Yuck!

This awesome birthday card arrived to me today from my family in California. My nephew, Noah (that's him in the picture), drew this portrait of me! The caption needs some explaining.

A couple years ago, when Kathie and Noah came to visit from CA, Noah was felling a little under the weather. He had a seriously runny nose, and when I was holding him on the way out of the airport, I basically looked at him and said "Yuck!" He thought that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. All through their visit he and I would go back and forth with "Yeeeeeuck!" Fast forward another year, Kathie and Noah are here for another visit. Now understand, Noah is just a toddler, which makes this story much more awesome. As soon as Kathie and Noah came down the stairs into luggage claim, he looked at me, his face lit up with an amazing smile, and he said, "Yeeeeeeuck!" I'll never forget that as long as I live. It was great.

Mmmm..... sausage

I've just realized how much freakin food I post on this blog. There's a few reasons for that. One, food is good. I like food. It's tasty. Two, when it's too cold to even think about going outside, the last thing I want to do is take pictures there. Three, I'M RUNNING OUT OF THINGS IN MY HOUSE TO SHOOT!!! I'm not kidding. It's getting out of hand. I really can't wait until the weather starts to change again so I can actually go somewhere to shoot some pictures. This winter thing is getting a bit old.

Recharging

It's funny how small electronics have slowly integrated themselves into our lives. Even Stephanie, who is a self-proclaimed "tech-hater", has an iPod and a cell phone! You never know how much you "need" something until it's been invented and you own one. For example, before iPod, I carried around a massive CD binder, filled with about 80 discs. Now, I carry this little white and chrome device that not only has those 80 discs on it, but can also potentially hold another 250! It's really amazing. I'm to the point now where I couldn't imagine not having an iPod. Apple's marketing department would love hearing that. The best part about the majority of these devices is the rechargable batteries! Can you imagine how many AAAs we'd burn through if the iPod didn't recharge? Sheesh....

Poker Night

Played poker tonight, as you can see. It was a lot of fun, and I actually won some money! We played a cash game with a $5.00 buy-in, then if you run out of chips you can re-buy for $5.00 unlimited times. I was lucky enough to not need a re-buy, and walked away ahead $11.00.

This is one thing that is really difficult with my new job. Working 6 days a week, third shift, we haven't been able to spend much (if any) time with our friends. I just hope they realize that it's not that we don't want to hang out and do things, it's just very difficult when you only have one night a week. There are people who Steph and I really value as friends, and we don't want to lose that.

Too...Many...Books....

Is it possible to have too many books? Well, there's certainly too many books on this shelf. Steph and I both read pretty constantly, so we've amassed a small collection of paperbacks and hardcovers. She probably reads more that me, but an hour lunch break will do that to ya. I thought I'd list some of my favorites and recommendations.

We both really like Stephen King, and although he's no Chaucer, he's certainly entertaining. Even if you don't like his typical fare, I would recommend his Dark Tower series to anyone. This series is King's Lord of the Rings.

I just finished reading The Prestige by Christopher Priest. Wow. Absolutely fantastic. There was a movie based on this book in 2006 that I really wanted to see. It was actually a sleeper hit in 2006 and was nominated for an Academy Award. I'm looking forward to its release.

For those of you into fantasy/sci-fi, one of my all time favorite series is the Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I've probably read this series about 5 times. No small feat considering it's seven books.

Finally, I want to mention the Bourne series of books by Robert Ludlum. These are the Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremecy, and The Bourne Ultimatum. If you liked the movies, you should love the books. They're very intense, and very fast paced.

If any of you have any recommendations for me, feel free to post them in the comments. I'm always looking for something new to read!

Pitchers and Catchers Report!

Possibly the four greatest words in the English language, the title of today's post is the unofficial start of Baseball season. I can't wait! After the Bears dropped a deuce in the biggest game of their lives, I've been counting down the days until the opener. Oh, it's 46 in case you're wondering.

