A blog/journal about my life and the stuff I like. Popular subjects include music, guitars, gear, books, movies, video games, technology, humor.
I was reviewing our mortgage statement and realized we owe more on the new HVAC system than we do on the house. I suppose that’s progress. We should have the house paid off at the end of the year and then hopefully we can get the new HVAC paid off before the downstairs unit gives up the ghost.
I managed to get through the dental travails, none the worse for wear. I think we’ve settled on this new dental clinic as our permanent choice. They don’t push unnecessary procedures, and the appointment and co-pay process is painless. Aeyong has been there a few times, and things have gone relatively smoothly.
This spring has been a wet one for North Texas, and as luck would have it, the rains have come at a very inopportune time for us. I had started to address some bare spots in the lawn with a seed fabric (Growtrax), and while I was in the process, I thought it would make more sense to try and rejuvenate the entire front yard. Mother nature thought otherwise. The fabric is susceptible to high winds and heavy rain. We tried to time the installation for a calm day, which was several days before the next rain forecast.
We didn’t look close at the rain forecast, it was predicted at around 50% so we didn’t have much concern. Famous last words. We received record rainfall that weekend and similar torrential rains for the next two weekends. Much of the material and seeds washed out, leaving the lawn with many bare spots. I decided to put any lawn rejuvenation on hold until the spring rains had died down. That means late June at the earliest.
In the meantime, I think it was sometime in May that the upstairs HVAC started struggling. To cut the story short, several different companies came out, and all of them recommended a new system (surprise, surprise). We got a fairly wide range of estimates, none of which were cheap. During this process, an HVAC contractor (Atlas AC) that hosts a YouTube channel came up in my feed. I had watched a few of their videos and liked their transparency about the process and prices. As luck would have it, they are headquartered in Texas, and they serve our area.
They publish all their prices online, and there’s a tool to design your own system and get a cost estimate. The prices were much more reasonable and I didn’t have to worry about any gotchas or last-minute changes. I had them come out and estimate our needs, and then we purchased the new system. We had a few payment options, including paying cash outright, using our credit cards, or financing it through their affiliated credit company, CreditHuman.
We didn’t want to take on more debt just as we were getting close to paying off the only remaining debt we had, which was our mortgage. But, we didn’t want to use our emergency cash to pay for something we could get financed. We decided to withdraw $5K from our TSP (IRA), which has had a good year. We’ll end up paying a 10% early withdrawal penalty in addition to taxes, but for something as important as HVAC in Texas, we decided this was a worthy exception.
The install didn’t go as smoothly as desired, we had everything from one of the installers falling off the attic ladder (due to their own incompetence) as well as the outside condenser getting dented at some point in the delivery and installation process. The good news is that Atlas AC stands behind their services and products, and they came back out to replace the damaged condenser with a new one and assess and clean up some residual trash and damage. They also installed two new closet AC runs that were supposed to be installed during the initial visit. During the first visit, the installer removed the attic ladder hinges and springs, and when they put them back together, they didn’t replace some framing nails holding the ladder securely. The installer also damaged our wall when he fell. Atlas AC scheduled a handyman to come out and repair the damage. He’s been out to check and should return sometime next week to make the repairs. All’s well that ends well, and overall we’re happy with the result and will probably use them again when the downstairs unit inevitably needs replacement.
I’ve continued on my primary creative disciplines of 3D and guitar. The other disciplines have been on hold with all the additional concerns of the lawn, HVAC, Aeyong’s medical issues (routine) and the thousand little daily distractions. I resume my guitar studies at Berklee on Monday week, so I’ve been reviewing all the level 1-3 material as well as starting on the level 4 material. I should have enough remaining benefits to complete the Guitar Performance degree with only one semester of the private guitar instruction remaining that I’ll have to pay for myself. I’ve fought against a lack of motivation for more of the theory fire hydrant, but I know that if I don’t take advantage of these remaining benefits, I’ll likely look back on it as a failure. I hope with some deeper immersion (meaning more dedication to the guitar program), that I’ll finally be able to absorb this knowledge and these techniques into my automatic vocabulary on the instrument. All with the main goal of writing great songs, and not necessarily in line with the focus and intent of many of Berklee’s instructors.
As time is of the essence, I decided to try and finish (reset) my yard renovations before the start of the summer semester. While we were laying the yard fabric, a part of one of the rolls came loose and a bunch of seeds spilled out in a pile. We had already laid fabric around it and didn’t want to walk on it, so we just left the pile as it was. Lo and behold, that particular patch was the only part of the new lawn that grew in as thick and lush as we desired. The remainder of the fabric grew in sparse and thin. The good news is I finally have evidence that a thick, lush lawn is possible if the appropriate steps are taken.
I ended up watering with less volume but more frequently that I had with new seed in the past. The other lesson I think I’ve learned is that I need to ensure the seed is at least partially pushed into the soil as opposed to just broadcast spreading and hoping for the best. To that end, I decided to follow the lead of some successful YouTubers and employ several techniques for the first time. Namely, I’m getting five yards of enriched topsoil delivered so I can level out several low areas while providing a nutrient-dense base for the new seed. I’ll be using a lawn levelling rake to get the topsoil spread and levelled, and then I’ll probably give the topsoil a light scarification before laying down a new seed. I’ve purchased some common Bermuda with added fertilizer and some premium Bermuda hybrid seeds. Yesterday I scalped the lawn (for the second time this year), scarified the soil, and then laid down the Anderson’s PGF fertilizer in preparation for the new topsoil coming next week. I also need to install this yard barrier against the sidewalk to keep the new topsoil from washing out on the sidewalk.
When I ordered the topsoil, there was no rain forecast for the next several weeks, but, when I looked at today’s forecast, next week there is now, wait for it, rain in the forecast. I’ve already pulled the trigger on the topsoil and paid for it, and with Berklee starting up again the following week, there won’t be another good time until the fall. I don’t want to try to replant the yard during the hottest time of the year (July-August) despite reports that Bermuda can handle it.
We’re beginning the transition into Texas summer and the lovely swelter of many months. We still have some relatively mild weather for the next few weeks, so I’ve been checking off my yard reboot task list. As of yesterday, I’ve completed manual aeration of both front and back yards, and I fertilized and seeded the front on Tuesday. Today I’ll finish that off for the back yard. The ratios and spreader settings are a bit sketchy, but I was trying to follow the recommendations from the soil sample testing I had done. As I may have mentioned, our yard was deficient in most nutrients, with only calcium and sulfur being overly abundant. I’m curious if that’s an issue of toxicity, or it just lays inert, so to speak, if the plant life isn’t using it. This is based on the assumption that my core sample mixture was representative.
Core aeration is not something I wish to perform manually for the entire yard again. It’s a tedious and cumulatively arduous task that would go exponentially faster with a machine. I ran into enough roadblocks trying to rent one or get the service performed that I got fed up and just decided to pay $36 and do it myself. I don’t regret the decision and the tool will come in handy in the future, because I’m sure there are nooks and crevices that the machine can’t reach. That said, my plan for the future is to hire a guy (as you do) to have this service performed in the fall and spring. This is assuming I can see some tangible improvements. Hopefully, the assortment of interventions (dethatching, scarifying, raking, aeration, raking, seeding, fertilizing, mowing, watering) will pay off with a thick, and dark green lawn. I have some iron supplement to provide more color if needed, but I’m holding off on that until the new seed is established.
