9/25/10

Woke up this morning with a sore throat and stuffy nose, not good. The pups let me sleep in until 6:30am today! Got up, made some coffee and took the dogs out for our walk. Sad day, usually every saturday we walk to the Farmer's market. Cheryl goes in and I take the dogs across the pond and sit in the park. Then Cheryl comes over with some Applecrest donuts and we relax... well not today. Today we went to Market Square and did a long loop instead. The dogs continue to improve their vacuum skills, especially outside Joe's pizza.

When we got home, I had a bowl of Cheerios for breakfast, then started digging for the foundation for the staircase out the west side door if the house. Currently the door is taped off so no one can make the mishap of taking a long first step. After two hours of excavating to the proper depth I was ready. I had to over excavate because of the quantity of rocks the sitework guy put right up against the foundation, arghhh. At this time I stopped in to talk to Paul and Kristin next door, we talked a bit about the re-assessing that our neighborhood is hit with. Appareantly our neighborhood was incorrectly assessed in 2006 (at the height of the real estate costs), we were assessed lower. So here in 2010, with real estate at a low, our neighborhood assessments increased on average around 18%!

So at 12:30pm, I went down to the library to discuss with the assessor. I made my case simple, I asked him to produce comparable properties that have sold in the area with one bedroom and 1500 sq.ft. The only thing he can compare to are condos or townhouses (usually with at least 2 bedrooms). Long story short, not much was resolved on the spot, I made an appointment for him to see the house (he doesn't believe me that it is a one bedroom), and I should hear back in 2 or 3 weeks as to any adjustment.

After that meeting, I went over to Lowes to get concrete for the stair foundation. I found the steel brackets that anchor into the concrete that 4x4 posts sit on... $11 ea!, I need 4... what a rip-off. So instead, I changed the whole design. I purchase the precast concrete piers ($5ea.) and plastic pieces that sit between the concrete and the wood post. Off I went. I got home and installed them in about 30 minutes. Decided to head back to Lowes to get lumber since I was ready. Next came finding Trex. Lowes only carries redwood color ($26 for 12'), they will order the grey color at $42 for a 12' and will take 17 days. I don't know how they justify this. Anyway, bought the correct deck material in grey they had in stock ($21 for 12') and went on my way. I got the four posts up and the perimeter beams for the landing constructed before all energy left me.

I went inside to relax and watch the Red Sox game. Heard a knock on the door, it was Dexter asking for some help. A young man (18 or 19?) had his car break down at the corner 3 or 4 days ago and it had been racking up parking tickets. The guy was trying to push the car across Middle St. from Lawrence to Mendum... up hill by himself. We got me Dexter, Pat and Pat's brother to help push. Just as we were crossing Middle St., a cop came by. Very nice guy, he turned on his blue's and let us cross. Very exciting action in the neighborhood. I took this as an opportunity to talk to Pat, Meg, Dexter, and Ellen for a few minutes.

Afterwords, came back in the house and relaxed a bit more until the end of the Red Sox game, then it was time for the dog walk. I cut the walk short because the dogs were out all day and I didn't have the energy, only a 1 mile loop. Got home, had a yogurt and a chicken patty for dinner. If you were wondering what I had for lunch... I grazed on sunflower seeds all day and forgot to eat lunch. Watched a little tv and went to bed.

9/24/10

Friday morning, pastry day at the office. Did the morning routine with the pups, backyard with the dogs for a few minutes, back in for some coffee and blog time, then our walk. As usual, the walk was pretty uneventful but had a few funny moments. So, they City is reconstructing Lincoln St., separating the sewer and drain lines. This is half of my walk and is a pretty major route for students walking to the middle school. At one particular corner is where most of the kids hang out before school starts, it is also where the construction is currently. It was good because the construction crew has a flagger during the times when kids are likely to cross. As I was going by with the dogs this morning, one of the girls was asking the flagger is Justin was round today. As I walked past, all the girls were talking about Justin... seemed funny to me that the construction has been going on for a week now and Justin is already a favorite of the girls. That was my morning walk story. I know it was a dumb story, but that is the only thing I got now-a-days.

