What is the best Christmas gift that you have ever received? Was it a special fire truck, a puppy, or maybe just getting to see someone special that you have not seen in a long time? Christmas isn't always about the tangible gifts as explained by Barb on Tidbits and Treasures.
My wife and I went by Lowe’s tonight after work to figure out how we want to handle the vanity. We have decided that we are going to go with a 24” vanity instead of the 30” vanity that was there previously. This way, the vanity does not butt directly up to the shower and prevents water damage to the vanity now that we have a shower curtain instead of doors.
Because of this change, we will have to do a little tile work to fill in around the base of the vanity. I believe we are going to go with a decorative tile with a Greek Key look which will match the wallpaper that is on the wall.The shower renovation is now complete. The work on this was done by FastBath this past Friday. It looks great. I need to take a picture and post it soon.
My father-in-law came over this morning and we removed the old vanity in the bathroom. This has to be done before the company can come in next week to do the work on the shower.
This work turns out to be well worth it. The old drain pipes were metal and they had rusted out pretty bad on the inside over the 30+ years that the house has been around. I put my thumb through one of the p-trap pieces when I was taking it apart this morning.
See more progress on: Renovate my bathroom
Thanksgiving Day in the United States. It is a great time for family, food, and, of course, football. I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday!
The company who is redoing the shower called today to let us know that the custom built shower is ready for installation. Because of my work schedule and the holidays, however, it will not be installed until December 2nd.
I will be working the Friday after Thanksgiving on the vanity. It has to be removed before the shower can be installed. We will be replacing the old vanity with a new one that includes drawers and a new one-piece Corian top with molded sink.
I purchased a new iPod earlier this week. I got the 5th generation iPod with video (30 GB). This thing is great. Compared to my iPod mini, I can put all of my current music library, podcasts, and videos onto the iPod and still have 15 GB free.
How to stop Hollywood and Congress from trampling on your constitutional rights by ZDNet's David Berlind -- Earlier today, I wrote a blog entry entitled The day the broadcast died. It talks about how the RSS subscription protocol has been married to TV programming in a way that could completely disintermediate the current channels of TV program distribution. In response, you should expect the entertainment industry to pursue every avenue at its [...]
My wife and I recently found some water damage on the underside of our floor when we were in the basement. We found that our shower had just started leaking. Because of this, we have decided to renovate the bathroom.
The first step was to get someone in to give us an estimate on completely redoing the shower area. It is a domed shower done in tile currently. We are having someone come in who is going to cover the existing tile in acrylic. It will be one smooth surface all the way around including the ceiling.
We went to our local Lowe’s tonight and got some pricing on a new vanity and basin. We will be taking out the old vanity and installing the new one ourselves.
Everything should look pretty good when we are finished with it.
When I got home from work, he took me to the backyard to show me the pile that he had raked up. We ended up playing soccer for a while and had a lot of fun.
Other reasons have to do with the fact that I spend entirely too much time on the computer. He said something to me the other night that made me think about it a lot. I had promised him that I would setup the XBox now that we have our new carpet installed. I did not get to it that night and he asked me about it again when it was time for him to go to bed.
I told him that I would not be setting it up that night, but I would get to it. As I was headed down to the computer room, he asked me what was more important “him or the computer”.
Today, my plans are to go home, change out of my work clothes, grab a football, and toss it around with him for a while.I was listening to the Slashdot Review podcast a little while ago and it mentioned a story on Slashdot where FEMA is requiring people to use Internet Explorer to file a claim. I guess if you are a Mac or Linux user and have survived the hurricane, then you are out of luck for filing a claim.
read more | tags: FEMA, Hurricane Katrina, Internet Explorer, apple, Mac, Linux, stupidity
OK... let me get this straight. Mayor Nolin is standing in front of the camera in New Orleans yelling, screaming, and cursing the federal government about no action, yet he has several hundred buses sitting in a flooded area that could have been used to get people out of the area? Where were these buses Tuesday morning? The A.P. has published a photo of this.
view photo | tags: New Orleans, hurricane katrina
My father just picked up a steal on a Canon Digital Rebel. This is the original (300D), not the XT (350D) model. I got to play around with it today a little when he dropped by to try out my 75-300 mm lens on it. One thing that I noticed real quickly is that the 300D is a lot bigger and a little heavier than my Canon EOS Rebel G (film camera).
Unfortunately, my father is going to have to send the camera off, because we finally figured out why someone took it back to the location where he got it. It will not fire a shot when the lens is set in AF (auto-focus) mode. According to posts that I have found on a few forums, the original Digital Rebel had an issue with the secondary auto-focus pin breaking after a few months of use. One person’s description of the problem was exactly what we were seeing here. :(
Nonetheless, it does take some pretty nice pictures in manual mode. I believe he is probably going to keep it and use it in manual mode for the next few weeks until my nephews high school football season is over and then send it off to be repaired under warranty.