Okay, so I want to clarify what I was alluding to in yesterday's post. From the New York Times:

"The Chrysler Group is set to announce a restructuring plan Wednesday aimed at securing its place in the crowded American car market — and within DaimlerChrysler.
The plan is expected to include the elimination of about 11,000 blue- and white-collar jobs along with the closing of one and possibly two assembly plants — in Delaware and Missouri — people with direct knowledge of the plan said this week."

This is obviously big news, but I'm not quite sure that's it's bad news...yet. This could be a really good thing for me. It all depends on the amount of people that will take the expected buyout/early retirement packages at the Belvidere facility. They're going to need people to fill those positions, not to mention the positions myself and people like me are currently filling. On the other hand, since I'm considered a "temporary" worker, they could just sack the lot of us and call it a day. Right now, I really don't know how to take this announcement. I remain cautiously optimistic.

My Wii is Glowing!

I'm a gamer. No surprise there, right? For all of you living in a third world country, this is the Nintendo Wii. It does this really cool thing where if you have a message, the disc slot glows blue and pulses! Very distracting, but very cool. The games are controlled by moving the controller in physical space. No 16 button controller here. Very simple, very accessible, very hard to find. My Wii isn't feeling so well right now, so I'm sending it back to Nintendo for repairs. No big deal, it's all covered under warranty. Nintendo has the best customer service around!

I decided to stay home last night, because the road conditions were not good. I hate to miss any work, especially considering DaimlerChrysler's recent announcement, but sometimes you have to be safe.

*edit*
To give you a better idea of what this Wii thing is all about, here's a short video of Dad and I playing Wii Sports: Bowling. Please ignore Dad's comment about his "gay" pink bowling ball....

Third Shift Annoyance #4: Shoveling in the Dark

Fun, fun, fun! I love to shovel! Nothing beats a huge pain in the back, biting sub-zero winds, and soaking wet shoes! Not to mention it's pitch black outside! WOO-HOO!! Picking up the sarcasm yet? Yeah.

So we've been hit again. We actually didn't get that much snow, but add the 20+ mph winds, and you've got some serious drifting. On the way home this morning I saw 4' drifts on the road. Needless to say, the plows were running a bit behind schedule. I parked my truck in the driveway when I got home, and when I went outside tonight, there was a 3' drift right up next to it. I tried to move my truck to the street, backed up too far, and immediately became stuck. 1/2 hour later, I finally started my favorite chore. I'll be parking on the street until this crap melts, but Steph can get in and out of the garage now. Your welcome honey!

Harmony

I had some seriously disturbing dreams last night. I won't get into details, but it was one of those dreams that stays with you after you wake. Have you ever had a dream that put you into a very strong emotional state, then when you wake up you still feel like that? It was one of those.

I must say, however, that I am far from a "normal" sleeper. I talk, toss and turn, steal the covers, and occasionally I'll just have a walk about the house. Far from normal. I had a sleep study a couple years ago, but since I was incredibly uncomfortable, I couldn't sleep when I was there. The doctor said I woke up something like 47 times. Some ridiculous number like that. Needless to say, the test was inconclusive.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

It's everywhere. It's in your soda, it's in your fruit juice, it's in your candy, it's in your Miracle Whip. Since its inception in the 1970s, and its adoption by the soft drink companies in 1982, it's been an all American staple. Because of the high availability of corn and the tariffs imposed on sugar imports, it has become the go-to sugar substitute. Many researchers believe it's also a key ingredient to the American obesity epidemic.

Steph and I try to avoid it as much as we can, but sometimes it's just not possible. It's become so pervasive in our diets, that all the processed foods we dump into our bodies contain it now. Do yourself (and your kids) a favor and read your labels. Try to avoid large quantities of soda. Get some exercise!

Okay, I'm off the soapbox.

On a totally unrelated side note, today's my birthday.... :)

Dinner at the In-Laws

Wow! I almost missed the deadline!

Steph and I went to Pecatonica today to have dinner at Melanie and Joe's (Stephs Sister and Brother-in-Law). We usually get together this time of year to celebrate Joe's, Dan's (Steph's Brother), and my birthday. It was a good time, but unfortunately I was really tired all night. I think I only really slept about 6 hours today. Yup, that will do it. This is a really good shot I took right before we were leaving. My Niece Juliana was reading to Stephane, and laughing the whole time. It was really cute! They have two really great kids.

