Today a milestone was achieved and I commemorated it with a photo!



Who'da thunkit that back in January 1994 when I was buying my first car that I'd reach such a milestone with it. judiang was with me when she passed 100k and we both cheered. And I think I washed the car shortly afterward to celebrate. (The only other time I washed her was when I paid her off.) Haven't decided if I'll wash her a third time or not. (Always afraid that any dirt might be holding bits together & washing the car will only screw that up.)

(Edited to correct the year on the car which elsaf spotted.)

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Barenaked Ladies / One Week

Anyone who's been in my bathroom has had a sinking feeling about the place - because you sink into the floor when you get in. Yup, I've got a water damaged floor in my bathroom. So with a CD maturing (well, matured as of today), I decided to remuddle my bathroom this summer.

After B-WISER and before my Chicago trip, I had the first estimate from Re-Bath (through Home Depot). I liked the fellow who came, but his company is, first & foremost, a bath liner company. He said they could also repair the floor and put in a shower and waterproof the window, so I put his company down as a good maybe.

When I was back from Chicago, I got back into the estimation mode. I went to Lowes hoping they'd have someone like Home Depot, but they didn't. The loudest salesman ever recommended a plumber who does free estimates and remodeling, so I wrote it down. But I couldn't find this person in the phone book, so I guess I was a bit leery of the place. In the phonebook, however, I saw two ads which promised free estimates. I like free. I called both places and scheduled the estimates.

First place that I called, Aurhause, booked the estimate later that day. Works for me! Rych Haynes (lots of ys), who owns the company, answered the phone and did the estimate. (I believe the owner of the Re-Bath place in estimate #1 was also the owner.) We talked about what all needed doing (and about cats - he is a cat owner too) and he said he'd be back the next day with an estimate. I liked Rych and hoped that his estimate was reasonable.

The other phone call was to Home Re-Modelers. The person who answered the call was, again, the owner of the company. However, he called me "dear" too often and even asked if I was married. Right away I was on the defensive (not a fan of patronization). But we scheduled an estimate the following day. After we'd talked about the bathroom and he saw its foibles, the first thing he asked was what my budget was. Unlike the first two companies, he didn't write up a formal estimate detailing what they'd do, he just wrote a ballpark figure on the back of a business card. I had pretty much decided before the meeting was over that he wasn't the one.

Thursday, I joined mom & dad at the Lake for an overnighter. We talked about the various estimates and they agreed with me - #2 was the one to try. So Friday, I called Rych and made arrangements. (He didn't answer at first - apparently he was roofing when I called. But he called back shortly afterward.) He says they can start on Jul 28 - yay!

I chose Aurhause for a number of reasons. Yes, it was the lowest bid of the three, but mainly because he just bid the labor and support materials (new subflooring, cement board, etc) and I'll buy my own fixtures and stuff. Yay. I like having that freedom. So does mom - means she gets to help me pick stuff out.

So Friday, on our way home from the Lake, mom came with me and we went to Home Depot. I found pretty much everything I wanted there, recorded the prices, and stuck 'em in my spreadsheet. Yesterday, mom, dad & I went to Lowes where I found a few things for less (or, as in the case of the floor tile, more preferred), and then Menards. At Menards, I found a vanity that I liked more than the pedestal sink we'd seen at Home Depot. So I might get that instead. They also had sconces that I liked.

Tomorrow, I'll pick up the mature CD and deposit it into my savings account. And I might start buying the things. Rych says that I can buy the materials and tell them that Aurhause will pick them up for me. So that will be nice. I'll do that with the Home Depot stuff (since there's more of it) and bring the Lowes & Menards purchases home with me.

I'll get a few "before" photos posted before they begin work, and then I'll be sure to take lots of "during" and "after" photos. I hope I've chosen well with Rych and his company. Mom & Dad hope so too - they'd got a couple of jobs they'd like to put his way. Lucky me, being the guinea pig. Heh. :-)

Tags: home improvement
Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Pet Shop Boys / Shopping

Forget teaching - I should have been a science writer for MacPaper! I've gotten my grades back from my scientific writing course. We had to analyze two science articles and compare to the original studies. Then we had to write two New York Times-style articles on two science studies. And finally write two USA Today (MacPaper)-style articles on two other science studies. And I got 9/10 on five of the assignments and 8/10 on one of the two NYT-style articles. Go me!

For those of you who've subscribed to my scienceblog feed (tls_scienceblog) you've gotten the first two assignments already and the other four will show up over the next five Wednesdays. My favorite headline is with the last article that I wrote: Bigger Weapons or Bigger Testes - Choose Only One. Heh - how can you not read an article with that title?

Tags: masters, science
Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: The Beatles / If I Fell

I have just turned in the 6th assignment for my online summer Masters course - Scientific Writing. Today is also, coincidentally (not!), the last day of the semester. So I'm done with college until August 25th when fall courses begin. Though I need to work on a thesis idea since one of my classes is the first of my thesis classes. I'd like to do something with children's science books, but I haven't gotten things sorted out in my head yet about it. Then I'll have to ask one of the three professors (one of whom I've not had yet) to be my thesis adviser.

In addition to thinking of theses, I need to be working on my new course