Pics – lee-lawmaster.com

Catching Up

It has been too long since my last posting. I’m going to sum up what’s happened since my last post, and then write individual posts for the more important things later on.

A EF1 tornado hit my area. It started a few hundred feet away from my home and travelled a couple of miles east. Nobody was killed thankfully, but some were injured. It wreaked havoc on my family’s emotional state for a period of time.

Our beloved family member Oreo lost a battle he could not win. Over the past several months, he lost a lot of weight. So much so that we decided to take him to the vetinarian. After doing some blood work, it was discovered that he was in renal failure. To make it worse, there wasn’t anything we could do to cure him, we could only try to make him comfortable. We still miss him greatly.

We’re now into Summer Session II at Indiana University. Session I went very well for me. I took a computer science course which was an introduction to Python. I am now taking a Survey of Hip Hop & Rap cultural studies course. While I’ve never been a large fan of the genre before, I’m beginning to enjoy all aspects of it!

Broken Links and Duplicate Files

I recently noticed that I had somehow uploaded almost 900 duplicate photos on flickr somehow. So I have been going through all of my pictures and deleting the duplicates. In some cases, taking all of the metadata and information I have probably forgotten with them.

Because of this deletion, some of the links to pictures on this site have become broken. It’s an unfortunate side effect.

While to some this may be a major disturbance, I use my pictures to illustrate things that may be hard to describe, or to emphasize certain aspects of my posts.

This reorganization will take some time, but the OCD is coming out of me with this one. I just can’t help it.

Goodbye Friends

Saturday I sold my mower and trailer. I had listed them on craigslist. They went to a really nice guy from the Cincinnati Ohio area. I still can’t believe he drove that far to purchase such old equipment.

My mower was old and tired. I had called it the “little mower that could.” A reference to The Little Engine That Could. It wouldn’t give up and was a very good mower, but time wasn’t on it’s side. It was a mid 80’s model, and the almost 30 years of use was rearing it’s ugly head on the engine. I had a oil leak that started to become something to watch last year. It was the first time I had to add oil to it. I had talked around to several people about repairing it, but nothing panned out. In the end, we replaced it due to blue smoke billowing out of the top of the engine after mowing the front yard.

I purchased the trailer from a former boss of mine when I worked for Sternberg. Part of my job description was to mow their frontage property on Dillman Road and Highway 37. The trouble with this was the fact that it was about an acre of total land, and I was not provided with the proper equipment – just a run down push mower and weed eater. As I wrote previously I snagged a Independent Contractor gig out of them and made an extra $30 a week mowing this.

I only had one problem, and a serious one at that. I had no way to get my mower to the job site! When I mentioned this to my boss, he said he had a trailer that he’d sell to me with terms I couldn’t refuse. I really wanted a trailer, so this made my month!

There was one caveat, my boss lived in Story, IN. Which is in the middle of nowhere. One Friday night Rachel and I drove out there to take a look at the trailer. It was not in the shape you see it above. The wheels were rusted, the tires were dry rotted. There was no light kit, and the deck was barely there.

After getting it home (which I was surprised it made the journey). I immediately put new wheels, lighting kit and deck on. I got it inspected and applied for a title for it. I also put a new coupler (what the trailer attaches with) on. I also tried my hand at building some ramps with the materials I had left over (big mistake). So I bought some ramp end caps and used some lumber for ramps.

I was very happy with the trailer! It was very handy when we moved furniture or bought new furniture. It was the perfect size for my mower as well!

Since we sold my truck last year, we haven’t had anything that is capable of towing (yet). So the trailer has just sat. I had tried to sell it previously, but wasn’t liking the offers I would get.

I would have kept the trailer, but the new mower we purchased is much larger than my little John Deere STX38. With a 8 inch larger deck, and taller stance this thing makes my old mower look like a toy. I figured it would be easier to sell them as a package – tow and go, then separate.

You both filled a need in my life, but your time has moved on. I hope you make your new owner as happy as you made me over the years!

Goodbye Gil

We happened upon Gillham (Gil for short) while at the Fun Frolic in 2007. We decided to play the “win a bunny” game, only because it said you could win an alternate prize.

Over the almost 3 years we’ve had Gil, he’s earned a place in our hearts that no animal or person can replace.

