Hauling a cabinet.

Work was throwing out an old metal cabinet that the door fell off of. So, I helped them throw it out to my place.

Now that it's home, I am going to fix the broken door with half a dozen rivets, rivet up the non-broken side as well, and I now have a nice, tired, scratched, dented, and banged up metal cabinet.

New hot water heater

So, I woke up this morning, go to get in to the shower, and it's COLD.
I waited, no hot water. I thought nothing of it, I was running late, so no shower this morning.
On my way out the door, I hear running water behind the door that I assume is going downstairs. Again, tired, no shower, I thought nothing of it.

I come home for lunch, and look what I see next to the dumpster.


It looks like it is toast. All rotted out in the bottom. It has my unit number on it. I turned my water on, and it spit and sputtered at me. So, it looks like I got a new hot water heater today.

The more I clean, the messier it gets!

It seems like the more I clean my apartment, the worse it gets. I worked hard last week to get the living room and my bedroom cleared out. I also had the spare bedroom organized enough you could walk between the boxes to get to the fish tank.

Yesterday and today changed all that. Yesterday I dug out all computer gear and the desk and set that all up where it will go. I have yet to plug in a cable - they are in a few differnet boxes that I had to dig out tonight, but that 'area' is set up.

Tonight I moved all the boxes around so I could put my Electronics Hutch along the back wall where it will reside. That invloved filling the living room and my bedroom back up. I tried to move just boxes that will ultimatly get unloaded into the respective rooms, but a few extra ended up in each room.

I got the hutch moved, and unloaded off the carts. I have a really cool idea for building bookshelves around the hutch that will match it. But when I look at the rest of the room, I am not sure if I could utilize the space better or not.

I also put my 110 gallon fish tank in its final resting spot. It's just setting on some sawhorses for now, but I really like it in that spot. I think I will set the big tank up as a Paludarium. I have a basement under me again, and so I can't really set it up as a fish tank without risk of it falling through the floor. I am thinking of doing a waterfall that extends up and out the top of the tank, and having the plants 'grow' beyond the tank to take some of the squareness of the tank away.
We shall see what it turns out like. I need a stand first.

I am really in need of a couch. And a TV. I was looking around, and those new 32 inch LCDs would work out really nice. My entertainment center is occupied with the TV fish tank, but I left enough room to the right to hang a flat TV on the wall. That would work out to be directly in front of the couch that I don't own. The couch I want would be a sleeper sofa, so friends & family have a place to sleep without listening to the computers all night long.

Oh well, one of these days...

Week in Review

It's been a busy week!
Sorry about the lack of photos, I still haven't gotten my desktop set up. It has the memory card reader in it.

Last weekend I spent a bunch of time with CVS, it was his birthday, a bunch of us went out to eat. It was good times. I had met everyone but one at least once, so it was good seeing old friends again.

I went to a grocery store this week on some co-workers suggestion. Elgin Fresh Market. They said it has great prices for produce and nothing else. I must say I agree. A can of corn was a $1.37, but mangos where a dozen for four bucks and some change. I picked up the veggies I needed to make a pot-roast out of a steak Katie had bought that the cats tried to ruin. I had gone to my parents 2 weekends ago, and when I came back, the freezer door was open. The steak was defrosted, but still cool, so I figured it was safe. The Chicken, no way!

The roast turned out really well. I invited a guy from work over for dinner. Trying to make new friends. He is a pretty cool guy. Likes camping, so we have something in commmon. Before he came over (he works later then I do) I did a rushed pickup of the apartment, so it's actually kinda clean, well, at least picked up. Most all of the trash got hauled out, and you can walk around in it. He helped me move the TV tank into it's spot in the TV stand. I am going to get water in that next week so I can get fish for it in a month or two.

It's been raining out the last couple of days. I walk to work - it's only a block away. My feet got wet today. I hate wet feet. My shoes are shot - the lowers are worn so bad they look like slicks, and they evendently split at the ball of the foot during the move. The uppers where still in good shape, I actually took care of them, so I was milking the bottoms out as long as I could. Wet feet, time for new shoes.

I went to walmart tonight, and found the pair I like. They look nice, almost like dress shoes, as I wear them to work. Waterproof and steal toe, they also claim to be electrical isolators. Sweet! Right up my alley. Kinda spendy, $52.73, and I picked up a set of gel arch supports for $5.97. $60 for shoes that, judging from my last pair will last me a year and a half or so. That works out to be, what, ten cents a day? So my shoots cost me a penny an hour. I can deal with that.

