thank god for football

So how to survive another case of summer ending...

I picked up after Labor Day fitting two interviews in for jobs I wasn't too interested in but was happy to set up after a long dry spell.  I have a good feeling about at least getting an offer from UChicago, although I'm not sure I want to head down there every day and I don't think the salary will be where I need it to be.

The same could be said about the salary at the WTTW job, and that's potentially only a two year contract with part of the job being working to secure additional funding.  But Sen. Durbin was in the lobby as I was leaving, and I took the chance to say hello and shake his hand.  It made for a slightly more interesting interview story than usual when I got home.

Ah, home.  Where I'd much rather be right now.  Taking yesterday off meant I was home for 5 glorious days over the weekend, putting up closets and taking care of kids.  It was fantastic.  Now all I have to do is hang on until the NFL opens tomorrow night and keep my fingers crossed that Michigan goes down in flames on Saturday.

Current beer-scale: 9.1

every time I look at these I smile

Yes, the holes behind the tv bothered me but I wasn't looking at them every day.  But I have been looking at these speaker wires for two-plus years now.

Seriously, I know you're in for the short sale but can't you take 15 minutes and at least put those back in the wall?  No?  Okay, fuck you very much.  Oh, it's b/c you just painted over the covers while they were on the wall?  Fan-fucking-tastic.

There were five of these, now patched, painted, and closed back up.  And it makes me happy every time I think to look at them.  But I don't look very often, b/c there aren't random wires sticking out of my walls anymore.

And that's why it finally feels like this place is coming together.  Get some frames back on the wall, possibly some shelves, and we'll be good to go.

current beer-scale: 6.9

slowing coming together

So ignoring having to replace things like the AC or water heater, painting our condo has convinced me the place is slowly but surely coming together.  Just in time for a new baby to blow things up again, but it's looking pretty good right now.

It's not like we can see all these with our massive tv up, but just knowing they are there has bugged me since we moved in.  What the hell was wrong with the people that sold us this place?

The patches aren't perfect by any stretch, and painting around the bracket instead of taking it all the way off will surely cause me problems down the line, but I feel so much better putting the tv back on over that versus having all the holes in the wall.

Oof, that thing is a beast to put up and get connected.  What a fucking pain.  But things are looking decent.

Current beer-scale: 7.8

Done chewing on project no. 1

It took longer than expected,  but as of 5 PM yesterday I can call the backsplash done. Outlets are floated,  grout is on and scrubbed,  the end is bullnosed, and everything is back on the counter in messy fashion. Enough for me to make burgers at least. 

But holy crap that was surprisingly difficult.  Every project guide for a backsplash is 4 or 5 steps,  very simple.  But that's for simple installs.  None of them mention raising outlets,  how to cap an end wall, or getting different tile shapes.  All things I had to work with,  all things that made the actual tiling the easiest part of the project. 

Hilariously,  we were going to see a movie yesterday after taking the day off to recuperate from a wedding.  But the kid put a stop to that having to stay home,  so I had all day to either stare at an unfinished project or just get it done already. I had already installed the end rules and raised the outlets during the bears game so all I was looking at was grout. Sounded simple,  I should've known better. 

The outlets practically drove me crazy Sunday, being hella hung over didn't help either.  But the grout ended up taking FOREVER.  Working on two big walls with a tiny float,  by the time a wall was done the stuff was so dry it work way more work to get things clean than I anticipated.  Sheesh.

But it's done now. Might not be perfect,  but not a bad amateur job, and with the counters so packed it looks fine.  Enough to check it off the list and move on to the next one,  good times. 

Current beer-scale: a still slightly hungover 5.3

when you bite off more than you can chew

the only thing you can do is keep chewing.

After a few trips to Immediate Care the wife and I decided it was time to get serious and find some primary care physicians.  This lead to a whole list of "adult" to-do items, including projects around the house and lots involving paperwork or insurance or retirement funds.  It's funny how having a kid puts a whole new level of pressure on feeling like you've got to have it together.

I'm completely onboard with this line of thinking (is almost the exact same wording I just used in a work email to respond to a condescending professor who I was not at all in agreement with), but the good news was I could pick a project to focus on that didn't require any paperwork or advance research, just the time and patience for several Home Depot trips.

Decided to spend Labor Day installing a backsplash to get the first item checked off our list.  The HD trips nearly ended, me, I won't lie.  Spent a lot of time looking at this:

Partly because we were doing two walls and the little accent tiles we decided on ended up being spread out over 4 stores in a 10 mile radius.  Good fucking times it was not.  But the project as a whole ended up going pretty well and after a day and a half it's 99% done.

Out of everything you need to work with tile, this tile cutter is your best friend.  It's only about $10 more than the smaller hand-squeezer model we started with that broke immediately.  Lesson: always get the bigger tool.

But cutting was a small part of the project, most of it was shopping then getting things on the wall.  And it feels like shopping took more time than getting things up.  It went from this

to this pretty quickly.

What's still not done?  There's no grout up and the open ended wall needs a cap, and halfway through fitting things around outlets I realized I need to space the outlet boxes to get them flush with the new tile, about a quarter inch higher than they were.  Of course, I can't find the spacers anywhere, so I have to wait until they get delivered.  Oh well.  As long as they're done by our BBQ in two weeks it's fine.  Always good to have a deadline.

Current beer-scale: a weary 6.5

Bikes are great but I can't exactly carry everything...

I've been charged with running some errands on my way home tonite so it was back on the raleigh for the day.  The primary stop I'll be making includes purchasing a new dining table and seating, so it doesn't really matter what I rode today b/c it's not like I'm strapping a 70+ inch table anywhere on my person. 

But it is incredible how different going from bike to bike can feel, even with just one ride on the madone to compare.  The raleigh is 520 steel but doesn't feel too heavy after riding the tank all winter.  Compared to the trek though the thing is an anvil.  Maybe I'm just a tired old man.

Yeah, that's probably it.  Can't wait to run some errands in my least favorite part of town to ride in.

Current beer-scale: 7.8

speaking of paint...

God dammit.

I used to have to go to courthouses all over Cook county for work and inevitably I would see similar graffiti scrawled all over random furniture and bathroom walls. It always struck me as pathetic (and pathetic is a way nicer word than I usually thought). What's worse than some suburb-wannabe thug thinking it's cool to ink up a bathroom stall?

So to wake up and see that on our garage the other morning set my teeth on edge. Now it's up there already, and the city will be by to paint over it, so there's not any use in getting all worked up. But every time I see it I can't help but think several derogatory thoughts about whoever's life was in sorry enough shape to lead to that. Way to go kid, I bet you and your buddies are the coolest. Good luck making anything of your life.

We weren't the only ones hit, and there was a long line of buildings hit in a similar fashion earlier this month west on Lawrence. It still sucks.

I need a drink.

Current beer-scale: 8.1