Nerdery at Home
Posted by Patrick on Wednesday, July 04, 2007Kate jetted up the coast today, leaving me and the furry ones down here for a few days before I fly up on Friday night. Me starting a new job means slightly compacted travel plans.
Tonight consisted of four activities, two moderately nerdy in nature.
Watering the lawn:
Both a pain and a chore. I like our house, and I like our yard, but watering the lawn is a drag. It's not some crazy effort, but it takes time moving the houses around the house and I always seem to get wet.... and yet if we don't water the lawn (and, more importantly, the trees), our little slice of suburbia turns brown. I anxiously await for the day when robots will perform yard related tasks for us.
Talking to Kate on the Phone:
I was happy to hear that she safely arrived in New England, without any travel shenanigans. She no doubt has some action-packed days ahead of her this week.
Watched Battlestar Galactica:
This show is sci-fi-rific. I've watched three episodes of season 2 tonight, and it's good television. Sometimes I wish we had cable, so I could catch fresh episodes as they come out, but I kind of like watching a bunch at once, commercial free.
(By the way, for fans of the show: I suspect that Lewis Scooter Libby is actually a Cylon. You heard it here first.)
Installed Xubuntu Linux on the old Power Mac G4:
By far the nerdiest thing I've done all day. I thought the machine was toast, but it turns out it was just a bad hard drive. I found an old, unused hard drive and (instead of reinstalling the Mac OS) installed a variation of the Linux operating system on it called Xubuntu. 
Xubuntu is a version of Linux written for slightly older machines, and so far it has been a great OS to use. I'm typing this blog post on it right now.
Installation was, for the most part, pretty darn easy. It's never flawless, but it also didn't take four hours, and only required two reboots (unlike a certain other company's OS intall.)
As an added bonus, it's all free Open Source software, so you can be moderately sure that no one in Redmond, WA is data-mining your shopping habbits, or trying hard to get you to upgrade to a "premium" version.
I can say that if you're doing graphic design in the real world, play super-fancy computer games, or if everyone else in the office uses Windows, Linux might not be a good choice for you. But for a spare computer here at Rockland-Ave, with zero dollars in software cost, it's pretty sweet.
And now it's time for bed. Happy Independence Day!
Labels: Homeownership, Nerdery
There are 3 comments! ≡
Lately
Posted by Kate on Monday, June 25, 2007Today makes a week that I have been in my new full-time position as "Product Flow Coordinator." So far I really like it and I am glad I let the store manager talk me into it. I basically check in the daily shipments that we get from UPS and FedEx and such, help unload the weekly truck (which I was doing before anyway), and keep the back room organized. Its just the right amount of dealing with people and working on my own. Plus I have weekends off. Yay.
The past couple weeks our yard has been overcome with Japanese beetles. I am constantly out there catching them off of my hibiscus and rose bushes. If only I could sell beetles. I would be so rich. We sprinkled the yard with toxins to combat them. So unfortunately the cats can't go out anymore. They are not happy about this turn of events. I really don't like using pesticides but the bugs were hovering over the grass and swarming all over the plants. Now they are just swarming the plants. I guess I need to spray the plants, but I was hoping the bug bags we got would take care of them. We empty the full bug bag everyday and still my roses are covered. When talking to some locals they confirmed that the beetles were especially bad this year. So at least its not just us.
Next week I will be in RI. Wahoo! I am going up on the 3rd to be around for the 4th celebrations and then Pat will be joining me on the weekend to celebrate my sister's wedding. Kim and Anne are getting married on 07.07.07. In MA, so that they will get all sorts of rights and tax benefits and such. They really wanted to wait until it was legal in RI, but with a little one on the way, they figured they better get some legal status sooner rather than later. I am very glad that we get to celebrate with them. Kim changed her last name to Anne's while they were still out in Michigan, so I missed that event. I am really happy for them. Anne has been a member of our family for a long time now, this just makes it a little more official.
So all kinds of excitement around here. Tomorrow will be Pat and my three-year anniversary. We have been together for nine years. We are some lucky people.