The soil test lab recommended potash and phosphorus as well as “my choice of micronutrients” to get the soil into shape. I’m not sure I got the ratios right, but hopefully there’s enough of the potassium and phosphorus in particular to make up the deficit. I followed those two select ratios with your more standard fertilizer comprised of nitrogen and the typical cross section of micronutrients. Hopefully this won’t burn out the lawn. It’s a lot of supplements at once, hopefully in the future I’ll only need one standard fertilizer to complement the overseeding.
Despite waxing agricultural, I don’t want to dedicate any more time to this than is absolutely necessary. Our yard/soil had been neglected or at least hadn’t had focused supplementation since we moved in, so it was due for more TLC than would normally be necessary. We’ll see how things go. I’ll be watering twice daily for the next few weeks (not counting rainy days) so hopefully the new bermuda seed will germinate and take root. We have a few large bare patches in the back yard that are competing with trees and a reduced amount of sunlight exposure. I’ll see how overseeding goes there. We may eventually decide those areas should just be patios. One project at a time.
I got a second set of overhead storage shelves for the garage, but I’m going to delay installation until next week. We also got a paint sprayer so we can hit the garage door and fence, but that’s also going to wait until at least next week. I’m only going to engage in time-swallowing projects one day at a time. Today I’ll complete the back yard fertilization and overseeding since there’s a limited amount of effective time after aeration that it will make a difference. I think the aeration should have some long term benefits beyond just the seeding/fertilization, mainly in drainage and water/nutrient distribution, but the time for overseeding/fertilization is within 48 hours of aeration.
Continuing on this post a day later - I discovered my core aeration efforts in the front yard are giving me some extra work and additional practice at sprinkler system repair. To my chagrin, I learned the drip tubing on the streetside strip is only buried about 3-4 inches deep, so the core aerator punctured the lines in several locations. I’m going to need to buy a roll of tubing and some connectors and perform several repairs. As I’ve stated before in many different contexts, failure can be a great teacher.
I had performed a few google searches about sprinkler pipe depth but I guess I was using the wrong nomenclature and I should have searched drip tubing. When I searched for underground sprinkler rubber tubing repair I eventually discovered it’s called drip tubing in the industry and now I know it’s buried at a shallower depth. Not a devastating error, just some more sweat equity and a serving or two of humble pie.
Although not my intention, each project seems to beget more projects. My hope is to get most of this lawn and short term DIY stuff knocked out so I can get back to my core (no pun intended) disciplines. I definitely plan on availing myself of the core aeration service in the fall.
I took the Pathfinder in for an estimate of repairs to fix the gas neck issue that’s plagued us for years. I had found a service bulletin which I assumed meant it was a recall type issue, but I’ve learned that even though a service bulletin might get published, it doesn’t equate to a recall. So, I paid $120 to have Don Davis Nissan tell me it will be an additional $405 just to get a look at what’s wrong in particular.
No idea of what additional costs I might have to pay to actually get it fixed. It’s a pain in the ass to fill it up, but not a $500 to possibly $1000 (or more depending on how gougy they feel on that particular day) of a pain in the ass. I’ll just suck it up with my slow fill ups every couple of weeks. I only use it two days a week and eventually I want to get an electric car, but I’m putting that off until well after we pay off the house if possible.
On the workfront, things have settle into a tolerably predictable flow with VES. I’m slowly learning the techniques to avoid QA addendums. It goes against my long established habits when working directly for the VA, but ultimately it’s a losing battle against their policies, so I’ve adjusted to their preferences. I’ve learned that you really only want to address exactly what’s on a claim unless it’s a gen med “all conditions found…” type of exam. They invariably will ask to remove any conditions not mentioned on the claim, whether they are valid or not.
The DBQs are so much more convoluted on the VES side, and just ripe with opportunities for errors of omission. That’s one of many things I preferred about the VA’s version. Auto-negative functions like greying out irrelevant follow-up question were pretty standard, but the QA on the actual forms themselves is significantly lacking at VES. I guess they prefer to pay people to do it rather than build it into the forms.
Also of note, I had gotten a text from a former co-worker stating that “they” were looking to bring me back on as fee-basis at FWOPC. Apparently the low productivity rate of the federales has caught up with them again. Amazing, considering how far their numbers have dropped since most exam requests have been diverted to outside contractors. From what this co-worker said, even the contractors can’t keep up. I’ve seen a few announcements on the VES website that corroborate this, they did request for providers to provide additional booking days if available since there was a backlog.
All that said, I haven’t heard a peep so far. The co-worker had said they only wanted to ask me to come back, which indicates it’s not an enormous backlog, but in my estimation it’s probably those big cases that all the federales avoid. One big issue is my credentials being expired. In typical VA timeframes, that means it would likely be another 2 months to get me back on board. I’m wondering if they’ll go with a second or third choice from any of the providers who still have active credentials. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re going for a quick fix and not thinking long term. Letting my credentials expire proves how nearsighted they can be.
If they aren’t willing to make the effort to get my credentials renewed, I’m not confident it would be worth the trouble. I definitely prefer fee-basis as I’m sure I’ve said ad nauseam in the past. The pay is better, the schedule is preferable, and the frustration index is significantly lower. We’ll see. At least I’ve settled into a livable lifestyle with VES and we can maintain this indefinitely if needed.
In Texas, at least. After a slow start, it appears all of our trees, most of our shrubs and the lawn are making a full recovery from Snowmageddon ‘21. Our biggest tree, the one out front which was planted when they built the house, was probably the slowest to sprout buds. For awhile, I had serious concerns that it didn’t make it through the four day hard freeze back in February. Thankfully, it finally began to display some buds and eventually a full complement of leaves to get that good ‘ole photosynthesis jam going. By current estimates, it’s mainly some potted plants that appear to have met their demise. We have a few shrubs that look dead to me, but Aeyong is optimistic that by cutting them down to their base we’ll encourage some new growth from the roots. We’ll see. If they don’t recover, shrubs are easy enough to replace.
In that horticultural vein, I’ve taken a bit more interest in getting the yard in good trim. I apologize, that wasn’t intended as a pun, but now it is, so there. You’re welcome. We haven’t really gone to any great lengths with our yard, other than regular mowing and seasonal fertilization and occasional seeding. The front has remained pretty thick and healthy, but the backyard has some bare patches, including one large swath of dirt in the back corner. I’m going to try de-thatching and scarifying with, you guessed it, our new de-thatcher/scarifier. Hopefully it will clear up a lot of dead grass and leaves and open up the soil to allow more root growth and nutrient/water transfer where it’s needed. Along with that, I’ve got a big bag of Humic DG which is supposed to enhance nutrient absorption and improve soil structure. It’s a bunch of small spherical granules that disperse into the soil, some of which immediately break down into humic and fulvic acid, combining with essential nutrients and persisting in the soil to allow plant absorption for extended periods of time. The humate portion remains even longer, thereby further extending that nutrient cycle.
I’ve seen a few customer testimonials and just Humic DG alone can make a big difference to yards, plants, and larger agricultural applications. My plan is to de-thatch, scarify, mow up the detritus (I have so few opportunities to use that word, so back off), and then lay down probably half the 40 pound bag of Humic. I’ll be seeding and fertilizing in the near future, but I do want to give the yard a little time to recover so I’ll probably wait a few days to a week to do that. Not everyone recommends seeding in the spring, but our bare patches definitely need it. I probably need to get some peat moss to mix with the seed. Although it probably sounds like I’ve gone all 4H (when I was in school it was all farm kids, I’m probably showing my age), but I really just want a nice green lawn that I can maintain. I don’t want to spend a great deal of additional time keeping it in shape. Hopefully some well timed interventions will get it ready for summer.
