Snow, Er, Window Day

We were released from work 2 hours early yesterday due to the weather. This morning, I got up and heard that we were on a 2 hour delay. Sometime between when we turned off the TV at 8 and when I left at 9:30 for work, the 2 hour delay turned into a closure. I knew it the second I turned into the parking lot.

SO, I headed for Home Depot and bought some more trim. I figured there's nothing better to do inside on a snow day (we didn't get 17 inches of snow in town) then to tackle phase 3 of the window project. I finished about half of the windows today. I've cut and nailed up some more trim inside the windows to give it an old, wood window appearance (and to cover up our painting mistakes). I think it turned out well. I still need to caulk the ends that don't perfectly fit and fill the nail holes.

Here are some pictures. They are a little dark, but I wanted to make sure I got enough contrast between the walls and the windows.

Snow Day

Woodland Park got 17 inches of snow today (or at least at Josh's house)! Josh, send this link to your agent and let me know if I've violated any image rights. I'll have my IT department remove these pictures immediately.

Baby Elephants Cry

Yesterday Stacey took Julia to the library and picked up some books for her to read. She’s been very interested in elephants recently since she’s been playing around with her little stuffed animal version. I’m not sure if Stacey, Grandma, or someone else taught her about elephants, but every time she sees elephants (either in a book or her stuffed animal) she wraps her arm around her head as if to make a trunk and lets out a big roaaaaar. It’s pretty funny to watch her pretend to be an elephant, tilt her head back, and roar.

Last night when I got home I asked her what she did during the day, and she very excitedly told me that they had gone to the library and checked out books about elephants. She really wanted to read these books together (even though Stacey had already read them to her a couple of times that afternoon), so after dinner we all sat down to read. Of course, Julia instructed both Stacey and me to “sit down right here” while touching/pointing the carpet in a specific location.

The book I grabbed from the pile was about a family of elephants who had one young elephant (like Julia) and whose mother was pregnant (like Stacey) and due very soon. It’s the typical "another baby is coming into the family" story. The book takes a twist and we find out that the mother elephant has triplets. In typical newborn fashion, the babies cried a lot. When we got to that point in the story I pointed out that “baby elephant” was crying…but unfortunately Jules doesn’t yet realize the reasons why newborn babies cry.

So, Julia thought about it for a second and then got the most pathetic/worried/scared look on her face. When the lower lip came out and started to quiver I knew where we were headed. It probably didn’t help that we chuckled at her. She lost it and started balling. Of course, she wanted a big hug from mommy and could barely get another word out through her tears. She kept saying “baby elephant cry” through her tears until we assured her that the baby elephant was “all better” by flipping forward a couple of pages and showing her a new picture where they were all happy.

It was one of those situations I’ll probably remember for a long time. I took the picture of the page (below) we were reading when it all went down…now that I really look at the picture it is a bit scary… It will be interesting to see what she does when the next one arrives and starts to cry.

THFC's New Stadium

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club today confirmed that the Northumberland Development Project planning application has this week been submitted to the London Borough of Haringey. The move marks a major milestone in the delivery of the Club’s regeneration proposals and the final plans include one further major improvement to the stadium design – the inclusion of a single tier stand. The stadium is expected to open for the 2012/2013 season.

- The new stadium will seat 56,250 people, a 56% increase
- A new 63 row single-tier stand to create/maintain atmosphere
- Will be built on the current site & adjacent land, ending concerns about moving out of the Borough without a temporary move during construction
- Vibrant public space around the stadium, open and accessible at all times
- An exceptional public square, located on the High Road and including two amphitheatres as a focus for community events and activities
- A new 150 bedroom hotel with restaurant
- A café opening out onto the public square
- New Tottenham Hotspur Foundation offices with state-of-the-art facilities
- A new Club museum together with a new 20,000 sq ft Club shop
- A new 77,000 sq ft supermarket with parking, offering increased shopping choice for local people and this part of the High Road
- 434 new homes including high quality living and 40% affordable housing

Check out the single stand inside - awesome!

EDIT: Apparently, both ends of the stadium will be single tiered stands! EPIC!

Window Sill Update

I spent yesterday (pretty much all day - 6 hours worth) finishing up phase 2 of 4 of my window project. When you cut out trips to the store and lunch, I didn't exactly work that long but it was long enough. I was tired.

For most of yesterday I experimented, measured, cut, and nailed the aprons (trim) up below the window sills that I had installed the previous weekend. This was a fun part of the project because it was easy and because it made the area look really good (finished). In the beginning I spent a lot of time thinking through and experimenting how I wanted to finish the edges of the piece of trim. In the end, I think I stumbled upon a trade secret. That, or I invented a sweet shortcut on my own.

