Home Repairs

Due to the snow between home and Raleigh the bands trip to Raleigh has been postponed. That being the case I have been able to stay home and work on the house. I have been looking forward to doing this for the last few weeks. I just want to get the place feeling like home rather than a project.

I have been talking about fixing the cartridge in the shower for a little while now. It has taken a long time mainly because I have not been able to work on it for more than a few minutes at a time. Friday night I really started to work on it. I started to remove the cartridge and only managed to remove the stem. Leaving the shell stuck in the pipe. I tried using the cartridge remover but this only made things worse as it was breaking off pieces of the shell. Finally I got to a point where I just did not think I would be able to get the thing out, and I was afraid that the diverter in the wall would have to come out. So we called a plumber. Several actually, and most of them were not able to come out over the weekend. Since this issue was forcing us to keep the water in the house off, we wanted someone to work on it ASAP.

Saturday a plumber came out and wanted around $400 to try to remove the shell. If it did not work he wanted even more to replace the diverter, which would mean more holes in the wall. We just could not do this so we sent the plumber on his way.

We headed over to Home Depot and we were told to try a new tool, and if that did not work to drill out the pipe. We got home, worked with the tool and it broke while trying to remove the shell. It was still usable, and Amy was able to break the shell free and get it to spin in the pipe. After that I was able to pull it out. Putting in the new cartridge was easy and only took a few minutes to get the shower up and running. Now it just needs a good cleaning before we can use it.

The tool that ended up making it possible to remove everything was the BrassCraft Stem And Cartridge Wrench. It did break in the process, but was the right tool for the job.



I hung curtains in the living room while Amy painted the trim in the living room. We only have a little but more work to do before things really start to come together and look and work the way we want them to.

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Posted in home rpair, house

Silly Plastic tools

So I get home from work last night with the hopes of being able to finish the work on the bathroom. No such luck. First off I get the new kit open, and it turns out that in order to switch to the posi-temp control faucet you have to change the valve in the wall. Since I don’t have the time or the tools to pull that off right now, I just took the kit back to the good old Home Depot. While I was there I picked up a new cartridge, handle, and faucet, to replace what I was returning in the kit. The new cartridge came with the plastic cartridge removal tool. I got everything out and started to remove the old cartridge when the remover broke. So I was stuck not being able to get the old cartridge out.

Amy is going to pick up the uber cartridge removal tool on her way home. It’s more expensive and made of metal instead of plastic so it should do the job. If that does not work, I have no clue what to do.


The band is back in the studio this weekend, but this time we are in Raleigh at Low Watt Studios. This is where we recorded the last album, and where we started recording three songs about a year ago. We are finally going back to finish the job. The Drums and Bass are already recorded so only Keith, Eric, and I need to finish up. I imagine Keith will lay down guitar before I get to record cello parts.

With any luck this will finish up our recording for a while. As much fun as I have in the studio with everyone, I do have lots of work to do on the house. I really just want to get things to a point with the house that we not worry about it for a while. We are not too far away from that. It’s a matter of finishing up a few small projects, painting, and then unpacking some other rooms.

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Weekend of recording

I’m sitting in the control room at the studio right now listening to Keith record vocals. It’s been a long weekend, but we have been very successful. Friday after we all arrived we got all the scratch tracks finished and the drums recorded. Saturday we started with Bass, then finished Guitar, Cello, and Percussion. Today we did some Percussion, and Cello layering. We are working on vocals now, and then we have backing vocals to do.

As always we have been very silly all weekend. Doing things like pairing wine with beef jerky, which actually turned out fantastic! The Wishing Tree 2005 Cabernet Merlot Blend goes perfectly with Jack Links Teriyaki Beef Jerky. Seriously…. Fantastic!

Also you have to see things like dipping sour cream and onion chips into sour cream and onion dip, followed by dipping a sugar cookie into sour cream and onion dip. Honestly the drummers may be retarded.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting home and relaxing a bit. Possibly meeting up with my brother and getting some HDMI cables for the TV, Blue Ray, and computer.

I want to try to buy new fixtures for the bathroom, just so I don’t have to wait until after next weekend to work on that. I don’t really think that I’ll get to it tonight, since I will be getting home a little late to do anything about it.

