Vacation Daze

The vacation had to come to an end eventually. It is a magnificent day, sunshine and 30 degrees Canadian Celsius, or 86 degrees American Fahrenheit. I can't complain about the day, I will complain about returning to work on Monday. The two weeks off were truly enjoyable. I rested, relaxed, and did what I wanted. It is not enough. I want a third week. Now. Unfortunately, I will have to wait until November. Fortunately, I have another week coming to me, and it is not all that far off. And just as the cold hits the north, I will be hitting the south. Aside from rest and relaxation, my vacation was filled with chores, errands, alcohol and lists.
I made a list of things to do on my vacation. I have since added to it and removed a couple items.

• Shave my head. - Done.
• Don't shave my face. - I lasted 10 days. What with a funeral and a date, I had to clean myself up. And no, the date wasn't to the funeral.

• Finish building my bar - Almost there. Need one more item. 99% complete. I need a curtain. It looks awesome. And even at this early stage, my drinking efficiency has gone up by 17%. The photos are below. The photos of the bar, not of me drinking.
• Buy and Install curtains - Done! When your windows are 72" wide, curtains are not easy to come by.
• Plaster and paint my bathroom - my bathroom doesn't really need it. I don't where I got this idea.
• Go to Toronto - Yeah, well, that didn't work out. It's the five and 1/2 hour ride that keeps getting in the way of going. Yes, I will have to make some apologies.
• Go to Ottawa - It was only two hours away and it is family. And I ate at The Works (a review on Monday).
• Go mountain climbing - That didn't work out either. But I did walk a lot. And I can see Mount Royal from my balcony.
• Write for my Blog - With more time on my hands I was able to be more consistent and, I got started on some stories and came up with a few ideas for those times when I hit a creative wall.
• Ride my bike - I found it. Cleaned it. Rode it. Not enough. It's a start. Rode it this morning in the sweltering heat. 
• Buy a new car - I forgot about this. No, really. Getting into my piece of junk every day should be a proper reminder. Better conduct my research.
• Make a list - Didn't get around to it. Oh wait, this is one. Actually I made a couple. Some lists only had one item but lists nonetheless. 
• Repair my car stereo. I guess I forgot about everything to do with my car.  I will Google the instructions. I've already got the tools. Hammer? Check. Screwdriver? Check. Another hammer? Check? Um... what the hell is this? A wrenchy looking thingy? Check. 
• Build my bar - 99% complete. I used my knowledge of tools. My knowledge of bars. My hard earned skills in alcohol disposal, my possession of wood (I was going to write 'I've got wood', but chose not to.) Here are the photos.



Step 1 - Open Closet Door

I have tons of closet space. Too much for a single guy. Why not convert the one in the den into a bar? No reason not to.

Wood from an old Bookcase

Put it together, bolt it to the wall, cover the wood. Hang the shelves. And stock the bar...

Built-in Wet Bar

The wine rack won't end up at bottom but it looks good there until I put on the final touches.

I need to install the curtain on the bottom shelf.

Prior to putting the bar together I conducted some research. Mostly, to look for ideas on an ideal layout. Unfortunately, not too many people had much in the line of closets converted to bars. Rather than starting from scratch, I took apart an old bookcase and rebuilt it to my specifications. Refinishing the wood ended up being the easy part, I just had to find the ideal material. All done. And technically my vacation ended yesterday, today is just the weekend.

I'm on Vacation

This is What I Think of Work Right Now

I'm on Vacation! This has been one of the longest and most difficult weeks I have experienced at work and I questioned, at first tongue in cheek and then, in reality, if I would even make it until today. I did. After a week where I logged 52 and 1/2 hours in the office covering for the ineptitude and laziness of other people, I am done. A couple beers, a pizza, the TV and my computer will be the perfect start. Tomorrow is another day.

What to do on my vacation? I will finish all the beer in my fridge. I may go out of town. I may not. Montreal is awesome in the summer so I will try to take it all in over the next two weeks.
Things I might do on my vacation:

• Shave my head
• Finish building my bar.
• Plaster and paint my bathroom.
• Go to Toronto.
• Go to Ottawa.
• Go mountain climbing.
• Write for my Blog.
• Ride my bike.
• Buy a new car.
• Make a list.

Truly, Montreal is awesome in the summer so I am reluctant to go far. A Toronto-Ottawa long weekend to visit friends and family may be in the cards. Perhaps mountain climbing or hiking in in Ontario, Quebec, New York or Vermont. 

If I can find and buy the rest of the supplies, I can finish building my wet bar. I am in the process of converting a closet into a built-in bar. Once complete, I will be a much more efficient drinker as, I will not have to walk all the way to the kitchen between drinks, thereby cutting my travel time by two-thirds.

The Figurative Me, Free At Last, On Vacation

I have been sitting in front of the computer and on my butt for too long. Time to get back into shape. I need to do some road work and remove that outer layer of flab. I am sure I still have a six pack in there somewhere.

