Kitchen Cabinets

This post is a little different than most i make, but I suppose as a homeowner it now has more importance to me than it used to. These are my kitchen cabinets and as you can see there is a big difference between how the finished product looks in comparison to the previous ones. The project isn't done, but it is definitely showing progress and is starting to look pretty good i think. Can ya tell which is the before and which is the after? I can't take much of the credit for this though becuse it wouldn't have been done without the help of my friends.

Wow this sucks

Yup, it locked up again already! i freaking hate it. Well I made a computer out of all the parts i replaced (essentially its the old computer) and this one doesn't seem to be locking up yet. It makes no sense! no idea what i am gonna do with the one that locks up maybe just throw it out a window or take it to a field and pull an Office Space on it. It cost a bit of money though so i might have to charge for hits with a sledgehammer or something and it can be a computer reimbursement fund.

Computer is back!

I got a replacement motherboard from chaintech back today after they instructed me on how to destroy it rather than troubleshoot it. So it is back up and running. I also got a new power supply in the process. I have a new HD, but i haven't hooked that up yet because i want to be sure the computer will work before spending the time re-loading things again. We'll see how it goes. If you don't see any annoyed posts within the next few days chances are it finally works again!!

We'll see....

One more gone

I finally got rid of the smart squirrel. It took like 5 times of rebaiting the trap too. Finally my bro and i decided if we locked one of the doors down and put the food over there the thing would have to go over teh trigger at least 2 times to get out. Well finally it was caught this afternoon! Not sure how many more will keep coming in, but i got rid of one more hehe.

Interview

I had guard this weekend and I had an interview for a maintenance officer position that I started my application about a year ago. Fortunately we did a practice interview yesterday and i had the real interview today. I think that i worked out a few of the problems i had and that i did fairly well. I won't know if i will get the position for a while now, but at least the anxiety of the interview is over with. There is another postion i am applying for as a Communications Officer. We'll see how that one goes too. I think the practice i'm getting can't hurt and i should be able to get an officer position at some point. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Thank you all for your support!

Oh and there's another squirrel in the garage, that seems to be really good at getting food without setting off the trap....grrr.

Computer

Well it looks like i'm finding out either what was wrong with my computer or at least one other thing to look at. I emailed the motherboard manufacturer and while I was following their instructions it stopped working completely. I am using a different computer now, but i think i'll send the motherboard in as it is still under warranty. Hopefully that will fix the problems!!!

Oh and the squirrel still hasn't been back in the house!! I caught another from the garage though. Eventually my squirrel stories should come to an end, but i can see how they would be entertaining if I wasn't the one dealing with the darn things.

a few things

I think the squirrel is finally gone as I still haven't heard it since the last time I scared it out and locked it out. I also finally got the head for the eclipse taken to get checked out. Should have it back in about a week, but i'm not sure if i'll have the rest of the car ready by then.

Also I decided to give up my excessive speeding for lent as it was the only thing i could think of that would actually be a real challenge. Well driving down to Maryland to get the head dropped off (as well as pick up some used rims and tires) was tough to stay slow. The truck speedometer registers higher than it is actually going though so that helped it feel a little faster. I'm trying to stay within 5mph of the speed limit, but i'm not going to make that a hard and fast rule as sometimes going slow is more dangerous. For example when i was on 695 i was doing around 5 over or so and was being passed on both sides on a 4 lane road so that is being an obstacle. A few times i sped up without thinking, but then came back down after i realized. It definitely is keeping me focused on why I am doing it too which is good. Much better to be thinking about what God wants than to be cursing people for going to slowly.

Hmm guess...

Yup thats right, the squirrel came back again and i locked it out again and it got around it and came back. I keep upping the difficulty and it keeps coming back, I think i'll be able to outsmart it though so we'll see if it gets back this time. I guess it would be pretty funny for the readers if i ended up locking it in the wall when i closed off its entrance. Don't worry, i'll let ya know.

On another note, a musical one actually. I picked up the guitar again tonight after a long break. Haven't touched it since around the time of the poem i wrote actually. I'm trying to keep from the songs i was playing, but so far i've been ok.

Squirrels AGAIN!! Oh and the garage

So i heard another squirrel in the garage and i managed to trap it and take it far away. Hopefully no more will get in there, but it is easy to put a trap up there to only get the ones that are already in there so that's ok. Unfortunately last night i was trying to sleep and i heard the squirrel in my wall again!! I opened up the wall and looked in and saw the thing, but it didn't leave. I tried to make more noise and get it to leave and it might have moved, but i need to get it out and redo the chimney cover again i guess.

As for the garage i think i finally got the ranger working!! The clutch system doesn't have air in it after the tricky bleeding procedure. The thermostat has been replaced so it will actually get up to temperature. Last but not least, I got 4WD to work!!! I bought WARN manual hubs and swapped them in so i should never have that same probelm again. Now if i can just find a good place to take it for some off roading!

bye bye squirrel

This morning i checked the trap i set in the garage and found a squirrel in it! I took it miles away and set it free. Through reading i have learned that this may not be as humane as it seems though since squirrels are territorial. However it did need to be removed from my property as it could cause a fire potentially since it already ate through a few of the wires out there. As for the one that was in my wall i think i might have gotten rid of that one too, but only time will tell if it was effective. I ended up pulling the trim off the wall with a crowbar and that scared the squirrel a bit. Eventually i ended up prying part of the wall away until i could see into it's home and it had left. It turns out this was some sort of fireplace at one time so i then went and bought some "hardware cloth" to set up a squirrel guard for the chimney. Hopefully i sealed it off well enough and nothing else remains. If so then i'll try to figure out what i want to do with the area that it was living in. I'll at least double check the wiring as an outlet is close by. If anyone else has this problem i'd recommend checking the internet for yourself, but it looks like traps and exclusions are the only way to deal with them properly. Deterrents don't' seem to be recommended by anyone but the sellers.

