What Serenity Character are You?

Your results:
You are Wash (Ship Pilot)

You are a pilot with a good if not silly sense of humor. You take pride in your collection of toys. You love your significant other.

Wash (Ship Pilot) 85% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 80% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 65% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 55% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 55% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 45% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 40% Alliance 30% Inara Serra (Companion) 25% River (Stowaway) 25% A Reaver (Cannibal) 10%

Click here to take the "Which Serenity character are you?" quiz...

Same Name

How many people with my same first and last name are there in the United States?

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Substantial Completion

The house is now substantially complete, which means that apart from the odd items, the house is complete and move in ready. Carpet was installed Monday and Tuesday (12/4 and 12/5), so though move in started before carpet was installed in the tiled areas such as the kitchen and bathrooms, the beds were moved in Wednesday 12/6, and I took a day off work on Friday to empty out the pods. Needless to say it was a busy weekend.

Friday morning I loaded my truck with all the boxes stored in the spare bedroom of my house, picked up their wall heater for the master bathroom, and set out for Sherman. It took me about 10 hours to completely unload both pods, and my brother was able to come up after work to help get the large pieces of furniture. Saturday morning, I loaded more items I've been storing in my house and headed up again, this time with LoW, and with the help of my brother, laid about 2/3rds of the sod until we all gave out...I think we might have broke LoW. Sunday after church, I set out once again with another load of stored items (yes there was a lot of their stuff at my house, and there's still a few large items left, as well as a few more boxes) and this time my beautiful AQ rode shotgun and helped lay the last three and a half pallets of sod. I think she loves me! We laid the last 2/3 pallet in the dark by the headlights of the truck, but we got it all done! I couldn't have done it without the help of My brother, LoW and AQ.

I didn't take any pictures except for one of the front yard after we finished the sod, and the flower beds will be planted in the spring, so they aren't done yet. The problem is, my computer at home has a virus, and I can't really use it until I can get it fixed, and with Christmas shopping and upcoming expenses, I don't know when that will be. I'll probably get around to it some time in January.

This Tuesday after Christmas, AQ and I are flying to south Texas to spend some time with my parents somewhere other than here. Then the day after we get back, we are leaving for West Virginia to visit her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It will be a busy but much needed vacation.

Best wishes to everyone, and have a great holiday season.

Countertops and Floor Tile

And the house progress trudges on. Countertops and floor tile was installed the week of the 13th thru the 17th which will hopefully be followed by exterior flatwork, interior wall tile, electrical and plumbing trim out, setting of the electrical meter, and finally, installation of final exterior doors and interior trim in the kitchen and other tiled areas. I took a couple of pictures, but I left Sherman having fogotten to get my camera from my mom, and I won't see them again until Thanksgiving, so no pics in this post. I'll post them next week, along with the new ones I take next time.

Let me now take a little time to vent about one of the trades…

We used one company to select all tubs, countertops, and tile. Now while I have no problems with the actual installers, the people in the office couldn’t schedule the proper order for their own morning constitution, let alone manage material orders and installation labor in their small part of the construction process. Here’s the general run down:

1. I informed them of the date of cabinet installation, and asked that they come the following day to measure for countertops. They didn’t get the appointment on the schedule, so when they didn’t show up, they had to be rescheduled for the following day.

2. I informed them when the interior paint was to be complete, and requested installation of all countertops for the following day. When they didn’t show up, they swore I told them a different day. When they didn’t show, they had to be rescheduled.

3. They were a day late starting tile install as well (Notice the pattern?)

4. The powder bath countertop was cut too short.

5. The sewing room countertop was cut too long.

6. We were given a free sink because they cut the granite for one of their sinks, which we told them we were not using, as we had selected a different sink from a different supplier.

7. We ordered a jetted Jacuzzi tub, but they delivered a non-jetted garden tub.

8. We informed them multiple times to pick up the utility sink from the supplier so it wouldn’t be sitting out to be stolen off the job, however they showed up to install the countertop in the utility without picking up the sink, then asked us where it was. This also happened with the master bath and kitchen faucets, and on different occasions. We finally picked up the fixtures ourselves.