Labels: Employement, Homeownership
There are 3 comments! ≡
Carolina Pine Forest in our Back Yard
Posted by Patrick on Monday, May 28, 2007This weekend we finally finished planting trees in our back yard. You may recall that in March my folks stopped by and left us with some high quality pine trees. Over the past... several... weekends we dug and dug and hauled the earth, put trees in the ground, and put a stone border down and mulched the whole thing. 
Seventeen trees. Seventeen. Seventeen holes in what has to be the thickest, reddest, heaviest dirt we've ever seen. We used both machine and pick ax to try and work through it and have the blisters to prove it. 
There were also a lot of rocks in the ground. We filled several bucketfulls. We finally put them on our back porch while we think of something to do with them, or a place to dump them.
The end results were well worth it. We have a whole row of trees in our back yard. In fact, the whole row stretches so far that I couldn't fit it in a single camera shot and/or we don't have a wide angle lens. I did manage a poor photoshopping of two images so you can sort of see how it came out. 
Labels: Homeownership
There are 2 comments! ≡
Things you can fit in your 2001 Toyota Celica Pickup Hatchback
Posted by Patrick on Sunday, April 29, 2007
A list of things that you can fit in your 2001 Toyota Celica, based on experience and recent yard-improvement related stress-tests.
1. Six 3-foot pine trees, three bags of soil conditioner, passenger
2. Eight bags of mulch, a shovel, hose
3. Wheelbarrow (hatch slightly open)
4. 32-inch television, new in box
5. One papsan round chair (hatch slightly open)
6. Camping equipment for two people for three days
7. Air-conditioner (new in box)
8. Tons of stuff for our move to the south. Literally every available space inside the car was filled. Conversations like You don't need to shift into fifth gear, do you? and How hot does it get in the empty space under the hood? took place.
9. Did I mention the we fit our kitchen table in during #8? Oh yeah, we got that in there,too
10. Anyone with legs in the back seat for more then a mile.
Labels: Automotive, Homeownership
There are 6 comments! ≡
Sculpting the Earth
Posted by Patrick on Saturday, April 21, 2007
This is what Kate and I did today, amongst many other things. We are both tired and sore, but happy to have this much done. Only like 10 more trees to go.
Labels: Homeownership
There are 3 comments! ≡
Quick Notes from North Carolina
Posted by Patrick on Thursday, April 12, 2007Working for a living
Kate's been working at 5am every day this week. That is early. I'm glad she has this weekend off.
Dual Monitors
If you're using a desktop for anything other then surfin the web or emailing, there simply isn't anything sweeter then a second screen connected to the computer. You got stuff on one screen, stuff on the other, they don't get confused, it's very exciting. More at Wikipedia
I find it to be especially rad when using programs like Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flash. You've got your project on one screen, and all the tools on the other. I guess it's compartmentalization, because I think I'd rather have two distinct screens then one huge screen.
The Mantis Tiller
Our NC friends Matt and Kat are letting us borrow their Mantis Tiller (amoungst other yardy things). We're using it to prep our yard for tree planting. This machine is a beast with handles. It is motorized yard violence. It rips through the dirt clay down here without mercy. 
Kate and I planted 2 tree's today, only 11 or so more to go! Photos coming soon, we're very proud of our yard upgrade.
300
Speaking of Matt and Kat, I went with them to see the movie 300 last weekend. 300 is the Mantis tiller of movies! There was a great deal of Spartan-on-Persian fighting. I thought it was good stylistically, but not quite living up to other one large group of people fights a smaller group movies like Braveheart.
Labels: Friends, Homeownership, Nerdery
There are 5 comments! ≡
While spying on the new neighbor...
Posted by Kate on Saturday, April 07, 2007Our new neighbor is moving in! Exciting. I am guessing it might be a single guy, because so far I have only seen one person and there is a very small uhaul parked in the driveway. And right now he is unloading a twin size mattress. The house on the other side of him has sold, so we should have new neighbors there soon too. Plus the house down the street that looks a little like ours sold and new people moved in there too. Lots of new people. Very exciting.
I got a promotion at work. I am now lead sales associate. Not a big deal, I know, but hey more money is always good.