In other developments, I got my second COVID vaccination last Wednesday, and the side effects were slightly worse, I suppose. The arm soreness was about the same, but I think I felt some more systemic effects this time. It’s a bit hard to tell because the day of the vaccination I also ran (a modified attempt at resumption that was triggered by the broken elliptical) and scalped the lawn. Scalping the lawn (and bagging the clippings) is something that’s useful to do 1-2 times per year based on the advice I’ve seen. It’s somewhat like de-thatching, I suppose. In my yard’s case, it takes considerably more effort to push the mower across high spots in the ground. All that to say, the additional fatigue I felt the day after was probably a combination of the vaccination and the physical efforts of the day before. I also woke up around midnight feeling febrile, but didn’t bother checking my temperature. I just took a gram of Tylenol every six hours for the first day or so and things slowly got better. As I’ve said, eminently better than getting sick with COVID.
Things at work are going well. I’ve worked in the new location the last two weekends, and it’s a nice setting. Essentially the same drive as before with the last two miles being on surface streets. VES has been keeping me gainfully scheduled, one weekend at a time. My no-show rate has dropped a bit, down to only 15% of the last two weekends. I’ve been averaging about $2500 per weekend, which is okay. I’ve been hoping to maintain closer to $3K per weekend, for a monthly total of $12K. Based on how they’ve been filling my schedule (partially) and the no-show rate, I’m not sure that’s achievable with only a two day workweek. At least it’s adequate for our financial goals of paying the house off slightly faster and maintaining a discretionary income. I only want to work enough for those two criteria, as I really value my free time.
Back to homefront matters, Aeyong is recovering fairly well. She had her cast removed the week before last, and she’s jumped back in to her normal routine. Maybe a bit too hard because she’s got some wrist swelling today and will need to rest a bit. She’s been catching up on several things she wanted to accomplish including trimming and bathing all the girls. She also has been out in the yard working, and this weekend she decided to help me out by dusting and cleaning the bathrooms upstairs. That was a nice surprise because it had been nagging me for several weeks and I had been too busy with regular work and work around the house. Still, she’s probably paying for the uptick in activity right now.
I’ve been trying to improve the garage layout the last few weeks to coincide with efforts in the yard. I installed some overhead storage shelves and moved the treadmill and elliptical all the way back against the wall. Not a huge change, but the added floor space has been nice. We took the vertical shelves that were previously on the back wall and moved them into the laundry room, giving us some more storage space in there. We had a little half shelf in the laundry room before, and now that has moved to the garage as a rolling storage cart for our air compressor and shop vac. I’ll eventually install another identical set of overhead shelves in the other garage slot and hopefully free up another section of the floor. Eventually I want to have a rolling workbench with some good working tools - table saw, miter saw, router, and maybe a few other tools depending on how things develop. I’m going to try to ease into woodworking, but I already have all sorts of ideas for projects. I don’t know if it’s just a natural part of aging, or a genetic thing I get from my father. He was definitely a DIYer at his core. Nature, nurture, or perhaps a bit of both?
After all this fairly mundane material, I haven’t stopped pursuing my core disciplines, although there have been more days “off” when I was working at VES or had my time manhandled by DIY, medical, etc. issues. I finished a Premiere Pro course, and I’ve just started a Photoshop course. I also signed up for a basic piano course, mostly to cover some fundamentals that I know I’ve been lacking. I’ve really only slowly learned songs and then just spent my time practicing them, but I haven’t spent any considerable time at learning scales, improvisation and some of the basic skill set I need if I want to advance further. The same could be said for my other disciplines as well. I’m alternating my drumming practice between Mike Michalkow’s course and trying to learn Xanadu for the eventual Rush AFTK deep dive video. Check back next year, probably. Then there’s also bass, guitar, singing, drawing, writing, learning to speak/read/write Korean. Not to mention maintaining my CMEs for work. The days are just packed, and that’s how I like it.
After a tumultuous week in the aftermath of Aeyong’s injury, we finally got into to see her pcm and had the referral submitted right then. The office visit with the orthopedic surgeon was approved by the time we got in our car, and we went and saw him yesterday. We had to go to Harris Hospital in Ft Worth, where I had my right knee surgery back in ‘81ish. I’m not sure how old Harris is, but it’s pretty long in the tooth. As we tried to find our destination, we engaged in some of our age old raving and drooling as we negotiated the turns and twists that every hospital complex seems to build into its infrastructure.
The actual entrance to the Ben Hogan facility (I think it’s mostly sports medicine/ortho) was in a loading dock, I think selected for COVID flow control. We were checked in quickly and everyone rolled pretty smoothly. They shot new x-rays and gave her a new fiberglass splint that’s going to have a shelf life of less than 36 hours methinks. Her surgery was put on the schedule for the next day (today) and we’re heading over to check in at 0630.
Dr. Niacaris seemed nice and professional. He is planning on using a plate to stabilize her fracture and thinks it’s possible she’ll need the plate removed in four to six months, since it’s a little large for her wrist size. He’s not sure, but stated the possibility was higher given that her frame is small. All the medical treatment parts of this process have been pretty good. The USMD ER visit went about as well as it could - they got her in quick, managed her pain, got her sedated and partially reduced, and then got it adequately stabilized for her to get through the week until seen by ortho.
The ortho clinic itself went well - we didn’t wait long to get in and there was no part of the process where we were kept waiting very long for them to complete all their tasks. Interestingly, there was no real pre-op other than the x-rays. I think it’s a function of COVID now that she is getting all her pre-op labs done the morning of the procedure. I assume they want to minimize the number of hospital visits.
It’s a same-day surgery, so hopefully everything will go well and we’ll be back home this afternoon. I assume her pain will be worse for a few days, but hopefully she can start healing properly and I also hope she won’t need an additional surgery a few months down the line.
Progress never waits and I had my first IMO (independent medical opinion) from VES this morning. It’s a case from last month that I had seen, and I was surprised they presented it this way because it means they actually have to pay me for it. When I checked into my VES portal, I also saw they had added a patient for March 13th. I hadn’t told them to resume my schedule, but I think I must have mentioned that weekend as my likely return. That actually works with what I’ve been thinking, so I told them to resume scheduling. This will give us a few more free weekends to get her through the initial recovery stage.
Regardless, I’m only out of the house for about 8 hours on two days, so she should be able to attend to whatever she needs while I’m out. We’ve been engaging in a bit of nail biting and hair pulling while sweating out our Tricare approvals, but so far they’ve gone through okay. We paid our co-pay for the surgery and the lady in billing stated we had $54 left in our deductible. I’m still not sure what that means, because I can’t seen anything in our Tricare self-service portal that reflects that amount.
Outpatient surgeries are supposed to have a $63 deductible, so it’s not immediately clear to me why it’s slightly reduced. We have a catastrophic cap and point of service limit, but our information indicates there’s still plenty of room within those. All that said, the estimated cost of the surgery is $63,000 and we’re paying $54 so far, so it’s completely acceptable. I think that’s just an estimate for typical procedures like hers, we’ll know the actual costs after the fact. We’re very thankful to have good health insurance, we know there are many underinsured or non-insured people who would be financially devastated by an event like this.
