.
3) Tried to disassemble the master bathtub faucet
4) Failed
5) Did some internet research
6) Succeeded!
7) Went out to Lowes to buy a whole bunch of replacement parts and a ceiling fan.
8) Jess took a nap
9) Fixed tub.
10) Fixed kitchen sink
11) Hung up a ceiling fan (good arm exercise)
12) Jess woke up from her nap
13) Assembled a rocking chair (for future nursing-of-of-baby)
14) Did some Laundry
15) Replaced some light bulbs
16) Hammered some nails
17) Wrote some music.
That last one doesn’t count as handyman work, but I did accomplish it, so it goes on the list.
You want to *hear* my music? Of course you do. Click here and enjoy with your ears, not with your hands.
Preamble-Vengance on spooky mountain
-N
Why I Like my house....StumpWars and the Final MBR
We had super high tides yesterday and took the opportuinity to finally launch the stumps that had appeared near the seawall and hung around for YEARS. I got the tangle cut in two a couple of years ago and they had moved around a bit but they are now back in circulation. See the Pics.
And we are ready to announce the end of the 14 month long remodel of the master-bathroom. We have a few specks of paint to finish but no more sawdust or morter to mix. See the Pics II.
And we are ready to announce the end of the 14 month long remodel of the master-bathroom. We have a few specks of paint to finish but no more sawdust or morter to mix. See the Pics II.
Friday, October 8, 2010
My least favorite thing about houses
I like my house. It’s a place of safety, of support, of investment in my present and in my future. I want to trust it. I want to believe that it will always be there, solid as a rock, and unchanging.
But inevitably, things break. I hate that.
I’ve always hated that. Even when it wasn’t my house, or when it was just an apartment. If it’s my space, I want it to be solid and safe. When things go wrong in my house it drives me crazy. I remember a few times back in Alaska, even. When I saw that something was going wrong with the house itself it made me really, really nervous. Bugs would get in the house. Not even a lot of them! Just a couple of ants, and I’d start to get worried about bug invasions and walls coming down. Or those drips from the ceiling that we, now, know were the result of really bad insulation in the roof. Or water stains on the ceiling. *Where did they come from?* It puts me on edge.
So now I own my very own house, my very own walls, my very own foundation, and so I have to start worrying about things going wrong in a space that isn’t just my home, but my *property*. And when things go wrong in the house? Rrrrr.
A few weeks ago there was a big tropical storm here in Austin. The winds weren’t that bad, but it rained for about 24 hours straight. Heavy rain the whole time. I heard reports of > 6 inches of rain in a lot of places. And just like I get really tweaked when things go wrong in the house, when things go right? It’s fantastic. Blissfull. 24 hours of rain just bouncing off our new roof. Streaming down our stone walls. Incapable of penetrating, impotent! Behold my mighty house! Capable of keeping me dry. When it rains, I feel good.
Until I discovered the wet carpet.
Arr! Tweaking out instantly. It was the carpet by the TV in the living room. Not just a little wet: the entire corner was pretty moist. I immediately pulled up the rug and set some fans to start drying it off, but the betrayal! This is my house! Why isn’t it working right? It’s broken. And it needs to get FIXED.
Later I went out with a hose and started watering down the outside of the house to see where the water went, and it didn’t take long to find the leak: a big crack between the window and the stone façade that the water was just pouring into. A hole. In *my house*. This will not stand.
I went out, I got some caulk, I got a caulk gun, I did some reading, and I *filled that hole*. And several others beside. And let me tell you something. Fixing that hole? It felt good. I felt accomplished and manly and dad-ish and everything. Problem with the house? My house? I will fix it. And the next time a storm comes by that carpet had better be bone dry or I’m going to go out there and fix it again. Now I know how dad felt when standing on his massive, stone sea wall and watching the waves crash, impotent, against his efforts. It feels good.
The kitchen sink is dripping. You’re on my list, buddy.
-N
But inevitably, things break. I hate that.
I’ve always hated that. Even when it wasn’t my house, or when it was just an apartment. If it’s my space, I want it to be solid and safe. When things go wrong in my house it drives me crazy. I remember a few times back in Alaska, even. When I saw that something was going wrong with the house itself it made me really, really nervous. Bugs would get in the house. Not even a lot of them! Just a couple of ants, and I’d start to get worried about bug invasions and walls coming down. Or those drips from the ceiling that we, now, know were the result of really bad insulation in the roof. Or water stains on the ceiling. *Where did they come from?* It puts me on edge.
So now I own my very own house, my very own walls, my very own foundation, and so I have to start worrying about things going wrong in a space that isn’t just my home, but my *property*. And when things go wrong in the house? Rrrrr.
A few weeks ago there was a big tropical storm here in Austin. The winds weren’t that bad, but it rained for about 24 hours straight. Heavy rain the whole time. I heard reports of > 6 inches of rain in a lot of places. And just like I get really tweaked when things go wrong in the house, when things go right? It’s fantastic. Blissfull. 24 hours of rain just bouncing off our new roof. Streaming down our stone walls. Incapable of penetrating, impotent! Behold my mighty house! Capable of keeping me dry. When it rains, I feel good.
Until I discovered the wet carpet.
Arr! Tweaking out instantly. It was the carpet by the TV in the living room. Not just a little wet: the entire corner was pretty moist. I immediately pulled up the rug and set some fans to start drying it off, but the betrayal! This is my house! Why isn’t it working right? It’s broken. And it needs to get FIXED.
Later I went out with a hose and started watering down the outside of the house to see where the water went, and it didn’t take long to find the leak: a big crack between the window and the stone façade that the water was just pouring into. A hole. In *my house*. This will not stand.
I went out, I got some caulk, I got a caulk gun, I did some reading, and I *filled that hole*. And several others beside. And let me tell you something. Fixing that hole? It felt good. I felt accomplished and manly and dad-ish and everything. Problem with the house? My house? I will fix it. And the next time a storm comes by that carpet had better be bone dry or I’m going to go out there and fix it again. Now I know how dad felt when standing on his massive, stone sea wall and watching the waves crash, impotent, against his efforts. It feels good.
The kitchen sink is dripping. You’re on my list, buddy.
-N
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