I also picked up a couple of fish, most all of mine died during the trip - there went my perfect shipping record. I had forgotten to plug in the tank heater one night, and the tank got really cold. Anyway, I was down to my Pleco and a femail guppy. Too few to feed with my automatic feeder, I simply can't turn it down that low. So I picked up to quarter sized angel fish and a male guppy. Still a bit thin for the feeder, but the angels should grow fast enough that it will be ok. The guppies will probably get moved before the angles are big enough to tear the male up, so I am not worried about that.

I had hoped to be able to water-change my way into local water before I bought fish, but that isn't the case. I am going to be acclimating the fish slowly to the Florida water. Tney are getting put into a bucket tonight with just enough water to cover the heater. Most of it will be the water from the pet store. Right before I got to bed, they will be getting a few cups from the tank. When I get up, maybe a quart. Lunch, a quart or more, and into the tank they will go tomorrow night before I leave for my folk's place.

Going to the folk's this weekend. Maybe. It's supposed to snow pretty bad tomorrow I guess. I am supposed to help mom go through the house being that it's her weekend off. They are wanting to get the last of the salvageable stuff out and a list of what's still inside so they can buldoze the place.

I need to get the oil changed on the truck, it's been like 6k miles. I have been so busy with the move, and now this week, working late, that It hasn't been taken in. The smell from the fish tank spilling in the truck is gone (at least to my nose, but I don't smell very well [hrmm, that doesn't sound quite right - LOL]). I guess mom will have to stick her head in the truck and see if it still makes her eyes water.

Mom, why did you email me your weather?

Cold... it was 45 in my kitchen this morning. I went and bought some fish tank heaters for my aquariums last night, but the water was so cold that I am afraid to use them. I am concerned that the heaters will warm the tanks up so fast that it may kill the fish. Fish don't like drastic temperature changes and I am looking at 15-20 degrees or even more in how ever fast it takes the little heater to work.

It looks to be warming back up a bit for this weekend. So maybe if I am lucky I won't end up with fishcicles.

Home Made Rope Hammock Chair for my front porch.

 A few weeks ago, I saw a hammock chair for sale for something like $40. I thought that I could make one for less than that. Turns out I can make one for about $6. All that is needed is a special tool, and some cord of some sort. I ended up making the tool out of a peice of scrap plywood I had from building the folding kayak. I just carved it up, and sanded it down according to the pictures I saw of people making fishing nets. The cord I used is actually Cat Fish Drop Line, what ever that is. It's rated for 4 hunded pounds. I have 24 strands of it holding the hammock up, so I don't think I need to worry about the hammock breaking anytime soon - that is 9600 pounds, well over 4 tons.

  I takes a bit of practice to get going, but with the shuttle and guage stick, it's actually quick simple. Once you get the rythm to it, you can make quick work out of making this. I am not quite happy with this one, as it's currently a bit uncomfortable, but I knew the first attempt would be less then perfect. I am actually surprised at how well it did turn out. I think a lot of my problems is with my tying it to a single support beam. I might try to pick up some good hooks and fiddle with how I hang it.

Electronics Hutch

I recently moved all my junk to Florida from Wisconsin and don't have a place to put all my electronics peices and parts and tools and whatnot. I don't want it all laying around for the cats to sort for me, as most of it would end up sorted under and behind the furniture.

So I have been looking for either a TV armoir or a computer hutch. I ended up at the Rooms To Go warehouse on exit 10 off of I4. They sell all the local scratch and dent items there.

Man did I make a find! I picked up a Tracey Computer Cabinet which retails for $699.99 for $327.99. Good deal, eh? It has some minor nicks and such in the corners, but nothing more than I would pick up in a year or two. It is missing the top crown moulding and only has 3 of the legs, but this works out in my favour as well!

I am going to put it on a cabinet so it stands taller. 23 inches taller in fact. That is the height of my elbows to the keyboard tray as the hutch sits on the ground tonight. This way, I can work on it standing up, or I can use the tall chair I will be getting/making for it.

Being that I am a internet junky, most of my electronics requires programming and an eithernet connection. So I will use the 'computer' part of the hutch to full effect. My 4U rackmount computer will just be either in the lower cabinet or sitting on the top of the unit. I will put my rackmoutn KVM in it to, as my next main computer will be DVI and won't work with the KVM. I will also add a 24 port hub so I don't run out of ethernet jacks.

