Muchacho Polaco

• 06Feb

  celings are gone

  home restoration No Comments

  

  Today was another productive Saturday. All of the ceilings are now removed along with the nasty insulation that was in the attic. We now mostly have an empty shell. I had to have the roll-off emptied again today which makes it twice for the week. That’s a lot of trash to the dump.

  Yun and I then went shopping for some things. We went to Gerson’s per Jeff and Beth’s recommendation. There is a lot of garbage there, but they do have plenty of treasures as well. The store sells used household items; such as sinks, toilets, bathtubs, kitchens, etc. We found a really nice bathtub that was brand new which we intended to purchase, but it was sold while we contemplated purchasing it. What a bummer! They had a lot of windows and doors for a really reasonable price, so we expect we’ll be making plenty of purchases from there.

  We did end up getting a really nice kitchen sink today, but it will be quite some time before we’re anywhere near that stage. It was such a good deal we couldn’t pass it up.

  We have a lot of stuff we’re trying to sell in the garage as well. I put up one item on ebay this afternoon that sold about an hour later. This is probably an indication that I sold it for too little.

  The next step is to remove the toilets and bathtub to prepare the sewage pipes before we pour the cement to level the house. After that we will probably have the new windows and doors installed and then framing can begin.

• 01Feb

  dentista, no mas!

  Mexico, friends, home restoration 1 Comment

  

  Yunuen and I woke early Saturday morning to head to Mexico. It was my final visit to the dentist! Afterward we went out to eat with her parents and then headed back to Tucson. It’s freezing this time of year down there.

  We bought some awesome flour tortillas and a few kilos of cheese before crossing back. We bought two types of cheese. The type in the picture below is the best for quesadillas.

  

  We had the opportunity to have dinner at Jeff and Beth’s and then later played some Spades. Naturally Jeff and I destroyed the ladies.

  

  I had little time to work on the house this weekend. I did start to tear down the ceiling in one of the rooms and found the attic to be in terrible shape. The roof has some leaks due to various skylights and duct work, so that will need to be repaired/replaced as well.

  Here is a before and during photo of one of the rooms.

  

• 27Jan

  Vampire Weekend

  music 1 Comment

  

  I was introduced to this album at Liam’s house last weekend over poker night. I liked it a lot and it was probably the inspiration needed to decimate the others and to leave with the pot.

  I’ve been listening to the album all week (among others) and am listing my favorites below which you can click on the link to listen.

  White Sky (the best song on the album)
  Horchata
  California English (great song - the video accompanying it is ridiculous)

  The above links are for youtube - they may not be functional by the time you click on them, but if you search the song titles, they reappear hourly.

• 23Jan

  mucho trabajo hoy

  family, food, home restoration 1 Comment

  It snowed in the mountains last night! We had a beautiful view early this morning.

  

  Today was very productive. I woke early to drive to the other house to meet the guy delivering the roll-off (3 ton dumpster). It was much smaller than I had anticipated, but it worked. The cost was around $200 which includes taking it to the dump when it’s full. My guess is that I will have two or three additional loads in the near future.

  

  I came back home shortly after as we have a mechanic that was coming to the house to work on the truck and one of the cars. One thing I am greatly blessed with having a Mexican wife is being tapped into an affordable labor force. The mechanic worked for approximately three hours - the fee was $30.00. Unfortunately, my truck’s a/c compressor is dead and needs to be replaced. The dealership sells them for $1200.00, but the mechanic helped us find one for $150.00 elsewhere. Not too bad.

  

  Yun’s parents arrived later and we had some awesome tacos with shrimp, chorizo, bacon, and beef. They are called discada and they were awesome.

  

  I had hired three guys today to come and clean out the rubble in the house. They did a great job and completely filled the dumpster. They also removed most of the non-load bearing framing as well. We also had some framers come out to take a look at some work we will need and for them to begin putting together an estimate.

  

  I am hoping to have the house completely gutted by the end of February, to include the removal of all the ceilings as well. The next steps will likely be:

  - concrete to level the floors
  - remove existing windows and doors and replace
  - framing
  - replace electrical
  - replace plumbing
  - insulation in walls
  - dry wall ceiling and walls
  - insulate attic

• 23Jan

  feliz cumpleanos en el parador

  friends 1 Comment

  

  It was Yunuen’s birthday today. We went to Hacienda del Sol for dinner. We began with the skillet seared Mexican cheese.  Then we each had salads - I ordered the buttered leaf lettuce and Yun ordered the  local organic greens. As usual, we ended up switching plates as my beloved wife ordered something she didn’t like. For the main meal,  I ordered a NY strip and she ordered the veal. She didn’t like the veal, so they took it back and replaced it with a filet de mignon. That’s when we realized we were at our new favorite place.

