Basement: Day 34

Carpet is in. Also, I painted a few new pieces of trim.

 

Basement: Day 33

I didn't get any pictures yesterday (the missing Day 32). Anyway, it was just another layer of plaster on the window fix. Today Greg did the final layer on them and he'll sand tomorrow so I can paint Thursday. The carpet is going in tomorrow as well so today I had to finish my paint touch-ups in the stairwell. The carpet should have been one of the last things to go in, but the windows have slowed the main room down. No biggie.

 

A PHP IDE for me

At work I recently completed a search for a PHP Integrated Development Environment. I evaluated:

• Zend IDE
• Maguma Open Studio
• Maguma Workbench
• Maguma Studio
• WaterProof PHPEdit
• Eclipse
• Dev-PHP
• NuSphere PhpEd
• VS.PHP (Visual Studio plug-in)

In the end it came down to Zend, VS.PHP and NuSphere. NuSphere won.

NuSphere has a great editor, a fast UI, active development, an active forum, quick support turnaround, almost perfect code completion, easy project management, and a lot of little things done right. Not surprisingly, it was the most expensive of that list where some were even free. But in the world of development tools I think it's an OK price, and when you're a full time developer you don't skimp on the tool you use every day.

Most of my work is still on the actual RPM application which is C# in Visual Studio 2003.

Basement: Day 31

A little snag, Greg realized the drywall wasn't finished above the windows. So it's up now but we'll need a few days of plaster + drying then a sand and paint. No biggie, our home theater couch won't be here for a few weeks at least, and that is an important component.

 

Also today...

When I got home there was a small cube-shaped package from Volkswagen on my doorstep. My Fast had arrived. Here it is meeting Juliane.

 

Basement: Day 30

Greg dropped off the laminate and trim yesterday and today I painted said trim.

 

SF 2006

IMG_2278
Originally uploaded by jadeonly.

We took a quick vacation to San Francisco on the weekend. See the Flickr photo gallery

Don't burst my Bublé

I was going through our pictures from this weekend (more on that next post) and Juliane said this picture really shows a simularity to Canadian crooner Michael Bublé. I get that all the time from fans of his... or should I say of ours.

 

Basement: Day 29

Just finished getting the second, and it looks like final, coat of paint on the walls.

 

Basement: Day 28

The second coat on the feature wall where the screen will go looks good. I hope that means we'll only need a second coat on the main walls too. BTW, the blemishes in the photo are dust particles lit by the flash, not a result of my newbie painting skills.

 

Basement: Day 27

It took us until midnight, but the first coat is up. I'm not sure why painting creates so many particles in the air.

 

Basement: Day 26

Second coat of primer is up. This one was easier, but it's still going slower than I hoped.

 

Basement: Day 25

The first coat of primer is up and it was harder and took longer than I thought it would.

 

Basement: Day 24

Pictures for today aren't turning out very well. The drywall sanding and California knock-down ceiling are done, but as you can see the ceiling looks weird in the picture. Maybe it's the flash. You can also see the air is full of dust and the flash has lit up some floating particles. Anyway, in person it all looks good and I'm looking forward to priming tomorrow.

 

Basement: Day 23

Today was the first day of sanding and he should be finished it tomorrow. If all goes to plan this weekend we paint. As well as the regular pictures, I made a quick video today.

 

Driver's Seat doesn't know the difference between a Honda and a Toyota

Canadian Automotive TV Show "Driver's Seat" shows a Toyota Yaris instead of the Honda Fit they are reviewing. Things start out OK, but watch when they switch to the exterior action shots.

Video here

So what view should I take? That an overworked, under-appreciated editor mixed up two red Japanese hatchbacks? Or that a show that claims to be the "Gold Standard in Canadian Automotive TV Journalism" showed the wrong car.

Maybe it was even on purpose, like "Oh no the camera man lost the Fit tape... I know, let's edit in the Yaris footage - no one will notice". Well they didn't count on a sharp-eyed car enthusiast with a TiVo and too much time on his hands.

Basement: Day 22

I could really smell the plaster when I arrived home today. A thick second coat was added and I think once it dries the sanding is next.

 

Basement: Day 21

Alright :) After a 2 week break things are happening again. It looks like the first taping and mudding day went well, he went over everything once.

 

What's a domestic?

The Toyota Sienna is assembled in Georgetown, Kentucky and contains 85% parts from US or Canada. The Chrysler 300C contains 72% parts from US or Canada and is assembled in Brampton, Ontario. So which one is an "American" automobile?

Foreign? American? Auto parts go global

VW redux

After just over 6 years of ownership, I dropped off my 1999 Jetta and picked up a shiny 2007 GTI on Saturday. Of course, it has DSG. It came with 18" wheels, but I swapped those out today for the more comfortable ride and subtle look of 17's. Normally I don't like white cars, however with the GTI it works for me. I would've taken dark gray and leather except they're ordering into October now, so I had to take the cancelled order that was available or wait.

What I have now:

The wheels I traded back:

Quick review: it's great. There are plenty of better reviews on the web.

Hey look, free money