Ft Lauderdale

We had an excellent vacation in Ft Lauderdale. Special thanks to our friends who bought us the trip using their vacation points.

It was freezing in New York, but the temperatures were in the 70's every day. The following is a picture of my wife and our friends whose family came on the trip with us.

Boca Raton

In 2007 my good friend Dave Damery moved to Boca Raton. Five years later I was able to travel to Boca Raton and meet up with him.

The beach life has done Dave well, but he still works too many hours and doesn't take care of himself. A second thrill for me was to stand on the inlet for the seaway that leads into Boca Lake. I have watched this webcam for years and never imagined being able to actually stand on it!

I Visited the Mother Ship

I just returned from my visit to the mother ship: The Thomson Reuters office in Eagan MN.

Home Office

It has been a long journey but the home office is now complete. The follow picture looks at the back corner of the office through the construction

Smart House

We have all heard about the smart house of the future. We will arrive home to a house that says "welcome home!" when we leave the house will remind us to take the garbage out and warn us that it might rain today. It will prepare our coffee, cook our dinner, and automatically notify a host of service professionals to perform maintenance and repairs.

I don't live in a smart house, but sometimes it feels like it. While most people are dropping their traditional land telephone lines and strictly using cell phones, we have taken a different approach. Each of us can be contacted directly via our cell phone number - a number provided only to close contacts. We have given our house a phone number too - the land line. That number is provided to everyone else. Most of those calls go directly to our answering machine.

The house's answer machine provides announcements loud enough to be heard throughout the house. "CVS Pharamacy is calling" followed by "This is CVS Pharmacy calling to tell you your prescription is ready for pick up." A few moments later the house announces "Doan Dodge is calling" followed by "This is Doan Dodge calling to remind you about your car appointment on Monday." Throughout the day the house tells us about doctor appointments, service status, reminders, and more.

I recently visited a Time Warner store and found a display for the Time Warner Security System. There is a door sensor that looks at the time of day to make different pre-recorded announcements. For example, when my son walks through the door after school the system could say "Welcome home Mark. Get started on your homework right away."

I don't live in the house of the future. But as I listen to my house throughout the day I believe the Smart House is within reach!

Kitchen project day 2

The old floor section was cut out and the subfloor replaced. Next? The flooring will be patched.

Our kitchen project

Why is our kitchen wrapped in plastic?

We don't have a storm door on our back door. As a result water has penetrated under the door and entered the house. Unknown to us, the water has gotten under the vinyl floor. Our house is only 9 years old and we estimate this water damage has been happening for most of those 9 years. It has caused not only the underlayment to rot but caused the 5/8" subfloor (guaranteed for 50 years) to rot too!

The home builder is coming to cut away a large portion of the kitchen floor. He will cut it all the way to the rafters below! Then he will surgically replace the subfloor and brace the subfloor from underneath.

Then a flooring company will come to replace underlayment and replace the vinyl flooring using a nearly invisible seam material.

That is why my kitchen is wrapped in plastic - to try to avoid getting all the saw dust on our food and dishes.