http://estrip.org The estrip.org Site Last 20 Journals en-us Copyright estrip.org Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:30:52 EST Elmwoodstrip paulsidekick@gmail.com http://estrip.org/elmwood/images/rss.gif http://estrip.org 88 31 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=49361
I find that the "little" details tend to be the ones that mess me up the most. Some people think I'm organized... I'm not. That's just the smoke and mirrors! ]]> Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:46:12 -0400 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=49361 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=49360
My new job is going well... finally able to sit and create web content without getting pulled in multiple directions. It is weird to never have my phone ring anymore, but I'm getting used to it.

Wishing the weather would improve... my garden is water-logged, our tomatoes are not ripening... and I have to warn you all that those "upside-down hang your garden bag gadgets" have a major flaw. We have one tomato plant growing in one. The rest of our plants are in the regular garden. The hanging plant looks great, but its tomatoes are turning black from a lack of nutrients. Even though we are giving it fertilizer, there is something missing from not being in the ground. I'm hoping that we caught onto the issue fast enough to save the next batch of tomatoes it is trying to grow...but I'm unsure if they will be OK.

I'll try not to be away so long next time!]]> Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:42:00 -0400 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=49360 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42912
We did the traditional swiss fondue, salad, the "signature selection" (steak, chicken, shrimp and salmon) in a coq au vin fondue and followed it with milk chocolate fondue (that came with brownie, rice krispie, pound cake, cheese cake and marshmallow bites to dip into the chocolate).

The whole meal took two hours... so it is a leisurely event. And as there is only one cooktop per table for two, a couple has to agree on each fondue pot, but it was a lot of fun. Larger tables have multiple cooking spots, so you can try more than one option for each course. We had a great server and met both owners and the general manager. They are really working hard at good customer service. I'm not sure I'd take my kids for the whole dinner thing, but I am sensing a trip for "cheese and chocolate" at some point in the future.

If you decide to go for dinner, make reservations. They just opened, so they are pretty busy, but I give them credit for not rushing us to turn our table again. And read the menu online before you go... there is a lot of information on it and it helped that I had a sense of it before we got there.
]]> Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:09:51 -0500 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42912 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42463
Yes, I liked the company (State Air Heating, Cooling and Fireplaces) I will be honest, I/we did NOT shop all over the place. We had gotten some prices at the fair, I'd done some homework online and really thought it was going to cost us more to get what we wanted. So, when we met with them, got everything I wanted for less than I planned and the staff were nice, we just went with it. And usually I am a major comparison shopper!

They sent out one person to confirm the size and location of what we ordered and then they placed the order. We had our unit four weeks later. They needed six hours to work on it. Three different guys came out, they were polite, draped cloths across my carpet, did not leave a major mess (just the box) and let me know when my gas was off and back on again.

I don't know anyone else who used them. This was the most gut purchase I've ever made! But so far, we are happy. Still waiting for the first gas bill... should be soon. We'll know how much more or less we'll like it then!

My husband did some follow-up calls with them... we were surprised at how warm the pilot light left the glass... and he learned how to adjust that, plus turn it off and on. I guess I should have asked a few more questions when they were here, but we had no trouble getting the follow-up support.]]> Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:13:23 -0500 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42463 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42456
And to answer Drew about the cost.... it cost about $2900 for the whole install and parts. ]]> Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:47:59 -0500 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42456 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42091
We used State Air Heating, Cooling and Fireplaces on Transit Rd in Williamsville. They carry the Napoleon inserts. We bought the smallest direct vent fireplace that they offered. It uses gas, so the pilot light is always on and there is always some heat radiating from the glass. We will probably get a screen to keep little ones from touching the warm glass when we have visitors. In the summer we'll turn off the pilot.

The way that an insert works is that a small hole is put into the wall of the house for the vent (no chimmney needed) and the insert is a box set inside the house. It is placed into a cabinet. We put ours in a corner, so it filled up an empty spot. It is also possible to put the entire insert into the wall to have it be flat on the wall, but I didn't want to do that much construction, pay that much money, or limit the options of a future homeowner if they don't like where we put this fireplace.

You can see more details [link=http://www.napoleonfireplaces.com/Webshare/gas/gas%20fireplaces/builder%20models/Bgd33nr.html]here at the Napoleon website[/link]. The picture at the top is a corner cabinet.

The website does show electric fireplaces for apartments, but I never looked at those!

]]> Mon, 12 Nov 2007 09:54:13 -0500 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42091 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42073 Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:17:26 -0500 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42073 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42030
Am also glad that the political ad season is over. Maybe the radio is safe to turn on again on my ride home. ]]> Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:07:54 -0500 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=42030 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=41464 (paul) said I could do this so I'm going to see how estrip.org influences google and how it ranks as a referring site!

I work with Paul at RPCI and we just launched [link=http://www.yroswellpark.com]www.yroswellpark.com[/link]. It is a new website geared to Generation Y and it will hopefully encourage people to consider careers in health care.

But as we are just opening up the site, we're still able to see when a new link makes a difference in the traffic patterns. For instance, I put a link on Wiki and we've already had visitors from there.

And just in case you heard any of the commercials... yes, [link=http://www.whyroswellpark.com]www.whyroswellpark.com[/link] works too. ]]> Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:45:12 -0400 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=41464 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=41405 Sat, 29 Sep 2007 19:01:45 -0400 http://estrip.org/elmwood/journals/index.php?u=webnovice&id=41405