My car has also seen better days. I would need to put $2000 into repairs. After eight years I think it would be wiser to invest the cash in a down payment. Every car I have purchased has been an upgrade over the previous. It is time to scale back. I have always felt that a car is meant for transportation only. So as long as the vehicle is comfortable, safe and efficient there is no reason to sink a ton of money into a purchase of a flashy pretty little thing. I'd rather sink my money into a home, or a flashy pretty little thing called a girlfriend. I will be doing some research trying to find the cheapest, most fuel efficient, sturdiest, safest mid-sized masculine car that I can find. And hopefully, I will save enough and earn enough that sometime in my 50s - all those years away - I will be able to afford a Jaguar. Of course I will be checking in and writing to my blog every couple days.

Furniture on the Mend and other Broken Things

If you consider that my attention span for anything other than work or TV is quite limited, you would be impressed with how much I accomplished this morning.

I moved into my condo just over a year ago. I finally finished unpacking in June.

For the first time ever I hired someone to do the painting for me. I wanted the job done right and I did not have the time to spare. Also, I did not have many favours left to call upon.

Moving forward to today, as a home-owner, aside from the usual upkeep, there are many things that I would like to change and improve upon. Where to start?

I made a list.

Holy crap! It's a long list.

I started off today trying to find a hardware store in my neighbourhood. That was a challenge in itself. The three that I knew of, all closed in the last few years. Okay, I located a paint store.

Next, I went out to the store and replaced all the painting supplies that I gave away before I moved. I did not think I would need a roller and pan, TSP or drop cloth so soon.

And on down the list I went. Well, I bought groceries. And that's about as far down the list I went. But upon my return I spent 90 minutes scraping the concrete surrounding wall of my balcony. And then cleaned up afterwards. It's always a bigger job than I anticipate. The painting will fall to another day.

No, I'm not procrastinating. I have to write my something for blog. That was also on the list.

Some of the other items on my list:

-Construct a bar. It's a project I started but I need to find specific parts to complete. I am building a bar in a closet. To save the time of measuring and cutting, I took an old bookcase frame and bolted it to the interior wall. I need to reinforce the shelving, add a mirror, a door and a curtain. And buy some alcohol.

-Purchasing and installing light fixtures. It gets dark here. At night. I am not replacing the lighting I have but adding where there is none. I'll try not to cause any explosions this time. I want to string lights so I will likely call an electrician. I am not ready to run wires through my ceiling by myself.

-Reupholster and refinish two of my chairs. I know how to do it. In theory. Again, I will just hire someone. If I attack this task I will likely underestimate the time it will take to complete. And the wood on the chairs has a lacquer finish to it. I am accident prone and will likely burn wholes in everything in my attempt to remove the old finish.

-Replace my computer desk. My office / computer desk was purchased at the same time as my Apple II+. Yes, that long ago.

-Purchase and hang art work. I was offered an old Tintin print. It would match the colours in my place. But, I said no. Perhaps I will regret this decision once the Spielberg directed film hits the big screen in December 2011. My walls are bare and I need to add something to liven up the place. I also need some suggestions. That's the problem with not having a woman in my life. No decorating advice.

Yeah, that's the problem of not having a girlfriend. I miss the art conversations. I miss getting arted.

I have three weeks of vacation left this year. I think the only travelling that I will do is to the hardware store.

The Furniture Guys Book

I Glued My Fingers and Other Stupid Things

It's a long weekend for me and that usually means catching up on chores and errands and fixing things that broke in the previous couple of months. Yesterday I used the third item in the holy trinity of home repair, Crazy Glue. The others of course being duct tape and the telephone to call a real repair man.

I was really careful while using the super glue. I was so focused on not sticking my fingers together that I did not realize that my fingers were actually bonding to the tube.

What to do? No panic. That just isn't in me.

I know there is a risk of causing serious damage by attempting to peel the skin apart form the glue. But, well, I'm a male. And even if I have experienced it before, I learned from the last time I tried it and will just be more careful this time. Well, at least I did not cause any damage. The label came off the container and I didn't lose any skin. But the label was now stuck to my fingers.

Just a tip, acetone is the one weakness for super glue. If you have paint thinner, lighter fluid or nail polish remover you should be okay should an accident occur.

The Sunday edition of the Montreal Gazette will be disappearing in early August. It is no longer cost effective to produce a hard copy edition and the Sunday paper will only be available online. Most of the columns will be moved to other days of the week but so far there has been no mention of the Sunday comics.

Cul de Sac runs in the Sunday paper and is often brilliant. In today's I saw a little bit of myself and a little bit of my Dad. There is a Cliff Claven in all of us. The unwanted advice, the unwanted opinion or the random obscure trivia seems to creep out of nowhere.

What do you do if you unpack your groceries and realize that the cashier didn't pack all the items you purchased? Is $6.99 plus tax worth the drive across town to the grocery store?

I heard Def Leppard's Rock of Ages recently and decided to look up "gunter glieben glauchen globen". It doesn't mean anything. I was debating whether or not I should post the video. It is absolute 80s cheese. While the song is still listen-able the video bothers me. What the hell. Here it is.

And now we have all learned a lesson today. Def Leppard's music doesn't necessary stand up to the test of time, and you now know how to remove crazy glue from your skin.