Still moving stuff

Just like in the real world, I'm still 'unpacking' things from my old site to this new home. I imagine that most people are seeing this new site for the first time today as I've cross-posted this entry to both sites. For those checking my Blogger journal, know that this will be the last post I make here - from now on everything will be gathered together at insideericshead.com.

So far I have managed to manually transfer the house archives back to the day I took posession of my home. In the near future I'll complete the move and get all the pre-build text (and photos) copied over. While I was moving everything I noticed a post wherein I was talking about hanging up my Pink Floyd poster on the wall. For the record, it's still leaning against the wall where it was all those months ago. For the moment, I'll hold off on making any new promises regarding it.

Now, despite my life being a little crazy of late (work, my friend's wedding, a trip to San Francisco, start of the softball season etc.), there has been some cool news on the home-front. I have a driveway, a tree, and grass! While I'd like to show you everything in place, the best I can offer tonight is a shot of the new driveway:



Once I have some shots of my grass (just watered tonight, in accordance with strict local by-laws on when you can and cannot water your lawn I might add) I'll get them up here and talk about how wonderful it is not to feel like that character from Peanuts, leaving a dusty trail behind me whenever I'm walking around in the neighbourhood.

For those of you still not sure why I'm forcing you to change your bookmark in Firefox, let me try and explain myself very quickly: while a good website is -at least for me- a focused website, there is more to me than my house. Along those same lines, now that I'm moved in here, what is happening in my life is heavily overlapping with life in the house and vice versa. I will continue to post about my house and everything that happens in a new home, but I'd also like the luxury to talk about things like the wedding I attended on the weekend, or that new CD I heard, or last night's softball game, etc.

"But isn't this going to remove your focus?", you ask? I'm looking at it as a refocusing of my energies. Most, if not all, of the people reading this site know me personally so while they're probably happy to hear about my place, they might also like to know what I did last weekend, or what I'm listening to, or what I think about topic "x". I also hope that allowing myself the freedom to write about other topics on occasion will keep me interested in this site and therefore keep me on schedule more than I have been of late.

So, I encourage you to stay with me for at least a little longer; if you really don't care about anything other than my house, I can show you how to do that in an upcoming post (part of the WordPress explanation that I talked about last post). Hope to see you again soon!

The world around us

The world is an amazing place. I encourage everyone to get out there and explore it.



I have just returned from an incredible weekend in San Francisco, California, where I had the chance to experience the wonderful west coast culture... but that's another post altogether. What I'm writing about tonight is the differences in housing from place to place to place. As you can see from the photo above, the homes that dot the warmer climate of the SF are very different than the brick and aluminum siding structure I call home.

It's no secret that most of the developments that are being built in this province seem to be cookie-cutter copies of one another. You might have the opportunity to choose between one of three basic building models and one of six colours of brick (likely all shades of red or beige). Wandering the streets of SF I was amazed at the variety of colours and shapes and entrances of the homes. Now I assume that most of these homes that I saw were not built in the last twenty years, but it was just so different than anything I can think of around here. The photo above shows only three homes, and while the streets do not quite look like a tie-dyed tee shirt factory exploded, there is a wonderful mix of shapes and colours to keep the eye interested. Does anyone know about the housing regulations in SF (or the region)? For example, is there a set palette of colours to choose from?

In closing, my suggestion tonight is that next time you're off on an adventure somewhere, have a look at the neighbourhoods around you while traveling from Coit Tower to the Golden Gate Bridge (or Casa Loma to the CN Tower). Where do people live in this town/city and how is it different than where I call home?

Six months!

I can't believe that I've been here six months - to the day today - already. Time has certainly flown by. Looking around the neighbourhood, things have changed quite a bit. With the warmer weather here (more or less), construction has started up again all around me. Foundations are being dug behind me; the townhouses across from me are almost finished now; homes along the surrounding streets are being completed and even occupied now.

With the warmer weather also comes new challenges inside the house. For example, my quest for window coverings must now be prioritized... having a lot of windows is very nice, but not having air conditioning will require me to keep the sun out as much as possible during the day. The summer will also no doubt change my diet somewhat as a hot bowl of soup just isn't as good when it's already 35 degrees inside. Then again, I'm looking forward to finding a summer replacement for the oh so economical bowl of soup - ideas anyone?