Got back to the house and got ready for work, played with the dogs one last time and headed to work. Since it was friday, that means pastries! An early morning pastry to help get through the day is great. I caught up with Aaron who was in NC the last two days for work. Seth sent out his notice to everyone at the office that he was leaving CHI and next week is his last. Seth will be missed, he brought a fresh and optimistic feeling to the office that we really need. But, I have joined his fall basketball league that starts in October, every monday night. Plus we play bball every sunday. For lunch, Aaron, Paul R., Dennis and I went out for lunch at Paddy's on the tradeport. I had a grilled chicken sandwich with mashed potatoes. Aaron had a pastrami sandwich with a side of a worm. Apparently it came from a piece of cale. Another reason to dislike cale. It wasn't a big deal and the restaurant gave Aaron his meal for free (brought out a whole new sandwich).

Looking at the Prescott Park 'Passport' this weekend, it is not something included with the season pass Cheryl I bought. Admission into the October 2nd brewfest is what was included.

After work I came home and played with the dogs in the yard, then went for a run. I can't believe how warm it is, made for a difficult run. I had to walk a small portion because of the heat and the added weight of the sandwich at lunch. Got home and played with the dogs a bit, took a shower, then headed out for the evening walk. Had a pack (4) kids go by on skateboards, it was fantastic. We definitely caused a scene.

After the walk, I drove over to Dick's, I need a pair of basketball shoes bad. Every weekend I play with my running shoes, they have no side-to-side support. I was constantly rolling my ankles and had blisters all over my feet. I was surprised by the price of basketball sneakers. I am use to paying $120+ for running shoes, got my new basketball shoes for $40, what a deal. I'd like to thank all those kids in China working for a bowl of rice a day for keeping the cost of the shoes low for us Americans.

Got home, ate the rest of my Chipolte burrito from yesterday's lunch and fell asleep on the couch. Woke up an hour later and moved to the bedroom. See you in the morning.

Ran: 2.8miles

9/23/10

The morning was rushed, just like every thursday morning. Got up, dressed and played with the pups outside. Put the trash and recycling out, then got the dogs in the truck and headed to Barrington. I dropped Reece off for daycare at 6:30am, then back to Portsmouth. Chance and I got to enjoy an all boys walk while dodging other people's trash strewn across the sidewalks. These walks are so great because Chance gets super excited and constantly looks back at you to see what you are doing, too cute. After the walk, I took down a bowl of cereal, made a few kong treats for the boy and headed to work.

I spent an hour and a half at work this morning trying to help the Nashville team get their permit drawings out on time. Then Mike and I headed to Lynn, MA to take measurements the possible re-start of our project there. On our way back North, we stopped off at Chipolte and I had a chicken burrito (no black beans). Made it back to the office by 2:30pm and worked on a few other projects before the end of the day. Talked to Jeff G. on the phone, I can't remember if our Prescott Park pass gets us into the this weekends 'Passport' event. Also finally downloaded the cute photos of Oskar at the beach Shannon sent over.

After work, rushed home to play in the yard with Chance. Since Yellow Dog Barn is open later now, I took the time to play ball with Chance first. Then we headed to YDB. Usually I take a detour as I approach the Lee traffic circle because the traffic is backed up over a mile, went down my super secret road only to find the bridge is being reconstructed and was closed, bummer. Headed back to route 4 and got back in line. We got Reece at 6pm and headed home. I wanted to go through Durham to experience the new traffic circle everyone is talking about. Though it worked well for me today, I can't wait to see it in action when a UNH hockey game lets out.

