Drifus' Travels – Well he thought he would

Yea it’s been six months since I last posted but that is the privilege I get for having a blog that no one reads.

Well recently I have decided to re-write my site layout using HTML5 and CSS3. Most of it is done and one the specifications are finished I am sure I will make more changes.

House is in a holding pattern, I am really waiting till winter comes so I can go back in the attic without turning into a raisin in .5 seconds.

Online dating well as always it has it’s good days and bad days, but I am taking it less serious as it’s really just another game in life. I have a PS/2 if I want to play a game I will load one and play. I really think online dating is more a popularity contest that people play with their friends. Between 1 and 10% are people actually hoping to find someone. I rest put up a profile to see what happens and they compare notes with their friends. I have met a lot of great women through online dating, heck the only friends I have are women, kind of funny. I wish them all of the hope and luck, as everyone should have someone with whom they can love and confide to without judgment.

I went to my first singles party, I talked to 2 people, both who I met a year ago. We spent time catching up, it was kind of fun to go to my first event and know people. I am sure I will go again, this one was great as there was no band playing so loud you couldn’t talk to someone. I like listening to bands but when you are trying to meet someone, either turn the band down some or have the party on a NON band night. A DJ or just good Muzak will do just fine.

Well, so maybe I am back to writing, heck if anything it will be my own journal I already have 5 years in it. I did go back and clean some of the previous writings mostly spelling and it was blast to re-read them.

Well nite all.

Well to all of my non-readers Happy New Year, wow I can hear the echoes, echoes. Well the dating world changed recently and I have met 2 people, one in person and one I chat with from Texas. Both are going well based on their geographical location, it keeps me busy and I am having fun.

I am not sure where I left off with my house purchase so if there is some repetition, sorry I am too lazy to read my previous posts. Well I have some kitchen utensils and plates, bowls etc. I have always found the kitchen to be the easiest to deal with, I guess 7 years in food service can help.

Now furniture was a real pain in the ass, I looked for months, I had decorators come over, I visited every furniture store in the St.Louis area and even checked out things online. Well 3 months in the making and I now have a recliner and sofa, both are black leather. The real issue was the room I have is a dining/living combination and it’s more rectangular. So length of a sofa was a big issue, most of what I liked was over 90″, I did however find one in the mid 80″ range. Finding a recliner wasn’t too hard, especially after going to name brand stores who would want upwards of $1700 for a recliner. Well I bought one I really like for under $400, both the chair and sofa are brand new and I still have the tags on them.

So now the next endeavor is the dining room or dinette room as it should be called. I like the thought of a counter height square table with a built in lazy Susan, that when the edges are flipped up it becomes a round table. I have also entertained a square to rectangle table without a lazy Susan. Still on the fence with this purchase but within 30 days I will have it in the house.

O forgot to mention that I did find bedroom furniture, it’s dark merlot in color with a black leather head board. Which is nice when reading in bed. So now I have a dresser/mirror, 2 nightstand and a queen bed.

So once the last of the furniture is purchased I will revisit the kitchen as there are many gadgets I still want to add. A bowl-lift mixer with all of the attachments, magnetic spice rack, I want to also “gut” the little pantry and add shelving that adjusts. Other things like a mandoline, a rasp and other veg. and fruit carving items. Now am I chef, well not professionally but now that I am alone on my own I plan to learn how to make great meals and blend some nice drinks to go with it.

While this latter stuff is going on I will get back to finishing the wired network and micro server room. This will allow me to then start on the home automation and add some additional insulation and sound proofing.

I have CAD drawings of my place so I can play with ideas until I run out. Eventually the main upstairs bathroom will get a make over. Yes the house is only 5 yrs. old but the previous owner didn’t do much and when she did, she didn’t take the time to research what she was doing or hire it out. If I had the money I would gut all of the inside perimeter walls and add some additional power wires and make sure the insulation is as high an R factor allowed in that space. Then I would have it professionally re-drywalled and painted as I know I could do it but sometimes things should be hired out to ensure it’s right. But that is a pipe dream for another time. Other things I am planning is to make this place as “green” as possible, wrapping water line, wrapping and sealing duct work. Add flashing insulation to the attic, after i finish wiring for ceiling fans and network.

As much as I like living in my RV I think I could handle living in this condo, I can spend more time on the changes I want to make while someone is outside taking care of the exterior. I do have a little green place I can “play” and from what I have seen the more you grab the less they cut. So my patio and to be built deck may help with that. Well it’s almost Friday and I can talk about the garage another time.

Nite all.

Well I have solved all of my BB (BlackBerry) issues. I updated the OS from RIM and then installed apps the I actually use on any given day. Now on a fresh boot of the phone I have just shy of 26M of memory. By the end of the day I still have 24M, the only other time I reboot the phone is when loading a 20M Cacheberry file. It’s not necessary but why invite trouble if you can avoid it. I do wish the phone had infrared, yes it’s old school but you could control more things like TV, VCR, DVD etc, a remote you wouldn’t have to look for.

I guess I shall let the cat out of the bag, I have bought a house, call it a large hobby. There is nothing wrong with the place I just thought that with the market like it is, it would be a shame to pass up an opportunity to own real estate. So now I am out of the RV for quite some time. I will probably list it for sale in the spring as I know I will not be using it anytime soon. So anyone looking for a 2006 Montana 3400RL that has traveled maybe 320 miles and looks like new let me know.

