Green Plugs

So this past weekend, in addition to the little crawly plants in the back, we planted some moss in the front of the house. When I was at Lowe's picking up a second exterior lantern for the side of our house, I swung past the garden section. I came across these cheap pots of bright green moss.

Moss grows in the shade, like by the backyard fence. The front of our house is north-facing, so it's also very shady. My boss told me yesterday that people try to kill moss in their backyards in favor of grass, but we figured, where we have those hacked-up brown hastas in the front yard for half the year, we might as well have a year-round green growing something. Plus, we wouldn't mind if it overgrew the box and crawled down the concrete to the driveway.



In addition to the bright green plugs, we relocated some darker green moss from the backyard to the front. The iPhone doesn't do close-ups so well, but that's a patch of the darker green moss on the left.


We'll see how it does, and of course, we'll keep you updated.

It's supposed to be springy here today. Sunny, windy, high of 53.

PS
Check this out. Providence is being quietly re-branded. Fascinating!

A Cup of Rice

Happy Monday, folks.

Our party went very well, except that the keg turned into a bit of bust. Hilarious. I think we jinxed it by touting it on the blog.

On Friday afternoon, the beer shop called to say that Pabst had not made its normal delivery. So we had to get Bud Light instead, which, if you can believe it, cost about 50% more. Then we went to Benny's and Wal-Mart, but no one had a bucket to ice the keg in. So once we got the keg home, we wrapped it in a tarp and put some ice in there. As Rob Jensen would say, "Low budget." After all that, attendees only drank about a fifth of it.

Beyond that though, the party was a rousing success. The peoples brought lots of great food, and it seemed that everyone had a good time. Someone left an anonymous masterwork on the Etch-a-Sketch. At one point, Sue's phone did fall out of her pocket into the toilet, but then Heather told us to dry it by putting it in a cup of rice (which absorbs water). It works! (All of it, except for the headset jack.)

Now we have lots of yummy leftovers.


In the meantime, Sue finished formatting her dissertation, we talked with a handyman named Chris about some near-term work around the house, and we swung past the paint shop to get some samples. Here's what we came up with so far. We don't like the lighter gray as much - Gray Huskie - but the darker one looks nice. They are sort of interchangable, but maybe the darker gray all over the house would be a bit dreary? More tests to come.



Oh and, we planted some little foilage in the backest part of the backyard. You may remember, that's lucky #13 on our list of 2009 projects, but we are going to plant more over the course of the spring. More to come this week on the new plantings front.

BEFORE



AFTER



PS
Saturday's weather was incredible, so perhaps there is a spring in Rhode Island after all!

It Will Be PBR

Happy Friday, team!

We've got a busy but fun weekend ahead. Among other things, we're going to see if we can buy some test paint for the outside of the house, meet with a handyman (who's going to help us install the attic pulldown, assist with building a backyard fence, and re-grade the front of the house), and prepare for a big party on Saturday night - the 75% Party, for Suester's internship class to celebrate 75% completion of their year-long doctoral requirement. Yes, we are getting a keg... and yes, of course, it will be PBR.

For a little Friday fun, if you haven't seen the Baa-studs, you must watch.

And this... this is pure Providence... hating instead of loving... but we think some of it is pretty funny, so check out 2009's 100 Unsexiest Men.

PS
Linds, big congrats on your acceptance to B-school! Pob, congrats on your near-completion of B-school! Big ups!

PPS

Bit the Bullet

So we gave a green light to a painting contractor yesterday. We bit the bullet (whatever that means).

Over the weekend, the third painting contractor gave us a price of $4,300. (Close to the first contractor's estimate of $4,600.) We weren't as interested in his estimate, because he said he had never seen the small vents that are installed in our wood siding. He said he had only been painting for two years. We know those vents tend to be indicative of moisture issues, and we want to make sure our contractor is knowledgeable about the associated risks: bubbling and poor adherence. We want this paint-job to last at least as long as Sue's grant, so we'd have the option to put the house on the market without having to repaint it. (Probably after all is said and done, it'll be a good rental property, but who knows.)

We decided to go with the more expensive estimate for one key reason: a full coat of primer. The lower estimates both offered only spot priming, which means they only prime bare wood. Our contractor said his estimate is essentially for two paint jobs - a full coat of oil-based primer and then the top-coat. He will remove about all the paint on the house, prime it all, then paint.