Back at the house we played some more ball in the yard, I brought in the bins for recycling. At 7:20pm, went for our evening walk. It was pleasant and uneventful. Say a cop pull over a minivan on Richards Ave, looked like a typical pull over, no action. Got home and finished eating the mac & cheese I made yesterday. Sat down to watch my tv shows at 8pm. Cheryl called at 8:20pm. I have to admit, I pondered not answering. There are certain nights I just don't want to talk on the phone, I get sucked in to tv and want to stay sucked in. I know it isn't the best use of time and all the other issues that go with watching tv, but it relaxes me for an hour at the end of the day. So, if anyone plans on calling me after 8pm on mondays, tuesdays or thursdays, be warned that I may not answer.

After watching The Community, 30 Rock and The Office, off to bed for me and the pups.

9/22/10

Trying to institute a schedule today. I think both me and the pups work better on a schedule. So, 5:45am wake-up, turn on coffee, outside with the dogs for a few minutes, back in to feed the dogs and start on the blog (6:00am). Finish my first cup of coffee and the blog (6:35am), get ready for the walk (6:45am). The morning walk was typical as most mornings with little to talk about. Being that it was much warmer today, it was nice to walk without a jacket. When we got back I made my breakfast. This morning's breakfast was a a great 3 egg scramble with ham and cheese and a tall glass of OJ. After breakfast, I put the laundry on the line and then headed off to work.

I'll skip any details about work today because I am running late on getting the blog out.

After work, I met up with Seth, Frank, Nick, and Chris for a few games of pickup basketball at the court near my house. An hour into playing, we were two men down, so we played 3 old guys (25+) vs. 4 - 14 year olds. Next I went home, took a shower and made Mac & Cheese for dinner. The evening walk... walked out the door into the one dog that sets Reece off. I thought I could get her to sit and wait for the dog to pass and everything would be ok. Nothing bad happened, but Reece was a terror the whole walk. Next time, I'll take her back into the house and delay the walk for 15 minutes or so. Chance was great on the walk, and is such a good boy.

Finished the night watching a movie and then off to bed.

9/21/10

Tuesday morning I got up and blogged for about 30 minutes, actually almost 40 so I had to be brief in me last paragraph. After updating the blog I took the pups for their morning walk. I've noticed it getting darker every morning, soon I will need my headlamp. Not a whole lot to report here, same loop and not much action. Though I have been starting to utilize the trash barrels at the baseball fields. The down side is that Chance thinks he is going to watch tennis and turns into a wholly tugger. It was also nice to walk past that house without the chicken bone. By the way, here is a picture of this 'thing' Change is so confused about. Anyone have any ideas of what it is?

When we got back to the house, I had a bowl of Cheerios (I even sprang the extra dough for the real deal, no knockoffs today). I had a cup of coffee and relaxed 5 minutes with the dogs. I got myself ready for the day and headed off to work. Keeping going on 3 major projects and a mix of another 5 or so. Dennis was not in in the morning, finally went to the doctor for his foot.

At lunch I came home and took a picture of the tree trimming from yesterday. I had a ham and cheese sandwich with mayo that I took into the backyard and played with the pups. It is great having time in the middle of the day to get the pups outside. I also had time to do the dishes and clean up a bit.

Back at work I continued with some sketches and designs for South Jersey and Piedmont projects. I also scheduled a site visit to Lynn, MA so that I can get some field measurements to design a 3 sided metal enclosure on some equipment. It will be my first time designing a metal shed to withstand 150 mph winds.

I also called the City of Portsmouth's assessor's office today. They re-assessed our house this year... increased $67,000 in value from last year??? I am a bit confused. I called to schedule an informal hearing, I got the last spot. Since the period to call in and make appointments has only been open a few days, I asked the lady what is everyone else who calls in after me suppose to do if they want to fight? "Not sure yet, we will just take names and maybe we can get to them".

Seth stopped by my cube and said there is a pickup game of basketball at the courts by my house tomorrow after work 5-6pm. I hope to make it, I didn't realize how much I missed playing bball since my 8 years away. Weird, I haven't played basketball in 8 years... I've been married 8 years... possible connection?

