2011
- It’s Wednesday. Where’s Mac OS X Lion?
- Downloading Lion…
- Starting Lion install…
- MacBook Air is now running Lion. Upgrade was fine.
- The old exterior wall was knocked out in the new mudroom which gave us the first sense for what that intersection will be like. We think it will be great.
- The egress windows are framed in and the windows will be installed this week! We will be able to see what the light will be like in the family room.
- Holes have been knocked in the cinder block on the basement wall and rebar put in that goes down the entire length. This week they will pour cement in those channels for additional wall strength.
- We got our air conditioning working again with the new furnace and condenser on Friday! Just in time for a miserably hot spell!
Tyler Playing with Shoes
Tammy put up a blog post about how much Tyler loves to play with shoes. This was one of the pictures that I thought was just great.
Remodel Update Week 7
The update last week felt really significant with the new floors in and all. This week felt like an even bigger advance! All of the walls in the basement are now framed in and the windows are in the mudroom and the family room. We can now see just how the light will be in the family room and get a sense for how the flow will be in the main level with the mudroom there. We also got most of our side lawn back this week. Tammy and I are both feeling really good about the layout.
The week the project also broke into the rest of the house. A temporary barrier is in place in the office to keep dust out and the exterior wall has already been taken out to make room for the new pocket doors.
This week we do the electrical walk-through as well as mapping out all the low voltage work. We are right around the half-way point now.
The pictures of all the framing are probably hard to make out without an idea of what direction things are.
U2 at TCF Stadium
Tip for tonight’s U2 show: Bring a Ziploc bag to put your phone in, just in case.
Pre-U2 blackberry mojito at Cafe Maude before catching #4 bus.
My coordinates for tonight’s U2 show: Section 215 Row 17
This could be straight out of War of the Worlds!
App I most want full screen support for in Lion that doesn’t have it now? OmniFocus I’m sure it will come soon.
App I least need full screen mode in but has it? Twitterific 😀
Tomorrow is officially Mac OS X Lion day! Looks like the Internet will be busy sending bits around.
Trying to buy a doorbell online. Surprising that very few websites let you listen to the chime. 🙁
Next year will mark our return to the Winnipeg Folk Festival! 353 days to go.
Soggy Outside
Inside: 76 °F with air conditioning.
Outside: 91 °F and 75% humidity with a dew point of 81 °F.
Remodel Update Week 6
Week six was a big one! The difference between last week and now is really fun. Last week we had a dirt floor in the basement, now there is cement. Last week you had to take a ladder down the last half of the steps, now there are now steps. Last week they framed the mudroom, now it is enclosed (sort of).
I’ve been amazed at all the structural engineering that has gone into lowering the floor. The extra 7" will be worth it though. This week windows get put in and most of the framing happens.
Perceived Project Progress
Our remodeling project is scheduled for 12 weeks. I’m very familiar with project execution, that is a big part of what I do for a living. Watching the progress of our remodel I’ve been thinking about real versus perceived project progress. The chart below reflects the relationship.
When we build software there is a decent amount of time getting groundwork put in. You have to get the build process working right, get your integration tests working, get version control working the way you want it. You probably need to use some framework code. It is a lot of stuff that doesn’t really feel like progress to a non-technical person.
Then you start framing out the software. Big swaths go in place, but mostly just stubs. Everything looks like it is coming together really fast, but it is largely a façade. Things are just in place to make sure it all comes together right.
At the end, it feels like the thing is so close to done but it just keeps dragging on. The edge cases have to be handled, error handling needs improvement. You need to log things. Not to mention that final design of the visual elements. This is where people get frustrated.
I fully expect the same thing to happen with this remodel. It seemed like a long time to get the structural stuff rolling. This week it seemed like a lot started to happen, and with the framing right around the corner it will feel like we are almost there. Then, things will take a very long time to get the light switches all wired up right and all the final punch list items completed.
While I ride the Perceived Progress line I’m going to try to keep a good grounding on the Actual Progress line. It is the only one that matters after all.
Car Seat Toy
I brought Tyler’s car seat into the house so it could be put back in the van. He then decided to spend a half-hour getting in and out of it. Great fun!
Car Seat Does Fit in Mini
Tyler got to ride in my Mini Cooper for the first time today. His infant seat definitely would not fit, and the car seat wouldn’t fit rear facing (and how would we get him in if it did?). Now he is facing forward and while it isn’t spacious, it can be done.
Minnehaha River?
After Fridays big rains I was curious to see what Minnehaha Creek was running like when I came home. In short? Like a river!
For a fun comparison look back to this picture of the creek in February from nearly the same spot.
I had a blast hacking MediaWiki tonight with my awesome book club gang, John Riedl, Dan Frankowski Erik Jordan and Tom Erickson.
Rumor was that Mac OS X Lion would be released tomorrow. Haven’t heard much in the last day or two. Will upgrade at home right away.
Any of you out there use Linode? I’m about to sign up and would be happy to send the referral to a friend.
Square Surprisingly Useful
A couple of months ago I got a Square credit card reader and associated Square account for my iPhone and iPad. I did it because we were (and still are) planning a garage sale and I thought it would be helpful to accept credit cards. We still haven’t had that garage sale, but I got a lot of use out of Square this week.
The B-Squad needed new softball bats. I decided to take up the fundraising effort for the B-Squad 2011 Bat Fund. One of the biggest challenges is always just getting funds. Nobody carries a checkbook and cash isn’t always on hand. I took my Square to Dusty’s and within minutes had swiped six Visa cards. It was really easy and simple.
We completed our fundraising in a week in part because of how easy Square made it.
Concrete Trucks
Today was a big day for our project. This morning a bunch of guys showed up between 6:45 and 7:00am. Two big, blue concrete trucks showed up and parked right out front. One truck had the concrete mixing, and then it was pouring it into the pumping truck.
The concrete pumped through this hose and poured into the basement for the new floor.
Tyler was digging the big trucks. I would have stood there and watched too but I had to get to work!
Bubblers Against Bottled Water
This weekend we went to the Minnesota Arboretum. It was ridiculously hot and when we got done walking around we entered the visitor center and were looking for a drink.
I love this bubbler that has specific accommodations to fill water bottles, and even keeps track of how many disposable bottles were saved. Bravo! (See Stop Drinking Bottled Water)