It didn't hurt that we drove down Hope Street to see a house that he had previously painted. He said, this very old lady had been cited by the city for the peeling paint on her house (way worse than our paint), because it was so terrible and on a key corner in town. Our contractor won the bid and painted it, and three years later, the house still looks amazing.

They should start when the weather gets nice. He said they'd do our job start to finish in about two weeks, concentrating entirely on our job. That's another thing the other estimates did not include. The $4,600 guy said he'd have shown up this week to powerwash all the loose/peeling paint off the house (which would leave the front of our house looking even worse than it looks now), then do other jobs for six weeks before returning to paint our house. The $4,300 guy said he could do ours, but we'd be scheduled for July.

PS
Check this kid out! Ridiculous and family-friendly. Thanks, Jonjon.

And also, remember this cool artwork by Shepard Fairey, the dude who created the famous/infamous red/white/blue Obama portrait?


Now look at this... ouch!

Mental Health Day

Thankfully the weather's supposedly warming up. We'll be up around 50 now for three or four days. Yay! And Sue is taking a vacation/mental health day today (one of her super-precious ten vaykay days), and maybe she'll be able to donate platelets, as long as her iron's up to snuff.

Yesterday evening I served for the fifth time as a study buddy/homework helper at the local high school. None of the students in this after-school program are native-born Americans. Here's a run-down of what I've seen and done.

DAY 1
I assisted a high school junior with an application essay for a local foundation's scholarship program. If the application was successful, the foundation would provide scholarship aid as long as the applicant gained acceptance to an accredited four-year college in the meantime. The essay was to describe an obstacle overcome. The student confused me with one sentence in particular: "I was shy, and I had mad absan in my mouth." By the end of the hour, we had worked together to figure out that absan was accent, and the use of mad was probably not appropriate for a formal essay. I mentioned this before: the student had appeared on the school's honor roll in the previous quarter.

DAY 2
I worked with a junior on another application essay. The topic of this one was, why I want to go to college. The student was trying very hard, but had difficulty with composition. For example, the student explained (paraphrase), I want to go to college, because "I want to have a good work." The student wanted to become an electrical engineer in order to fix things.

I also helped a student write variations of sentences relating to a movie the class had seen about slavery. The student had to use key words and, at one point, confused the meanings of prerogative with rape.

DAY 3
I was not paired with a student.

DAY 4
I helped a student write a report about the class' visit to the Jewish Heritage Museum. Bulb light was changed to light bulb. We also worked to clarify the student's memory about the practice of halitzah.

Going back to Deuteronomy (25:5-9), when a married man dies childless, leaving an unmarried brother, the brother is obligated to marry his widowed sister-in-law. The rationale for what was called a levirate marriage was to continue the name, the assets and the soul of the deceased brother through the subsequent marriage and children.

DAY 5
Yesterday, I worked with a student who had an infant (guessing, six-month old) child in the classroom. The student needed help writing a paragraph including transition words, first, later, finally, and then reading. The student exhibited difficulty with sounding out words phonetically.

Preparing to Bloom

Yesterday we got Grover's oil changed, and his transmission fluid and air filter were replaced. That meant that we had to ride our bikes to work. It was crazy cold outside and crazier windy. Yesterday's high was 35. The average recorded high temperature on March 23rd is 50. This morning it's 23 outside and it feels like 13.

So it's definitely not spring yet, but our phalaenopsis is confused and preparing to bloom. See the green curled shoot in the center of the second picture?



PS
Thanks for this bit of hilarity, Pob!

Outer-Spacey

Happy Monday, good peoples. Hope everyone is well.

We had a good weekend... mostly rest and relaxation. Some margaritas were consumed. In between the R & R, Sue did get a bunch of work-work done, and I did some minor fix-it stuff -- like tinkering with Otis, the garage door opener. He wasn't closing the door *all* the way down.

I finished a collage project that I'd been working on on and off for two-three weeks. In all it probably took 30-40 hours. Some pics are in order to celebrate! (The iPhone doesn't do the colors due credit, but you'll get the idea.)

The materials: a piece of roof flashing screwed down onto a plank, squarish rectangles of black paper, a few colors of foil. Lots of glue.





