The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living – Socrates
DIY
The Crescendo
May 17th
It’s time for the final push to the line. This weekend we are in Rama for the family reunion, next week is the Biggest Loser finale on Wednesday followed by our home competition at Vaughan. Once that is done, Nicole is officially off work and from that point it will be battle stations as the baby could concievably come any time. In reality, the baby could arrive tomorrow in theory however we are (and by we I mean I) hoping that the delivery will be UPS style, on time and seriously predictable.
This past weekend saw us invited to 2 baby showers, one at Gym on Saturday which I attended and one on Sunday at Alleta’s house which was a girls only affair (until it came time to unload the car that is).
Saturday was both surprising and enjoyable. I did not expect to see any of my girls there but 3 of them came by. Not only that, but one of my kids mothers actually baked a bunch of cupcakes for the occasion which were amazing. In fact, now I recall, one of my girls made some herself which were also fantastic! The party was nice, lots of people there, some of which we rarely see any more and there was plenty of food to go around. The kids weren’t too crazy which was odd since they must have all been on sugar overload after the cupcakes and the slab cake! Nicole and I opened the gifts which were very generous and a really touching gesture from people who we really don’t spend a lot of time with but with whom we have a very special relationship. I didn’t go to the Sunday bash, instead I finished one side of the HITW (hole in the wall or passthrough) pictures of which will follow. It is a drastic change once you get the trim attached and it really does look pretty good, although I say so myself. However, the wall will need to be replastered and smoothed out since you can see the mud lines and imperfections that should have been smoothed out by the sanding. I think I need to use a smoother compound than regular mud to get the fill and the finish I need. I am assuming polyfilla or standard skim plaster would do the trick. That being said, the thing looks amazing, just in time too!
So the list of what remains is still pretty extensive…
Buy food to freeze for after the delivery
Finish clearing out the basement and the downstairs bedroom
Drywall the basement laundry room, however they have attached the plumbing to the wall which will make this a challenge.
Build shelving for the basement storage room
Finish the trim around the main floor.
Clean and dust the whole room since it is full of drywall dust now.
Clean up the garage, repurpose the storage, maybe get another disposal bin to help with all the crap we have
and the list goes on…
At least we have enough diapers and wipes to start with… No diaper genie yet but there is another (!!) baby shower this weekend at the reunion.
As far as Nicole goes, she makes very loud and uncomfortable noises all the time now. She is getting exponentially bigger and has gone from a cute swish to a full blown waddle. You can tell that it is very uncomfortable for her, and I can certainly sympathise with her when she says she can’t get comfortable even when she lays down. That in itself is a major blow to the psyche… the one position you could always count on for comfort now gives you no respite. It really really sucks!! However, the good thing is that we only have a few more weeks and then it will be over for her and she can try to return to her old fitness habits and walking like a human not an egg with legs.
Deck The House
May 13th
So we bargained with Simon the deck guy and I think we are getting a good deal. I have to do some of the work myself but really if I am honest I just wanted someone else to do the footings and tie it to the house so that if it falls down I have someone to choke. So we have decided to go with a second level deck off the kitchen which I can, at some point, tie to a lower deck via stairs if I wish. The problem with having a lower level deck, although it is easy to do yourself and so on it really isn’t easily accessible. The whole point of having a double walkout from the kitchen is so that you can go out onto your deck in the evening and have drinks and a BBQ. Sure it will block the sun from the basement but first that is expected here in Canada and second the basement is a gym, not a living room. Even if we repurposed it to be a living space, the sun will still shine in later in the day when you would actually be in there since it faces west. The massive benefits to having a second level deck and a lower level deck / storage space are obvious. The massive BBQ from the garage can go on the deck and all the gardening tools from the garage like the lawnmower and other bulky crap can go under the deck in a neatly organized storage area. That area will be on a lower level deck which I will build during the summer. Once the footings for the high deck are done I can use the 6×6 posts as anchors for the lower deck, it’s genius really. That will leave a huge amount of space in the garage to make my crossfit gym a reality.