Pit Stop

For some reason I'm always tired on the weekends. It never fails, no matter how late I sleep or how early I go to bed, when I'm not working it's like I'm sleepwalking. Every Saturday night (I'm not working Saturday this weekend so we went tonight), Steph and I run our errands. We get groceries, we go to Target, sometimes we go to a couple other places as well. By the end of the night, I'm usually falling asleep on the way home. I decided tonight to make a pit stop and get some kick-ass coffee to keep me going. I think it's because I'm not used to getting right out of bed and leaving. I guess this could've been included in the "Third Shift Annoyances" series!

On a side note, I've decided this will likely be the last cell phone shot I post here. The quality is just terrible. It's always painful for me to look at these shots, I can only imagine how painful it is for you.

Sometimes I Hate Illinois

This shot's for Kathie. She was telling me how she especially enjoyed the snow/winter shots, so here's another. Kathie moved to California some years ago, and apparently has forgotten how freakin cold it gets here. When I left work this morning, it was -3° with a wind chill of - 21°. STAY IN CALIFORNIA!! You now know what you're missing.

Another slow one at work tonight. We've been sent home early 3 out of the last 4 nights. Normally, I wouldn't mind so much, but not working this Saturday will put a serious hurting on my check. Well, it could be worse.

Breaking Rules

In the composition of photography, and in composition in general, there is something known as the Rule of Thirds. This is a basic fundamental of photography, and many believe that in order for a photograph to be a good one, this is a rule that cannot be broken. To hell with that. Looking at this shot, you could say that vertically I'm following the rule, but I did a couple of things that normally shouldn't be done. The subject is centered in the the shot, and the corner of the wall is directly behind it, seeming to sprout from it's head. Following the theme of yesterdays post, here's what I was thinking as I composed this shot.

I wanted to create a lot of space above the subject to make it appear small and insignificant. At the same time, I feel that having the straight line "emanating" from its head makes me feel like this is a holy icon. The centering of the subject gives it importance and balance.

One thing important I took away from the few photography classes I took was that sometimes you need to go against the grain and break the rules.

Behind the Scenes

I've decided to give you guys a look at what is sometimes required for even the simplest shots. This is a basic overhead shot of an open sandwich. I could've spent a ton of time on this just eliminating the shadows, but decided to go the quick route since I have to leave for work in an hour or so. You see the shot, now this is what it looks like when I'm shooting it:As you can see, it's not quite as simple as "1. Hold the camera, 2. Press the button." Often in these situations, a tripod is essential due to poor lighting. The temperature of indoor tungsten lights is much lower than that of sunlight, so it takes a lot more of it to light the subject. The camera compensates for this by letting in more light. This can be done two ways. The first is by opening the aperture, the second is by slowing down the shutter speed. (You can actually increase the ISO as well, but digital noise is not pretty to look at. I always shoot at 200 ISO unless I'm forced to change it.) The aperture was all the way open, and when you have very slow shutter speeds, if you are not using a tripod, any movement of the camera will completely blur the entire shot. The white thing in my right hand is actually a flashlight. I was getting a really nasty shadow on the right of the shot, so I wrapped a flashlight in a paper towel and used it to add to the lighting. The paper towel diffuses the light to spread it evenly on the subject, and it eliminates a spotlight effect that you normally get from a flashlight. There are obviously far better ways to light a shot than this, but you gotta use what you got! Photographic lighting is very expensive.

In Hibernation

This is where I chucked my hat after the game yesterday, and this is where it will stay until late August. The shirts will slowly be pushed to the back of the closet, and my Sox stuff will slowly make its way forward. I had a lot of people asking me at work today, "Where's your Bears' hat now?" I just couldn't bring myself to wear it. In retrospect, I really am happy they made it as far as they did. It's not often your favorite sports team makes it to a championship level. It just seemed so one sided! If they hadn't come out and played so badly, I wouldn't feel so bad. Losing a close game is one thing, but when the only bright spot happened 15 seconds into the first quarter and the rest was downhill, it's pretty frustrating. 44 days until Opening Night!