Ok on other fronts, online dating again. Yes I am about as sick of it as you are reading about it. Online dating has to be the most depressing thing in life. Death is less depressing because it’s over, dating goes on and on unless you say stop. What if you don’t find a person or maybe the ones that contact you aren’t close to what you are looking for. Like I am sure I have mentioned before, I have contacted people and never hear back. At least you can check your sent messages and see that they were read and or deleted. I think sometimes children are more mature than adults, a simply “sorry not interested”, “I am dating someone”, “my dog has 10 days to live so I want to be there for him”. Think of online dating as being at a bar or some local pick up spot, someone comes up to you and asks you to dance or have a drink etc, do you just sit there and ignore them? Really? I think not, you would say thanks but I am not interested, or I am with someone, at the most you would have some light conversation out of politeness. Well same goes for the anonymous online dating it’s just COMMON HUMAN F’n COURTESY!!!!!

Anyway back to the depressing part, for the most part I have given up on being invested in it. My new approach is more like a science project, I change my profile (it’s all true, I just add and subtract things). I change the “title” of my posting and I click on a bunch of profiles so they know someone looked at theirs, yes I do read them. I am not going to collect data on my “experiment” as it’s not scientific by any stretch of the imagination.

It just came to me On-Line Dating (O-L-D) hummm

Well I guess I should sort of update things from the last entry. The Blackberry Storm is still a really nice phone, though if you have an application with a memory issue (leak) the phone can be a pain to use as it will really slow down. I have scheduled mine to reboot about 30 minutes before I wake up which helps. I have also removed or downgraded apps that I have installed and have had mixed results. I think I might just “clear” the phone completely and start over, this has worked before on my Windows based phones.

I guess I did write too soon about Beth, cancer is back and she is back to Chemotherapy (chemo). She is two treatments into to it and for the most part is sick less than last time. So I guess the fight is on again, she is also possibly going to work on her blog this time. Check the home page for the link.

Never made it to a spa but I am not dead yet either, The RV is in storage and still looks good, I think I might get a cover for it so the graphics on the side won’t fade. I have been looking at some private campgrounds around here and it looks like I can get a lot for a few thousand and the yearly fee would be less than what I pay to store it, plus I would have a weekend getaway when I wanted to. The only problem I am finding is that most are only open from April to October, I have not confirmed if access is allowed and services are shut off or what. I kind of like being in my RV in the winter watching the snow fall, I fell like I am closer to the snow than in a sticks and bricks home.

A home show came through town last week which we attended, this was actually a re-modelers show opposed to new homes. A lot of it seem to be the same as the year before, lots of windows, doors, enclosures, decks and fences. There was 1 yes 1 company that did HA (Home Automation), I do not know why there was only one, sure it’s not completely cheap especially for an existing house but there are so many “powerline” and wireless options. I like the thought of being able to monitor my whole house, in today’s busy lives the sooner you know something the sooner you can react. Say you have had your system installed for a few months and you have a monitor for your electrical usage. Then one day you noticed an increased usage, you know nothing has changed (new appliances, computer etc). Well instead of waiting until the next bill and getting a surprise you can investigate now. Now is better because I am certain you will spend more time fighting with the utility company “after” you get the bill. So you see the spike in usage and begin your investigation, after some time you notice an extension cord plugged in to an outlet outside of your house. It’s your neighbor using a some power tools to build a shed in his backyard. Now granted this is hopefully something that hasn’t nor will ever happen to you but knowing what’s going on around you is nice.

I did find some good information at the home show, I found a company that does silicone injections for foundation walls with cracks and it looks like it will be rather inexpensive. (more on this in a future post) I also saw a company that rids and prevents “street creep” Google it, again another repair that will probably only be about $500 for a single car driveway. They basically cut about a 3″ of concrete out of the width of the driveway and then press this “rubber” pseudo tube in the cut and it cushions your foundation from your driveway. They said that here is St.Louis with the range of our temperatures a 100′ slab of concrete can move 3/4 of an inch. WOW

There can be so much to write and yet so little time to get it written.

I guess I will first start with an article I read about what you write on the Internet. This article basically says if you write something it can be found and not always by who you want. An example given was a future employer, may find something, an old “Spring Break” picture or video of risque nature, etc. Well first off “think before you submit”, secondly, to all employers “GET A LIFE”. Just because some lousy choice you made decades ago isn’t on the Internet does not mean you didn’t do it. If we all conformed to these types of paranoia there would be nothing to see or read on the Internet. So people please continue to post stories and pictures etc, all of us enjoy each others failures as well as successes. Ok, for now I am done with that rant.

Not that anything here is in chronological order or some times previously mentioned. I just wanted to note that I finally installed the hitch to my car, now for a light duty trailer and bike rack! I have to say that after 12 years and 151K miles she is probably the 4th best thing to happen to me. (After my kids and current partner of the opposite sex) Heck next year it will have lasted longer than my marriage and she has been much more fun. Hyundai ! You Rock!!!

I finally got rid of my Motorola q9m it was decent but I am glad it is no more, I am now a Crackberrian (user of a Blackberry device). Why no iPhone you may ask, simple AT&T, been there done that, I’ll stick with “V”.

I have been watching the unreal estate market and am considering purchasing a property. I have really enjoyed doing some lite home-automation, but this would give me a chance to go as far as I want, plus resale would increase.

I had another birthday, this year I acquired some more “Snoopy’s” for my collection via antiquing, went out to an Italian restaurant, so half of my birthday was good. As for dinner it was a last minute decision and supposed to be good, I beg to differ. While on the subject of birthday I plan to go to a spa, no I am not an effeminate male just like to try something off the cuff. About 5 years earlier I had my nails done (manicure), again just something to experience. Though I can say I look forward to a hour + massage, I am about 40 years over due.

Beth is doing well all cancer is gone still, let’s keep it that way!

Well I know I was going to write more but I have decided to do other things.
C ya