We have came to a fork in the road of life that has forced us to make a hard decision. We have too many responsibilities currently. Between work, school, caring for an infant, constant home renovation projects and life we don’t have time to do anything else.

We have loved Gil since that erratic day he entered our lives, and hopes he brings that same joy into the many lives he will be friends with at his new home, Childs Elementary School here in Bloomington.

We didn’t want to take him to a shelter, or give him to another person, mainly because of what happened to Baby Tat. We learned the guy we gave her to got rid of her within a few months. Rachel had a bright idea and sent an email to every teacher she could find in the area. She got several responses, mainly from kindergarten teachers. In the end, it was a 6th grade teacher who decided he would make a happy addition to her classroom. She’s very excited and will be picking him up Friday night.

We learned through him that rabbits are high maintenance pets. Some owners decide to not let them out of their cages, but something about that just seemed cruel & unusual to us. Rabbits by nature run and hop about, we didn’t want to change that. So we regularly let him out every night for an hour or so, so he could stretch his legs. He learned to love and emulate the behavior of his feline roommates.

After the birth of Amelia, that nightly routine has become very hard to follow. With me at school 3 nights a week, and Rachel caring for Amelia while I’m away, we’re both exhausted by the time it comes to let him out. Now Amelia is starting to learn to crawl, which has brought more thoughts to our attention. While sitting in his cage, Gil kicks out some of his bedding and some of his feces. It would be a full time job keeping that clean and away from a child who will be crawling very soon.

We will miss you Gil! We hope you have a fun and happy life with all those 6th graders!

This That and the Other

I haven’t had a chance to post anything for a while as my life has became quite full lately.

This week is spring break at Ivy Tech and IU. It’s been a nice break from the organized chaos that has become my life. So I thought I would write about the goings on lately.

Backup, Backup, Backup!

I finally got a stable backup file server going. My original one died and I’m in the process of parting it out. If you’re looking for some cheap computer parts you can find ’em right here. I finally gave up on linux and went with Windows Server 2003. It’s essentially XP with additional goodies for server functions. I only have one step left, and that is setting up the RAID configuration. That’s for a safety net should a hard drive fail.

ROX Update

While I haven’t had much time to concentrate on ROX, I have started recording episodes that still play on CATS. I have many of the episodes on VHS, but capturing them straight to a digital format makes things much easier. Given the advanced development of my daughter I might be able to start working on ROX again and finally get season one released in a few months.

Amelia

She is growing and developing at an alarming rate! She is now eating solid foods every night. She is also starting to move around on her own, she isn’t crawling yet but very close. She has learned that she has a voice and likes to use it often. I would say her favorite activity is getting mommy and daddy wet when she’s taking a bath. She’s a hoot and a very happy baby. We couldn’t ask for more.

The Semester From Hell

This semester I’m taking a class I’ve failed before (MATH-111) and a class that interests me (CINS-102). My math class is great, as the instructor does his best to ensure everyone in class understands the concepts and can do the work. 85% of the final grade in this class is based upon test scores, something I’ve never had to deal with before. Right now I’m earning a solid B, which makes me very happy. I plan on thanking him at the end of the semester for being such a good instructor, all teachers should be reminded how much they’re appreciated when they do a good job! My other class is a completely different story however. While I’m learning some much needed skills in this class (XHTML & CSS) the instructor seems to use the class has her way to release frustrations she has. There aren’t many people in this class, and many don’t seem to have the skills required or aren’t putting forth the effort required. The class has opened my eyes to the world of web programming, but it’s almost impossible to swallow her totalitarian attitude.

Give Me The Fiber

If you live in Indiana, you might have heard about what Smithville Telephone is doing. All of their customers are receiving fiber to the home. It’s exciting to say the least. Last year I rewired the phone lines in my house and installed a LAN in anticipation. This week we were “pre-wired” for it. This consisted of them installing a new network interface on the outside of my home, installing a battery backup system in my home, and installing a data jack. My area, called the “Fullerton Remote” should be completed by the last quarter of this year. With this upgrade broadband Internet download speeds are rising from 1.5mbps to 20! They are also adding television services which beat all it’s competitors, but that’s my opinion. This upgrade is amazing to say the least. Do you know anyone who has access to 100mbps download speeds at home? That will be their fastest rate, and I’ve seen it work. It’s almost like comparing a 14.4 modem to a 56k, a world of difference.

