Just another weekend...

This weekend I did a very unusual thing -- I stayed home! Saturday I went down to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters office for a forum to talk about my match experience with Vince for a few hours (I was the featured guest). That went pretty well, and afterward I met up with Tracy for a trip to the 'burbs where we went shopping at Ikea, Lowes, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. I'm in the process of making home improvements (some major and some very minor), and this weekend I was looking to improve my kitchen, including installing my new garbage disposal.

Fortunately, one of my friends, Jonathan is very skilled in electrical matters, and he came over Saturday evening to help me with the electrical side of the installation (wiring up a switch, attaching the cord, etc.). After that, Tracy and I decided we had enough kitchen work for the day, and went out to see a movie -- Good Night and Good Luck. It was short and sweet, and very well done in my opinion.

Sunday morning we resumed work on the actual installation, including finishing the electrical circuitry and doing the plumbing work under the sink. We hit a few snags along the way, but managed to get through them all with flying colors (thanks in large part to WD40). It took about 3-4 hours, but we got through just in time to watch the Seahawks take care of the visiting Panthers and advance to the franchise's first Super Bowl. Not a bad weekend, eh?

Demolition

The act of "demolition" is something I was hoping to never hear in reference to my house, but today, that is what is going on. The guys came bright and early and, as I write this, are in the process of removing several surfaces/walls in my garage in an attempt to repair the aforementioned water damage incurred on New Year's Eve. For what it's worth, I think that I seem more concerned than they are -- they're pros, after all. I just see my house getting torn up, wondering how on earth they'll ever get it back together. Magic, I'm guessing.

What I am asking for is nothing short of a miracle. Over the last few days, my house has gotten gradually smellier. Since the burst pipe occurred behind a wall, there's no telling the extent of the water damage without tearing apart my house piece by piece. And I'm not fully convinced this demolition will find all those places. After all, the leak occurred on the main floor, and only collected in the garage because of gravity. Keep the faith, I keep telling myself. At least most of it is covered by insurance (on that note: I'm so happy to finally be using some of this insurance that I've been dutifully been paying for!)

So, after these guys leave today, I've got to schedule a time with the drywall contractor to fix everything they're breaking, and then hope that everything goes smoothly with the insurance, and THEN I could worry about converting all my old plumbing from galvanized steel to copper. Home projects are much more fun when they are done voluntarily!

My Habitat Experience

I haven't posted in a while, and I'm sure you're all holding your collective breath waiting for me to disclose my latest adventure. Worry not, I'm back to tell all about my first volunteer experience with Habitat for Humanity.

Before I do, the main reason I've been "offline" is because I've had a pretty major accident in my house. At about 7pm on New Year's Eve, I got word from Chong that a pipe had burst in my house, causing water to collect over my garage and eventually pull down the ceiling. I've spent several hours since then dealing with plumbers, restoration companies, my insurance, and my phone trying to get everything cleaned up. I think I'm about halfway there.

Now back to Habitat...

Last Saturday, Tracy and I headed down to South Seattle to join a group of about 25 people in the construction of a set of row townhouses (6 of them, I think). The units were already partially constructed, with the main floor plans laid out. The roofs had yet to be added, though, and so each floor was submerged under about a quarter inch of standing water from the recent wet weather we've been having (Note to reader: today was the 23rd consecutive day of rain). We lucked out in the morning, though, as the sun even made a brief appearance. That all disappeared by lunch as heavy rain moved in, causing us to have to reach for the raincoats.

We were tasked with installing frames for landings, at the top of stairs between the second and third levels. This basically involved building a hanging box about 3x5 feet, and then adding joists. Doesn't sound too hard, right? The strange angles, and the fact that we were hammering overhead made it more physically strenuous than I would've thought, and the fact that we were cutting and moving lots of heavy, wet wood turned the day into a real workout (a good thing). It was even more fun using a saw that cut wood of all shapes and sizes. Having recently build a landing for my own house, I learned how important it is to have a nice power tools, and also to not trust that factory wood is consistently sized.

I don't have any pictures, but you could probably check out any Habitat website and it looked pretty much like that. In fact, the whole day went remarkably like what I was expecting, and I honestly can't wait to do it again!