Meet Boris

So I decided to take the plunge and get a dog. Actually, a puppy to be more precise. For some unknown reason, I decided I wanted the "full" experience.


After lots of research, I decided on an Australian Shepherd. Its a mid-sized breed thats very intelligent and make great activity partners.

This is Boris....

I don't have him yet. Just put down a deposit. Will pick him up in a week







Warning, warning, warning... (the following picture may induce barfing).



A little too cutesy for me. But chicks will dig it!


Disclaimer: For the record, these pictures were taken by the breeder at 8 weeks.

Dude, I'm Going to Dell!

Today, it was announced that Perot Systems is being sold to Dell for $3.9 Billion, $30 a share.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/21/technology/AP-US-Dell-Perot-Systems.html

The deal should be completed by December, at which time Perot will become the 5th business unit of Dell. As expected, management is stating that it will be "business as usual". At this point, nothing has changed and things should be unchanged for a while. Since we are to remain operating as a separate company and not assimilated (or so we are led to believe), this should not affect us for some time. However, as these things always go, at some point in the future, there WILL be layoffs to eliminate overlap and waste. I don't anticipate that should affect me either, unless Dell changes our strategy.

Shares of Perot rose from $17 to $29.60 before the market opened. I sold most of my shares and exercised all of my options at that price. After a decade of seeing the stock going nowhere, it was good to see it so high. And I did not want to miss the opportunity.

As for whether this is good or bad for Perot employees - only time will tell. I am lukewarm about it.

But , for now, I still have a job.

Weekend Off - Climbing at Wichita Mountains

Took the weekend off to go climbing at the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma.

Attic Mess

There is a small attic on the east side of the house. I need to work up there to run the new circuits for the heater. However, there was no flooring and the insulation was piled extra high, which made the rafters hard to find. Its nice to have deep insulation (to save money), but I need to get arounf in this attic.

Added alittle bit of a floor and a light.

Installing railroad ties

New PC - Huge Monitor

My old desktop PC died week after 5 or so years of heavy use.

After a quick round of research, I got a Dell through Costco.

The monitor is HUGE. Notice my tiny iPhone right under it.

Electricians - Licensed Morons

Yesterday, I spent almost 2 hours with my friend Mark flipping breakers and light switches around the house in an effort to figure out how this housed is wired for electricity.

All I can say is: what a bunch of morons!

There is no logic to the way circuits are wired within this house. You cannot count on anything following a pattern. Hence, we had to go to a tedious switch by switch, room by room process in order to figure out what the idiots of the past had done.

We finally called it yesterday in order to accomplish some other things, so I resumed today to finish off the documentation process. Total time spent - close to 6 hours over 3 different days.

Wired!

My friend Mark was in town this weekend and I got him to help my with some electrical wiring.

I have been wanting to install a heater fan in the bathroom. This is to more effectively warm the bathroom in the winter time, since I typically keep the house on the cool side to save on heating bills.

The issue is that heater fans require a 20 amp circuit and the existing circuit was only 15 amps.

So, after hours of figuring out the electrical wiring, we came up with a plan to tap into an existing 20 amp circuit and route it to the bathroom.

This required some creative wiring and some crawling through tight crawl spaces.

Mark in the crawl space over the living room.

Timbers!

Finally got the opportunity to pick up 4 railroad ties to add to the retaining wall on the right side of the backyard. My friend Mark was in town and offered his truck for transporting them - they are 9 feet long anf very heavy, not no mention oily (creosote).
So now that I have them, they need to be trimmed to the correct size and staked into place. Then I need to fill in with more soil.

Unfortunately, the heavy rain put a damper on this. Its been raining the better part of the day.

So, I cannot cross this off my list just yet. Only Step 1.

Whitewater Ditch

Today we received really heavy rain - the heaviest I have seen since I moved in here.
The "creek" really swelled in volume, creating whitewater rapids behind the house.

The normal creek level

Home Warranty Paying Off

The air conditioning compressor is making this horrible screeching noise. So I make a call to my home warranty company. For $60, they send out an A/C technician, who diagnoses the problem as the fan going bad (bearings shot). Tomorrow he will install a new fan, at no additional cost.

Update: the fan was installed after requiring another replacement part - the fan blades. The tech told me that this repair job woudl have cost upwards of $800+ if I did not have the home warranty! This repair alone would have cost more than the price of the warranty!

Older story - just after moving in, the downstairs bathroom toliet and shower drain back up up and overflowed when the washing machine drained after running. The problem was that the drain running to the street was clogged. For $60, a plumber came out and cleared the clog with a snake. He said it normally would have costed close to $200.

Side Note: The repair man warned me about one nuance of my current warranty company (One Guard). He said that, regarding a/c compressors, they will only repair parts, never do a replacement. That "should" suffice over a long life, but will end up with lots of repair calls down the line.
He said that GE Home Warranty would cover the replacement of the unit if necessary. However, online reviews show that GE does not rate very highly.

Dutch Elm Disease? Or Twig Girdlers?

Since early August, I have noticed that the elm trees in back appear to be in some kind of distress. In many places, the leaves are curling up and turning brown.

After doing some research, I was thinking that this might be a symptom of dutch elm disease.

Today, I finally stopped by the local garden store and I was set straight - my trees are suffering from "Twig Girdlers"
http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/uc/uc-018.html

More little buggers chewing on my tree! Unfortunately, these are too small to shoot.

All of a sudden... its Fall!

Its like someone flipped a switch. One day its sunny and hot as hell. Then next day its cool, overcast and rainy, with an extended forecast for over a week.

Kamikaze Hummingbirds - Mystery Solved

Today 3 more humingbirds crashed into the picture window. Luckily, they all survived.

However, that got me thinking...
So, I went outside to see why they (and the occasional dove) insist on flying into the window.

Here is why...
(pictures of the window, taken from the garden)

If you don't study it too closely (think like a bird), it looks like another whole area of the garden to be explored.

Now I got to find some way to prevent any further suicides!

A new expense on the horizon?

The other night, I noticed that one of three air conditioner compressors was making really loud noises. This is the unit that handles the upstairs zone.

It sounds like the bearings in the fan are worn out, but that's just a guess.

Made a service call on my home warranty - $60 to get someone out to look at it.

We'll see what that really means!

The 3 units.

While I was in there looking at it, I decided to clean out the buildup of dirt and leaves - it filled half of a 5-gallon bucket!

Fall Lawn Feeding

Applied weed and feed to the lawn. (Yawn)

RIP : Hummie

On Sunday, September 7, 2009, "Hummie" met with a tragic ending as his little body met with a picture window. Hummie was always such a happy little hummingbird, playing around the creek area , drinking from the hummingbird feeder in the garden, and playing tag with his other little hummingbird friend.

He will be missed!

Perimeter Breach!

Sneak attack on my eastern flank by the squirrels!

The little buggers have broken into the house through a gable vent. The vent is covered in chicken wire, but they have chewed through part of the wood frame to get in.

I have never heard any sounds of critters in the attic, so I do not know if they are still in there.

Hopefully, all the offenders have felt the sting of my trusty BB gun!

Once again.... the war is back on!

Hibiscus

Proof that the deck offers more that death and destruction! ;-)



When it was first planted back in April. They grow up so fast!