Today we are going to start digging up the yard with Kat and Matt's Mantis tiller, which they are so generously letting us borrow. We are getting ready to put in the back row of Juniper...
hmmm another man, just came out of the neighbor's house! Could this be a new neighbor too, or just a friend helping?
So what was I saying? Juniper trees. It is pretty chilly out this weekend, which works out well for us because those trees are pretty prickly. I have to work this afternoon unfortunately, so we will probably start planting trees on Easter. We have been invited to Easter dinner with Kate, Peter, and Andy. Mmm ham...
Labels: Homeownership, Outdoors, Weather
There are 1 comments! ≡
Spring Photos
Posted by Kate on Monday, April 02, 2007I took some photos of our new plants today.
Here is a rose that Pat's parents bought us at DeWayne's. I am going to plant it in the backyard somewhere, but I haven't decided where yet. They also got us a bunch of Blue Point Juniper trees. There is some major gardening ahead of us as we try to get those in the ground. 
Here is front-yard portion of the patio set that they bought us. It came with a table, four chairs, and an umbrella for the backyard and these two chairs and the little table for the front. Very nice.
The new hydrangeas close up. Apparently they will very likely turn blue because of our soil. 
And here are the flowers that I planted earlier, by the mailbox.
I think I will eventually have to move things around. It makes me very nervous to move plants. I guess I should try to find a good landscaping book...
Labels: Homeownership
There are 2 comments! ≡
Yankee Invasion
Posted by Patrick on Sunday, April 01, 2007My parents dropped by this weekend to see the new improved Rockland Ave. Of course dropping by means a plane-flight these days. Kate and I were happy to finally be able to show them our place. It was good to see them, I think it'd been close to four months!
We gave them the complete tour and walked them around our still under construction neighborhood. We also went to the local outlets and walked around the Harley-Davidson stores to check out the chrome and get some prizes.
They were pretty hospitable guests, taking us out to eat and picking us up a new patio-set and a yard full of plants from a nearby plantery called Dewaynes. We'll post photos when we get everything planted.
It was good to see them!
Labels: family, Homeownership
There are 3 comments! ≡
My Day Off
Posted by Kate on Tuesday, March 27, 2007Today was my day off after 6 days on. I guess thats how it works, when you have to work the weekend. There were so many things I wanted to accomplish today. I didn't even get half of it done.
I did get some pink snap dragons and another pink flower and planted them next to our mailbox. There are a few perennials there that have already come in, but not bloomed. I wonder what color they will be.
I also got Zoe a 20 foot leash that is made to train dogs. It is very handy. She likes to explore the yard at her own pace. Which means any time I get bored and decide to sit down she decides to move on and explore something else. Now with this super long leash we can both do our own thing while out in the yard.
Labels: Cats, Homeownership, Outdoors
There are 2 comments! ≡
Wednesday
Posted by Kate on Wednesday, March 14, 2007I don't have to work until 5 today. There is so much I want to do before then, but here I am on the internet... I did get the kitty pin for the custom order up on the website. I love custom orders. It is so great when someone likes my stuff enough to ask for more.
At the end of this month Pat's parent's are coming to visit us! Yay visitors! And not to worry we now have salt and pepper shakers. Mom took care of that while she was here. Pat and I don't really add salt or pepper to many things. Really I only add pepper to scrambled eggs and occasionally salt to french fries if they need it. So my little stolen-from-restaurant paper packets were more than adequate. But then Chris and Gram came and I think they were a bit surprised by our salt and pepper delivery system, as they eat a bit more of them than we do. And then Mom came and began searching for salt and pepper shakers at every store we went into. We ended up getting a set at the supermarket.
Aren't they cute?
Labels: Etsy, Homeownership
There are 3 comments! ≡
Six Months As Southerners
Posted by Patrick on Monday, March 05, 2007Neither of us can believe that it was six months ago to the day when we turned in our keys at Rockland Avenue and drove down to North Carolina to live. During the past six months we've moved twice (really three times if you include this crazy Thanksgiving weekend), traversed the insanity that is home-purchasing, and managed to come out in pretty good shape. 
It hasn't been easy, but I'd love to be able to email this post back-in-time to myself on that first long-day we drove down. Kate and I experienced many sleepless nights over this move (and not just because we slept on an inflatable mattress for almost three months).