Among the “highlights” - had my VA PIV card renewed for the fourth time, so I’m good for another three years, and this marks my nine-year anniversary (albeit a month early) with VANTHCS. Ironic that I mark the occasion while being laid off at present. I’m remaining optimistic that I’ll eventually be able to return to work and continue pushing forward to our midterm financial goals and then settle into what will hopefully be the indefinite future work schedule of one to two days a week for a total of four to eight days a month. After the mortgage is paid off, this should keep us comfortably in the black with a generous discretionary income.
Yesterday marked my fifty-third trip around the sun, shared with a few musical heroes including Kate Bush and Geddy Lee the day before. I cooked some enchiladas that turned out better than the first attempt last week. I decided to forego homemade tortillas and enchilada sauce this time, and used steak meat instead of pork. I was much more satisfied with the result. Some sprinkled avocado and lettuce on top helped complete the effect. The tortillas and enchilada sauce are easy to make, but they add extra time and I honestly didn’t think the recipe suffered using the premade. Later today I’m going to make a belated birthday cake, trying my hand at red velvet this time.
My birthday was one of those mornings where I had gone to bed early and then awoke around 2 am, unable to get back to sleep, and ultimately surrendered and got up. I decided to make some effective use of my time by attempting the texturing step of my very drawn out drywall repair project. Not a resounding success because I don’t think the pattern I laid down was exactly right for the existing knockdown texture from the home builder. It looks better than smooth drywall mud, although there were a few spots where I did get some flat effects that I didn’t want. Being that the repairs are on the garage wall and the back corner/closet of my drum room, I’m probably going to accept them as is and paint over them.
The result will not be professional to the extent that you can’t tell there was every a patch there, but I think they’ll fly for now. We’re not planning on ever selling the house now, so the only people it would bother would be me and Aeyong. She hasn’t uttered a word so far, so I’m thinking she won’t really care. I’ll get her feedback once it’s done. If she absolutely hates it I might try a bottle of the spray-on texture, which I think might make the process a bit easier.
I have several more DIY projects in mind, including a few more steps in the whole house network project, and then I’ve got some ideas to improve our storage and tool organization in the garage. This will be time and bank balance dependent. Much later on and contingent on a return to work I have plans for expanding the home theater to Dolby Atmos (arguably overkill, but still), making some further upgrades to the home network including a proper server, power over ethernet, and upgrading to a 10gigabit switcher. None of this is essential, and definitely in the discretionary category.
I should probably also mention that during this increased period of DIY activity, I’ve taken an unplanned break from practicing. It started based on although the clutter and mess in the drum room but continued based on the shift of my daily energies to multiple tasks that ultimately sapped the energy I desire to effectively practice. It’s only temporary, and after having taken breaks in the past (mostly to heal from repetitive strain issues), I know that there’s a value in stepping away for a bit. Once I get this current DIY project behind me, I’ll get back into my normal schedule. I’m close at present, but there’s still some painting, finishing touches, and decluttering ahead.
I’m not sure what’s motivating me to post more after months of silence, maybe it’s just taking time for things to sort of settle with the big shift in lifestyle. As mentioned before, there have been more cooking and DIY activities as of late. Although these aren’t completely new, I’ve definitely had more time to engage in these activities. Many things have been put off for years when I was working because I used my free time for music practice primarily, and never felt motivated to get the gears turning on larger tasks.
With this latest round of projects, I’ve been approaching them incrementally. With rare exception, I have certain daily activities I will always engage in - walking the dogs, exercise, basic maintenance like showering and washing clothes, and usually practicing a few instruments. My more recent DIY projects have included whole house ethernet including moving the modem and router to upstairs locations as well as upgrades to my switching system. I’ve also made some minor changes/upgrades to the home theater with the addition of a speaker wall plate and ensuring all the devices have wired ethernet courtesy of the new router location. In the process, there’s been a fair amount of running cables through the attic and down through walls, resulting in a fair amount of damage to the drywall in the garage and drum room especially.
This has necessitated the purchase of some new tools and supplies so I can hopefully by the time I’m finished have a decent result that at least looks passable if not like new. I know that’s achievable, but my recent experience hasn’t elevated my skills to the level of a professional. All this rehashing to say that it’s satisfying to pick a goal for any given day and accomplish it without any great snags. Yesterday was a decent day in that regard. One of the casualties of my recent cable relocations in the home theater was the original HDMI cable for the projector that had been there since we moved in seven years ago. Too many twists and kinks corrupted the signal, so it was time to replace it. Our attic compares favorably to a suburban squeeze sauna Mirkwood forest, and the area over the home theater is bramble central. Thankfully the total distance of the cable run from equipment rack to projector is relatively short (less than ten feet in the actual room), but getting there and getting the cable through the particular openings in the wall/ceiling is akin to being hogtied while trying to play twister on a tightrope over a bed of liquid hot magma.
I did discover an easier way to get the cables through the projector mast (read - I had routed the original cable through a narrow opening that wasn’t the intended and much easier route) and so after wrestling with the cables a bit I managed to get them where they needed to go with an adequate amount of slack. I also ran some CAT 6 cable along with the new 4K HDMI for a few reasons. One, the projector has an ethernet jack that I originally thought was for connectivity and firmware updates, but now I’m thinking it’s more for control devices. The other advantage to having ethernet there is that if I eventually get an HDMI balun, it will allow me to send the video signal as well as IR and a few other control schemes via just the ethernet cable which is easier to run and more resistant to damage than the HDMI cable.
All that rambling to say that I managed to pull it off and the home theater is back to full functioning. I still have some house cleaning to do on the wall (missing a plate for a new hole) and I’ve got future upgrade plans that I’ll address in the years to come. I had thought of hiring an audio/video installer to handle an upgrade to ATMOS ceiling speakers, but after all this crawling around I think I might be able to handle it myself. But that’s a project for a way down the road and not until I return to some sort of employment.
I’m going to piecemeal the remaining tasks which are initially finishing the drywall repair and then I start focusing on clean up/organization of the video room and server closet.
This may be the biggest gap between posts in several years. As of my last updates, I was laid off at the end of March, and here we are four months later with no end in sight. This pandemic has shifted mindsets and people’s general philosophies of life and work, and I’ve been no exception. I’ve not been depressed or succumbed to a long term funk, but there has been a shift in purpose and a slowing of pace. I was already ambivalent about many things that other people obsess over, but these tendencies have coalesced further.
To the surprise of no one, the current administration has not only grievously mishandled the pandemic, but they’ve also arguably taken actions to make it worse for most Americans. The US has suffered the worst outcomes from this plague, currently with over 140,000 deaths and nearing four million confirmed cases. Multiple republican lead states tried to rush back into normal operations way too soon and are now seeing spikes in their numbers, notably my home of residence, Texas. Thankfully, the rich have continued to get richer in no small part at the hands of the republican senate and white house. I very naively thought that even they would still possess a shred of ethics and human sympathy given the international disaster, but their greed knows no bounds.
