May

Wednesday, 1 May --- Video: MPEG

the backsplash is up in the kitchen, and the passthrough was finished. There was just a bit too little granite to do the backsplash, so there's about 1/8'' of filler on each side.
the microwave is in
almost all of the doors have been hung, and the hardware is on the swing doors (not the pockets)
the children's closet doors are hung. We've been told they will be painted correctly when the other touchups are done.
the pathway in front of the house is about 1/2 tiled
the downstairs bathroom is almost done save the shower floor
the garage has been painted. It's semi-finished. The walls are drywall & taped, and it's painted, but there wasn't any texture & the tape lines are visible.

Thursday, 2 May --- Video: MPEG

Friday, 3 May --- Video: MPEG

Saturday, 4 May --- Video: MPEG

Sunday, 5 May --- Video: MPEG

Monday, 6 May --- Video: MPEG

Tuesday, 7 May --- Video: MPEG

Wednesday, 8 May --- Video: MPEG

Talked with Michele at PG&E yesterday. I was rather disheartened to discover we will probably not have electricity when we move into the house. Apparently some paperwork was lost between her office and the city and no one discovered it until it was too late. Something that was supposed to take four weeks now looks like it will take eight - ten. Our gas should be hooked up the week of the 20th, but the electricity isn't scheduled until the 31st. Since we're moving in the week of the 27th, that leaves a few days to wonder about. At least we'll have hot water.

Met with Bob and Dave yesterday to go over the bill & a few other details. It looks like we're at about 10% over budget. Considering the extra cabinets and the appliances (which were about 200% over) I think we're doing pretty good.

Bob also said he'd see what we can do about electricity. We have a porta-potty with electric on the lot now for the construction, I figure at worst we can run a few extension cords off of it.

In other news:

bath & shower enclosures -- Our shower is going to be pure glass, with one of the heavy self-closing doors; the children's bath is going to be shower curtain only; the downstairs shower will have a sliding door.
master deck rail -- the deck rail has finally been chosen. The best description we've come up with is pregnant-lady. Instead of straight bars, the bars are straight at the top and bow out a bit in the middle.
The plumber installed all of the toilets.
The entrance tiles are set, as is the downstairs bath and the trim around the fireplace.
It looks like we're going to have a mantle built for the fireplace.
The painter is working on touching up the inside.
We're going to get a quote for doing the front lawn.

So, next week the wood floors will be done and the appliances installed. The following week the carpet will go in, and that weekend we will start moving in. Finally!

Thursday, 9 May --- Video: MPEG

Friday, 10 May --- Video: MPEG

Saturday, 11 May --- Video: MPEG

Sunday, 12 May --- Video: MPEG

We're in the home stretch. This weekend we started moving stuff into the garage. Obviously we cannot move anything into the house yet, but we did get the contents of our garage, attic and many of the non-essentials moved into a pile in the middle of the new garage. We want to try to be completely out of our house by Tuesday, 28 May. Since the house won't be finished until Friday, 24 May and we're busy the following Saturday, that gives us only two days to move. The plan is to have as much as possible already in the garage before that weekend. Then Lynn & anyone else she recruits can clean cabinets & put away what's already there while I move the remaining few bits. We'll see.

Monday, 13 May --- Video: MPEG

Tuesday, 14 May --- Video: MPEG

Wednesday, 15 May --- Video: MPEG

Thursday, 16 May --- Video: MPEG

Friday, 17 May --- Video: MPEG

Things are moving along. The stain and first finish coat were applied to the wood so we won't be walking upstairs for a while.

Saturday, 18 May --- Video: MPEG

Sunday, 19 May --- Video: MPEG

Monday, 20 May --- Video: MPEG

A few more interesting things have happened since I last updated this page. Here goes:

