From the Office

Two Cool Things:

I don't get much time to write about stuff that I thought was particularly neat now-a-days.  Actually, I don't get much time. Period.

But, I ran across two things last month that I wanted to share.  The first is the TV series of Andrzej Sapkowski's "The Witcher".  It is . . . odd . . . and I really liked it.  The books are thoroughly imbued with Polish historical and cultural influences and that quality comes through in the show.  Which means that characters don't always act the way that you'd expect, and the story doesn't play out that way, either.

Now, granted the show is a bit uneven and there are some flaws but, overall, I thought it was refreshingly different.  And there are two _great_ sword fights, which is a big plus in my book. You'll find it on Netflix and I think it's worth a watch.  As a little added treat, here's the show's star, Henry Cavill, reading the first "Witcher" story - https://youtu.be/uUST_IQYp-o

The other thing . . . wow.  I read Everything Under The Moon by Jeff Johnson a couple of weeks ago.  I read it in one day (almost in a single sitting).  The damn thing grabbed me by the face and didn't let go 'til I was done.  I absolutely loved it.  It came out in 2016 but somehow I managed to miss it 'til now.  Full disclosure prompts me to make clear that this isn't everyone's sort of book; it's kind of like Crooked Little Vein by Ellis or Bad Monkeys by Ruff ran into a Jim Butcher novel in a dark alley.  The main character is part werewolf and kills bad people for fun (and profit), all while wearing a bad attitude like a trench-coat.  It's very noir, pretty violent, and the first person narrator's voice is absolutely spot-on and irresistible.  If that sounds like your sort of thing, you will _love_ this book.

February Building Update:

January was a good month and we made solid progress.  The bathroom tile work is done and looks wonderful.  We have a little bit of work left to do on the walls, and then we can have the plumbers and electricians come in to do the final work.  With that completed, we should be just about ready to close out that permit; almost two years after we opened it.  That's been a long trip but, given that the job started in the basement with new foundations and structural beams, I think we've done pretty well. I'm excited to get that closed and, perhaps even more so, excited to have a bathroom again.

The upstairs electrical work is also well on its way.  All the ceiling lights are wired up and, after some work this weekend, we should be ready for the "rough" electrical inspection.  Being past that means we can close up the ceiling and remaining walls. That's a real watershed moment because it marks the change from doing "rough" work (framing, major electrical, plumbing) to doing "finish" work, which is the stuff that makes the place start to look complete.  Depending on the availability of a sheet-rocking crew, the space will change dramatically over the next month or so.

Remaining work is completing the new front windows and doors, replacing the floor, and doing the painting.  Once that's all done, we can get to work on the shelves and final details.  When that is complete, we can get the basement office built and the rest of the basement in order.  At this point I still don't know exactly how thoroughly completed the place will be when we open up on May 25th but it's looking like we'll at least have all the big stuff done in time.  Thank goodness that we don't have a hard deadline for when we need to be out of the shop on Valencia.  That has really eased the pressure on this job.

That's about all the news.  Cross fingers that the progress continues and I shall keep you posted.

All Best,
Alan