Riana Turns One
Riana turned one today. Hard to imagine that it’s already been a year. Read all about it on my post on Riana’s site.
Cheers
Stained Deck
The picture here is of the unfinished deck as the builder left it. It is 14′x16′ in dimension with a 4′x4′ stairway and landing. We couldn’t wait to get the necessary furniture and grill to start enjoying the deck as soon as possible. The builder has initially suggested that we let the wood be in it’s natural state for a couple of months to ensure that the heat dries the wood as much as possible.
After looking at the amount of sun we get in the back, he promptly changed his mind and suggested that we should seal the deck sooner rather than later to prevent any long-term issues. A quick trip to the local Home Depot and we settled on a sealer and stain-in-one with the color of Natural Cedar. The end result is pictured on the left. We managed to get a single coat on all of the exposed wood over a weekend and got to see the result of our hard work almost immediately when the rains came. With the sealer in place, the rain now nicely beads on the deck as opposed to getting absorbed into the wood and causing havoc.
We thought the color was initially going to be too bold and over-powering, but the color that has actually come once the stain has dried is absolutely stunning.
Check out all the pictures of the deck in the gallery.
Cheers
In Search of VoIP
I’m about ready to dump my traditional phone service provided by Verizon and switch over to a VoIP provider.
I tried, unsuccessfully, to reduce the amount of money I pay Verizon for my seldom used home phone and found that I’m still paying about $45 each month and that’s just ridiculous. Most VoIP providers have full-featured services starting at $24.95/month.
Just looking that the savings from switching to a VoIP service, I began my search with Vonage and found that there are many more providers. It also looks like Vonage’s service isn’t as highly praised as some others, so I would love to hear from other providers and your first hand experience with them so that I can decide.
Currently, I’m looking very favorably at Allo.com and Voip.com.
All of your thoughts requested…
Cheers
A Grilling Success
Nearly two and a half years after moving into our house, we finally got our deck constructed and the necessary accessories for it. This past Friday night we decided that we’d inaugurate everything by grilling our dinner and enjoying it on the deck.
For first time grillers, we managed to do a pretty good job of making some BBQ chicken and some wings. We also had some potatoes, corn and veggies. All-in-all I’d say our first grilling venture was a success and has whet our appetite (pun intended) for more future grilling.
I entirely expected to have burnt, over-cooked, and charred briquettes of chicken once we finished, but I guess beginners luck was on our side. 
Though, the after-grilling cleanup isn’t as much fun as making and eating the food, we’ll still try to get out there as much as we can.
Check out all the rest of the pictures in the gallery.
Cheers
Those Darn Chords
It took the birth of my daughter to get a little introspective about my life and the accomplishments in them. I look at her, barely in her third week of life and imagine all that she will learn, accomplish and teach. I, then look at myself approaching 30 and reminisce about the things that I just didn’t get done.
Prime amongst a growing list of things that I haven’t and probably will never get done is being able to play the guitar. Music, in general, has always been a big part of my life. I enjoy listening to it. Singing, albeit badly sometimes, to it and generally being surrounded by it. What better way, I thought, for me to get more involved in music than to play an instrument myself.
Ultrasound Pictures
As we head towards the homestretch of my wife’s pregnancy, we decided to get some 3D ultrasound images taken of our baby. We’d had an opportunity to see some 3D images of her at about 20 weeks, but it is nothing compared to what she looks like now.
As part of the package we got a bunch of nice 3D pictures and a 40 min DVD of her quite active and interesting movements. This technology is quite amazing and gives us a very nice glimpse of her appearance while still in the womb.
Another, approximately, 8 to 10 weeks and we’ll know for certain who exactly she looks like.
Cheers
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Fraudulent Charges
I’m the kind of person that would rather charge my purchases on plastic and deal with the bills at the end of the month than carry around a large wad of cash. I’m also the kind of person that pays my bill in it’s entirety each month.
Imagine my surprise when my beloved Discover card denied my purchase today. I immediately called them to find out what happened and was informed of some charges that, in the hustle of bustle of the mall’s throng, seemed OK. So I had them reactivate my card, but the charges that gentleman from Discover was speaking of seemed a little odd.
