dusting off the surface

I have had this feeling in the back of my mind for a while that I started yet another blog and let it go stale.  I haven't really figured out my purpose for creating a blog other than getting my thoughts out and sort of publicly (and silently) reflecting on my life.  I hope I can post some content that is valuable for like-minded readers, whoever those might be right now.

Many topics to update on I suppose.

beats - I haven't had time to, nor do I have a desk setup to make any music or do any bedroom DJ'ing.  I opened Ableton Live the other day but I did my typical routine; Play around with every synth sound patch for hours and make nothing.  In fact I don't even hit record.  I don't really have the attention span to produce so I'll probably reserve any of my "music" efforts towards DJ'ing, remixing, etc.

bits - So you probably know from my earlier posts this year that I got my CCNA.  My next goal is to get my CCNP which I am going to take the 3 test option.  I was originally going to start this during the "cold" months but I feel motivated to do it now.  I had my CCNP from 2003 to 2006 but made the mistake of letting it expire.  I know the topics have drastically changed since then so I am over due for a refresher.  I know the experience I have gained at Cerner will make it much easier this time.  I had very little experience when I got my CCNP for the first time.

bicycles - This is the most stale topic of my blog.  I think I maybe got on my bike 2 or 3 times this year.  I said out loud today, though likely not true, that I will try to give winter bicycling a go this year.  We'll see.

baby boy - I guess I haven't announced on here that we had our baby boy, Isaac.  He was born a few weeks ago and I am a very happy daddy!

home improvement - I have completed most of the laminate flooring but I still need to complete the stairs.  Any tips would be welcome.

beta?

Isn't it time to stop adding "beta" under your website's title logo?

unscented?

Why does unscented smell so weird?

New Flooring - Day 22 and then some

I lost track of which days I was on.  I had to take a little break before doing the living room but it is now complete.  The only part left is the stairs going to basement.

New Flooring - Day 16 to 21 - big post

I have been keeping very busy which is why I haven't posted any updates on the floor.  I worked on it all memorial day weekend and pretty much every day until today.  The progress at this point is the master bedroom has been completed!  I ran into another unique set of challenges with this room but nothing I couldn't tackle. 

Challenge 1 - old water damage?
First of all there appears to have been some old minor water leakage from the shower into the bedroom.  The floor was slightly discolored but it didn't appear to be damp or recent.  I tried turning on the shower to reproduce the problem but I was unable to.  I noticed some of the caulking in the shower was wearing down so I as a precautionary measure I stripped the caulking in the shower and resealed it all.  This took me a while but I think it was worth the time.  

Challenge 2 - bathroom tile much higher than laminate.  
I didn't think this would be a big deal but it was a unique challenge that I haven't had to deal with yet.  I mocked up a few different designs with some scrap transitions and t-molding.  Here is a picture of the mockup with scraps followed by the real deal.

Normally the t-molding is used to go between two even level surfaces.  I tried putting it on top of the tile but it was too high an awkward.  What I did was I cut a scrap piece of laminate that is about the size of the metal track the transitions are placed in and screwed it in there.  Then I used the hard surface reducer to add a gradual slop down from the tile. (as seen in the picture above)  On the hidden side of the t-molding, I used the end molding for carpet transitions to add some support underneath.  The end result is the t-molding is almost even with the tile and it gradually slops down to the laminate.

The rest of the pictures

The closet in this bedroom is huge!  I think it was transitioned to a walk in closet after the house was already built.  I suspect this because the walls aren't exactly square around the closet.

New Flooring - Day 14 & 15 - room two complete!

The spare bedroom has been completed!  This room is also known as the purple room, the mother in-law's den, or the bedroom we hope to keep purple for our next kid which will hopefully be a girl.

We did quite a bit more than the flooring.  Here are some highlights:

- sanded, puttied, and painted trim
- painted doors to match the rest of the trim (it didn't match previously)
- painted fan blades and reinstalled
- touched up purple paint on walls
- updated all door handles for the two rooms
- moved in all furniture to the spare bedroom
- created mount for hanging the ironing board in closet (not shown)

Jack still thinks we made this room up for him.

New Flooring - Day 12 & 13 - picking up momentum

So on my last post I didn't have time to make an update so this post will be another two-in-one.  Day 12 I got a good start ripping up all the carpet, padding, tack strips, etc.  I also applied a good coat of Kilz to help with any odor.

