Migrating north

by Ed Rozmiarek
It’s been a little over six months since construction started on our house and now it’s finally time to move in. This afternoon Susan and I did our final walkthrough with the construction supervisor and the office manager. The list we came up with was mostly nits. I think being able to keep up with the house and the weekly visits allowed us to point out things that needed to be fixed before it was too late or time consuming to fix.

After the walkthrough they gave us the OK to start moving some of our stuff in. So with the long Memorial Day weekend ahead of us, we are going to start moving the smaller things in. We’re going to start with the clothes and other junk from the closets, kitchen stuff, etc. I am also going to start working on hanging the window shades and blinds. We also need to finish packing the garage this weekend. The movers are coming on Wednesday, so we need to have everything we want them to move packed by then. We’re having them move the heavy stuff (must save my 40 year old back).

A few of Susan’s friends have been out to the house and we were really happy to get some nice comments back from them. Some of them, after seeing the house and the neighborhood, finally realized why we are moving “all the way out there”. We have also gotten some nice comments from some of the workers. Most of the comments are about the loft railing. I’m really glad we sprung for the extra money and did it. That and the beams really give the house the unique feel we were looking for.

I best get to bed early tonight, I think I’m going to need my rest. It’s going to be a long weekend.

.info IS valid people!

by Ed Rozmiarek
I don’t rant that often, but I have just got to complain about something that hit me again today.

To the corporate webmasters out there, .info is a valid top level domain. It has been for over three years. Open your eyes and change your e-mail validation routines and allow .info as a valid domain.

At least five times this year, three of which have been in the last month or so, I have tried to use my completely valid e-mail address on a web registration form and have had it rejected. Their brain dead verification routines are saying that the e-mail address I have been using for over three years is invalid. Boy, I sure do get a whole lot of e-mail via my “invalid” address. And what’s bad, I usually get rejected when I’m placing an order or signing up for e-mail delivery of their pseudo-spam. So they are losing business from their stupidity.

Now, each time I hit this I write the webmaster a note stating the problem. A couple times they have fixed it. Most of the time I never hear back and I try it again several days or weeks later and have the same problem. In one case I actually found the Java Script code on the page the was editing the e-mail address. I sent the webmaster the exact line that needed to be changed. Two months later and the page still has the same problem.

Now for all those webmasters out there who feel they have to have verification routines on your forms for the e-mail addresses, here is a nice site with a list of the top level domains. They even have a complete alphabetical list of top level domains. Go check it out right now and make sure you accept all of the valid domains. Either that or have your quality certification department update their testcases to include all valid domains. (You do have independent testing of your webpage now, don’t you?)

Concrete, water and wood

by Ed Rozmiarek
Closer and closer we get to the end. The list of major items that need to be done on the house is getting really short. We are now just a couple weeks away from being able to move in. As the flurry of activity to finish up the house continues, Susan and I have been packing and getting ready to move.

The biggest physical change this week is actually outside the house. All of the exterior concrete “flatwork” is complete. Since our septic tank came in under budget, we had enough money to actually install a complete concrete driveway instead of a gravel drive. The driveway and sidewalk were laid out and poured since the last update. We can now drive up to the house and park in the garage. We can also get into the house without walking through the dirt. The concrete pad for the outside A/C units was poured allowing the HVAC guys to come back to finish up their work.

Inside the house the finish work continued. The plumbers returned for their last visits, finishing out their work by installing the plumbing fixtures. They also finally hooked up the house to the water supply. We now have running water in the house. Yea!

The wood floor in the loft.

The wood floor was installed in the living room.

The flooring guys came back as well and installed the wood floor. We had wood flooring installed in the living room and the loft. That just leaves the carpet as the last major addition that needs to be installed. That is scheduled for installation on May 23.

Finally, the hardware guy came in and installed all of the hardware, door knobs, bathroom hardware, mirrors, locks, etc. He also installed the final front door.

The rest of the work is basically clean up and touch up. The cleaning crew came out last week to make a first pass at cleaning the house, cleaning the windows, counter tops, bathrooms, etc. They did a pretty good job but there is still a lot of dust on the uncarpeted floors upstairs and in the garage so it’s still very easy to track in dust.