Of course, all of this needs to be done before June 11 when I am anticipating I will be able to have time off at home to help with unnamed baby and do all kinds of things at the house and get my workouts back on track. Those of you with children are probably apoplectic with laughter right now but that is the plan. We have finally finished all the baby classes and although I feel a little more comfortable I still have a raging panic in my head about a non-stop crying baby. Sure we know how to bathe the baby and change the baby and even how to wrap the baby like a tasty burrito and burp the baby but still there is the crying part. I imagined that babies cry if something is actually wrong and needs fixing however with Alleta’s recent experience it appears that some babies are just really angry and will scream at the top of their lungs for absolutely no reason. You can do everything right and still have an inconsolable grump on your hands. Not a good sign.
Otherwise, all is stable. The hole in the wall is almost done, Nicole is confused about why it takes so long but I can’t do any sanding of the mud or drywall cutting if she is in the house so I have to do it on saturdays when she is at coaching and personal training. That being said, one more round of sanding then it is ready for paint. I have found that the MDF is actually really soft and may not work as a shelf, but we will have to see. Wait for pics.
I am actually really happy we got the deck guy so early, we can enjoy the whole summer on the deck and I can enjoy building then using the lower deck as an extension to the gym. I already have envisioned chin up bars and dip stations placed around the deck supports, very discreet but also very useful!
Drawing Ever Closer
Apr 27th
Paul the Painter was here. I really hope that in her first few months of life our new daughter will appreciate the subtle colour changes of the walls! The place does look really nice as a matter of fact, it’s amazing what a lick of pain can do. I managed to finish drywalling the new wall hole and now its mudding and taping, sanding and painting then finding a finish timber and a surround trim. I still have a little quarter round trim to finish too but time is increasingly short. We have baby classes all this week and next week which means we leave the house at 630am and don’t get back home until after 9 every night. We also have a gymnastics competition in Orangeville this weekend which means little if any time to get the work done. The good news is that I feel much better now. The sickness seems to have gone, and my back is starting to feel like normal again. However, that means it’s time for a wrench to go into the works! I have to start exercising again which will mean the return of the insatiable appetite! Since I was sick I lost about 10lbs which I am thrilled with however I also know that is is probably largely water and some muscle mass. Once I start up again I expect at least 3-4 of those lbs to be back within a day or two. It does mean, however, that I am closer to my goal of being 250lbs by the due date, something which is not only possible, but really a requirement if I am going to be healthy enough to handle the rigors of a newborn. We are currently 7 weeks out, and I have to admit I am not taking the due date as the finish line, I would much rather have everything inside the house done and finished by the time Nicole takes off work which is 5 weeks from now.
The list is pretty daunting however…
Do the taxes
Finish drywalling, taping, sanding and painting the wall hole.
Finish the quarter round in the main floor
Finish the threshold into the kitchen
Mount all the pictures and stuff that came off the wall for the paint
Clean out the basement bedroom and store the boxes of stuff that are on the floor in the gym
Remove the mirrors off the wall in the basement and remount them on flat plywood
Build a dip station and a dumbell organizer for the basement
Build a deck for the basement walkout
Build a BBQ House on the new deck for the BBQ
Better get to work..
DIY and Babymooning
Apr 2nd
Thursday I took off work to work on finishing the wall. I managed to get it from being just a hole in the wall to a framed pass through that just needs drywall to be finished. As it turns out, it is too low to get built-in lights but I haven’t given up yet. I may be able to find some LED lights that are super thin to wire into the house wiring as long as they don’t require a transformer, and even then, I could just hide the transformer but that is less than ideal. I also managed to do my Pure Cardio workout and go coaching so all in all a very big day. I handed in my girls’ sheets for their routines so everything is up to date. Friday both Nicole and I were off since it was Good Friday however everything was closed so once we took care of our workouts and Nicole made the house look pretty for Brendan the cat sitter we packed up and jumped into the car for our trip to Niagara Falls and yes, finally, the Babymoon.
