Thursday, August 30, 2007

Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall

We are now down to raw studs in the living and dining room area, thanks to a tremendous effort by little ol’ me. Seriously, since I’m more of a runner than anything else athletic and have arms the size of grandiose toothpicks, I have been utterly exhausted every night this week.

But I can sense “the vision” of what our house will look like on the other side of the remodel and I’m quite excited. I’ll have more shots with better explanations later, a whole entire 1.5 hour slide show is in the works!), but this is the upper level of the house right now. We re-sheet-rocked some downstairs stuff, which requires an explanation far too complex to go into right now, so I’ll spare you. Utterly spent and exhausted, remember?

Looking to the SE. Those huge windows used to be that same hideous yellow 1970s textured glass you can still see in the door on the left. Also, note the crutches. Reha did something to her ankle last Saturday and is hobbled beyond belief. It sucks, which is part of the reason I’ve been so snookered. I’ve been doing EVERYTHING all by my lonesome. Pity me! And that “wall” of 2x4s that runs behind the spore infested yogurt stained couch is coming down! Eventually. Unfortunately right now it’s holding up the ceiling/roof. But we are putting in a HUGE support beam thing. Steel, baby!



NE view from the living room into the kitchen. Those “walls” are also going bye-bye once the steel I-beam comes in. (next week, probably) And the TV will also be moving downstairs.



This is the stuff I have been pulling off in a very man-ly and testosterone filled way. Holy moly, is destruction ever fun. It’s a shame it is so much harder to build something than to destroy it. I also now wish we had named (or at least nick-named) one of the children “Big Horn Gypsum.” Gyppy for short.



Before I took off the sheet-rock off, I let the kids draw on the walls. This is the really odd creature Ellis drew. W-T-F is that thing? Some kind of ying-yang beast? Failed animal husbandry experiment with some bunny rabbits? It shall haunt my dreams is all I’m saying.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Don’t Mess Around, I’m a Demolition Man

There is nothing quite so sweet as the sound of a crowbar hitting naked sheetrock and then watching the resulting desctruction.

We have entered Phase 1.5 of the Deal Family Compound Makeover, wherein, I take a whole week off from work, remove all traces of human habitation from most parts of the house and the proceed to whack on the walls until things begin to come apart.

It is immensely satisfying.

When else do you get to punch a wall and have it be OK, and not a sign that your meds might need adjusting?

Feet also do a fine job in the destruction department

“Oh, Hi! Your wall needs fixing!”

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

So Sorry for the Delay

I am buried in shattered sheetrock right now, but I’m super excited that Carrie has decided to grace the IntarWebs with her presence yet again.

Please direct your attention to her lovely and delightful “101 More Things I’ve Learned” post, which is mostly about her trip to Japan that she took in June.

See, if you bug a kid long enough, eventually they just may do what you ask.

Though I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Just Getting Started

Yesterday (the 26th) was Reha and my 18th wedding anniversary. I had this whole plan of telling a big story about how we got engaged and married and why I’m still in love with my wife after all these years, but I’ve done that before. And we are putting of the “official” love-fest “let’s-get-out-of-town-and-leave-the-kids-to-their-own-devices” anniversary celebration for a couple weeks. Far too many things happening at the Deal Family Compound right now to plan that sort of escape.

But 18 years! Our marriage is 18! Which means that it can vote! And in some states it could go out and legally buy smokes! Party on for the Deals, man.

On the “traditional” anniversary gift schema we are still in the nether region between 15 and 20, where you don’t have to get each other squat. That’s the list that starts out with paper and eventually moves to lace, crystal and other things we have zero need of. Unless the Queen finally accepts our invitation to come over for dinner, in which case we are going to have to do better than Bed, Bath and Beyond for hand towels in the bathroom. And on the “modern” scale, we are supposed to get each other furniture.

Which is just plain odd, I have to say, though, frankly we do need all new furniture, so maybe it all works out.

But really, this is what we are getting each other:

Because everyone wants a new (and pricey!) and completely unexpected electrical panel for their anniversary. Only 8-10 more weeks of living like vagabonds in our own house! Whee!

I have all week off and I’m planning on finishing all the work in the basement and then destroying all the interior walls, which I expect will be incredibly cathartic. I LOVE swinging the crowbar around.

