Julie’s Birthday Day in Chicago
For Julie’s birthday, Liz arranged for a day of various activities in Chicago. Starting around 2:00 PM, we hit up a few different locations in the area for Open House Chicago.
Blog
Driveway Demo
Spent a long day today, working outside on the house. We’re doing some repair work to the foundation, near the kitchen area… and today I needed to bust up the driveway/concrete against that side of the house.
Journey and Destination
Sometimes, this kind of thinking helps spot potential efficiencies and gaps. And I think of it as just “planning.” But sometimes it spirals a bit out of control, where each decision or action fractures into different paths, each with their own outcomes and consequences. And my brain locks up a bit, as I’m trying to process and/or break out of what feels like a loop.
Stasis
Spotted this while walking to work. It’s been sitting in a nearby apartment complex lot for some time, at least since the Spring of this year. The windows have been open, and I think it’s seem more than one thunderstorm.
Our New (Temporary) Bunny Boarders
A lot of the work we’ve done in the living room lately was to make things clean and clear, so that we could house some bunny visitors.
New Board Game: Azul
I really enjoyed playing Azul a few months ago. In fact, I liked it so much… I ended up buying it so that Liz and I could play at home.
Final Living Room Bunny Prep
After work, Liz and I suited up to finish off the last remaining bits of work we needed to attend to. We’ve got some boarders coming to our house tomorrow night, and still had some things that needed to get done.
Long Demo Day
Instead of shattering each brick (they’re hollow on the inside), I opted to take them off whole. I used the hammer drill to break off the mortar, and once that was done each piece got pretty loose.
House Day, Talk Night
Here’s me talking about a particular moment from back in 2005. I’ll keep this a secret until the video’s available, but maybe some of you might know what this is about.
Remembering the Guitar Solos of Vito Bratta, from White Lion
But here’s the weird thing for me. Normally, I’ll fixate on a song and just listen to it over and over again. But lately? For the last few weeks? I’ve fixated on guitarist Vito Bratta’s guitar solos from these songs.
It’s not that I listen to only the solos. I’ve still been looping the songs. But the solos are what echo in my ears, at random hours, even when I don’t have my headphones in. I’ll be doing the dishes, and suddenly one of his solos just starts playing in my head.
Living Room Work
We’ve been focusing on the living room lately, trying to now get that room in order (now that the bunnies are back).
Apple Tasting
I’ve been excited at the idea of tasting a Cosmic Crisp apple, and have been looking a lot at the fruit aisle every time I’m in a grocery store.
The Bunnies Are Back!
It’s been a super busy time for us, working on the house these last few weeks. And while we have more work ahead of us, we got things back to a point where we could bring the bunnies back home.
Come to 20×2 Chicago: Is It Possible?
Once again, I get to join a ton of super creative Chicago folks for 20×2, an event where 20 of us all have to answer the same question in 2 minutes or less.
Prepping the Hall for the Bunnies
We didn’t start until late morning, but got in a really full day of work. Building off of all the insulation Liz put in yesterday, we added Visqueen along the North wall.