Computer Ninja’s Weblog

House:
Pretty much all weekend was spent working on the house in one way, shapre, or form. Saturday was spent power-washing (more watching than doing). My father-in-law, Tom, and his brother, Dick, did the honors. My dad also came by to watch and show me around the flowers and tomato plants as well. The powerwashing, which wasn’t smooth until Chris came over and showed us that the throttle was too high, that’s why we weren’t getting any pressure, was a success…so I thought. Funny, you’d think the rabbit setting would do the trick. An area that was washed with low pressure needs to get re-washed. Go figure. Anyway, after the washing, my dad and I went patio furniture shopping. We went to Sears where there was this cute set: 6 chairs, rectangular table, umbrella, and base for about 450 bux. They wouldn’t have it in stock until July 28. Hell, that’s too long. So we went to this patio joint on Garfield that only sells stuff 1500 bux and up. Too rich for my blood. We resorted to K-Mart (GREAT IDEA DAD!). I picked up a Martha Stewart Santa Monica set. Very cute! It’s a hexogonal table with six chairs. I also got the umbrella and base. Michelle loved it!

Yesterday, I figured it would be a great day to 1) Run 5 miles, 2) Trim and mow the lawn, and 3) Stain the deck.

I did 1 and 2, and started on 3. Everyone said staining the deck is a piece of cake. “It only takes 2 hours!” Bullshit. It took over 2 hours and I only did about 35% of the deck. And it’s not even a good job. I need to re-powerwash the part that was left dirty and probably powerwash some spots that have a bit too much stain.
I would like to thank Chris and Bahia (and Bahia’s parents) for the nice dinner last night. Michelle was out of town, and I was going hungry. No, just kidding.

I’d also like to thank Chris, deeply, for all the help he’s given me on the house. Thanks, buddy.

I’d also like to thank Dan and April who came by last night to watch me TRY to stain the deck. Thanks guys. And thanks for offering to help on Wednesday, Dan!

The house is awesome! Each and every day, I can’t believe I finally have my own house. Every day, I can’t wait to get home. I wish I had the energy to work on it every day after work or school, but I just don’t. Getting up before 5:30 every day takes a toll on a brutha!

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get the deck powerwashed this weekend with my father-in-law and my uncle-in-law. It’d be nice to be able to stain it on Sunday, as well… we shall see.

Work is getting better and better. More and more of my customers are NEEDING me. They all talk about how they are going to PULL me so I can dedicate 100% of my time to THEIR work. Not going to happen!

What a retard! I had my camera yesterday and took all sorts of pictures…in the RAIN!!!

Today, though, it started to clear up. On the way in, I saw 100s of awesome classic cars…should have brought the camera. What a maroon! I will bring it on Monday and go nuts with it. I haven’t seen this many cool cars in one place in my life. It’s actually quite amazing. I’m also going to make sure I get some pictures of all the Model T’s, which are on the other side of the building.

Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. Michelle and I are going to go house crazy again. Cleaning windows, mowing the lawn, trimming, edging, etc. It’s quite exciting if you ask me!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Can’t believe it’s been a while since I wrote in here. Oh well.

Training:
This is week two of marathon training, and I just finished my third weekday run. It was 3 miles, as it was yesterday and Tuesday. It is always VERY hard on Thursdays to get moving, let alone to get out of bed. I look forward to NOT having to run tomorrow. Instead, I’ll do 30 minutes of the stairmaster machine, which is actually kind of fun! It’s been a few weeks, and I’m SLOWLY starting to see some results with my weight training. I wish I could eat as much as a bird does so I could lose weight faster. Then again, losing a pound or two a week couldn’t be too bad! I’m very excited to see what weight training WITH the marathon training can do for me!

House:
I had Dino over the other night to give him a demonstration of the theatre (I like it better than theater). I think he was very impressed. I was very impressed as well. We finally got the speakers we wanted, got the rears installed (always check http://photos.filias.com if you’re interested), and moved the subwoofer into the corner! I can’t wait to rent or get a GOOD action movie to watch!

Tags: Running

First Saturday to actually MOVE into and SET UP the house!!!
If you’re interested, you can always go to http://photos.filias.com and look under 2003 albums!

Front Yard
My parents came over today, pretty early, about 11am. They brought with them a few bags of organic hummus/manure a few impatiens, and two tomato plants for us to plant in the backyard. My mom and Michelle were in the house. Michelle was showing my mom the new washer and dryer we got, and she was also showing her how much laundry she was doing! Bless Michelle’s heart and soul. She basically set up the entire house, on her own. She set up the spare bedroom, what we call “The Reading Room”. This room is a casual and relaxing escape from the everyday world. It’s also a storage facility for our active lifestyles. We’re both training diligently for the Detroit Marathon this October 5. Moving into the master bathroom, she totally organized every single drawer. A complete masterpiece in “easy to use” bathrooms! The master bedroom is gorgeous. She spent most of the day doing laundry, as explained earlier. This wasn’t just washing, drying, and folding/ironing clothes. It was also the reorganization of the century. With our first walk-in closet and our ample drawer space, Michelle single handedly turned our bedroom into a dream come true for utility, relaxation, escape, and love! The kitchen couldn’t be more perfectly organized as well. Every single cupboard and drawer have that foamy mat you lay down so that everything has friction when set on top of it. Our drawers are awesome! Our cupboards are highly useful. The laundry room is fantastic. We got some pretty sweet appliances the other day. The washer and dryer are a marvel of technology. Our dryer senses moisture and dries accordingly. Our washer has a gigantic payload capacity since it doesn’t have one of those spiral and tall agitators! We also chose to get gray for our washer and dryer. We’re going to do something in that shade for the walls of the laundry room, too! Stay tuned!

Ohhh yeah!
I was telling the story of how my dad and I were going to surprise our two women (my mom and Michelle), but ADD got the best of me! But I’m BACK!!! We were going to plant flowers in the long, narrow path that is up against the right side of the walkway and the garage. However, we started that and never stopped until the entire front yard is full of impatiens, mums, and marigolds! All of the landscape lights work, as I had to plug in a light bulb in an empty socket! Simple fix. The previous owner was king enough to have 3 of 4 of those bulbs, ready to go! The only thing we need to do is lay down some darker mulch, make sure we water the flowers every 3 days, and plant the wedding mums that Michelle’s parents brought over for us today. They are mums from our wedding! I can’t wait to plant them!

Backyard
Michelle and my parents planted the two tomato plants and some marigolds in the backyard, around the dead tree we have facing our bedroom (too bad the tree is dead, as it would be a great privacy tool). We will probably cut down the tree and leave just a stump there so the flowers and tomatoes have a happy summer!

Computer Room
The computer room is basically done. We need to get a stand or stands for the two printers. I’d like to get something to sit above my subwoofer that holds my printer and some paper. We’ll see. The room is going to stay the way it is. The blue wall color is perfect. There is a nice feeling of cleanliness in the computer room!

Living Room
I can’t believe I live in the living room I own at this moment. I am so glad that Chris came over and helped (did) the wiring for the rear speakers! The entire theatre looks and sounds awesome! It’s the best stereo/theatre I’ve EVER had in my possession! The new Definitive BP-8 fronts sound amazing. They sound wonderful!

Garage
It’s ALMOST clean. Still a few more things to clean up and put away. Soon enough, we’ll be parking both cars in the garage!

Great day
Today was a great day! I love my wife! I love my parents! I love my friends!