9. They cut both a granite countertop and a cultured marble counter top for the powder bath.

10. When trying to install the hall tub, they broke off one of the tiles, so they had to pull the tub so the tile could be fixed. They then were supposed to reinstall the tub so the tile installation could be completed on the walls. The only problem was they planned to install the hall tub at the same time they were going to install the master Jacuzzi tub, but that forces the tile installer to loose a day, as well as a plumber.

11. When helping with material selection, they failed to allow for access to the Jacuzzi tub motor.

And that’s just the short list I could think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more. All told, this company has cost me about a week of construction time. Needless to say, I would not recommend them to anyone (though again, I’ve been pleased so far with their subcontractors.) It’s because of them that inspired the quote of the day…

Quote of the day "There is always one more imbecile than you counted on." -- Red Green

Interior Paint

Not a lot to update this week, just that painting is complete.

Hopefully next weekend we will have all countertops installed, wall and floor tile completed (though I'm not holding my breath), the phone and TV cables run to the house, the sewer connected, and the driveway and sidewalks at least set up, if not poured. The stamped concrete patio is scheduled for 11/20.

Thanksgiving weekend is going to throw a kink in the schedule, so as a result, the house may finish on December 8th instead of December 1st. We'll just have to see how it play's out.

Until next week fellas, let's quote the Man's Prayer together from The Red Green Show. "I'm a man...But I can change...If I have to...I guess."

Amen.

Finished Brick and Stain

The brick and stone on the outside is now complete. Now I have to deal with the rain and try to get the yard graded, the sewer, electric, phone and cable undergrounds in, the exterior concrete poured, and the sprinkler, sod and landscape installed. I know we need the rain in the worst way, but wow...every time it dries out enough to do dirt work, we get another downpour, and since the grade isn't completed, the yard holds water and I have to wait another week. Luckily, though I'm loosing time on the outside, that isn't keeping me from progress on the interior...yet.

I have to say, this will be one of the nicest garages I've ever seen.

The box bay window in the kitchen nook has a paint grade window seat with storage.

The kitchen cabinets have been stained and covered to protect them from the rest of the painting process...


As have the family room built-in cabinets, mantle...



...and the pass thru from the family room to the kitchen.

I can't wait to get this house finished, for one thing to get it off my plate of things that I have to get done in a certain amount of time, for another that the holidays are fast approaching, but mostly due to the stress is is putting on my parents and myself. My poor parents have been living in a 30' fifth wheel since they sold their last house in June. Come the weekend before Thanksgiving, they will have lived in tight quarters for 5 months!!! I hope to have them where they can start moving in furniture by the first weekend in December. Wish me luck!!!

This weekend, the painting will be completed, the countertops will all be installed, and the security and HVAC will be completed. Next week will be reserved exclusively for wall and floor tile installation.

Until then, in the words of Steve Smith, "Keep your stick on the ice."

"I'm a leaf in the wind..."

So our little group doned our costumes, which were so painstakingly pulled together by our fearless leader, PoD over the last 8 months, and we entered the costume contest at last weekend's Dallas Comicon. Needless to say, we won hands down, and were the only people asked to stay after for photos. Of course, we took a not so small number of photo's ourselves.

One of my favorites...

To view the rest of the photo's, click here.

Next time, back to the house progress...

Brick, Cabinets and Trim

Lots of progress in the last week folks, though not as much as I would have hoped. It rained last Wednesday, so the brick mason couldn't work, but he was back on the job come Thursday. I think he plans to finish by next Wednesday if he doesn't run out of brick or it doesn't rain.

The front of the house will probably be the last to be completed, though I wish it was the first...that's the best part.

The brick is complete on the left side back to the garage.

All that's left on the back is the master bay window and around the door and windows on the patio.

The cabinets were installed last Monday. The trim carpenter will build the mantle at the fireplace next Tuesday, and we are shooting for having all the cabinets stained on Wednesday.

