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Monthly Archives:

  • Renovation Update - Siding and Drywall

    It has been quite a while since I last posted, and a lot has happened since then. (click on any image for a larger version)InteriorSince I last posted, we had the drywallers (two guys, a finisher with 17 years experience, and his helper) here to drywall the kitchen, livingroom, and one spot in the hallway. The guys also helped to fix some really bad drywall patching done by the previous ow...

    Published Friday, December 30, 2005 | Tagged: | 1 comment

  • Milestone!

    I made a double payment this month, so now the last of my student loans are finally paid off. Yay! Maybe now Sallie Mae will stop spamming me and sending all sorts of unrelated junk mail.

    Published Friday, December 2, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • Do not Feed the Animals

    Last week, one of the window installers gave my cat Mabel a chunk of sausage off the pizza they were eating. It happened before Melissa had a chance to come upstairs and see what Mabel was meowing about. (When a cat wants to sneak away, they do it very well)Turns out that upset her stomach - a lot.So after a couple days of puking and pooping all over the house (some of the puke had pepper flake...

    Published Monday, November 28, 2005 | Tagged: | 2 comments

  • Side Bow Window in Place

    The window and siding company came in today and installed the 6'8" bow window on the side of the living room.Before (click on the image for a larger version). The brace in the corner was in the way. That was needed because the "georgia board" that wraps this house has zero structural value. Since they had to cut into that, the siding part of their company is going to put a 4...

    Published Monday, November 28, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • Kitchen Windows and Patio Door

    The window company installed the kitchen windows and patio door this week.Before (click on the image for a larger version). The single window above the sink was adequate, but didn't provide much of a view, or much light. The fridge used to be right next to it, between the window and the door, which further blocked the light in the kitchen. The old french doors, while nic...

    Published Friday, November 25, 2005 | Tagged: | 1 comment

  • Darth Who's Your Daddy?

    This was easily one of the more disturbing Christmas stockings found in recent trips: Is this simply a bad case of Limp Lightsaber, or is this really The Dark Lord of Whips and Chains. If you can find a stocking with Leia in her slave girl outfit, you'll have a complete set ;-) On a related note: "Who's your daddy?" Your Daddy Is Darth VaderWhat You Call Him: PopsWhy You Love...

    Published Monday, November 21, 2005 | Tagged: | 2 comments

  • Breaking Changes in .NET 2.0

    For those of you porting .NET 1.1 apps to 2.0, this is a useful reference Breaking changes are changes in either the .NET Framework (runtime breaking changes) or Visual Studio (design/compile/project upgrade) that make certain application and development scenarios behave differently from the version 1.0 and 1.1 .NET Frameworks to the 2.0 version. These are not necessarily changes that we hav...

    Published Friday, November 18, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • Kitchen Arch Framed

    Over the weekend, I built and installed the framing for the kitchen arch. This is the current plan for the arch: First I screwed together (clamps would have worked, but not as well) two pieces of 1/2" plywood. Then I used a piece of flexible 5/8" square PVC window trim in order to lay out the curve. I first measured both end points and the center point. I then nailed the PVC to the ce...

    Published Tuesday, November 15, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • Renovation: Electricians Day 1, and Update

    Over the weekend, I tore off the rest of the drywall in the kitchen. Monday night, I marked up the walls with the locations of all the switched, outlets, junction boxes and other services. The electricians came today and roughed-in a lot of the electrical for the kitchen. They'll be back again tomorrow, and then likely for two more days next week.After they left, I took a real look around, ...

    Published Tuesday, November 8, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • Huge Spider

    This was outside of our patio door the other evening. Pictures never give you a real sense of the scale of these things, but I threw down my keys next to it for some comparison. The large black car key on there is really big as keys go. I'm surprised it didn't carry the keys away with it :-) (click for larger image)

    Published Tuesday, November 8, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • WPF / Avalon Screenshots Requested

    Today I was asked to point someone to some WPF/Avalon screenshots, showcasing what types of apps one might build. Short of the Microsoft Max site and some Vista shell shots, I couldn't find any static shots; just about everything was a video, done presumably to showcase the animation and interactivity of WPF apps. If you know of any good places for Avalon / WPF screen shots, or if you have so...