Using the garage

I worked on the Eclipse today. Had a friend help me take the head off. That's digging further than either of us have actually done before so it was interesting. Not to mention the peculiarities of my particular car as well. All things considered i think it went fairly well though. Now i have more work to do including finding a machine shop to deck the head for me. I'll also be taking the opportunity to do some other maintenance and perhaps even cleaning in the engine bay. In addition to having a friend help, this day was also made possible by borrowing a kerosene heater from my old neighbors.

I also found out that the squirrel in the garage has more than one way in so i'll have to work harder to get rid of him. For starters a live trap has been set, i'll have to think what to do with it though after i catch it. Still got something in the wall in the house too. That one really bugs me some mornings.

I feel like today was quite productive i got to use some different tools and buy new ones even. My back will probably remind me of the work i did by tomorrow though.

Squirrel?

I'm really sick of squirrels! I found one above my cars in the garage and I think i sufficiently kicked him out the other day. I woke up today to some scratching in the wall of my bedroom though. It was just a few minutes before my alarm so that wasn't horrible, but i definitely want to get rid of it. That isn't really an easy task though when something is in the wall! If i ever figure out how to deal with this i'll try to remember to share though incase anyone else is unfortunate enough to suffer from the same problem. The one in the garage ate a lot of wires so the radio doesn't play through the garage anymore and the garage door openers aren't working either.

Ok just had to share some of the frustrations. Tomorrow I am gonna try to tear the head off the eclipse and see how everything looks (needs a headgasket).

Rambling and Snow

Not sure how many people continue to read this, but I suppose I will keep updating it anyway. I noticed that now that i don't have cable anymore i seem to want to watch tv more often. Go figure. Although i think it has something to do with wanting distractions lately too.

There was a bit of snow last night and it made the ride to guard this morning a little rough, but i suppose that's what i get for driving a miata. I did find the problem with the Ford though. It had auto hubs which always work....until you need them to! It's ok though because my Eclipse actually works well at pulling my miata through the snow anyway. Yes i actually pulled a sports car out of the snow with another sports car while the 4x4 truck sat on jackstands.

Leap of Faith

The past week has been quite tough for me, but I feel that I have grown in my faith considerably. Bringing up religious topics has always been difficult for me, but it has been unavoidable and comforting lately. I now have a story that there is no possible way to explain without sharing my faith and the new found depths and trials of it. My friendships have been strengthened by these conversations as well. At church I am even choked up through the songs most of the time. Although I am grateful for these things and the push that God has given me, this has still been one of the most difficult times I can remember. Fortunately I know God is close and I am no longer afraid to mention that.

Growing Apart

Though I have seen magnificent beauty in you,
You are but a budding rose on the vine of life.
If I were to snatch you for my own
I could never provide for you all that you need
and you would surely wither and die
before reaching your full majestic beauty

We were once growing close on the vine,
but now we must grow apart.
Know that I will always gaze admiringly
at you from my place on this vine of life.

I will rejoice whenever God's winds blow us close,
and will always hope that He will one day grow us back together.

FIOS

I just signed up for Verizon's Fiber optic broadband service today. I should have it installed on Feb 6th. They were lame with the timing though 8am-5pm Oh well i cancelled my cable so that as soon as this period is up i'll have no cable for tv since i dont watch it, but i'll also have an extra 50 bucks a month or so. I might get satellite or wait for FIOS TV. We'll see, if i don't like it i have 30 days to cancel.

Insulation

I worked with my brother and put in lots more insulation in the house today. That should be really nice if it gets colder again. It seems that the rolls are easier to work with than the rectangle pieces if anyone cares. Oh and it's R30 which is heavy duty stuff. I figured the 50 yr old house was a bit lacking in this area along with some others, but they will be different days.

Air compressor

There was an air compressor for sale at home depot that looked to be a good deal and hopefully about the right size for what i need. It isn't the biggest, but hopefully i'll be able to use it for working on the cars. I don't mind having excuses to buy tools like that anyway. Now i'll just need more free time to do some catch up maintenance on the cars from while i was away.

Didn't work

Well the computer still locked up. I can't really think of other things that could be causing it since i replaced so many things and there is now warning or error message recorded. This time it was while i was using internet explorer, but that isn't the only time it happens. Oh well, maybe i'll just try to find other things to do. I still wish this worked though!

computer lockups

I have bought so many new things for this computer that it isnt really the same computer anymore. However it has still been locking up and rebooting etc. I just changed out the one hard drive that was pretty much the last piece of the original computer so hopefully it will work now. This has been extremely aggrivating for me since computers are my thing and it was bothering me for so long. It hasn't been long enough to prove it fixed the problem, but it hasn't locked up yet!!