Don't even think about it.

There is a holiday coming up on Sunday. Just an FYI to you folks that may be thinking about something for me... go right ahead but remember, I repay and repay 10 fold. That's not a warning, it's just information for you to consider. I will not instigate anything, I only repay so you are safe.

No Bones About It

Ahh, this weekend was relatively more exciting than the one's of late.... Friday night watched Purdue win their first round game and my Bro-in-law and Sis-in-law from E-ville came to visit. Couldn't stay out late since we had a 16 mile run on Saturday morning which went pretty well. I went pretty slow but felt ok all things considering. Afterward, met up with the relatives and did my normal St. P day celebration. Molly Mallone's (Dubliner) with Jared and Wilcoxon. They were there at 7am which I could not partake due to the running but my heart was with them. Unfortunately, for the second straight year my good drinking buddy Charlie and I didn't link up. Very sad. There's always Octoberfest.

After that we went to Cactus Pear which I have not been to in awhile. Oddly enough, I think it might have been the first restaurant I came to in Cincinnati the night before my interview with P&G. Anyway, I forgot or never realized how amazing it is. For those SLC trippers, it is just as good as Red Iguana, not quite as extensive of a menu but the moles, prounounce mole lays, (That's what she said) are sehr gut.

Sunday was the official completion of the kitchen remodel, oh yeah, and my Birthday. Didn't really do much for my birthday but did get a freaking sweet rechargable worklight from my mother in law.... thanks Yovie. It's 32 LEDs and is crazy bright. For the demo had to basically polish off some loose ends, a few misc boards still attached to the floor and some walls. Unfortunately, realized I needed to tear out a significant portion of drywall which made a HUGE mess and had to clear away a small portion of the dining room ceiling which caused plaster to fall in areas I didn't want it to. However, Jenn started helping at the end of the day so we got prett much all the debris cleared out and in the dumpster which was rolled away on Monday at a very full state. I can't believe we filled 20 yards. Unfortunately, I'm not technically done because I have portions of the ceiling to clear in the basement which will cause a HUGE mess down there and take some time to assure I don't hit electric and plumbing lines. Plus I'll have to move the worsher and dryer. Balz... not looking forward to it.

However, we can officially clean up which I began last night. It is very slow though. No matter how hard you try, you just can't keep the dust contained. Fortunately, our couches are going away next week so I don't really care that they are pretty well trashed. It's just a matter of getting all the dust out of every nook and cranny on the bottom floor. Luckily, our dining room can be arrange now into somewhat of a kitchen.

Did have one somewhat interesting thing happen, at least Jenn thinks it's interesting. Found a nice little mouse skeleton, actually, as far as mice go, this bad boy was pretty big. Take a look.... and yes Jared, your hand was about 2 cm from this thing.

I'm actually impressed I haven't found more infestations in the house so just one carcass didn't seem too bad.

Good Day

Man, things are going decent today. After our section meeting I was rounding up folks to go out for lunch and my 2-up boss asked if we could take a really late lunch, like 2:30ish. That way he could watch the Notre Dame game. It didn't take much to convince us all that we could enable that so I'm taking off in a few to watch some games with my boss. YES.

Then I stopped at the license branch to renew my license. As you can imagine, the line was pretty long but as I walked up to get my number a dude decided to leave and put his number back on the rack, which was way earlier than the next one. Plus, I didn't know I needed to get cash so I ran to the bank and made it back just 2 people prior to my number being called so I basically had no time wasted!!!

I need to go get a lottery ticket.

Electric Sludge

If you haven't realized it, this blog is going to be dominated by kitchen stuff for awhile. That is pretty much my life. I'll try to make it as interesting as possible though.