Grossman Sucks

Need I say more? Obviously, I'm a little salty. The Bears just got dominated, and Grossman is to blame. I've defended this guy all season long. That's over. He was horrible in the most important game of his life. I can't wait to go to work and listen to all the idiots chirp all night....

This is going to be a short post, because frankly, I'm in no mood to be doing this. This is me and Dad, and as I said yesterday, Dad's a pretty big Packer fan. This was obviously taken before the Bears took a massive nose-dive. How the heck did he find new Packers garbage the day of the Bears' Super Bowl? Unreal.

The Day Before

Tomorrow's the big day! Super Bowl XLI! Chicago Bears vs Indianapolis Colts, just in case you've been living in a cave the last 3 weeks. Dad's coming over to watch the game with me. I was invited to a Super Bowl party, but since I have to work tomorrow night, I opted to stay home. I'm also happy to spend some time with my Dad, even if he is a Packer fan. Work has been interesting the past two weeks. There are a lot of people who hail from Indianapolis, so a lot of smack talk has been thrown back and forth. It should be a whole lot quieter on Monday.

Holy crap, it's cold today. When we were in Rockford around 8 pm, all the bank signs read -5° or -6°. I'm pretty sure the wind chill is pushing -30°. We've had the thermostat set at 68° all day, but it hasn't even reached 64° yet, it's that cold. It doesn't help that our house is over 100 years old, and very poorly insulated.

Lofty Perch

I know I promised not too many "cat shots", but these two were just begging for it. They never sit still this long. Surprisingly, this shot was very challenging. I took approximately 20 shots before I got this one. The lighting situation was very poor, so I had to use a flash. Normally, I use a technique called "bounce lighting" or "bounce flash" for this kind of shot. You aim the flash to reflect off the ceiling, and it softens the light and gives the subject a very natural look. That way you avoid getting the very hard shadows directly behind the subject.

In this case, since Punkin was in the top of the shot very near the ceiling, so he was getting much more light than Cotton at the bottom. I was having difficulty lighting everything in a uniform way. In the end, I managed to get just the look I wanted with near-perfect lighting. I did get a slight shadow in the upper right corner of the shot, but overall I'm happy how it turned out. I'm really pleased how this blog has forced me to think again about composition, lighting, and all the other technical aspects of photography.

I know, a cat shot coupled with come technical nonsense.... Pretty riveting stuff, right?

Bean Burritos Baby!

This is what I generally eat when I get up late and I'm feeling a bit lazy. Coincidentally, this is also the type of photo I post when I get up late and I'm feeling a bit lazy. I really dig Mexican food. Even pseudo-Mexican food like this or Chipotle, I love it all.

Well, today is February 1st, and the year's looking like it's going to be a long one. I can't believe I've been doing this for a month already! Once again, I really appreciate all the great feedback I've received from everyone, and all the great comments. I'm looking forward to the next 11 months!

Third Shift Annoyance #3: Only Wal-mart is Open at 6 am!

I hate Wal-Mart. I really do. Unfortunately, when you get off work at 7 am, there is no other option. I did, however, get a kick out of this creative display that greeted me as I went in this morning. Made of milk crates and suspended from the ceiling, this display of Bears Pride really brightened my morning.

We had another loooooooong night. I literally sat from 3:30 until 6:00 without touching a car. Some major breakdown in the Body Shop sent a 3 hour gap through the assembly line. Kinda nice to do nothing and get paid for it, but being the fidgety dude that I am, it was certainly a long night. They finally sent us home an hour early, at 6 am.

Procrastination

pro·cras·ti·nate [proh-kras-tuh-neyt]
–verb
1.to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost.
2.to put off till another day or time; defer; delay.
Ex. Jason procrastinated taking over the recyclables.

