Early March 2018 Water Disaster

Thursday afternoon the neighborhood kids were over. One of them came up from the basement to tell Jessica (who was teleworking that day) that the carpet by the air hockey table was wet.

I was at work, but after she called me, I just couldn't concentrate. The pressure reduction valve had been replaced nine days prior, but as recently as Tuesday night, I hadn't seen any problems. I asked her to go investigate more and she saw that a good quarter of the rather large basement was wet.

You can make out a small drip where the weld seems to have failed. It was a slow drip, but must have been going for a while.

The wall wicked up quite a bit and the bookcases were damaged too. Fortunately all my games were okay. The poker table and air hockey table were fine.

Insurance came through like gangbusters, so for the price of quite a bit of inconvenience we got new carpet, newly painted walls and non-mismatched bookcases for all our games. It also got us to reorganize the space a little better

Piper's Flood

We went away for the weekend and Piper decided to flood the house. She has learned to turn the faucets on in the bathroom and I guess when going full-blast, it fills the sink faster than it can drain. The main floor bathroom was gutted. Nearby wood flooring was ruined. The water leaked through the floor into the basement. Quite the disaster.

ServPro came out to deal with the damage. Here's them working on the basement. Note that this is just a few feet away from where the first flood was when the plumber's weld didn't hold.

Here's upstairs, outside the bathroom. We might have to replace the entire flooring on the main level if we cannot get something to match well.

The vanity was soaked and had to be removed.

Here's Piper not realizing that the sink is no longer there.

Finally, here's Piper still enjoying the sink, despite her destruction

Pottery

I took a 4 week handbuilding pottery class in March.

In thee first session we made a mug. I wasn't too sure of what I was doing, but the shape turned out okay. We painted them with an underglaze and later just glazed it with a clear coat. I think the handle is a bit too wide and I certainly did not put enough coats of blue in some places

The second session was a platter. I chose to do a round shape that had no pre-defined bottom. I had to make a foot for it. We did a mono-print transfer which is to paint on a piece of paper, then apply slip to both the painted paper and the platter. Once it dried a little, put them together then paint on some water on the back of the paper so the painted part will apply itself to the platter. I'm not very artistic, but once you get past the design, I like how it looks. It has a bit of a "worn" look as opposed to simply painting.

The third session was a pitcher. We started with an 8.5x11 slab and made a cylinder. We then darted it to give it some shape. Add a spout and a handle, and you're done. I glazed the interior white and had it go down a little of the top of the outside. I thought I chose a tan color for the rest of the pitcher, but there must have been some reaction where it overlapped the white. That or some teal bits got in the tan glaze.

The final session was coil building. I decided to make a planter. I didn't do that good a job at keeping the shape correct, but the instructor was very helpful. I did eventually dart it a bit to make it more stable. And I really like how the navy blue glaze turned out. it's half navy, half "black". But the black definitely turned out much more like a dark brown. The picture does not do the colors justice.

They have studio time on Sundays, and utilized it to do a few other projects. I wanted more of a tea cup instead of the large mug from the first day. I didn't take shrinkage into consideration and got this. There's not much to give perspective, but it is certainly small. I'm also not a big fan of the handle I made. I like that it's thinner, but the shape is all wonky

They only had two templates for cups/mugs there, so I did a little free-styling to get a compromise between the large mug and small cup. I glazed it in "black" at the same time I did the planter, so I didn't know I was really getting dark brown. Still, I like it and will bring it to work eventually.

I asked Jessica about anything else that she'd like me to make, and she mentioned a spoon rest. I probably should have googled a few images to have a better idea of what I should be going for, but this turned out okay. I tried to get a "drip" look with the teal glaze. I was somewhat successful.

Finally, I had a lot of clay left and decided one way to use a lot of it up was to make another planter. I had a little more trouble with this one so it ended up a little smaller. Glazing is new to me and I wasn't quite sure how things would turn out. Next time I will probably not choose the white glaze, though I think it works a little better here than the pitcher.

Currently I have three unglazed pieces at the art studio. Another planter, another spoon rest and a small bowl. I made what I was calling a cat food dish, but when I searched the fired pieces the last time I was at the studio, I could not find it. Maybe it will turn up, but I'm guessing not.

Audiobooks So Far

I started listening to audiobooks during my commute in 2014. Here's a listing of what I've listened to so far. Those I listened to in Overdrive I know when I had it. Those I got on my iPod, the timing is more murky


Finished:

Nov 2015
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline

Nov 2015
The Oath
The Obama White House and the Supreme Court
Jeffrey Toobin

Dec 2015
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
A Novel
Neil Gaiman

Dec 2015
Traffic
Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)
Tom Vanderbilt

Jan 2016
Superfreakonomics
Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
Steven D. Levitt

Jan 2016
Think Like a Freak
The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain
Steven D. Levitt

Jan 2016
The Tipping Point
How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Malcolm Gladwell

Jan 2016
Island of the Sequined Love Nun
Christopher Moore

Feb 2016
The Blind Side
Evolution of a Game
Michael Lewis

Feb 2016
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Pine Cove Series, Book 2
Christopher Moore

Mar 2016
The Force Awakens
Alan Dean Foster

Mar 2016
Furiously Happy
A Funny Book About Horrible Things
Jenny Lawson

Mar 2016
Outliers
The Story of Success
Malcolm Gladwell

Apr 2016
The Pluto Files
The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet
Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Apr 2016
I Love You, Beth Cooper
Larry Doyle

Apr 2016
Aftermath
Chuck Wendig

Apr 2016
Modern Romance
Aziz Ansari

Apr 2016
When to Rob a Bank
...And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants
Steven D. Levitt

May 2016
Fluke
Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings
Christopher Moore

May 2016
Fragile Things
Short Fictions and Wonders
Neil Gaiman

Jun 2016
The View from the Cheap Seats
Selected Nonfiction
Neil Gaiman

Jun 2016
Armada
A Novel
Ernest Cline

Jun 2016
Let's Pretend This Never Happened
A Mostly True Memoir
Jenny Lawson

Jul 2016
Fortunately, the Milk
Neil Gaiman

Jul 2016
The Now Habit
A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
Neil Fiore, Ph.D.