  After dinner we met Phil and Nancy at El Parador for some salsa dancing. We had a great time and were able to burn off dinner.

  

• 22Jan

  sonoran root canal and hotdog

  Mexico 1 Comment

  

  As the last blog entry indicates - I was at the dentista just a couple days ago. The tooth I attempted to have fixed has been in excruciating pain since then and last night I wasn’t able to sleep because of the pain. And so, as the pain was mostly unbearable today, I departed work early to again head South across the border in hopes to kill the pain.

  To my dismay, I was advised nearly immediately upon my arrival that I was going to likely need a root canal. A few xrays later and it was confirmed. Two hours later I was (mostly) pain free. The smell of drilled teeth was especially memorable and ranks up their with the smell of burnt hair.

  

  In Mexico you are required to do your own injections. Here is a close up of the nasty:

  

  After the procedure I was rewarded with a sweet Sonoran hotdog from a vendor outside the dentist office. It was raining and cold - but SO worth it! Hopefully I am not going to bed tonight with any particularly aggressive stomach parasites.

  

• 19Jan

  gallos y mas gallos

  Mexico No Comments

  

  Yun and I had the day off and so headed south into Mexico for the day. We both had some more dental work to get done which is always especially fun and then we had lunch later at Yun’s parents house. Yun’s father was getting some new roosters and had a number of new chicks that had recently hatched. I am really excited for the day when we can have our own chickens!

  

• 16Jan

  the hurt locker

  movies 1 Comment

  

  We just watched the movie The Hurt Locker. It was an interesting movie and worth watching. I suspect this is the first time in history that we have a movie about an active war. There’s just something odd about that.

  This would be a good movie for anyone considering enlisting to watch as it demonstrates the utter absurdity of this war. As with other non-congressional declarations of war (Korea/Vietnam), it is a mystery as to what the actual goal is supposed to be. One wonders if the enlisted have any clue what they’re actually fighting for and the plot of this movie seems to demonstrate this.

  I would recommend watching this film.

• 09Jan

  Thai Reunion

  food, friends 2 Comments

  Our friends Mark and Becky from Thailand are in town and we had the opportunity to have them, along with Ross, Ben, and Lis over for dinner. Ross brought some sweet NY strips that had been marinated well. Mark and Becky are missionaries in Thailand and we were able to spend some time with them there a few years back.

  

• 09Jan

  fishing in san carlos

  travels 2 Comments

  I stumbled across this old photo today and I like it a lot. It reminds me that we should be planning a Spring trip South.

  

• 02Jan

  deconstruction day three

  home restoration 6 Comments

  All of the interior walls are now removed. Both bathrooms are removed along with the kitchen. One of the water lines snapped today, so I had to cap that. Eventually the entire plumbing architecture will need to be replaced.

  I’m hesitant to remove the ceilings because I will then have to replace all of them along with the insulation in the attic. I suspect it is inevitable though.

  

  

  

• 02Jan

  new years day

  family, food, holidays No Comments

  

  After sleeping in rather late this morning - we spent most of the day at the park. It was in the mid-70s for most of the day.

  First, at the dog park where Scout and Tila continued their studies in canine socialization. Scout is a pitbull mix and could readily rip apart most of the other dogs at the park should he wish (his 5 mile sprints aka blood runs, have in part prepared him for this), yet sadly he is such a wimp when he is around other dogs. He is incredibly fast though - so we enjoy showing him off by throwing tennis balls which he can get to before any of the other dogs.

  

  Later we sat near a nice pond and Yun and her parents played SkipBo while I finished up Riggebach’s book Why American History is not What They Say. Its not the most helpful or entertaining thing I have read recently, but it did end strong and has inspired a few other books of a similar genre.

  On the way home, we stopped at Fiesta Market for the necessary items to prepare carne asada for dinner (my favorite meal). It started to get a bit cold at this time.

  

  

  Dinner was awesome. We later resumed the SkipBo and then played a few rounds of Rummikub. I read nearly half of Molloy’s The Life of Saint Athanasius while playing, which appears to be a pretty decent primer on Athanasius and the events that led to the first ecumenical council at Nicaea.

• 01Jan

  New Years 2009

  family, friends, holidays No Comments

  

  Yunuen and I spent New Years Eve with Jesus and Crystal and Yun’s parents. We are now in new a decade!

  

• 30Dec

  blueprints

  home restoration 1 Comment

  Here is the tentative layout for the new house:

  

• 28Dec

  where the wild things are

  movies 3 Comments

  

  I just watched Where the Wild Things Are which was based on a book from my childhood. The movie was exceptionally strange. I suspect it has a deeper meaning which I am unable to grasp. I’m not sure I would recommend it.

  

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