If you were to open the dictionary right now, flip to the "p" section, and look up "procrastinate", you may see something very similar to this. This is what happens when you add these four factors together:

1. A very procrastinative husband
2. Very cold, harsh, Illinois winter weather
3. People tearing your home apart for 10 days
4. Excessive amounts of cardboard from the 11 new cabinets you just bought

We recycle. Unfortunately, due to high "energy costs", the garbage company does not pick this stuff up for recycling purposes. No problem, right? We have a recycling bin right down the street! Yeah, no problem in the balmy months, when the most you have to worry about is a gentle spring rain. Well, the winter is another story. I tend to procrastinate a bit more when it's 4° with a -16 ° wind chill. That's not taking into consideration the blowing, stinging 2 1/2" of snow we got last night. Enough excuses, right? In my defense, the majority of this stuff is from the kitchen cabinets, and we wouldn't have had so much other cardboard if we weren't forced to eat frozen dinners exclusively for 10 days. Meh. I'm ranting. There is a moral here, and I'm sure once my brain thaws out it'll come to me....

Cracked!

What you're looking at is a DS Lite, the latest handheld videogame system by Nintendo.
Now what you're looking at is a cracked hinge on said DS Lite. This is the second time this has happened to me. I wasn't too upset this time, since I was just going to return it, and now I can get a black one. Unfortunately, you can't find the freakin things anywhere! Much like the Nintendo Wii, the DS Lite is nearly impossible to find. Being the Nintendo fanboy that I am, this is great, but I really am annoyed with these hinge problems.

Vegetarian Delight

Stephanie's a vegetarian, and often spends Sunday night chopping veggies for her lunch throughout the week. Good stuff!

We've nearly got all the little details done in the Kitchen, so I may be posting one more kitchen photo of the finished product. I put the hardware on all the drawers and doors last night, and believe me, it's harder than you would think. We also put up some really nice bamboo window shades. It's funny how motivated we were to eliminate the brown from the kitchen, and now we're putting it right bak in....

Third Shift Annoyance #2: Running Errands in the Evening

I really didn't think everything would fit in that little car! Stephanie drives a Scion Xa, and she loves it. It's a nice car, efficient, cheap, reliable, but I feel a little guilty driving it considering I work at Chrysler. Oh well.

We had quite a night. While leaving Target, we witnessed a police officer shooting a fleeing suspect. We were leaving the store and saw four cruisers sitting outside. We figured it may just be a shoplifter, so we just went to the car. As I was getting into the hatch, I saw two officers walk towards another car, their hands on their guns. I was a little shocked, but thought nothing of it. The next thing I know, the car is speeding down the lane with the cop hanging from the door! I hear three gunshots (maybe 2?) and I crouched down behind the car. I couldn't really see what was happening, but the car came to a stop after hitting another. That's pretty much it. Here's a link to the story in the Rockford Register Star. I guess the guy was killed. Pretty messed up stuff. We didn't stick around, although we probably should have. We were pretty anxious to just get the hell outta there. I wasn't sure at the time if they were shooting at each other or not, so I was pretty freaked out. Everything's okay for us, but it was pretty crazy experience.

Slow Night

Wow. What a night. Of 8 hours, we probably had about 1 1/2 hours down time. That is not good. Well, it's kinda good in the short term, but in the long run, not so much. This is a shot of a couple guys I work with arguing after Todd (on the right) tried to make an illegal move against Geno. It was pretty heated. I think Geno actually threatened Todd with physical violence at one point. Pretty brave, considering Todd is twice his size....

A little after this I played Backgammon with Todd, then with Geno. Overall, a pretty long night, but not too hard. Todd introduced me to a variant called Acey-Deucey, then I played a regular game with Geno. Guess who won? That's right.

Yes, this is a cell phone shot, since technically cameras aren't allowed in the plant. The blue suits these guys are wearing (and I wear as well) are anti-static paint suits. They protect your clothes, and also protect the cars from getting dirty. Very Devo.

Worth the Money

This is one of the few things that when you spend money on it, you don't mind seeing it get utterly destroyed. In case you can't figure it out, this is a scratching post we bought for the cats a couple years ago. It doesn't save the furniture completely, but I can assure you that our couch doesn't look like this. These things may be expensive, but as you can see, they're totally worth the money.

Did I have a tough time finding something to shoot today? You betcha.

