Yesterday’s admittedly cryptic entry indicated the post-power-outage failure of our home air conditioner. I’ve reset every circuit breaker I can find, but the thermometer display stayed blank.
I would never say that I’m handy around the house, but I’ve got a pretty good grasp of how things work. I think I even understand the most primitive basics of air conditioning. However, when I open the furnace cover, the only thing I’m looking for is a big red button marked “Reset”. (“Reboot” is probably asking for too much.) Not having found one, I’ll leave this to the pros. Everywhere on the Internet says it’s probably a blown fuse somewhere that only costs $2 to replace, but no fuses jump out at me, only big scary wires.
Electricity is pretty much where I draw the line on any kind of repair – cars, computers, houses, etc. I have no problem plugging and unplugging stuff in. I’m quite comfortable working inside a computer case while it’s running and powered up – although yesterday at Gene’s, a CPU fan decided one of my fingers looked appetizing. But when I can’t look at the wire and say exactly what voltage it carries and where both ends of it end up, I steer far far away.
Weekend calls to our air conditioning guys are considered “emergencies” at a cost of $135 per pop, as opposed to weekday calls where the labor is free because we’re still under warranty. Erika and I decided we’d rather sweat it out for a couple of nights and call ‘em on Monday, so I’m at Kaveh Kanes this morning for the air conditioning and the wireless network.
I’m not IN Kaveh Kanes, mind you, I’m just AT Kaveh Kanes. It’s 7:23 AM and they haven’t opened yet, so I’m biding my time in the Jeep.
Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.
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Nine days left til we hit the road for Miami, knock on wood. Things are looking pretty good – the buyer’s financing is apparently all sewn up, and we’re starting to pack things up. I was going to go buy the first boxes this afternoon, but then I remembered Erika took the Jeep to visit family, and I’m homebound. The Jetta’s at the dealer getting checked out before we sell it to Carmax. Instead, I spent the afternoon watching my favorite TV personality and surfing Craigslist looking at Miami apartments.
Last night Erika and I had dinner & drinks with what have become our best friends in town, Gene & Bev Naparst. I met Gene a while back when I was writing a column for HAL-PC Magazine, and I wish we’d have met up sooner. There are plenty of reasons that we can’t wait to get back here to Houston in a couple of years, and Gene & Bev are right up there on the list. Erika had a great idea last night to invite ‘em the next time we take a cruise. I’m already excited about going on a cruise out of Miami soon, and that sounds even cooler.
Tomorrow night we’ve got a going away party here in the ‘hood hosted by our neighbors across the street, and I’m looking forward to that too. We were really lucky when we bought this house – I couldn’t have picked better neighbors by hand. The next time we buy a house, I’m going to interview the neighbors. I’m not joking.
Before I go to bed, I’m determined to pick a couple of extended stay hotels in Miami for our first week or two down there, and pick the wireless cafe where I’ll be working initially. Our house sale closes next Friday (knock on wood), and we’ll hit the road that day for Miami in a rented truck and the Jeep. We’re taking it slow, stopping in Lafayette and wherever else strikes our fancy. We both love the Blue Dog Cafe in Lafayette, always worth a side trip.
Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.
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We’ve got a brochure dispenser out in front of our house with info about the house for sale, and people drive by pretty often and take a copy. Today was a first, though: a fire truck. Every month or two, a fire truck drives through the neighborhood, presumably to make sure they can get through the streets okay without hitting anything. Today, they went through, then came back around again and stopped in front of our place. I got nervous when a fireman hopped out, and I thought maybe we had some kind of smoke alarm malfunction. But he just walked up to the fliers, took one, hopped back in the truck, and they went on their merry way.
Oooookay.
Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.
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Our house is online! Our realtor listed us in MLS and we’re in HAR.com, the Houston Association of Realtors site. The photos aren’t up yet, but I’m still excited just to see the house listed. It’s fun to do searches for properties, see ours in the result list, and stack ourselves up against the competition.
Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.
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Amazingly, just 9 months after we bought it, the house is up for sale. I signed a listing agreement today with Prudential. Susan Kelly was very professional, helpful, and well educated about the market around here. Two thumbs up. The house should be on the market by Tuesday, and we’ll have Prudential brokers strolling through here Tuesday morning to familiarize themselves with the house.
I’ve always had a Home Buyers section of the blog detailing my home purchasing experience, and I’ll continue adding info on the home selling process here. I think between doing the two in such a rapid succession, I should write a whole mini-site on how to buy a Perry townhome (and hopefully, sell it) in a year, hahaha. I certainly wouldn’t recommend the process to anybody, but live and learn.
The funniest part to me is how absolutely convinced I was that I’d be here for five to seven years. I was sure. Nobody could have changed my mind. Funny how life throws you curveballs.
We’re listing it for $185k. I’ve got my fingers crossed. The concept of selling something for six months or a year is foreign to me: I’m used to the Ebay concept. You put something up for auction for a penny, and people bid up to the market price. The market price always wins, and the whole thing is done in a matter of 3 days, or 7 days if you think you can profit more that way. I’m seeing houses in the Heights that have been on the market for a year, and that makes me wonder about the sellers. At what point do you say, “Hey, I give. I’m keeping it.” The daily grind of having people come through and see the house has to get annoying. Or maybe they’re just listing it for a high price hoping they’re going to win the lotto. Not me – I’m here to sell.
Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.
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Some blog authors use their blogs as a cross between a public information source as well as a private one: for example, John Dowdell will often make notes in his blog when he wants to save information for a later date, in an easily searchable format, that other people may also find useful. I’m going to do that here in my Home Buyers section of the blog by adding a few notes about our home buying experience so that the next time we buy or build a house, we’ll have all our notes at our fingertips. Having said that, here’s my notes so far:
In the master bedroom, people shouldn’t be able to hear the garage door open/close, and people shouldn’t hear a TV playing in the living room.
The pantry should be well-lit so that food is easy to see.
Get electric outlets positioned outside for landscape lighting.
Have an attic fan, gutter guards, and upgraded bathroom fans installed while the house is being built. These are cheap to upgrade initially, but expensive to have done down the road. No matter how good they say the bathroom fans are, they’re probably junk. Get the exact make/model and go to Home Depot or Lowes to check its noise ratings and air volume ratings.
Make sure bathroom light switches are in the bathroom – not out in the bedroom. You want to be able to turn on the bathroom light without disturbing people sleeping in the bedroom.
If the television in the living room will be visible from the kitchen, have speaker wiring installed in the kitchen. That way, the living room stereo can be hooked up to speakers in the kitchen, allowing people in the kitchen to hear the TV without turning the TV up too loud.
You can never have too much recessed lighting. We have about 4 recessed lights for every 18×18 area of the living & dining rooms. And get dimmer switches on it.
Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.
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I think my mortgage company knows something I don’t. I just got a promotional email from them that starts by saying, “Dear Brent, it’s time to get moving, and we’re here to help.”
Uhhh, what?
Turns out they’re trying to talk you into “moving up to a bigger and better home.” Hello, I just got here. I took out this home loan a whopping nine months ago. If I moved, I’d lose my shirt. Talk about mismanaged email marketing.
Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.
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Whew. It’s hot out. Real hot. My home weather station says 96, and I think it’s underestimating. I drank over a gallon of water during the last two hours, and I think I lost more than that. I just finished putting in landscape lighting in the front yard – well, okay, the ONLY yard we have, hahaha. We got approval from our Homeowner’s Association this week, and we’re the first house in the neighborhood to install it.
At first I thought I’d get just a basic $100 kit with a handful of pathway lights and a couple of spotlights, but looking at the front yard, there’s just nowhere to put that many pathway lights. I ended up building it piecemeal, buying the transformer and various lights separately to get just the mix of lighting I wanted. (Makes it sound like I know what I’m doing, which would be a gross misstatement of fact.)
The light manufacturer, Malibu, makes the installation process smooth and straightforward. The shovel manufacturer was not as helpful: those electric lines don’t bury themselves, thus the mass quantities of water consumed. The heavy rains this month washed away a lot of our mulch, which made digging easier, but I gotta get that replaced – especially now that people are going to be checking out my landscape lighting, heh.
I can’t wait for dusk! I’m so excited.
Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.
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I built a workbench using a kit from Simpson Strong-Tie this weekend, and I’m quite proud of it. Simpson’s directions were easy to follow, and I built the work bench in a few hours of pleasant labor. It’s solid, it doesn’t wobble, and I can’t say enough good things about their self-drilling Strong Drive screws. Those things are great – very quick, very strong.
I modified their plans to build a 6′ long version instead of a 4′ one, because I wanted it to span the width of our one-car garage less my two garbage cans. I wish they’d have supplied the dimensions necessary for the optional 6′ and 8′ versions. After some careful calculations, I figured out the optimal cuts to build a 6′ workbench with only 6 2×4′s, but I bet most people wouldn’t be so careful.
Now I’ve got my tools displayed up on the pegboard (not visible in this photo, taken before I put up all the pegboard hooks) and I can park the injured Volvo in the garage. We’ve got three cars at the moment while we wait on the Geico crew to do an estimate on the damage.
I’m loving this woodworking thing. After building virtual stuff all week, it’s entirely pleasant to build structural things that you can actually put your hands on.
Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.
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This afternoon I took a few hours out of the Linux install mess to build a workbench. I’d purchased a $250 miter saw a few weeks ago in an attempt to put crown molding in the house, but the saw was sitting on the garage floor. Working on my hands and knees isn’t my idea of fun – no, really – and so I decided to give the miter saw a little throne.
HammerZone.com has a great tutorial on building a workbench that’s easy and inexpensive. For the top and shelf, I sawed up a leftover Ikea table we had lying around, and it turned out to be the perfect size. My workbench was smaller than the one pictured in the tutorial – I scaled it down to about 21″ by 25″, more of a workstand, just for the saw. I wanted something portable since the saw couldn’t just st in the back of our one-car garage – I wouldn’t have enough room to saw anything longer than about six feet. The directions in the tutorial are perfect, and produce a great result.
Next weekend, I’d like to build a similar workbench but stretching the width of the garage, so that I’ve got a place to put my growing tool collection.
I think I’ve found a new hobby. I like woodworking – especially simple stuff like this, things I can do in a couple of hours including the trip to the nearby Lowe’s or Home Depot.
Brent specializes in performance tuning for SQL Server, VMware, and storage. He's one of the very few Microsoft Certified Masters of SQL Server, a published author, and a Microsoft MVP. He likes travel, Jeeps, Apple gear, jokes, and writing about himself in the third person. Read more and contact Brent.
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