Surfergeeks

And with that we bid adieu to the year that was 2004. Wow – looking back at the year – a lot of shit happened. Join me, if you will, for a brief recap that was my 2004…

First, and foremost, obviously was my engagement to Nikki. Words can’t really express the meaning to me of that one event. I was going to write a rather long, potentially boring diatribe on Chaos Theory and things happening the way they do but I deleted it. Suffice it to say, I love Nikki with all of my heart and life is the way it’s supposed to be.

Next up was that Nic & I moved in together. Sure, by the end of last year we were practically living together but it was made official in March of this year. Everyone says that you don’t know someone until you live with them. That may be true but there wasn’t really much adjustment (at least on my part – apparently I did upset Nikki’s sense of bathroom decor).

Hmm…what else??? It seems like so much more happened…

Oh yeah…we bought a house!

I don’t think I need to write any more about that in this blurb. I know – the pictures still aren’t up yet. Chill. They’ll get there…eventually.

There were other things that happened I’m sure but those three above events were probably by far the most important. Any one of those would definitely be the high-point of anyone’s year. To have all three happen in one year just sorta makes you step back and go Wow…

Of course there were many global events that happened that will contribute to whatever the future holds. Not the least of which is the most recent tragedy on the far side of this little round rock we call home. I’ll leave those top stories to the news agencies – they need something to publish on New Year’s Day.

So, now that I’ve kicked 2004′s ass out the door, what’s up for 2005? Hard to say – that’s the thing about the future, the slightest little thing can alter its course. My plan is to still win the lottery (hell, for all I know, I could have won Wednesday’s 6/49 – still haven’t checked my ticket). Other than that…stay tuned. If it’s big in our life, it’ll probably be here. If it’s useless information on the internet, it’ll DEFINITELY be here!

Cheers everyone! Please drink responsibly and DON’T drink and drive.

Well, Rob and I are still alive and kicking, just super busy. The painting in the dining room isn’t finished yet. Fortunately, it only needs one more coat and then just the baseboards. Christmas dinner will just have to take place in a half-painted room.

The apartment is not quite empty yet, either. Plus, the cleaning needs to be done. Buying a house is so much work! Well, we will get it done, espicially since we need to be out of the apartment by December 31.

Both of us are back at work now too. Boo Hoo! I have to work on Christmas. Not too bad though, us TSs got together and figured out how to reduce our hours.

Hopefully, no more updates to come on the house. Everything should be back to normal by the end of the month.

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

hehe

So, got my computer hooked back up today – finally. The email situation wasn’t too bad – just shy of 500 emails to download. Granted, I’d gone online using webmail throughout my ‘outage’ and grabbed key email and got rid of some spam before it was downloaded.

House Update: We’re slowly getting there.
[Monster House voice]
Back Kitchen: DONE!
Computer Room: DONE!
Front Kitchen: DONE!
[/Monster House voice]

Dining Room: Yeah…err….next… {speaking of which – if anyone likes painting stucco ceilings give me a call!}

Bedroom: Almost done – paint is up. Still gotta throw another coat on the trim around the windows and the baseboards and paint the inside of the closet. Bed will be assembled today.

Living Room: Still a mess. About 30 boxes to go through and unpack.

Basement: Not even worrying about that part of the house until sometime in 2005.

Bathrooms: Not doing anything with the bathrooms at this point. When it comes time to rip out the plaster in the front rooms we may expand the bathroom up there so that there’s a little bit of breathing room. We’ll see…

So, that’s the update. I know that I had promised pictures but we’re getting closer and closer to having everything done. I’ll get the pictures up as soon as we’re done everything – that way there will be before and after pics of the key rooms.

Well, one room is officially done. The kitchen is completely painted. The peach looks really good. The bedroom is almost done, just one more coat, Rob plans on finishing that today.

The move is tomorrow. Hopefully it goes smoothly. Once it is done, I think I will go to bed and sleep for a couple days. I have never been more tired.

