Get The Lead Out

I'm sick of the Republicans whining about how bad things are going to be once Obama takes office. As if it is up to one man to fix everything.

This is a country, people. It's up to us, We The People, to make positive change. Obama's not going to do it alone, and it's a LEADER we need right now, not a fall guy, and if anybody can inspire a nation into action, I think Obama can.

If the Republicans want to hang on dearly to their grim view of the future and fill their lives with doom and gloom, then I say let them have it. This country seems so divided that perhaps it should split up. Create an East and West (Divided States?) and make the Republicans live in and rule their side, and everyone else live in and rule their side, and then we can compare to see who's system works best.

Wouldn't that be fun?

I can only speak for myself, but I'm tired of living in the Divided States of America, and this country is sorely in need of something to unite the people again. The every-man-for-himself philosophy just doesn't work and only leads to greed and government bail-outs (that don't solve, much less address, the problem).

I think the vision that the founders of this country had in mind when they formed this government, was to have a government in place as an entity to keep things from getting out of control, not to be IN control. Hence, "We The People, by the people, for the people..." Sounds to me it was intended that the people of this country decide how it is to be run, and that the government REPRESENTATIVES actually REPRESENT the interest of the people.

Unfortunately, greed does not stop at money, but includes power as well, and subsequently, this country has suffered from greedy, power hungry "leaders" who couldn't give a flying fuck about what the people want, as long as the people THINK their leaders are acting in the people's best interests.

I don't know if Obama is any different. But I get the sense that he is, and we can surely hope that he is. Let's just hope he listens to his advisors and to the voice of the people and their representatives (who might actually represent them) and gives some power back to the people where it belongs.

I for one choose to believe the next few years will be good ones - because I'm going to do what I can to MAKE it that way! What you focus on expands. So, those who want to continue falling into the abyss (or who so desire to continue creating new fissures to fall into), pay no mind to them and let them fall on their own.

Let there be no lemmings. It's time to take responsibility for your freedoms, people, and do something about it. Leaders cannot change anything - they can only inspire us to make changes. We have the power, and don't let any greedy, power-hungry nay sayer take that away from you or make you believe otherwise.

Live life empowered!

Smile at someone and see where it goes.

Merry Christmas to All

Merry Christmas!

After all, that's what it is.

:)

Home Improvement

Just a quick update and a sneak peek ahead. We've had some more tile work done. Remember the vertical strip of Hardibacker (the gray stuff) on the back wall of the shower? Well, now there is a waterfall of stones covering it up. I believe there is some additional similar treatments coming. Oh, and we need to select the grout color soon, too! By the way, the blue you see on the bench seat is some protective plastic covering the tile there.

And here is the shower inspector forming an opinion about the tile work that was done on the floor and on the dam. We're still waiting for her approval.

Here is a peek at the tub (or at least where the tub will go). The face has been tiled here and is looking rather nice. Notice the meandering wires on the seat area. This is a heating coil that will warm up the tiles so my wife has a comfy place to sit when she's not actually in the tub.

And here is the face of the tub again, this time with tile on it. You can see there is a set of heating coils up against one part of the wall. There will be some interesting tile work done there, providing a nice warm back rest to lean against. Notice that much of the tile around the rim of the tub area has been set.

And here is a sneak peek at the gas fireplace. We're out of money, so it may not get done right away, but we're working on it.

We're also trying out some cabinet extensions to decide on what angle they should be at so the cabinet guy can build the pieces needed to put them together. Next, the counter tops we currently have are going to be replaced with something a bit more custom, and nicer looking.

Speaking of formica, the house has been littered with hundreds of formica (and tile) samples. It has been hard to escape them, and my wife can't stop obsessing over the selection process. She complains about me standing in the kitchen when I eat, though I'm not exactly sure where I'm supposed to sit down, yet.

All these changes! Most of it is going to be done by Christmas...we hope. We're getting tired of house projects! I just finished installing all the outlets and switches in the basement, so we have power down there now. Woo hoo! It's all in a day's work.
Tomorrow's another day... (and this was yesterday's sunset)

On the House

OK, so an update on the house has been requested. Here's the scoop: any and all updates I provide will be interior updates, only, until after January 2010.