But here we are, and things are good. We have a super-sweet almost-new house that would not have been anywhere near affordable for us in New England, we ended up in a nice town that's not to big and not to small, and we've met some locals who've been super-nice to us. So right now we're situated somewhere between lucky and fortunate.
Labels: Homeownership
There are 2 comments! ≡
Weekend Recap
Posted by Kate on Monday, February 19, 2007
My car is at the mechanics. Apparently my oil pan rusted through and is leaking. It is going to cost about $320 to fix. Really I should be happy that I haven't had to fix anything on my car in a long time. After all it is a 99. My Sentra has been good to me over the years. Having to find a new mechanic to trust is one of the down sides of moving. Also finding a new doctor and eye doctor and stuff like that, not fun.
Pat and I went for a few walks around the neighborhood this weekend. Pretty chilly out there, but it was good to get out and get some exercise.
I finished a baby quilt for a custom order. I like the way it came out. It has cute little dogs on it. I will have to take a picture of it before I send it out.
We rented Junebug and Talladega Nights. Pat gave a two thumbs down to Junebug and said he liked Talladega Nights more than he thought he would. I am not sure how I feel about Junebug. I wouldn't call it a favorite or anything, but I found it kind of interesting. I was the one who wanted to rent Talladega Nights, because I enjoy Will Ferrell. I thought this movie was alright. It definitely wasn't on par with Elf or Anchorman, but it was way better than Kicking & Screaming.
Today we finally had the locksmith come out and change our locks. Yay! I finally have my own key to our house! Moses got very freaked out by the locksmith. He apparently does not like tall men with hats who use power tools and leave doors open. He first decided to take cover under the couch and then fled upstairs where he lodged himself under Pat's desk behind his computer. When I went up to check on him, I found him back there visibly shaking. Poor thing. I wonder how long it will be before he decides it is safe to come back downstairs.
Labels: Cats, Homeownership, Outdoors, Sewing, Weather
There are 5 comments! ≡
Tile Sealing
Posted by Kate on Thursday, February 15, 2007I sealed the grout in our shower today. The 48 hours of grout drying was over, so it was time. I really had no idea what I was doing. When my Mom and I were at Home Depot we had picked up a sealant applicator bottle. I don't really know what I was thinking when we bought this product, other than- we need anything that is going to make this process as easy as possible.
That little wheel on top has the consistency of a salt lick.
I put the sealant into the applicator bottle and tried to use it, following their directions. Using this method the sealant did not touch the grout. The hard salt lick-like applicator wouldn't fit into the corner, where the grout is. So I gave up on that idea and went and found a nice little artist paint brush.
This method of painting on the liquid seemed to work pretty well. About halfway through my second coat of sealant the brush began losing bristles at an alarming pace. I was afraid we were going to have lots of bristles sealed into our grout, but they seemed to come right off of the grout.
I wish the sealant had much more directions than it did. Basically it just said that hard surfaces would need one coat, grout and porous surfaces would need two or more. I put on four.
I could not tell at all if it was working, absorbing or not absorbing. The bottle said, if water was absorbing into your grout than you would need to use sealant. So I splashed some water on it. It looked wet. I have no idea if it absorbed into the grout or not. I do not have a microscope.
Hopefully it worked. We really don't want to have to scrape the grout out again. That is not fun.
Labels: Homeownership
There are 3 comments! ≡
Sunday, and these Ladies are Out of Control
Posted by Patrick on Sunday, February 11, 2007Kate and her mom have not been slacking during their time together. They made lots of cards, sewed and crafted quite a bit. Yesterday I carted them around to a couple of craft stores and a craft show, then to visit Kat and then to visit Carol and Kevin. 
Kate also made some sales this weekend in her shop. If you haven't checked it out recently, there's lots of cool stuff there.
Today I slept in a bit and spent a good portion of the day removing grout in our shower. Some of the grout around the tiles had cracked, so it was time for regrouting. Is regrouting a world? Better to take care of it now then in the future. It's nice to have a second shower, that's for sure. Kate and her mom went to Home Depot (amoungst other stores) to pick up supplies for this project.