So it's a magnetic, waterproof, glossy, outer-space board. Now all it needed was some outer-spacey magnets.




This was the original prototype magnet, but after it was complete, there was no way to neatly and semi-permanently affix a magnet to the back. It was too thin for this project.


This was the original magnet holder, but it required too much space. (Hee hee, excuse the wee pun. Stephen, if you're reading, I can't help myself. It needed to be less beegar!)


It's sort of hard to see, but some careful cutting and a bunch of glue made this a compact and sturdy magnet-securing contraption.


More to come.

PS
Sue and I are officially staying in Providence for two (or three) more years! While the grant she worked so hard on during the fall is not to be this year (perhaps it will be resubmitted with revisions), she will be working on a prestigious grant with her mentor here, which will allow her to contribute to a team of brainiacs and continue her own research, complete another grant, and do all the stuff that smarty-pantsed researchers do. We're both psyched and especially happy that a handful of her internship class will be staying on in Providence as well.

Score/Percentile

Today is likely the day that Sue will learn her big grant application's score/percentile. Based on that score, she'll have a decent idea whether she'll get it or not. The actual decision comes in May, but the score is a big indicator.

We now have two painting estimates. The first, we reported Tuesday, was for $4,600 - a one-coat Sherwin Williams quote with a 10% discount if we sign before the end of the month. The second one we got yesterday. It's $6,800, and the details are two-coats (one is the primer, one is the color) of oil-based top-of-the-line Benjamin Moore paint called Aura. Plus, they'll also strip our doors and garage door (which we were planning to do ourselves). They said it'd all take about two weeks, and they have a machine they'll use which heats and vacuums the old paint, so there'll be virtually no lead dust spread about.

We saw another painting contractor after work yesterday. He'll provide an estimate today or tomorrow, but he's booked through June with paint jobs. He said he's not sure how he got so lucky, being booked like that, since he hears lots of contractors aren't getting any work.

Time to refinance again? (Thanks, Dr. Bernanke!)
Fed to Pump $1.2 Trillion Into Markets

A little statistics humor (Thanks, Dr. Milly!)
Random Digits

Big news in Lil' Rhody (Ugh.)
Lifespan seeks pay freeze for all workers

The local strip club is hiring ("Legs and Eggs" brunch?!)
Foxy Lady beckons unemployed with the hope of a job

Ocean State Politics

Happy hump day, peoples. We hope everyone had a nice pint of Guiness last night (or in the afternoon), especially Uncle Stephen, who celebrated his birthday!

As the state is gearing up for the 2010 Governor's race, a key candidate dropped out: Cicilline, Providence's mayor. Here's the story.

Cicilline, 47, was elected mayor of Providence in 2002 with more than 80% of the vote, becoming the first openly gay mayor of a state capital. He was reelected handily in 2006.

Despite high approval ratings in Providence, Cicilline placed third in a recent poll that assessed voters’ preferences for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2010. Some political observers believe he may have been damaged by a recent scandal involving his brother, an attorney who was convicted of extorting money from clients who dealt drugs, and accused of writing bad checks to the city of Providence.

Then Cicilline wrote a blog entry at RIFuture.com explaining his decision to run again for mayor. He got a mixed, but brisk reception from readers. Check the comments, and some of the back and forth. Here's an example:

I have taken a lot of opportunities on this and other blogs to say how poor a mayor I think you are. I have also debated a few issues with you on talk radio. I am certainly glad you are out of the Governor's race.

Charles Drago, with whom I am totally unacquainted, basically covered my reasons for disliking your tenure as Mayor.

I am not complaining about taxes, snow removal, or garbage pickup (it has improved), but the issues of the police chief and the de facto sanctuary city among others are the reasons I will do my best as a taxpaying Providence resident to see that whoever runs against you wins.

I can't believe a one time ACLU lawyer would go with red light cameras, abusive parking enforcement, allowing a toady to try to influence Municipal Court handling of traffic violations, and worst of all try to railroad a career educator without due process.

The "check" and your brother has been covered ad nauseum-I will await the outcome of the RISP investigation before making a comment.

Hoping against a third term for you.
Joe Bernstein

And then today, I saw this post from Friday by Charles Drago... wowsers, talk about burning bridges:

I was one of David Cicilline's earliest and, I have no hesitation to note, most important advisors during the 2001-2002 campaign.

