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More about the house

I don't want this page to become all about the house. But, understandably it's taking up most of my time of late. Free time that is. Carla and I both still work, of course. BrightHouse has made it a bit tougher to get work done, but I still manage to pack the hours in. I'm just finishing up some work now. This is after an hour of TV, dinner and putting up some more blinds.

BrightHouse came today and did the driveway bore they should've done before I moved in... as one person put it, not like they didn't have plenty of warning. So now the grass looks like crap where they had to dig it up to put in the bore, but at least I no longer have coax surrounding my house.

Alas, they were too late. I've decided to try Verizon FiOS. They're giving me a 30-day trial with their 5 mbps and FiOS TV combo. The price is about the same, but the perks are a little better. Free wi-fi router, batter back-up for the whole system so we're not out immediately after a power-outage. Of course, we can't turn on a TV, but the laptops and VOIP phone will still have power (I have my own independent UPS.)

As I said, it's a trial. I won't cancel my BrightHouse/Earthlink without knowing for sure.

The electrician came out to finish an outlet that was still hot and just sitting inside my structured wiring box. After shocking myself a couple of times, I called the warranty people who called the electricians. Surprisingly smooth, but I think the risk of death does that.

In all we spent over $600 at Home Depot this weekend, including fluorescent lights. We're changing out all the lights except a few with fluorescents. I hope it's worth the money. From what I hear, it is, especially since they burn cooler and that's important in Florida in the summer.


But the big ticket item was the lawn mower. I researched them before I bought, and Home Depot had a good price on a Lawn Boy - which were Consumer Report's Best Buy. I mowed for the first time. Exciting stuff. We forgot a weed whacker though so it's a little rough around the edges.

Carla's step-dad has been invaluable. He came over this weekend to take a look around and we just peppered him with questions. He used to be a contractor and he and Carla's mom have made remodeling their home an on-going project. So we asked for all sorts of advice. Don't get me wrong, Dad's good too, but Pops knows more about Florida-specific issues (damn fire ants!)

Carla and I got the house ready for Halloween. We didn't go as out as some people (I love the giant Shrek in one person's yard) but we're ready for our first trick-or-treaters. There are lots of kids, so I hope we get to give out lots of candy. The apartments always had such a poor turnout of trick-or-treaters.

I still haven't GA'd my new address yet. So anyone reading this is probably doing so by accident. No worries, I'll just want a chance to post something worthwhile besides my ramblings and have a chance to spruce the thing up a bit before I do.

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