Labels: Crafts, family, Homeownership
There are 2 comments! ≡
The Sheep Are In The Shop
Posted by Kate on Wednesday, January 17, 2007I finished the sheep baby quilt yesterday and listed it on MosesandZoe.com today. Such a nice feeling of accomplishment to put things into the store. It is definitely the motivation I need to actually finish projects. Starting new projects is the fun part, actually being able to put it into a store makes finishing it quickly much more rewarding.
We got our utility bill today. I did a little dance... well actually I danced all around the house to be honest. We had figured a large $$$ amount into our budget because we had no idea how much utilities would cost. It cost a tenth of what we had budgeted. Yay!
Kat came over today and we worked on a new project. We put paper and fabric in between glass slides and sealed them with copper foil. I am not sure what the finished projects will be, but it was a lot of fun.
Pat is out getting me chinese food right now. He's so good to me. I am very lucky.
Labels: Etsy, Friends, Homeownership, Sewing
There are 1 comments! ≡
Open the Dryer Bay Door, HAL
Posted by Patrick on Monday, December 04, 2006
Last night under cover of darkness, a delivery truck rolled some space aged equipment up to our new place. Uniformed delivery men spent almost an hour plugging this equipment* into our home. Then, as quickly as they arrived, they sped off into the North Carolina night.
When Kate and I went upstairs to check it out, we saw that they had left a washer and dryer that could only have come from the future! The four computers currently at my desk have nowhere near the processing power of these machines.
From what I've learned, appliance lovers are all about the front-loadedness of these machines. It is pretty nice being able to see the dance of the dirty socks in action.
There are so many buttons on these machines. I believe they may be capable of cloning single-replacement-socks out of your own dryer lint. I'll need to check the users guide on it.
Here's a short clip of Kate running the washer for the first time.
They're pretty sweet, although Zoe was looking to pick a fight with the washer when it entered the spin cycle. They're also Energy Star machines, which is nice because I think Kate did a dozen or so loads today.
* Special thanks to Rockland-Ave sponsors SEM Street and YogaWithGrace.net
Labels: Homeownership
There are 5 comments! ≡
Upgrading from Lawn Furniture
Posted by Patrick on Thursday, November 30, 2006Things here in NC are coming together now at a rapid pace. Boxes are being unpacked, and Kate and I are in the process of making this place our own. We both feel like we're living in the lap of luxury with our non-lawn furniture.
You see, the past few months we've been sitting on folding chairs, eating our meals on the floor, and sleeping on an inflatable mattress. While it served our needs well, and allowed us to remain portable, we have not been comfortable people. Now that we have a couch and a real mattress, life has been better.
As part of my telecommuting and freelancing lifestyle, I got a desk at Ikea. It is huge, and holds many computers and pieces of equipment without the need to make a printer stand out of cardboard boxes, or risk knocking a monitor off the table by moving my leg in the wrong direction. Nerdy happiness is a comfortable work environment.
Labels: Homeownership
There are 2 comments! ≡
Night 3
Posted by Patrick on Sunday, November 19, 2006Here we are, sitting by the natural gas fireplace, hanging out on night number 3 at our new place. We spent most of this weekend setting up, cleaning, and transporting our possessions from the apartment to the house. We have a lot of stuff, despite having sold a lot of stuff, and storing a whole lot of stuff at our parent's places. 
After sleeping on an inflatable mattress since September, we were glad to get a new mattress. It was delivered yesterday, and is way more comfortable then the inflatable. We even got a sheep with it.
We met a couple of neighbors today, and they seem nice. We didn't chat too much since we had a car full of groceries and housewares from the local Super Walmart. This place is so big, it frightens me. My mind cannot fathom where anything is in the store. We're in a good spot, there are lots of stores and businesses within a short drive of our house.
It's been a lot of work, but we're both really happy to finally be here. More to come!
Labels: Homeownership
There are 3 comments! ≡
We're In!
Posted by Kate on Friday, November 17, 2006We moved into the new house today! Too tired to write very much, but it went well. We are happy.
Labels: Homeownership
There are 4 comments! ≡
