Month: January 2007

Out With The Old, In With The New

Friday I removed our old dishwasher, pictured below.  It was an interesting exercise in reverse installation.

Sunday, Rachel, Taylor and I installed our new dishwasher.  It was a long time coming, as nobody would offer to do the dishes (including me).  Just look at the pile of dishes in the picture.  Luckily there were no major surprises installing the unit.  I had to change the route for the drain line, but nothing major.  I finished installation at 11:30 or so Sunday night.  As I finish writing this at 9:30am on Monday morning, those dishes are just a distant memory.

It is a nice “middle of the road” GE, Energy Star Compliant model 🙂  I was appalled at the lack of sound insulation on the unit.  Our 30 year old one had more, so we applied a nice layer of R-19 (left over from the garage renovation) to the top of it.  It made the fit perfect!  After running the unit, it’s actually quite silent for a dishwasher.  Was it our extra insulation, or pure design?  I guess we’ll never know.

There is only one major appliance left in the kitchen which was in the home when we purchased it 7 months ago.  As I previously wrote, the stove is probably on it’s last leg. The oven quit working for months then mysteriously started again after touching the display.

Future kitchen projects:  Countertops, Cabinet Facelift and Flooring.  We haven’t decided for sure yet, but I think we will be working on the cabinets soon.  After those are complete, we will have a new kitchen basically!

Moving On, And Up?

Rachel has moved up the higher education ladder, finally.  She accepted a position with the IU school of Informatics.  I cannot remember the exact position title, but I believe it is Director or Assistant Director of Graduate affairs???

I am thrilled for her, as she has been under-employed and under-appreciated since she moved to B-Town.  Her talents and abilities have yet to be unleashed.

With this new job, comes the honor of being my sugar mamma too 🙂

I will miss everyone she worked with at The Kelley School of Business MBA Program, Admissions office.  They have become a second family over the years.  Through parties, social gatherings, and personal events we have came to respect and love each other for who we are.  They even threw us a wedding shower (I’ll never forget that).  I hope her new office has the same feeling.

So here’s some words for those I will miss.

Terill & Joe:  I will miss the annual Christmas party.  The both of you are excellent hosts.  The “gay” bathroom is something I will never forget, in a good way.
Jenny:  What can I say?  Will you miss the love letters I wrote with deep passion in mind?  I will miss your love for life, and your high maintenance ways, as you are the closest thing I have had to a “girly girl-friend.”
Jeanie:  You are one of the sweetest persons I have ever met!  You helped us move in that blistering heat!  Your passion to help others is one that I will always remember.
Jim:  What can I say?  Your a great guy, who makes some killer guacomole.  I hope to hear from you in the future.
Lisa:  I love ya!  Your killer personality amazes me.  There is no “title” that can describe, or limit your possibilities.
Tim:  Your scandinavian ways never make me stop thinking.  Rachel and I will never forget how beautiful of a team Mary and you make.  We will always remember with joy, your vocal abilities at our wedding.  We need more people (and couples) like you in this world.
Brandon:  Call me, I promise we’ll go out for a night before you go off and leave me alone with Rachel.  I’m very interested in this “Property Management” thing.

If any of you need to reach me, you can via my website, LMLVideoservices.com

Denied

After my interviews with Monroe County Dispatch and Solution Tree, I felt hopeful I would receive some good news regarding at least one of the positions.

I didn’t.

Solution Tree called a day after my interview and actually said they offered the position to another person, which accepted.  That felt as if they were rubbing it in my face.  It felt as if it was a “mercy interview” anyway, as my wife worked there for a second job.

I received a letter from the director of county communications stating they enjoyed my “presence” at the interview, but have decided to pursue other applicants for the position.  All in all, a very nice denial letter.  No qualms there.

For some reason, I feel as if I’m “out of the loop” or just out of reality for that matter.  I was only in a position 5 years, I wonder how my father felt when he had to find another career after losing his job of 29 years.

Someday I will find something better, I just wish that day would come.

Down, But Not Out

Another chapter in my ongoing computer problems.  I was actually writing a post regarding this when I received the infamous “blue screen of death!”

I discovered what actually killed my power supply.  Somehow (still a mystery to me) my power settings were disabled and deleted from my computer.  This created a painful situation for it.  Imagine if you had to run non stop 24/7 for months at a time, how would you feel?

In the end, I had to completely delete and reformat my C drive.  This is a problem for the majority, but I actually used to do this for fun.  Plus having 3 hard drives makes this task very easy, as I just move everything to the other drives, and back them up onto DVD just to make sure I don’t lose anything.  I am almost up and running again, as I am still working on my big job.

I am working on building a new PC, it will just take time.  I want this to be a pure “business” machine, which means I must use business funds.

It’s Official!

My business, LML Video Services is no longer just a project I have in a room of my house.

