Life of Bryan

I saw this on a sign at a Jimmy John's Sandwich Shop in Colorado Springs yesterday.

I just thought WOW, that absolutely sums up how this country got where it is. We want more but no matter how much we get, it's never enough.

Very profound.

Last week I moved the vacuum sealer on the kitchen counter and I found some tiny brown bits of something hiding behind it. My immediate thought was that some kind of bug or critter that had gotten into the house. Not having much experience with this though, I assumed it was a bug issue because the droppings were so small.

Now, I will be the first to admit that my house is not spotlessly clean. And, in re

cent weeks the dishes had piled up a bit because we've been busy. However, we've never had a bug or critter issue in over 15 years of housekeeping. Even when we lived in Hawaii, a breeding ground for all kinds of insects and furry critters, we never had a problem. The only thing that ever ran around our house were the gecko lizards in Hawaii.

The first thing I did was to get all the dishes washed and the counters cleaned over the next couple of days. We even pulled out the oven and fridge and scrubbed the entire floor. Finally we cleaned out some of the cabinets and reorganized them. Despite all this, we didn't find any sign of bugs or critters. Then, we began to think that it was probably a mouse living somewhere in the house because we didn't find any signs of bugs. We also determined that he's probably a pretty recent guest as we haven't noticed anything before this.

Once, a few years ago, we did have a mouse get into a ba

g of powered sugar in the garage. We wrote it off as an anomaly because the weather was particularly cold that week and it never happened again. Also, it's really easy for something to get into the garage when the door can be up for hours sometimes.

For the next few days we made sure that the counter was especially clean of any food items and checked every morning for fresh droppings. We also set up a trap at the scene of the crime, on the kitchen counter. It was a canister thing that's supposed to trap the mouse inside and poison it. After a couple of days things were quiet. The trap was empty and the counters remained clean. Then, one night we were careless and left a bit of something on the counter and there were droppings the next morning.

One odd thing through all this was that we have two cats and neither of them has shown any sign of noticing a mouse. Our best explanation for this was a) they're not too bright, and b) we lock them in the computer room at night when the mouse is mostly likely active. Well, last night this changed. I was looking for Skittles so I could put him to bed, but I couldn't find him in any of his usual hiding spots. When I did find him, he was in the kitchen in front of the oven. He was hunched down in like he does when he's about to jump his brother.

This curious behavior immediately got my attention. I quickly came to the conclusion that he had the mouse cornered under the oven. Good kitty! So, I moved the rug kitchen rug and pulled out the stove a foot or two. Contact! There behind the oven, running around in the area between the cabinets on either side and the wall behind the oven was a cute little field mouse. He was light brown and maybe two inches long with beady little eyes.

Then, like a flash, it shot out from under the oven, past the cat and was over the edge to the family room below.

We all ran downstairs to look for it but couldn't find it. Our best guess is that he slipped under the door to the crawlspace under the kitchen. I let Skittles into the crawlspace to see if he could track down the mouse but after fifteen minutes it was clear this wasn't going to happen. We put him in the computer room with his brother and went upstairs to formulate a plan.

Tonight we are going to make a trip to Home Depot to evaluate the mouse trap options. I'm leaning towards a simpler, trap rather than the no-see, no-touch trap we were using. Whichever trap we choose I will be putting it just inside the crawlspace door and I will be blocking the door so the mouse can't get out of there.

If all goes well I expect to have a mouse in a night or two. Because, while he's is cute, he doesn't belong in my house.

You're not in love, you're just infatuated. And high on painkillers.

This is from the web comic Questionable Content. It's just a funny comic and I read it daily.

WARNING: This comic is NOT for kids. It'd rate it as MA or R.

Bonnie and I just got back from seeing "Rocky Horror Picture Show" at ACC. It was a free campus activity and was a blast. I haven't experienced the RHPS in about 18 years. It was Bonnie's and my first "real" date together.

We saw it at the Ogden theatre in Denver and it was quite an experience. The full cast, the alternate lyrics, and all the callouts. Oh, and the throwing of rice, toast, squirt bottles of water and the like. I just don't know why you would want to watch it on DVD without all that.

Tonight in keeping with the spirit of the experience, each guest received a bag with a tiny squirt gun, a baggie of rice, and a piece of toast. There were also some new ones for me, a deck of cards, a noise maker, and a party hat. Oh and there was a newspaper on every other seat. We had some audience members dress up and several did callouts. Nearly everyone did the Time Warp.

