Twisted Sideways

Now that things are cooling off here in Austin, I have started working on the house again.  My most recent project has been trying to convert the garage back into the garage.  When I bought my house three years ago, the previous owners had turned 3/4 of the garage into a bedroom.  I have had about 1/4 of the garage space to use as storage from another door that is located on the side of the house.

Currently, I can’t park my truck in the garage, nor can I even open the main garage door to bring stuff in and out.  You can imagine how tough it’s been getting the lawn mower in and out of the garage through a door about the width of typical front door.  It’s been awesome – trust me.

And to make matters worse, the previous owners decided that on the outside of the house they would put up hardy plank to cover the old garage door rather than leave it exposed.  They painted the entire house a different color at one point – from blue to tan – and as I am removing the hardy plank, I see the lovely baby blue on navy blue color scheme they chose before.

I’ll post a few pictures once I get the rest of the hardy plank and wall down.

I just returned from a two week vacation and right now I feel like I already need another one.  It’s been a stressfull few weeks in the (still new) self-employment world.  We have found that we have a few clients that just drain me.  Very needy and require quite a bit of time and hand holding.

I love what I do and wouldn’t trade this for anything right now.  However, there have just been days where I want to do nothing but walk away from the computer and just do nothing.  Sitting around the pool or watching movies or even playing outside (even in this heat) would be better somedays that dealing with the needy clients.

Just thought I would take a moment and vent.

On Friday morning the postmaster delivered the 2009 UT Season tickets to my front door.  Even though UT has the worst home football schedule, I’m still pretty excited about the upcoming season and football in general.

For those of you wanting to attend a UT game this fall, I have two extra tickets for most of the season this year.  One of our buddies is leaving for school for the next three years and has decided to keep the tickets in his name, but passed the possession of them over to me!  So…. Hook ‘Em Horns.

In just a few short hours, I am headed West to California, Oregeon, Washington and Vancouver.  I’ll be travleing for about two weeks with some friends on mine that left Austin by car a few weeks ago.  I’m pretty excited about getting out of some of this Texas heat to some cooler tempertaures.  I’m a little nervous about leaving home for so long with a roommate here too.  Not that I don’t trust the guy, but the AC and other things will be running while I am out and I still have a few issues with things working correctly while I’m gone.

While away, I plan to post pics along the way here on the blog and on my Facebook account.  So if your one of the few people that still come around these parts, you’ll be able to check out the pics here and on facebook.  I’m excited about seeing some mountains and just get away from the heat.

Now, I just have to get packed and wake up for a 5am flight!

I keep going through these phases where I just get completely burnt out on posting.  Once again, it’s been forever since I have posted on the blog.  A lot has changed for me over the past month and I’ve been busy just trying to get caught up on life.

I recently quite my job to work and focus on my web and graphic design business CoPilot Media.  My partner and I were able to land a large contract here in Austin that has afforded us the opportunity to both quit our jobs and work full time on our business.  It’s been a huge blessing to be able to work from home and be my own boss.  But another post on all that another time.

Even though I have more free time to do the things I want to do rather than being stuck in traffic 8-10 hours a day, I have failed to keep up with my writing and updates.  And despite the fact that I used to have a good numbrer of followers, I’m sure I’m down to one or two that actually follow me or even care about what I post here.  On this 4th of July, I’m sitting here waiting for a few get together to start and thought I would come back and revisit what is or was my blog.

If you still follow or read, drop me a comment here.  I’d be curious as to who is still around here these days.

A cool front came through Austin on Saturday night and it has felt amazing today.  So much so that I am headed back out in the yard to get some more yard work done.  I’ve been busy around the house replacing windows and doors and trying to get the yard back in shape for the upcoming summer.

I’ll have to post some picutres of all the stuff that I have been doing the past few weeks.  It’s been quite a change around the house for sure.   But until then, I’m headed back outside to get some work done.

This past weekend I ended up taking a water sample to my local pool supply store to have the water tested.  I have been having issues keeping the pool water blue after a few days of adding cholrine.  I had a feeling that something was up since I have been spending more and more money on chlorine than I have in the past.  Turns out that the hardness of my water as well as the cyanuric acid was extremely high.  When the cyanuric acid is high, it limits the ability for the chlorine to have an effect on the water in the pool and most of the chlorine is burned off on a sunny day.  The best way to remedy the issue was to just drain the pool.  I elected to drain the entire pool last weekend.  I am so glad that I did.  Since I have, I had the opportunity to scrub down the walls, fix a few of the return jets and basically just start fresh.

