Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Horray.

The electrical work passed inspection today. Fantastic.

Now I get to rip out a shower and install a tub.

Then sell a house?

Friday, September 25, 2009

Electrical Inspection

No. Good.

Apparently, a few more things need to be done with the rats nest of wires and receptacles. Super.

The electrician is going in tomorrow to fix everything up and the inspector will be back on Monday to hopefully sign some permits.

Crap.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Update

Quick update:

The plumbing passed inspection. Here's how the inspector took care of things:

Rang the doorbell.

Greeted me kindly.

Asked me if Joe Merritt, Plumber did OK work.

Turned on the hot water in the kitchen.

Stuck his finger under the stream.

Turned off the water.

Walked to the bathroom.

Repeated finger under hot water test.

Walked to the basement.

Looked at one pipe valve.

Signed permit.

Left.

What? Is that it?

Monday, September 14, 2009

Inspections and Bowling.

It's been awhile, as usual. There isn't much going on, so there isn't much to write about. I only have two tasks remaining: Put two coats of polyurethane on the thresholds, and tear down and rebuild the second floor shower. The first of those will be finished after work today. The second will have to wait. And wait. And wait.

I've been waiting to get the house inspected for close to two weeks. Last Friday, one of the three inspections actually took place. The house passed. Hooray. Next up? Electrical inspection and plumbing inspection. Only after those have been completed, can I start on the second floor bathroom.

Due to all of this waiting around, I actually have free time. It's a little weird, but welcome. I work at a slower pace, but am looking forward to going full out again once these inspections are done. I'd like to sell this s-hole so I can move on.

With this new found free time, Amanda and I decided to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon at the super nice, extra elegant East Providence Lanes. We bowled for a few hours. As mentioned earlier in this blog, we also make stupid bets on things. Saturday was no exception.

A little background: When it is time to turn my leased Mercury Mariner back in, I will have many many miles available to burn (I have 15k miles per year or something, which I don't come close to). With these extra miles, we've decided that we're going to take a road trip. Across the United States and back. That should help burn some miles...

With this in mind, we decided to think up wagers for each game we played. After 10 frames of warm up, we got to business. Here's a rundown of the bets:

1st game: If Amanda wins, I have to attempt to complete an eating challenge (90 oz steak, 47 hot dogs, etc.) of her choosing, somewhere in the United States.

If I win, at any point in the trip, I can stop the car and tell Amanda to roll down a hill of my choosing without objection.

I won the first game. She will have to roll down a random hill like a 7 year old.

2nd game: If Amanda wins, I will pay for our stay at any hotel chosen by Amanda on any given night on our trip.

If I win, when we stay at friends houses across the country, if there is only a couch to sleep on, I get the couch and she gets the floor.

I won the second game. She will have to sleep on some cold floor boards somewhere in Oakland.

3rd game: If Amanda wins, the two previous losses are wiped out. In other words, if she wins, the two previous bets are forgotten and Amanda doesn't have to roll down a hill or sleep on any floors.

If I win, and I admit that I poached this wager, Amanda has to attempt to complete an eating challenge of my choosing.

Amanda won the third game. Her previous gaming loses are forgiven. Crap.

4th game: We agreed on the same wager, no matter who won. I thought of a great one.

The winner of the fourth and final game of bowling will conceive a dance routine that the loser must perform in a random American city or town of the winner's choosing. The loser will be dressed by the winner and the accompanying music will be chosen by the winner. The winner will film the loser and post the footage for the world to see on the internet.

High stakes.

From the beginning of the fourth game, Amanda was killing me. She had found her bowling groove, and I was wearing down. Everything I rolled was drifting to the right, but I was able to pick up a lot of spares to keep me in the game. She however, was rolling strikes.

It wasn't looking good.

I chipped away for a few frames and her lead stayed pretty comfortable throughout. I was resigned to the fact that I'd have to wear a leotard somewhere in San Francisco while doing the Running Man to Kool and the Gang.

Luckily for me, Amanda started to fade at the end. Still ahead by 20 pins or so, she left the 10th frame open. I still had a spare to fill in the 9th, and the 10th frame to try to make up the ground.

Strike.

Strike.

Spare.

Game Over.

In the most clutch bowling frames of my life (and I bowled in a weekly league when I was much younger), I pulled it off. Not only did I win the game, but Amanda will have to, somewhere, probably in Texas, dance around like an idiot. In public. And on camera.

Next year, sometime in November, keep your eyes peeled for a 5'2" girl in neon Spandex attempting to Crip Walk with Another Bad Creation blaring from a boombox nearby. It's going to be hilarious.

On a related topic, while looking for footage of the Crip Walk, I found the following. I enjoyed it.