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Finally got the landscaping done. The plants look small now, but they'll grown and fill in over time. The house already looks better, but will look even better once the plants fill in. We still need a new post lamp and an address sign for the front. Those are coming.

Before







During





After







So, that's done, and now the house has some curb appeal. We're getting some more done next summer, but this is it for now. The contractors did really good work, were very professional, and got everything done in a day. I'd definitely recommend them.

We even have some room to plant annuals. The place is shaping up!!

Jessica and I are having lots of stuff done to the house this summer, but we're also having a lot of guests. Since we didn't want the house to be under construction all year (like it pretty much was last year), especially while guests are here, we took out a line of credit so that we could get all the stuff done up front. What we never counted on was the house being under construction all year anyway, because the effing contractors won't show up when they say they will.

We hired one guy back in April to remodel both bathrooms. He finally showed up on Thursday, gutted the hallway bathroom (the one that the guests will need to use), installed a tub (the wrong one) and hasn't been back since.

We need a door (a flippin door!) installed in the basement, to separate the storage area from the media room, and that guy has now stood us up two weekends in a row (with no calls).

This is the same guy who redid the media room, which was a weeks worth of work, that he took 2 months to do because he missed so many weekends. The door is all that's left.

One part of the basement remodel was installing two heating vents off of the main supply duct. Ever since this was done, I've noticed it significantly warmer in the rest of the house, and the AC seems to be working more. Last weekend I decided to raise the light bulbs in the fixtures to cut down on glare, and notice a ton of air gushing out from around the lights. I pulled one of the vents off to find that he never connected the vent to the duct. He just cut a huge, gaping hole in the supply duct (one for each vent) and the vent just sits 2" below it. So I basically have two 6x10 holes in the main supply duct that just blow cold air into the basement ceiling where it does... NOTHING. I'm fixing that today with some sheet metal and some duct tape.

So yeah, I think this guy is fired, and if the bathroom guys don't get on the move soon, I think they're fired too.

They're filming an episode of this in my town this week.

I guess it's some lady with 14 kids and her husband died and her house is getting ready to fall over or something, so they have six days to tear it down and build a new one.

This morning on the way to the train station I noticed those variable message signs around town, announcing parking for "makeover fans". Heh.

I'll try to get some pics of the progress.

Got to see this Heron snag a meal. Poor fish.




Then we had an unexpected guest in our back yard. He's been hanging around since the big storm. Jess thinks he's someone's livestock and he's lost. The Canadian geese don't seem to mind him, and in fact it looks like he's become the alpha male.

I had to chase him out of the yard, because he'd take two steps, poop, two more steps, poop, etc.

We're having half of the basement remodeled in order to have a nice place to watch movies. We could watch movies before, but there was a ghastly drop-tile ceiling, and the walls were a mess. Ugly color, hideous wallpaper border, and since the previous owners had a dart board down there, the wall looked like the back-drop of a firing squad. There were horrible, industrial 2x4 fluorescent lights, and I won't even go into what the carpet was like.

A few months ago we bought a plasma TV for down there, and once the remodeling was done, I needed to hook up all the equipment. Since the new stuff uses something called component video cables (a 3-wire cable with red, blue, and green bands) I needed to head to the store. I also needed a USB extension cable for one of the computers, so I decided to combine trips.

My first stop was Best Buy. They had a 4' component video cable, made by some fancy-shmancy sounding brand I'd never heard of, and it was... $69.99. So I looked around and found their in-house brand (Dynex), and it was $49.99. Fifty bucks for a 4' cable? That's over a buck a foot. Their USB extension cable (also Dynex) was $29.99. I needed the cable to extend a mouse, and for $29.99, I could buy a whole new mouse with a longer cable!

So I left empty-handed, and walked over to Target (it's like 100 yards away). I went to their audio/video section, where I found a 6' component video cable for $19.99, made by Sony. Yeah, longer than what I needed, but I wasn't going to pay $30 just to lose the 2'. They also had a 6' USB extension cable for the everyday low price of $7.99.

