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:
- 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.
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.
- 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!
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.
Cupcake Surprise
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.
Who has people hammering outside their house at 7:12 AM? Oh yeah, me. Sorry neighbors!
Basement Destruction
Today the heavy equipment came inside and made a bunch of noise while tearing out the basement floor.
Concrete Poured
Last week we had a lot of digging in the remodel project. It was exciting to come home today to concrete forms poured and the new egress window openings in place as well as the foundation for the mudroom. It’s great to see the forms in place!
Cars 2 in 3D
Mazie and I went and saw Cars 2 this weekend. We splurged and saw it in 3D! It was a ton of fun with a Daddy-Daughter movie and some Gummy Bears.
Mazie was excited to wear her special glasses!
I really like Cars. It is probably my favorite kids movie. I liked Cars 2. It was a lot of fun. It wasn’t as good as Cars, but that is a really high bar.
AT&T: Stop Reminding Me You're Expensive
Okay, these monthly text messages from AT&T; drive me crazy.
Let me inventory all the ways these are annoying:
- They seem to come at the worse times. I was having a busy day at work and got this interruption. Thought it was something important. It was a text message after all. But, no, it was a billing notice.
- No human intelligence has been encoded into the scheduling of these. Can you believe I got one of these on Christmas Day? Yeah, Merry Christmas to you too!
- The language is arcane. Get rid of the cruft and make the wording something that seems natural.
Okay, that’s enough. I just needed to say that.
3 o’clock beer, sitting outside, watching the kids play in the wading pool, after mowing the lawn.
Tyler Mowing
Tyler thought it would be fun to push the lawn mower for a while.
(Note: that is our neighbors lawn mower. I was out shooting pictures of the remodel)
Remodel Update Week 3
Week three of the remodel project has been substantial. Arriving home to heavy equipment in the yard is the first clue. Most of this weeks pictures are large holes dug around our house. It’s proven to be a big inconvenience as we cannot walk from the front yard to the backyard easily now. This leaves Chase incredibly confused about where he’s supposed to do his business in the yard.
The week ahead starts some of the framing work and the excavation of the floor in the basement. The next shots from the basement should be interesting! I love how the light comes in from outside in the basement already. I’m also pretty excited about the large windows we’ll have in the basement. I think the space will feel really nice.
We lost about 3 days this week due to rain. Everyone agreed we didn’t want large holes in the yard filled with three feet of rainwater.