Third Shift Annoyance #1: Shaving at Odd Times

There's a couple reasons I took this self-portrait. First, when reading through the inspiration for this project, it said that you should occasionally take these type of shots so after it's all over, you can see how you've changed throughout the year. I think that's really important. Second, I've decided to start a few different "series" of shots, the first being "Third Shift Annoyances". I thought of this while waiting this morning for Office Max to open so I could buy a new router. Of course, it wasn't in stock....

After looking at this shot again, I saw the lurking internet celebrity Punkin somehow managed to get himself in another post.

A Cup of Happiness

God, I love coffee. I am a total coffee fiend. I usually drink Starbucks, but we've also recently bought Stewarts Coffee out of Chicago. It's pretty good, and cheaper, but not nearly as good as Starbucks. If you actually go buy the coffee in the store, they will grind the beans for you to take home. Believe me, it makes a difference when it's freshly ground.

As for the picture, you have no idea how difficult it is to photograph something from the top without casting a huge, nasty shadow! I ended up changing the ISO to 800 so I could actually hold the camera instead of using the tripod. I then had to stand on a ladder, frame the shot, then carefully move my head away from the camera to get a shadow-free shot.

Winter's Chill

There's something quietly beautiful about trees covered in snow. I can't quite figure out why I'm so drawn to them. Maybe it's a simple thing like the contrast between the bright, white snow and the wet, dark branches. Maybe it's more subtle, like how dead and barren everything looks, but inside, you know that life is thriving. Maybe it's the completely random, abstract look a group of branches can convey. Nevertheless, it was a captivating sight. I couldn't stop my eye from wandering all the way home. Just thought I'd share.

More Freakin' Snow!

Well, we got about 3 or 4 more inches today. Gotta love those Illinois winters. Of course, this doesn't hold a candle to the 14" we got in December. That was bad.

Something else really amazing happened today. My favorite football team, the Chicago Bears are going to the Super Bowl for the first time in 21 years! I'm really happy and excited. However, even if they win, it will still not be as big a deal to me as when the White Sox won the World Series. I'm a really big Sox fan, and when they won, it actually brought a few tears to my eyes. It was really amazing.

When Nerds Collide

What you're seeing here is what Stephanie refers to as "Nerd Olympics". For the record, she used to say Magic Tournaments were the same thing. What you're actually seeing is a LAN Party. A bunch of truly geeky guys get together, hook up their computers, and play games all night. The game in question was Call of Duty 2. I haven't played it since the last LAN party I attended, so I was a little rusty. These guys started around noon and we finished around 1 AM. Hardcore, right? Due to my crazy sleep schedule, I was only able to get there after 6, but it was still fun. I also brought along my Xbox 360. Eric, the host, just purchased an awesome new 50' LED projection television, and wanted to see the stunning Gears of War in HD. Needless to say, everyone was blown away. It was a good time.

Time for New Shoes

Wow, what a morning. I actually painted cars today. I work at the paint shop at BAP, but until today I had never actually seen the painting process. Believe it or not, I can't get into specifics about the process. I can actually lose my job for divulging "trade secrets". Security is pretty tight there, and you're not even supposed to take cameras into the plant. Try to tell your 3500 employees not to carry cell phones. Good luck! They're really paranoid about information leaking to competitors.

The process is pretty amazing. Without getting too much into specifics, the majority of the painting is done by robots. It's pretty cool to watch them work. I was actually doing touch-up work inside the doors. The robotics system is new to the plant, and they're still trying to iron out the kinks, so they have sprayers hitting the spots the robots miss. It was difficult to get the hang of it at first, but after the first couple hours I picked it up okay. I've worked in nearly every area in the Paint Shop now. The only casualty of my new experience was my old shoes are pretty much destroyed. Oh well, it was time for new ones anyway....