At work, they have nationally adopted a three-phase return to normal operations plan that is mostly based on delaying routine and non-life saving care until the numbers plateau and begin to decrease. It appeared our first efforts to lock down and distance were having a beneficial effect on the trends, but the rush back to “normal” has dealt some severe setbacks so the VA needle has gone back to zero at present. In a recent presentation, the director in Dallas predicted that we were only 1/8th of the way through the pandemic, meaning it would take two years to run its course. There has been some promising news about successful vaccine trials in the UK and elsewhere, so it remains to be seen if we may see a viable and available vaccine by year’s end. That being said, I can only expect our current executive branch will find a way to screw that up as well.
Right now I’d be happy to return to work in 2020, but it’s feeling more and more like it will be 2021 or even later. We’ve been trying to keep our heads above water financially, and so far we’re still holding on. Our cash reserves have dipped from their pre-layoff levels, but we’ve also had several unplanned (and not necessarily essential) expenditures. Among these were a new lawnmower, several new tools (cordless drill, oscillator, etc.), new bulb for the projector, new battery for the Highlander, and the single biggest expenditure - the Gandalf/Frodo masters collection statue I had put a big down payment on last year. I would never have made this purchase in our current situation, but it’s a very limited edition and I would have forfeited the down payment if I canceled. It’s rare enough that I know I can sell it for a tidy sum in the future, although I have no plans to do so.
The tool (and supplies) purchases were part of a DIY project to finally run ethernet to all the rooms upstairs as well as make a modest upgrade to my switching setup. The layoff has shifted a lot of my priorities and I’ve been spending more time on cooking and DIY projects. I’m still practicing guitar, drums, keys, and vocals although bass has been neglected for several months. I also lost the spark for writing, drawing, and Korean language study but I have plans to resume. My typical day has been wake-up/coffee/casual internet, walk the dogs, exercise, and then some combination of practice with maybe some cooking depending on the amount of leftovers available. This is generally followed by maybe some reading, video games, and then television/movies/youtube.
With every day being a blank canvas, I don’t typically push things too hard to completion knowing I’ll have plenty of time to finish them in the future. This has resulted in the ethernet project being strung out over several weeks, although this has partly been predicated by incremental purchases as I’ve realized I need additional items. Ultimately, I’d like to have all my various rooms wired for ethernet and able to access the home network for file sharing at the best possible speeds and security. I’m essentially already there for the critical rooms and I only need to install one more drop in the “Forge” as I’m now calling it. This is the combination drawing/craft table and guest bedroom. The ethernet drop will go in the wall behind the tv and is not a high priority at present. It’s more likely to become useful if I ever place an actual PC or Mac in that room.
I’ve set up a “server” (sans server at present) closet in the video room, along with all the camera supplies. Eventual plans include custom-built shelving along the walls and probably a server rack (and server). These are long-range and likely more dependent on whether I return to work, especially the server. In the immediate future I need to organize the clutter and implement some cable management. I’ve got the ONT cable run from the garage up through the drum room closet and into the attic, then across the attic to my server closet.
A single ethernet cable runs from there to the wireless router in the home theater. This serves the entire house for wireless internet. It feeds a cable that runs back to the old location in the master bedroom closet where a switch feeds drops to several downstairs locations. These came with the house and are unused at present because Aeyong only uses wireless (phone, iPad, MacBook), but I’m leaving them connected in case. Two cables come out of the switcher back up into the attic and feed drops in my control room and drum room, respectively. These were run after we moved in by milestone electric and my recent DIY forays revealed the piecemeal nature of their work.
The installer essentially just found the path of least resistance so he ran the ethernet drop for the drum room down the same hole as the electric wiring and I haven’t looked up close, but I’m guessing it’s the same for the control room. Thankfully this doesn’t seem to have negatively affected the performance, although I may move those drops slightly in the future, time and motivation allowing. I’ve done enough rerouting of cables in the attic that I now have a good idea of where everything enters and exits, so it’s a bit more straightforward, but still a huge pain in the ass. The basic message from my attic is stay out and don’t waste your golden years.
In the process of rerouting cables, I needed to drill down from the attic into walls in several locations including the garage, drum room/closet, and video room. It took a bit of rooting around to find the desired locations, so there was a fair amount of drywall sawing and top plate drilling. I learned in the process that the upstairs wall of the drum room is offset from downstairs by about 6-12 inches. This was discovered by drilling up through the wall of the garage into the floor of the drum room, which, as you may have guessed, was unintentional and highly undesirable. After more measuring and brainstorming, I ultimately decided the best route would be through the drum room closet, as it appeared to be directly above the garage wall where I wanted to come in, largely because that’s where ATT has their breakout box to convert the fiber to ethernet.
Because of these multiple attempts, drywall repair was needed in several places in the garage, drum room, and one small spot in the video room. I also needed to put some spray foam installation to seal those unintended holes in the drum room floor. The initial repairs have now been completed, and just yesterday I sanded the first coat of drywall mud that had been applied. I also decided to try and fix up the rat’s nest of cabling behind my home theater rack. This consists of a new wall plate for the speaker wire, coaxial (direct), HDMI for the projector as well as a small control module for the universal remote/projector. I started that process yesterday and I’m thinking I’m about halfway done. In a recurring theme, the installers of the speaker and ethernet cables went with the easiest possible solution, so I’ve got a metric crap-ton of cabling that was just haphazardly passed through a big opening in the wall.
I was able to install a four-port ethernet jack for the feed from the ATT modem as well as the feedback from the router that runs back to the old master closet switch. The other two ports are active but aren’t needed at present. The router has eight ports, so these have been enough to accommodate all the needs in the home theater proper. I was able to separate the speaker cabling so I will now have the lines from the speakers terminate behind the wall into the plate and then have a separate cable that runs from the plate to the receiver. It’s all connected by banana plugs on both sides. I hope my audio signals (not to mention all the other connections) don’t suffer any degradation due to these attempted upgrades. Worst case scenario, I can always re-run the cabling if necessary, but I really hope I don’t need to do that.
I’ve still got several steps left in this current project including a (hopefully) finish coat on the drywall, texture, and paint. I’ve still got a few small holes in the garage to patch, although they should be a breeze compared to what’s preceded them. I’m also considering adding an electrical outlet to the server closet, but I’m going to save that until all the low-voltage stuff is done and dusted.
On this day thirty years ago, we were rushing around Seoul by cab getting papers stamped and swearing oaths, and at the end of it we were married. It was a strange experience, but part of the normal process when a Korean national and American got married while still in Seoul. We had an agent to assist with the paperwork and she escorted us around to all the various stops. I can’t remember where, maybe it was the Seoul version of the justice of the peace, but we finished a set of paperwork and had to ask “Are we married now?”, and she excitedly responded “Yes!” and we kissed and hugged in front of a lot of confused onlookers.
Not the most momentous of ceremonies, but I can say the success of our marriage is more important than any pomp or circumstance. We were told that 80% of all Korean-American marriages fail within two years and that the number just increases with time. I think the person quoting that statistic (my commander at the time if I recall correctly) was pulling it out of his ass, but it’s probably true that more than half fail over time, as that’s true of all marriages if I have my numbers (sourced from a similar entity) correct.
Our marriage has lasted because we complement each other perfectly. We talk about the most important things and we’re always there for each other. We’ve been through some rough times and we’re going through some again, but we always have each other’s backs and know we can depend on one another. All the hollywood and romance novel drivel is meaningless over time. We truly love each other and that’s shown in our day to day actions, not a bunch of ephemeral gestures. I mean, I have bought gifts, flowers, cards, etc. but all that stuff fades with time. Always being there for each other is what has held us together.