Finally, the nicer weather will hopefully coax me outside of the home and into the town I now call home. I just finished looking through a tourism booklet I picked up some time ago; there are a lot of nice historic buildings to see, some old pubs to sample, and parts of town that I just haven't visited yet. Also, if I get around to it, I'd like to get a bike to tour around with as well. Driving by areas is nice, and you can always stop to explore, but seeing the city on foot or bike seems much more personal. I've found a local bike shop... now I just have to get over there one weekend!

And to my readers: thanks for visiting over the past year. It's always nice to hear some feedback from people and know that someone is listening. Since I never got around to having an open house party over the past six months, I may just use it as a loose excuse for a gathering. So, if you haven't had a chance to get out this way yet, this may just be the reason you're looking for.

Have a great week everyone and I'll be back again soon.

And you thought eMail spam was bad?

Who needs a mailbox these days? I think my day would be more productive if I put a garbage bag at the front door instead... at least it'd save me the trouble of throwing out every little piece of junk mail I find tucked in my door frame, door knob, or even taped to the door itself. Apparently, buying a new home is like a giant neon “please try to sell me stuff” sign, blinking away day after day.

I've been here just about six months now and am still receiving the same ad for water softeners. Considering the water in this area, if I didn't have a water softener installed by now, water would not be able to penetrate the lime-encrusted piping that was brand new just half-a-year earlier. So stop sticking these ads in my door!

Worse than that, my phone number hasn't even made it into the phone book yet (at least, I don't think) and yet I'm getting people calling me at home already. Last week I had a wicked flu - which explains the lack of an update last week - and yet still, with barely a voice to say “hello”, some voice on the phone tears into their rant about something over the sound of their radio, or crying baby, or dinner prep, or some combination of all three. I usually try to “no thank-you” my way out of these conversations, but this time I finally just had to hang-up. I'm sick, but even if I wasn't, I'm not buying crap from you over the phone!

And finally, I had some guy come to try and sell me some sort of gas price guarantee the other day. He didn't get it when I tried to send him away. Just kept asking about my gas bill, and blah blah blah. I asked him for a card so I could look into it later and he just looked at me with a blank stare. His best argument for why I should just sign with him was that someone else on the street had just signed up for it. Did he think that if they'd just run themselves over with their car, I'd sign up for that to?

On top of all this crap, I still have enough ways to spend money... and that's just looking at house-specific needs. I'm not ever going to buy anything from some random person just showing up at the door or cold calling me on the phone. Except for Girl Guide cookies. But otherwise: no, nope, no way, not gonna happen, never, no.

So, like you do with eMail spam, all you new-area home buyers can look forward to manually moving the same crap that you have no interest in from one place directly into the garbage (or recycling) day after day while you try to get on with your own life.

Yup- this is one of those rare posts detailing the dirty underside of new home living. The stuff nobody tells you. But now you know.

I'm no Robin Hood, but...

Sorry for this being so short, but (a.) I need my sleep; and (b.) I didn't want to go two weeks without posting!



Let this photo be a warning to anyone coming to my place - and going into the basement - from now on. I have put up my old dartboard... right next to the bottom of the stairs. While my aim isn't that bad, I can't promise the same accuracy from any of friends. So, if you're coming downstairs, it might be wise to announce your entry just in case.

What's so special about this? Well, not only does it continue a long tradition of me having a dartboard up for both practice and sport, but also tension release, it perhaps more importantly marks the first time that I've drilled holes in my house! Some may remember that I've run cat-5 cable upstairs (an xBox without xLive is just a... well, it's just not as cool), but my dad did all of the drilling and such. Okay, I guess I nailed in the wire guides to hold the cable up, but...

So, yeah. This is my first major project involving the use of my drill and wood and screws and such. For me, very cool. Also, a big step. Just like anything else in the house, it still has that “new” feeling to it. The one that you want to keep and preserve for as long as possible. If that means not drilling holes into walls, then that's what I'll do. In this case however, I wanted to “break the ice” and start working on the place.

Beyond just getting the 'board up - and I'm proud to say that I managed to hang the board within a .25" of regulation height - I also managed to dampen the sound of a well placed dart: the white backing you see in the photo is a piece of styrofoam from when I unpacked my bedroom furniture, and I've also placed a few pieces of thin wood in the space behind the board to break-up the sound. Compared to the original <thud> that each dart met the board with, these changes have been very effective.

And that's about it for this week. I'd write more, but my eyes are half-closed as it is. If you're ever over for a visit, and you think you have what it takes, I'm always up for a game of 301... maybe I'll go easy on you in our first game.