Today, I registered it as a business with the Monroe County Recorder‘s office.  I then opened a business checking account.  This is a huge step for me, as I can now officially say I own a small business!

I wonder who I shall make officers?  I know, Editor B and Bartender J can be my jesters, I mean officers.  If it wasn’t for their support, I wouldn’t be where I am today with this.  To get technical, I wouldn’t be writing this .rox blog without them.  Thankx guys!

This does come with some disadvantages though, as I can no longer use my business money for personal uses, darn.

Hopefully things will only grow from here.

Update – Art Collector?

I received a message from a person who works for John Mellencamp.  He asked John if he would like to sell the painting mentioned in Mike Leonard’s article.  John told him to tell me that he’s “really happy with this one and will probably keep it.”  He also said that “I should wait for another one of his paintings in the future.”

I replied to the persons’ message asking that I be informed when a painting becomes available.

So not now, but hopefully sometime.  To look on the bright side of things, I do have a contact now.

Just the thought of owning a Mellencamp painting makes me excited.

New Adventures For Everyone, Hopefully

We are officially planning our spring break vacation now.  Since my daughter has told me that she didn’t really enjoy her recent trip to Oklahoma, we have decided to do something we know she will enjoy.

Rachel and Taylor have not been to Florida.  I haven’t been since I was 9ish.  That was a horrible vacation, as it was bone chilling cold (for Florida anyway), roads were closed, hell Disney and all the other resorts were closed most of the time we were there. 

We haven’t worked out all the details yet, but we are going to the Orlando area.  That is solid as a rock right now.  Hopefully I can borrow my mom’s car again (more room is a plus), Thanks mom!  The next step is figuring out a way to get to NOLA from there.

I have been yearning to meet Editor B & XY for a while now.  I feel as if this may be an opportunity that I do not want to miss out on.  I think a day or 2 wouldn’t be too much to ask, as we are staying in Orlando for 3.

I guess I’ll see how this turns out.

Power Restored…For Now Anyway

I swapped my “new” POS power supply for another today.

After speaking with the tech, he informed me of what could have caused this little disaster.  He informed me that the 12v section of the power supply went bad.  He then went on to tell me that when the L2 cache of the processor goes bad, it tends to short out the 12v supply.  He also told me that it generally takes a week.  (This is one of the few situations where I don’t know a whole lot BTW.)

He recommended to run some benchmark software for 24 hours.  When I first started running it, my CPU became hot, 95° C.  So I adjusted some BIOS settings and re-ran the app.  Now the temp is holding steady, in the mid 50’s range.

I hope this has solved my problem, but there is no real way to diagnose it (from what I know).

If it becomes the worse case scenario, my processor (an AMD Athlon X2 3800+, Toledo Core) is still under warrantee.  I also have my “old” processor sitting around as a backup.

This situation has proven to me that I need, not want, a backup computer.  I cannot run my business without it.  That is my next step.

Art Collector?

I have always been a fan of the arts.  Whether it be performing, creative, or without a title.  One problem is that I do not have many “pieces” of art.  I purchased a print while in Oklahoma many years ago.  It was created by Ben Adair Shoemaker.  The artwork itself and the artists’ name struck a cord deep within my soul, as my family lives in Adair county, Oklahoma.

I feel as if I might start on a new path with art due to an article I read in the Herald Times.  My favorite writer (except J of course) has always been Mike Leonard.  He always writes very interesting things, about interesting subjects.

In his latest article, he wrote about a recent meeting with John Mellencamp.  As you may or may not know, John is also an accomplished artist.  John recently completed a 10′ x 10′ painting, and asked Mike if he’d buy it.

I have been a fan of Johns’ work, both music and painting since I have known about them.  I would like to have a piece of his, but have not been able to find a way to do so.  Hopefully, with Mr. Leonard’s help, I will have a chance.

I emailed Mike asking if he knew someone to contact regarding purchasing a painting from John.  He replied stating he would contact John’s manager.  I hope things pan out.

-Interesting note:  My mother auditioned to be a backup singer for John back in the early to mid 80’s.  From what she has told me, everyone loved her voice, she was just too tall.

 

My mom is 6′ tall.

No Juice

My ‘puter is down again.  My diagnostic abilities are somewhat limited at this point, but I strongly believe it’s my power supply again.

I wasn’t upset when the original one died, as it was a cheap case/PS combo.  I have read many times that when purchasing a PC case with power supply, the power supply should be changed immediately.

This ticks me off though, as I was told by this PC shop that the power supplies they sell are workhorses, and do not fail.  I’ve had the thing a friggin’ week!

As soon as I leave work (8:30am) I am off to the shop to get another, as it has a 1 year warrantee.  If the next one fails, I am not going to deal with this shop anymore.  They have not failed me until now, but I don’t have the patience anymore.