General

Well, it’s that time of the year, isn’t it? Office Christmas parties. This year, as a result of vaious things, I’m ‘lucky’ enough to attend 5 different events work-related. First, there was a luncheon at the Keg in the Market for all the employees under my executive director. Decent food and a few drinks, with nothing too outrageous taking place. Second event was a CRTC-wide Christmas party held, of all places, at the Legion over in Hull! The food again was good, and there was a fun band. The odd part about this party was that it is attended by mainly Broadcasting people from the CRTC (95% of the attendees). What does that mean? Well, I didn’t really know anyone, and it was on a work night, so Jody and I didn’t stay too long. Next up was Jody’s work party, which was held at the Rideau Club! Hoity toity, fancy schmancy, say what you will, either way you look at it, Suit and Tie is required. That doesn’t mean they stay on all night though! Like last year, this party turned out to be a spectacle of people getting progressively ‘tipsier’ as the night wore on. Now this is what I call and office Christmas party! I’ve put some of the pictures up on flickr, but some, out of respect for the people I didn’t know, were left out! I had originally planned not to drink too much, since Kev and I were planning to go snowshoeing the next morning. However, all that changed when Jody accidentally knocked a full glass of beer (not unlike the one in this picture) all over my suit! Since I smelled like a brewery, I decided I might as well play the part. Needless to say, we closed the party, and there was much bellowing, singing, and dancing. Luckily, we went home at a reasonable hour, and I got enough sleep to go exercising the next morning.

Well, I know I keep talking about this wonderful Oak Bar that I’m building, and that I’ll update this as I go. Well, I’m telling the truth, but it’s taking me longer than I’d like to get rolling on the project. Everytime I start to do some prep work, something else seems to come along and interrupt my momentum. I can say this much for my current status. I have the wood. All the wood now. On Saturday morning, I went out to Adams and Kennedy Wood Source in Manotick to pick up the rest of the Oak wood bits. Man, 2×4 Oak sure is pretty (and costly). They had what I needed, and 9 pieces of wood (and $250) later, I was supposedly ready to go. Instead, I went running. Oh well. The plywood is mostly cut up now as well. What remains is ripping and cross-cutting all the oak planks to the proper dimensions. That will be my next step. I’ve also decided the best way to do this is try and stain and varnish the wood before putting it all together. That should minimize the mess in the living room, and make it easier to finish off. I also have all the odds and ends that I’ll need, like hinges, the sink, shelving, lighting, etc. etc. I really wish it was already done, in time for Christmas, but that is definitely not going to be the case. Rest assured, I’ll survive. But I’ve got to get this done, so I can get back to being lazy in the new rec room! More pics will be posted as I go.

Yup, thar she be folks! The La-Z-Boy couch has arrived and is all set up in the basement. With that behemoth set up, I guess we’re done phase 6 in the basement renovation. We’re rounding the final corner (ha ha, did you get the pun there?). All that remains is to build the bar, and put in a new coffee table I guess. Unfortunately, that bar is going to be no easy task. I’ve been doing my research, and going over the plans in detail, and all I can say is that it’s a pretty major first wood-working project to be undertaking. I mean, I really want this thing to look good, and I’m worried I might not have the mad skills for it! However, rest assured, I’ll take my anal time with it, and make sure it turns out something special 🙂 I’ve even bought yet another tool to do so, a new plunge router! But enough about the bar. How about that couch? It’s a sectional, the smallest you can get, but it still manages to look like a giant in that room, and unfortunately, dwarfs our current 32″ TV. So what does Jody say? ” I guess we need a new TV”. Those are dangerous words to say to a big ticket shop-a-holic! However, we really can’t afford that right now, so I’ll just have to start dreaming about my 45″ LCD HD Widescreen TV (the Sony Bravia looks nice!). My guess is that after Christmas, in the winter doldrums, prices will [yet again] drop probably my 25-40% on TVs. Mark my words. Then.. look out world, here comes Stevey. At least that’ll give me time to properly research what ‘I need’. Till then, I’ll just have to curl up on this fancy couch, and play Xbox on my wee 32 incher. Ha ha. That’s it for now.

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.