Last evening I progressed nicely with the demo. Small group got canceled which gave me a couple of extra hours to rip down ceiling and a few boards. Jonathan is coming over on Saturday to help with the floor and I'm hoping that I just spend Sunday tying up some loose ends and cleaning the place up a bit. I did however want to take the opportunity of no friends in the house to try to tackle what I'm pretty sure is asbestos insulated pipe.... remnant radiator lines in the ceiling and walls. I needed a little help from Jenn to hold the pipes up while I cut them with my massive reciprocating saw so I gave her the toxic dust mask and held my breath. As I was cutting these two particular pipes I was reminded of the story my HVAC dude told me of the black sludge that builds up at the bottom of radiators. Nothing bad, just a little gross, I guess from the minerals in the pipes and water over the course of 50+ years of use. I was reminded because these two pipes still had the residual sludge that began spraying and oozing all over me as I cut. Nonetheless, I cut away to finish the job as I quickly was blackened all over my arms and face.

On pipe two I got about halfway through and my hand started getting a tingling cramp. Reminded me of the numbness I would get after long motorcycle rides.... ahhhh the memories. No surprise, my hands have been about the only thing that have shown significant soreage through this process. I kept going and felt the cramping and then realized that I was close to the old over the sink light junction box and although the wires are capped off I was actually getting shocked.... bufff. I hadn't turned the breakers off. I went down quickly and shut the power off and went to town again. BUFFFF, shocked again, pretty bad this time. Holy Merph, the pipe is electrified. What's going on? Well, as smart people might have guessed, when the "make the lights flicker" electric saw gets watery sludge all over it it must allow current to flow through the user. BUFFFUFUFUFFFF. I quit for the evening after that.

I do not deny that I completely do not understand electricity. That's why I was a Civil Engineer, not an Electrical. My Freshman year at Purdue I actually scored in the bottom 5% of my class in the Physics class on electricity after the first exam. I managed to escape with a "C" and ran. Lovingly pursuing my tangible steel, concrete and wood structures. I worked for an Electrical Engineering company in college and did testing, calibration, and assembly. Quite fun because I got to solder, but shocked myself almost weekly because I would always touch the red resistor. Never touch the red resistor!!! That was 220 volt too. And for some reason, 220 volt is worse the 120, although everyone always says it's the amps that matter.... what the buff does that mean? I also shocked myself not once, not twice, but three times, when I was fixing my air conditioner just because I didn't shut off the breaker. You think I would learn after 2 times to shut the darn thing off.

So, questions:

1) What is the theory behind my shocking sawing last night? Does that mean the outlet isn't grounded? Shouldn't it have tripped the breaker when current started running through my body?

2) Shouldn't the saw have fried like the box fan I tried to dry out by turning it on in nine-seven after I hosed it off in the shower? Why did it keep working?

I love Bunn!!!

Although I do love my coffee maker, those things that hamburgers come on, and I don't really consider myself a "boob-man" despite Jenn's really nice knockers, I am talking about the man, Jared Bunn. This dude has helped me, and saved me, on numerous home improvement projects. Mainly hardwood refinishing but this past weekend he came over both days and helped with the demo on the kitchen (see Jenn's blog). Although demolishing something sounds fun, it loses it luster after about 20 minutes. Jared was a trooper and helped a ton. Thanks man!!!

Kudos to Bert and Burgdorf for their help as well. Bert helped for most of the day on Saturday and Burgdorf last hour help on Sunday was all that was keeping me going. You guys rock.

There's just a little more to do which I think I can finish off on my own but if anyone wants to have some fun, let me know. The Flooring is the main part and I do still have some small walls to remove.

Things I learned:

-Always err on the side of bigger when it comes to dumpsters. Definitely have plenty of room left but if I went one size smaller it would be tight.

-Well built houses are a pain in the butt to tear apart.

-When hitting a toilet with a sledgehammer it makes really cool sparks. Anyone know why?

Injuries:

(Luckily, I think all the injuries happened to myself and not my friends)

-Knock in the forehead with a small 2x4. Didn't hurt too bad but left a little scrap and a bit of a bump. I'm not complaining, for only about a 8" board it had no less than eight 4" nails sticking out of it. The corner that actually made contact was the only corner without a nail. Blessings

-Bloody nose from a chunk of ceiling plaster

-Minor scrapes on the arms.

I fully expect a trip to the hospital as part of this remodel so I'm pretty sure this was the most dangerous part so to emerge with no trip yet, I'm doing pretty well.