Geek-O-Riffic

This is shot of my "bedside table". As you can see, my interests lie in the realm of total geek. Before I got to bed, I usually read a little or play my DS Lite. I'm playing a game called Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, and it's brilliant. It's basically an interactive novel where the player takes on the role of a fledgling attorney, fresh out of law school. You have to interview suspects, obtain evidence, and question witnesses in the courtroom scenes. Very unique, and very interesting. Anyway, this has been my idea of reading lately. Not to mention the comics.... I highly recommend Civil War to anyone. VERY good. Since I' a day sleeper, that mask comes in handy. I look like some kind of rejected super hero, but it works. I told a guy at work I used one and he said, "I thought only women used those!" Yeah.

All Things New

Okay, I know this is kinda lame, but I was at a loss of what to shoot today, the Kitchen isn't quite done yet, and I'm not feeling very well. I know, excuses, excuses, excuses. These three things are the major additions we made to the kitchen, besides the cabinets and the counter tops. I'm really happy with how the microwave and the recessed lighting looks. The lighting is really great, and the micro really fits in well. I will be posting a completed picture eventually, but I want to wait until everything is put away and all the touch-up painting is done.

Brrrr!

Holy crap it's cold. We've been hit by the tip of the big storm that just swept through the Midwest, and luckily, we only got about two inches of snow. That doesn't make me feel any better about the temperature. As I write this at 7:45 am, it's 9° with a wind chill of -2°. That's damn cold!

As I said yesterday, hopefully the kitchen will be finished today. I'll update you all tomorrow. I also wanted to say thanks to everyone leaving comments and visiting the blog. Yesterday I set a high with 23 unique users with 57 page loads! I really appreciate your interest and all the kind words.

Day Nine: Plumbing and Finishing Installation

Well, I knew this would be inevitable. Since we removed the soffit, I knew it would only be a matter of time before these two would be enjoying their new lofty perch. Punkin, internet celebrity, is on the left, and Chloe is on the right. Both usually can't stand to be in the same room as each other, but they seemed to have resolved their differences for the time being so they can explore the new cabinets.

It was a short day today for the contracers, and the finished putting in and leveling the cabinets, installed the microwave/exhaust vent over the stove, and got about 1/2 done with the plumbing for the sink and dishwasher. He thinks he may get it completely finished tomorrow, but since he has another job to do on Wednesday, it's more likely to finished on Thursday. I'm really ready to have this done. I'm kinda sick of eating out of a box!

Day Eight: Installation

We're getting there! Okay, I heard that sigh of relief. I know that you're all probably bored to DEATH seeing all these pictures of our kitchen, but this is pretty much consuming all our time right now, so photo opps are few and far between.

As you can see, they installed most of the cabinets and the counter tops today. The room is really starting to come together. The dishwasher isn't plumbed in yet, and neither is the sink, but those things should be done tomorrow. There is also a little more painting to be done, and the molding has to be put up, but it looks like it will be finished tomorrow. The hanging lights will be recessed lighting, and there are three of those along the counter. It won't be long now! Oh crap, what am I going to shoot after this is over? Have you seen my office? Just kidding... :)

Day Seven: Paint and Prep

Wow! What a difference a day makes. Steph and her Mom did a wonderful job finishing up with the painting, and we're ready to put in the cabinets. We went to Lowe's and picked up the counter tops today, and everything is a-okay. There was a little scare at the store when they couldn't find them right away, but eventually the rocket scientist looking for them realized that it was damn near impossible to not see a 10' counter top with our name all over it. Go figure. We had to unpack and bring in everything from the garage so the cabinets could expand at room temperature. It's pretty cold here right now, so if they were put in cold, after they heated to room temperature, they could potentially expand and crack. That's not so good. We should have nearly everything in tomorrow with the finishing touches being done on Monday. I can't wait!

That's my cat Punkin (Punk for short, and man is that appropriate) in the bottom of the shot. I took about 10 shots in the Kitchen, and he somehow managed to find his way into about 6 or 7 of them . He's just dying to become an internet celebrity.

Ack! I missed my deadline! Day Six: Primer

Okay, so today was obviously a busy one. I'll be posting a picture after I finish my first coat of primer and actually get one shot. This is actually my post for the12th, so there will be two for today.