First of all, I went with the same trim that is throughout the house - only it's turned upside down so that it looks more like a "support" (that's standard though). I experimented with what to do on the ends, and after some time I realized that if I set my miter saw at 30 degrees and 30 degrees I could achieve a nice looking cut with minimal effort. The minimal effort comes into play because the ends of the trim are actually cut back towards the center of the window, leaving the ends unfinished BUT not visible unless you look directly down the wall (i.e. your head has to be within about 12-24 inches of the wall). Since there is only one place in our house that you can look down the wall, it really was a non-issue. If not, I would have had to cut about 50 tiny end pieces and glue/nail them into place. It would have taken a lot of time and been a big headache. It's hard to explain, but basically you can't see the cut ends because they are hiding behind the leading edge of the trim and in the shadows. So, it was little to no work and with that setting I was able to make the angle of the visible front edge greater and more attractive. Better looking and easier - that's what I'm talking about.

Phase 3 is going to involve a small piece of trim installed around the inside of all the windows to make the windows look like they are wood (i.e. an old window). Then, we'll paint everything and be done. It already looks nice before painting and installing the other trim (which is a great sign). It's amazing the difference a little trim makes and how cheap and easy it really is to do. After I logged the receipts in my binder (I keep track of every upgrade I do to this house and its cost) I realized just how cheap it really has been to do what we've done to the house. Not counting things that aren't improvements to the structure and excluding the basement finish (i.e. only counting things like landscaping, painting, trim, etc), we've completely re-done the entire inside of the house and the front of the outside for under $150 a month since we've moved in. That's really not a lot of money when you consider most people spend upwards of $100 a month on a family cell phone bill.

Anyway, I love how this project is turning out. I'm tired, but it's good tired. I hope you like these pictures (but as usual, they don't quite do it justice).

Julia Says Her Name

Julia has totally been talking up a storm the last week. As we like to say, "the floodgates have opened".

She's not quite 23 months old and we can essentially have a conversation with her now. Believe it or not, she is stringing 4-5 major words together at one time. She says things like "love you Dada" and "bye-bye Dada's truck me fries milk" for when she wants me to take her to McDonald's. She knows odd words like "snow" and "doggie go outside stinkies towel water" for when the dog goes outside and it's wet we have to dry off his paws with the towel before he runs around the house. The best one is "Jesus loves me" while patting her chest.

The point is, she's been a lot of fun lately since we can now talk a little. I realize that girls develop earlier then boys but this a bit early (or so it seems). From the moment she was born we could tell (and were told) how alert she seemed. I think she's like me in that she's really aware of her surroundings. That is, she's known what's been going on for awhile even if she hasn't been saying it. But I also think that having a stay at home mom, breastfeeding for over a year, watching limited TV, having the right kind of toys (i.e. not ones that blink and make noise all the time), listening to music, as well as us trying to really talk to her or repeat a word she says has helped a lot too.

This video has a short section at the beginning where she repeatedly says her own name. It's not the greatest example of her talking, but it's the most recent we have on film. I mean, do many 23 month-old toddlers know their name? Maybe. I don't really know. All I know is that we pretty much can talk all the basics to her now and she knows what we're saying and is repeating a lot of it on her own.

Halloween Costume

I've decided on what I'm going to be for Halloween. All I need is a cardboard box with two holes cut out for my legs and a silver balloon attached to the box...oh, and some scotch tape for my eyes and probably a black wig.

I hear there are a few of these available in Ft Collins or for sale on the Internet for $19.99. Of course, if I build one myself I'm sure it would be much cheaper and better anyway. Brilliant.

Tottenham Update

I haven't made a post about Spurs for awhile, so I decided I should give myself an update about what I think about the season so far (I mean, maybe one or two people that read this probably care besides myself).

Yesterday we earned another win, albeit a difficult one. Even though Portsmouth are at the bottom of the table, they aren't the worst team in the league. Additionally, since we "borrowed" their manager and each side consists of at least 3 or 4 former players from the other team, this was always going to be an emotional, physical, and exciting game to watch.

To be perfectly honest, I'm just glad that we won. I could comment on the fact that we played poorly or that we let the emotions get in the way. One of Portsmouth's former players, Jermain Defoe, got sent off for stamping on a defender's leg. So, Spurs had to play for most of the second half with only 10 players. We also welcomed (I say that loosely) the return of our goalkeeper, Gomes. He made 2-3 absolutely spectacular saves throughout the game to keep us ahead. I say loosely because some of those saves were the result of his own mistakes a few seconds prior and he made a mess of a few plays but went unpunished.

In the end, Spurs continued their spectacular start to the season. This is the best Spurs team (start-wise) in years (possibly in my generation). Right now, almost 25% through the season, we are sitting in a Champions League spot and 3rd in the table. Technically, we are in about 3rd-5th place depending on what happens in the games Arsenal and City have in hand. Considering the previous two seasons (since I've adopted them as my team) have been complete and utter torture, I really can't have any complaints. It's a bit too soon to start dreaming about being in this same spot at the end of the season, so for now I'm just enjoying being near the top. After all, we're only 3 points out of first place.