Upon his Primary victory, Cicilline, before witnesses, promised me that he would deliver -- direct quote -- "a City job" to thank me for my services.

He did not do so.

For the next four years I refrained from public commentary regarding Cicilline.

In 2006 I was hired by the Providence City Council to fill the position of Manager of Communications and Media Relations. Within days of coming on board, Cicilline greeted me warmly, congratulated me on my new gig, and otherwise expressed his best wishes.

Within weeks he was maneuvering to have me fired.

He was fearful that then-Council President John Lombardi -- the politician who Cicilline fears and loathes to this day -- would gain political advantage by utilizing my masterful literary skills and political savvy to take on the mayor.

Anyone else see a bucket-full of irony here, especially in the final excerpted paragraph? How ridiculous and ugly. Ocean State politics.

Paint-Related Tests

As we reported last week, we're hemming and hawing about how to repaint the house. Should we do it ourselves, or pay someone to do it? Part of the issue is not knowing how long we'll be here. Another issue is that we aren't sure how long ago the house was painted, with what quality of paint, with what tactics, which is pertinent to understanding why the house is peeling so badly.

We invited Drew over to help us evaluate the situation, since he used to scrape and paint houses, and we did four paint-related tests this weekend. We wanted to see what scraping would do to our paint job. Could we get easily down to the wood? We tested two heating tactics - heat gun (basically, a souped-up hair-dryer) and infra-red heat box, and we did a lead paint test.

We tested scraping in a place where no paint was peeling. Scraping was the least effective effort. Some paint came off, but it was hard-going, and without some heating device or a ridiculous amount of sanding we'd never get down to the wood. "Getting down to the wood" is ideal for the adhesion of the primer, and thus, the expected longevity of any paint job.



So we tested Julie's heat gun. It's raises a bubble or two beneath the surface of the paint after about 30 seconds, then you scrape and it's much more effective at removing paint. Also, the heating melts the paint some, so the resulting scraped surface is smoother, and we expect will look better once painted.



Next we borrowed Jonathan's infra-red heat box. It's basically a much bigger heat gun. This thing was much more effective than the heat gun. Holding the box in place for about 15 seconds made bubbles in a shoebox-sized area.



Pretty good, but still, this is a big job. Infra-red heat boxes cost $400, and we'd need two or three of those things to move quickly. Our house is in a need of a thorough scraping and painting job, as you can see.



Next we did a lead test. Check out that friggin' picture! And the results were...





...positive for lead. As expected, but arg.

Yesterday evening two companies' representatives came at the same time to develop estimates. We couldn't communicate so easily with one representative. His company came through a marketing company called Service Master. He provided a one-coat quote for $4,600 ($4,200 if we agree to terms before March 30) and said they would use Sherwin Williams latex paint. One-coat means they only prime where the paint has peeled down to the wood. For paint that is still adhering, they'll just scrape some, then sand, and paint over the scraped/sanded surface without primer. I'm pretty sure this is what we would be doing if we did it ourself. We asked how long the paint job would last. He chuckled as he said it was supposed to last five years.

The other company came recommended from a colleague at work. They didn't provide their estimate on the spot, but they said they are a certified lead removal expert for the state, recommended an oil-based paint from Benjamin Moore, and guessed 1) that the paint job was done when it was too cold out, and 2) that the orange-colored poor-quality paint was chosen because whoever painted it could get five gallons for the price of one. They're coming back with their estimate.

Another company is coming on Wednesday, and we'll try to see a few more, since we have some time. No one will start painting until it stops dropping below freezing at night.

PS
Interesting article. Fascinating comments (below the article).

Lost in Transition: R.I.'s economy has failed to keep with the times

Want to Scream

Howdy, gang! Hope everyone had a fun and fulfilling weekend. The weather yesterday was spring-like, and Julie's crocuses are up. We got a huge amount done.

The biggest thing was that Jonathan and I installed our front screen/glass door. Quite a project. It's in about 100-some-odd pieces when you open the box.


Because everyone's door frame is a little different, they can't pre-assemble it. The scariest part was drilling big holes in the door itself, for the lock and handle. Yikes!



BEFORE


AFTER


We chose black with nickel finish, and we think it looks pretty sharp.

