So after reading a lot of pretty glowing reviews about FIOS, I’ve decided to give it a shot.

I’ll report back with what I find out after the 22nd!  I’m super excited to have 20mb up and down!

The install was something I’ve done before, although all kitchens and all microwaves are different so…  I had to re-build a shelf after discovering that this one was too low, and also falling apart. That led to the problem that the doors would need to be replaced. Luckily we had some in the garage from a neighbor that had their kitchen re-done long ago (Thanks Pat!). You’ll notice in the 2nd photo that the doors not only don’t match, but they are also a bit crooked. I’m working on that, along with staining the shelf to match the rest of the wood. Just need to finish some general cleanup and I’ll be done with this one. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying a bag of corn before the job was 100% done.

As promised, here’s some photos of the nursery so far. It’s close to being done, and may look exactly like this when the kid moves in, but there are still some things I want to get to. The cork wall is still there (excluded from the photos) and the ceiling fan should be replaced someday with something that’s a bit more appropriate. But other than that we’re very happy with how it’s shaping up!

view the 8 photo slideshow

I know, totally unlike me not to post photos, but I want it to be done before that happens. Stay tuned!

• I have been conditioned to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. I’m gonna try to break this habit this year and hope that people who don’t do Christmas forgive me. I’m all for being PC, but c’mon.

• My current total for Peppermint Mochas consumed is three. Two for Starbucks and one for Disneyland. Stay tuned for updates.

• I titled this image “All done” on flickr, but it wasn’t/isn’t. We decorated more on the mantle since this photo, and

• I have attended one out of the seven Christmas parties I’ve been invited to this year. Three are not work related.

• I haven’t set foot into a Best Buy since Black Friday (which happened to royally suck). I plan on going there shortly after Christmas though since I got some birthday dough burning a hole in my wallet.

• Holiday means vacation across the pond, and I’m looking forward to having some family in town and celebrating Christmas week AWAY from work.

• We went LED as far as outdoor lighting goes. I can’t say I like them as well as regular lights, but they sure cost less to run. (15% of the cost!) — but maybe there are better ones out there, we just got the cheapy white ones from Home Depot this year.

• This isn’t Christmas related, but more of a plain homeowner fact. I actually get excited when trash day comes because that means that we have empty trash cans to fill up! Weee!! I’m boring.

Monday night comes along and around the same time that evening four cars roll up to our street and park in front of our house. Eight kids get out and walk across the street to the school and set up camp. Skating and talking and all that. Good kid fun, I know. But again, I’m about to go to sleep and I know the same thing is gonna happen where I can’t fall asleep.

So not wanting this to turn into a trend I do what every man 30 years my elder would do. I call the cops. I was pretty torn deciding whether or not to do this or not, since I’ve done my fair share of noisemaking at that very school after dark. But since this was the second night, and it was a lot more people out there, I did it anyway and the cops did indeed come about 30 minutes after I called. The kids seemed to take is well, as they hopped in their cars and split.

So I’m still up, about to hit the sack and I thought I’d record this moment of geezerness. I’m not sure if I’m upset with myself for calling the po-po or not. I’m a noise freak and I like my peace and quiet, but I want to try to let kids have their fun too. I think it all came down to midnight on a weeknight, trying to stop a nightly skate meet from starting outside my house, and me trying to get to sleep. Do you blame me? What would you have done?

That’s what it feels like anyway. You see, what started as a simple missing dial tone on our phone at home has now turned into an issue where if you call our home phone, an Asian family answers. This is after Verizon has come out to the house twice to fix the problem! Today they were supposed to have another tech come out to the house and look at it again, resolving the whole mess by 1:31pm (he actually gave me that exact ETA). Well, I got a call at 3pm on my mobile phone from them telling me they were running late. I haven’t heard from them since. I’m hoping it’s fixed when I get home.

Meanwhile, Danny (a friend of mine whom I’ve never met) suggested that I might want to try Vonage. You know, that “use your phone with your Internet connection” company? Well, after reading through a bunch of material and reviews online, it appeared to be a pretty good alternative that should save us around $30/month, so we’re gonna give it a shot. The home number will not change, and if this works out we should be done with Verizon. Can’t wait for that.

On the air conditioner front, we are still trying to get the insurance company to come out and do what they’re supposed to do, fix our AC.  They balked at fixing anything when they came out the first time saying that we needed to have it serviced first.  Ironically, the ideal situation is that they replace it.  But for them to have the nerve to tell use that it should be cleaned and serviced before they deem it replaceable is odd to me.  That’s like washing a car before you take it to the crash-up derby or something.  Which I’m sure they probably do too, so what do I know?

Stay tuned for another riveting episode!