Jul 2016
The Power of Habit
Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Charles Duhigg

Aug 2016
Death by Black Hole
And Other Cosmic Quandaries
Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Aug 2016
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
George R. R. Martin

Sep 2016
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
Marie Kondo

Sep 2016
1493
Uncovering the New World Columbus Created
Charles C. Mann

Oct 2016
Blink
The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Malcolm Gladwell

Oct 2016
David and Goliath
Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
Malcolm Gladwell

Oct 2016
Sapiens
A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari

Nov 2016
The Proud Tower
A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914
Barbara W. Tuchman

Nov 2016
Smarter Faster Better
The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business
Charles Duhigg

Dec 2016
The Botany of Desire
A Plant's-Eye View of the World
Michael Pollan

Dec 2016
Fool Moon
The Dresden Files Series, Book 2
Jim Butcher

Dec 2016
Storm Front
The Dresden Files Series, Book 1
Jim Butcher

Dec 2016
Working for Bigfoot
Jim Butcher

Started, but gave up on:

Dec 2015
Slaughterhouse-Five
or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death
Kurt Vonnegut

Apr 2016
Antifragile
Things That Gain from Disorder
Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Jul 2016
The Beginner's Guide to Buddhism
A Short Course on This Powerful Eastern Philosophy
Jack Kornfield

Jul 2016
The Beginner's Guide to Meditation
Joan Z. Borysenko, Ph.D.

Jul 2016
The Beginner's Guide to Meditation
How to Start Enjoying the Benefits of Meditation Immediately
Shinzen Young

Aug 2016
World Order
Henry Kissinger

Oct 2016
Kenobi
John Jackson Miller

Dec 2016
The Three-Body Problem
Three-Body Trilogy, Book 1
Cixin Liu

Broken Foot

Here's a fun story from last week:
Jameson still wants someone to lie in bed with him when he goes to sleep. Wednesday is one of my nights. It was warm in his room, so we got out the fan. However, where I lie blocks the wind. So I got out of bed, but stayed in the room with him. I sat cross-legged in his room and fell asleep. Upon waking up, both my feet had fallen asleep, and in my grogginess of wanting to get up and leave, I didn’t wait long enough to get feeling back in my legs. I got up, and immediately rolled my left ankle.

There was an immediate, huge swollen bump on my foot. Jessica got a bag of frozen corn and I iced it for 10 or 15 minutes. It was mostly a low, dull pain, but it did hurt quite a bit if I tried to move it. Being my left ankle, I was able to drive to the ER -- The Olney Urgent Care closed early last night. I got there right around midnight and got home a little after 3AM.
           
The doctor said the X-rays didn’t show a fracture (but I later learned she was wrong), but there was just so much swelling that it could not be 100% ruled out. They even took a second round of X-rays to get a better look at my ankle -- the first set was more of my foot where the swelling is.



They suggested a followup with a podiatrist Friday or Monday; I got a Friday appointment. They put me in a splint and gave me crutches. I arrived a little before midnight and go home around 3:15AM.


The next morning, my foot felt a whole lot better. I could wiggle my toes with no pain. And even when I moved my foot (which isn't very much because of the splint) it was only mild discomfort instead of the pain of the night before. That said, I spent almost the entire day on the couch with my foot elevated not wanting to risk any potential pain.

On Friday I met with the podiatrist and learned that I have a non-displacement fracture in my cuboid bone. I was put in a walking boot and have a follow-up appointment in 2 weeks. The pain had been substantially reduced, and if I’m just sitting around, it pretty much doesn’t hurt at all. Even without the boot, if I’m careful when moving (such as just before taking a shower) it’s more of a soreness/dull pain than anything really bad.

I can move around relatively easily; it just takes more time. Stairs are interesting. I have to go one step at a time, but I want to do my right foot first. Going upstairs like that is fine, but going downstairs, the boot has to go first, or it might snag since the "sole" is so tall.

In general bones take 6 to 8 weeks to heal. I did not ask the doctor much about timing, though I will start a list for the follow up on the 17th. I feel like I can take it off while on the beach, and just not move around too much. I suspect the "rock path" to the beach might be a bit of an adventure.

The Summer bowling league is done for me after just two weeks. Bummer too because our team was pretty good.

Kitchen Upgrade: Appliances are in!

The kitchen is done! Well, I suppose we need to paint it, but the rest of the house is getting painted too. The fridge, dishwasher and stove look nice, and definitely fits the style better than the old (but still perfectly usable) bisque stuff.

 Something is missing.

 Hey, it's metal.

Fully stocked!

Cook that food!

Clean those plates.

Kitchen Upgrade: Floors are done

By the time we got home from the birthday party, the workers had already left. The floor looks really nice. In hindsight, not sure we'd go with laminate flooring if we knew all the specifics, but since we're not planning on staying much longer, it's not much of an issue. Definitely something we will keep in mind if the new house needs some work; and certainly a reason I wish I were more handy.