It was a blast and now I want to find out if it's showing around town.

Saturday night we went out to CiCi's Pizza in Centennial for dinner. We have been meaning to go there for years but it's a bit out of the way. As it happens, we were going that way and we had a coupon for a free kids meal. So, we decided to stop in. From the start we were blown away by the excellent customer service.

 The employees were friendly, outgoing, and very helpful. When we saw that the menu said a children's meal was ages 10 and under we realized our coupon wouldn't be valid because our son is nearly 12. When we ordered three adult buffets a man behind the counter (I don't remember his name but I am guessing he is the manager) said he would honor the coupon. This was unexpected but appreciated. He then explained how CiCi's worked and told us ask if we needed anything.

Nearly every employee we encountered during our visit opened up with, "Hi, my name is xxxx, let me know if there's anything I can do for you" or words to that effect. I was also impressed by the offer to make any pizza we didn't see out on the line and to even bring a few slices to our table when it was ready. This was well beyond anything I expected from a low cost buffet restaurant.

We made our salads and chose a few different pizzas. While the pizza was not the best I've ever had, it was good. And, given the number of available pizzas the choice was excellent. We particularly liked the garlic bread, dessert pizza and deep-dish cinnamon rolls. Several of the pizza combinations were also good.

We will definitely be returning to CiCi's for dinner in the future. For $7 a person we had a better customer service experience than I have had at fancy restaurants with $25 a plate entrees and the food was good to boot.

I think I've discovered what I really want to do. I know that sounds odd for someone pushing 37 with a wife and a son, but sometimes that's how it goes. It's like in the first episode of "Friends" when Rachel says "It’s like all my life everyone has always told me you’re a shoe, you’re a shoe, you’re a shoe, and then today I just stopped and said what if I don’t want to be a shoe, what if I want to be a purse, you know, or a hat..." Well, I guess I've been a "shoe" long enough and now I want to be a "purse".

 I guess, maybe it's not that strange after all. Bonnie, my wife, only figured out what she wanted to do about three years ago. She went to Arapahoe Community College with a friend to look at their program and wound up deciding she wanted to become a web designer. After taking a few classes she has come to realize that web design is not were she wants to be. She has fallen in love with graphic and print design. She's even started a design company with a classmate and they already have some clients.

Ever since my first exposure to computers at the age of ten I've wanted to work with computers. I learned how to program computers, build computers, fix computers. I've worked with computers for a long time. However, for the last few years I've been feeling like computers are passing me by. I'm not as interested in the technical aspect of computers like I was. Now I just seen them as a tool that I use to do things. I still love computers but I've transition more into a user than someone who's into the deeper technical aspect of computers.

So, back to the big question; what do I want to do? I think I want to write. Yes, write as in journalistic and/or creative writing. It's slowly become apparent to me that this is something I like to do. On the surface it seems a bit absurd to me since I never liked to write in school. I've always avoided classes that would require a large degree of writing, especially term papers.

Looking back the clues are all there. In the last five or more years I have written gadget and tech related articles for multiple PDA and gadget related bogs. I would type up an article about my latest PDA or other gadget purchase, sometimes writing a couple of thousand words. I also made a great number of posts in the forums, discussing gadgets. Without meaning to I had become a writer of sorts, and a prolific one at that.

More clues come to light when I look at my school career. I used to thrash out reports and papers in school, the night before they were due, and get good grades on them. I put off the writing because I was lazy and disinterested in the school I am also a habitual procrastinator, but when I got down to it, I could churn out the words.

More recently I've become interested in words and grammar. I notice more and more errors in things I read, including books and magazines. A few years ago I read "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" and realized that I was a bit of a punctuation and grammar stickler and didn't know it. That realization is especially odd since I can't even diagram a sentence. I've always taken a "gut feeling" approach to grammar. I know what sounds wrong for the most part and it keeps me from sounding illiterate.

Then, there's the nagging feeling I've had recently that there was a book in me somewhere. I know a lot of people get this but it didn't' make any sense to me. The longest thing I've ever written was a 16 page research paper in my English Comp II class. I couldn't conceive of writing an entire book. Why was I getting this odd, foreign feeling?

So, I guess the million dollar question for me now is: what do I do with this revelation?

This blog post is step one. I've often heard it said that if you put it out there so that you feel compelled to "own it". Well, that's what I'm doing. I'm putting this out there and now I have to do something about it.

