Changes are going to happen....

So this is the before photo. I should have grabbed one before we started, but this is the best I can do.





This project was supposed to be next spring, but a Lowes sale on cabinets started the project early....


Here is the bathroom stripped. There were creaks in the floor which apparently means that tiles will break and come up, so I had to put down concrete board with about 200 screws...



This is what happens with a wet saw when cutting a bazillion tiles.....



And here is what we have so far. We have measurements for granite on Saturday and maybe an electrician on Saturday as well as I cut right through a cord with a sawzall that got away from me.




Not the best picture, but not much room to take a good photo.

More to come....

On the road again...

Welcome to Philly and it's a ga-zillion degrees. I arrived in Philly on Sunday and immediately needed to start working. I went to Pennsylvania and New Jersey to meet with and see 34 hotels in just a little over 5 days. So on Sunday, I saw three hotels over by the airport and had the rest of the day to myself. What to do?? I figured that I needed to have a cheesesteak sandwich that I have heard so much about. So I take out my phone and lookup the location to get one. There are two main places that are "must visit" when in philly and they are Pat's and Gino's. They are literally across the block from one another and competition doesn't get better than this. I was at Pat's when I took this photo. There were lines at both places and the square was jamming. So after 15 minutes in line I was thinking that I don't have any cash on me and I was thinking that they might not take any credit cards, so I looked over and sure enough, they don't take any credit cards.... Then this nice guy that was sitting at some table while I was in line pointed to me and told me that a bird just pooped on my shirt.... Great. So I took out one of the business cards that I got earlier in the day and scraped off the poop.

After tracking down an ATM and waiting in the line for 30 minutes in the ga-zillion degree heat, I have to say that I would probably skip this "must do" and grab a pizza.

So, when I got back to the main square, I figured that since I had never been to Philly, I needed to walk around to check it out. Reading Terminal, which has been on the food network and is like Boston's Quincy Market (the food area) which ended up being closed. It was nice though and I was thinking that if it was open, I probably had room from the smallish cheesesteak that I had about an hour earlier. Then I made my way over to the center of town where this photo was taken. Again it was so hot out that there were not many people around and those who were, were actively looking for spots in the shade.
So then I felt bad about going back to my hotel and thought I should grab another shot of the city since I might not get back there until later in the year. The building on the left is city hall and the statue on the top is what philadelphia is known for. It's william tell and I could not "tell" you anything about him which means that I apparently absorbed nothing from grades 3 - 9. The building in the center is the headquarters for Comcast.

Here is one of my favorites. I shared this with a few close friends who know me well and know that one thing that I love is a nice pressed shirt from the cleaners. This is what happens to me when I travel, but surprisingly enough, I can get around an iron quite nicely. I do have some skills.

This was a perfect photo of traveling with Matthew Gamache. Starbucks from the morning and a sonic slush for the afternoon. This was actually taken at 10:45AM, and I will admit that I have issues. I was in Willow Grove, PA when I drove by a brand new Sonic that was just opening. I was headed from one hotel to another which was right down the street. So I said to myself that when I come back around to travel to Allentown (About 90 minutes away), I would stop for one and did. Delish.

I had another photo that I was going to post, but thought that one of my friends may never forgive me for doing it. When the week ended, I flew into Martha's Vineyard to meet up with Sandy, Nathan and Isabel as well as 9 other of our friends for a camping weekend. When I landed in Providence, RI, I noticed that it was raining. I found out that it was raining on the Vineyard as well and had been all day. This was the last thing that I wanted to do after a week of traveling..... But we had a great time none the less.

Good Bye New York.... Hello PA/DE/NJ

So, after a failed plan A for a new job, I have secured plan B. So, I guess there are two wheelers that are leaving New York in 2010. My new job will entail me taking on two markets (New Jersey & PA/DE) and two teams.

New York was not as much fun the second time around, but this move should be great.

Take me out to the ballgame....

We ventured out to the Red Sox Game yesterday. Got the monkeys out of school early for a nice treat. Unfortunately Sandy was not able to join us as we had some last minute changes with her family flying into town. The kids had a great time!

Sonic pulls at me.....

So I had my first challange in this whole avoiding Fast Food. We had a very busy day on Saturday and were not able to eat prior to our venture out to Little League game, followed by trip to Sonic. I did admit that I would go to Sonic as they do have some fantastic drinks, but we were starving.

So we go to the new one in Wilmington and get in line. I told Sandy that I was not getting any food, but would get a drink. Route 44 Lemon Berry Slush - Delish, which probably has about 1 million calories. Anyways, I made it without ordering and am still going strong. It was hard though. Harder than I thought. Fast food is so easy to get in a pinch.....

How did this whole thing start? I was working one day and forgot to make lunch, so I ventured out to the local Wendy's, which is one of my favorites. I pulled through as I do from time to time and made my order. When I finally got my food, I noticed that they screwed it up and gave me too much. So what did I do? Of course, I ate it. Way too much food and I felt horrible for most of the day after that. From that point I decided that I needed to make a change. I am also cataloging what I eat on dailyburn.com. My goal is to stay within 2100 calories a day.... My goal is to get to 185 again as I now am at 200 and rising......

In the spirit of heath....

I am going to start to avoid fast foods, but I want to qualify this for all who might be reading this.

For me, fast food would be something that could be prepared while in a drive through line, or something that can be prepared within 5 minutes of ordering. So that would mean the Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy's, Sonic, and other fast food places around the world.

Complicated? Potentially. I will admit that I will most likely venture to the Sonic for a beverage or two over the summer, but no food.

The countdown begins...

Good Morning Sunshine

I never thought that I would come to enjoy the sunrise over the Everett skyline, but it is sort of nice. This is a view from my office every morning, weather permitting.