Traffic was oddly busy, we took a detour in Burlington to find a washroom for Nicole and ended up after stopping at an insanely busy gas station with a line up for the washroom at the local hospital. Nicole ran into the main entrance and we were on our way in no time. The hotel was really easy to find since it is right off one of the main streets, Stanley Avenue. We checked in, making sure that we upgraded our Hotwire room to a whirlpool room with a falls view. Even with the upgrade we are only paying the rate for the worst room in the hotel! Victory for Hotwire once again! Upon check-in, as promised, we were given warm chocolate chip cookies and all the information about the Wifi and the amenities. The room itself is small but nice, however I am not sure I would give it a 4 star rating. The room at the other Hilton attached to the Fallsview Casino is bigger, the rooms are noticeably larger however this place is, I think, newer. The view is nice, you can see the American Falls clearly but not the Horseshoe Falls which are blocked by the Fallsview Casino buildings. However since we upgraded and are on the 19th and top floor, the view is pretty spectacular wherever you look. The only disappointment is that the windows are not floor to ceiling as they are in the other Hilton which I have to admit is a little puzzling. All in all, the room is nice, big enough but only just. The tub is very spacious and comfortable and you can actually watch TV from there. The shower, however, is a joke. It is smaller than the infamous shower at the Ibis in Geneva which was, until today, the smallest shower in the world. This shower is so small I can only stand sideways and the shower head is only high enough so that my head touches it and I am only 6 feet tall!
There are several things that may bother some people about the hotel so I will mention them although so far they haven’t spoiled our enjoyment of the facility. The fit and finish of the bathroom is a little shabby, the door to the toilet/shower area doesn’t quite fit properly so that there is a gap between the door and the frame. One of the letters in the hotel name on the roof is out which speaks to the maintenance staff. However, I will let you know if it is still out at the end of our stay to give them the benefit of the doubt. The gym is very small, having only a few dumbells and nowhere to do pull ups. There are some machines, maybe 4 or so and 3 treadmills plus a bike and an elliptical. It’s a 7 out of 10, 9 being the Swissotel in Chicago. When we went to the gym, there was a water cooler but no water in the jug and no paper cups to drink from. Both should have been replenished by now I hope. The hairdryer overheated, something which the women out there will agree is a major deal. In addition, we had to ask the front desk where it was because it was located on the wall behind the bathroom door! The room has a fridge however it is so noisy that Nicole had to unplug it to get some sleep. The “Starbucks” in the lobby isn’t. They sell Red Rose tea and take forever to make coffee. The worst part of being here so far is in fact the TV. There are not the usual hundred or so satellite channels but rather only a select few (15 or so) channels to pick from. This is a major disappointment if you like to fall asleep to your favourite shows.
I know it sounds like I am bashing the hotel but in reality we are very happy with it. To whit, I have added a list of what we have liked so far about the place.
The location is excellent, only about 400m from the Fallsview Casino and maybe 1km from Clifton Hill. The room was very clean and well kept and the tub, as noted, is huge which for someone like me is both rare and a delight. There is a fresh air vent running the length of the window which allows you to get fresh air into the room any time which is fantastic and a feature which every room should have. The free wifi is great, working without a hitch so far which is more than I can say for almost every other hotel with “free” wifi we have encountered. The front desk staff were very polite and helpful and of course got points for giving us warm cookies. Parking is an extra $12 per day which I think is ridiculous given the size of the hotel and the location but unfortunately it is pretty standard around here.
Would we stay here again? I think so as long as we got the $84 rate that we got with Hotwire. As per usual, it’s not worth the $120 a night that the website commands but then again, I am pretty tight with my hotel dollars.
There is a hole in the wall (and a baby in the picture)
Mar 30th
This weekend saw the start of a project that has been a source of debate for Nicole and I for some time. We wanted originally to take the wall between the living room and dining room out completely however being unable to determine if it was load bearing we decided against it. Also, we thought as far as resale goes, some people actually like to have a separate dining room. However, there is a severe lack of light getting to that room and so something had to be done. We talked about building a pass-through and I finally decided on Friday that I would start. By Saturday lunchtime there was a gaping hole in the wall. One of the reasons for doing it on Saturday is that Nicole is out all day and so the dust I created wouldn’t be a problem. At least only for Lightning and me.