If you haven’t seen the rooms with the paint, feel free to come over to check them out. Of course, most of you will be over for the house-warming anyway and will be able to see them then.

Well, the majority of the cleaning is done. The HELLISH part of the cleaning is done. If ANYONE who reads this site is EVER to learn just ONE thing from this site it is this: NEVER – and I mean NEVER – smoke inside your house – cigarettes, pot, crack – whatever – just don’t do it! Chances are someday you’re going to want to paint, or just realize that the walls need cleaning, and you’re going to break out a cloth, give a wipe, scream in fear of what task you have just absolutely committed yourself to (after all, you’ve now just wiped a stretch of the wall, revealing it’s true colour and there’s no going back now), possibly faint. The one thing you’re not going to do, I assure you, is reach for a cigarette to calm your nerves as you ponder the daunting task ahead of you. Well, okay, you might. But after the cleaning is done – I bet you won’t do it again.

Of course, there’s always the percentage of you that rent (and don’t care) or don’t plan on cleaning your house before you sell it. This, of course, means that the next schlep to come along has to rid the walls of your bad habits. (be it landlord, next tenant, or next owner) All I have to say your little faction is this:
I FUCKING HOPE YOU ALL GET HIT BY A FUCKING TRAIN AND DIE AN EXCRUTIATING DEATH!

There. That should do it. If you’re going to smoke – do it outside. Not for health reasons – fuck, you’re smoking already. Do it for cleanliness.

I now have a new group of people to add to my most hated groups list – indoor smokers. I think they would have to rank just behind child molesters and animal abusers.

Ah, I feel a little better now.

So, back to the report. The only places left to clean are the first kitchen and the one bathroom. We’re not worrying about the basement rooms right now as we don’t really have a need for them at the moment. Once we get settled in, some demolition work will begin down there so more cleaning will be required anyway.

As the title of the post indicates, today is the first day (of hopefully two, and ONLY two) painting days. The dining room, bedroom, and back kitchen are all being painted. We picked up a five gallon pail of this primer paint called “Kilz”. It’s supposed to seal in the odour and prevent the nicotine (or any other type) stain from bleeding through the paint. Each room is getting completely painted with this stuff before the real paint goes on. Because of the colour we chose for the bedroom, it also requires a tinted primer to be applied to it on top of the Kilz. Then we paint in earnest. The dining room is going to be “Blue Sapphire” with “Silver Trophy for the ceiling and trim. The Bedroom is a deep red (whose name escapes me at the moment) with white ceiling, trim and accents. The kitchen shares the white ceiling and trim while the walls are covered in “Peach Medley”. Nikki’s never painted before and my painting experience is somewhat limited. I’ve never done a project this large before (but I had never drywalled before the work I did in the condo and I did a pretty kick-ass job on it!). Fortunately, some great people are helping us out over the next couple days so we won’t be toiling alone.

I’ve got some “before” pictures taken with the camera and as soon as the rooms are finished I’ll snap some “after” shots. The internet is being switched over to the new house today so we’ll both have our laptops there. I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to get the pics posted but hopefully it will be this week.

So we started cleaning the house today. All I can say is “BLECH!!” I think it is now official, I hate cleaning more than moving.

The previous owners of the house were smokers. I can’t believe how gross walls and ceilings can get from cigarette smoke. We only finished the front half of the house because it was so much work to remove the stains from walls. Plus we still need to wash the back two rooms, the kitchens and the rooms in the basement.

If anyone who hates moving, but likes cleaning feel free to lend a hand. We would love to have it.

You know – not one person that visits this site wished me a happy birthday in the comments of Nikki’s post. Hmph.

I fully expect detailed explanations why said-comments failed to appear. At least 100 word essays. From all of you. I know who you are!

Please email responses to ibegyourforgiveness@robbierobb.com

We get the house tomorrow!! We get the house tomorrow!! We get the house tomorrow!! We get the house tomorrow!! We get the house tomorrow!! We get the house tomorrow!! We get the house tomorrow!! We get the house tomorrow!! We get the house tomorrow!!