Some of the other things that happened this weekend: Sue went to a hairstylist and came back with cascading bangs. We cleaned out the garage a little and elevated our front and back trees a bit more. (We're still hoping that back tree comes back strong this spring.) We turned the compost, and we did some preliminary tests on the exterior of the house to see what all it will take to scrape and paint it. Check back tomorrow for an update on that front; we used a heat gun and an infra-red heat box!

We also jogged by this house. It's structurally the same as ours, but they built something on the back. It's been on the market for $290,000 for a while. Looks pretty nice, but it's adjacent to retail on North Main, and wow, their wall-papering job upstairs makes us want to scream.

Ah well... happy Monday!

Nine Months

Happy Friday, folks! No, we aren't preggers. We've been here nine months. We arrived on a Friday the 13th way back when. (Are Friday the 13ths good luck or bad?)

Today, we want to send a special thanks to the San Diego bunch for their birthday gift of backyard avocados to Marge, AKA M/M. Last weekend, we became lucky recipients of the sharing, harvest-time spirit, and we want to report, the fruits are fine!


And we've complained to many about the state of the roads in Providence, even going so far as to produce a cartoon about them. As three-season bike-riders, we believe we have a special relationship to the roads, and thus, a right to complain, but in case you didn't believe us or didn't understand... take a look at this fine specimen.


When the Friday pastries arrive in the office this morning, don't think twice, we encourage you to gorge enormously (or to enormity). Our local church says, Pah! Don't worry. Piety, diabetes and congestive heart failure, three peas in a pod... the American Way!



PS
Where's spring? It's going to be a high of 38 today. Arg.

Many Worrisome Parts

Off to the dentist this morning. Ick.

Sue has had a busy week. Thus far, book club (for which she made corn fritters) and dance practice (at which she "taught a song"). Next month's book club book is The Gathering. Not sure who it's by.  

I've been entranced by Andrew Bird's Noble Beast this week. Highly recommend it. He is everything Broken Social Scene ever aspired to.

As I post-scripted yesterday, Carceri released his budget proposal: Budget includes tax cuts, uses stimulus to trim deficit.  The most worrisome of the many worrisome parts (beyond the corporate tax cuts which make very little sense) is that he seems to want to spend one-time funds for ostensibly permanent needs.

"Further, there was broad concern yesterday that the governor is using temporary funding to fill ongoing budget needs."

Oh and, then there's this, which I love...

"Additionally, the governor’s budget officer, Rosemary Booth Gallogly, acknowledged the governor’s use of the stimulus funds may not be legal."

This Governor may be a smart guy, but he has about zero credibility as a leader. People have been waiting for this announcement like hawks outside a rabbit hole, and now this - a proposal with nothing inventive and nothing new in it, expanding the budget by 10% in one year while cutting the taxes that might help pay for such increased spending over the longer term. Here's the coup de grace...

"An estimated 110,179 filers will each pay an average of $1,261 more in income taxes, according to Carcieri’s tax study commission. The vast majority of them are individuals and couples making less than $75,000 annually, as commonly used deductions for mortgage interest and local property tax payments are replaced with a new standard deduction."

Green = Progress

We weren't here, but apparently it was 60 degrees this weekend. Yesterday is snowed. Dubya tee eff?

We asked Jonathan last week to develop some potential floorplans/designs for our basement - a complete overhaul. He studied industrial design at RISD, and we love the things he's done to his (identical) house. We're aiming to install another full bathroom in the basement and set aside a little tool/workroom.  It'll probably be a while before he has anything on paper, since we're in no rush at all, but we'll show you guys what he comes up with.  

Below is our list of home improvement objectives from Happy 2009. Green = progress.  We're hoping to tackle a bunch of these projects in the near-term.  #5 we think is not going to be necessary, once we install the front glass/screen door and work a bit on the side door. For #7, we've contacted a friendly handyman to assist, once Providence thaws out.  I'm ruling out #18, though we may make some progress there before the year is done.  I added #20-23 today since they are also priority projects that have to get completed at some point.

