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My Almost-daily Journal |
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| About I love trying out new things, especially when it comes to internet technology. I never really kept a journal, but it's something that I've always wanted to do. Now, everybody will get a chance to look inside my twisted, and somewhat-warped mind.
I've also subscribed to Audio Blog, so a few times a week, I'll leave actual voice blogs. Very cool!XML Newsfeed  |
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
The Baby's Room After toiling with repairing and painting the master bedroom, I'm now onto the baby's room, which acted as our spare bedroom. That room must've housed a wild boar because that room was in bad shape. I can't believe I never noticed everything that had to be fixed. First off, the door jam was busted, cracked, and filled in with some sort of bondo, then painted over. The door jam was in such bad shape that the door striker was actually screwed into place with 3" long wood screws. Wood screws went through jam, and into door header. Replacing a door jam isn't a three minute job. No way. Doors are shimmed into place, with door and all. For some reason, when houses are built, there's no square corner in the house. Seems like builders just "eyeball" things. Therefore, door openings are +/- 1". If I had those kind of tolerances to use in the auto industry, I wouldn't have to come into work. So shimming an almost straight piece of wood into a definitely-not-straight door opening was almost impossible. Not only was the opening varying in size, the builder's 2X4 wasn't even square to the opening. Basically, I had to nail a door jam onto angled wood, that varied from the floor to the header. Then add setting the door, half round molding, priming, and painting, and you have a full evening ordeal. Took me two evenings to get it right. I then TSP'ed the entire room. I wanted to make sure the walls were etched so the new paint could stick. I lost a year of life smelling the esters and chemicals in a closed room. Room smelled fresh and clean, but my lungs were probably bleeding. I then painted the ceiling and closet. I never paint closets. Ceiling took two coats nicely. It's probably the easiest ceiling I've painted, since it's probably only been painted once or twice since 1967. Closet was a little tougher, since I had to paint shelf, rod, and ceiling, plus an attic door. Closet looks nice, but it needs a recoat on all the corners that I didn't cut in thick enough. Now I'm tackling the window surround. For some reason, there must've been water damage or some type of damage decades before I bought the house. Previous owner did some pretty shoddy patch work. Left hand side surround was wasted. They attempted to patch it with a rusty soup spoon, but never bothered sanding or painting. It was rounded, with no corner, and looked pretty nasty. So I completely replastered the corner, as well as many other nasty areas in the room. Plastering is about as fun as chopping wood. Not only is it an artwork reserved to plaster artisans, you know whatever you put on, must eventually come off. And coming off is the worst part, since plaster dust is as welcome as asbestos dust. So most of the room is plastered and sanded. I sanded last night and walked out of the room looking like the Michelin man. I then repatched a few areas, so I'll have some more sanding to do tonight. Then room will get vacuumed after all dust settles. Hopefully the plaster dust won't ruin the vac. And you know vacuuming a room full of plaster dust sucks: you're vacuuming on one end, and the vacuum's exhaust is blowing dust up from the other end. It's a nasty experience. After the nastiness is over, I'll be able to prime the plastered areas, as well as some of the trim. When that stuff dries (should be 30 minutes according to Kilz 2 can), I'll finally be able to paint. Did I mention paint? We selected pastel sage. Looks like pea green circa 1967, which actually isn't bad! It just reminds me of the house I lived in as a child that was probably built in the 40's. Color is light and vibrant. I just need Danielle to buy off on it. I hope the final decision is made soon. Rollers will be a flying. Think the room will be done after paint? Nada. Floor looks like a dance floor from the local country western bar. It's pretty trashed. It's a small room... probably less than 10'X10'. I'm just wondering if I should sand it myself with a handheld belt sander. Only problem with those is there is no depth control. My luck, the floor will look wavy after it's polyurethaned. Jury's still out on this one. Carpet it? No way. Whole house is hardwood. Professionall restore? It probably won't be worth anyone's time to come out and do one little room. I may rent a drum roller from Home Depot. Not sure what those cost. If they cost $50 or more, I may just buy myself a belt sander and give it a shot. Good luck to me, and long-live the month-long house projects. Kitchen? Damn. Only 13 weeks away, and baby Filias will be on his way. Time is a ticking. What the heck took me so long to get these projects started? posted by Dino at 11:35 AM (permanent link) (0) comments Monday, June 27, 2005