It's the Saturday after I completed my first two weeks as a fee basis (contractor) examiner for the VA in essentially the same job I was performing previously. I worked a total of seven days over two weeks and completed a record (for me) of 161 exams. This will result in a take home pay of about four times what I typically make. I don't necessarily think this workload will be typical, and I don't plan on working any more than three days a week going into the future as I was on the verge of burning myself out after four straight days of full speed ahead. I think it is feasible I could maintain an average of 60 a week with one week off a month for a monthly average of 180ish. Doing the math, this would put me right at the max salary for a year. I could earn more, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't authorize any more.
At this rate, I think it's completely feasible to pay off the house in five years and move forward with our plan to have a home on 1-2 acres on the outskirts as well as getting my dedicated music studio built. This will largely depend on a continued steady supply of exams from work. The proposed presidential budget, as corrupt, lopsided, and tunnel visioned as it is, does allow for an increase in funding for the VA, so at least for the near future work should be plentiful. I'm hoping I may look back at this post some day in 5-10 years to confirm my projections were close. It's possible the timeline could be even shorter if they keep supplying me with exams. In the present environment, I'm not having any problems getting extra exams. I was even turning down a few every day last week because I was already swamped with 20+ exams each day. The lazy and ambivalent federalistas in my department are now a source of extra income for me, so as long as they stay around I should have no problem keeping my dance card full.
And by folks, I refer to the singular. It's been a fairly action packed few months. I was really busy with school in the fall semester, especially near the end. I discovered that the workload and complexity of the courses as I proceed through my degree plan were increasing to the point that I was burning myself out. I managed to pull off the grades, but I felt I was sacrificing true understanding and deeper absorption of some really important concepts. So, in reaction I have decreased my courseload to two going forward. The heavier courseload was predicated by my (I think now, false) assumption that I needed to take a full courseload to receive all of my GI Bill benefits. I had actually been told that by multiple advisors at Berklee, but I managed to get the supervisor of financial aid to weigh in and he said otherwise. Apparently taking two courses for 3 months would be the same as taking four courses for 1.5 months. I won't know for sure until I look at my explanation of benefits after this semester is complete, but I think it's accurate. It's a huge relief and weight off my shoulders. I'm not taking these courses at Berklee just to check a box or get a certificate. I'm taking them because I truly want to learn this material.
There's not much new to report at work, same behavior from the same jackasses. I compiled a DBQ report for October which essentially was unchanged from the report a year ago. Submitting this report to dickless did result in more maneuvering as expected and he actually endorses the idea of counting exams for providers in the interest of capturing workload. That being said, it's apparent that the same non-performers are being protected and given credit for "other duties" which essentially means they're getting a pass since he's unwilling to grow a pair and actually do his job. I'm not surprised, it's essentially what I expected from him. My only faint hope is that eventually when the contract supports runs out (if it does) he'll be left to explaining why the clinic can't meet the demand to his bosses. He probably already has detailed plans on how he'll tap dance his way out of that scenario if/when the day comes. I just can't bring myself to give a shit what he and the other oxygen thieves are getting up to. Life's too short.
On the homefront, we finally got Aeyong her new car, a 2016 Toyota Highlander. It worked out pretty well, and it's a really feature packed nice car. We traded in the Ranger, so I've got the Pathfinder now. We saw Patton Oswalt and Kathleen Madigan on back to back nights at the Majestic last month, and they were both hilarious. I got a cool one off poster that was made for Patton's Majestic show featuring him as various Star Wars characters. On that theme, I've mostly gotten all the concert and music posters framed and put up in the drum room as well as the upstairs living room. I bought four different framed artists renderings of Jimmy Page, David Bowie (as a statue head from the Man Who Fell to Earth), Kate Bush in a sort of airbrushed painting from the back photo of Hounds of Love (probably my all time favorite photo of her), and then an alternate view of Battersea Power Station (from Animals) in black & white with a small colorized flying pig. I think it's the same photographer who shot the album cover, just an alternate view.
Continuing in the home decorating theme, I sort of grabbed the torch from Aeyong and attached jet packs to my feet before taking off. Aeyong had bought a Daenerys Targaryen doll from one of the local stores a year or two ago. We had incrementally bought these little pop figures (cartoonish versions) of the other GOT characters in the subsequent months. I had seen an article or video showing various Star Wars characters from The Force Awakens, and this led to more exploration into miniatures and figurines. I added several pop figures from TFA including Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma. This led to further investigation, and long story short, I've ordered several miniatures from Star Wars, LOTR, and GOT. This includes premium versions of Darth Vader, C3PO/R2D2, and Rey with BB8. The pop figures are little rubber/plastic dolls and fairly cheap, but the premium format figures are made of quite sturdy material and feature multiple poses, articulations, working lights, etc.
I have some cool versions of Tyrion and Arya that we've already received. Also coming is a miniature of Strider (it's called Aragorn, but he's definitely in ranger mode with this figure). I also have ordered some really cool Weta miniatures and artwork. The biggest is a huge miniature of Smaug laying on his pile of gold with a tiny Bilbo underneath. I'm also getting a miniature of Bag End, and I've got my eyes on Minas Tirith. We're also getting some lovely prints of various LOTR/Hobbit scenes - a wide angle Bag End with Gandalf at the door, a close up of Bilbo looking out the front door, a wide angle of the Argonath with the fellowship in canoes crossing the water, and a shot of the meeting pavilion from the Hobbit where Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel and Saruman held their dawn counsel.
The really cool thing is that Aeyong is into it, and actually wants to display the artwork and miniatures around the house. My first instinct is to keep most of it in the home theater area, but ultimately we're going to run out of room and it will naturally spread. I don't care if this fits with the better homes and gardens of vacuous assholes aesthetic. This is the stuff we're into, and we can do what we want with our house. It's a bit childish I suppose, but in a repeating theme for this blog and my adult life, I still like the stuff I liked as a teenager and I learned a long time ago to do what makes me happy not what meets other's approval. Stephen King made a comment in an updated preface for a comprehensive version of the Dark Tower series (which I've finally got around to reading, mea culpa) that his adult personality and tastes were basically established by age 19. I think that's essentially true. I know most of the stuff I really value was already present in some shape by that age. I've expanded my tastes a bit and I've accumulated a lot more music, books, movies, etc. in the intervening years, but I essentially still love the same stuff. Continuing the geek acquisition theme, I got a really cool Marvel Graphic Novelish omnibus of the Dark Tower series that I need to hold off until I finish the proper series. I'm on the Waste Lands at present. I had gotten on a bit of a coffee table book kick in the last year which included Jimmy Page's photo biopic, the Kate Bush photo book created by her brother, a comprehensive three volume set of my favorite webcomic Ctrl - Alt - Del and several others. My geekdom spreads its tendrils like kudzu.
I've gotten some new albums over the past few months. I especially love Beck's 2014 album (yes, the one Kanye had to interrupt the Grammy presentation about), Morning Phase. This is easily one of my favorite albums, and it's gone on the stress reduction anti-depressant album list (sharing space with the LOTR soundtracks, Zero 7, Metheny, Emmanuel and a few others). I've also added a few more Radiohead albums, and I really love Kid A. I went back and got three Big Audio Dynamite albums as well as The Big Heat by Stan Ridgway. This was after Matt had posted several 1985 era tunes on Facebook. I had forgotten how much I loved that music. This isn't the complete list, but I also added Mozart's Requiem and Symphone Fantastique by Berlioz.
