Friday, January 14, 2011

Justification for a Personal Trainer

We have an eliptical trainer. It's a pretty nice one, similar to the ones at the gym, or at least similar to the ones that were at the gym the last time I actually set foot in one. That would be about eight years ago. We purchased the machine to replace my gym membership, figuring that the law of convenience would prompt me to exercise a little more. And I did. For a while.

Then the kids came along, my schedule was no longer, I was too tired, yadda yadda yadda, and so I haven't been as diligent as originally planned.

Today, however, I felt motivated enough to dig out part of my neglected coolmax wardrobe, and hop back on that machine with the goal of not feeling so decrepit upon getting out of bed each morning.

Perhaps I had managed to convince myself that I haven't been quite as lazy as I actually have been, because I had a major shock when I pulled up my I.D. on the eliptical's computer for the purpose of updating the information. It showed my age as 34. I'm currently 38.

That last break was a doozie! At least my recorded weight from 4 years ago is higher than my current one! Imagine how much lower it would be if I hadn't spent the past four years sitting on the couch with a bag of chips!

Friday, January 07, 2011

Home Ownership is Fun!

At the beginning of this week, we initiated our plan to rip out the circa 1982 bar from our basement, with the intention of making a better play space for the kids. It was an unsightly bar, and we weren't planning on hiring a bartender, so why keep it?

Well, there was a fair bit of mould within the particle board constructed bar, so our handyman thought it a good idea to pull off the baseboard from the wall behind the bar, just to see what there was to see. More mould.

Based on that, we decided to rip out the carpet that was near the bar, and install a nice new floor for the whole area. There was mould almost all the way through, which led to the removal of the sub floor as well.

With mould now being the greatest concern, we thought it would be good to cut away a couple of feet of drywall from the walls that we knew had previous water damage, just to verify that water was no longer getting in, and that it would be safe to patch up the walls and install the new floor.

The foundation was clearly leaking.

So, it would appear that we have to now dig up at least one side of the house, but probably all four. We also have to rip out all of the basement drywall and insulation along the perimeter, such that we can dry everything out before repairing it. I imagine a demolition team will be here in the next couple of weeks.

Is it too late to hire a bartender?

Saturday, January 01, 2011

It's a Start

Happy New Year, everybody!

I obviously took a break after the namopoblowme thingy, but supposedly I'm rested and refreshed, and ready to play again. I always need to start slowly after a break, so let me start with a piece of advice:

If you happen to have strep throat, even if you are on the mend, wasabi is not the recommended food of choice during this time.