1. Paint upstairs interior
   
2. Install front screen/glass door
   
3. Fix dining room table 
   
4. Install light on side of house (contract)
   
5. Weather stripping for front and side doors
   
6. Grading land around house
   
7. Install backyard fencing
   
8. Repair/replace front stoop (contract likely)
   
9. Strip and finish front, side, back and garage doors
   
10. Install porch door and stairs to backyard
    
11. Paint exterior, install shutters (contract under consideration)
    
12. Replace/remove doorbell switches and chime
    
13. Plant creeping bushes in the backest part of the backyard
    
14. Install attic pulldown
    
15. Install additional storage space/flooring in attic
    
16. Ceiling patching
    
17. Redo/finish basement
    
18. Redo kitchen
    
19. Refinish/repair wood floors (contract) 
    
20. Repair master bedroom closet floor
21. Repair gutters (contract)
22. Install flashing on porch roof (contract)
23. Replace upstairs bathroom fan (contract)

The thing we're squirming over most is #11.  We're having trouble deciding whether to go all-out and get a bang-up job done professionally (i.e. scrape and sand away the old paint down to the wood), or to do it ourselves relatively quick and dirty (i.e. scrape away what's peeling, sand the old paint that remains to rough it up, then paint over it all).  We're going to get some estimates in the next few weeks.  Maybe someone will do it for us cheaply.

PS
Up trailer, Carceri to unveil state budget today, and happy birthday, Sarah!

Kid-Vomit

Happy Monday, everyone! We hope you guys had a nice weekend. We spent ours on a quick trip to DC, celebrating the Pisces birthdays of Mama Marge and Sister Sarah. Hope you're feeling better, Meg!

(In the last few weeks, five of the seven people in my office have gotten sick, and I overhear all sorts of kid-vomit stories. Not sure what's going around, but yeesh, seems like everyone's coming down with something.)

Anyway, so we did lots of this...


It's a seven-hour drive each way. But it was a very nice trip, and since it was 70 degrees down there, we also got a chance to lollygag outside on Saturday. We went to Eastern Market. Fun times. Some cool art, too.


Time to get to work. Cheers, peoples!

Starter Bag

TGIF, peoples! Hope everyone is doing well. We are in a big hurry this morning.

Longer story, but I was trying to make this Amish Friendship bread for folks at work. You get a little "starter bag" from a friend, then you follow the instructions for ten days, after which you have enough for two breads and four starter bags for your friends. It's a pass-it-on type of thing.

I followed the instructions very carefully for ten days, then this morning, when it really counted, I *totally* botched it. I made the entire recipe but forgot to put my starter bag into the mix! Recipes and I don't get along. I rectified the error, but sadly, now I have no starter bags for friends. Boo hoo!

Anyway... for about four months (or more) Sue and I have been meaning to take a picture of this uncomely graffiti in town. It's at a key intersection -- Rochambeau (Ro-SHYAM-bo) and Main. We always thought someone would paint over it, or remove it, but no. Every day to start our day, we pass by it.

...

...

It may be deemed offensive, so don't look if you don't want.

...

Your choice.

...

Last chance. Don't say I didn't warn you.

...

...

...

...

...

Nifty Diddies

Cheers everyone. I've been slackin a bit. But really, not so much has been happening this week. Quick update:

1) Happy Berfdee, M/M!

2) Sue (finally) got her violin and bow fixed up, and now, as I type, she's playing some nifty diddies!

3) Tonight, we had to execute an emergency X-Pando intervention on the radiator by the front door. Back in November, we didn't mess around with that one, but it started leaking a bit from the joint between the supply valve and the radiator itself. Fingers crossed the X-Pando comes through for us again. We have to wait till it "sets" to turn the heat back on. Br-r-rr-rr-r.

4) Picked up a couple small Sue-prizes today to further spiff up the house. See below.



5) I missed this one. Found out too late. Yesterday was Square Root Day, a rare holiday that occurs when the day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits of the current year. Numerically, March 3, 2009, can be expressed as 3/3/09, or mathematically as √9 = 3, or 3² = 3 × 3 = 9.

"These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day--and poof--they're gone," Ron Gordon, a Redwood City, Calif., teacher who organized a contest intended to publicize the event, told the AP. The prize, or course, is $339.

Celebrants were expected to mark the occasion by cutting root vegetables into squares or preparing other foods in the shape of the square root symbol.

Square Root Day occurs only nine times in a century. The last one occurred on February 2, 2004, and the next will occur in seven years on April 4, 2016.