Saturday was the moving sale. We managed to sell our bed, dining room set, all four rabbit cages, both hamster cages, the children's beds, our answering machine, and just about everything else we wanted to be rid of. The weather was great! We were up at 5:30a.m. to start getting everything ready, and by 5:45 someone was already cruising by looking at what we had out. This was a three-family affair and took until almost 9:00a.m. to get everything into the front. Sales were brisk & constant. My plan was to put one of the children's beds out first and move the second, identical one out when the first one sold. The first one sold as I was bringing it out of the house!
Our bedroom set also sold (actually, it sold the night before) but we're allowed to keep it this week. Our new set is being delivered to the new house on Friday.
Lynn managed to sell an old, wood planter that was falling apart which really amazed me.
We also sold our Lucent telephone/answering machine. It works fine, but had an audible ``beep'' when there were messages that refused to turn off even when set to off.
At the end of the day, around 4:00, we were busily packing what little remained into a truck to go first to the GoodWill, then to the dump. Someone jogged past & looked at the dining room set that hadn't sold yet. I didn't even haggle, just yelled ``half price & it's yours,'' because I really didn't want to have to move it back into the house. It was six large, heavy wood chairs with an even larger, heavier wood table, two leaves, and some mats. He took it!
Someone we know has been wanting to give us some topsoil that he had leftover from some work he was doing. Well, unbeknownst to us, he picked Saturday to do it. The movie shows him with his truck & BobCat delivering & pushing dirt around. Big thanks to Greg for all of this! Also, he hauled away all of the construction garbage that was sitting in the front.
Sunday Lynn was going to head over to San Jose to look for a few remaining lights and knobs. Alas, a friend called to let us know Highway 17 was a parking lot courtesy of some accident. Two drops of rain had fallen from the sky, so it wasn't really any surprise that the highway closed. So, we spent an hour or so picking out some more lights: children's bath (the required fluorescent fixture), office, and the six outside lights. Before heading out we walked through the new house & closed all the windows. Yes, we walked on the hardwood floor but in our socks so hopefully we didn't do any damage. At least, not as much as the rain would have done coming through all of the windows. Alas, we managed to forget one light -- our closet.
We also got our two doorbells. The one by the bedrooms is a plain, boring old buzzer, but we want the one in the stairwell to be something spectacular. We couldn't find what we want, so Lynn got one that plays 48 tunes and is programmable! I can just see our children ringing the doorbell hundreds of times/day now. Thanks Lynn.
Now we're caught up to Monday! The outside of the house was supposed to be painted today but, alas, since it's been raining they cannot paint. Oh well, the storm is supposed to pass so maybe we'll have it done Wednesday.
I got a call from Dave:
- I sent someone out to cleanup the trash and he said there is none, I said of course there is I saw it on Friday, so I came out & sure enough it's gone and there's a big pile of dirt here! Any idea what happened? I explained what Greg had done.
- Bad news, PG&E won't be here until next week. This is bad. Everyone knows we're moving in this weekend. Argh!
So, I grab the paperwork & head out to the PG&E office to talk with Michelle. I got there & asked for her. When the receptionist went to get her there was a very audible ``Ugh!!'' She came out & let me know that Bob had already called her about 20 times that morning, and things weren't quite as dire as predicted: there would be a three-man crew at our house for three days starting Wednesday which should have everything ready to be hooked-up by Friday and, if we've the necessary sign-off from the city we would indeed get gas & electric. Hooray!

Tuesday, 21 May --- Video: MPEG

Another flurry of activity today as everyone is trying to finish all of the details. The appliances were set today as well as the tile on the master bedroom deck & the finish work on the main deck.

Wednesday, 22 May --- Video: MPEG

We went to the house around 8:45 to prepare to meet with the landscaper. While walking through the house I noticed another missing light in the office. Damn. Luckily the people at Riverside Lighting know us really well now. We also saw Bob, Dave, & Aaron and talked about a few details. We were assured that when all of the dust settles they'll still be around to correct anything else we find.

Lynn had to be off, so I met with Gino to discuss the landscaping. He's going to put together a bid & let us know next week. I liked his ideas. He also pointed out that by the time anyone gets around to landscaping, they've run out of money. We're no exception there!

The rail to the main deck and on the master bedroom's deck have been installed. They look really good!

Thursday, 23 May --- Video: MPEG

Things continue to be busy. It's almost like they want to finish up or something. It's only 11:30, so I'm sure there'll be more to add, but here's what's happened thus far:

Our refrigerator has been delivered! It's a sub-zero and even though we got a mid-sized, it's big. Now they're wondering how to get it upstairs. Aaron suggested a crane & I really think he's probably right. We'll see.
I thought I noticed something odd on Tuesday, and it appears I was correct. There was no 220V outlet installed behind out oven. Since our oven is a dual-fuel (cooktop is gas, oven is electric) we need the 220. As we speak an electrician is climbing in the attic trying to fish the necessary wires around. Oops.
The carpet's going in, but unfortunately there was a small miscommunication -- we needed the upstairs done first because tomorrow all of the bedroom furniture arrives. The downstairs is being done first. Oops #2.
OK, this isn't really directly related to the house, but I've yet more evidence that owning a Porche is directly related to a lower IQ: LaVeaga Road (to the left if you're looking at our house) is a narrow, one way road coming toward the camera. Since PG&E had to tear it up to run our gas & electric, it had to be closed. On the far side (about 200 yards in front of the camera) the road is blocked with three signs: road work, not a through street, and road closed. This didn't stop a Porche driving around the signs, being blocked by the large trucks in the road, and yelling at the crew that they needed to move their trucks to he could pass by (also ignoring the open 2' trench going across the road).

Friday, 24 May --- Video: MPEG

Still going. We will not get our occupancy permit until the shower surrounds are installed (have to make sure we're using tempered glass & all) and the fences on the retaining walls are complete. We didn't even get the permit for these until yesterday.

Remember the carpet being installed downstairs first? Well, sure enough the furniture was delivered around noon & the bedrooms weren't ready for it yet. Bummer. It's sitting in the garage waiting for us.

Finally, the phone. Oops. Phone service was severed at our existing house & started at the new house today, but I've not yet attached the wires at the new house. No phone for a day.

