Another dead Tivo!

The great thing about tivo is that it totally changes the way you watch TV but that's only when it's working. We had to unplug the tivo today and unfortunately it didn't work when we plugged it back in. Apparently the only way to fix it is to send it back and have a refurbished one sent. This is the second time we've had to exchange it. Luckily we finished watching all of the Lost episodes we missed while we were on sabbatical. Unfortunately we didn't finish watching all of the other million shows we had tivo'ed.

Woodshop 101

More work was done on the kitchen. This should have completed all of the remaining items except there were still problems. The new garage doesn't really roll up or down well and the tilt out drawer hits the other cabinet doors below. I also asked that they fix the trim around the fridge but nothing was really done. So instead I took matters into my own hands. You can see some of the handy work below. Basically the trim wasn't aligned with the cabinet and it moved when you closed the fridge. I added some metal brackets so that the trim would stay in place. Any craftsmen would probably think this was sacriligious to use metal with the wood but it's a good thing I'm not a craftsmen. All I know is that the trim looks nice and doesn't move now.

Ikea (Ick-Kia)

Nothing like visiting Ikea or Ick-Kia as Minja would say in Finland, to get some cheap assembly required furniture. We picked up a few bookcases, shelves, and eventually a desk once they come out with the beech color that matches their bookcases. Unfortunately, we had a little accident on the last speedbump about 1/8 mile from home. The trunk lock slammed into the box and punctured the bookcase's faux wood backing. Luckily you can't really notice it with the shelf in and the doors closed.

6 weeks and in the "sweet spot"

So the official word from the eye doctor is that my vision is at least 20/30. My left eye seems near perfect while my right eye is more like the blurry eye chart at times although not quite that bad. The doc mentioned that my eye is 0.5 diopters off still but that both eyes are in the "sweet spot" where he wants them and that the vision will be getting better over the next few months. We'll see if that's true.

When 16" is not really 16"....TV stands

So here's the new TV stand from room and board. They actually shipped us the smaller unit so this one will be going back whenever they get around to delivering the longer one. Overall, the unit is pretty nice in that it has lots of ventilation for the hot components. I also took a lot of flack for measuring the inside depth of the cabinet in the store even though the info says the depth is 16". It turns out that the inside dimension is really 18". Might not seem like it matters but my receiver just fits. On a side note, our Tivo started freezing and rebooting during some shows. Basically the hard drive has some bad sectors that cause it to freeze up. Since the unit was under warranty, Tivo next day aired a new unit to us. Hopefully the unit is problem free this time. Nothing more frustrating than a tivo that freezes up.

What to do with all that space?

More Kitchen work....almost done.

Well the garage has finally been installed sort of. There's a chip on the door so they'll need to order a new one. This is like the 4th garage now. At least this time they won't need to remove the frame. They'll just install the roller part.

This time the appliances actually fit under the garage. It doesn't get any closer than that. Here was the 1st attempt.

They also put in some skins to hide the screw holes that they created with the undercab lights.

Action shot of shaving away some of the trim around the fridge since the fridge bulges out.

Weird seeing the fridge without the blue. Man you can really those those fingerprints.

One problem we had was getting the fridge to be sturdy. For some reason it would rock even after being leveled. So in order to stop it from moving, a little wood is used to wedge it in.

Here's the new false door. The old one looked like crap.

Everything should be in HD!

Well our HP Plasma arrived just in time for the superbowl. Too bad there weren't more shows in HD. Everything looks so much better.




Here's a picture of the Terk directional antenna we are using to pick up HD over the air. The antenna works pretty well but then again we are only 2 miles from the TV towers. Check out www.antennaweb.org to find the towers near you.

2 weeks and counting

It's been two weeks now that I've had the eye surgery. The vision still isn't perfect but it's definitely getting better. I can probably even see well enough to drive legally. We also just got hooked up with an employee discount for a plasma HDTV through a friend of a friend. No idea when it's coming but we've ordered some new furniture for the TV and the family room. Hopefully they'll all arrive around the same time.

Here's a pic of the TV.

You too can see like Heath

Today is exactly 1 week after having PRK done on my eyes. You can click here for a comparison between lasik and PRK. Basically PRK is like Lasik but without the flap. Oh and the amount of pain and discomfort is much higher with PRK and your final vision takes weeks as opposed to days. My vision is still a little blurry or hazy but it's a lot better than before. I won't know how good until a few more weeks. Meanwhile, the pain and discomfort is mainly gone now that the bandage contacts are out of my eyes.

Forget the kitchen, we just got Tivo!

Okay so after resisting years and years and succumbing to the Tivo hype, we finally broke down and got it. Well actually Santa delivered it from South Africa with the lifetime service no less. So is it really worth a few hundred dollars to not have to remember to program the VCR or wait till the show is done to watch it from the beginning? In one word, YES! I think the coolest feature about it though is being able to play Eric's MP3 collection on the Stereo. There's this SW, galleon tv, that runs on your PC that enhances a lot of Tivo's home networking features.