I plan on picking up one large or two smaller LCD monitors for use in the hutch. This will give me the maximum amount of storage space inside.

 

This is the unit sitting on the ground without the legs. I will be getting a cabinet of some sort to go underneith it. This cabinet will be for storage of all the 'good junk' parts like old VCR boards and so forth that I would be canabalizing from. This should leave about a foot to the ceiling. I will put the computer gear up there I think so it can keep itself cool.

 

It even comes with a whiteboard and corkboard! Here brother is checking it out. One of the few times he will get to sneak into it.

 

The Keyboard tray is sitting in a pull-out work surface. This is PERFECT for my needs as I can pull out the workbench, and also access my keyboard.

 

The bottom has 2 drawers, a thin shelf (for the computer I guess) and a pull out printer drawer that won't fit either of my printers. Looks like parts and tool storage to me!

You can send presents anytime!

  Thanks mom for the presents! I LOVE the crocks. Katie says you have good taste. I just can't decide what I want to put in them. I have to get batteries for the pepper grinder. I think that will stay right next to the stove. I tried the cake pan, but burnt the brownies. I haven't found the box with my timer in it yet, so I kinda winged it, and got distracted. Oh well, next time, right?


  Anyway, I used the boxes from your presents to make a Kitten Castle. There are several rooms inside, and this neat, recessed 2nd floor entrance onto a balcony. Of course they LOVED the boxes before I made them into the castle.


 Aren't they cute?


  They seem to like me, I wander from room to room they are usually about 30 seconds behind me. Wanting to be in the same room, but in typical feline fashion, pretending not to.


The naming contest is still open, leave a comment with name ideas. They are currently being called 'Brother' and 'Sister', so you only have a little while before they stick.
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Lakeland Florida

Or, I found out why rent is so cheap

Or, I now have a reason to build that folding Kayak

I am being really bad about keeping up to date with my blog. Too busy with the move and so forth.
 Not this friday but the one prior, 9 days ago now, it rained. Now, when I say it rained, that isn't an adiquite description. Imagine a swimming pool with a lot of bubbles in it. That is what it seemed like outside. It rained THAT hard. More water then air. With my place of residence being in a hole, it gets wet. Really wet. The water was half an inch over the threshhold for the front door. You can see that in this photo. I had the door open (it didn't matter, it was coming in anyway) with the towels set to slow it down. I was mopping it out with another towel and sweeping it out with a broom. It also came into the bedroom and along the wall in the living room.


 There is a channel cut in the yard to try to direct the water away, it was just overwelmed with how hard it rained.

Mom, I have an announcement to make. You have 2 new grand-kittiess!

I ended up with 2 kittens yesterday. I came home, and they attacked. Actually, they were sleeping in one of my moving boxes and I had to look for them for a while before I woke one up.
 Katie found this brother and sister through work. A gal had asked her to feed them for the night, and then tried to give them to her... successfully. Katie SMSed me, asking if I wanted them, because I had half-jokenly said I wanted a mean old barn cat called One-eyed-Jack (even if he had both eyes) to keep the critters out of my apartment. She offered to clean the litter box, I said SOLD!


 Now, what to name them? The male is the orange one, and the female is the darker one. She has 6 toes on each foot in front. My first choices are Deeohgie and Ceaytie, but Katie vetoed them immediatly like they where her cats. She insists that they are mine, but the female a little less so. My Second Choise was to call them the Kellers, Roche and Ratte, but again, shot down. For now they are called dip-shit and shit-head.


 So, I am opening up a kitty naming contest. The winner gets... a gracious thank you on my blog and maybe a Christmas card from their namelings.


 I have to finish unpacking and kitten proofing the place. They are going to tear my stuff up! Oh well. It will be fun!

Photos of the truck moving my stuff.

I promised pictures. So here are some.
 This is the last load, the final moving in!


 I had just a little more then what would fit in the truck, so I had to get that big tub and strap to the roof.


 The hamper wouldn't fit in or on anythiong, so it got hung off the back. I think it makes an effective spoiler, don't you?


 I could still use my right side mirror. I had the truck packed with all my stuff for the last move.

1 week

Well, I have been in Tampa/Lakeland for a weak now. The commute isn't too bad, about 45 minutes. I should be getting my internet hooked up tomorrow morning.

Katie and I cooked dinner tonight. We made grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, turkey bacon, and omelets. Very yummy!

It rained tonight. Bad. I washed my truck in the pouring rain. The rain also washed
my kitchen and bedroom floors. I am going to have problems with flooding when it's
really bad out.

