Cat likes stinky shoes

I almost titled this f00t f3t1sh ...but was afraid of the search hits. Anyway... I've been doing a few miles a day on the treadmill - which means that I get pretty sweaty - which means that my running shoes are rather nasty when I'm done. Our littlest cat, Quidjibo, however, seems to rather enjoy the stinky shoes. I popped those nasty boys off and Quidjibo was trying to dig down to the bottom of the earth through the shoes. OK, so it's at least clear why the Felidae family is not at the top of the food chain ...at least not in our house.

Tiki Bar is ready!

Tiki Bar is Ready :)

Ben and I started this about a month ago. I actually thought it would be a weekend project! LOL ...I always underestimate a project. And I underestimated the cost! My rough guess is at least US$400 for this project ...maybe closer to $500. Click the pic or link on the left to see photos on Flickr showing the steps in the building. No formal plans, just sketched some ideas and made it up along the way ...the best way to do this type of leisure project!

I believe the list of materials is something like this:

• (1) 4x8 foot sheet of 3/4 inch birch plywood (for top and shelves)
• (1) 4x8 foot sheet of 1/2 inch plywood for sides and front
• (2) 8 foot 4x4 inch cedar posts
• (4) casters
• (1) roll of BF-39F Bamboo Wall Cover from Tropical Expressions
• (4) DT-FBMN Flat Bamboo Molding from amaZulu, Inc.
• (5) packs of Mosaic Glass Value Pack-Bright Colors and 5 packs of Mosaic Glue from Jo-Ann Fabric & Crafts
• One pack each of brown and green mosaic glass - for the palm tree design
• Corona bottle opener and Corona bucket from Off The Deep End
• 2 or 3 packs of wainscot tongue and groove, a gallon of semi-gloss white exterior paint, a bunch of L-brackets, 2x4 hangers (which I used for 2x3's), lots of screws, some carpenter's glue, a box of brad tacks, a 50-foot roll of sisal rope, a few 8-foot pieces of quarter round ...all from the local Lowe's or Home Depot store
• (1) gallon Thompson's WaterSealer (with stain already in it)
• (2) quarts of Famowood Glaze Coat (pour-on high gloss epoxy coating)
• some tile grout (we already had this)
• probably 5 glue sticks (used with the hot glue gun to attach the rope

Lots of tunes to play while working, a few Nukie Browns to drink after working, the cool tiki guy that we found at the local Dockside store (along with Polly - the fake parrot that we picked up at Dockside). Probably a few other things, but I've been typing too long and the bar is getting lonely.

Cheers :)

Tiki bar ...getting there

On Thanksgiving weekend while Ben was home from college for a few days, we started building a bar ...with a bit of a Tiki theme in mind. No real plans. I sketched some ideas on notebook paper, took some measurements, eventually settled on a sketch of more or less what we were going for, and then bought some wood and supplies and we had at it. One can buy varying quality of finished bar for anywhere from about US$300 to around US$1500 ...probably more if one's been drinking. I'm guessing by the time it's done I'll have close to US$400 in this one. About double my original estimate ...just like when I'm writing code ;)

So if you click the thumbnail image you'll see the bar as it was last night. Most evenings I try to at least do something to make a little progress. Too busy tonight, so I'm posting instead. In general, it's supported by 4x4 inch posts on casters with an overall dimension of about 2 feet by 4 feet by 40 inches high ...the idea being to keep it small and mobile enough to roll inside if a hurricane is coming. Plywood all around, 3 shelves, bamboo slats wrapped around with heavy split bamboo trim at the edges. Lots of paint and water sealing. All wood joins glued and screwed, seams caulked, etc. I want this unit to be able to live outside (under the lanai cover) with no worries.

For the bar top, we're gluing down pieces of colored glass to form a random mosaic, with a palm tree design front and center. We'll grout and seal the top after we're done gluing down what seems to be about 5 million little pieces of glass.

But we're getting close ...getting real close. And I tested the Corona opener this evening after I got done on the treadmill :)

New treadmill: Great! and evil

We've had the Bowflex Series 3 Treadmill for a week now. Happily, it arrived last Tuesday, several days earlier than had been predicted. Gosh, treadmill technology has come a long way since we bought our last one (while taking the old one apart to recycle what we could, we discovered part of the frame that had pretty much disintegrated ...I suspect it may have been wounded during the cross-country move to Florida). This new device is definitely evil ...in a good way, I guess. It has a number of built-in 'programs', so I can select a program, enter how long I want the workout to be, and then let this electronic demon force me through a more rigorous workout than I would do if left to my own slothful ways. So I'm still doing 3 miles a day, but the miles are harder. Sometimes faster. Sometimes at more of an incline (much more). Usually a mix of both. And always harder. A good solid sweat-fest.

So I am developing a real love/hate relationship with this critter. But I'm part masochist, so it's all good :)

My dad's old house; health insurance

We were down in Cape Coral and Ft Myers this weekend, visiting my former step mom ... or something like that. She was my dad's wife until a divorce a couple of years before he passed away. Anyway, she lives in Cape Coral. Over 20 years ago, they built the house pictured here (click the thumbnail for larger image), located in Ft Myers (across the river from Cape Coral). When my dad bought the lot for the house, he'd paid about US$30,000. I chatted briefly with the current owners, and they said that the lots in that neighborhood (this is right on a canal) now sell for over a MILLION dollars! That's just the value of the land, not the house.

Unfortunately, my dad and his wife decided to take a risk and go without health insurance for a few months when they'd each started a new job. It's often the case that one must be with a company for 90 days before being eligible for health insurance through the employer. So they opted to forgo purchasing individual coverage. Then my dad had a heart attack, and his wife was diagnosed with cancer. They ended up selling another property to cover those medical bills, but they were then uninsurable. And so eventually (after a later heart bypass operation and other medical issues) they declared bankruptcy.

It was a poor decision to skip the health insurance. And there were disastrous consequences.

I am extremely fortunate to be employed at a company that provides excellent health insurance. As is the case for many folks, I pay a portion of the premium, but my wife, my son, and I are all insured. It is a travesty that in the USA there are so many who go without
health insurance ...who can either not afford the premiums, or whom the insurance companies refuse to cover. These folks are left with few or no options other than skipping
proper medical and dental care ...reliant on hospital emergency rooms
for those times when medical attention is deemed necessary. Incredible.