The past few months saw some devastating losses, but one positive addition. In music we lost David Bowie, Lemmy, Scott Weiland, and several other key musicians. In my personal life, we had to have Bridget put to sleep in November. She was 15 years old, and the small benign growth on her abdomen had grown so large it was affecting her movement, breathing, and she was beginning to behave erratically. We grew concerned that she would hurt herself, as she was doing things that didn't make any sense. Aeyong was finding her digging in the back yard for hours in the early hours of the morning. She just seemed confused and not herself in the past few months. She didn't seem comfortable or happy anymore and we had to make the hard decision. We had a similar experience with Lucy. Once they got to the point that their personalities changed and they no longer seemed comfortable, it was time to let them go. It's still the hardest thing we've had to go through. These are our children, and as much as I loved and miss my parents, their loss didn't hit us as hard as losing our pets. The silver lining is that we noticed our two other dogs were missing her (unsurprisingly), but we also have grown accustomed to a three dog dynamic since we first got April in 2007. So, on that note, I charged Aeyong with finding us a new puppy. She looked at several shelters and eventually found our new chihuahua (mix?), aptly named Skittles. She could have also been called skittish or skitters, but Skittles seemed appropriate. She was a rescue and she still has some of that street mentality (she apparently wasn't fed well and has a predilection for plants, acorns and various other flora). She is a sweetheart and I think she knows she is a member of our family now.
I would be remiss if I didn't further discuss one of the most devastating losses I've ever experienced as a fan of music and the creative arts in general. Two days after the release of Blackstar (on his 69th birthday), David Bowie suddenly passed from this world. Apparently well aware he had terminal cancer, David composed and produced this album as a sort of swan song and parting message, and it's proven to be an amazing piece of work. I can't give the album an adequate review in this space, and neither can I adequately express how much David and his work meant to me. I'll do my best in the future, through spoken word and music alike. For what it's worth, his loss has proven to be just as devastating for artists around the world of every age and genre. Almost anyone of note has expressed their immense sadness at his loss and the profound effect he had on their lives. The number of tribute songs and covers are too numerous to count. I have been working on versions of his music for years, and so a short term plan (which was already in the works long before he passed) is to put together a cover version of "Life on Mars" with me performing all the parts including vocals. This project derived from a desire to put together an audition for the Music Composition program with Berklee (I'm currently in the Music Production program, but want to dual major), but it's also been a long term goal to further my musicianship, production, etc. skills in being able to cover entire tunes by myself. Life on Mars was one of a few select tunes that I felt capable of not making a complete ass of myself in the process. We'll see.
To quote Stewart Copeland from the heretofore best documentarish video concerning the Police (The Police Around the World).
In this case, I think he was making a joke about his clothing choices, but in my case I'm actually referring to a firearm. After 46 years (including 23 in the Army), I finally purchased a handgun. It was disturbingly easy to do so. Since moving to Grand Prairie, we hear about more recurring criminal events that are closer to home (luckily our subdivision is actually pretty quiet and calm) and we were faced with the reality that despite a monitored security system, dogs, and door/window locks, we still weren't prepared if anyone ever broke in and was armed.
I'm very familiar with both rifles and handguns, having carried and qualified on a regular basis during my 23 years in the Army. Despite this, I've always been philosophically against firearms in the hands of private citizens, since I can't see any justification for their possession other than to kill or harm. I'm a realist in that there's no benefit from outlawing guns at this point, because then it would just be the criminals with easy access to firearms. It is surprising that you can just walk into dealer, fill out a two page form, and within about 5 minutes you're the legal owner of a firearm.
I'm hoping we only ever get to shoot it at the range, but despite being philosophically opposed to gun ownership, I'm even more opposed of the idea of my wife or myself facing down an armed intruder with a steak knife or a golf club. We got a Glock 19, which is a very reliable handgun and is widely used by military and law enforcement. It's not particularly pretty, but it gets the job down and it will deliver enough rounds to stop someone who decides to ignore the security alarm sign, the locked doors/windows, the security alarm itself, and my dogs.
I'll be taking Aeyong to the range and getting her comfortable with it. I'll most likely eventually buy a second gun for her and we'll probably get certified for the concealed handgun license. I don't see myself ever embracing the gun advocate/NRA lifestyle, but it's just the reality of our society that handguns are so prevalent, and if you're facing down a gunman, you don't want to be wishing you had a gun, because by then it's too late.
A bit of a gap since the last update, as it happens. I've been back to work for the past 5 weeks, after a 3 week "vacation" in which we moved into our new home. Everything went relatively smoothly with the move with no significant problems. Along the way we cleared our rental and managed to get our security deposit back. I also managed to get in a fender bender on the day before we cleared the house. Luckily there were no injuries and my truck only sustained minor damage (I had to replace the passenger side mirror). My only official wreck in 30 years of driving (I may have been pulled into the magnetic field of a parking lot light pole many, many years ago. But that wasn't officially recognized by any municipal authorities) (probably because they weren't aware).
We spent most of the 3 weeks trying to get the house in running order. We made some furniture and other household upgrades to include a new living room sectional sofa (aka Aeyong's new bed), nice tool bench/cabinet for the garage, 3 new ceiling fans, a metric crapton of additional network and speaker wiring, and multiple landscaping upgrades (flowers, shrubs, trees). We also bought a new refrigerator and washer/dryer. It's a good thing we got our earnest money back from the Royal Crest Conundrum (that's the official historical title, mind) because we burned through that and more.
We still have many upgrades planned for the future, but it will be a process over many years. We'll eventually add a patio, pergola, and outdoor kitchen to the backyard, but that's probably several years down the road. In the near term, we have two years to pay ourselves back for the 401K loan we had to take out to sell the Killeen house. We also plan on getting a new car (the first in 8 years) for Aeyong and I'll take the Pathfinder for the work commute. We don't want to add the car payment on until we clear the 401K loan. We could afford the new car now, but we adopted a pay as you go (not counting the house sale) policy many years ago, and we try not to carry any more debt than is necessary. A mortgage and a car loan are about our comfortable limit, for anything else we pay in cash. Since we have the outstanding 401K loan, we'll wait on the car. This policy allows us to live comfortably and still maintain the lifestyle we are accustomed to living.
Music wise I went to see Slash at the Gigantour in Dallas. Great show as usual, if a bit shorter than normal since it was a festivalish show. I also saw Device which is the singer from Disturbed and I think a dude from Evanescence. They were pretty good. I also saw Hellyeah ? which is Vinnie Paul's band. I regret wearing sandals and being against the front of the stage. Total rookie move, by the way, but most bands I go see don't motivate the mosh as much. Black Label Society seemed good, although I'll be damned if I understood a word he sang or could really hear what he was playing. I skipped out on the headliner, Megadeth. I have Peace Sells, but I have never really gotten into Mustaine's singing or the music for that matter.
We also saw Rodrigo & Gabriel at the newish? ATT Performing Arts Center in Dallas. They put on a good show like the last time we saw them in Austin, although they had a bit more set dressing. The audience seemed primarily composed of the hoity toity who have the disposable income to see and be seen in the arts district. My concert t-shirt was decidedly below the expected (not enforced) dress code of the cognoscenti. It is a nice theater to see a show, though. We're going back in November to see Harry Connick for the first time in ten years. He's touring his latest album, and we're hoping he'll actually throw in some old hits. We previously saw him on a Christmas tour, and that was all that he played. No hits or non Christmas tunes (not counting about 30 seconds of Sweet Georgia Brown on the piano).