Went home after work, played with the pups in the backyard and fed them. Jumped into some running clothes and went for a 3mile run. My stomach wasn't feeling very good, so I took it easy. Got back, took a shower and then talked to Cheryl for a few minutes. She is in Christchurch, leaves for the ice tomorrow. She said there is definitely some destruction from the earthquake and a few brick facade's fallen over, but not devastation. My opinion, media over sensationalizing it. Anyway, took the pups for their evening walk. It was a great walk, though Reece still pulls on her harness. I am trying a body harness vs. the gentle lead harness, so far mixed results. She saw her 'favorite' dog on this walk. There is something about this dog (or its owner) that makes Reece flip out unlike anything else I've seen.

After the walk, made my gourmet bowl of Cheerios and watched NCIS and NCIS - LA. There was a second episode of NCIS-LA, but couldn't stay awake long enough. Headed to bed around 10:30pm, late night for me. Below are two pictures of the recessed lights in the mudroom.

Which do you prefer?

Walked: 3.2m

Ran: 3.0m

Meter reading: 4096kWh, 10 less than yesterday!

9/20/10

Happy anniversary Cheryl, the best 8 years of my life.

First full day of blogging, how exciting. Today was pretty interesting, I woke up and spent 15 minutes or so giving the pups chest rubs and kisses. Usually I only spend 10 minutes doing this, the extra 5 was Cheryl's time with the pups. We made our way down stairs where I miraculously made myself some coffee. Cheryl may not believe it, but I do remember this most important means of survival. Sitting in front of the computer I posted in my blog, then proceeded to check out everyone else's blog. At 6:30am, time to get ready for the day. Got dressed and started a load of laundry. At 6:45am, out the door with the pups for our morning walk. We did our traditional 1.5 mile loop, it will take some time to get use to handling both dogs, but they were good. There is one place in particular on the walk where there has been a chicken bone on the sidewalk for 2 days now. Reece snagged it with lightning quick reflexes this morning. Equally quick, I had my hand down her throat in no time. This time I chucked the bone into a nearby flower garden. Typically in those situations I yell out "Chicken Bone" even if it isn't a chicken bone. That is my cry for action when one of the dogs gets into something. It is followed immediately by a jerking pull on the leash, then hands go in the mouth wrist deep.

We typically walk down Lincoln St. which is currently under construction. As Cheryl and I have noted to one another, is seems brilliant to start a year long road construction project in September. What could possible go wrong? We don't get any snow or freezing temp, right? Anyway, I will keep updates on the blog as the construction continues, I feel it is my duty as a civil engineer. Ultimately, if walking the dogs past the construction become too much, I will find another route.

When we got back to the house, I quickly had a bowl of cereal, cleaned up and went off to work. Work was pretty exciting and exhausting today. I was spread out over a lot of projects which kept me super busy, which is good. Poor Dennis came up and said he has to go to the doctor's, he thinks his foot is broken (injured during softball last week). Being that he is walking on it, I said, "It's not broken if you are walking on it". His response, "my toes are starting to turn black today". I told him to head to the doctors. Any suggestions from EMT's listening?

At lunch I went home, made a ham and cheese sandwich with mayo. I played with the pups in the backyard for 20 minutes, then headed in. Unfortunately it seems the dish fairy took today off, so I washed all the dishes. The tree trimming guys came by at 12:45, so I stuck around to watch them trim the tree by the driveway, took all of 15 minutes. I sat on the porch with Micum's dog.

I need to speed this up a but, this entry is taking longer than I thought. Ok, so then I went back to work and finished out the day working on the Nashville project for Aaron who was out of the office today. I came home and played with the pups in the yard, feed them and made myself a snack. I ate the remaining flatbread and dip from our party the other night. I installed a new recessed light trim piece and floodlight type bulb in the mudroom. I like the trim, but the light actually takes a full second or 2 to turn on which is a bit annoying.

