Happy Thanksgiving

Just a quick note to let you all know that we are safe and happy in the new house in Johnstown. Working on unpacking boxes and getting ready for the holidays.

Take care all and i'll post more later.

ttfn

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House update 10/10/07

First off....an electronic wish for a happy anniversary for my lovely wife. Nine years and still going strong. Not to say that the last few months have been easy with the house and all, but we're so close to moving into the new place. And regardless, I still love her more every day and am lucky to have found her and have her in my life.

and yes...I did wish here a happy anniversary first thing this morning....so this is just an extra wish in case she checks the blog.

On the house front...we're moving stuff now and will continue in full force tomorrow and Friday to get out of the rental property....having some problems with the well and water flow at the moment, so we're hoping to still pass plumbing inspection tomorrow and be able to gain occupancy as well so we won't be homeless.

Very excited about the family and friends that are assisting this weekend...Dave & Julie, Joe, Jason, etc...can't wait to see everyone.

Haven't had time for much poker lately....played a few hands over last weekend and won a couple of bucks...but seriously, only played for 5-10 minutes, so no real effort. Looking forward to everything calming down in the coming weeks and getting back to normal.

back to work now...ttfn.

Still alive and kicking

Wow....what a month or so...and it's not over yet. For anyone still checking, we're still alive and kicking in Johnstown.....here's a rundown by topic...

The New House.....is pretty much finished. Flooring, countertops and plumbing have all been finished. Final inspections scheduled for today/Monday, with the hope for an occupancy permit on Monday so we can officially move in and live there. Need to put in a mailbox, finish some basic wiring (cable and phone jacks) and do some adjustments to the front and back steps over the weekend to be ready for inspection and to initiate mail delivery and such...we're so close and can't wait to move in. Kids are excited and ready to move as well. Not to say it hasn't been without a huge amount of stress....but then end is near and we're very happy.

Poker - still playing a bit here and there. Have worked the UB funded $10 up to $190 now, so pretty happy about that. Finally updated Pokertracker software and started tracking hands and performance again...too early to draw any conclusions, but I'm happy to be playing and generating a bit of cash again. Hoping to continue to run well and possibly get to the point to start making car payments again from the poker fund. I seemed to do very well with this strategy before and if I can keep my expectations reasonable, maybe I can repeat that bankroll growth again this fall and winter.

WoW - not much going on there...no time to play recently with the house and travel for work. Burton is taking some time off the game for the wedding and such, so that was a downer...haven't had much luck in catching Bruce online of late, but hopefully things will turn around in the coming weeks as we get moved into the house and all....can't wait to get my desk back.

Work - tons of travel and internal process meetings going on. Spent a week in CA in September and will be spending a bunch of time on the east coast this month with various audits and such. Such is the glamerous life of an auditor.

Speaking of....time for yet another meeting. Hoouse pics coming soon.....ttfn.

Life update

wow...time flies these days....

House Update
- drywall installation was finished on Saturday, first coat of mud went in yesterday. Waiting to see how it dried overnight to see if we're still on schedule to paint this weekend. Terrible weather for fnishing drywall (high humidity and lower temps).
- Making final decisions on paint this week. Jen has done a great job in coordinating the paint scheme for the house....course, if she had left it to me the rooms would all be either Steelers Gold and Black or Buckeye's Scarlett and Grey, so better that she is doing the color selection.
- Can't wait to get into the house...still scheduled for end of Sept...so only about 6 weeks to go...light at the end of the tunnel.

Other Stuff
Not much going on...did get to visit Foxwoods and Mohegian Sun casinos during a recent trip into the CT/RI area. Very nice casinos, played some slots as I wandered around, pretty much broke even, so no harm there.
Work is pretty hectic, as we're still trying to adjust to the reorg and my new boss is getting up to speed.
Between work and house, probably explains why I've been so tired lately....way too much stress.
Danielle starts school tomorrow (first grade) and lost her fourth tooth last night. She has a top tooth loose as well, but if she looses it now she'll look like she was a boxer or in a car accident with all the missing teeth. Hoping it hangs in there for a couple of days to allow her to get into the swing of school. Ash starts back after Labor Day, so that will alter my work schedule back to a 9-6 routine to minimize the travel back and forth for Jen and Alan, not to mention the extra gas. Will also give us a chance to have lunch together and have Jen pick her up here at work, so that will be fun.

