I.B.'s house better not fall down....

Here's a recent picture of the house.

I was over at the build with Putz tonight.  He helped me lift the floor sheathing on to the garage (12 feet up).  What I wouldn't give to have a machine like all of the other builders to move all my materials instead of hucking them around piece by piece.

Putz more than anyone knows this truth: I literally have to fix everything I build....  Seriously.    I can confidently say that I daily live up to my name as the Idiot Builder.  Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.  I honestly cannot think of a single area of the house that I have gotten right the first time.  It sucks.  Especially for a perfectionist.  Continually I need to adjust or fix what I've attempted to build.  I keep telling myself that God is teaching me humility because I need more of it.  Joking about it is really my only coping mechanism.  And shaking my head.  It's really gotten to the point where I get nervous if I feel like I've had a good day - because it always means that I show up the next time only to find out that I've royally messed something up.

This time I messed up the spacing on my floor system for the bonus room - off by 2 inches in one area (and I also shorted myself a beam and have to wait for a special order longer one to be delivered).  It took Putz & I about 40 minutes to narrow down where the problem was (while it was lightly snowing).  So I think I'm just going to add another beam (the extra shorter one I missed and cut up a longer one instead) and adjust the rest.  Fortunately I've learned that I mess a lot of things up at the house and to use screws in certain areas because they are a lot easier to adjust.  Needless to say, the next 3-4 hours I spend over there will be correcting my mistakes and adding another beam.  Putz calls it 'over-engineering'.  I call it a easier fix than taking everyone off and redoing every beam.  It might be a little overkill, but I'd rather it was extra sturdy (and efficient to adjust) than skimp on things.  I really don't need a children's rhyme created because of my incompetence (see London Bride is Falling Down).....

I.B.'s house will not fall down!
Not fall down!
Not fall down!
I.B.'s house will not fall down!
Man this takes forever......

Later,
I.B.


 

1 year

A year ago today, we were in Africa holding our youngest son for the first time!  Pretty amazing!

Later,
I.B.

Lack of desired progress, but progress

Whoever said that 'progress is progress' must not have been very driven.  Either that or they worked in the world of construction.  I've never heard a sprinter use that terminology.  Or a surgeon.  Either get it done or don't.  Set out to win the race.  In my childhood (and maybe teenage years as well....), I was quite a big Star Wars fan.  I always loved that Yoda said this:

Do or do not.  There is no try.  Honestly, the word 'try' always give me an out or a reason to fail.  It's like there's always something to fall back on.  Maybe it's not like this with you, but if I say "I'll try to do that", then it's honestly not happening and I might have just accidentally lied.  Try is a word when I lack motivation or commitment.  I could ramble on forever about this - so moving on!

I got a bunch of stuff done at the house (but not nearly as much as I had hoped).  FIL (maybe my most uncreative nickname yet - comes from Father-In-Law) took a few days off of work to come & help me.  I was quite motivated to get a lot of work done with him, but then nothing showed up when it was suppose to....  Not the re-engineered floor system plan for our bonus room, not the floor materials, not the materials for the 2nd level because there was no floor to put them on, and suddenly my driven motivation was not showing up either.... So we didn't get as much done as we had hoped.  At all.

It's no surprise, but I'm most comfortable with the build when everything is 'in my court'.  It's best when I am not waiting on people to come do work, etc.  I am happiest with the house when it's all on me.  To this day, if I got on the basketball court it would still be the same.  Point guard.  Directing traffic.  Ball in my hands making decisions and dying to be in the middle of the action during crunch time.  (As an aside - I don't brag much, but you probably didn't know that I throw an alley-oop pass 3/4 of the court once to a guy who jumped over/with 3 defenders to dunk the ball.  That's one of a number of highlights in my college basketball career).

So having these things out of my hands was very irritating this week.

But, the gradebeam did get installed & poured, and we did get the main level of the garage up (walls and 500+ pound metal beam).  FIL toyed around with the beam like it was a ball and then kicked it on to the roof.  Or I payed a guy $50 to come over and lift it with his zoom-boom because it was ridiculously heavy.  Believe whichever way is more fun to imagine.