We've got four things going at once right now: the master bathroom, the basement, the kitchen and the living room (fireplace). This entry will peek in on the bathroom with a look at the shower only.

Here is how the shower basically looked since the house was "completed" in May (completed enough to move in). The master bathroom had only a toilet and a temporary pedestal sink, so the small bathroom downstairs was used as the primary bathroom in the interim. The small bathroom downstairs could practically fit into the space we have reserved just for the shower in the master bathroom.

Some plumbing was done - someone goofed and built a 2x4 plumbing wall instead of 2x6 (perhaps originally there was to be no plumbing in this wall), so it was tight, but it got done. A window also was framed into the wall - eventually, it will get filled with glass blocks.

The tile people seem to be extremely slow, but they are also extremely meticulous and do an excellent job. Here, they have prepared the walls with a liner and Hardibacker is being applied. Additionally, the floor was being prepared, though there isn't much of it to see in this image. Note, also, the addition of a ceiling lamp, and a reduction in the size of the window.

For a long time leading up to this point, the tile selection process had been in progress. Just about every tile store around the area and around the SF Bay area was visited, with many samples acquired. We joke that a room could be tiled using just the tile samples, although no two tiles would look alike. Nothing has been more agonizing than to endure this tile selection process, although my participation in the selection process has amounted to little more than saying, "that looks good to me," or the occasional, "I liked the other one better."

I'm afraid I cannot describe or explain what the final tile configuration will be, for two reasons: 1) it's all in my wife's head, and 2) it is not simple. I figure the element of surprise will not only work out better for this blog, but also the pictures will speak for themselves. Hang tight, though - there's still a couple more weeks left to go before it's done!

Here was a process in which I did have considerable participation in (over a four-day period): figuring out the layout of the tiles that were acquired. This is an amazingly tedious process. My wife made a comment to the tile guy that she would spend an hour over the weekend to figure it out, while I was silently standing behind her, smiling at the tile guy and shaking my head. We knew better. It took hours and hours and hours of arranging the tiles to figure out how to make the patterns work.

We did the best we could and eventually arrived at a layout we were both rather pleased with (as were the tile people). Here you can kind of see just a small segment of the pattern arrangement. This segment of the wall somewhat resembles the surface of the moon, which we thought was pretty cool.

And here you can see the pattern up on the wall. You may even notice if you look closely that the pattern seen in the previous image was not the final arrangement. But the wall looks fantastic - and there's nothing like the feel of travertine.
You may also notice that the back wall appears to be lighter - almost white. That is because the back wall is a different tile - brushed Ankara, or something like that. The floor is even a different tile. And this is only the beginning. Wait until you see how it all comes together (in a future installment). I'm anxious to see it, myself, since I don't quite fully understand how it's going to work, yet (but it's going to be cool).

And here is the other wall. It is really hard to see in pictures, but the walls came out really beautiful. The glass blocks are not in the window, yet, but that's happening soon. Plus, we have to put a special watertight fixture over the can light in the ceiling.
You may have noticed that on the back wall, there is a long vertical block of Hardibacker where you might otherwise expect to see tile. I'm not even going to try to explain what is happening here, other than to say there is going to be some tile overlaid on top. Like I said, you'll see how it all comes together in a later entry.

You may have also noticed a bench in the back. This will be covered by larger pieces of the same kind of tile as the side walls (the travertine). It's going to be one sweet bench, which is mostly where my wife will hang out when she takes her soothing, hot showers. I have a feeling that it might be so inviting that I just may join her. :)
Here, you also get a peek at the blue tile that lines the floor.

That's it for this installment! Stay tuned to see how the shower turns out. In future installments, you'll also get to see the bathtub, the vanity, the bathroom floor, and even the commode. Then, after that, I'll take you down to the basement, then into the kitchen, and lastly take a rest by the fireplace. Mmmmm.

Y'all come back now!

Never Mind

Forget I mentioned creating another blog. I never update the ones I have, and I think this one is personal enough.