End of Day One

And the end of the work day (ha!) we had the first set of cabinets placed. I’ve still got to relocate the electrical outlet in the middle section. Mr. Soon needs to install the rangehood and ductwork, but apart from trim this batch is done. Tomorrow we install the lower cabinets and counter top. That … Read more

Ingenious Hanger

I’ve watched more than my fair share of “This Old House” and, having once been a construction worker, I’ve seen more than my fair share of kitchen cabinets. I’ve never seen a more ingenious wall hanging system than the one featured on IKEA’s cabinets. A metal rail is securely fastened about a quarter inch from … Read more

Some People Call It “Fun”

Somewhere on a sign at IKEA, there’s one of those question and answer style signs that says something like, “How come I have to build everything myself?” and the asnwer says, among other things, “…some people find building their furniture fun.” Talk about trying to put a positive spin on a tedious and often frustrating … Read more

Macbook – No Show

So the new MacBooks came out yesterday (coincidentally on the exact same day that my iBook suddenly started running terribly, terribly slow – coincidence or conspiracy?) and we went down at lunch to the Apple store to take a look. They didn’t have any and so my credit card was safe. I had to use … Read more

Stage One Demolition

In anticipation of Thursday’s removal of the soffit, I’ve begun to remove the cabinets. First the base cabinets were removed. I was not happy to discover that the flooring does not continue under the originals. This might make it more difficult when we come back later to install a new floor. You can see the … Read more

…and so it begins

We’ve begun the kitchen remodel. These are a couple of photos stitched together of the west side, which is the smallest side. The lower right-hand corner is really a distortion created when i uploaded the file to flickr. We’ll be replacing these 1970’s reject cabinets with something a little more modern. We’ll also be eliminating … Read more

The Floppy Inn

My dad always tells me about a place in Florida called the Bottlecap Inn. It was covered floor to ceiling in bottlecaps done up in intricate designs.It sounds like a bit of Americana that’s bound to be long gone, but, perhaps a modern day version, like this desk with every surface covered with floppies might catch on…

Crashing The Great (Fire)Wall of China

TheStar.com => Hoodwinking the censorsChina has the most sophisticated and effective Internet censorship regime in the world, employing North American technology from Cisco Systems Inc. and Canada’s Nortel Networks Corp., among others, to filter out banned material.”Banned Material” being subversive stuff like letting their people discover Taiwan isn’t part of China.Hopefully, this merry band of freedom fighters can make a difference…