The air mattress is in the middle of the living room floor. A few items have made it out of the boxes. I have to put my computer desk together for tomorrow morning. I don't know where the laser printer is going yet.

I bought Pony Clamp pipe clamps last night so I can fix a cabinet door. I am going to get one or two more for when I glue my cutting board cabinet top together for the kitchen counter I am going to be building.

Hopefully some photos will get posted tomorrow.

Moved in

Man are my legs tired and my feet sore. The truck is almost unpacked. I just have the filing cabinet and an old computer to unload.

Katie made dinner tonight. I was going to but she started it when I was in the shower. She used that pan first. I made unsweet tea for her though. Two and a half gallons of it. That should last her the week I hope. Sweet tea for me tomorrow.

My fishes look happy. I got a new juice container so I can start the CO2 injection later this week. I also want to bake some bread. I ended up with the packets instead of the jar as they didn't have the yeast I wanted.

It's going to be a while before I get out of these boxes. I am not sure where I want to keep my bike. I am wanting to put my rackmount computer gear in the same closet as the washer and dryer out of convenience. I have to see what the temp and humidity are like.

Arrival

Well, I am here. It took long enough. I started yesterday at 8:30am by getting the truck serviced. why is it that it went in fine and came out with a power window not working?

It was raining from tropical whatever-it-was daryl. I started boxing stuff. Lunch, and then I started getting serious. A long story short, at 10:30 I had most everything outside and finally accepted that it wasn't all going to fit. A trip to walmart to get one of those trailer hitch luggage racks was an excersize in futility. They had the rack, but not the reciever bar to make it work on my 1.25 inch reciever. Plan B - the biggest tub they have strapped to the roof. It worked. At 3am I was loaded. I pulled into my place at 7.

Now I am unloading.

I best get back to it.

Rainy day

It's one of those days today. Yesterday was the first day of hurricane season and it's been raining for two days straight. We need the rain, but on my last day of moving?

I had the first service this morning for my Escape. An hour and fourtyfive minutes. Bleh.

I just have a bunch of odds and ends, my computers, computer desk, clothes and so forth. I am hoping it will all fit in the truck. My chair will be the hard one. I guess the boxes, computers, and filing cabinet go in first and I then loose-pack around the chair.

If you want my new address drop me a line.

If my packing is going to get done, I best get to it.

My New Place

 I am moving out of a million+ dollar mansion on the Intercoastal in Fort Lauderdale into this place and couldn't be happier. I know people tend to bounce from one extreme to the opposite before they settle somewhere in the middle, and my new place is ON A DIRT ROAD!
 I have moved and set up my two fish tanks in my new living room. The TV tank goes into the entertainment center, and the 29 gallon planted tank goes between the bedroom and bathroom doors. There is a lot of other stuff in the room as the bedroom is getting a new tile floor put in.
 This is the first load of stuff I hauled up in my new truck. It's amazing what can be crammed into a truck.
 This is the same corner after the second load. Only about half the stuff got dropped here.

Second load moving into my new place.

Katie and I dropped off my second load of stuff today. This was the truckload that Bill was so kind enough to let me store in his garage for a year and a half. The only thing broken out of all the glass was a chipped mug that could have come from the store that way.
I haven't decided how to do the living room but I have awesome ideas for the kitchen. Matt and Jessica left a rolling dishwasher for me, so I have a dishwasher now. It isn't built in so I am going to make a small cutting boad surfaced island to put against one wall to wheel it into. I will get another folding barstool and I can use it as a breakfast table too. I am going to make it nice and tall so it will be a great prep area for me.
The coolest idea is for the computer in the kitchen. I will put each of my 19 inch monitors into the two corners of the kitchen on those wall TV shelves even with the top of the cabinets. They will both show the same screen, and each end of the kitchen will have a wireless keyboard and mouse in a tray under the cabinets. I will use my current Media Center PC so I can watch the food network or have a recepe on the screen. I am thinking it will be cool.
I am also going to build a storage shelf that is strong enough to put the fridge and a chest freezer ontop of so I don't need to squat down to look into the fridge.

I am going to make another trip this weekend for my junk. I will be moving my fish tanks. That will be a chore. I am thinking all the fish will end up in the planted tank for the time being. I want to put the tv tank into my entertinment center. I think I want a stand for my planted tank and put that between the doors to the bedroom and bathroom. I may break down and buy that instead of building it.g it.