The evening dog walk occurred at 6:30pm. Same loop as the morning walk, but this time there is a new "something" that has caught Chance's eye. I will take a picture of it today. It really stressed Chance out, looks like some kind of kids school project that was set by the sidewalk. The pups were good on the walk, with minimal pulling. We got home and I made myself a bowl of cereal for dinner and watched some TV. During one of the shows, I had a bowl of chocolate pudding and whipped cream. At 9:30pm, headed to bed. Spent some time reading the new Home Power magazine.

I promise to incorporate photos more regularly, I forgot to take some yesterday.

9/19/10

Well, today is officially the start of my adventure as a single person with two dogs. At 1pm today, I watched as Cheryl boarded a bus bound for Logan. Cheryl starts her long journey to the most isolated place in the world, a trip that will take her at least 24 hours to get to Christchurch, New Zealand, then on to Antarctica. It was a tearful farewell, but I managed to hold it together long enough to see the bus take off. And as I always do to keep my emotions in check, I went over to Lowe's and got some supplies for home improvement activities.

Hopefully Cheryl will keep up with her blog this year. That's right, I'm already calling her out on her duties to keep everyone informed as to her well-being. As like last year's blog, I will make my entries every morning reporting on what I did the previous day. Usually it contains what I ate, how long the dog walks were, and any other random occurrence. I will try and make things interesting this year, since I enjoyed the company of so many 'followers' last year. If you have any suggestions as to content, please send them along and I will do my best to incorporate it into my daily life.

So, until tomorrow...

Here is my morning entry as to what happened in my life yesterday since Cheryl left. As I indicated above, after dropping Cheryl off at the C&J bus stop, I went over to Lowe's for some home improvement supplies. I picked up a piece of 1/2" quarter-round that I intend to fill in the gap between the door trim and tile in the upstairs bathroom. I also got two new gate latches. Since installation of our fence gates, both Cheryl and I as well as countless people we have had over all agree that the ones put on are the toughest and most aggravating gate latches known to man. I also got a new trim piece to try out on our recessed lights, I don't like our current trim pieces because you can see right up into the can light.

After Lowe's, I came back to the house and spent some time with the pups. They seemed to not notice any difference so far. I held it together while in front of them, I want them to think everything is normal. As promised to Cheryl, I went out for a run. Instead of my typical 3mile run, I decided to do the New Castle loop. After all, I signed up for the seacoast half marathon in November, so I need to get some long runs in. Did the 7.34 mile loop at a 7:01 pace! After a shower, I walked over to the grocery store to pickup some lunch meat for the workweek, Sara Lee ham was on sale for 4.99/lb.

When I got back to the house (4:30pm), I took the dogs for an early walk because my dad is coming over at 5pm to hang out. I am getting use to walking both the dogs, something I did so easily the last time Cheryl was gone seems so difficult this time. I'm sure it will get easier with time. As usual, Reece went after every squirrel she could see. When we got back, I put on the TV to see the Pats score, which looked good at the time.

My dad came over around 5:15pm, and we walked to downtown for a bite to eat. Market Street was still closed down for the Criterium race, but crews were just cleaning up. We decided to try Foobar, my first time there since it use to be Muddy River Smokehouse. Walking in, quite a bit yuppier than Muddy River. Black outfits for the staff, white paint on the walks, all the table clothes and napkins are black. We sat at the bar area, I had a beef brisket and my dad had the pulled pork. And of course, I had the Sam's Octoberfest on tap, man I love this time of year. I won't say too much about the restaurant, I think some people might like it, but it isn't a do-over for me. We stayed long enough to watch the Pats suck it up, then left for home.

Lastly, my dad left around 8:30pm, and I went over to talk to my neighbor Paul about tree trimming tomorrow morning. We had some good laughs and then it was time for one last 'outside' with the pups. Made it to the couch to watch two episodes of The Family Guy with some chocolate pudding dessert.

Total walking for the day: 6.5 miles
Total running for the day: 7.34 miles