Spare room complete

We finished the flooring yesterday. Looks pretty good but there were some minor issues. The hallway flooring was slightly offline and when we continued it into the spare room the offline pieces became apparent when the final pieces on the outside wall were laid down. It all came out ok because the baseboard trim hides the edges.








I got the baseboard down today and started moving the furniture back in. It's hard to tell the wall color in this picture, but it is a light blue. We also decided on the window shade and will replace some outlets and covers tomorrow. The rest of the furniture will also go back in tomorrow as well, even if I don't put up the shelves for a bit.

A little insight cartoon

I found this cartoon on one of the blogs I read daily.

Back when I was about 12-13 I was really into the mythology stuff, Norse, Roman and Greek gods mostly. I was also finishing up my Lutheran catechism training for communion and I started to question the validity of all religious thought. So this little cartoon pretty much sums up my thoughts and conclusions from those days. I stopped the church stuff as soon as my first communion was done and everything I've read, seen, experienced and thought about has justified my original conclusion.


It's copyrighted so don't copy and claim it's yours.

MTTS 2010 SF

Made it to the MTTS event and had a pretty good time. MINI provided the cars for the autocross (they called it a MINIcross) so my tires were spared the wear and tear. The autocross was fun but since they only allowed two laps, it wasn't long enough.









The new Countryman was there for a short time. The color wouldn't be my choice, but the car looks pretty sweet. It's growing on me to the point where I'm encouraged by the direction of MINI.











The party for the Countryman preview was on Treasure Island. A great place to hold the event for MINI. Great view of the city and with all the food and drinks it was worth it to go. The same Countryman was there so nothing new, but did see the Mayfair MINI so did see something new. Also got to see the MINIUSA president and he signed a card for me. Maybe I'm too much of a fanboy.

Spare room continues

I've completed the prep work for the spare room and will paint today. We've picked a very light blue color and I should finish the painting today and start the floor tomorrow.


The floor had lots of glue for the tile still left and I tried to strip it off. Mostly my effort seemed to just spread it around a bit but it's less sticky now than before so at least I did that. I also put down some cement sealant to help with the flooring.

Spare Room Project Start

Now that the hallway's done we're going to start on the spare room. We'll be trying for a nautical theme which I hope will include lighthouses. We've got the room empty and we'll pull up the carpet, padding and the tile. I'll probably have to seal the floor before I start on the pergo laminate. It will be the same as the hall and should continue seamlessly.

Here's the room empty, except for the cable modem that feeds the house. This room was the logical choice for that because that's where the computer and game systems will be when we're done. We'll have to work around the stuff while we finish this project. Hopefully this will go faster than the hallway because there will be fewer doors and angles to worry about. We do have some wall damage due to earth and foundation settling and hopefully there will be few cracks in the concrete subfloor. If there is I'll have to buy more of the liquid cement like I did in the living room. Work will continue tomorrow.

















On another note, MTTS starts on Friday, the only day I'll be going. I'm looking forward to the event in SF, I think it's a motocross course. That will be a first to me. My front tires need to be replaced as the tread is pretty worn but that will have to wait until after the event. Should make it more interesting, front tires sliding around and all. My week long vacation starts that day and I'm considering doing the drive at least part way down to LA, maybe all the way just to say hello to DB from WhiteRoofRadio. Sure wish I could go all the way to Denver, but the MINI plant tour will make up for that. I'm confirmed for September 13, woohoo!

Hallway done today

We finished the hallway upgrade today with the last piece of baseboard. Thanks to my youngest offspring I can post a few pictures of the work.

Here's the rug and padding in the process of removal. The carpet was OK many years ago, but with time and changing tastes, it was past time for it to go.

Here's the hallway after removing the carpet, padding and the tile under that. The concrete under all that wasn't in too bad of shape (no big cracks like in the living room) so I decided to lay the laminate over a layer of plastic sheeting right on the sub-floor.

Here's the hallway with the painted walls (almost a pale mint green) and the laminate laid down. The plastic under-layer can be seen at the edge and was trimmed off or laid behind the baseboard. In this picture I haven't put down the transition piece between the rug and flooring. It looks good for the master room but the rug for the other bedroom buckled a bit and I couldn't get it just right.













