Phutu...whatever

1/21/2003 Well, I finally got the engineer to give me the plans and the calculations so that I could get everything squared away with the building department. It's unfortunate, but in the end I think that I really made him quite mad at me. I took to calling him multiple times every day until it was such a bother to him that he finally finished what he was supposed to have done way back in July. He sent the calculations to me along with another bill, which I feel is unjustified. I hired him on a flat fee basis originally and he never did the work....so I sent him a letter to that effect...if it takes him as long to respond to it as it took him to get me the plans I expect to hear from him the day after never. Or maybe two days after never. In the meantime I will be having an inspection tomorrow which if all goes well will allow me to start putting up insulation and then drywall. Of course, I am sure that the building department can come up with a couple more hoops for me to jump through....all the while my power bill is sky high since half the walls are open, making this place like a big piece of swiss cheese with internal heating. You would think that they would want me to get things closed up as soon as possible to save energy.

I can't remember if I wrote about it before; but around Christmas Dory and I fostered a puppy thinking that we would probably keep it. I have to say that I always thought I could have a dog. But, after a few days I couldn't handle it; so we took him back to my mom who deals with these things. Of course, that wasn't the end of it since Dory was quite fond of him and now he is back. He is really driving me crazy with all of his youthful energy. I already have four small cuts on my hand from him trying to play with me. He has urinated on everything in the house that could possibly be ruined by it and he is just generally driving me crazy. I think I am in for quite a few headaches as Dory trains him and shouts regularly in the process. The cat that lives in the basement agrees with me...dogs are a pain in the ass; he hasn't gone into the backyard since the puppy got here.

I just read a really cool article on SFweekly about famous people through history who may have had syphillus

There are some really cool trees in the parking lot at Golden Gate Fields. Which is what the second photo is above. I keep trying to figure out exactly what kind they are...but I can't. I'll have to ask somebody who has knowledge of these things.

1/15/2003 Yeah, I've once again been spending all my time wrestling with the engineer that we hired to help with the house. I think that I could've gotten a degree in engineering in the time that this guy took to get the calculations and plans to me. The more I think about it the more I get frustrated. But I think that it is finally over. I have to get up and go down to the building department in the morning and that will hopefully end the involvement of the engineer.

In the meantime I have been giving some thought to my Bonsai collection. It hasn't been growing much lately other than in the slow way that plants are supposed to. The construction has taken all of my energy and moeny. But I find that taking photos from time to time makes things more interesting. The trees in these photos are obviously under construction in much the same way that my house is. Fortunately, the trees construct themselves with only a little bit of timely interference from me (call me a tree engineer). The elm (yellow fall foliage in the black pot) promises to be quite a nice little tree once I interfere it into the shape that I have in mind. If it was left to it's own devices it would get quite big and then die because it's roots had run out of room to grow. The Dwarf Alberta Spruce that is in the backgrond is already an interesting tree, but it has been neglected and I am trying to revive it. It needs to be repotted, and I need to eliminate a bunch of the existing branches...beyond that I need to refine the branches that I don't eliminate and rewire everything so that it has a better shape. This angle isn't the best...the trunk looks better from about 45 degrees around to the right...but whatta ya gonna do?

The second photo is of a juniper that I got for free at one of my club meetings. I really like it but it is in need of a lot of help. I wired it in an attempt to make it look windswept but it just looks sickly. I took most of the wire back off after this photo was taken and I am letting it grow out again. 80% of the folliage was cut off in the last encounter it had with a bonsai teacher. There were at least three other branches the size of the two "trunks" that remain. I think in about two years that it will be ready for some more major work. Until then I'll try to keep it healthy and feed it a lot of fertilizer. Later.

1/5/2003Well, I can't seem to get ANYTHING done with my house. The engineer that I hired to help with the project has now delayed things at least a month. I have been really lazy the last few weeks and haven't done anything to get ready but I think that in the end I can blame the whole thing on him. I had to go down to the building department and fork over another $168 bucks to keep the building permit valid. And whether or not the engineer gets the plans to me soon I am going to have another inspection to aviod expiration of the permit. Little things like this make it difficult. My mom and Dory keep saying that we should threaten to sue the guy but I can't see that it would really help the situation. Afterall, I need his help. The most tempting option at the moment seems to be to forget about the whole permit thing and just complete the project sans approval from the beaurocrats.

Of course now that I am writing this and looking for photos of my house to put up with it I can't freakin' find any...so I guess that I'll put up some that I took at Thanksgiving when my family was here...I seem to leave everyting on my computer at work and forget to e-mail it to myself here.

Yesterday I got up around 5 AM and worked on some framing details that I have to finish before I can actually have the inspection. I have been putting things off for so long because it has been pointless, but I feel that we're getting close to having the engineer actually call me back so I better be ready. It's amazing how much of the framing in the house is there only to support drywall. I had previously thought of framing soley as the support structure of the house and walls but I keep having to put more boards into corners so that I can fasten the drywall when I finally get to it. Getting up at five makes for a long day; I didn't even go to work until around eleven. ramble ramble. The stairs in particular, and all the little cubbyholes that I have put into them are taking a lot more effort to frame than I thought they would. I pushed back a couple of walls into the attic area to make room for bookshelves; everytime that I turn around there is another corner that needs to be framed to support the drywall.

I think that next time I write something it's gonna be about bonsai...later taters.

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