This pretty much seals my desire on the Digital Rebel, but I will be getting the 8 megapixel XT model, though. :)
NBC News is reporting that a bus carrying evacuees from New Orleans to a location in Texas has crashed and overturned. At least one of the refugees has died in this accident.
read more | tags New Orleans
The situation with gasoline prices has gotten out of control. It went up about 30 cents per gallon last night in our area. By the time I got home from work, It had gone up another 20 cents per gallon. I know it is bad in other places, but $2.99 per gallon is very high for Alabama.
I just came across this picture on FoxNews.com that is absolutely absurd, however. This is at a BP station in Stockbridge, Georgia. I cannot see where this is anything other than price gouging.
Update: I just received a link to a page on Snopes regarding this picture. It turns out that this was in fact true, but it only lasted for a day as the Governor of Georgia enacted legislation to bring sanctions against retailers who were in the practice of price-gouging.
read more | tags: gasoline, price gouging
Hurricane Katrina struck a very fatal blow to locations on the Gulf coast. Places that use to be bustling and full of life are now just a spot of dirt on the map. I saw pictures today that looked like a atomic bomb went off around Gulfport, Mississippi.
Unfortunately, this is a disaster that is already putting a strain on the rest of the country. I saw reports of gaoline selling for almost $4.00 per gallon in Chicago today. One reporter on MSNBC reported that she happily paid $35.00 for five gallons of gas on her way out of Baton Rouge to Houston. I will let you do the math on that one.
Tonight, I got a taste of what my parents probably experienced in 1973 and 1979. I remember the oil crisis of 1979. We had the long lines and irritated consumers. We have that again now. I experienced this tonight when I stopped to fill up my car on the way to church. Our local gasoline station was stacked three deep at each of its eight pumps. By the time that I got to the pump to fill up, they had already run out of regular and mid-grades. At $2.67 per gallon, their premium was still OK for my car, because it was cheaper than regular at any other station around.
Things will probably get worse before they get better over the next few months. This is truly a crisis that hurts us all.
This is a photo of a gas tank left on the interstate after hurricane Katrina passed through Mobile.
Well, I guess it is somewhat official. We signed the contract and put down $1000 in earnest money tonight for the home that we are going to buy once our current home is sold and the new one is completed. These are exciting times! :)
During my prayer time last night, I asked God to take control of our situation with the sale of our house. If I asked Him to send someone to us if He felt it was best for us at this time.
At 1:05 p.m. today, I got a phone call from our selling agent. He had a guy driving 165 miles this afternoon to look at the house. It turns out that the man’s wife just got a job about 20 minutes down the road from where I live. She has been staying with her mother, who lives less than five minutes from me, during the week to go to work and then driving that 165 miles back home on the weekend.
Some people will say that this is just coincidence. I like to believe otherwise.
See more progress on: pray more
tags: prayer, Christ, personal growth
Have you ever stopped to think whether or not a particular person is a Christian? Have you ever said to yourself, "No, that person couldn't be a Christian" because of the way that someone is dressed or the way they act?
A person's actions do not convey whether or not they are saved by grace. They do, however, convey one's current relationship with Christ and those very actions can weigh heavily on another non-believer. For instance, if I talked with you very seriously about the grace of God and what it means to have the joy of Christ, but later you see me how partying and drinking, what does that say to you about my witness?
We should never judge another person no matter if we know they are a Christian or not. I am sure at one time or another, we have all been guilty of this. I know that I am and I would be committing a sin here and now if I said otherwise.
Considering this, it was with great excitement tonight when I came across a link under the Technorati tag of Jesus entitled "
Update: I came across another blog entry regarding the same interview. I have linked to it below as well.
read "salty dog" | read "Judging Bono"
tags: jesus, Bono
I was looking around for spoken versions of the Bible tonight and I came across a couple of good sites. The first site is AudioTreasure. This site has the spoken Word in MP3 format. You can download it and listen to it whenever you like.
The second site is Audio-Bible. This site uses streaming Real audio that is narrated by Alexander Scourby. You can read along with the passages on the site as you listen to the spoken Word.
Neither site will ever replace sitting down with a Bible and reading, but they could come in useful for someone on the go or in a situation where a physical Bible is not handy.
Tags: bible, audio
I came across a very interesting podcast about life, religion, and how to live life the right way... for God. Ryan Dobson, the author of Be Tolerant and To Die For, uses his hand-on knowledge of youth culture to relate to young people and help them understand how to live for Christ.
Ryan Dobson's Undone
Tags: Ryan Dobson, religion, Christianity, podcast
I really love my wife. If I said that we never have any problems, then I would be telling a pretty big lie as would any married couple. I just came across a CNN article that is just too much. I can understand wanting to get rid of your wife without doing anything bad, but this takes the cake. :)
read | marriage
My home is now on the market. Our agent listed the house today. I hope it sells right about the time that the new house is ready, but hey... if it sells next week, that is good too. That would be a very good problem to have. :)
I had to go to have another test this week since the ultrascan last week that I had on my gall bladder was not definitive. The test that I had this week was a Hydascan. Basically, this is a nuclear X-ray. The technician shot some kind of nuclear liquid into my blood stream. This stuff had a half life of 6 hours, so I was radioactive for most of the evening after the test. :)
Anyway, I had to lay on this small table, like an emergency backboard, under this huge camera that was about four inches from my chest. The hardest part was being completely still for an hour. After the first thirty minutes of taking a three minute picture every five minutes, the technician shot me up with what she called "my big fat cheeseburger with no calories". hahaha
It hit me quick and hard. After a few minutes of continuous picture taking, she said that I could get up from the test early. My gall bladder emptied just as it should have.