The kitchen is going to look great. The island isn't set as the venting contractor will place it over the downdraft vent for the cooktop, but you can pretty well get the idea.
The pantry doors can be seen on the right, and the family room built-ins are visible thru the kitchen pass thru. There is stained molding on the other side of the pass thru, but it's not yet finished, so I'll take a picture of in next week after it's been stained.

One of the upgrades Mom wanted was the fluted corners on the cabinets and island.
Of course, this is the window in the Dining Room, which is the only room with chair rail and plaque molding. Mom and Dad had all their windows cased out with trim, where usually the only trim at the window is the window stool. This eliminates the twist in the window returns.

Crown Molding with corner accent blocks.

Master bedroom bay window.

Tune in next week for completion of trim, staining of cabinets, and hopefully, completion of the brick.

Drywall

I'm a little late with this update, as a lot has happened since I took these pictures last Friday. I will be in the house this Sunday checking the texture, cabinets, trim and the vast majority of the brick work!! In the meantime...

The chimney cap and the sky lights finally arrived...

and the sheetrock is complete, though these pictures were taken prior to texture.

Garage...

Looking from Entry to family room and solarium beyond. The door is to the master bedroom.

The master bath. The Jacuzzi tub will be on the left, master shower will be on the other side of the 1/2 wall on the right. Dad's vanity area will be on this side of the 1/2 wall.


Kitchen with Family room beyond.

Master Bedroom Ceiling...

...and master bedroom sitting area/bay window looking out onto the golf course fairway.

Solarium sky lights. The wires protruding from the beams above are for sconce lighting.

Mom and Dad's house from the T-box. You can just see the back of the garage thru the trees. Golf balls will hit the neighbors house before theirs, and even then it would take a bad shot to hit the garage wall.

Insulation

And the house moves on. Last week we corrected some oversights in the roughs and sprayed the insulation. Here, I had the plumbing for the sink moved to the opposite side of the plumbing for the washing machine. This way, the dryer will be on the wall closest to the garage where you can see the insulation. This will allow for venting of the dryer (not yet installed at the time of this picture) thru the corner of the garage and out onto the patio as opposed to up and thru the roof, which I don't want to do because of the higher probability of a clogged dryer vent, not to mention that dryer lint is very flammable. For you campers out there, it makes a great starter for camp fires.



We are using Icynene instead of the normal cellulose insulation. It takes longer to place and costs about twice as much, however the AC units can be smaller due to the spray in insulation being a better barrier against drafts. With the upgraded windows and insulation, their utilities should be the same or better than their last house, which was smaller by about 700 square feet. I used a can of marking paint to point out the places in the insulation I wanted touched up before we hang drywall, which hung on Monday of this week. I'm taking a 1/2 day discresionary absence from work this Friday to check the progress, so I'll post pictures of the progress sometime next week. The outside will look the same since the brick work won't start until Monday, so I'll just have a couple interior pictures.


Also, since the attic is insulated as well, the attic space won't get near as hot (which is a big key in Texas) so the air ducts, which are in the attic, won't loose the cooled air to the attic space before it gets to the living space of the house. As a result, the AC units don't have to work as hard, the air is cooler when it reaches the living space, and the unit doesn't run as long, which saves energy.

This past weekend, we finally got a significant rain fall!!! Ah, rain in Texas. Too bad we need about 5 more days of this to bring the water levels in our lakes back into the normal range. Plano got almost 4 inches last weekend.

Firefly and Serenity

Here are the pics of my pumpkin for this year. I haven't decided if I'll do another one this year or not...It will depend on if I have the time. This one took about 6 hours and pays homage to the television series Firefly and the follow up movie...Serenity. Enjoy.

State Fair Pics

Last Saturday was our group outing to the State Fair of Texas, AQ's signal that fall is officially here. For the second year in a row, we've gone during the annual Red River Rivalry, also called the Red River Shootout, which is the name given to the annual college football game between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners.

Sadly, for the second year in a row Texas won the game. That's okay though, since Oklahoma won the 4 years previously. You can tell who each of us cheer for, and let me tell you, we got quite a few odd looks from people.