And finally the finished project. Actually there are just a few tiny gaps in the floor and floorboard areas that need to be filled with the wood putty stuff, but for the most part everything is done. Wall hangings or pictures will come latter; the spouse is deciding what to keep and what to replace.

Leadership material?

The engineer in our group at work has been on vacation for about a week now. When he left, he tasked me with overseeing the work of one of our contract workers and taking care of a couple of others who came in for maintenance and calibration of some equipment. He's been off on vacation before, but I never had to oversee the work on another. Which leads me to an understanding of myself that I've felt but never articulated before. I hate been a supervisor of anyone. In my own work I prefer a sort of training period with a clear understanding of the expectations. After that I prefer to be given my tasks with a hands-off supervisor who will trust my work and time management, and be patient with me when I ask for help. I've trained people here before and don't mind doing that as long as I can see the person is learning and trying to improve. Once the training period is over I expect them to preform somewhat like me, with minimal direction. Having to oversee someone who needs direction more than once a day frustrates me. Looking this over I am aware that this can seem somewhat unforgiving and rigid on my part and I acknowledge that. Still, I like work environments where we are a loose group on independent workers who come together as a team only when needed. Well there it is, I'm and Indian and not a Chief, and I like it that way.

Quiet on the home front

My youngest offspring is off in Ireland for six weeks. She's been gone just a week now and life at home is very quiet. Almost zero drama. We'll see how long before my spouse and I kill ourselves due to the oppressive silence. My daughter is by all accounts enjoying herself and is staying with her boyfriend at his folks home in a very small village somewhere between Limerick and Cork (I think). She'll get a great feel for small town, nothing to do except go to the pub lifestyle. Should be interesting. The small town life seems at first glance to us suburbanites to be ideal and serene, but I imagine for me it would get old fast. I know after living on Oahu for three years I couldn't wait to move back to CA.

Good aim

Reading the note on the picture brought back some great memories.

I was there (at the airport) quite awhile ago and saw this. It's true, I aimed at the fly and finished before I realized it wasn't real. And while the floors are indeed very clean, I still wouldn't want surgery in there.

Hallway Improvements

Almost finished with the replacement of the hall carpet with pergo flooring. The old carpet was badly worn with many holes to the pad and the nail strip showing along the entry way. We went with August Oak laminate. Still not convinced that it's super easy or long lasting. I did learn a lot and that should help me when I do the spare room with the same pergo. I'm not quite done and will be doing the baseboard and transition pieces sometime within a week. Pictures when complete.

The MTTS event will be only one day in SF. Instead I'll be going to Europe through my company and on the way home I hope to arrange a tour of the MINI plant in Oxford. Won't know about the tour until sometime next month but the trip is in September around my B-day.

Too bad about USA soccer, still not too shabby.

I'm in a AC/DC mode right now. I'm trying to complete the CD collection but funds are as always not easy to free up.

MTTS 2010

I'm still trying to get the spouse to agree to let me go to at least one of the MTTS events this year. I think the single day in SF is going to happen, but everything else is unlikely.

I'll be tearing out the carpeting in the hall next week and installing wood flooring. I'll also paint the hall and have the space heater changed out to something newer with a thermostat.

The grandson is walking all the time now, he's just over a year old and still very cute. He's looking more like his dad everytime we see him although the genetic influence of my daughter is still strong in the hair and eye color. Should turn out to be a good looking kid.

I'm enjoying the world cup so far, USA drew a draw with England, great relief there. Also getting excited about the Raiders upcoming season now that Russell is gone and their draft seemed good for a change.

Welcome back

It's been almost a year since I posted or even visited this site, so I'm long overdue for an update.

I'm the proud grandpa of Michael Robert. He's a great little kid and seems to be very happy with life.


















This picture is one of my favorites of him.

Came across another picture on a great website yesterday.


















I've been a bit under the weather lately with a persistent dry cough. Most likely the hangover of the last cold I had. I got the codine syrup for the cough and it's been getting better, but I'm still not fully recovered. I guess that's why I have the time now to revisit this site.

Later.