Today was day 13 and I started laying the laminate and I got almost halfway done with the second bedroom.  This one is driving me crazy with the length of my cuts.  It seems like it is hard to maintain the 12" distance between planks without having like a 3 inch plank at the end. Oh well, it is working out.  The great news is the floor is completely flat so there was no need to use any of the leveling concrete or roofing paper!

Thank you to my wife Aimee who has helped me a lot.  Even though she is nearly 6 months pregnant, she still is able to help move things between bedrooms, paint base trim, Google things for me, tear out carpet, etc.  I love you wifey!

It is time to hit the shower, go to bed, then get up and help my sister move to her new apartment tomorrow.  I have confirmed there will be an episode of "Eating with the Starrs" tomorrow morning as we are meeting for breakfast before we begin hauling stuff!

Baby BPM

Aimee and I had a doctor's appointment to do the regular baby check up routine.  The doctor hooked up the [audible] heart rate monitor and we could clearly hear some thumps.  I was sitting down so I couldn't see the heart monitor's read out but after about 10 beats I asked the doctor, "Is that about 144 or 145 BPM?"  She looked at me with her eyes wide open and said, "What'd you say?"  I looked at her again and said, "Is it 145?"  She said, "Yup, it's 145!"  It was hard to explain but I guess I've listened to enough dance music to know my BPMs.  Lately I've been listening to a lot of dubstep which is fairly nailed to 140 BPM and the beat sounded slightly faster so I figured about 145.

Okay, it is time to start on the laminate flooring in the second bedroom and maybe I'll have another update tonight.

New Flooring - Day 10 & 11 - one room down

This will be an update for day 10 and 11 since I didn't have time to post anything last night.  I ended up buying an entry level brad nailer with a compressor and tank.  It worked very well when it came to reinstalling the trim.  We now have stuff moved out of the spare bedroom and temporarily stored in the baby's room so we can start working on it.  

Ignore the putty on the trim.  That still needs to be painted over.  For those of you wondering, this is the Swiftlock Plus laminate flooring found at Lowe's.  The color is Westmont Oak.

I was happy with my closet transition.

Here is the next room's before pictures: (ahh! Orb)

Yeah, it is blurry but I'm tired and I don't feel like retaking the picture.

New Flooring - Day 9

After work I took Jack to Lowes to get some more spacers to place around the floor to maintain the expansion gap.  That was his first time there and his tail was wagging constantly.  Someone commented that he has a cartoon dog face.

I came home and worked on fixing the grill because the igniter and one of the gas lines had to be replaced.  After eating that seemed to take up most of my night.  I got started on the floor at about 9 and made it to a good stopping point.  This is where I need to do some more reading because going around the closet door is going to be fun.  I'm pretty sure people recommend sawing off part of the tongue and glueing the pieces together.  Anyway, here is today's progress:

New Flooring - Day 8 - Progress & Pics

I was struggling for a while getting the first two or three rows in place without them unsnapping.  I found out that if I put them on the kitchen floor (tile) and assemble the first two rows then move it in the bedroom, it makes it easier.  I got to rockin and rollin with laying out the rows until my cutoff time. (10-ish)  I got about 5/12s complete with this bedroom and it is looking pretty good.  I need to get some more spacers tomorrow so I can keep the expansion gap.  I was eye-balling it on my last row tonight and I was off by about a half inch.  That means after installing the trim, you'll see some baseboard.

Here is what our living room looks like with all the boxes of planks.  The first box of 49 is by the fireplace and the next group of 32 that I picked up yesterday is in front of the coffee table.  Notice how our office exploded into the living room.

Here are a couple pictures of the progress that I've made.  Things to note:

- Fine cutting around the floor vent

- Black stuff is the roofing paper we used for leveing

- Gray stuff is the leveling cement.  This is the part that I actually had time to level out before it dried. 

New Flooring - Day 7

Quick update... We actually started laying down the planks tonight and got 3 or 4 rows in.  Some of them aren't lining up very well and I'm getting tired so I'll resume tomorrow.

I also got a call from Lowes that my other 32 boxes of planks plus the stair nosing came in.  I went up to pick that up today so now I have two big stacks of flooring in my living room waiting to be installed.