I got a call from the doctor Thursday after he got the results from the radiologist. Everything looks normal with my gall bladder. He said that he could refer me for an upper endoscopy, but at this point, I am not interested in getting the scope down my throat.
When I first started having my symptoms, I prayed about it and changed my diet a little. I have not actually had any problems that I was having for about three weeks.
My 6 year old son came into my room tonight while I was hanging up my shirts and said that he wanted me to read to him. I told him to get his Bible and I would read a couple of stories from that. He really likes that. He walked away and when he came back, he said that he had changed his mind. He wanted to read to me instead.
What do you think he wanted to read? Yep... Dr. Suess' Green Eggs and Ham. He started reading the book and it brought back old memories. I told him that this was my favorite book when I was growing up. I believe my mother still has my copy of this book at her house.
I am happy to see that things like this still continue to be a child pleaser 30+ years later. :)
When I went to the doctor the other day, they took my blood to determine if the health issue that I currently have is caused by something other than the gall bladder. The nurse called today with those results. Everything was normal. So, I guess I now have to wait until my doctor gets the pictures from my gall bladder ultrasound to find out whether or not I am indeed going to need gall bladder surgery.
The morning started out at 8:00 a.m. with breakfast. Our local Jack's Restaurant donated biscuits. We had about 20 people out for our work day today. It was good to see a large crowd come out to work, because we can usually get more done.
We completed quite a few tasks including changing out a broken commode, cleaning and reinstalling some gutters, pressure washing the sidewalks, replacing a door closer, and cutting the grass.
I got to do one of the jobs that was indoors. Unfortunately, it is probably one of the most humbling jobs I have ever done. I had to spend time over a used commode changing out the broken lid. Don't laugh! This was not a fun job, but somebody had to do it. :)
All in all, it was a great day of fellowship and work at God's house with some good people.
Early last week, my wife walked through a house in a very nice neighborhood near where we want to put our son in school. After she walked through the house and fell in love with it, the builder told her that someone was closing on the house the following day. What luck!
Well, he made her feel a little better when he said that he had planned to build the same house just two lots over from where she saw that one. So, we took off last Saturday to meet the builder. Great guy. We went through the plans since I had not see the house. I loved it a first site. We made a few changes that we would like to see in the house.
Early this week, our mortgage guy called us to get some information so he could start the process of getting pre-approved. Since we had not heard from him in a couple of days, my wife called him this afternoon to find out where we stood. He told her on the phone that we could buy the Taj Mahal if we wanted it.
I said to her, of course, that is considering our credit scores, not what we can afford. Needless to say, we have done the math. We will be able to afford what she looked at last week. This is an exciting time!
I went to the doctor this morning for a follow-up from a visit that I had four months ago when I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. I have recently been having problems very soon after eating fried foods. After telling the doctor this, he said that I probably have Dumping Syndrome.
From what the doctor was telling me this usually caused when the gall bladder leaks fluid when a sudden rush of fatty foods comes through the system. Sometimes, it can be treated with drugs, but more often than not, people have their gall bladder removed.
Right before the doctor let me go today, he told me to say goodbye to my gall bladder. :)
A wiki definition of Dumping Syndrome is available. There is also more information about the disease at eMedicine.
My father-in-law asked me earlier in the weekend if I was interested in using a portable building, but I would have to help him move it. Reluctantly, I agreed to help out. Before it was all over, he was the one saying that he wishes he had never gotten us into this mess.
We had to move a very heavy, site-built building by jacking it up and putting it on a dove-tail trailer so we could move it to my house. Unfortunately, the several thousand pound trailer had to be backed up a hill to the building. The truck we were using has pretty fat tires on the back, so with the slightly damp ground, it was just not happening.
To make a long story short, it took us 10 hours just to get it on the trailer. It fell a few times, almost slid off the trailer, about fell on my arm once, and kicked a support beam up and knocked my father-in-law in the head. We still have to get it out of the area where we put it on the trailer and then move it over to my house.
None of this was worth it, but at least we did not pay any money for the building. :)
We had a great early July 4th cookout at Brother Jeff's today.
Since we did not have church tonight, the minister of music at our church (First Baptist Church Graysville) invited all of the members of the choir and the sound engineers to his house for an early July 4th cookout. Brother Jeff handled all of the cooking while everyone else had great fellowship and relaxed. Of course, the little ones, Luke and Lance Kelly, stole the show. They are the five month old grandsons of Brother Jeff and his wife Vicki. They are just cute as can be.
Everyone had a great time. Some of us ate a little too much food, but all in all, it was a great time of fellowship.
www.flickr.com
|