And the kids start school tomorrow, praise Zoraster.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

New Kid in Town

Because I seem somewhat destined to follow in the web footsteps of others (notably Leah of Leah Peterson of L.A. Bloggers Live), I hereby announce:

Salt Lake City Bloggers Live

If it weren’t totally cheesy, I’d make that link blink in neon green, orange and purple and play a small fanfare when you rolled over it, but alas, we are out of cheese. And fanfares, I’m fresh out of fanfares as well, having used the last of my fanfares when I introduced my new site design earlier this week.

Anyway, here is the scoop:

If you live in Salt Lake City or the surrounding environs (Provo, Ogden, Park City, or the greater Spanish Fork-Payson-Santaquin Metroplex) and you have a blog, YOU are invited to come and read some of your “stuff” and everyone will cheer you on. If you don’t have a blog or something you’d want to read, you are invited to come and cheer and spaz out and throw your underclothes on stage as I take to the microphone to MC the whole she-bang. (Ladies only with the undies, please. And make sure they are clean, OK?)

Basically, anyone is invited to come and read or listen. It’s free (although the place where we are doing the shindig may charge a small cover charge; we are deep in negotiations right now) and I can promise you that it’s going to be a monstrously fun evening. The first “gig” is Wednesday, September 26 at 7 p.m. at Orange. (Orange is located @ 533 South 500 West in beautiful downtown Salt Lake. Right now we have four readers, and I’m thinking ten is a good number, so come sign up ASAP! And RSVP if you are just coming to sit and enjoy the gig would also be helpful as well.

The SLCBL site has an RSS feed (of course) and you can keep up with periodic announcements. I’ve also posted the gig to upcoming and to eventful. As soon as I have three minutes of free time, I’ll also have a little ad badge thing for those of you who would like to pollute help out and place a badge on your site. :-] And eventually, I’ll get around to changing the look of the SLCBL site to something a little cooler looking. If you aren’t in SLC, but know someone who might be interested in reading or attending, please spam forward the SLCBL site to them.

After the event, I’ll post to the site a podcast or MP3s and photos for everyone who couldn’t be there to enjoy.

Seriously, I am totally excited about this. So excited that I wet myself a little, much like a small dog who is overly eager to meet a new person in his life and just can’t keep control of those all-important sphincter muscles and the next thing you know, you have a puddle of piddle in the middle of the room.

I just wish I hadn’t been in bed when that happened to me.

Leahs’s L.A. Blogger’s Live site has some great stuff up. I encourage you to check it out. And they had a thing last night, so hopefully there will be some fresh stuff up soon.

Proximus

 

Favorite Entries

If you are new around here, the following entries have been reasonably well received. You might want to peruse these.

• Partners
• Correspondence
• Help Wanted
• From the Office of Mis-directed Email
• A Word from the Small Person in the House
• RNT Product Review: Chocolate Mix Skittles Left Me Sterile!
• Jon’s Report Card circa… A Long Time Ago
• Dear Gratuitously Naked Conversationalist at the Gym:
• A Peek Inside the Writer’s Guild and Producers’ Negotiations
• We Regret the Error
• Letters from a Homeowner to His General Contractor
• What I Did There
• Hermaphrodite Administrative Assistants and Receptionists Need Not Apply
• Giving Me an IM Account Was Obviously a Huge Mistake
• Official Ransom Note Typography Vista vs. Mac OS X Shootout
• I Need a Real Hobby
• Beat Down
• Big Fat Lies
• True Love
• Now MY Ovaries Hurt
• Don’t Get Her Started
• Disturbing Trend
• Had to do it
• Mooshy stuff
• Ransom Note Typography End User License Agreement “EULA”
• Diva-licious!
• Just so we’re clear
• PETA may have a point

Holy Crap! Look at all this STUFF down here. It's awesome!

Really, I'm glad you made it down here. Almost no one ever comes down here. I'm like in a freaking dungeon down here. I get lonely. But not you. YOU made it all the way to the end of the page. For this I think I've a little crush on you. I don't know, is "love" to strong a word to use in this situation? Well, if it's not "love," then it's very strong "like." I'm totally in like with you for coming down here. You are awesome. Please love me back! I know, I know, I shouldn't be all needy, it's not attractive at all, but you don't know how it is to be stuck down here. Who scrolls all the way to the end of a page anymore these days? Anyway, thanks for shedding some light down here in the depths. I appreciate it. Shoot me an email and I'll send you a dollar, OK?

©2005-2010 Jon B. Deal All Rights Reserved. I'm not kidding around here, I know people who know other people who would be willing to beat you up or similarly infringe on your rights, should you happen to infringe on my rights.