Dang... The sump pump is kicking on 2 or 3 times a minute!  I LOVE IT!  I better get to bed while it's pouring... I sleep better that way.

New Flooring - Day 6 - upset neighbors

We changed plans on flattening the floor.  Instead of using the messy leveling cement, we got two rolls of roofing paper that we found out other people use for flattening subfloors for new flooring.  I'm still trying to remove all the cement mountains I created with the original batch of cement I used.  At first I was chiseling it out with a hammer and screwdriver but I'm finding that striking it with a hammer is more effective, though a lot noisier.  Aimee interrupted me and said someone was at the door.  With my knee-pads, protective eye wear, face mask, and ear plugs installed I answered the door.  A friendly looking guy asked me to quick banging so I apologized and agreed to quit for the night.  This was at about 10:15 PM tonight.

yeah... I'm that guy.

Day two of the sump pump and it is already paying off with all the rain.  The basement is still dry.

New Flooring - Day 5 - working backwards

So I totally let the leveling compound / floor patch dry too long.  I was expecting it to level out a little more but it pretty much dried before I could use the trowel to spread it.  I started off with the palm sander that I already own with the courses grid paper I had, which I think was only 60 or 80.  That wasn't doing much so I decided to go buy a belt sander.  That was a trip to Raymore Lowes and Lee's Summit because Raymore didn't have the one that I wanted.  I bought some 40 grit paper which was the most course I could find there in that size. (3x27)  After sanding it down and nearly smoothing down both papers I decided my efforts weren't enough so I started chiseling it out and I got a new bag of the leveling compound so I'll start over in some spots.

In good news though, Brian came over at 9 this morning and we finished the sump pump.  Its all hooked up and functioning.  I can hear it faintly turn on (and NOT off) through out the day to pump out the ground water from the continuous rain we've had.  The reason why we don't hear it turn off is because we installed a Klunkless check valve.  The basement is still pretty dirty from all the clay we dug out so we're letting it dry out then we'll go back and clean it up real good.

I just realized that I have been using my MacBook Pro for quite a few weeks now and I still haven't hooked it up to an external mouse.  I'm very happy with the touch pad since it is multi-function, large, and smooth.  I can't stand working for more than 5 minutes on my Dell without an external mouse.

New Flooring - Day 4 - Mix it up!

This is sort of two days combined.  Yesterday we went to get some floor leveler and the primer recommended for it.  The deal with the primer is you should apply the leveler over the primer after the primer has set for  2 - 5 hours.  It was already about 10 PM when we got home last night so I decided to start that part tonight.  I got the primer down at about 6 or so and let it dry until about 10.

During this dry period I mixed up some electro & house in the living room while drinking a pepsi/cherry coke/rum 151.  (hey, thats what we had!)  I also had a chance to repair some of the ugly blow popcorn ceiling stuff that was all crappy looking from the hail damage.  I have some before pictures but I'll take the after picture after a second coat of the ceiling paint.

After the primer dried I mixed up 2/5's of the leveler because I didn't think I would need much.  After quickly using 2/5ths I ended up mixing and using the whole 50 pound bag.  So I poured this stuff in all the low spots that I marked ahead of time.  After pouring, I let it do its thing before using a trowel.  By the time I came back upstairs from cleaning up my tools and work area the stuff was already almost unmovable.  It is possible I didn't use enough water but we'll see after it fully dries.  Worst case I'll have to sand it down.  This stuff needs to dry for a few days before I even think about laying the flooring.  Maybe I can get some rest this weekend... or at least do some more of the fun mixing. :)

Lots of mixing today:

• electro + house... speed ~128 BPM with Traktor
• pepsi + cherry coke + rum 151... 4 quick stirs with a spoon
• floor leveler compound + water... speed 1100 RPM for 3 minutes with electric drill

New Flooring - Day 3

Flooring Update
Today was not very productive at all.  Of course it was a work day so I didn't have too much time.  The miter saw doesn't cut deep enough to cut my planks so I have to flip them around which is kind of a pain.  I was having problems snapping in my first two rows when I realized I didn't even check the floor to see if it was flat.  Sure enough there are some areas that dip down too much so I'll need to make a trip to the hardware store to pick up some leveling compound of some kind.

Basic Plumbing Project Complete
I was able to finish the front spicket water pipe.  I installed the new copper piping and wrapped it in some foam to hopefully weather proof it better.