Spring is in the Air

Spring is upon us here in Indiana. The grass is becoming green again, and the temperatures are rising. That means the honey do list starts back up again. I listed what we want to get done around the house in an earlier post. Now it’s time to get into gear and get those items checked off the list!

The 2010 List

We have many projects we would like to accomplish this year on our home. With last year being primarily dedicated to two areas, this year we are focusing on a large number of smaller projects.

1. Complete Taylor’s bedroom. We are slowly but surely changing our trim and doors to white versus stained. Taylor’s room is also the last room to get new cable, phone and LAN lines ran to it. I’ll be happy when that is over with as we under estimated how much CAT5e cable we would need and have paid through the nose for 100 ft sections at a time. When we’re done her room will look like Amelia’s room, except Taylor’s room is pink.

2. Refurbish foyer area. This area needs a lot of love. Our home is a bi-level, which means when you enter the front door you are faced with a decision – up or down. Our stairs are covered in carpet, which I’ve tripped on several times. My neighbor removed his and underneath was hardwood and I believe mine is the same. If so, I’m going to stain the treads and paint the risers. We are also going to lay down a new floor for the foyer. The current floor is horrible at best. It’s a fake parkay and very dark, we plan on replacing it with laminate wood of some type. Last but not least is the stair railing. What we have was mainly used for outside hand rails. It’s a solid metal piece that doesn’t really go with the rest of the home.

3. Remodel master bathroom. We have a 1/2 master bathroom, at 4′ by 6′ it’s quite small. It’s also in need of a lot of work. When we moved in, the room had some hideous wallpaper. We removed it to find the walls had never been painted. We plan on replacing the vanity, medicine cabinet, toilet, re-finishing and painting the walls and replacing the entry and closet doors. We should be able to do this for around $500 on a long weekend.

4. Change coat closet door. Our coat closet door is not level and obtrusive. We plan on replacing it with a closet door instead of an entry type door which is what is currently installed. It’s the door on the right in the picture.

5. Replace moldy insulation and replace drywall in garage. Our home had from what I can tell many water issues prior to us moving in, and some after we moved. Not too long after we moved in I (with my helper) removed a vast majority of the drywall sealing our home from the garage. See the black areas? That’s mold folks! This needs to be replaced to help keep our home sealed from the elements. We will also be replacing the door separating the garage from the living area of the house with a steel door, something our home inspector noted should be done.

Now onto the smaller stuff

6. Remove cat door on garage door, seal and insulate it. Pretty much self explanatory – I’ve used this access to get myself back in the house when I was locked out by our Roomba. It’s something a thief could do as well.

7. Create self sealing door in attic for whole house fan. We have this fan, it’s great – but we never use it. I need to create a door that will seal it when not in use, but open automatically when in use. Hopefully this will keep our heat and air from escaping through the attic.

8. Landscaping. This is work I have done before and really don’t enjoy doing. I would hire it out if our financial situation was better. I only plan on fixing some grading issues in the backyard. My neighbor is going to lend me his roto-tiller so I can cut down the hump left where our pool was. I will also do the same for where our shed was.

Whoever told me that a homeowners work is never done was sure right! There is an amount of self satisfaction that I get from doing all of this work. I think the fact that I’m turning this place into mine and not what some builder planned, is the biggest factor. These builder neighborhoods with HOA’s really drive me insane. That’s why I love where I live.

A New and Improved Space

We officially finished the remodeling portion of our basement area over the weekend. Rachel, Taylor and I applied the epoxy basement floor coating on Friday night. It required 24 hours to fully cure, so by the time her family arrived on Sunday we were able to give the first full tour of our proud accomplishment.

Here is what the space looked like when we purchased this place. It was dark, dingy and uninviting.

Until now, we mainly used the space as a place to “put stuff.” We didn’t use or utilize it for any meaningful purpose. We knew the time would come when we would have to use it, and that time came quickly.

One issue that we weren’t sure about was if we had any structural issues. The downstairs would get water when it rained heavily. The first step was to take out all the old paneling and carpet and get the space down to its bones. To our luck, there were no visible issues. We corrected a majority of the water issues with a repair to the gutters.

