Egads, it’s been a long time since I put pictures up! Here are some pictures from the next phase, in late June. Here’s a view from the front, with the siding partway up:
Here’s the back view of the house, including our tree, the tallest on the block!
Here’s a diagonal view, showing how the siding really is only on the front:
Here are some interior views, including the stairs:
And the living room:
Rapid fire posts to come with the rest of the pictures, up to our final walkthrough.
About six months ago, I had a semi-successful experiment with polyphasic sleep. (See Polyphasic Sleep Experiment Background) It wasn’t a permanent change but it ended up being a good proof-of-concept test. I’m thinking about trying it again, but I need to be a little better prepared. The biggest obstacles to anyone with a normal, day job/family life trying polyphasic sleep are:
Let’s dive in a little.
I just read something that felt like a spotlight shining directly into my soul. Rands in Repose just wrote “The Nerd Handbook”, and I didn’t know whether to wring his neck or send him a basket of gourmet cheeses. Along the same lines, I didn’t know whether I should immediately send my wife a link to the article or to block Rands in the Windows hosts file on our home computer. First go read the article. If you have time, read the comments on the article to see how many people agree just as strongly as I do.
Since I’m beginning to work on my own startup, I figure part of the job is to throw my voice into the conversation going on around startups. Since I’m not very far along (basically, I have an idea, a preliminary design, no name, a little research, no code, and no website), the best I can offer is a synthesis of my observations. I’m in Chicago (suburbs actually), which is not a startup hub by any means. Sure there is some activity, including some very influential voices, but no one would confuse it with the Bay Area, or even Seattle or Austin. I’m definitely going to write about Chicago soon, but right now that’s too big of a bite for me to take.
The Bay Area, on the other hand, has been sliced and diced and analyzed by so many people that one more voice won’t hurt. The usual answers are:
Mike Sabat at Shelfmade.net recently wrote a post on his blog entitled “29 Years Old, Start a Business or Have a Baby?” Mike is a new acquaintance of mine, and I’m very excited about the startup he’s working on. (Go check out Shelfmade – I want him to succeed so I can use his product) Part of starting a startup is generating awareness of your company, and blogs are a great way to do that. One strategy is to write “linkbait” or “Digg-bait”, which is something inflammatory that people will get people talking and have them link to your article, which will lead others to the rest of your site. Well Mike, I took the bait.
I’m a fiercely proud father of a wonderful two year old girl and a husband of four years. I live in a 1,800sf house in the suburbs and I have a good job. Oh, and I’m 27 years old, and beginning to start a startup, so I’m in a similar position as Mike but in an entirely different lifestyle. Let me fill out his scorecard from my perspective: [Read more…]
More progress, here’s an updated front view, including the railing on our porch and balcony:
Here’s a view of the back, with the notable inclusion of the garage door!
Here’s a different view of the house, this time from the sidewalk.
And finally, a view of our unfinished stairs, which my daughter is already looking forward to walking up and down!
It was about a week between visits, and the put all the shingles on the roof and installed the fireplace in the house.
You can see the fireplace and the ducting through the window glare:
You can also see the hot and cold water pipes in the laundry room.
Coming along nicely, more next week!
Today the big news was not a change made (although they did hang our front door). It is signs of big changes they’re getting ready to make. The first thing I noticed when we pulled up to the house were the big bags of shingles sitting on the roof. Once they do the roofing, the only big exterior work left is the siding, plus minor things like trim, shutters, etc.
You can also see the sidewalk in front. There are two sidewalks, one a few feet in front of our house, and then one where a normal sidewalk would be, relative to the road. The space in between is a public green buffer, since we front one of the main roads leading out of the subdivision. So we get a big front yard that the association will mow and maintain!
There wasn’t any big change on the back of the house (except for a bag of shingles on top of the garage), but there was a little present in the garage. It may not look like much, shrink-wrapped and sitting on a palette, but that gray box is our fireplace! That’s right, this Christmas, I’ll get to hang my stocking by a fireplace for the first time in my life (fireplaces weren’t a great investment in Florida where I grew up). Of course, it’s a gas fireplace so we don’t have to worry about ash or cleaning or anything like that, and we’ve got to come up with a way for Santa to come down with no chimney, but we’re very excited. Hopefully next time there will be a finished roof!
No major changes this time, just the installation of the windows.
Here’s the rear view, including the sliding glass door.
Went by again, progress continues. There’s not much framing left, although I’m curious about the hole in the right side of the roof.
This shows mainly how the front will look, including the double porch.
These are our neighboring houses, both more and less complete.
This shows some of the interior structure in the attic and roof.