Jan. 25th, 2014

vicarz: (One eye'd cat)
Funny, at my Arl condo with the heat mediocre, water gone due to a water main break, and no phone or internet - the lack of internet is what really hurts me.

Quick notes from http://www.javashack.com/ where I am internetting:
1. Bought the house
2. Looked under the floor in the living room and found a tar or other goo-covered patch. Outlook on the floors is BLEAK
3. Found the water wasn't shut to the outside faucet in front of the house (haven't found one in the back which is odd as there are hoses, possibly bad). Water was frozen, but that section of pipe is super small and right at the main water, and all other water was tested and confirmed as running fine.
4. Right after settlement, the hot water heater started leaking. Well not leaking, but it was dripping out of the overflow valve and wouldn't stop. It appears this has happened before, but our theory is it, somehow with the stupid cold, triggered the overflow (we lowered the temp), but it is so calcified that it wouldn't close fully. As of when I left last night, it appeared a tiny drip and I'm letting it go for now. I hope not to arrive to a lake when I return.
5. Party fri ver was nice, sat I've moved to 8. Everyone assumes I have net access that I don't, someday I'll join that herd I guess.
6. Ate out at Coup, was not bad at all and stunningly good service. I am FEELING the hood!
7. Passed a group of latino youths in the alley, one who politely said good day sir (essentially), the others were huddled around a younger member who may have been smoking something that smelled sweet and not organic. I said hello and kept polite pace and distance, for an alley.
8. Parked in the back, finding the alley had snow removed! This is stunning as while my street was plowed, perpendicular streets to mine were not.
9. The last of the flophouse tenants left, taking more than I expected - including the 10 boxes of leftover shitty flooring. I'm mildly annoyed by that, far more fucking annoyed that they took the DC rolling trash can with them as well (they did leave the recycle bin). I was surprised how much the cleaned the place on their way out - even the roaches from the sides of the kitchen drawers.
and 10. Got my first bid on redoing the basement, floors, and kitchen. One hundred five fucking (edit k or thousand) dollars. On the other hand, the bid for the digout alone was reasonable and I may just go with it because nobody else will show up, and if I get that phase done I can move in. Recall the other ballpark bid on just the digout and basement reno was 172k.

I think I've run into a gap in the market: heavy work with tough engineering and permitting requirements is more of a commercial market, while the average residential work is more kitchen and bath work. Mine is too hard to be cake work, too small to be big contracts.

Really spinning over design ideas, whether to redo bathrooms or when, etc.

Have Jason's friend plumber coming over and happy about it; I may know her, but it turns out if I don't I know her partner! Neato.

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