Ugh. Fourteen straight fourteen-hour days. Not your average garden variety days at work, but special days, complete with special meetings – lots of them, where you get assigned tasks that could easily get done except that you have to prepare for another meeting in an hour or so…..
Not to use that as an excuse, but there wasn’t a lot of time for blogging.
The restart of our refinery was a partial success – we have some additional unforseen repairs in one unit that will delay it’s startup for about ten additional days. I’m expecting complete normal operations in about two weeks. There is a chance that we will go back to crazy hours later in the month, when we do the work necessary to get the last unit up. Dibs on nights this time…
We closed on our house three weeks ago. Little was accomplished during the last two weeks, but I was able to make some good progress in that first week. Thanks to the loan of my brother’s pickup, I was able to dispose of the waist-high pile of plaster and ceramic tile from the walls and floor of the kitchen before the refinery start-up marathon. I was also able to get the new drywall there (thanks, Jeff!) I tried to do a little something every day after work – sometimes only working an hour or so, but always trying to get something done (not always a little something – one night we were there until midnight, wrestling with the installation of a new kitchen door).
The kitchen walls are almost done. I’m going to wait another day or so for the joint compound to completely dry before I do the final sanding and priming. Monica is still trying to figure out what colors to use on the walls, although it seems that she’s decided on the cabinet finish. I’ve provided the final measurements to the cabinet folks. Today, I ordered replacement vinyl windows – they should be here in a week or so. It’ll be nice to install them before the cabinets are in place. After, the sink will be in the way.
I hope everyone had a nice Mother’s Day. Fortunately, I didn’t have to work. In an effort to miss the crowds and waiting that we saw in the local restaurants, Monica and I ended up in Chinatown for dinner. We dined at the little Thai restaurant where we had eaten before. It was just as nice this time, but I’ll bet we could find a Thai restaurant closer to home.
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I missed the annual trek to my doctor for allergy medicine, thanks to Zyrtek’s new prescription-free status. So far, it is working at least as well as the Allegra that I have been using for years (perhaps better). The Walgreens generic version is only $20 for a 45 pack, which will easily get me through allergy season. Is that cool, or what?
My beautiful Brasileira is enjoying ths spring. After the long winter, with the naked trees and grey skies, it’s nice to see things turn green. It is fun to share that experience with her.
It’s getting late, and we need to bottom-paint the sailboat tomorrow, so I’ll close here.
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