Time to get back to the grind...ttfn.

Monday Update

What a crazy week and weekend....

Spent the majority of last week trying to recover from the layoff here at work. Lost some very good friends and now trying to recover. Been slow going, as it seems like everyone is in a tailspin right now, so trying to get things to happen is taking even longer than usual, as we have to find new contacts in departments and try and get things to happen all over again....but a least I'm here.

House is moving along...spent most of yesterday running the extra cable and phone lines for the first floor. Need to go back tonight and fix the last line that I ran, as I made it a cable outlet instead of a phone outlet...didn't have time to change it before cleaning up and getting home for Jen to go to work. Have a couple of lines left to run, but they should go quickly, as all I need to do is run the wires...all the holes are drilled already, so piece of cake.

Basement should be poured tomorrow, so have to make sure the floor is cleaned up tonight. Hauled a bag of garbage out yesterday before I left, but will need to double check again tonight and make sure everything is ok. Hope the high humidity and heat wont cause any problems. Also need to see if the garage is getting poured at the same time or not and get that cleaned up as well if needed tonight.

Not much else...siding is almost completly done, septic and well are completed and waiting for the floor to get poured to finish of those connections. So we're still on schedule.

Did play some poker yesterday morning on UB...still on the 0.25/0.50 NL tables for $10 buy-ins...donked off a buy in when my pre-flop raise to $1 from late position with QQ was called by both blinds. Flop came down 8-10-Q, giving me a solid set but also a bunch of straight draws. Blinds checked to me, I put in a pot sized bet of ~3.50, which was called by the BB (sitting with about $30 at this point). J falls on the turn and I know I'm in trouble, as AK just hit a straight, as well as anything with a 9. BB checks, I toss out another $3 bet and get pushed all in for my last $3, which I pretty much have to call at this point with the odds and the potential for a boat on the river....doesn't happen and the dude turns over 9-7os for the suck-out straight. Not sure why he called the pre-flop bet there, but I was in trouble with his open-ended straight draw on the flop....which of course he hits.....a bigger bet pre-flop may have chased him, but with QQ, I want some action.....sigh. I bought back into the same table and ended up recouping my lost $10 plus another $4 before calling it a session and getting to work around the house. Bankroll up to $80 now...woot.

ttfn.

House update

Stopped by the house last night...septic system is almost completed (tanks in, drainage trenched and laid out) and internal plumbing is going in. All the tubs/showers have been installed, so we're excited about seeing something in the house rather than studs and windows. Jen will be able to do laps in her bathtub in the master bath, so she's excited about that. Not to mention the girls can't wait to use the tub as well, so there may be some fighting on who gets to use the big tub on batch nights.

Septic should finish today with inspection tomorrow. Siding should start going up today as well. We have our meeting with the construction foreman tomorrow to discuss lighting placement, wall outlets, phone and cable outlets, etc. Should be fun.

Signed up to take some local classes at the Home Depot on laying tile and ideas for a wireless house this weekend...should be fun.

Survived the big lay-off here at work last week. Trying to recover now and get the new boss up to speed on what I'm doing...always fun to train the boss on what to do.

ttfn.

Quick Friday update

On the house front, the kitchen pantry issue has been resolved. KHov made an error that we were able to prove on the size and location of the pantry, so no change order and the pantry has been moved already. HVAC is supposed to get started today...Jen is at the house now checking to see if they are there and to discuss placement of the furnace so we can get as much finishable space in the basement as possible.

Well is finished...they had to go 309 feet to hit water, but we're getting 50 gallons a minute and everything is set there. Meeting the setic company this afternoon to discuss septic system and they should start next week. So things are moving along.

More over the weekend....ttfn.