The front door and the entry way lights.

The kitchen cooking area.

The touch up painting is last major piece of work to be done this week. The painters have a lot of work to do to get the walls into shape. They also have to stain the front door, the outside beams on the porches and the wood of the loft railing. This work needs to get done before the carpet guys come in next Monday. We have also purchased a bunch of window shades and blinds we need to install and the builder does not want me to install them until the painters come back.

As always, you can see additional pictures from this week’s visit in the house photo album.

The home stretch

by Ed Rozmiarek
Another couple of busy weeks means that I have fallen behind on the house updates. Things keep moving forward, not always as fast as we want, but we are definitely heading in to the homestretch. We still can’t get a firm date out of the builder (which I can understand given the variables still left) but we are targeting a move date on June 1 and the builder said that should be a fairly safe bet. So let’s see if we can catch up.

Several items have made good progress or been completed during the last few weeks. It seems the key piece was the kitchen countertops. Several other items were lined up behind the countertops. Unfortunately the countertops were, of course, running behind schedule and held up the other trades. We never got a good reason for the delay, but they were finally installed about a week late. Not a major problem other then the irritation.

Once the countertops were installed, a couple other trades were able come back and finish their work. First off the tile guys came back in to do the kitchen backsplash. They also finished up the master bathroom and main entryway. (I’m not sure I want to tell people or have a picture of the entry way yet. I may just make people come out to see it. ) The electrician was also able to come out and finish the outlets and such. Over the last couple weeks the electrician has also installed the lights and ceiling fans.

The lights and fans have been installed.

The fireplace façade was rocked.

The masons were also out over the last couple weeks to complete their work. They came out before the countertops to do the bar front. They also built the fireplace façade. For both, they used the same rock that was used on the house.

We got some real good news on the septic system. After all of the soil tests and design, the septic came in under budget! Almost $3000 under budget. That really helped offset some of the overages in other areas and gave us enough money to comfortably afford a concrete driveway. We planned to have a concrete pad outside the garage, but we thought we would have to do something cheaper than concrete for the drive from the street to the house. Nope, concrete all the way.

Speaking of upgrades and overages, we have been waiting for one of them to be installed and it finally was. A while back, while browsing the web for decorative metal items for the house, Susan stumbled upon a place out of Washington state called J. Dubs that makes metal balcony panels. After some discussion we decided to order one for our library loft over looking the living room. The panel has been sitting in a box in the garage for three weeks and this past week it was finally installed. You can see the pictures of it below.

The loft panel & railing were finally installed!

The loft railing viewed from the living room.

I have also been getting in to the act the last couple weeks. I have been working on installing the closet shelving in the bedrooms. It took longer than I planned but I got it done over the last couple Sundays. I still have the panty and linen closets to do but I should easily get those done before we move.

The list of major items is getting shorter and most of the remaining work is finish work. The driveway was laid out last Friday and hopefully will be poured early this week (if the rain holds off long enough). The plumbers still need to come back and do their finish work installing the fixtures. Also, the HVAC guys need to come back and install the outside A/C units and trim out the ducts. After that it should be clean up and touch up painting, final flooring (carpet and wood floor) and the front door.

With our old house sold and signed off, we can turn our attention towards the physical process of moving. Finding a mover, packing up and moving what we can, changing addresses, etc. We have also been looking at and deciding on window coverings and such. Still lots of work to do but more things that are in our control.

As always, you can see additional pictures of the house in the house photo album.

Sold! For real

by Ed Rozmiarek
Sold!, for real.

The closing for our old house was today and went off without a hitch. We got the contractual repairs completed and just had to wait things out. There was a little minor tension last week when the sale of our buyer's previous home got delayed due to some paper issues. Everything got worked out and so at 10:00 this morning we signed our house away. We are now low life renters for the next 4-6 weeks while we wait for the finishing touches on the new house.

How about the new house you ask. Yea, I need to make an update on that. I have one in the works and should post it soon.