And I decided that our pantry will be bigger & FIL helped me frame it up (along with framing all the closets upstairs & a few bedroom walls).  It will no longer be called a pantry in our new home - it will be called S*beys because it will be fully stocked with everything an expanding family needs.  EXCEPT PET FOOD!  There will be no pets larger than an apple allowed in our home for quite some time! I have a brood of kids - why would I need a dog????   And why the size of an apple?  Because the size of my fist sounded too violent & prone to misinterpretation!

In other news, I am tired.  I just realized that you can tell when I get tired because (if I'm wearing one) my hat will face any direction but level & forward.

And I just described the position of my hat with a building term... I will never be the same. (insert nervous laugh here & the anxious dialing of a counselor's phone number).

Will get some new house pictures up in the next couple days!

Good night,
I.B.

40 cents a day & the 'Lazarus Effect'

Lesotho is a country surrounded by South Africa where the HIV rate is somewhere around 24% (in 2009 according to UNICEF & AVERT).  1 in 4 people has HIV and many of those cases have developed into AIDS.

The following is a very short video showing how much of an impact medication has made for people with AIDS in Lesotho - and it only costs 40 cents/day.

In South Africa, there are 1,900,000 orphans due to AIDS and 330,000 children living with HIV/AIDS.  Just as a frame of reference: the city where I currently live is somewhere around 224,000 people.  That means that this city + 100,000 more kids would equal the HIV/AIDS infection rate for one country.... just their rate of infection of kids.  Not adults.

Just the kids.  Children who never had a choice.  That's a third of the population of this entire province made up of kids with HIV/AIDS.  And that is only one country in Africa....

I'm not sure if it's my brain or my heart that has the most trouble reconciling this.

I.B.

It only takes 30 seconds...

I notice that some people do 'Confession Fridays' on their blogs or things like that.  Instead of doing that, I'm gonna try something else instead.

I call it: It only takes 30 seconds....


It only takes 30 seconds....

For Spark Plug to slide a chair over, put a penny in the microwave and turn it on!

For Mario to grab a pillow and slide down the stairs!

For me to fall down a ladder & get up!

To write this post!

Later!
I.B.

Helium

A couple weeks ago my oldest son learned about science at Spark Plug's birthday party.  He was helping my wife inflate balloons....

Mario: Why do the balloons float up?
SuperLu: Because they are filled with helium.
Mario: What's helium?
S.L.: It's a gas.
Mario: (smiling) like what comes out of my butt?

In other typical little boy news, he came home recently trying to make farting sounds by cupping his hand in his armpit (and you make a motion like you are trying to do the chicken dance to make the sound).  It took me back to my days as a kid!  Oh the memories!

In lame dad news, I tried to make the above mentioned sound for old times sake and couldn't.  It was a sad day.  Part of the little boy inside of me died that day....

I.B.

Ocean Front Property & F-14's

Here's the newest pictures of our home.  To my knowledge the ocean in front of our house has not been named, though I am open to suggestions!  The land behind the ocean is currently called 'Irritation Isle'.  I show up everyday (no matter how late) to heat the basement and pump out water from the basement (and also pump water out of the ocean to the other storm drain across the street).

At least we're now able to see the results of discipline and hard-work through the winter.  By the end of this month,  the house should be ready for lock-up (all exterior framed with doors & windows installed).  It's coming along!  And we made it working through the winter!


I've been asked a lot lately "so you think you'll do this again?"  The answer is: probably not.  Quite honestly, I am motivated most days by the thought of the expanding family that will grow in the house, not because I really enjoy the work.  It's to the point that people laugh at me because I won't let them go to the bathroom on certain parts of the job site - because my kids will sleep there or play there!  And to be really honest, I kind of suck at the work.  I can work up a sweat like nothing & enjoy hard work, but it's not just grunt work.... There's thinking and numbers and stuff which I suck at.  It seems like the odd friend will 'happen' to show up at just the right time to hide/fix mistakes before I get into the danger zone....

Be honest - you know you wanted to listen to that song today!  Talk to me Goose....

Because of this build, I have learned something on a deeper level: just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.  Maybe that's just a message that I need to hear - sometimes other people need a kick in the butt to try something.  I probably need a sedative to avoid trying things sometimes....  I've always wanted to fly an F-14, and watching that video didn't discourage me much!

I wonder where you can find a F-14 at this hour?????

I.B.