I've noticed more and more things like this at Best Buy. For the past 5 years, there have been no good prices there on anything. Last Xmas, I bought a Nuvi 650 GPS for Jessica. I got it at Costco for $299. Best Buy's price on the same exact item? $599, which is more than it was directly from Garmin.

With prices like these, how do they get any business at all?

Yesterday was the worst day of the year so far. In the morning, my commuter train was canceled, and the next train takes forever because it stops at every single stop (my usual train skips the smaller stops).

I went outside at lunch, and it was gorgeous, but that didn't last long. We had a killer thunderstorm that screwed up the whole area. All the commuter trains were canceled due to trees across the tracks, so I took the subway, followed by the bus to get home.

When I got home, the power was on, BUT the stupid garage door wouldn't accept my code. It kept flashing the "error" signal. I tried and tried, but nothing. The sky grew very dark, and I could tell another big storm was coming, so I went around back and used my office ID badge to jimmy the screen door latch so I'd have a roof over my head.

It started pouring again, so I spent the next half hour trying to jimmy the french doors into the family room without damaging them. SUCCESS! But the minute I got in, another bright flash of lightning instantly followed by a loud clap of thunder put the power out.

So I did what anyone would do and ordered pizza.

I'm going to have a heck of a mess to clean up this weekend. The lawn was covered with debris from trees, and our Silver Maple out front lost a couple of huge branches off the top. Fortunately they missed the house, but they'll still be a bear to clean. One of them is around 10" around.

This morning, all the commuter trains were still out of service, so it was the subway again. Ugh. Hopefully the power will be restored by tonight before all our food goes bad.

We were home cleaning the house today when I heard Jessica let out a loud gasp. "OMG! LOOK!" She yelled. I peeked out the bay window that overlooks the back yard to see a hueueuege snapping turtle trekking across the yard. I grabbed a few telephoto pics, but quickly realized I needed to be closer.

Here are a few pics: (the green stuff is duckweed)







After we were done taking pics, he high-tailed it back into the pond. I guess he didn't like our company, heh.

I've been chewing a lot of gum lately, much to the chagrin of my dentist (who hasn't had anything much to do in my mouth at all these days), both because I like it, and to keep me from eating as much. It seems to help with the appetite control (and the oral hygiene), but I'll tell you what, either someone is getting paid too much to come up with these new gum flavors, or they aren't getting paid enough.

Strawberry Lime?

Raspberry Mint??

And the worst one of all, which I stumbled across today...

Citrus Mint (barf)

All I can think of is drinking orange juice right after I brush my teeth. Not something I'd like to experience again even by accident, much less deliberately.

I mean there just comes a time when you have to accept the fact that there's just not many more things you can do with chewing gum flavor.

Well I have to say, two pictures were worth two thousand words. My contractor really rose to the occasion, and gave me exactly what I wanted. Here are some before/after pics of our front walkway and stoop.

Before:



After:


I think it looks great, and so does Jessica. I could not be happier. Now the front yard is ready for some serious landscaping. Woohoo!

Jessica and I have decided (after much insistence by me) to add a small patio out back for the bbq grill to sit on. Originally this area was just grass, but rain water would tend to accumulate, making a soggy place for the grill to sit. The addition of a patio would not only provide a clean, dry place for the grill to sit, but also connect the rear basement door with the stairs leading down from the deck.

We settled on brick pavers both because of cost and appearance (less than half the price of flagstone). The paving crew arrived this morning and went at it with abandon. They've got a lot done in a short time. Here are a few pics:.









A bit of grass seed and it'll look really good. We're also having them redo the front walk as well. Pics pending job completion.

Last weekend, Jess and I swung by my mom's house, both to see how she was doing (she had recently had an emergency room visit after suffering a dizzy spell at work) and to take care of a few repairs that needed doing.

