Published: 03/17/2012
So, I spent the day working down in Caldwell on the house. I didn’t do much work outside, but did take a few minutes to clean out the dead tiger lily leftovers from last year. Absolutely stunned by how much dead crap these things leave behind. I guess it is quite possible that it was two years worth of crap, as no one was in the house last spring. I was happy, though, that I could just yank the junk out and didn’t have to cut it with pruning shears, which of course I didn’t have with me.
The rest of the late morning, early afternoon was spent inside. I went through a tube of painter’s caulk getting the dining room ready for painting. I had never heard of this before buying and starting to work on the house, but it is great. It fills in all those little gaps around the older moulding and doesn’t have to be primed before being painted over. The only bad thing I discovered today was that the moulding is going to have to be painted to make it look good. After getting a good look at it, I realized that the last painter didn’t do a very good job at keeping the white wall paint off of the stain. Still, though, I think that we’re going to keep the current base moulding in place, and add some crown moulding to the room once everything else is done. Should look awesome.
Last on the to do list today was to measure out Shannon’s room for what I thought was going to be drywall. After getting done measuring everything I still had a little time left before I had to get back to Barnesville to watch the Ohio State game, so I figured I would rip out a few panels of the horrible blue, fake wood paneling that’s going to be replaced.
What do you know, I found very patch-able, although horribly ugly in color, plaster underneath. The last picture doesn’t do the nasty peach color justice. It’s awful, but still, fixing some plaster is going to safe lots of money compared to hanging drywall. All in all, a pretty productive day. Now all I have to do is learn to patch plaster.
Published: 03/06/2012
After weeks of waiting, my second home brewed beer, Blueberry Bock, is finally ready to crack open. This home brewing thing is really making me learn self-patience. I hate waiting.
First impressions is that it’s pretty good. I was expecting a bit more blueberry flavor, nothing that I was going to be knocked over by, but figured it would be relatively noticeable. It’s a pretty subtle blueberry taste, though. If i didn’t know what was in it, I probably wouldn’t be able to pick blueberries. Still, all in all, pretty good.
The nice part is that the bock is bottled in pint bottles, as opposed to the quart bottles that the Pale Ale was bottled in, so it’s a little easier to have a beer and not commit myself to having to drink two pints. I think that when I bottle the Witbeir, I’m going to bottle a couple in quart bottles, but most in pint bottles.
Published: 03/05/2012
Two months down, ten more months to complete my twelve. Here’s how I’m doing.
Abysmal Failures – So, no progress on any of:
- Go zip lining
- Learn AJAX
- Take Julie and Shannon camping
- Hike 30 miles
- Watch the sun rise over the ocean
…but I’m ok with these. Four of them are summer goals, and I’m figuring the AJAX learning for the fall.
Incomplete Successes – The other seven items, I’m pretty happy with the progress on:
- Run 500 Miles – 19.41 miles in February, for a total of 21.83 miles. Would have been more with better weather. I hate running when it’s cold. I really hope that hate will translate to me getting this done while it’s still warm this summer.
- Release 12 premium WordPress themes – Earlier last the month I launched 10T Themes and have since released two premium themes, putting me back on track to get to 12.
- Try out Drupal – Yep. Trying it out. Haven’t given up on it yet, but I’m not all that impressed so far.
- Post to blog twice a week – Eight posts in February, reaching the twice a week average for the month. So far for the year, this is the 12 post out of a required 104.
- Complete 100 hours of Pro Bono web design – I have yet to pick up any other takers on this, but I do have two museums, the Monroe County River Museum and the Baker Family Museum, that have been on board for two and one years, respectively, that I’ve been donating the design time, and will continue to through the year. Still, even with both of them, I’m only at 2.38 hours.
- Say “Thank You” to anyone in military uniform – One for one last month. This is, by far, my favorite of the twelve to do.
- Brew five different beers – And this one is my second favorite. One beer being enjoyed, one will be ready on the 7th, and one being fermented now. I’m going to have this one wrapped up by the 4th of July.
So, there it is. As far as I can tell, I’m at a total of about 10% complete, and still rockin’.
So, I spent the day working down in Caldwell on the house. I didn’t do much work outside, but did take a few minutes to clean out the dead tiger lily leftovers from last year. Absolutely stunned by how much dead crap these things leave behind. I guess it is quite possible that it was two years worth of crap, as no one was in the house last spring. I was happy, though, that I could just yank the junk out and didn’t have to cut it with pruning shears, which of course I didn’t have with me.
The rest of the late morning, early afternoon was spent inside. I went through a tube of painter’s caulk getting the dining room ready for painting. I had never heard of this before buying and starting to work on the house, but it is great. It fills in all those little gaps around the older moulding and doesn’t have to be primed before being painted over. The only bad thing I discovered today was that the moulding is going to have to be painted to make it look good. After getting a good look at it, I realized that the last painter didn’t do a very good job at keeping the white wall paint off of the stain. Still, though, I think that we’re going to keep the current base moulding in place, and add some crown moulding to the room once everything else is done. Should look awesome.
