Yardage
we just celebrated courtney's 6 month on the earth and got a new yard as the big gift. i've been working hard to get the yard prepped over the past couple months, but today, the first day with all the new sod installed, has made it all worth it. soon the flower beds and mulch will be going in and the house will look 100% better.
Jul 22 10:19:10 am 3 comments
moving on
i am quite surprised and saddened to say this site of mine is no longer going to live at Verio. so within the next couple weeks i will need to do a data migration over to the enemy, whom i've had a good, long standing relationship with.
i am planning on a re-vamp of the site to go along with the move, so we'll see where this takes us. also, if you haven't already, check out bishop's site for some killer progressive house mixes. #40 is my fave. that mix is fierce, man.
Apr 9 03:31:52 pm 2 comments
lessons learned
At 6 weeks of fatherhood, I am now an expert. So far here are a few of my biggest lessons learned. First off, being the father of an infant is just like troubleshooting code. You find a bug (baby starts crying) and you go through a progression to figure out what's wrong (diaper, gas, food). It's also just as satisfying when you figure it out.
Second, kids grow at an alarming rate, so don't "save" clothes for special occasions. If you want to see the kid in a certain outfit, put it on them yesterday. Christina and I already have half a garbage bag worth of clothes she's grown out of.
Third, you never can have enough bibs. Christina and I received something like 50 of 'em before the baby was born and we somehow go through them in less than a day.
Mar 1 02:41:23 pm 3 comments
Courtney!
The chosen one has arrived! Courtney was born on January 14th, weighing in at 6lbs, 11ozs. I took a few weeks off work, and off the internet to have some quality family time to kick off her life. Christina did end up getting laid off, but I think its a blessing in disguise, as now she gets to spend as much time as she wants taking care of Courtney, with no pressure to return to work.
Thank you to all the well-wishers out there. Also, thanks for all the generous gifts and donations. As they say, "it takes a village to raise a child", and our village treats us very well. Happy birthday Courtney and John, and happy new year one and all, I know 2010 will be a good one!
Feb 9 10:08:35 am 0 comments
big time
so many things going on i have forgotten about this beloved space. anyway, the big news is that christina and i are are expecting courtney ann on january 15th, so we're sufficiently wigged out about that.
second, we are preparing for the prospect of christina getting laid off her job come january. nothing certain yet, but we've got the t-shirt ordered anyway. if it happens it will pretty much coincide with the arrival of courtney, so we're just treating it as an extended loa.
finally, this glorious site is having it's 10th birthday this weekend and i am going to be toiling all week to give it a much overdue facelift.
Oct 26 05:06:46 pm 1 comments
Dude, Where's my Converter?
So yesterday I was surprised to find that my truck's catalytic converter got stolen while I was at work. Seems that my 4Runner is one of the most popular automobiles to get it stolen from, due to its ease of access. Oh, those crazy thieves - what will they think of next? Unable to find an 'exhaust tampering electrocution kit', I went ahead and ordered a "Catclamp" so hopefully that will keep some would-be thieves at bay.
Jun 30 01:27:38 pm 5 comments
Crack open the bubbly!
yes folks - it's official, Internet Explorer 8 is out and anyone that has windows update working automatically will have it soon. this is a hallmark occasion for anyone who makes websites, because now, IE6, the scourge of all web developers, is now officially 2 releases behind the latest. for most developers that pushes it into the "not supported" category, so we can finally stop adding all of our various hacks to get things to behave correctly. a glorious day indeed.
May 12 03:59:58 pm 3 comments
Shingle all the Way
major house projects going on at the kranick household - just got a new roof (pics to be uploaded soon) and am working on re-sodding the yard as well. re-roofing is an amazingly loud process, especially when you are in the house getting roofed. of course, we hired a great contractor and his guys were started promptly at 7am every day, so for a week i missed out on my full 8 hours of beauty rest.
anybody else seen the movie Gummo? i was clicking through the channels last night and got sucked into it. boy is that movie a train wreck - i kept telling myself to change the channel but kept watching just to see what it would show next. found out today it was written by the same guy that wrote Kids, so that figures. it's not something i would recommend, as its quite disturbing, but interesting nontheless.
