Archerr

This weekend I was at the boyfriend's house. Lately we've been very busy on Sunday mornings but today we were able to relax and not rush off to a winery or an event. The boyfriend made multi-grain pancakes and bacon. He also made a pot of coffee for himself (I don't drink coffee). While I was doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, this is what he was doing.


He really enjoys being able to enjoy his coffee while reading the Sunday paper. He reads it pretty much cover to cover. After doing the dishes, I watched the CBS Sunday Morning show. We had such a relaxing Sunday morning. Considering we both are back to work now, it was nice to enjoy one quiet relaxing morning. I don't know how many of these we will have this academic year.

I'm so upset that James got voted out last night from Big Brother 7. I think he is adorable (and my boyfriend knows that) but I know James is a republican asshole. I can put that aside just to look at him. But that's over. I won't be watching him anymore on Big Brother 7. He now goes to the jury house. Aw...when so many get kicked out of the house I know the summer is ending....yet another sign like the last post.

Who will win BB7?

I know the summer is ending when it's time for me to go back to work. I've been off all summer but come Monday I go back to work. I never look forward to the return to work but I usually get back into a routine pretty quickly.

Even though summer doesn't officially end until Labor Day weekend, the sun is setting earlier now and the temperatures aren't as bad as they were in July. These are signs to me that the summer is ending. I won't be able to stay up late watching TV anymore. Nor will I be able to sleep late. I'll have to revert back to my school year schedule of getting up really early and going to bed really early. Why can't I just win the lottery so that I don't have to work!

The boyfriend and I will be going to our last summer concert tonight. We're going to see Bruce Hornsby at Wolf Trap. I haven't heard anything from him for a long time. I only remember one song and I can't even think of the name of it. I'm sure we'll enjoy the concert, the weather, the food, and the wine.

How do you know when the summer is over? What signals it for you?

We have so few pictures of us together. It's nice to get a good one of the two of us together. Here's one from yesterday. We went to a winery with a fellow wine blogger and he was nice enough to take a photo of us together. I think we look pretty good. Love ya, honey!



Update: Today is our 1 1/2 year anniversary. We went to see Chris Issak in concert tonight. We saw him last year at this time and it was the first time we admitted our love for each other. The boyfriend reminded me of that tonight. He's so sweet. We reaffirmed our love.

The world can rest easy now. People magazine reported yesterday that Lance and Reichen are very happy together. The report says not to believe the internet rumors that Lance and Reichen are breaking up.

And what about the rumors that Lance and Reichen will be working together? "No, not together," Lance said "I don't think we like to mix business … " Lehmkuhl agreed: "We're just enjoying each other." There were internet rumors floating around saying that Lance and Reichen would be creating a reality show together very similar to the Nick and Jessica show on MTV. So forget that happening. They say they won't be working together. That Reichen is a hottie.

At this point you're probably asking yourself why I'm writing about this crap. Well, it's because I'm tired of dealing with contractors who won't return my calls or do what they say they are going to do. I talked with one contractor yesterday who said he would call me in the afternoon with an estimate. He hasn't called yet. I guess I need to be more patient. I just don't like having my house torn up but I have a feeling that my house will be a mess for quite a long time. So using the net to get away from this contractor stuff is a nice diversion.

Sunday was my mom's 75th birthday. On Saturday almost all of my family members gathered at my sister's house to celebrate her birthday. We had a great time and it was fun catching up with my family. We haven't all been together for quite awhile. My twin brother and his family live in Columbus Ohio and weren't able to come and my boyfriend had his family in town so he wasn't able to come either. We missed them but had a great time and my mother was very happy on her 75th birthday. Below are two photos. The first is of two of my brothers acting silly. Notice my older brother in the background. The second is a group shot of all the relatives who were able to attend. Click on the photos to see a larger version. This is just my immediate family. When we are all together there are 24 of us. Huge family, huh?

When I bought my new car almost 2 months ago, I really wanted it to have the built in navigation system. Well, it didn't come with it but it was an option. I knew at the time that I would be traveling in early August to Charlottesville to visit my dad and really wanted to have a navigation system instead of having to use MapQuest and planning out the whole trip, stop by stop, ahead of time.

Just before leaving for the trip I decided to buy a portable navigation system. I went with the TomTom Go 910. This thing is amazing. First of all it comes with all the accessories that you could possible need. And it is SO easy to use. I was able to plug in the addresses of all the wineries and my father's house. When we wanted to go somewhere I just touched the screen on "navigate to" and picked the location I wanted and it directed me right to the location I picked. It was right every time. There were two addresses it couldn't find because they were not on the map when the system was created. That's expected of some places.