Julia and Julia

Here are some cute pictures of Julia and our neighbor Julia...in other words, Julia squared. Stacey and Shayna take turns watching them for a few hours during the week.

Fun With Routered MDF

New tools are fun. New tools are really fun when they're relatively cheap, easy to use, and produce nice results.

This weekend, after months and months of talking and dreaming about starting my window project, I went to Home Depot and purchased a basic but suitable router, router table, and router bits. Probably more importantly, after living here for 2.5 years, I also finally created a proper work space for myself (truck tailgate, you've done well). My latest spray paint project left what I call "racing stripes" on the back of my truck. Tonight, I set everything up.

The windows in our house were built with rounded corners but entirely without any sort of trim. Any cozy house requires some form of window sill throughout...or at least trimmed in some fashion in my opinion. I figure since our house is supposed to be old skool by design, window sills are required.

Here's the fun part. A few months back while wandering through Home Depot I stumbled across a bunch of primed MDF (medium density fibreboard). I took one look at the boards and realized that it appeared to be the perfect size and thickness for a window sill. I bought one, and sure, enough, it's perfect. Not only are these boards already primed and pre-cut, but they are also $5 per 7 foot board! I will probably be able to get 2-3 window sills out of one $5 board. Talk about dirt cheap and the perfect solution. The guys that finished our basement used this material for the sills downstairs, so I know what the finished product will look like too after it's been installed and painted.

I need to work on my technique, but these pictures will give you an idea of what it's going to look like. I will be installing a piece of trim below the sill to finish off the bottom. Also, the sill's side edges will actually wrap around the outside of the window in an arch but I didn't bother to do that yet. This first board was for practice, to make sure everything was setup correctly and that it's the right material for the job. I'm also considering running a thin piece along the inside of the window all around and routering that too (possibly with a different pattern/bit) for an even better look.

So anyway, the sky is the limit with MDF since it's so cheap. I'm really going to have fun with this project over the next few months. Of course, I'll be sure to post pictures after I finally complete my first room.

Gap Kids

Julia picked this outfit out herself. She stays current by reading Gap Kids, the nation's only style magazine for those 24 months old and under.

Dogpile

Norway Wins!

A few days ago the U.N. announced that Norway (i.e. the motherland) came first in their "Human Development Index" (HDI). Of course, the name is a bit of a misnomer in my opinion, implying whether a country is developed, developing, or underdeveloped. At any rate, I found out what it attempts to really measure, which is:

- Life expectancy at birth, as an index of population health and longevity
- Knowledge and education, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weighting).
- Standard of living, as measured by the natural logarithm of gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity.

So, in this study, as a whole, Norway has highest standard of living, is the longest living/healthy, and most educated country in the world right now.

What's interesting to me are the countries in the top 10ish spots. By in large, the countries at the top of this list have one major thing in common...and that is...they are also by and large, the most secular countries in the world. So, it's not surprising to me that they are at the top of this list since as a collective group, this is what they are first and foremost striving to achieve. Don't get me wrong, all of these factors are extremely valuable and things that we should strive to accomplish (and also the things that poor and oppressive countries don't have the opportunity to achieve). I just find it interesting (but not surprising) that this list also seems to mirror levels of secularism in a country. I'd really be interested to see how these countries stack up in other studies (such as social issues or other studies) to see if any other correlations pop up.

1. Norway 0.971 (▬)
2. Australia 0.970 (▬)
3. Iceland 0.969 (▬)
4. Canada 0.966 (▬)
5. Ireland 0.965 (▬)
6. Netherlands 0.964 (▲ 1)
7. Sweden 0.963 (▼ 1)
8. France 0.961 (▲ 3)
9. Switzerland 0.960 (▬)
10. Japan 0.960 (▬)
11. Luxembourg 0.960 (▼ 3)
12. Finland 0.959 (▲ 1)
13. United States 0.956 (▼ 1)

Tomato Waffles

In case you haven't heard via facebook or in person, Stacey's eggo is prego.

She took a test on Friday and it instantly turned positive. The due date is going to be sometime around mid June. Of course, things can happen this early on in the process but we don't really care if everyone knows. Stacey's pretty sure it's 2 legit 2 quit. Most bets are being placed on the fact that it's going to be another girl. We'll see. I think we both would like to have a boy but we would love another girl too.

Stacey has an appointment next week to confirm that this is in fact, one doodle that can't be undone, home-skillet.

One of Those Days

It was just one of those days on the Palmer Park trail. Actually, it was a lot of fun despite the spectacular crashes that happen right in front of me and the fact that I broke my chain. Both crashes (by different people) were very similar. The front wheel got stuck against a rock or compressed the fork enough going over a ledge that both Craig and Joe were able to record some serious hang time with their rear wheel. Unfortunately, the rear wheel quickly became the front wheel and they both took a ride over the front handlebars. No one was hurt, and most importantly, Joe's new bike came away unscathed. At the very end of the ride I cranked down hard on the pedals to get up a hill and crunched the chain. At least it was at the very end.