Saturday, 25 May --- Video: MPEG

Head over to the house & attach the phones. I thought I was being really clever & labeled each wire in the garage (20 bundles of 4 wires). I also labeled each box in each room. The painters or texturers or someone managed to munge the labels inside the boxes, but left the labels in the garage mostly untouched. Not a big problem, but in any room with more than one box I need to guess which wires go to which box (for example, our bedroom wires are marked ``Master 1,'' ``Master 2,'' and ``Master 3'' but without labels in the bedroom I don't know what goes where). The phone hookup went mostly without any problems. Of course, I was looking for the bundle marked ``Kitchen'' and couldn't find it because I marked it ``Phone'' instead. Oh well.

Lynn & I got to move the bedroom furniture upstairs. Damn it's heavy! But, we got it upstairs & assembled. The rest of the day we're over in San Jose at AMT's Damn Yankee's. Kind of lull before the storm of moving which begins tomorrow.

The carpet guy showed up to finish the stairs just as we were leaving.

Sunday, 26 May --- Video: MPEG

The day starts at 5:00 a.m.! Lynn is a bit anxious to get going. The plan is: Lynn starts unpacking & I'm responsible to get everything to the new house. Good plan as we stay out of each others' way. Lynn has been packing for a few months. Picking up each piece, one at a time, deciding if it should stay or go, carefully marking each box. That pretty much went to hell this morning when I walked into a room where she had a box in one hand while the other hand scooped an entire shelf of stuff into it.

Mandy & Michelle arrive around 10:00a.m., so now we can use both the truck & the van. We try to unload everything into its new place. If its new place is not evident, it goes into the family room downstairs. Again, so far so good. One of the first boxes we move belongs to the family that's moving into our old place. Oops.

Dave & Wayne arrive around noon giving us one more van. The more the merrier. Tim showed up briefly and was put to work. This was a bad day to visit unless you wanted to carry boxes.

Laura & Jim arrived sometime in the middle of the afternoon, which gave us yet another truck for a total of two trucks & two vans. Things were really moving.

The Piano mover never showed up Friday, so we thought, ``Hell, how hard could it be?'' Um, piano's are heavy! Our original plan had the piano upstairs. We navigated both stairways with various things to prove to ourselves that it would fit, went to the old house, lifted the piano. Hurt ourselves. Everyone involved reflected on the situation & agreed that the piano really looks good downstairs in the family room.

The rest was just more moving, but by mid afternoon our spunk was starting to drag. The system was a good one though -- cold beer after each delivery. Almost everything was moved by the time the day ended (around 5:30). The night ended with our first BBQ at the new house. The deck is covered with paper for the painters, so we decided that may not be a good place to setup.

Finally, after everyone left I returned to the old house to take a much needed shower & gather up the cats.

Monday, 27 May --- Video: MPEG

It's memorial day. Notice all of the people working! The fence project has begun. This has to be one of the most difficult processes anyone has ever gone through. I'll have to write up a page dedicated to it. The fence is bolted to the side of the retaining walls & made with a 4x6 every 5'. It's not going anywhere. I continue to bring things over.

Tuesday, 28 May --- Video: MPEG

More moving & unpacking. Lynn & I both have the week off, and since the kids are in school we thought a lot should get done. We have electricity, but no gas so no hot water. Luckily the kids have swim lessons on Monday & Wednesday so that gives us at least two hot showers a week. We also continue to shower at the old house though that will probably end today since Chuck, Lynn & Evan are already moved in.

The pool table movers came over & moved the pool table today. At least they're reliable. Still no word from the piano mover.

Wednesday, 29 May --- Video: MPEG

Need tunes, so I hooked up the stereo today. More moving. The garage is almost completely moved (finally)!).

Julianna from city planning was out today. In addition to the south & east fences, we now also need the north fence complete before our occupancy permit will be issued. Also, the east fence must be extended about 12'.

Finally,

Happy Anniversary Yes folks, we broke ground one year ago today!

Even without hot water, we really needed to do some laundry so I put clothes and soap into the machine & turned it on. Odd, I thought, that I couldn't hear any water going into it. I turn it off & lo' & behold there is none (but now the soap is well mixed in). Someone plugged it in without finishing the plumbing!

Steve came over today & I implored him to hookup the dishwasher & wash machine which he did in no time. Ernie needed to level the wash machine and do something to re-set the dishwasher because it was at a weird angle.

Something I've got to say about out appliances -- they are quiet. I had to turn off the wash machine & open it to convince myself it was actually running!

Thursday, 30 May --- Video: MPEG

Friday, 31 May --- Video: MPEG

Don't know if I've said this enough: more moving! The house has been very active though, with Aaron and his crew working really hard to get the fences in place, Ernie taking care of all of the details like the locks & leveling the appliances, and Andy and Jeff working on getting the outside painting complete.

At some point this week the fire department came out to inspect our sprinkler system and it passed.