So if you've been resisting Tivo, I recommend getting one or waiting for the HD Tivo Series 3 that was demo'ed at CES this year.

Day X. Finally a little more progress

We were just getting use to having a normal kitchen without any work going on. Some of the cabinet pieces that were damaged or missing have finally come in. Here you can see the filler pieces around the fridge. One thing that wasn't accounted for was the fridge bulges out a little so they need to trim the filler pieces a little more.

Here's what the area looked like before.




So it turns out that the granite hangover actually did have metal bars routed into the granite for extra support so the bars we had on were unnecessary. So as a result, we had them removed. I'm sure many knees are thanking us now. The drywall has also been fixed up and textured.

Early Xmas gifts

So our dining room table and chairs finally came in from Ethan Allen. Everything is coming together for the holidays. Overall the finish of the table matches the buffet table pretty well which is from Crate and Barrel.

Here's a shot fo the Peacock cushions. It'll go well when we finally paint one of the walls red.

Here's our other recent purchases, an armless sectional and coffee table from PB. We also have a leather slipper chair but there's no room for it with the tree up.

Just in time for Xmas

You were probably thinking I was talking about our kitchen but this time its our Douglas Fir Christmas Tree. Here it's getting a nice trim before being loaded on the car.

So after a few hrs of decorating etc. the tree has finally made its way to its final resting place. Hopefully the cats won't knock too many ornaments off.

Day 28. Dishwasher and more handy work

Well all of the kitchen work is being put on hold during the holidays. Luckily they were able to finish up some items like installing the dishwasher. They finished installing the hardware and installed the glass on the upper cabs as well as the wall plates. They also made the trim by the wine cooler sturdier but that needed fixing. Keep reading for that one.

Here's the dishwasher. Overall it's a lot quieter than our old one but still a little noiser than what we expected. The model is the S series which we had changed to the U series since those are quieter but unfortunately the S series showed up. So instead of waiting another 2 wks or so for a U series dishwasher, we went ahead and installed this one.

Here's the end cabinet with the glass installed now.

So what you are looking at here is my handy work for securing the trim. Originally the workers had placed that extra bracing piece and secured it with liquid nails but the adhesive didn't hold it and it fell down. So instead I screwed that piece into the trim and then down into the block holding the lower trim. Then to hold the lower trim in place, I screwed the brace and the lower trim piece as well. Overall it's a lot more secure than what was there before.

Also, here I put extra tile down to level out the area so that the wine fridge could slide in and out very easily. Since I didn't have a tile cutter, I had to get creative with a hammer. Really they should have cut the tile and put thinset down to secure them but time was ticking in order for them to finish on Wed.

Day 26. Wine anyone?

Okay so the wine cooler has finally been installed. The trim piece to the right had to be altered to add a toe kick. Now the fridge is flush with the cabinet door. Now we just have to fill it. Charles Shaw anyone?

Here the glass door for the island book case is being mounted to the door frame. Hopefully the glass for the upper cabinet doors will be the right size this time.

Some of the earlier tile work had to be ripped up again because they didn't put in the base molding first. You can see the unfinished molding.

Here's some minor touchup on the ceiling. Hopefully tomorrow the tile will be grouted and the dishwasher will be installed.

Day 25. All Done....well almost

Well today was the day in which everything was supposed to be completed. Due to some unfortunate circumstances with the contractors, they were short one man. As a result, our kitchen has a few things that still need to be completed which hopefully most of which will be completed early next week. A few things such as cabinet trim and the appliance garage might take a little longer.

Well after 4 weeks we finally have lights in the kitchen again. Overall the lights are much better than the track lighting they replaced but we probably should have positioned them a little better. Oh well.
So besides the lights, most of the hardware was installed. We can finally start moving stuff back into the kitchen. The glass came for the upper cabinets but somehow they measured the openings wrong and the glass didn't fit. Also, the reeds in the glass were horizontal instead of vertical. Hopefully those will be in by next week as well.

Since they were a man down, I helped install the dimmer switches. I installed dimmers for the pendant, undercab, and recessed lights. Even after installing a dimmer for magnetic transformers, the transformer still hums.

Day 23. Appliances

Grout was added to the tile backsplash.

The appliances were finally installed. Now we can finally cook again after eating out for almost a month.

Day 22. Tile

Here's the tile backsplash minus the grout. It's a 3 x 6 beveled edge travertine.

If you look carefully, you'll notice the appliance garage is missing. A new one has been ordered and this time should be installed properly so that the appliances actually fit under the door.

Day 21. Can I have some water?

Finally after about 4 weeks, we have water in our kitchen sink. You can see our new Grohe faucet, air vacuum switch for the garbage disposal, and soap dispenser.

If you look closely, you can see our new appliance garage to hide things in. There's just one problem with it though.

Our appliances are just a tad too tall for it. Hopefully they'll be able to work something out so they fit.

Here you can see they fixed the microwave opening by moving one of the cabinets. 30" on the dot.

Here's our backsplash tile. We removed some of the outlier tiles that are part of what makes natural stone so "beautiful".