My Dear ol' Grandma Passed Away My dear ol' grandmother (yiayia, as we called her) passed away around midnight on 6/22/05 in Athens, Greece. She was laid to rest with my grandfather in their village of Agios Basilios (St. Basil). I put together a photo album as a tribute to her life. Click here to see it. I forgot exactly when my yiayia came to live with us. My guess is it was probably right after we moved from Ferndale to Sterling Heights, which was around 1980. I think she stayed with us right before I went away to college in 1987. Even though she was hard-core right from the old country, she wasn't the typical Greek grandmother portrayed like the one in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She was a modern-day, old country Greek grandmother. She lived large. Aside from helping raise us (my mom worked), she did everything most American grandmothers did. Even though she didn't know a lick of English, she was extremely good at picking up on the context of conversations. I never understood how she could sit and watch "As the World Turns" every single day (BTW, the character, Sierra, was played by Meg Ryan). She didn't understand what they were saying, yet she persisted, day after day, watching that show. I guess that's what grandmothers do. And me, I was the most terrible grandson ever. She just happened to be an authority figure at the worst possible time: my terrible teens. The first few years I wasn't a rebel, but from age 15-17, she probably wanted to assasinate me. She sure endured a great deal too: from my rotten friends calling and hanging up when she'd answer, me coming home late (she sure would be the first lieutenant I had to pass), cars, girls, and all-out teen-rebellions. You'd think her hands were full with me? There were two hellions: my little brother and little sister (funny that I'm calling them that... they're grown adults, yet they'll always be little brother and little sister). I'm sure they each have their own perspective on the glory days of yiayia. My memories of her are endless, and I'll probably write about her more now, so the stories are not forgotten. She sacrificed seven years of her life to help raise us. She was truly a giving and selfless woman. She will be missed. posted by Dino at 2:10 AM (permanent link) (0) comments Friday, June 10, 2005
Court News Had my day in court today. Actually, it was their day... I just showed up. Back in December 2004, Danielle and I were coming back from Cabella's, located in Dundee, MI. Yes, quite the drive to save $10 off a jug of deer urine. Anyway, I was speeding most of the way back, fuzzbusterless. As soon as we got off 696, and were on the service drive, I asked Danielle to grab the fuzzbuster... I was feeling nervous. "No. That thing annoys me, plus it buried in my glove compartment." Oh well. We were almost home. A few more minutes won't kill us. Guess what? Bam! Clocked doing 57 in a 40. Very big bummer. Ruined my day. So I called the court a week later to schedule a court date. That didn't get mailed out until May. Court date was June 10. Can you believe that? It took five months to get a court date, and half a year after the infraction to appear in court. One of my co-workers at Decoma actually works as a part time Oakland County sheriff. Long shot: I'll ask him if he can do anything... put in a good word, fluff the judge, whatever. He actually did get ahold of Officer Paul C. Kelly of Warren PD, and said he'd talk to me before court. I was dying with anticipation. The day finally came. We talked today, after I barely made the 9:30 AM timeslot. Not only was there construction inside of Warren's civic center (all the roads were torn completely up with no true entrance and all dead ends), there was also nowhere to park. I registered with the clerk at 9:32 AM. Officer Kelly was there and said he's "take care of me" at the hearing. So I left the clerk's office, and head to court room #105. There was a long line. People were getting their points dropped left and right. I'd say the first 20 people got their "five miles per hour over" dropped to "impeding", which had a stiffer fine, but no points. I was feeling confident that's what would happen to me. Then the next 10 people appeared, and each had a pretty long traffic violation rap sheet. They got the full charge, points and all. I was beginning to worry. Then, the prisoners went through, taking up at least an hour, followed by detectives asking for search warrants. Then it was finally back to us. After watching all the criminals go through the system in their pre-trials, I felt dirty. I was definitely breathing sharing the same air that Warren's worst were breathing. Charges ranged from sexual misconduct (nasty child abuse stuff), drug trafficking, running drug house, drug possession, falsifying state identity documents, identity theft, drunk and disorderly conduct, probation violations, etc. Most of that hour was spend determining what the bond was to release these criminals into the street again. I think the judge did good... he kept the criminals behind bars with bonds of $50,000 with the statement