Say hello to Big Tex, the giant talking anamatronic mascot of the State Fair of Texas. If anyone gets lost, you can bet the the place to meet up will be at the feet of Big Tex.

One of our traditions, besides checking out the car show and eating Fletcher’s Corny Dogs and Caramel Apples, is to ride the giant ferris wheel, The Texas Star. I was hoping to get a video but the ride was over too soon. Maybe next year I'll have better luck. I did get a good picture of the Midway though. You can see the Cotton Bowl in the upper right of the picture.

AQ and I took the ride this year with PoD and his significant other, Beth.

After the ride, I tried to take a picture from the base of the Texas Star. If you look closely, you can see the cages at the upper left. Each cage holds up to 6 people.

Next time, Pics of this years pumpkin...

Pumpkin Carvings

Ahh, soon comes Halloween and the loss of Day Light Savings Time, the first indicator that fall is officially here (unless you talk to AQ, who claims that it's not really fall until we've been to the state fair). The colors of the season are not far behind, however in Texas, we don't have the beautiful colors of red, yellow and orange. Our leaves just change from green to brown and fall off. The weather gets cold (figuratively speaking) along with my hands, which I hate since being a piano player I definitely notice the loss of dexterity, the clouds move in to block the sun for more days than not, and I get Cabin Fever since I can't spend near as much time outside as I would like, for as most of you know, I'm definitely an outside person. There are of course a lot of really cool things about this time of year. Camping with fires and smores (if they will ever lift the fire ban), College and "Professional" football, Hockey, curling up on the couch with AQ under a blanket watching the afore mentioned sports (yes, God has blessed me with a fiance who loves to watch sports), Thanksgiving, and the Christmas Season.

However first comes Halloween and the carving of pumpkins, which is a little hobby I have picked up over just the last couple of years to celebrate the season. It started with memories of growing up carving the classic face with a few big square teeth, setting them on the porch and watching the candle flicker behind the smiling face. In college, it went to buying the books with templates, trying a few different ones each year, and repeating the wizard's face a couple of times, whose pattern can be found in the pumpkin carving books sold at your local Wal-Mart. In recent years, even those have gotten too easy, so I've resorted to downloading more difficult patterns off the internet as well as occasionally making my own patterns, such as the one I did for our company party. The house I carved in the pumpkin is actually one of our floor plans. Of course, with the more complex pattern comes more time. This one took about 4 hours.

Another little tradition that has developed is taking a pumpkin to PoD's and carving one there while attending his annual Horror Movie Marathon. Since several of us are Star Wars fans, I carved one from a template of the best villain in the recent trilogy...Darth Maul. I had a chance to see the actor behind the mask, Ray Park, this last summer. He's a very nice guy with a thick scottish accent, and he has a talent for stunt choreography. This one also took about 4 hours to complete.

Last years major pumpkin project was Harry Potter. Like Darth Maul, the image is given another layer by removing just the skin of the pumpkin in various places, which allows only diffuse light to come thru the carving. It's a cool effect, but if there isn't enough places in the carving where the cuts go completely thru the Rhine, the candle won't get enough air to keep burning. A hole in the lid can help a bit, and it has the added purpose of keeping the candle from smoking and blackening the inside of the pumpkin lid. This one was a template I found on the internet, and took about 7 hours to complete.

This year, I plan to pay homage to the short lived but outstanding TV series "Firefly" from Joss Whedon, the creator of more well known TV shows such as "Buffy"and "Angel" . The show would have probably been a smash hit on the Sci Fi Channel, but since it was aired on Fox, who didn't know how to advertise and market it, and it was shown opposite seasoned shows on other networks, it was doomed from the beginning.

On another note, the house is going well, but I still don't have brick, and the sheetrock delivery is behind schedule, so I won't have much to update on regarding the house this weekend. On the positive side, I should have brick by the first of next week, and the sheetrock is expected on Friday, so hopefully next weekend, there will be more to report.

Until then, in the words of Red from The Red Green Show, "Keep your Stick on the Ice."

Darcy