And a word to those of you that do have a pool and end up in a situation like myself, call your city water department and tell them that you are filling your pool.  They will wave the waste water charge on your water bill.  If you don’t do this, you will find yourself with one amazing high water bill.  So be sure to call the city and let them know how many gallons that your pool holds to allow for this waiver.

I haven’t seen the pool water this clear since I took ownership of the house.  It’s been amazing to see the difference in the water.  I even bought a few replacement parts to the pool pump like a new cover and gasket to help seal the pump and increase flow through the pipes.  I had no idea how this pump was supposed to function.  It’s like I have a completely different pool now.  And the best part of all of this is that this hasn’t cost me an arm and a leg.

Anyone that wasn’t to come for a dip, let me know!

I’m thinking about the painting the outside of my house a new color including the brick.  I recently got my roof replaced and pick a somewhat neutral color for the shingles.  I had to redo a lot of the trim around the house because it was either rotted out or wasn’t in good shape.  I also had to remove the gutters since that siding had to come down.  In the process I have been thinking about painting the brick on my house.  Any thoughts about this?  Suggestions?

Most of the comments that I have read about people that have done it, love the look afterswards.  Everyone that hasn’t done it is saying no.  Any feedback?

I have lived in Texas my entire life and it’s hard to believe, but I have NEVER flown on Southwest Airlines. A few friends and I are taking a trip to the Pacific Northwest this coming July.  I am meeting this group of friends in California and then driving up through the Northwest and up into Vancouver.  As I have attempted to find flights for this trip, I have been amazed at the number of flights that are already completely filled and those that only have a few seats left.  To top it all off, the prices on these flights are already trough the roof.

In my usual attempt to find flights, I hit up Orbitz.  But Orbitz doesn’t search airlines like Southwest Airlines so I headed over to their site to see if they had flights going to both my arrival and departure cities.  (Since we’re driving once on the west coast, I’m arriving and departing from different cities.)  I was able to get round trip airfare for a little under $350.  I couldn’t believe it.  I’m excited about the upcoming trip to say the least.  I’ll have to fill you in on my experience with Southwest after the trip in July.

It’s still hard to be believe though that this will be my first flight EVERY on Southwest Airlines.

If you have never heard of Skype, it’s time to get with the program.  I feel like I have been one of the last few people to get on board with Skype.  Many of my friends that live overseas have been using it for years and a lot of people have said nothing but great things about it.

Only recently did I being to pursue a little more information into Skype.  For about $30 a year, you can get unlimited (Read: 10,000 minutes a month) calls to the US and Canada.  For an additional $30 a year, you can get a local number so that friends and family can reach you through a normal land line or cell phone, without having to have Skype. It of course makes free calls to other Skype users.  And it includes free voice mail when you purchase a year’s worth of calling.

Since I was with Time Warner and purchased their bundled package of digital cable, digital phone, and internet, it took me about two years to really look at my bill one day and realize that I was paying an unbelievable $49.95 a month before taxes and fees for my local phone service.  I couldn’t believe the savings between the two. In just two months, I would already be saving.  Through out the entire year, I would have spent $600 on my phone service.  I now spend $60 a year.

To add to all of this, I also purchased a Skype phone.  The GE – SKYPE – Dect 6.0 Cordless phone. The phone allows me to talk on the phone while not being at my computer.  It’s a cordless unit just like a regular phone but it syncs to your contact list on your Skype account. And because it links to your Skype account you have an electronic call log of who you called, who called you and how long you talked on the phone. It even shows you when you have missed calls and you can check your voice mail from your computer or the phone itself. The phone does have to be plugged into the internet to work but does also support land lines in the event you move or find that you don’t have internet service in your area.  It’s a two-in-one phone.  The service however, does not allow calls to 911.  I don’t think I have ever called 911 from my house and I still use a cell phone while out of the house.  So that wasn’t really an issue.

So far though, I love the purchase.  It’s a move I should have made a very long time ago.