Relief

Many things going on.

Chia slideshow from a few posts back has one more picture at the end; he's fully-grown now.

More exciting: our kitchen base cabinets are installed, countertop and all! Last thing to do is vacuum and clean them out, install handles on doors and drawers, and fill them up! Paul also put the door on the front of one of the two cabinets hung on the dining room wall, but the other he put together upside down, so he has to un-hang it and flip it around before the door will fit on (whoops). It's also added to the slideshow, but here is a picture of the finished cabinets:



And finally, the biggest news of all: I have my wedding photos.

If you haven't heard the story, it's pretty long, so give me a call sometime. Suffice to say, our apparently chronically depressed photographer hadn't been returning our calls or e-mails, but today my dad went and found him at his studio, and the photographer gave him a DVD with all the full-sized raw files and a written release of his rights to the photos. So we still have no album, but now we at least have the "negatives," so we'll be able to make ourselves anything we want. The contract we signed says he will maintain rights to the photos, so this is important. We've paid him in full and hasn't delivered the albums etc. we bought from him, but at least now we have the files. Next task is to have them looked at by a professional photographer who will be able to balance things - it was a sunny day, so a lot of the outdoor photos look overexposed, but it's OK because we have the raw image files, which is like having the negative if it wasn't digital, so all the info is there.

I'm still trying to think of a humane way to get the word out that this is not someone you want to hire as a photographer without being really mean to this guy. On one hand I'm totally pissed that he gave us the one-over and didn't deliver on our contract, but on the other hand I don't want to ruin the guy's livelihood, I just want to teach him a lesson. You can read all about his pathetic life on his myspace page, so you gotta feel a little bit sorry for him, but on the other hand he signed a contract with us, knowing that he had these problems, and thus sucking us into his problems. I want to teach him a lesson, but on the other hand I want to show some pity to a guy with these personal problems, but on the OTHER hand Paul pointed out that it's because everyone he's screwed over in the past has felt too sorry for him to do anything about it that lets him keep doing it to more and more people. But what if we speak out, and it makes him commit suicide or something? There's just no way to win. I'm open to suggestions. Seriously, the guy is a nut job. I deleted my myspace account a while back, but I might get a new one just so I can comment on his and tell him how underhandedly misleading, selfish, and inconsiderate I think he is to his clients.

There's multiple complaints against him with the Better Business Bureau, so I want to go at least one step beyond that and put a complaint in a more public area that I feel is more likely to be seen by prospective customers of his - we sure didn't check out his history at the BBB before we signed the contract, or I'm sure we wouldn't have hired him!!

So that's my story for tonight, and if you want any specific pictures from the wedding, I can now send you the full-sized file for yourself and it's perfectly legal. I'm going to scan the release letter tomorrow at work, so I can send that to anyone too.

Just because I can and it's legal now, here's one of my favorite pictures:

Yes, I'd love some cheese to go with my whine.

This morning after my eye doctor appointment, my shoulders and butt were still sore from riding my bike to work Tuesday, my upper left arm was REALLY sore from the tetanus shot I got at my doctor's appointment Wednesday afternoon, and I couldn't see my keyboard or computer screen because of my dilated eyes. It was a weird day. Never thought I'd need that magnifier thing that comes with Windows.

This evening my back hurts again, I think from sitting weird at work all day because of my butt being sore.

Woo hoo!!

I rode my bike to work today, and I feel great. It's a nice ride - relatively flat, with a few small hills (none steep) and plenty of pedaling because there are not many significant down hills. A good, steady cardio workout. Once it's lighter for more hours a day, I am going to ride my bike so much! I definitely want to get the clipless pedals and shoes tho - Corey, hook me up! As long as you're not way more expensive than a commercial place, I'd much rather buy them from you.

The best part was just getting to be outside today - it was around 65 degrees on my way home this afternoon. My fingers were a bit chilly on the way to work when it was only around 45 degrees, but this afternoon was amazingly gorgeous - the kind of weather I could be happy with most of the year! As long as I got a few snow days and a few hot pool/beach days, it could be 65 degrees the rest of the time and I'd be quite happy.

Hopefully I can get some bike pedals and shoes before it's next warm enough to ride!

Baby, it's warm outside!

It's supposed to be in the mid-40's before the sun even rises tomorrow morning, so I'm going to ride my bike to work.

I brought it up from the basement and sat it on the back porch and I have my biking clothes & gear laid out and my work clothes packed, so all I have to do is roll out of bed, get dressed, grab a bite to eat, hop on my bike, and go! I'm hoping to be out the door by sunrise at 7:30 AM (at which point I figure it will be light enough to ride safely). Work is about 5 miles, and it's mostly quite flat, so I'm thinking no more than 40 minutes and I should easily be on time for my 8:30 conference call.

One more day of Chia pics added to the slideshow in the previous post! I know you're all on the edge of your collective seats to see the miniscule change from Sunday to Monday.

Also exciting: the base cabinets are installed! Now Paul just has to carefully cut the counter to size and install that. He bought a special new blade for his circular saw and everything. It's going to be SO nice to have counter in our kitchen!!

Wish me luck!!

Ch-ch-ch-Chia!

My Chia Pet is grown! Watch its growth, just like a real Chia commercial:



And even tho it's not finished yet, here's the home improvement album, with new pics at the end of our soon-to-be-finished base cabinets - then our kitchen will finally be fully functional!! Real countertop, I can hardly wait. I am going to go crazy with the Kitchen Aid mixer!!



Picasa has this "embed slideshow" feature that I've been wanting to try, but if it doesn't work well or you don't want to sit thru the whole home-improvement slideshow, you can always see my Picasa pictures here and just look at the last few in the "Home Improvement in New Cumberland" album to see the kitchen cabinets.