My first carpet stain

Why must I love mustard and why must smoked meat go so well with it? Why, out of everything I was carrying, must it have been the “doggy bag” from dinner that crashed to the floor. And opened. And spilled out. Onto the ground. And why did that one piece of mustard covered smoked meat find its way to the carpet and not stay on the tile like all its friends?



<sigh>

It had to happen eventually, In fact, I guess it already has. But somehow this one is different. Not just because it's right in the front hallway for everyone to see, but because I was responsible this time. I think that's what really makes it different.

As you can see, I broke out the troops: industrial-strength carpet spot remover, club soda, and plain ol' water. For the record, nothing seemed to work 100%... as every guest from now until eternity will realize. Now, I don't hold it against the spot remover or the club soda; both are proven cleaners. I think that it was my attack that was wrong. You see, the instructions on the spot remover say, “Blot, from outer edge toward center [of stain]”. I may have misinterpreted “blot” as “push, jab, smash, stab, pressure, lean, poke, mash”. For future reference: I believe that the correct method involves only a moderate amount of pressure, wherein you hope that the stain will voluntarily leap from the carpet to your waiting damp cloth or paper towel.

In other words: Don't panic.

Why all the fuss over a small stain? Well, it's like this: with anything new, that first dent in the door, or scratch on the surface is tragic. Hell, you might as well just throw out this tarnished <insert item here> (e.g., new car, new guitar, new house, etc.). Once you've emotionally recovered from this however, anything else is pretty much a non-event. (Note: this does not mean that I won't care if a visitor spills grape juice in the middle of my family room carpet... you will be punished. Somehow.)

What should I do now? The stain is still down there, taunting me as I type this. While I did take the “dying patient” approach for the first thirty minutes (you know, don't stop trying for fear that you'll lose the war), I finally managed to pull myself up off the floor and... well, I got my camera - I saw this as a great blog topic for tonight (silver lining?). That, and the fumes from the cleaner were starting to get to me.

But the spot itself... I'm not done with it yet. In fact, maybe it's time for round two. But before I go, I have this piece of advice for anyone who hasn't spilled anything on their new carpet: go buy some spot remover now 'cause it'll happen eventually. Then again, I only picked up my bottle of spot remover a week ago today...

What is the new "black" then?

Below is a photo of my kitchen (long awaited, I know). However, I'm not here tonight to talk about my kitchen. In fact, I'm here to talk about my “great room” (aka: family room)... or more specifically, what is not in my great room. You see, Ikea has failed me.



“What?!”, you exclaim in disbelief.

Yes, it's true. The Swedish grandfather of entry-level and university/dorm furniture everywhere could not save me from my cardboard box tables that currently sit proudly (and very nearly permanently at this point) in my family room. Apparently black isn't a colour this season; black-brown is. But what happens when you put a (very nice) black-brown table beside something black? It looks brown and it doesn't look good in the room.

I must admit that I've never been a big Ikea shopper, but don't think that I anything against it. It has defined that 'urban condo' look for quite some time now (at least for 20- and 30-somethings I think); it's kind of like The Gap for new homeowners. The ads tell you what is cool and then you go buy it. And that is more-or-less what was going on here.

A set of tables is what I need; the one piece (or set of pieces to be more precise) that I would really like to add next. I don't want to spend a mint, but I want something both functional and cool. Ikea. Of course you think Ikea. So I begged, borrowed, or stole a catalogue - if any of my friends are missing one, it wasn't me who took it... really - browsed through it, and then (of course) hit the web to see the dimensions, check availability, find the closest store, and then plan the trip (e.g., decide on what CDs I should take for the ride).

On arrival, I negotiate the complex maze that Ikea appears to be for every shopping novice like me and... I find out that this table doesn't come in black. Doesn't everything come in black?! And at this point I realize that something black-brown, when compared to something black, is just brown. I guess it's some sort of mathematical colour thing (x + black = brown + black... gather like terms... x = brown -- nothing like geeky grade ten math humour, eh?).

I guess what I learned from all this is to always trust the internet. At least with respect to Ikea furniture colour availability. Now, I'm back on the hunt for a new set of cool, yet functional, tables for my great room. Ideas anyone?

(Oh, and I hope you like my kitchen photo. Maybe next time I'll talk about it. Have to wait and see I guess... but hopefully not another two weeks.)