2011
- I’ve struggled with some lower back pain and I was hoping it would get better not sitting as much. On the contrary, my lower back pain is worse now.
- My feet hurt. Plain and simple. I need to wear a better pair of shoes than I have the first week. Going to switch tomorrow.
- I get the sense that I’m more likely to move about during the day. More walking around and more interactions with the rest of the team at the office.
- It’s harder for people to meet in my office. Since I’m standing, people don’t come in and sit down to chat. This makes conversations shorter, which is good and bad. It makes it notably harder to have a one-on-one conversation though. A small desk to meet at would be helpful.
- Pancake breakfast. Mazie and Tyler both love pancakes.
- Trip to Minnesota Zoo. Tyler digs the zoo.
- Swimming at the Edina Pool. Mazie’s new favorite place.
- Mazie’s favorite dinner, Cheeseburger Pie.
- Tammy and Mazie to Mr. Popper’s Penguins.
- Mazie and I went the Minneapolis fireworks. Awesome!
Sat on the “blaring fireball” (aka sun) side of the bus. Poor choice.
Still managed to ssh from the bus and made a quick vi edit with Prompt on my iPhone.
Remodel Update Week 5
This last week was short with the 4th of July holiday, but there was still some nice progress. The mudroom is now framed in and you can really see what will be. The basement got the steel reinforcement plates put in and the dirt leveled and prepared for pouring the new concrete. The original plan had the concrete getting poured this week but they got backed up on another job so that will happen at the beginning of this week.
Looking ahead we should have a floor and most likely windows in place in the basement by the end of next week. We are also hoping that we can get the air conditioning hooked up again for the main floor. We’ve been without it since the digging started and since that is done the new condenser should be able to get back in. We have our fingers crossed. It has been pretty hot lately. Luckily we still have air conditioning upstairs in the bedrooms.
We are also preparing for the project to start invading the rest of the house more. Walls will soon be getting knocked down and we’ll have to accommodate some additional disruption on the main floor.
Filtering Google Plus Notification emails
It sure didn’t take long for Google Plus to start filling my mailbox with email notifications of all sorts of actions. Luckily, its super simple to filter Google Plus notifications. Just capture any email matching…
[@plus.google.com](http://plus.google.com)
and send it to a folder.
If you use Sieve like I do, the rule to match is…
header :contains "From" [
"@plus.google.com"
]
Much better.
Tammy and I watched Cedar Rapids tonight. It was fine, but not as funny as I hoped.
Today the reinforcing steel arrived to insure that the basement walls never slide in over time. Modern foundations have rebar connecting the footings and walls. Older houses just had the walls built on the footings and the basement floor kept them from pushing in. Since we are lowering the floor these steel plates will make sure everything stays put.
Just had a surprisingly pleasant support call with Adobe getting activation counts reset. Was very simple. Bravo!
Vandals trash closed state parks ← This is pathetic.
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Last night Mazie and I finished reading Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I really enjoyed reading each and every poem to Mazie, and she thought they were funny, goofy and good.
I distinctly remember reading Where the Sidewalk Ends when I was a kid. They were likely the first poems I read. I even remembered some of them. Mostly I remembered having the book and the cover of it.
We were reading the 30th Anniversary edition so I was at the youngest 9 when I read it. It was a real treat to read it to my daughter and hope that she has the same recollection when she reads it 30 years from now.
First Week of Standing Desk
Today I started my second week of using my makeshift standing desk. My initial observations are:
My makeshift standing desk is far from ideal. I know my keyboard is about 6" too low. My monitor is as high as it goes but at an angle so I look down at it. Looking down is kind of nice in one way, but I think it would be ergonomically better to have it much higher and looking straight on.
People keep asking me how long I’m going to keep this up. I don’t know. It’s possible my setup is deficient and it won’t be better. I’m hopeful that I hit a turning point this week and my feet feel better and my lower back hurts less. I’ve started stretching occasionally through the day which I hope helps as well.
All in I like it, contrary to the probable tone of this note. I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Black Keys at Roy Wilkins
On Sunday night Tammy and I went to see The Black Keys at Roy Wilkins Auditorium. I only recently discovered the Black Keys. I heard they were coming to town and they seemed like a great band to see live so we made a point to go. The show was really good. The Black Keys play a really good live show. I had fun taking some photos with my iPhone while we were there.
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney came on the stage. It was a little odd just seeing two guys, but they made an amazing amount of sound for just two people.
I really liked the simplicity of their stage setup. It worked really well with their overall feel and made it feel like a smaller show.
They had the largest disco ball I’ve ever seen. It was incredibly big. At least six feet in diameter.
After an initial set they brought on two more band members and played a number of songs from Brothers.
I thought these lights in three rows were pretty cool.
This made me think we were on a porch on a summer evening. Strings of bare lightbulbs.
At the end a light board rose behind the stage with THE BLACK KEYS lit up on it.
So I got a little excited with the lights. The music was really great too! 😀
Just upgraded 8 WordPress sites to 3.2 in about 5 minutes. Super easy. (Wish MediaWiki was that easy.)
The Edit Post screen is shockingly nicer, but so similar. Feels crazy faster and much calmer. Nicer type too!
Tyler the Monkey
Tyler loves to climb on things, and he doesn’t give up easily. This morning I had the Tour de France streaming on one of the computers and left the room for a moment. I thought Tyler was being pretty quiet and was wondering why he wasn’t running around as usual. I came back to find him pretty excited to have climbed up in the chair and running the computer himself. The kids a climber!
Epic Fourth of July!
Today was the best Independence Day in memory. The day started early.
To top that off we even had an impromptu visit from Grandma Rosalin that involved coloring.
Mazie said everything today was her favorite thing. 😀
Bubble Jack
I had a chance to try the Rush River Bubble Jack IPA tonight at Cheeky Monkey Deli in St. Paul. Actually had a 2nd pint on the patio. Highly recommended for a summer evening.
Remodel Update Week 4
The destruction in the yard slowed in week four and the destruction in the basement accelerated. Outside we got our new egress window wells poured and the dirt around them is mostly filled back in. The foundation for the new mudroom is in place as well. The yard is still a muddy, rutted mess but at least we don’t have six-foot deep holes that people can fall in. I also can now take the lawnmower from the garage to the front of the house without walking through the alley and around the block on the sidewalk. It’s the little things!
The basement is a disaster zone however. The stairs got cut off half way down. I put a ladder at the end so I could get down and take pictures. The half of the floor being lowered has been broken up, hauled out and the dirt dug down. The half that isn’t being lowered has been cut out for the drain tile installation around the basement wall. The plumbers were here for two days rerouting plumbing to accommodate the various changes.
Next week framing starts and the new floor in the basement gets poured. I’m thinking this is maybe the ugliest it will look. 😀
Dirt Conveyor
If you need to take seven inches of dirt out of a basement floor, it is best to have a cool portable conveyor belt.
You can see this laying on the floor in yesterdays shot of the basement.
We got a pleasant surprise at the office today with the delivery of some delicious cupcakes from Wuollet Bakery.
Day 2 of standing desk: my feet hurt.