After doing the quick fixes, we decided to go out to dinner. Mom was in the mood for either Greek or Chinese, but as we headed out to the restaurants we passed a PF Chang's. Jess and I love this place, and have been meaning to go for some time, and mom loves it too, so we pulled in. They seated us right away (very unusual) and we started to browse the menu.

Being somewhat of a creature of habit, I tend to stick with what I like at chains, so I ordered my usual; Spicy Lettuce Wraps as a starter, and the Mongolian Beef for the entree. We all prefer the brown rice to the white, so they brought that with the main courses.

After dinner, Jess and I both had a taste for chocolate, and they have a dessert called the "Great Wall of Chocolate" which is a 4-layer cake with raspberry sauce. This it a bit much for one person, so Jess suggested we order one and split it. This is always a bad idea with Jess, because she tends to take two bites and say, "the rest is for you" and you end up either eating waaaay more than you wanted, or having to lug it home and eat it later, once it's gone all dry and stale.

But this particular PF Chang's had what they called "Mini" desserts. They're basically like a tall shot glass filled with the dessert of your choice, and they're two bucks instead of the $8 that the full portion is. Perfect! We each got one.

On the way home, I said, "Hmmm, I wonder if they offer nutritional info on their website. We both figured the answer was probably no, but we checked anyway, because we both log all of our food. Well, sure enough, they do!

So I looked up what I'd eaten, and I was aghast...

Lettuce wraps: 510 cal
Mongolian beef: 1180 cal, 73g of fat, and this is NOT including the rice!

but what took the cake (pun intended) was the dessert. It's a GOOD THING we didn't opt for the full portion...

Great wall of chocolate: 2240 cal, 89g of fat.

Holy cow!

Now, here's the scary part. How many people go to that place, order the appetizer, the entree, and the whole slice of cake? If you count the rice, that's over 4000 cal, and that's with water as the drink, and I'm sure some people get soda or alcohol. And that's ONE MEAL.

Imagine a typical weekend. Denny's for breakfast, burgers & fries for lunch, and the above for dinner, and maybe a snack or two sprinkled in. That's easily a 10,000 calorie day folks.

At least the information is available to those who care about what they eat. But I think it should be right there on the menu along with the price. Might make people think twice before they order that cake, and it might make restaurants think about how they prepare food. After all, if no one orders the cake once they see how many calories are in it, the restaurant might start to offer something less lethal.

I was worried about this weigh-in because of some indulging I/we did last weekend. First there was a St. Paddy's day party at my friend Ryan's house, and we dropped in after we had a nice Prime Rib dinner at Damon's Grill. Let me tell you, Prime Rib has a lot of calories, and so does a buttered baked potato. So do buttered dinner rolls, of which we indulged two of each.

The next day was unlikely to be outdone, when our friends Bobby and Liv had me over (Jess had dance rehearsal) for a sort of springtime open house. There was a lot of good food there that I was able to keep track of, but that was only until the brownies, baklava, and cake came out. I managed to stay away from the cake, but I had to have a square of baklava, and of course I never could resist brownies - I had three.

Needless to say, I didn't expect much from today's weigh-in. The numbers on the scale bounced between 181.8 and 182.0, finally settling on the latter. That's over 1.5 lbs for the week, so I was very pleased. I am now officially the lightest I've been since age 30. And with prime cycling season rolling up as we slide farther into this month, that's good news.

So, 2 lbs to go before my "official" goal, and I probably won't stop there (I haven't been 175 since I was in my early 20's, so that might be fun to try.

Now I need to go find a belt hole punch. I'm on my last one, and it's getting pretty loose.

Last weigh in was at 183.6, so another pound gone. It's been slow going the last few weeks, so I've made some dietary alterations. It seems to be helping, and I seem to be back on track.