The process, although simple, was not easy. The scary part was actually breaking into the drywall to start the project, after all, once you break through there is no turning back. As far as obstacles go, there were a couple. First, there were wires running through the wall so in order to put the support for the header I needed to notch and fill the support as you can see above. The basic premise for this working is that there are no shear loads in the wall so a linear load can be supported without a problem. The notch piece is glued and nailed so the support is just as strong as ever. The second gotcha is the switch on the wall. It controls the bottom outlet further along that wall and now I have thought about it a bit I can probably get it to control some lights that I can build into the top of the pass-through to give us some more light. This will take some investigating however it is just an interrupt for the power to the outlet so it should act as an interrupt for the power to the lights also even if it is at the same time. That needs some thought and some input from the interior designer /pregnant wife as to what lights to use.The hardest part of the whole thing was cutting the top studs (which, by the way are 2×6 I think only due to the fact that a 2×4 wall would be very thin and aesthetically odd) to be even so that the header took the weight of them all. Once that was done and the header built I just had to force the header into place (what you don’t see in the photos was the support rod I had in place to take the weight of the top plate) which was a bit of an ordeal but I managed OK. The final piece which is still undecided is the final size of the hole. I can narrow and raise it if I wish but the two sides are not the same. There is a duct running down the dining room side against the wall that doesn’t exist on the other side which will make one side uneven. Since for the most part you will be looking at it from the dining room side I think the hole will have to be centered from that side. Nicole also wants is to be more rectangular than square so I will have to take that into consideration also. Stay tuned for the final push which will happen Thursday.
Yesterday we went to BabyView to get a 3D ultrasound done. I was just as amazed at the technology as I was at the pictures themselves but seeing the baby alive, in 3D squirming around and yawning was really an unbelievable experience. Even though the logical male part of my brain was screaming that we were going to see her in 10 weeks anyway, this was a great way to try and get over the obvious denial that still swims around in my head. We got DVDs and pictures as you can see, and they are just amazing.
So, a big few days. I have a huge hole in my wall, I got to see our baby daughter in 3D which was really weird and I made a bit of extra cash coaching all at the expense of my fitness. We have another ultrasound today, a medical one rather than an entertainment one and then coaching again tonight. Hopefully I will be able to go on the treadmill tomorrow morning at work again and then do some Shaun T cardio tomorrow night.
If you want to know more about my workout schedule and so on, go to http://p90x.iamcanadian.org.
The back and biceps workout is one of the workouts that you can easily do without Tony at all. In fact, last night I put on some music and got to work without even using the DVD (Invisible Tony, welcome, have a seat and be quiet). In some respects I wanted to see how I would fare without the DVD in order to figure out if I really need to take the laptop this weekend or if I just need my recording sheets. The workout was shockingly short. I blasted through way faster than I would normally maybe in part because my elbow was quite sore and so my weights and pull ups were down I am not sure. Either way, I was done the whole thing in under 40 minutes. I also skipped the warmup since I never warmed up in the 25 or so years I lifted weights… Sorry Tony, I know how much you love your warmup and stretch and it’s not that I disagree, I just know I will be fine without it.
This coming weekend will not be any easier fitness wise, but the best I can do is to plan. We are in Niagara Falls from Friday to Tuesday so I will take the laptop and the DVDs and my P90X workout sheets and do what I can at the workout centre and in my room. Hopefully I will be able to get some workouts in especially since we are planning to do a “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” road trip to 3 or 4 of the locations near Buffalo. We have the house sitter and cat feeder booked, I have my laptop and my DVDs packed and ready to go so… Here is the plan, as far as I can make out:
Today: Off – Coaching
Wednesday: Pure Cardio with or without Cardio Abs
Thursday (Off work to finish wall): Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X + Coaching
Friday (Off work, go to Niagara): Cardio Power and Resistance
Saturday (Niagara): Chest, Shoulders & Triceps, Ab Ripper X
Sunday (Niagara): Plyometric Cardio Circuit
Monday (Niagara): Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X
Tuesday (Niagara then home to coach): Off
I mean if I am on vacation at a place that has a gym there really is no reason I can’t work out. It’s not as if we have never been to Niagara before or we need to go sightseeing. It is also going to be in the 20’s this weekend so the weather will be beautiful for walking (even though Nicole is starting to waddle more than walk now).
I guess we will see, we already know how poorly I stick to plans I make but this is vacation, surely it will be easier?
I know, there is more to vacation than finding time for workouts and since this is the famed “Babymoon” we are going to spend time getting pampered at the spa (although I am not sure I really need it) and spending quality time together since we really don’t see each other much during the week.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA
Stay tuned for the reviews of restaurants we visit, I think if we get to do what we have planned this will be a really cool long weekend.