that they all were "menaces to society and a danger to the public". I'm glad most of them remained behind bars. The city IS a safer place. Civil infractions finally resumed around 11:30 AM. Damn, two hours later. I started getting nervous because the judge was still handing out points. Many asked for "impeding traffic" violations in lieu of their speeding, and the judge just looked at their driving record and laughed. I knew I was doomed. What a waste of a half day of work. My name finally got called with another guy. Guess it was getting close to lunch time. Getting called in a multi-party did ease the pressure. Judge said that Officer Kelly has reviewed the cases with the judge prior and is requesting "impeding" instead of "five over". Do you accept the plea? "Yes, I do." Shweeeet!!! Wow! I'm 36 years old, been in traffic court more times than I can remember, and never ONCE did I ever get a break! This is the first break of my life! I guess it helps to know a cop, and not always want to kill them. Lessons of the day: 1) Warren is better than Troy. Troy judicial system thinks they wrote the law. I had a court date there about three years ago. I remember. Pompous asshats in Troy. I'd like to metaphorically choke all those bastards that sit behind the bench and call themselves judges in Troy. Pompous pricks. The cops are just as bad too. Warren is different. While the system is designed to generate money, they don't really care if you get points. Why should they? They're getting their money! Troy thinks they're doing society a favor by forcing points onto your record. Pricks. It's probably a Troy judge's kid that sells crack to inner city folk in Warren. I hope I never have to decide whether or not to save a drowning Troy judge's life. I'll probably end up pissing on his head as he sinks. A Warren judge? I would jump in and let him stand on my head to get out of the water. 2) Crime doesn't pay. After watching all these criminals charged with drug trafficking and possession, I was bummed for them. Not only did they have $50,000 bonds placed on their heads (which most of them will not be able to pay, so they'll never see the sun), some of the max penalties consisted of 8-20 yrs in jail with fines up to $50,000. Damn. There was even a girl with a second violation of driving a suspended drivers license. If she didn't pay her fine of $1000 in 30 days, she would spend 93 days in jail. Holy smokes. I couldn't imagine. 3) If you're going to speed, do it in Warren and not Troy. Actually, do as little in possible in Troy. The city is the shits. I may even reinvoke one of my ancient ticket rules: "Quisquiliarum Ventilo Pessum". That's Latin for "garbage toss to the ground". If I can't choke a city cop or judge, I can at least dirty up their city. 4) Make sure you have lots of time and money to spare going to court. If my billable rate is $100/hr, it cost me $400 to take a half-day, plus the $135 is cost for the fine. Plus, I had to share the air with some of Warren's worst. I did get a chance to see Ponch, though. That was neat. Ponch was this Oakland County Sheriff Deputy that was probably a model before he became a cop. I'm far from gay, but that cop was a charismatic dude. He should have been posing for GQ, not hauling around degenerates cuffed from head to toe. It was kinda surreal. 5) Entertainment and educational value: If you ever are bored and need something to do (perhaps take your 12 yr old to court to show them that crime doesn't pay), sitting in court is actually entertaining. There was at least one inmate that was ready to jump out of his cuffs and choke the judge. The judge was a little dispectful at times, telling people to always speak up and repeat themselves, plus he was condescending most of the time. One of the inmates was very intelligent, but also very cocky and sarcastic. Judge rattled off to him a few times to repeat himself, and the inmate responded with pure sarcasm and disrepect. It was great. I actually enjoyed witnessing someone showing lack of respect to a judge. Everybody else bowed down to the judge as if they were some sort of deity, including myself. Off to Baby Pottery Barn. Joy! posted by Dino at 5:32 PM (permanent link) (0) comments Friday, June 03, 2005
This is a pretty neat site selling all sorts of gag gifts. I was pretty impressed. Gag Gifts, Pranks and Practical Jokes From The Prank Place Gag Shop posted by Dino at 10:55 AM (permanent link) (0) comments Thursday, June 02, 2005
Landscaping & Gardening Danielle got most of our landscaping and gardening completed last weekend. There are still a few spots that need work, which consists mostly of aborting the crabgrass genus to extinction, as well as pulling up baby ash trees. Too bad for ash trees in Sterling Heights. City government is performing mass genocide. The trees are trying really hard to reproduce (I wonder how they know), but the ash bore beetle has really grown rampant. Very sad. Ash trees were pretty indigenous to Sterling Heights. Now the city streets and parks look like farmland. Power washed the patio. Very impressive results too: Before  After  posted by Dino at 9:02 AM (permanent link) (0) comments |