42: The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything

As I was lamenting turning 42 my friend Stephan reminded me that 42 is the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. For those that have no idea what he was referring too - in Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" novels - a computer named Deep Thought is built to answer the Ultimate Question (what is the answer to life, the universe and everything?). The computer chugs along for 7½ million years and finally comes up with: 42.

Of course, just about everyone is disappointed with the answer - one individual demands of the computer: "Forty two?! Is that all you've got to show for seven and a half million years' work?"

The computer replies: "I checked it very thoroughly, and that quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest with you, is that you've never actually known what the question is."

Ain't that the truth.


Yesterday marked my 42nd birthday and I celebrated with a tri-fecta. Some quality time with Julie in the morning, then off to meet up with some of my diving buds for a little winter diving. We went up to Dutch Springs in PA and dove in a retired limestone quarry - which is now a now a freshwater lake. It was cold out, the air temp was about 36F. The water temp was 41F. When I dropped under the surface and was completely submerged in 41F water I was completely aware of how alive I was - I was also completely aware of brain freeze. The great thing about the lake in the winter is that the underwater visibility is outstanding and yesterday didn't disappoint - we had easily 70 feet of vis - or more.

My buddy Stephan and I did two dives, total combined runtime of 1 hour and 9 minutes. It was a great way to spend a chilly afternoon. When I got home - we headed over to our friends Joe and Christine's house for some dinner and drinks (more drinks than dinner actually) while the kids ran around and generally caused a ruckus.

All in all, a great day.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!!!

So - it's been a few weeks since my last update. Christmas came and went, as did New Years and Ryan's sixth birthday! Wow, that went fast. On deck is my birthday - followed by Cory's birthday in mid February. Then a little break until Julie's birthday in April. Who's idea was it to have all these birthdays so close together? Oy, with all the cake.

For Christmas we stayed home - in our newly re-done home - which I LOVED. Nothing better than waking up in my own bed on Christmas morning - basking in the glow of not having to travel during a holiday. The boys had a great time opening up all of their gifts - especially Cory as we got him a Wii. I think his exact words were "My life is saved! I got a Wii!!!!". The Wii IS pretty cool, although after a full day of playing "Wii tennis" I started to develop "Wii shoulder". I had to learn how to swing the Wii "racket" - and not try to swing like a real tennis racket.

Here are the little rascal's on Christmas morning.

As you can plainly see, we went to great lengths to make sure they were dressed nicely.

For New Years Eve we were invited over to Rob and Barb's house - there new house which I had never seen before. I liked it - great job Rob and Barb and good luck in your new home. The kids stayed up until midnight and we watched the ball drop on Barb's 13" tv - yes 13" that wasn't a typo. Personally, I can't believe that Dick Clark is still bringing it at 78 years old. Where would we be without Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year? Julie went around and collected everyone's new years resolutions. I've decided to opt out, as I don't see the point in making promises that I know I won't keep! I gave myself a low hanging goal of trying to get in 30 dives in 2008 - I should be able to hit that one.

Cory and I on New Year's Eve.

No sooner was New Year's over, and the Christmas decorations packed away, and here come's Ryan's birthday. We had a small group of Ryan's friends from his class over and threw him a party at our house.

Here's the big boy about to blow out his 6 candles.

That's all for now, I promise not to take so long to make my next post.

House Project update...We're done! (Well, almost)

Ok, I know, I'm really behind on the whole blogging thing. Lame, lame, lame.

So - on Friday, November 16th we moved back into our home - yeah! It's official - we are done with the house project. Well, that is if you alter your definition of "done". We are "mostly done", which is better than being "almost done" and not quite as good as being "all done". We have a punchlist of items that still need to be completed, and they'll probably be finished in no time. Or by mid summer. Either way.

Done!

The move back in went without any major complications. However, there were several issues that we've already had to deal with in the new house - like - the brand new ovens didn't work quite right and we needed them serviced (already). I think they basically needed a "re-boot". We also discovered a leak in the boy's bathroom shower - which damaged the kitchen ceiling slightly. Our phone mysteriously died for two days. And one of our garage doors seems to open every time my neighbor changes channels on his TV. The list goes on. Our contractor is making good on all these little gotchas. I'm sure that fact that we still owe him $20,000 probably helps expedite things. That's one of the reasons I insisted on back-loading the milestone payments in the contract. That $20k will be a great motivator.



We love the way the kitchen came out - and the boys love having an island with stools to sit on when they eat. One of Julie's dreams has been fulfilled. Check. Now I just need to find a baby grand piano for the living room and I'll have made significant progress on Julie's wish list. Or I'll just be broke.

