The kitchen & bath remodel is moving along. Luckily they didn't need me for much of the demo phase, except when they uncovered a hornets nest (literally) in the ceiling on Friday. It's amazing what you can co-exist with peacefully without even knowing it. But the hornets didn't take kindly to having their territory invaded and you do NOT want to get on their bad side.

After alternately feeling somewhat on top of things and outright panicking, I decided to take a short-term view of my part of the project. (This will probably bite me in the butt when it turns out the floor tile I like takes 3-4 weeks delivery time, but I'll work on dependencies like that next.) So I asked my general contractor what's the first thing he's going to need from me? He says, "the rough-in valve." Say WHAT? That does NOT sound like something I should have to pick out. Then he explained it's part of the shower system and depends on whether I want a thermostatic mixing valve, volume control, diverter for tub to shower, etc. Oh yeah. I probably do need to figure that all out! So I got right on it.

I thought Black Friday would be a fine time to go bathroom fixture shopping, since who in their right mind does that? Turns out I was all too right. Apparently nobody does, since the bathroom supply stores were all closed. Doh! So I did my homework online, then found what I needed locally yesterday. One thing down, about two million to go. ;-)

UPDATE: Pictures added. You asked for it!


It's images like these that keep me awake at night.


The toilet remains for obvious reasons.


Where the tub was.


View from the kitchen through to the bathroom.


I really wish my kitchen sub-floor went all the way to the outside wall.


On a happy note -- I think my sis-in-law really liked her birthday present!

Haven't bought any Christmas presents yet, but I got this cool laptop bag for my sister-in-law's birthday tomorrow. It's gold brocade and comes with a matching pouch for your cell phone/iPod. Only $29.97 at the Sony Style store! Don't worry -- rug sold separately, haha.



Some other interesting things here. I especially like these items:

Missing Image ;(

Laptop for Frustrated DJs -- the lid contains a touch-sensitive LCD panel which allows you to control your MP3s, either from the laptop itself or from a connected player. (Still just a concept piece.)

Missing Image ;(

Handbag with solar panel to charge your cell phone.

Missing Image ;(

Thwart would-be laptop thieves with the pizza box laptop bag!

(e:Kara,110) a photo-a-month calendar is a great grandparent gift. You just need 12 family photos (or more if you want to get creative with collages) + one for the cover. $19.99 minus 20% off with coupon code XPP112 at Kinkos if you order by December 15. Or do it the easy way with iPhoto.

... is definitely my favorite. Today at least, haha.

What a week. Good thing Thanksgiving wasn't at my house, since as of yesterday my kitchen looks like this:


Demolition day


The sink (cue foreboding music)


Debris piled up in what will some day be my bedroom. cozy, eh?

Arguably, it's already an [inlink]twisted,424[/inlink]improvement. Still, this alleged kitchen remodel is so daunting, and no one else seems to be stepping up to the plate to make decisions about it (I guess that's the problem with not having anybody else), that I honestly started to think maybe it would never happen. So I did what I always do in that situation and tricked myself into dealing with it by signing a contract with a general contractor to do the work. He decided to start yesterday.

Which is great, except now he's going to start asking me questions about appliances, lighting, cabinets, countertops, backsplashes, flooring, faucets, etc., that I really don't know the answers to. Oh yeah, and the part where water started pouring out of my downstairs ceiling light in the middle of the night because the partially demolished kitchen sink upstairs started leaking wasn't so great either. But he fixed that this morning, and I only had to empty my 13 gallon trash can filled with water three times last night.

Anyway, maybe it's the tryptophan, but I don't feel like going into all that. So you get off easy this time.

p.s. - Have I mentioned lately? You guys rock! Thanks (e:peeps)! Happy Thanksgiving!

One more media clip from the half-day whirlwind tourist trap tour. This was on Saturday, so there were a lot of tourists around, but unfortunately I still didn't hit any, haha.

::Download Flash Video::

Driving in SF is fun. Thanks to (e:Iriesara) for the video.

p.s. - (e:enknot) I keep expecting to see my Dad & Jean show up in the background of one of your videos. They've been in Chicago since last Thursday visiting my brother & sister-in-law. I'll tell them to keep an eye out for you.

(New usersound in honor of the English Beat show last night.)

I saw this on laughing squid and had to check it out: One-Day Interactive Installations of Grass Couches Across San Francisco



I walked up to the one in Alamo Square park and even let them take my picture. I should have brought Pookie along. He's so photogenic!

In case you're wondering, they used Ikea couches for the base and covered them in sod. Although they include instructions for sprouting your own from scratch on the photo frame. I remember that article from readymade magazine. Although I think I'd wait until the installation is over to see if I could get a display model cheap, haha.

p.s. -- English Beat were great last night! I can't believe I couldn't get anyone to come with me. Ok, maybe I should have asked more than one person, but still. Oh well, it's fun to go stag every once in a while.

p.p.s. -- speaking of grass, (omg, I can't believe I just said that), the opening band (local reggae favorite Native Elements) had the crowd singing along with their tribute to proposition 215. How can you not love this town? Come to think of it, maybe the letsgreenthiscity.com folks should consider some cross-pollination for their couches, haha.

UPDATE:

Ha! Josiah (Mr. Coffee) just sent me this pic of him on the grass couch at Civic Center. Small world!



Does anybody in SF actually have a day job?