The Memorable Lowe's Trip
Before I did any of the copper soldering I realized I didn't have anything handy to block my flame from hitting the wood behind it.  There was insulation there too but I removed all that first.  I made a quick trip to Lowe's... you know the kind where you know exactly what you need and you know the general location within the respective department.  So I walked in and my auto-pilot took me right to the plumbing section.  (I got to know this section very well with the hot water heater project.)  Of course a Lowe's associate stopped me on my way to my destination and I told him I needed a flame protector for my soldering project.  Without looking at the items on the shelf, he walked about 6 feet bent over and blindly picked up the flame protector sheet I was needing and handed it to me and started to walk away.  I interrupted him and ask, "Is this the only one you have?"
"Yep, thats it," he replied.
While searching for the price tag I asked the guy, "... And how much is it?"
"Cheaper than burning down your house!" he replied.

New Flooring - Day 2

Okay, so this is the second day I have done anything to the floor.  I took a break yesterday so my days will be the days I am actually working on the project.  It was a pretty simple day today: I vacuumed it all up real good, cleaned it, and applied a coat of Kilz latex sealer/primer.  This room has a bad reputation for having some pet stains/odors so hopefully the Kilz will do the trick.  I only had enough to do one coat but I might go back and do a second coat later.  I got the miter saw and shop-vac from my Dad yesterday so those will come in handy. (the shop-vac has already)  I still might need to borrow Hank's table saw to do my long cuts with.  I think I'll give it a try with my circular saw first.  The good thing is all my cuts will be under the base trim so as long as they are relatively straight you won't see any flaws in the cutting.

I found a mini home improvement project to do while my paint was drying... fix the pipe to the front spicket / hose hookup.  It busted open a couple winters ago and I can tell it has been repaired 7 times.  I'm going to replace all their patch work with a longer pipe and insulate it.  I got started but I didn't have any flux or the right type of solder so I'll have to pick that up tomorrow.  This one should be a quickie.  No pictures for this one.

New Flooring - Day 1

Aimee and I have been talking for a long time now about changing out all the carpet in the house for hardwood or laminate.  Last weekend we took home a sample to try it out for looks.  We did some more shopping and ended up going back to Lowes where we got the sample and got our laminate flooring there.  We decided to do the installation our selves.

Here's the load.  We took everything the store had in stock so we still have like 30-ish more boxes to pickup later.

We are going to install this in our living room and the three bedrooms.  We are going to start with the new baby's room which was formerly our office.  Here are two pictures of the messy office before:

Here is the room all stripped down.

Here is what I got done today:

• Carried 49 boxes of planks into the living room
• Relocated all items in the office to various places around the house
• Ripped up the old carpet and padding.  This included removing all the stables and tack strips.
• Removed base trim

I still need to let the planks adjust to the temperature and humidity of my house so I have to wait a few days before I start installing them.  I still have a few things to do before I get there.

• Shop-vac the place up better
• Make sure the floor is level and correct as needed
• Borrow miter saw and shop-vac from my Dad
• I'm sure I'm missing something :)

Baby Boy Announced and MacBook Pro is here!

Time to slightly rename this blog from "beats - bits - bicycles - baby!" to "beats - bits - bicycles - baby boy!"   :)  Thats right, we have to come up with a boy name which I can't make up my mind on.


MacBook Pro
My MacBook Pro arrived earlier this week and I am totally satisfied so far.  I got the 15" 2.4 Ghz i5 with the hi-res anti-glare screen.  I've moved over most of my music and files and I think I have a majority of my apps installed.  My NI Audio 4 DJ sound card works brilliantly after installing the latest drivers.  Traktor and Ableton Live are installed and working flawlessly.  I haven't experiences any audio drop outs or issues with my current setup.

In Traktor / Out Kaoss Pad
For now I'm using the Traktor LE version which came with my sound card.  It lets me do most of the basics but I only get 2 decks and my effects are limited.  Plus, I can't configured my Oxygen keyboard as a controller.  When I get around to it, I'm going to repackage my Korg Kaosspad KP-2 and sell it on Ebay.  I can get more out of the KP-2 then it costs me to upgrade to Traktor Pro so I think I'll go that route.  My KP-2 has been around for a while now and I've gotten lots of use from it.  Luckily I still have the original packaging, box, manual, cords, etc so selling it should be easy.  Bad thing about the KP-2 is the fact that I can only do effects to one input.  So that is either one of my decks or the whole mix.  Technically I could get around this if I had a mixer with aux send/receive (and I do) but that is going backwards for me.  I'm trying to create a minimal / backpack configuration.

