Helen and I are both trying to get in shape. Most of the time that means we are trying to convince ourselves that we need to get in shape. Hey that's hard work! But Helen has started to actually get out there and do something about it, so these are a few picks from her recent Hiking trip.

I was at work, so I don't have a lot to add to the pictures. But it looks like a nice hike to me, so first chance we get you can bet that Helen and I will be strolling along with Newton in tow.

Ok, starting from the top. Top left is the living room set Helen and I are seriously considering. It's not cheap, but it's very comfortable. And considering some of you may be sleeping on said couch when you come visit, that's important. Top right, let me just say... never in a million years. But I had to take a picture cause someone out there thinks this bed "is to die for". Next two pictures are the dining room sets we are considering. The round one has a granite top so its a bit more durable, and a bit pricier. Our biggest concern is the space it has to fit into. We'll let you know which way we go. Next two are of the entertainment center we are considering. Lastly, me in a lazyboy that I will never get. Apparently Helen is very anti-lazy. Go figure. And finally, a cute piece we found at a local furniture placed called Eclectica. If we had a huge place and wanted to fill it with interesting stuff, this is a good place to start.

Pretty soon we'll have a presentable place and you'll all be invited up. Whether you can actually make it out here is besides the point. Talk to you all soon.

I know it's been about a week since I last posted. This time it wasn't entirely because I'm lazy. I just couldn't seem to find a place to post the videos I've been creating on my camera. And with my usual attitude of "I'll put everything else on hold until I can do it the way I want to do it..." I've been stalling until things fixed themselves. Normally I would just use OurMedia.org but its having issues. So this time I'm putting things up at Archive.org and hoping that the links work for everyone. This may not work until tomorrow, but check back cause its a cute one for Newton lovers.

Well I was determined to post a video of Newton today. However the site I use to host those files is taking its sweet time in posting my video so I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Life's busy. Helen and I are like ships passing the night sometimes. I've started playing World of Warcraft, and I think of it a bit like the local golf resort. You know, coworkers hang out there and by having a membership you become one of the 'in' people? Well so many people at work play World of Warcraft that I had real incentive to play. Built in help, people to hang with, and don't forget it's still a fun game.

Joe's computer problems appear to have been diagnosed as a heat issue.
Curtis' computer is full of viruses and will need hands on attention when I visit for Kristie's wedding.
Catherines computer just had a folder moved around, so her email is working again.
And roughly 30 people are back online because of me, and that's what I call a day's work. See you tomorrow.

My New Office

Well it's the beginning of a new office anyways. A lot has happened since my last post. We are basically moved in now. More pictures coming as soon as we have the place presentable. The office doesn't look nearly this nice anymore because its full of boxes. To be honest it's only going to get worse. We probably have around 25 boxes still at Harry's.

I decided to purchase Harry's laptop so I'll be paying him for that soon. I also dropped about 270 bucks at the local Fry's Electronics purchasing stuff I'd need to make sure the internet works at our new place. Basically we only have one place for the cable to come into the house which is right next to the front door. My office and almost all of the stuff that needs an internet connection is upstairs. And because I think Helen would kill me if I tried to run an ethernet cable up the stairs and across the hallway, I figured it would be better to finally plunk down the money to make everything wireless. In fact, I'm posting from the laptop in the living room while trying to scarf my dinner so I can go play some games before my bedtime catches up with me.

Work for Helen and I is going well. We already have the routine of it but we don't get to see as much of each other as we would like. Newton is driving me crazy every day after work, which is keeping me from planting my butt in front of the computer and having some fun playing games.
Either way, every day is a little closer to being settled into the new place. It already feels like home and I want to devote as much time as possible to fixing it up, but I think I need a bit of time to myself to veg out and enjoy the money I'm earning. Sorry about the slow posts, now that I have a desk that I can actually use, it will pick up a bit. Later.

My New Desk and IKEA's Self Serve Warehouse

Today while Helen was gone to work I made an IKEA run. Tempe which is a bit southeast of where we live has an actual IKEA store. Take your average Best Buy, multiply it by 3 to 4 and fill it with an IKEA catalog and you have a good idea of what I mean. Essentially they have the top floor filled with little rooms already decorated for you. You go to the section you are looking for, office furniture in this case, and take a look at offices you like. I liked this one, so I bought it. Well, I bought the desk a keyboard tray, a pad for the desk, and a set of drawers that slides underneath. It will look quite a bit like what you see above when I'm done.

I also bought a bed frame, two bedside tables, and a large under the bed storage drawer. I'd post pictures but it I forgot to take any at the store, and they don't have any on their site of the set we picked.

It will all be delivered on Saturday morning therefore I expect I'll be working on that Saturday evening and a good part of Sunday. I will post pictures once we have them assembled and in their proper places. Wish us luck, we are finally settling in and we want to make it a home.

Living Room and Patio Door

Dining Room

Kitchen

Upstairs Bath and Bedroom

Office with a bad paint job and the view from the patio.

First, I know the pictures are wierd sizes. But I'm too lazy to change them. Second, my HTML skills are nonexistent at this point so I also can't fix the way the text is laid out at this point. I'll do a little studying and future posts will look a lot better. However, the long and short of it is that I was asked for more pictures of the new place and now you have them.

As you can see, its at least clean. It might have a bad paint job, it might need a good remodeling job. But it's well within our price range, and it will allow us to save for a more permanent place somewhere down the line. I'll see if I can get floor plan on here so it will all make more sense.

On the bad paint job, all I can say is... Wow. Almost the first thing we did was to re-paint my office. I voted for the bedroom, but Helen figured I would be able to move into my office a lot faster than we can move into the bedroom. I will definitely post pictures of the room after the new paint so you can see the contrast.

Actually, Harry is already gone. He left around Sunday or Monday and won't be back for 10 days. The picture above is almost the entirety of our kitchen filled with his Burning Man gear. He is by no means traveling light. You'd think he was going around the world in 80 days. Or that might be the welding goggles he's wearing.. hard to tell. Either way, it's entirely possible he's got everything he could need for whatever adventure he finds his way into.