May 7 11:30:08 am 1 comments
long strange trip
the past month has flown by, mainly due to a never ending lineup of trips and visitors. it started with a long weekend of snowboarding in New Hampshire and culminated with a surprise visit from Greg for Winter Music Conference.
things are getting back to normal now, with taxes and home inprovement and all that. also, palm beach finally got the first swell of the year this week, much to the relief of every surfer in south florida.
Apr 10 10:20:39 am 0 comments
Costa Rica
Just got back from a trip to Costa Rica yesterday and Christina and I had a great time. I was a little nervous for Christina, as it was her first visit to a developing nation and I wasn't sure what she'd think about it. Luckily, the country has changed a lot in the 16 years since my last visit, and things have become much more accommodating for visitors. Heck, we even flew right into the town we stayed in. There's a lot more English speaking by the locals, and American dollars are pretty much taken everywhere. It takes away some of the central american charm the place had, but I have to admit that it makes things quite a bit easier. Plus I can always go to Miami if I want the genuine latin experience.
Mar 12 09:41:56 am 0 comments
Buying and Selling
the big news around here is that christina got herself one of those newfangled iphones all the kids are talking about these days. considering my phone's big selling point was it's "polyphonic ringtones", maybe its time i upgraded myself. problem is, i just can't bring myself to kick down for the $30/month data plan, when the thing can't even be used as a modem.
for the "selling" portion of this post, we have christina's honda on the auction block. anyone who needs a good looking, gas sipping coupe needs to look no further.Feb 24 03:13:09 pm 0 comments
Chillin'
Man, it's cold over here. Usually in these parts it means good waves but the winter swell season has been lackluster at best, as today marks the end of another disappointing swell for all South Florida surfers. It wasn't without some excitement but so far this winter is going down in the record books as one of the worst.
Feb 6 02:40:12 pm 0 comments
Happy New Year
The holidays were a lot of fun this year. It turns out that Eli Lilly, Christina's new employer, gives the whole company the week between Christmas and New Year's off, so I took the week as well and we had a relaxing time.
Since then it's been back to work and the first order of business was fixing my toilet, which had a small leak at the base for a week or so. Unfortunately I made the decision to fix the seal myself. The fix went as planned and all, but not unlike the "2 girls one cup" video, there are certain things you can't un-see, and the things you encounter when changing a toilet seal is one of them. So this year I resolve to kick down the cash for a plumber next time.
Jan 15 11:06:08 am 3 comments
Desperate Times
Twelve days into Christina's business trip and I am somehow managing to hold down the fort. The place is messier then it should probably be, but the cat is getting fed and the bills are getting paid, so you can't ask for much more.
I am doing a couple things in honor of my wife-lessness that Christina probably wouldn't approve of: helping a neighbor build a mini ramp and growing a mustache. The mini ramp is shaping up nicely and will be done this weekend. I don't think Christina will be too stoked with me skating it, but hey, at least its not in our backyard.
As for the 'stache, it really looks like crap. I realize now that if a mustache doesn't look decent after a few days of not shaving, letting it go for a dozen more isn't going to make it better. But I promised myself to see this thing through until Christina gets back next week, so she'll get a nice surprise at the airport. I have a feeling her reaction won't be like Lois'
Dec 12 11:44:44 am 4 comments
Try the shrimp cocktail
It's Christina's second day in Indianapolis and so far all she knows is that she needs to eat the shrimp cocktail at Saint Elmo's. She's seriously gotten this recommendation from 3 separate people, one before she even got there.
Dec 2 02:47:19 pm 1 comments
Happy Halloweiners
Hope everyone has a safe and fun halloween. I'm not going in my usual costume this year unfortunately. Actually, we're babysitting for my nephew Kasey so Mike and Jackie can go out for his birthday.
