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Monthly Archives: November 2005

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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, ...

  • 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)

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...