This thing gives you lots of information on the screen. Of course it gives you turn by turn directions by voice and on the screen. But it also tells you the next turn that is coming up, how far until you get to that turn, what time you'll get there and what time you'll get to your final destination. It constantly updates all this information based on where you are according to the GPS system. I love it!

Not only does it give you all that information and get you were you want to go, it also lets you upload music and photos to the 20 gig hard drive that it comes with. You can create play lists, etc. But I doubt I'll ever use it for music because I have the ability to connect my iPod to the car stereo. It also allows you to upload photos to the hard drive and play slide shows while driving! Not that I need to be distracted by the photos but the passenger in the front seat can watch the slide shows while you're driving. It's very cool.

If you find yourself in the market for a portable navigation system, check out the TomTom Go.

I saw this over at Bedhead Ben and thought it was a very clever way of informing the public about Net Neutrality. As Ben asked, can you name the net celebs in the video? I've seen all of them on videos at one time or another. Have you?

The insurance people came this morning. There were 5 people who came in to look at, photograph, and ask me all about the damage in my condo. I showed them everywhere I thought it was damaged. One guy from the insurance company was HOT! If he was by himself the 70's porn music would have been playing in the background. He had this little moisture meter that determined how moist different areas are. He said anything that read 14 and below was fine. In my laundry room there was a reading of 106. In my kitchen on the countertop there was a reading of 75. They measured my whole condo and talked about how damaged the carpet was. Then they wrote down a lot of things and then left. No offer of a check or anything. I figured they need to write up their reports and then I'll hear from them. Time will tell. I have to hang in there and live with the damage a little while longer.

So the boyfriend and I are back from Charlottesville. We had a great visit with my dad. We also had a great time visiting wineries. We were able to go to 14 wineries while in Charlottesville. It was fun.

When I got home I was expecting to see the messed up carpeting all cleaned and put back in place but nothing had been done. They only took the blowers and the de-humidifier out. I had a notice under my door saying they would be returning on Monday to replace the padding, fix the carpet, and clean the carpet. So I waited all day Monday for them to arrive and they didn't show up until 6:50 pm. I was not happy. Then they proceed to tell me that the carpet can't be fixed. The backing had separated from the actual carpet and couldn't be re-attached to the tack strips. I asked what that meant and they said I had to have my carpet replaced. The guy went to talk to the condo lady and she told him the insurance adjuster will be coming in today to take a claim. I will not be paying for this. I wonder if they will just cut me a check or will I have to get it replaced and then get paid.

Right after he told me the carpet couldn't be fixed I got my camera out and started snapping photos for the insurance in case my insurance has to get involved. Here's are some photos from the damage.


This photo shows how the backing has separtated from the carpet in the dining room.

This photo shows the stains and the separation in the hall.

Today the boyfriend and I are off on a road trip to visit my father in Charlottesville, VA. We will be gone for five days. While it will be nice to visit with my father, our real plan is to visit wineries. We have plans to visit 14 wineries. Should be fun!

Some of you might remember previous visits to my father's house and how silly he can be. Remember this? I have the video camera packed so I'll be taking more video of my funny father I'm sure.

I woke up yesterday morning to a high pitched humming sound. Without peeing I walked down the hall toward the front door. As I took the first step past my bedroom door, I felt cold wet carpet under my feet. What the fuck? From my bedroom door to the living room the carpet was soaking wet. I made it to the front door and opened it. There were men using shop vacs to suck up water from the carpet in the hall. I asked them what had happened. Broken washing machine pipe in the condo above mine. Damn!

After chatting with them for a minute to find out what would happen next, I checked out the damage in my condo in more detail. There was about a quarter of an inch of water on the floor in my kitchen. There was even water on the counter. I have no idea how that got there. I got some old towels and cleaned off the counter. By this time the men were knocking on the door to suck up the water in my condo. They came in and sucked as much as they could suck.

I then waited a few hours for a special company to come to do flood damage control. They came in with a crew and tore up my carpet, took out the padding, sucked up more water, sprayed something, and then left blowers and a dehumidifier in my kitchen. They will be back on Thursday to put it all back together and make sure no mold has begun to grow.

So now I have my carpeting all torn up, blowers blowing air over the carpets to dry them, and a HUGE industrial sized dehumidifier in my kitchen sucking water out of the air. There's even a plastic tube running from the machine into my sink to drain the water away.

This really sucks. I'm leaving for Charlottesville tomorrow and won't be here on Thursday when they return. But if the carpet isn't back to normal when I return on Monday, they'll be hearing from me. The carpet looks like shit right now. I can't imagine it being back to normal when they leave on Thursday. I think it should be replaced. If I'm not pleased, it will be replaced.