I think the next step is to increase the amount of reading and writing I do on a daily basis. Stephen King says you have to read and write at least four hours a day if you want to be a writer. I'm going to try to work up to that.

I haven't been making the time to read for a long time now. I have books that I've bee meaning to read for years that I haven't gotten around to. I've been in the middle of others for years. That's going to have to end.

My primary reading method is to listen to audio books, and I've even let that slide with my interest in pod casts. This year I've tried to recommit myself to reading. I've read more books this year than I have in a couple of years. I've also read a few audio books. Now, I am adding writing to that.

I'm even considering taking some classes next year if things go well. Imagine me getting an Associate of Arts degree in English when I am only a few classes away from turning my Associates of Science in Computers into a Bachelors of Science in Computer Information Systems. Wow, who would have thunk it? Certainly not me when I started my degree in 1995.

I'm going to try to post every other day or so about something that interest me. It may be a comment on the news or current events or it might be a story about my life. Maybe I'll even "write" something worth blogging about.

Well I guess that's enough for now. I've written for today and tonight I'll do some reading.

It seems a bit ironic that my last post titled "Long time, no blog" in which I noted that I hadn't posted in over a month was over two months ago. And, I haven't posted since. Bad blogger!

So, here are a few updates:

My ill coworker was finally able to return to work in late August. She's doing much better and is recovering from having half a lung removed due to cancer. It's good to have her back and our team is returning to a normal routine as everyone is done with their summer vacations.

We had a great vacation in Connecticut and Maine. It was the best seventeen day's I've had in years. We ate much lobster and really took advantage of the time to just relax with her family and enjoy ourselves.

Victor and Bonnie are back in school and both are busy. Bonnie has class work and is busy running the design company she started over the summer. Victor has recreation league soccer and school band. He's also just been chosen to be the technology representative for his class. He gets that from me.

Well, those are the high points and I'll be posting again with big news.

It's been over a month since I last blogged. I had been keeping it pretty regular with about one post a week before that last one. The reason for my absence is simple, life got in the way.

I have a coworker who has been sick. She got a horrible flu like illness and was out for a few days. This meant we had to cover for her. This is no small task because she works the 3am shift. Another coworker and I trade off covering for her on this shift. He tends to do Monday through Wednesday so I can get her weekly reports done. Then I take Thursday and Friday so he can get some sleep. We have a system.

Well, she came back after being out a few days and was in for two days. Then, she was back out again because it was pneumonia. That put her in the hospital for a while, and while they were checking her lungs they found a spot. Yes, that kind of spot. So, after two weeks in the hospital she got to go home, still trying to kick the pneumonia and waiting on more info on the spot. That was two weeks ago.

Since then we have learned that it's a tumor, there was a biopsy of the spot somewhere in there. There was also a partially collapsed lung along the way. It's all pretty nasty stuff and we're hoping she gets better. Just two years ago she got pretty sick and found out she was diabetic and had a tumor on her thyroid. They took it out and she recovered on insulin and thyroid replacement meds. She's been healthy for two years, then this. Life's not fair.

So we've been covering for her, knowing that the length of her absence is unknown, but now we have a problem. I'm going on vacation in a week. I have to make sure other people can do my work while I'm gone. And, of course we have to make sure all her stuff still gets done. So we're handing backup responsibilities around and training each other on this, that, and the other process. We've been enduring sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and fatigue. But we do it because we have to.

It's been pretty hectic and not a lot else has gotten done in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, loosing half my week to backup duties has put a crunch on my normal work time and I have a lot to finish up before I get out of here next Friday.

It really is true that life is what happens while you're making plans. In the last month all our plans have gone somewhere in a hand basket.

I'm back on the bus after a year's absence. The price of gas has done me in. It's costing me at least $25/wk to drive to work and a monthly Local CD bus pass is $60. I'm out of the house for 13.5 hours a day in stead of 11, but I'm saving a good bit of money.

At $3.92, what I've paid in the last week for mid-grade, it's just too expensive to drive. I do everything I can to wring out every last mile from my car. I accelerate slowly up-shifting quickly in the sub 3K RPM range. I stay in the far right lane on the highway. I coast as much as possible and break as little as possible to maximize my momentum. Doing all this my 1990 Acura Integra GS sedan manages to get between 34 and 37 MPG. That's as much as 60% better than the EPA estimate of 23 MPG.

