Yearly archives: 2005

Well, alas poor Jonah has been undergoing a bit of a bad spell recently. We just passed his 3rd birthday, and until now, all was pretty good. However, this year has been a bit of a rough one for old Jonah. They say that mutts are generally healthier than pure-breds, but I’m starting to wonder. This year, Jonah has gone through ear infections, allergies, and “bum” issues, which I’d rather not get into. The latest problem is a combination of several, and we’re now worried it might be a sign of something worse. As you can see, he’s wearing the cone of silence this weekend, to keep him from chewing and licking himself raw. You can also see his nose growth which materialized in three days. He’s also got another ear infection! Woes me. Lots of drugs and resting for him. Maybe the new couch will help him. The trouble is that we suspect he may have Lupus. Not a great thing if he does. Basically, his body might be attacking itself (auto-immune disorder). For now, we’re trying a cycle of drugs, to eliminate other possibilities. If he has Lupis, we’ll have to do some biopsies, and find out for sure. Unfortunately, that testing ain’t cheap. But he’s worth it, despite his many annoyances, he is part of the family, and deserves our love and care. We’ll keep you posted if we hear more…

Whew! We’re almost there. I finished off putting the quarter round along all the new carpet, to give it the finished look. I also managed to get all the speaker mounted, with the wiring running through the walls and ceiling. It was not what I’d call and easy task, but the end result is a very clean installation of the sound system for the bar / rec room. You can check out the latest shots of the basement, including a nice picture of the rat’s nest that is the wiring jumble for all the AV gear in my media cabinet. Basically, all that remains is getting the new couch, which we’ve just got word will be delivered to us next Saturday (Dec.3rd), and building the bar. Now obviously, the couch is an easy one. However, getting the bar built is a different story. I’m working on it now, but there is a lot of fine woodwork that’ll have to go into it, and I don’t want to screw up. I’ve even bought yet another toy to help with that. I picked up a new 2 1/4 HP plunge router for the detail work. So, even though the materials will have only cost me about $700, the tools that I ‘had’ to buy for the job ran me over $1,000 extra!! Good grief. Anyway, stay tuned for updates on the bar build.

Well, the chips all fell where they may, and in the aftermath, 3 people walked away happy, and the rest stumbled away drunk. Such was the case at the conclusion of my first stab at tournament director of a Poker game. Seven people braved the weather and a great time was had by all. Check out all the pics. I started the day by visiting Rob at 10am to pick up chips and some tips on how to play. I then picked up a fancy new poker table top, which was put to great use by us last night. Participants in the inaugural game included Dave Smith, John Kean, Greg Herage, Adam Stewart, Matt Scase and Rob Sample. Rob was a surprise addition, given that he was supposed to be playing all day at another tourney. Well, turns out he got done early, hopped a bus, and showed up half cut and with a nice $20 in his hands to join the action! Huzzah for that. He made it possible for us to do a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place game. Ironically, Rob was the only real player at the table, and was the first to be taken out. Never trust us beginners. We’re VERY unpredictable, right Rob? We set the game up with increasing blinds every 20 minutes, and $10,000 buy in for $20. I think it’s safe to say everyone had a great time, and we’ll definitely have to make this a regular occurence. What do you say boys, monthly? The table has room for 8 people, so we can have a rotating cast of characters depending who’s available. After all, if Matt can win, anyone can, right? Ha ha ha. The exit order was (I think): Rob, Adam, me, Dave, John, Greg, Matt. Congrats Matt. Pizza’s on you next time 😉 Of course, to make the night sweeter, we kept going by playing vids till the wee hours… Halo, Driv3r, DOA Volleyball (yes, I’ll work on that hack sometime). Good times. I never knew I was such an efficient killer in Halo when intoxicated! And the grand finale was Dave, Matt and I watching music DVD’s till 4am! Huzzah. Let’s do it again sometime boyz.

Well, as a reward for going away to New York City for the weekend, we let someone come over to our house and install our new carpeting on Monday in the basement! Finally, what I thought would be a day off. Well, the carpet has been laid out, and it looks fantastic. They did a good job (Giant Carpet). The new carpet is much lighter, so it doesn’t show Jonah’s hair as much, but will be prone to show dirt. Oops, can’t win them all I guess. Of course, now that the carpet is done, I have to work on putting quarter round trim along all the walls at the floor. Pain in the ass. I also started wiring the speakers up. They have been mouted on the walls, and I bought a fish tape to get the speaker wire through the walls / ducts to conceal the wiring. Again, major pain in the ass! But worth the effort, as there are no wires criss-crossing the floor. We’ve also got word back that the new couch may be in by Christmas, so now I’m gonna have to hurry up and get the bar built. That way, the whole basement would be done for Christmas! Yay! Hopefully I’ll have the whole home theatre set up soon, and I’ll post pics of what that looks like. Next purchase for me: wireless controller for the xbox. I’m also hoping I win a 52″ Toshiba HD TV at work. I bought 3 tickets for $10, with proceeds going to the United Way. Boy, would that TV look good in my new basement!