In other news, Christina got a new job at Eli Lilly and will be peddling Cialis among other prescriptions. The matching bathtubs should be arriving shortly.
Oct 31 11:48:54 am 4 comments
Rough Month
5 weeks ago we found out that not one, but two of our tenants were breaking their lease early. All of a sudden we had to flll both our old house and the townhome.
Luckily, the old house is in such a good location all it took was a "for rent" sign out front for a week to get that place filled. As for the townhome, a couple years ago we tried renting it through craigslist and it was a huge waste of time. We ended up paying our friend (and realtor) Todd to get it rented for us. Thanks to the economy, our margins have become much thinner in the past 2 years and we weren't looking forward to giving up a month's rent. So, since Todd was going on vacation anyway we gave it another shot on craigslist and to our surprise, it managed to come through for us in only a week!
At that point the hard part was getting both of the places ready for the next tenants. After 2 straight weeks of nonstop painting, plumbing and scrubbing, we got both tenants in this past weekend and can finally call it a rest.
Oct 2 10:47:02 am 0 comments
Olympics
Is is me, or have Olympic swimming records' life spans become shorter than that of a housefly? It's gotten to the point that I find myself looking with disdain at any swimming gold medal winner that doesn't break the world record. Whats that? You won but only broke the Olympic record? Come back in four years and try again, slacker.
also those new unisex swimsuits are horrible looking. with the caps on, you can't tell which ones are men and which ones are women. Oh well, i guess all fashions come back around.
Aug 13 05:41:56 pm 1 comments
Summertime Chillin
Christina and I are doing well and just enjoying our summer. No big trips planned but we did have a nice weekend in Naples a while back, and are planning another trip to St. Augustine in September.
The big news of the summer is that Christina started a new job as an account manager for a small healthcare staffing company. She is working longer hours but the pay and benefits are excellent. We were especially assured in her choice to leave after yesterday's news of Wachovia shutting down it's entire wholesale division. This means that Christina managed to get a jump on the job market over her 150+ former associates who will soon be without a job.
Jul 23 03:13:31 pm 2 comments
2 Months In
The house is finally feeling like a home, but there's still some transitions that I need to get used to:
- The garbage disposal - I've never had one of these in my life so learning what can and can't be put down there is still a bit of a novelty to me. My favorite is when I find a roach in the house and play Jabba to the disposal's Sarlacc Pit.
- Laminate flooring - I got used to waltzing into the house after a trip to the beach and throwing all the wet stuff wherever I please. But the biggest issue I have is that the mop is out and the swiffer is in. The feather duster is probably the only un-manlier cleaning tool then the swiffer. I think my balls shrink a bit every time I stuff the corners of the swiffer pad into those little rubber diaphragms.
- The massive refrigerator - If you had seen the tragedy that was our last fridge, you would know that none of our drawers worked any more, so everything was out for display on the shelves, which made for an easy assessment of the available foodstuffs. Now, our new fridge is freaking huge, plus all the drawers work. I need a snack just to get up the energy to find myself a snack.
- The 2 bathrooms - It's great, my lid is always up, I have my own shelves, and there's no massive hairball clogging my shower's drain. This house was worth every penny.
May 29 12:30:33 pm 1 comments
Help My Friend
An old friend of mine has been fighting ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) for a year. Beau MacVane, his family and friends are participating in a national walk next weekend to raise funds for research.
Beau recently did five tours of duty with the US Army Rangers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here is a story about Beau and this will take you to "Beau's Platoon" where you can join the walk or make a donation of any amount. Any help meeting Beau's fund-raising goals would be most welcome.