    Published Monday, November 7, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • Redesign vs. Realign

    Good Designers Redesign, Great Designers Realign Halfway through 2004, I openly predicted incessant redesigning would become somewhat cessant by the same year’s end: Forward thinkers understand content is still king and focus on such while deploying minimal upgrades, rather than relying on skillful makeovers that gain short-lived traffic spurts following award listings but offer downright w...

    Published Thursday, November 3, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • Dining Room Light

    To replace the ugly old builder's chandelier over the dining room table, we ordered this lamp: It was more than our initial budget for this light, but it fits our Arts & Crafts / Craftsman inspired theme nicely, unlike any others we've seen. These are all made to order. It just so happens we picked the same number of lights, finish, trim, and glass as the example shown in t...

    Published Wednesday, November 2, 2005 | Tagged: | Comments closed

  • Bamboo Flooring

    The Bamboo Flooring from Sustainable Flooring arrived today. This time the truck driver was very helpful, and assisted in unloading it. Just for the record, this stuff is heavy, really heavy. We unloaded 49 6' long cases, each weighing 70 pounds, plus a wrapped package of stair nosing and reducer strips. That's almost 3500 pounds of flooring. As it turns out, the flooring is bran...

    Published Wednesday, November 2, 2005 | Tagged: | 5 comments

  • Kitchen Appliances

    Here is the latest list of appliances we have settled upon for the new kitchenRefrigerator: Whirlpool GS6NBEXR in Satina. Main criteria: quality, look, and price. Purchased from Lowes. Cooktop: Kitchenaid KECD866RBL in Black. Main criteria: downdraft vent (our island will not have a range hood), quality, look and price. Purchased from Lowes. Oven: Thermador C302BS. Main criteria: qual...

    Published Monday, October 31, 2005 | Tagged: | 1 comment

  • Renovation Progress Update

    SubflooringA couple weekends back, my father in law and I put down a second layer of 5/8" tongue and groove fir subflooring plywood over the majority of the second floor. I had previously prepped the floor by hammering down all the protuding nails, screwing down some of the existing subfloor, removing the railings and generally cleaning up. Before that, Melissa had painstakenly r...

    Published Monday, October 31, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • Can You Pass 8th Grade Math?

    I was surprised I got the questions correct, as I tended to get only the odd questions correct in my homework when I was in 8th grade ;-) You Passed 8th Grade Math Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct! Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

    Published Thursday, October 27, 2005 | Tagged: | 2 comments

  • What Not to Display in an Error Message

    As part of my renovation, I'm getting ready to purchase a double wall oven. I figured I'd check out a few of the high-end models to see what they have above and beyond the usual consumer items like Whirlpool and Kitchenaid. The first site I hit was Thermador. When I clicked on a model there, this is what I got (click for full version): The only information that error message doesn't provid...

    Published Sunday, October 23, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • Part III of a Tour of XAML

    I mentioned Parts I and II of Chuck Jazdzewski's excellent A Tour of XAML here. A tour of XAML Part III is now available.

    Published Monday, October 17, 2005 | Tagged: , | Leave comment

  • New Version of Acrylic Available

    A new version of Acrylic is now available. Microsoft Expression "Acrylic Graphic Designer" (code name) is a professional illustration, painting, and graphic design product. Visit the Acrylic Graphic Designer Features page for an overview of the main features. For more detailed information please view the videos which are also available on the Acrylic Graphic Designer site.

    Published Monday, October 17, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment

  • xamlCase

    The last couple days of the PDC were spent single-tracking through the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF, formerly known as Avalon) and Microsoft Expression sessions. Later in the evening on Thursday, I spent a good chunk of time with Ian Ellison-Taylor and other folks from the Microsoft WPF team at the "Ask the Experts" session. My thanks to Ian for spending so much time discussing the...

    Published Thursday, October 13, 2005 | Tagged: , , | Leave comment

  • Asynchronous Pages in ASP.NET 2.0

    MSDN Magazine online has a "Wicked Code" article on Asynchronous Pages in ASP.NET 2.0. This is very cool, and promises to help us eek out that next bit of scalability from our large scale web applications. There's even a bit of helpful information for the folks who will be stuck with 1.1 for a little while longer. ASP.NET 2.0 is replete with new features ranging from declarative data binding...

    Published Thursday, October 13, 2005 | Tagged: | Leave comment