Eric’s Journal

After Wednesday’s snow-no-show, we have been hit by several snowfalls so we started winter vacation three days early.  After last night’s snowstorm, we are pretty much snowed in.  This is one of the heaviest snow falls I have ever seen in Seattle, with snow drifts piling up against the house.  We were also surprised this morning that the snow had a solid top layer of ice.

Here are some pictures from the last several days, including more of Hurley frolicking in the now dog-knee-deep snow.  It is snowing again as I write this.  Looks like it will be a White Christmas.

Filed by Eric at 3:16 pm under Hurley, Life in General, Photography
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We stayed home from work today because Seattle Schools declared a snow day. No snow has actually fallen in Seattle today (as of 11am), but they must have been acting on predictions on there would be a heavy snowfall. Luckily, we have our dog to create snow for us, albeit indoors. We drove to our favorite pet store and bought him some new stuffed toys, one of which he has torn open within minutes, spilling stuffing all over the living room.

We did actually get some snow this past weekend, which caused 2-hour late arrivals on Monday and Tuesday, so we did actually get to play with Hurley in the snow.

Filed by Eric at 12:18 pm under Hurley, Life in General
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I’m trying out the Wordpress app on my new iPod Touch. My old 4G iPod died (see photo) just a few days before we left for Hawaii. I can’t believe I survived so long without one. It doesn’t look like I will get much grading done this weekend.

Filed by Eric at 11:31 pm under Life in General, Photography, Technology
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One of my goals this summer, in addition to getting married and getting a new puppy, was to remodel the laundry room in the garage.  My friend Dave offered to help, and we thought it would be a fairly simple project of replacing some water damaged paneling and flooring.  As we began to pull off the paneling, we discovered that damage was far worse than we had anticipated.  The sheet rock was crumbling and moldy, and the sill and several studs had been devoured by insects.  The window was barely held in place, and Dave worried that the wall wasn’t supporting the roof, so we decided to rebuild the entire wall.

Fortunately, Dave already owns a pair of house jacks so we were able to support the roof.  Working on and off (it is summer vacation after all), the rebuild only took a few days.  The trickiest part of the process was rebuilding the window.  Since we wanted to reuse my vinyl siding, we had to get the window exactly where it was previously.  To make matters worse, we also had to recreate an oddly shaped window frame in order to get the customized flashing to fit right.  Dave used the phrase gumption trap a few times.

After a couple of days of trying out different ideas, Dave was able to figure it out.  Meanwhile, I demolished the interior walls that were also water damaged.  After the window was installed, it took only a short while to install the remaining siding.

Now that the wall is complete, I’m going to hold off on rebuilding the laundry room until after the wedding.

Filed by Eric at 11:02 am under Life in General
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Last night while grilling some garden burgers, I didn’t notice that a wrapper to a slice of processed cheese had blown off the table. It didn’t take long for our new puppy, Hurley, to find it. While chasing him around the yard to get it back, I couldn’t help but think about the lolcats and their ongoing quest for cheezburgers.

Filed by Eric at 1:21 pm under Hurley, Life in General, Photography
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We went to the King County Adopt-A-Thon today and came home with an new puppy.  He is a mix of a Labrador Retriever and something else that the rescue kennel was not sure about.  We haven’t settled on a name yet, but so far we like Hurley, Wilson, Caesar, Gordy, or Indy.  If you have an opinion or another idea, please leave us a comment.

Filed by Eric at 7:21 pm under Hurley, Life in General, Photography
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So far this year we have had about one day of Spring-like weather. It is currently hailing and snowing as I write this. Here are some pictures from yesterday’s snow storm.

Notes: this gallery was created with the new “Gallery” feature in Wordpress 2.5. It doesn’t look my theme is compatible with 2.5, so it doesn’t have the previous/next feature to navigate the photos, but I still think it is pretty cool.  The first three pictures were taken with my new camera phone.

Filed by Eric at 12:14 pm under Life in General, Photography
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