It seems like when you don't have much to lose (the lightest I could conceivably get barring sickness or injury is probably 175), it doesn't come off so easily. Each pound is a fight, and even with a 500-750 daily calorie deficit, it's just a nickel and dime deal when it comes to the weight. Granted, I've gained some muscle mass from my weight training, but if the calories aren't there, you'd thing the weight would come off.

Oh well, 12.6 lbs in 10 weeks isn't so bad. It's over a pound a week, which was my goal. I have 3.6 more to go to reach my original goal, and I was thinking about shooting for 175 but at this rate that may take all summer.

For the past couple of weeks, my weight loss has sort of stalled, with only a quarter pound lost here and there. So I made a few small dietary changes, reduced my daily calorie intake a little more, and bumped up the weights I've been working with. This morning the result was around a pound and a half of weight lost this past week.

I'm happy to be back on track, but Jess is even happier, as she finally got some big numbers with nearly 4 lbs lost since last weigh-in.

So my average weight loss is 1.4 lbs per week, and I've gone down a notch in the belt I wear with my dress pants. I'm hoping that by the end of March (and the start of cycling season) I'll be close to (or under) 180.

Ever since we moved into the new house, the bathrooms have been on the list for things that need remodeling. The powder room got the treatment instantly, because it was the worst - cheesy 70's etched glass light fixture, almond toilet, and white vanity with gold swirls on the faux marble sink. The powder room looks great now, and we get lots of compliments, but we've fallen behind on the other two bathrooms, other than a coat of paint in each.

While I prefer showers, Jessica is a bath person, and likes spending time soaking in a tub of hot soapy water. The problem is, the tub in the upstairs bathroom is too shallow for her to immerse all the way, so she complains about it whenever she has a bath. Last week I finally got a wild hair up my ass and called Bathfitters to come out for an estimate, figuring it would be good to go with a place that would do everything so we wouldn't have to hire separate contractors for plumbing, tile, etc.

On the phone, I didn't get a great feeling. It sounded more like a call center, but hey, they're a big outfit, so maybe they need to have that to stay organized. But then I got a red flag - both husband and wife have to be present for the estimate. They usually do this to prevent the "I need to run this by my wife" excuse for not wanting to sign on the line right then and there. Because of this, I expected some pressure to commit right after the estimate. I was right.

They came in and looked at both bathrooms. For Jess's bathroom we were doing a new tub, backing, fixtures (aka faucets, etc), and sliding door. For mine we were doing a new shower stall, fixtures, and a swinging door. Total price: $12,000 and change. This was not for hand-laid tile, mind you, but for a pre-fabricated acrylic insert, mass-produced at one of their two factories. I thought it was a little steep, but more than that I was worried that the style of their product would not fit in with the style of the rest of our house, as all their samples and photos looked quite contemporary. I asked if there was some way we could see a "live" product, like at a showroom or something. They have no such thing, but they directed us to a local mall that was around 35 minutes away. Later in the evening, we made the trip, but it was for nothing, since the Bathfitter display had been gone for over a year.

At the end of our estimate/sales pitch, we were told that since this is the "off" time of the season for them, we qualified for a $350 per bathroom discount. We would also get a 5% promotional discount, as well as $200 off for some reason I can't remember. This was all well and good, but on a $12,000+ price tag, it was peanuts. Then I got red flag #2. If we didn't sign on the line right then, we'd lose all those discounts. How typical.

This is usually where I cut off the sales pitch and show the person the door. The only reason they pull stunts like this is because they're afraid you'll shop around and find a better price. If they were confident in their product or their price, they wouldn't make it "more expensive" if you don't sign right now. So this was a clue that I'd better shop around before signing.

I will say that the salesperson was very nice, and you could tell she believed in the product 100%. But those sales tactics just don't sit well with me. Never have. There's no way I'm going to sign on the line for a $12,000 anything without thinking about it, comparing prices, or at least seeing what the finished product looks like.