New kitchen, new island, bar stools - check, check, check. Now, if we could only get the kids to sit down and eat.

On moving day we had help from Ria and Veronica. Ria was our previous nanny - Veronica is our current nanny. They were a huge help and without them I think we'd still be putting things away. The boys loved seeing Ria again.

Ria and Veronica were a huge help on moving day.

The happy family on move day. The kids all had some Coke, and getting them to sit still for this picture was like herding cats.

We've already done a fair amount of entertaining - Don and Jan came to visit us for Thanksgiving. Don't worry Jan, I promised I wouldn't say anything about you setting the fire alarms off when you were cooking. So I won't.

Kelly and Amy also came to visit us - along with some of their friends. And our friends Rob and Barb and their kids came to visit too. We're finding that the kitchen is the gathering place, that's where everyone wants to hang out. That's also where the booze is, but I'm not drawing any conclusions here.


We still have many boxes to unpack - I'm going with the 6 month rule. If we haven't unpacked it in 6 months then we clearly don't need it and it gets tossed. I've discovered that I love to un-clutter and get rid of stuff I don't use or need anymore. It's a little endorphin rush.

Brothers!

House project update

A lot has happened since the last post. We picked out an exterior paint color, and then almost unpicked it once it was up. We had paint remorse. After looking at it for a few days we decided we like it. The garage doors are finished, the front door has been stained and sealed and they have started working on the new patio in the backyard.

Inside all the sheetrocking is complete and all of the walls have been primed. The electrical finish work has started, the new hardwood floors are in place, the kitchen cabinets are installed and the new appliances are in. We are now waiting for the new granite countertops. The bathrooms are just about done there's still some minor tile work to do and the countertops for the bathrooms still need to be installed.

So, what's left? There's still some tile work that needs to be completed in the kitchen and bathrooms. They need to install the kitchen and bathroom countertops, finish the trim work, install the alarm, finish the audio install, final plumbing hook ups, sand and finish the hardwood floors, install the new stair rails and paint the interior. Oh, and landscaping too.

And about a million other small things. We have a tentative move date for 11/16. We'll see, there still is so much to do.

Jason's first day of pre-school

Jason and Ryan pose for a pic before school.

Today was Jason's first day of pre-school. He was pretty excited, he had his backpack on long before it was time to go. I think watching us take his big brothers to school has gotten him in the right frame of mind. When I picked him up at the end of the day, the teacher said he did just fine. Some of the other kids were crying and raising a holy fit, not my boy!

House Project Update

I've been slacking off and not updating my blog as much as I'd like to. Life is funny like that, keeping me busy with all kinds of shit that I don't really want to do. Well, here goes.

The front entrance has been completed, the new columns are in place and the new front door has been installed. We shit-canned the planned arches on the front porch because, in the words of Jerry - the lead carpenter on the job - "they looked gay". Well, I don't know if they were gay or not - not that there's anything wrong with that mind you - we just didn't like the way they looked. So, we killed 'em. The front porch and steps have been put in place by the mason, so no more moat!

We've also gotten the inspections for electrical, plumbing and framing - so that means it's on to insulation. The insulation was installed and inspected and we then raced on to sheetrocking. And since I'm a lazy ass I didn't take any pictures since the insulation was put in place, you'll just have to use your imagination. It looks like this, only there's sheetrock on the walls.

If you squint a little you can see the sheetrock.

Well today (9/11) I stopped by the house to check on the progress and all the sheetrock is up and taped and spackled. Lot's of progress. The next major milestone is the install of the hardwood floors and the stair hand rails. We thought we were going to be able to just patch the stair rails, but wouldn't you know it, since we've change so much of the house we now have to follow the "new" code standard for rail height. Our existing stair rails were two inches too short so they all had to be ripped out and will need to be replaced by new ones. Of course.

We finally picked out granite for the kitchen and we decided on silestone for the bathrooms and Julie has finalized the tiles for the kitchens and baths.

Up next is the delivery and install of the kitchen cabinets. Somewhere along the line we have to paint the interior and exterior of the house. Oh, did I mention that they've started to install the cedar shingles? Well, they have. I love the look of the plain unpainted cedar shingles, I'm half tempted to strip the whole house down and have them put up fresh shingles. Mind you, I'm only half tempted and that half of me is an idiot.

Meanwhile, the bank account is looking a tad spartan these days, so any and all contributions to the Billings Foundation will be graciously accepted (and immediately forwarded on to Ethan my contractor, aka: The guy that has all my money).

Betcha can't wait 'till you do your own house project! It's so much fun!