A fun weekend

We had rather a wonderful weekend. Friday Stephanie discovered that Palo Alto was having some kind of music festival and movies shown out-of-doors so we decided to go have dinner outside - seeing as the weather was particularly fine. I called a couple we had long planned to have dinner with (who live near by) and they met us and we had a wonderful dinner out in the middle of University at La Strada, watching the legion of Harry Potter garbed go by, in addition to all the other people walking around Palo Alto on a weekend night. The food was very good.

Saturday we took Stephanie's mentee and his grandmother sailing (she had never been) as we had promised before she headed back to El Salvador. We took out the Merit 25, and it was blowing, we think about 20-25 knots. We reefed the mainsail and did not bother to put up the jib - so as not to scare the grandmother. We did not make a lot of distance, but everyone had fun.

The Kitchen Connection Sucks

When we finally got around to getting to my house we discovered that the dishwasher no longer fits under the cabinet.

After much banging around (gently) we determined that there were three four solutions. 1. Rip out the cabinets. 2. Rip out the floor 3. Get rid of the nearly new dishwasher and buy the one or two models that were 1/2 inch shorter. 4. Sell the house and let the real estate agent and the lawyers deal with it. For some reason the drains on the kitchen sink were also not hooked up.

At the moment, I'm seriously considering option 4.

And then registering www.kitchenconnectionsucks.com and paradiseflooringsucks.com. I have lost all hope of getting this project done by Ski Season and at the moment, if I did not have cat living there, would simply abandon the house for three months until the fear of getting within 20 miles of it has passed.

So far today, the plumber has not called back (so far he is still on my good list since he has done great work so far) the Kitchen Connection did not call, so I called, and they are "trying to get the $1,400 price down for me". If it is much over $500 cost me a dime, I'm really going to have to think about finding a hungry lawyer, or seeing if I can declare them in breach and not pay them anymore. We are a month behind the contracted time.

Yet more kitchen, and Saling

As usual thing have been busy, so some catching up is in order:

Wednesday's meeting with the granite people (Romarts) was unsatisfying, they want $1,400 to fix the "well most of our customers don't want to spend any extra money, so (for your convenience) we paid no attention to what you wanted when it would have cost $500 to do it right the first time. A rather agitated call to the Kitchen Connection (play Imperial doom music here) got, a day later, the response that there was probably something that could be done, they would get back to me on Monday.


In more fun news, we had a great day of sailing on the Bay. Stephanie's Yacht club has Merit 25s and we took one out. It was pretty windy, and we got pretty wet from the waves kicking over the bow and splashing into the cockpit. There was another couple on the boat who had never really been sailing before. (This was a $30 two hour weekend evening cruse - mostly to see if it was worth upgrading Stephanie's membership so we could take these boats out anytime.)

Little progress, on any project

Busy week at work, long hours. blech.

Slow progress on the Kitchen front - sent a two page fax to the Kitchen Connection, and they talked to the granite people (not actually Trolls, they don't get smarter when you cool their heads)* and sometime next week they will try and fix the counter (island).

As I mentioned earlier I was told to hire a plumber to finish the sinks, they come on Saturday (which given that the wedding cake is already built and eaten, a little late). It is probably another two weeks before I get my range and hood installed, and then the Kitchen - Reloaded project can being.

Stephanie found a new contractor who has worked with the planning Politburo and her house project looks like it is going to take rather a lot longer and be more expensive than we expected, which was not good news.

Cool thing I found on Facebook: there is a new group for graduate students Grad Students: they're Not Bad People, they Just Made Terrible Life Choices I recommend it for everyone who even thought of going to grad school.

Limited plans for the weekend, we need some time off. Maybe sailing on Sunday...

* Obscure reference: Pratchett, Terry, collected works, Discworld

Two Weddings and no Kitchen

The last two weekends saw two fabulous weddings.

In Kitchen News,
Well, we blew right by all the deadlines, so my friend's dad and his wife had to camp in my house without a working kitchen to construct the wedding cake, but everything seems to have worked out. I waited for 3 hours for the granite people today, but to no avial. The Kitchen Connection (may it rain on their picnics for a year) people told me the hook up of the water was "too complicated" and I should bring in a plumber and they would pay for it (wish they had said that a few days ago).

So, net no progress in the last week.

On the other hand, we had a wonderful weekend at the wedding, and Sunday we worked on Stephanie's house (for a change) got some gardening in, did some shopping, and went to some of her friend's house for dinner. So, all's well that ends well.

Shakespeare tomorrow at Cal Shakes!

More Kitchen updates

For those hanging on the edge of their seats ...

Our project so far:
90% of the handles are installed, 70% of the shelves are installed. Everything else is on order.
The range (a Viking) arrived and is in the garage.
The granite installers are meant to cut the granite Friday or Monday.
The sinks and dishwasher are scheduled to be rehooked up on Monday(!)
Installation of the Range and hood should, in theory, happen Tuesday or Wednesday (need confirmation on granite to schedule).
There won't be any electricity (in the kitchen) for a while - I don't even have that on the schedule.
It should, in theory, be less or more operation by next Wed. assuming no more delays.

I managed to tidy up the two guest rooms, the living room, and the family room (though by tidy, I mean you can now move around easily without tripping on stuff).
I'm going to try and get Maid service in next week to do the bathrooms, because they are just too far gone to get ready in time.

Oh, and I got the estimate for fixing my retaining wall. Like all other house projects, it's $30,000. I was thinking more like $10k maybe $15. Back to the drawing board.

And tomorrow, early, Stephanie and I are off to New Jersey. I have a wedding to go to, she has a friend from college to see.

Kitchen

Yes, I know it has been a long time, well, because, not to put too fine a point on it, nothing has happened in a long time.
But at last today the log jam may have cleared.
- Granite arrived and hopefully got installed today. Will know in a couple of hours.
- Tuesday the cabinetry gets its final work through - handles get put on, sinks get connected, rest of the moulding gets attached, appliances get put back.
- Tuesday or Wednesday range and hood get installed.
Dare I say Thursday it might, might be finished?? Which would be good because Friday morning its off to the Wilds of New Jersey.

Tonight and tomorrow, everything goes back into the kitchen, the furniture gets moved back, tomorrow the carpets get cleaned.
Sunday the guest rooms get cleaned.