Anyway, we are excited about the recording. We are happy with what we have done so far, and we are looking forward to getting things finished up so we can get them mixed, and ready to be released.

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Posted in house, The Dreamscapes Project, Wine

Working on the house

I'm excited to be getting some work done in the house this week. Last night we got the hot water working in the shower. Turns out there was a limited in the handle keeping us from turning the knob far enough to engage the hot water. Once we got that in the right position the hot water came right on. Once that was fixed we put the new shower head on. This shower being ready makes the wife very happy.

Also yesterday I got the bathtub in another bathroom caulked. There was still a leak from the knob that needed to be looked at. I took it apart tonight, and I'm pretty sure that the cartridge needs to be replaced. At the same time the tub fixtures are in pretty bad shape so we want to replace them. It should not be very expensive, and it's another thing we can do ourselves pretty easily.

Although I have the basic handy man knowledge, since I have not had a home, I have not cared much about working on home repair etc. Now that I have a home to take care of, I actually really enjoy working in the house. I'm looking forward to getting things all cleaned up.

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Posted in house

Weekend Review

We had lots of fun this weekend! The Jersey Turnpike was shut down for a while on Friday night, so it took us longer to get to our hotel than we had hoped. Once we got there we had a nice comfortable room.

Saturday we got up and met friends at their hotel in SOHO. We had lunch in Little Italy, and wandered around Chinatown and did some shopping.

After shopping we headed over to Times Square to try and catch David Blaine. We got lucky and were able to get an autograph and some pictures taken with him. Be sure to check out his website and donate to the American Red Cross for Haiti.

The band had a show at National Underground Saturday night, and we had a great time there hanging out with other bands, and then going to Katz's Deli. Really the pastrami is still to die for.

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Posted in David Blaine, Magic, New York, The Dreamscapes Project

Looking Forward to the Weekend

I’m looking forward to this weekend. We have a show at National Underground in NYC on Saturday night. I’ll put the details below if anyone want to go. The wife and I are driving to NY on Friday so we can hang out and wander around the city for a while. An added bonus is that David Blaine will be in Times Square between 43^rd and 44^th St- intersection of 7^th Ave and Broadway all weekend. He is fundraising for earthquake relief in Haiti. Hs performance began at 9am this morning and he is performing 72 hours straight, that’s without sleep, with the American Red Cross. We plan on going by to see what we can see. Any chance to see live magic is an opportunity worth taking, plus it is for a great cause.

I have felt off balance pretty much all week. Work has not been crazy this week, but things are awkward due to some personnel changes going on around me. The band is right around the corner from kicking off The Twelve Days Project. The Twelve Days Project was conceived by the dreamscapes project as an experiment to see what would happen if musicians, artists, film makers, and writers from the DC area all collaborated in a new way. Check out details here.

I have a lot of work to do on the new house. Although we have painted all the current living space, and made many major and minor repairs, there is still a lot to do. Plus we really want o get more unpacked.

Meditation has gone well this week, and has made me feel more grounded, but I still feel a little off balance. I’m looking forward to stepping back from the hustle and bustle of regular life for a few days, playing a show, and hanging out in NY.

National Underground

159 E Houston St

New York, NY 10002

212.475.0611

Saturday 1/15/10

We go on at 8:45

Link to the Twelve Days Project

http://twelvedaysproject.org/home/

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New Years Resolution

I have decided that this year is when I'm going to take the time to improve myself. Give myself the attention that I need. I know that sounds selfish. It has been a long time since I spent any significant time working on me. I do things I want to do, but I have not paid attention to the things I have needed to do for myself. So that is what this year is for. I'm going to give myself the attention I deserve.

I'm going to pay attention to what I eat and try to lose some weight. I'm not going to stress over it, just be better to myself. I want to get some exercise. I'm not talking about a workout regiment or anything, just some exercise. Anything is better than what I'm getting now.

I'm studying Zen, and the meditation has already helped me. I'm calmer, and sleeping better. I really like what I'm learning about myself, so I want to continue.

I want this blog to be a record of this process. I want to write in it every day, but I have a horrible track record with blogging. I'll write when I have something to say, and won't when I don't. I hope I will have lots to share.

I'm looking forward to this year, and the changes I hope it brings.

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