New Laptop!

Okay, so I finally did it... I ordered a new 15" MacBook Pro.  This is something I've been meaning to buy (a Mac) since OS X came out... so I'm only about 10 years late.  Back in that time when I heard OS X was going to be Unix based I got pretty excited but I think I was more turned away because I was already a committed PC gamer, not to mention I couldn't afford one at the time.

The previous laptop I purchased was a Toshiba P3 450mhz, 64MB RAM, 6GB hdd, and an 800x600 screen.  It was outlived by my Gateway 2000 P2 266mhz, 192MB RAM, 4GB hard drive, 1024x768 resolution, running OpenBSD.  Needless to say it has been a while since I've had a descent laptop.  My latest desktop was built in 2005 and is now dead.  I'll be sending my old Gateway laptop (with OpenBSD stickers) back to apple through their free recycling program.

In baby news, we have an appointment tomorrow to determine the sex.  Can't wait!

I am also very proud to announce that Aimee won second place in the Digital Manipulation category at the University of Central Missouri Photo Expo contest.  All three of her submitted photos made it to the gallery and the following picture titled "The Watchman" won the prize.  Yes, that is me.  No, I didn't know I was being photographed.  Yes, there will be a prize for whoever can name the address of the building I am standing on.  (Not that anyone reads this anyway!)

first bike ride of the year

I went out for my first ride since the MS-150 back in September and WOW I need to find a way to stay in shape during the winter months!  The guys that I ride with upgraded their bikes to true road bikes.  Last year we all had hybrids so we were all pretty well matched in speed.  To top it off they have already got in several rides this year.  It was a 16.69 mile ride @ 12.7 mph.  A few observations/upgrades I need to make.

• Eye wear - My plastic frame glasses + clip-on shades aren't going to cut it.  They don't provide complete eye coverage, they slide down my nose, and wind blows my eyes.  I need to order some more contacts and use wrap-around shades.
• Foot wear - My $9 wanna-be bike shoes are _okay_ but they slip around on the pedal too much even with my toe clips.  I found my self jamming my toes into the clips so much that my feet would fall asleep.  Adjusting the clip slightly helped but I might go back to my Nike trail running shoes since they have better grip.  Going forward I think I am going to get some clipless pedals + shoes.  I really don't want to spend the money on them but it will be worth it if I ride this bike for at least another year.
• Tires - My stock tires are still in good condition but the 700x32c size leaves me dragging behind my bike buddies.  I am currently budgeting for some 700x25c tires to help.  I'll keep my 700x32c tires for the Katy trail and such.
• Bike Computer - Somehow I lost my bike computer before we took off for the Bike 4 The Brain ride last year.  I don't really feel like spending too much on this so I am going for the Schwinn 17-function option on Amazon for $10.
• Pump - I don't really have an accurate gauge for my on-bike pump.  It tends to be off by 15 psi so I'm afraid to get my tires too close to 110.  I'll be getting a more accurate floor pump so I can ensure proper inflation.

 That is all for now.

CCNA passed + vacation

I passed my CCNA the day before I went off for vacation.  I didn't feel like using a computer all vacation so I didn't bother posting anything.  Anyway, I enjoyed long week in Arizona while vising family, enjoying 70-80 degree weather, and experiencing the Grand Canyon.

I think my plan is to focus more on educational things like certifications during the cold months and then focus more on bicycling in the warmer months.  Its about that time and I can't wait to get out and ride.  I made a budget upgrade to my bike while in Arizona.  I found some New Balance shoes with hard soles and missing cleats.  I think I'll be able to use these to bike in combination with my pedal clips.  It was a $9 pair of shoes so I couldn't pass it up.  I don't know if I really want to spend the money on a clipless pedal / shoe system on my current bike.  I did the MS-150 with a soft, squishy Nike running shoes last year so surely this will be better.

I think it is time to change the last "b" in my title from "blah" to "baby."  My wife is due in September and we haven't found out the sex yet.  We have an appointment in about 4 weeks to check that.