*Edit*
Well, the primer is done. It took a lot longer than I had anticipated, but now it's done. Steph and Char will be putting on the main color and the trim color today, and the cabinets should be going in on Sunday. Oh, and by the way, if you can avoid it, NEVER paint your ceiling. What a (literal) pain in the neck!

Day Five: Sanding, Sanding and Sanding

This is what it looks like when your Kitchen is in a pile. Believe me, it was at one time far more organized than this. It's never been so difficult to locate a box of cereal! But I have to admit, I've grown quite fond of my Boston Market frozen dinners. Don't mind the little Christmas tree, we'll take it down eventually....

Today was all sanding. That is the hard part, and surely the messiest. It looks like right now we are on track to paint on Saturday, which is a good thing. Steph's wonderful mom (Hi Char!) is coming down Saturday to help with the painting, so hopefully we'll get it done then so they can finish Sunday and Monday.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the leaky window! When the guys tore down the soffit, they uncovered a pretty substantial leak from the upstairs window. The original window wasn't installed properly, so water would just sit on the window ledge. Eventually the wood rotted and started to leak into the house. We obviously weren't able to see it because it was behind the soffit. They're putting a new window in the "tent room" (it's in the peak of the house and shaped like a tent) so we don't ruin our newly drywalled ceiling. That should be done tomorrow.

Thanks Steph for the photo idea!

Day Four: More Mudding

This, obviously, is not a shot of my kitchen. I snapped this shot as I was leaving work this morning, and thought it was far more interesting that a picture of white walls. For those of you who don't know, I work for Daimler Chrysler Corporation at their Belvidere, IL Assembly Plant. We build the Dodge Caliber, the Jeep Compass, and the Jeep Patriot. This shot is just a very small piece of a massive facility that employs more than 4,000 people. I've been there for about 7 months now, and hopefully I'll be there for the next 30 years.

The kitchen is starting to resemble an actual room again. The drywall is all hung, and the seams and screws are all mudded. A lot of sanding will be going on tomorrow, and thankfully, I won't be taking part in that. Anyone who has ever done drywall before will know what I'm talking about. The sanding is a pain. Our counter tops came in today, so that was welcome news. We have everything we need now, so all we can do is wait for it to be finished!

Day Three: Drywall & Mudding

A little more progress today. The drywall is completely hung, and most of the electrical is ready. Steph began mudding the screws, and the guys will do the rest tomorrow. The cabinets and the dishwasher were delivered today, but for some reason the counter tops have been delayed until the 17th! Lowes has been jerking our chain since we put the order in. HOW ANNOYING! First they sold us cabinets and a diswasher without seeing if they were in stock (they weren't), then they told us the counter tops would be in on the 5th. When the order was placed, they delayed the delivery date (without calling us!) to the 10th, then on the same day it was delayed again to the 17th. We still don't know why. I guess a certain number of problems will always pop up in a project like this, but it's getting a bit ridiculous.

Day Two: Electrical & Drywall

Well, unfortunately, not much progress to report today. The contractors ran into some issues with the electrical they were running, and it looks like they had to re-run a lot of the original wiring. The previous owners used the wrong gauge of wiring, and if we were to add the new appliances and outlets, we would've been blowing fuses like there's no tomorrow. So they did wiring mostly today, and then hung about 6 panels of drywall on the ceiling. the apparatus shown here is what they use to when drywalling (is that a word?) the ceiling. It holds it up for them so they don't need more than one or two people to do it. Each sheet of drywall is 4' x 8' and weighs about 55 lbs. That would be a little tough to hold up. So it looks like our time frame for completion has moved back a little further. It's really difficult not having a kitchen!

Day One: Teardown

Well, the destruction went well. Everything is now gone from the kitchen, including the god-awful color scheme. Well, that's not quite gone yet. The trim and curtains are still there. I decided to post four pictures today. There was some really interesting things that were revealed beneath the walls that I wanted to share. Some really cool abstract stuff. It's really interesting to see the multiple layers underneath the walls we've been looking at for the last 5 years or so. It really gives you a sense of history from the house, and reminds me that although this wing of the house is a newer addition, the house is still over 100 years old. Tomorrow they start the drywall!