We had many decisions to make, all of which were extremely difficult. We needed to decide what to cover the walls and floor with, whether or not to install new cable and phone lines. Many of these decisions brought on major arguments-in which we were able to bring to the surface any issues we had with each option.

In the end we decided to go with new paneling, an epoxy basement floor coating, and to add some electrical outlets and completely rewire our homes phone and cable lines. We decided to add a wired LAN as well.

The only step left is to connect all the new phone, cable and LAN wires, which I plan on doing this week. I will then officially move my office to a space we have dedicated for that purpose.

The other area, which I am calling the “Den” we have purchased and placed 2 futons and added an area rug. We needed a space for guests to stay, and this space is perfect.

We did not remodel our fireplace, as all aspects of fireplaces are very expensive. The things I want to do are not major, but are expensive. I hope to have that complete within a couple of years. There’s nothing more comfortable and calming to me than laying by a fire listening to music or reading.

I now have a bedroom to remodel for our growing arrival, baby girl Lawmaster!

Continue reading “A New and Improved Space”

Goodbye Baby Tat

Baby Tat (named by Taylor) was originally named Olivia and then named Baby by our friends Jeff & Sara who we got her from. They have numerous cats (8 or so) and she didn’t get along with another alpha kitty in their household. We decided to take her from them to possibly give her a better living environment.

Our other cats, Furby and Oreo were mixed on the addition of a new roommate. Oreo loved it, and we eventually started calling the two “lovers.” Although they couldn’t consummate their relationship they acted very much like a couple. Furby is the embodiment of a “grumpy old man.” He is an alpha kitty as well. The two would sometimes get along, but most of the time fought to the bone. Those fights would sometimes rattle the house.

Baby Tat has been showing her distress by leaving bombs all over the house. When I say bomb, I really mean feces. We know there is nothing physically wrong with her, but nothing we tried to do would help or solve this situation.

Out of frustration, we gave her a new home. A gentleman came over Sunday to meet her, and they seemed to make a connection. She stayed in his arms (which she wouldn’t do that long for any of us.) He grew up with a cat and missed the companionship. He doesn’t have any other animals at home either, which is a big plus for this princess.

Although the house is a bit quieter, and there seems to be an empty hole where she used to be. I believe she will be better off.

We miss you Baby Tat!

Harvest for All

Over the weekend my in-laws came up for a get together to celebrate my daughters’ upcoming 9th birthday. They also had fun picking apples from our apple tree.

My mother-in-law took 2 five gallon buckets that were almost halfway full. My niece Sabrina got a nice amount in a box. After the festivities were over I wanted to go pick some, not for me but for my ROX family.

This is what I could reach. It may not look like much, but believe me it’s a grab. I do not fertilize or spray my tree, so these are completely natural treats the entire family can love. There is still this many or more near the top of the tree, but they are not ready for harvest yet. When they are I will be ready.

I couldn’t keep my mouth shut about what I was going to do, so I posted about this earlier. The only problem is that the apples weren’t ready yet. They are now.

This is what you will be receiving in the mail (in 2-4 days). A sheet with greetings and instructions on what we think would be a good use of the apples, a mason jar containing apple crisp mix, nutmeg and apples, there is also extra apples in each box.

We divided the apples in the big box pictured above into 4 equal parts.

B: If you want to find out what variety of apple these are, please do! I’d like to know for myself.

I don’t feel it’s appropriate to let this great natural resource of mine go to waste. You have all been like a family to me in one way or another. This is just one of many ways for me to say thanks.

P.S. MF and Kelly: You’ll be receiving another “surprise” gift once I get a shipment in the mail.

New Light Fixture

By now I have become somewhat of an expert on light fixture installation, but this one was a doozie.

When I removed the old light fixture, I discovered that it was just merely attached to the drywall and not a junction box. This new fixture required one, so I went to Menard’s and purchased one. When I went to install that, it became even more of a jungle. There was the layer of drywall and underneath that a layer of 1/2″ OSB (Oriented Strand Board). It had to be removed by means of a reciprocating saw. Because of the vibration of the saw, more drywall than what I wanted fell off, leaving a not so pretty site where the fixture is mounted.

You can’t see it unless you’re right underneath it, but it’s going to drive me crazy until I fix it.