Speaking of artists we haven't seen in a long while, we're going to see Steely Dan for the first time in, wait for it, ten years tomorrow night. They're not touring an album, but seeing how seldom they tour, we wanted to make sure we caught them. We have total nosebleeds since I wasn't sure prior to the move if we would be going and waited until several weeks after they went on sale to buy them. We'll be taking advantage of the video screens I'm sure.
There's more to update, but I'm already running out of electrons at this point.
We're on closing eve, and if all goes well we will find ourselves sleeping in our new digs tomorrow night. Not a lot has happened since the last update other than the incremental process of buying the house. We've already purchased our appliances and scheduled all the utility/etc. transfers as well as house/carpet cleaning for the rental we're departing. Every move seems a bit more tedious since we have been mostly moving to bigger places with each move which means we have more room for stuff. On that note, I did buy the Port City OS 2x12 cab I had been discussing. Daniel Klein from Port City had traded a few emails with me when I had asked a question on their website so he contacted me when he had a show demo cab that he couldn't sell as new and offered me a decent ($125) discount. I knew I was most likely going to get one of these cabs this year, so it seemed worth it although I really wanted to wait until after we moved. I like the cab, but I've been having mixed results with the AxeFx. I think there are probably a finite number of amp heads that are ideally suited for the cab, and the patches probably need to be created from the ground up. I'll be working on that in the new house.
After we close tomorrow the plan is to pick up a uhaul truck and self move the essentials as well as the fragile/expensive stuff we don't want to put in the hands of the movers. The real move will be a week from tomorrow, but we plan on living in the new home starting tomorrow night. We will load up the king size bed, as well as most of our clothing and kitchen items. I'm also going to be taken all the home theater gear as I need to re-wire the theater and it will give me something to do this weekend after we've moved our essentials. We've done some of the minor needed repairs to the rental (patching & painting drywall). We're hiring a house cleaning company as well as a carpet cleaning company to come through once we've had time to get all of our stuff out. I'll need to give the lawn a final mow/trim/edge probably the day before the movers come.
the earnest money is. Now we can put that chapter behind us and move forward with the Grand Prairie house. We're supposed to meet with the mortgage banker this week and hopefully we can close by the end of June and move in early July. I'm already approved for 3 weeks of leave in July so hopefully we can get everything moved and resolved by the time I need to return to work.
We picked up a check for the full earnest money yesterday. It won't fully sink in until we deposit the check and see our balance increase accordingly. It was an "interesting" but brief exhange with Dean Smith, the "co-owner". After we signed the release statement and he handed us the check, I just briefly expressed our thanks for them returning the full amount. His response was not so much a response but a mild apoplectic pause in which he grimaced, nodded downward several times and made some guttural noises that may have been an attempt at a retort that his good conscience immediately shut down in the interest of self preservation.
Aeyong hit the nail on the head when she later said she thought he was upset by the cancellation because it would make him lose face at the company. While we were never given specific details, we did deduce that the company was primarily owned by an apparently very wealthy man/family. We know that the sales rep we dealt with is the granddaughter of said owner, and it was discussed during some of the meetings that the owner retained mineral rights for all the subdivision and other parcels of land he owns, which are apparently considerable.
We believe Mr Smith runs the day to day operations and is considered as the "co-owner" but it appears he's a minority owner and that final decisions rest in the hands of the real owner. Case in point is our earnest money. Based on his response yesterday, and every other time we've dealt with him, he's never inclined to refund or discount money. We strongly believe that the owner must have read our response and made the decision to fully refund our earnest money because of all the errors that were made by the granddaughter and Mr Smith.
I have a feeling that Mr Smith isn't accustomed to customers cancelling contracts when he screws up, and this situation has probably brought down his stock a few notches. Maybe we're reading too much into it, but I can safely say that he wasn't happy with us getting the money back, on that I have no doubt.
but we're getting the preliminary offer from Royal Crest to refund us our earnest money. I say preliminary until I see the balance in our checking account go up by $11K. We're pleased by the offer, and surprised. The pessimist in me thinks they must have some offers on the property and know they won't be losing any money. In fact, they may be able to make more money with the changes in the market. In the meantime we've essentially decided on a different new home in Grand Prairie built by First Texas Homes, which is a builder we've been looking at for a long time. We were very close to buying from them when we decided to go with Royal Crest. We're meeting with their sales rep and our realtor tomorrow to most likely sign a contract.
We have been funneling all of our issues through our realtor including our intention to cancel. Yesterday we got a request from Royal Crest to summarize all of our problems with the home build. Reviewing old emails I typed up a 6 page narrative of what led us to request a cancellation of the contract. We sent it back through the realtor last night and we're waiting to hear their response. I don't have high expectations.
The bottom line is the contract states they can keep most of the earnest money with the exception of $1000 if we cancel and I honestly will be surprised if they agree to do anything that isn't legally required. I re-read my narrative this morning and while I'm biased and I may not see it from their point of view, after reading the summary I can't imagine anyone not agreeing to compensate us in some way.
We will accept either a full refund of the earnest money or to have them finish the home to our desire without charging anything additional. This would have to include fencing the backyard, and the standard landscape package.
Based on their previous actions, I will be really surprised if they try to accommodate us in any fashion. I fully expect to look elsewhere for our future home and I'll also be surprised if we recover any money.
We're waiting to hear back from the builder, but we're essentially going to cancel the contract on the house. We have had a succession of problems with the house, mostly in that the house we requested in the beginning has slowly veered down a path of the builder's choosing and away from what we wanted.
The biggest problem (as I think I previously posted) was the kitchen layout being designed inadequately to accommodate what we wanted. We ultimately had to give up an additional countertop/cabinet extension we requested because they simply failed to design the room to fit our request. The frustration is compounded by the the amount of time I spent researching kitchen layouts until I found a picture that not only explicitly showed what I wanted, but also would have fit their pre-existing design without too much adjustment.
Essentially we've learned that when building a custom home, you better make sure that all (and I mean ALL) of your preferences are very precisely described and documented in your contract or you will not get them. We had the same issue with the type of flooring (we wanted 5in hand scraped and they only included 3in, so we had to pay more), the outdoor kitchen (we requested a kitchen and showed them a picture of what we wanted, but we didn't get them to print "barbecue grill" specifically, so we had to pay for that ourselves), the size of the back patio (we originally had the home theater pointing towards the back of the property but we changed the alignment by 90 degrees and in the process lost a big chunk of porch space that the builder failed to correct and we ended up having to pay for additional concrete). They were also going to charge us more for lower height carpet in the home theater and bonus rooms although this was in our initial request (but not on the magical contract).
There have been other issues as well and the consistent stance of the builder is that if it's not described specifically in the contract, it wasn't agreed upon and the buyer pays. This despite their promises that we could have all we were requesting in the initial meeting. We learned that those promises are empty if they're not on the contract.
We haven't gotten their response yet, but I'm expecting they're going to withhold any of the upgrades after the contract (home theater bar, concrete, hardwood floors, stone) so we'll probably end up getting only $3-4K of our $11K earnest money.
I'm going to post any Mustang Creek related images to the photo galleries which can be reached on the link at the top right.