Apr 15 02:42:23 pm 1 comments
One Week In
since the house was a foreclosure and we got it relatively cheap, we had to buy the house "as is"; that is to say, with some issues that the bank just won't fix. at this point, we have the inside of the house about 70% painted, got our plumbing issues fixed, and have a roofer coming out next week to fix a couple of small leaks. we are still awaiting the first appliance delivery, which will come this weekend and will get us a microwave and a dishwasher. thankfully, row-z let us borrow his small fridge until ours arrives next week.
i didn't mention it before, but i managed to pull my back while snowboarding and am still recovering, so my lifting capabilities are greatly diminished. my parents have been a big help out in the yard, and many thanks to all our friends who have been coming over to help paint or move stuff in. overall, the house is really coming along.
on a side note, i finally had a moment to write myself a widget to update the links on the right, so now they will be in reverse chronological order, and new stuff will be frequently added.
Apr 3 11:30:08 am 3 comments
Closing Day!
you know how nice that feeling is to go to the bathroom in a restaurant, get back to your table and have the food waiting for you? well we've got it 10 times better as we found out a week ago while in Utah that the title finally cleared and we're good to close! the deal's going down in about 40 minutes and i'm so stoked - the vagaboond life we've been living this past month will finally be over.
snowboarding was great, by the way. pictures of everything will be coming soon...
Mar 25 12:20:21 pm 2 comments
Title Woes II
oh man, these past couple weeks have been brutal. long story short, we're not going to be closing in time to get into the house before our tenant moves in on saturday. so last weekend we got ourselves some smartboxes™ and started filling 'em up. we have a lot of crap but did a good job stuffing it all in.
so currently we are living on a couple lawn chairs with record crates as footstools, eating with plasticware on paper plates, and sleeping on an inflatable mattress. it's the high life.
luckily, we have lots of family in the area that have offered up rooms to us until we close, and we also have a snowboarding vacation coming up on the 14th, so things aren't so bad.
Feb 27 02:07:56 pm 4 comments
Title Woes
i didn't mention it in the previous post, but the house we're buying is a bank foreclosure. a lot of times this means problems with leins so you really need to make sure the title is clean when you get into one of these. we already knew this going into it.
but now we found out another gotcha - the title is clean but it's just not in the bank's name yet. i guess the foreclosure is fairly recent and it takes time to actually switch over to the bank's possession.
since this takes court approval, we've been harassing the local clerk's office all week. we hoped to close today to have the 3 day weekend to do some fixing-up and moving in, but unfortunately that won't happen. so christina and i will wind up with a relaxing weekend instead, and it will be appreciated.
Feb 15 10:48:48 am 1 comments
Cooper #1
so the dolphins fans still get to hang on to their last shred of respectability, as their perfect season still stands alone. it's amazing how the entirety of the NY-hating south florida crowd got behind eli and the giants. as a matter of fact, the only one rooting for the pats at the superbowl party we went to last night was my wife, and thats just because she has a thing for mr. bundchen.
my final thought on this situation is that miami needs to do the right thing and take cooper manning with the #1 pick in the draft, and ride the manning mojo to SB XLIII.
Feb 4 02:37:12 pm 2 comments
Big Move
i didn't want to write anything for fear of jinxing it, but christina and i are buying a new house! we started looking only after we got some estimates on an expansion of our existing house, and found that with the low interest rates and lower market, that it would be more cost-effective to buy a whole new one while renting out the old one until the market turns around.
we're actually quite close to the new place, less than a mile away and in the same neighborhood. i'm sad to be moving out of "walking distance" to the beach, but we're still close enough.
needless to say we're very excited, because now we have the 3/2 we've been wanting, plus it has all the upgrades as well - a new kitchen with granite counter top, crown molding throughout, and wood flooring.
we're signing a lease with a tenant tonight, and plan on closing in a couple weeks. i will put up some pics of the new place tonight.
UPDATE: pics of the new house are up here
Feb 1 10:47:39 am 3 comments
Trinity Part II
a great postscript to my previous post on Trinity's play is that they ended up winning $100,000 in scholarship money from pontiac. it's nice to see the little guy win, and now maybe the school can afford to get the cheerleaders some gym equipment, or maybe even some lipo. seriously man, they were rugged.