BTW, still waiting patiently on that MacBook Pro to come out.  I'll definitely resume my beats / DJ stuff when I get one of those.

Eye don't feel so well!

Last week I was in New Orleans for Cisco's ETAB meeting.  That was the first time I had stopped in NOLA to do anything.  I think I passed through once as a kid.  I was surprised, I think I liked the overall feel of the city more than I thought I would.  There was plenty to do at night so I didn't keep up on my CCNA readings.  That put me 8 or 9 days behind schedule but I'm pretty much caught up today.

On the way back I noticed a sore throat coming on and it really set in on Friday.  I went to the doctor today and I have an upper respiratory infection and pink eye!  This is not good!  I'll be working from home until it clears up.

I have been waiting and waiting for Apple to release a new Macbook Pro.  I thought it was going to happen when they announced the iPad; nope.  I thought it would happen today (due to the rumors); nope.  I have the money I made from selling my MPC 2500 so I'm just waiting for the update.  I'm thinking I will go with a mid-range 15" model but I'll see how they are priced.  I haven't had a new laptop since my Toshiba... That thing was a 450mhz Pentium III with 64MB RAM and a 6GB hard drive.  Max resolution was 800x600 on its LCD screen.  I had 4 scavenger laptops after that but they were never for primary usage.  Everything else has been a desktop.

Catch up Saturday

Work has been demanding on Thursday and Friday so I didn't get my daily readings in.  I plan on starting those plus today's reading after I finish this post.

I also have been putting together the written exam and skills test for the Technical Computer Applications contest for SkillsUSA districts.  I'll have to get that finished up soon so it is ready for the February 23rd contest date.

Next week I'll be in New Orleans for a Cisco workshop so hopefully I'll have some time in the evening to get my readings in.  Anyway, I better get started because we got family plans this evening.

One more (procrastinating) thought.  I can pretty much assume that nobody reads this blog right now, which is fine because I use it to "check in" to make sure I'm on track with what I'm trying to accomplish.  The only statically linked place to this blog is my Facebook profile so any other visitors would have stumbled across this by a Google search.

CCNA exam scheduled

I booked my CCNA exam for March 4th.  Since I've been through the CCNA/CCNP before, I don't think I need to spend more than a month of good studying.  My study plan is to follow the "31 Days Before your CCNA Exam" and follow up each days reading with the recommended reading in the ICND1 & ICND2 books.  I will begin today, although I am already through chapter 9 of the ICND1 book.  This plan will give me a full week after the 31 days of continuous studying.  I'll use that time to take practice tests and labs.

Here we go!

CCNA progress

Last year I tried to get back into studying for my CCNA again but I was side tracked.  I kept my notes in FreeMind and I decided to pick up where I left off.  I am following the plan recommended in the CCNA Official Exam Certification Library (3rd edition).  That method includes bouncing between the ICND1 and ICND2 books but following major topics in order.  I completed 6 chapters before I got derailed last year so I skimmed chapters 7 and 8 this evening.  So far everything is very basic but I am taking occasional notes on those things that are good to memorize that you don't necessarily remember unless you are preparing for a certification.

yet another blog

Its been a while since I've bothered with online blogging of any type.  I remember farting around with a blog before content management systems made it so easy.  I did a few with my own domain name but nothing that lasted very long or had anything useful.  I think the longest I've ever contributed to a blog was my Xanga over 5 years ago.

My main motivation for this blog is to keep my self in check with studying for my Cisco certifications.  I figure if I can find a study buddy then they can also be an accountability partner.  I went through the CCNA and CCNP tests which I earned in 2003 and expired in 2006.  Since then, the certification has changed quite a bit and it feels like such a drag when I think about going through the whole process again.  Ultimately I want to get a CCIE in routing and switching which means the CCNA & CCNP is a prerequisite.

The other main topics I want this to be centered around are bicycling and music.  I ride a Trek 7.3FX which I enjoy taking on the Katy Trail and on the roads.  In 2009 I completed the MS-150 from Peculiar to Sedalia, MO.  On the music side I enjoy "DJ'ing", remixing, and occasionally producing stuff.  I'm really enjoying Ableton Live because it does just about anything I'd want a music program to do. (whether that be as a DJ, remixer, or producer)