There are some benefits to the bus over driving besides the monetary savings. For starters, we are entering the hot season and I the AC in my car doesn't work. Meanwhile, the buses and trains all have very good AC. Next, I have time to read books and magazines or watch videos on my iPod. That's good because I finished up 'Pillars of the Earth' yesterday morning and I'm catching up on my TED conference videos. I highly recommend the TED videos if you want to learn some amazing things about technology, design and the world. It's life changing stuff.

Oh, and I get some extra exercise walking to/from/between the buses and trains. I needs me some exercise.

Well, the home repair monster has reared its ugly head at my house again. Luckily it seems as if it's just a baby monster this time.

Back in January of '07 we replaced the carpet in our family room. Since we were doing that room we went up the stairs to the living room and again up the stairs to the landing outside the bedrooms. This was all for continuity's sake. We had to do this because of water leaking under the wall behind the toilet in the downstairs bathroom. It went into the family room and ruined the carpet. We caulked the bottom of the wall to the floor to keep the water in and all seemed good.

Then, a few months back we noticed the same on the other side of the bathroom. Water was seeping under the wall from the bathroom into the computer room. So, we replaced the carpet in there with Pergo laminate flooring and caulked the wall there too. Of course while we were replacing the flooring we decided to paint the room and put in new Elfa shelving in the closet and on the wall.

Now, we are finding a little moisture is still coming back into the family room, but farther down the wall than before. When we investigated we found the bottom of the vanity cabinet in the bathroom was damp and rotting. We were afraid we maybe had a leak in the wall behind the vanity because there's no water damage IN the vanity and all the plumbing to the sink is tight and dry. So, we had to tear out the sink, counter and vanity.

What do we find under the counter? Dryness. The only dampness is where the wood footing of the vanity meets the concrete flooring and the tile floor butts right up to the cabinet. We can't find any evidence of leaking anywhere.

Now, our thought now is that it's just a case of water from the shower, the cause of all the other problems, got under the cabinet after we caulked the wall behind the toilet. The caulking just served to channel the water under the cabinet.

We have to replace the cabinet since the old one was two rotted to put back in and we tore out the banjo counter top so that needs to be replaced too. Not a big loss because Bonnie never liked the countertop anyway. The problem here is that our cookie-cutter suburban track-house, while being like all the others in the neighborhood, is non-standard.

The vanity cabinet is 27 inches wide, the standard sizes of replacement cabinets are 24 and 30 inches wide. We can't go with a 30 inch wide cabinet because of the code that says you must have 15 inches from the center of the toilet to the closest fixture. We have exactly that on both sides of the toilet. This means we need a 24 inch cabinet. Next, the only 24 inch wide cabinets we can find at Home Depot or Lowe's are 18 inches deep. Our existing cabinet is 21 inches deep. So, as a result our new cabinet will be 3 inches narrower and 3 inches more shallow.

We aren't opposed to a smaller cabinet because it will help open up the room a little bit. This is good since the floor space in the room is only 58 inches square, including where the vanity and toilet sit. It's a small bathroom.

Where this problem really hits home is that the tile floor butted up to the old cabinet and the new cabinet will be off the floor. So, we will have to either fill in the hole or replace the floor. We have three spare tiles for the floor that we found in the crawl space. We really need four to do a full job. The second option is to tear out the floor and put in new flooring. We found some very nice looking vinyl flooring that goes in similar to the Pergo laminate we put in the computer room, except that it is self adhesive and can be cut with a knife. Of course, the new flooring would require us to pull the toilet. Not a big deal, but extra work nonetheless.

The fortunate part of this project is that it won't be as expensive as we had feared. The vanity is $150 and comes with a molded counter/sink made out of "cultured marble". That's a fiberglass resin with limestone and calcium carbonate for us laymen. I will transfer the fixtures from the old sink to the new one. If we just fill in the gap in the floor it will be very inexpensive for leveler, adhesive, and grout. If we put in the new floor it will be $40 for the flooring and a little more for leveler and a new wax ring for the toilet. Either way we will be putting new wall trim down because the current stuff is crap.

We also need to patch holes in the wall behind the counter and cabinet and paint. As we have found in a variety of other places in the house they builders used the stud finding method of punch holes in the wall in a row until you hit wood. Then, just let the thing you are affixing to the wall cover the holes. Morons!

Overall I think the project will come in for under $250 either way. That?s a bargain compared to the two other rooms.

For now we are going to give the room a few days to make sure that there isn't another source of the water that we have missed while we decide on our flooring options and get the supplies we need.

Ah, the joys of home ownership!