Craigsirk

Contractors

We have it limited to three contractors (possible four) for our house renovation. We have:

• The Jenson Brothers (Did some work for a partner)


• Willy Arroyo (The husband of a co-worker of Kristen)


• P and P builders (Just got them today :))


• The Levine group (maybe if they get back to us)

Now they have till next Friday to get us their estimates...

Cherry Blossom Pictures

Here are some pictures from the Cherry Blossom Festival last week. These were taken with my Iphone (go go expensive digital camera couldn't capture them as well).

Frankenstein

Because I could not decide on a new book, I bought two. Frankenstein and Dracula, the original versions.

Frankenstein is quite different from the stories that I (and probably most Americans) had heard. To start off with, the book opens with a series of letters from a young man who is traveling to the North Pole. He set out to be one of the first people there, I think. I could not really tell. Anyway, he then met Dr. Frankenstein on the ice one night.

Dr. Frankenstein was chasing his monster across the arctic apparently. The young captain and Dr. Frankenstein build up a friendship and so the tale of the monster is told.

I am in the middle of the tale now. Dr. Frankenstein created this monster after he discovered the secret of life by a combination of alchemy, chemistry and natural science. He spent a good two years creating his monster before he gave it life. There was no direct relation to grave robbing. Only that he visited the butcher shops. I think the whole grave robbing thing came about because he spent a considerable amount of time studying death and decay before he figured out the secret of life.

After he gives his monster life, he is so repulsed by it, he runs away. When he comes back the monster is no longer there. A bunch of other things happen in the next two years before the monster reappears and kills his brother and frames his long time family friend and house keeper for the crime, who is subsequently executed for it.

Dr. Frankenstein then spend some time away and travels to the mountains and meets with the monster again. The monster has by now learned to speak and is very convincing. He brings Dr. Frankenstein back to his shack and starts telling his tale.

And that is where I am...

House Pictures

Here are some pictures from the inside of our house.

Looking from the front of the house to the back.

Where the Kitchen and 1/2 bath are going to be.

Hole in the 2nd floor floor where the old bathroom was.

Hole in the 1st floor floor where the bathroom was, plus a door!!

Back of the house.

Looking toward the front.

Stairs to the 2nd floor.

2nd floor looking front.

2nd floor looking back.

Hole in the 2nd floor floor for the old bathroom, looking down to the 1st floor.

From the back of the 2nd floor looking front.

We bought a house!

Well, the house hunt is over for now. We put an offer in last night and have hammered out a deal this afternoon. Now we just have to get a few contractors to bid on the place so it can be repaired, then we can actually get our loan.

I only have a pic of the front right now so that is all I can post. I will put more as I get them.

It is the cream one in the middle.

Well, I guess I will put the first attempts at floor plans here as well.
First Floor:

Second Floor:

And Possible third Floor (if we can afford to build it because it does not exist):

I need to update

Man, I was clicking some of my links and wow, some are really out of date. Maybe that will be a project for this weekend.

Next Book

I finished "The Hobbit" at lunch today so I need a new book to read on the long metro ride home. I am thinking of getting Frankenstein, the original really old one. I have never read it and old Frankie is a staple of many horror stories.

We will see what I get.

The Hobbit

Currently I am re-reading "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien. I have a great copy. It is a hardback with illustrations by Stan Lee.

It has been a good year or two since I last read it and it is one of my favorites. Tolkien is just an amazing author. He can keep me occupied with his descriptions of the places the band of dwarves and Bilbo go.

More about this particular copy can be found here.

General Contractors

My big task this week is to find a general contractor to come look at a house we (Kristen and I) are attempting to buy. The house is located in a great location, about 2-3 blocks from the Columbia Heights metro and all the new shops they are putting in.

We want to get a contractor for the parts that I cannot do which is primarily the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. We might also add a 3rd story so they would help with framing that and enclosing it.

So far I have called about 12 different contractors. They all range from being very nice to over bearing. One that gave me a ball park was waaaaay expensive. But I do have a meeting with another one in a few days so hopefully they will be more promising.

Time to Restart ...

Ok, I know it has been almost a year since my last post... I am going to try restarting this. I am just not very good at keeping a task like regular posts coming. So hopefully I will do better this year.