March 26, 2007:  Hey everyone, sorry it's been a while but things have been nuts around here.  I worked my last 2 weeks at my old job and started my new one today.  So far it seems like it was a good choice, we'll see how it goes over the next few weeks but I'm excited so far.  We've finished the guest room and just need to get a mattress for the bed and finish the doors.  We have a few doors left to do, they're here but we haven't done anything with them yet.  We usually hit it pretty hard for a week or so then take a break for a week then repeat.  With me starting a new job and everything I probably won't get to much house stuff this week, maybe this weekend.  The window was replaced over this past weekend and I can finally say it looks aweseome and is totally done.  Other than that not much is new around here, been doing some planning for the deck, it's coming along and we can't wait to get started actually building it.  I might take the Rincon out for a ride this weekend, hoping to anyway.  Lisa is working a bunch of extra shifts coming up so she'll be super busy again, she sure enjoys relaxing in the hot tub after those long 12 hour days.  Have a great week and I'll try to get some pictures of the guest room soon. 

March 16, 2007:  Things are good around here, making more progress on the house and no posting new pictures like I said I would.  I was able to get the rest of the trim in the hallway primed and painted and even started in the guestroom too.  The walls in there were trashed, screw holes, nail holes and even some anchors that when removed leave a 1 inch hole in the wall, fun.  I got most of that all taken care of and even got the trim primed in that room, including the big window.  There was pink paint all over the ceiling so I primed that and will be tackling the painting of it this weekend.  We haven't decided on a color yet but Lisa has a few in mind, we'll decide on one later tonight when we got to pick up the rest of the stuff we'll need.  We never got to paint those doors that I cut and hung last weekened, hopefully we can get them out of the way tomorrow before we get the last few done.  We only have enough saw horse space for two doors and each side takes two coats and half a day to dry.  We've been using the hot tub a lot lately and realizing how much we need a deck back there.  I've done a bunch of research this week to choose what to build it out of.  Initially we thought about one of the brands of composite decking but I haven't been convinced that they are what we want.  They fade, stain, mold, and sometimes even split from what I've read and the worst part is once they do that there is very little you can do to reverse it.  After much research and discussion we have decided to use Ipe, pronounced eep-ay.  It is a Brazilian hardwood that is basically indestructable.  It doesn't scratch, stain, rot, or splinter and bugs don't eat it.  It's 3-4 times harder than red oak so cutting and drilling it is a bit of a challenge but it has the same fire rating as concrete so that's a bonus.  It costs basically the same as any of the composite decks but looks so much more amazing when you put a coat of stain on it.  We're still working out the details of its size and exact location but hopefully Gregg will be making a trip out sometime in May to help me put it all together.  We can't wait, it's going to make the back yard so much more usuable, just in time for summer.  After that project we intend to put any others on hold until next winter, unless of course they are outdoors like landscaping.  There are a few things we want to do around the new deck but the bulk of the yard will have to wait until next year.  I will rip down that shed though, because I hate it so much, it's an eye sore.  We hope you all have a safe and happy St. Patty's day and we'll talk again soon. 

March 12, 2007:  Good afternoon everyone, we have a lot to cover today so no messing around, let's get started.  Well it's no secret around here that I haven't been happy at my job for quite some time.  I haven't told you all just in case there are any lurkers from work following the site but the cat is out of the bag now so here goes.  There was a big re-org a few months ago that left me in a pretty bad spot, new boss, new duties that were unrelated to networking, lots of unhappy people, etc.  Since that re-org a few people have left and I have just become the next one on the list.  I have had a few interviews and just accepted an offer from one of them last week, my last day here will be the 21st of March.  The new position will be about half the commute, pays a little bit more, and promises to be much more what I am looking for in a job than my current one is.  More on that to come as things develop.  Other than that it was a quiet week around the homestead.  We went out for Kim's birthday on Friday and had a few drinks and some good food and I spent the day Saturday cutting doors and painting the upstairs hallway.  Sunday morning their was a 5k downtown that a few of our friends ran so they came over later in the day to soak their old bones in the the hottub.  I got a few things done in the morning but never got to the painting I was hoping to.  The next few evenings will be dedicated to finishing up the paint in the hallway, painting the trim and door casings and Lisa finishing up painting the new doors I just hung.  We're hoping to be finished with the doors by the end of next weekend, man will that feel good.  The weather has broken and we're getting a bunch of mild spring rain but the temperature has been above 50 degrees most of the time, we're getting the itch to start working on the landscaping and hopefully a backyard deck.  Everything is so green, like hurt your eyes green!  I still have to rip down that old rusty shed and break up the concrete pad underneath it but I have located places to bring both the steel and the concrete free of charge so I'm glad we waited.  I guess that's about it for now, watch the 'Projects' page for some updated pictures, I'll get to it later this week for sure. 

March 5, 2007:  Hey again, same old thing around here.  Saturday we found new outdoor lights to replace the broken ones on the garage and beside the back door and got them mounted up in the afternoon.  We had a few friends over that night for drinks and to chill out in the tub.  Of course we had a few too many drinks and ended up sleeping in yesterday.  We were hoping to get a bunch of stuff done around here but all we really did was go out and pick up the next batch of doors we need to hang and paint.  I had to work from home at 8am and had to go in for an hour or so in the afternoon, wasn't really planning on that but I got what I needed to done pretty quick.  I just updated a bunch of pictures in the house projects section so check them out.  Lisa is working this weekend so I'll be doing some painting and probably hanging a few more doors.  A friend of ours is talking about maybe making a trip out at the end of the month for a short vacation so we have been thinking about what color we plan on painting the guest room, it's currently a light pink.  They did a horrible job painting it too so we need to paint the ceiling as well, sounds like fun right?  A few more doors and some trim to paint and we'll be done with all the big stuff.  Oh, I found a place that recycles old concrete so now I have a place to bring the slab that is under the old rusty shed when I break it up, pretty psyched about that and it's only a mile from our house.  Anyway, not a lot to report today, we'll talk again soon.