Friday, August 31, 2018

Faucet issues

In our upstairs bathroom, we have a clawfoot bathroom (not vintage) and vintage looking sink, along with subway tile and tin ceiling (faux).  The sink has these handles that look cool because they have vintage Hot and Cold labels on the knobs.  Unfortunately, the holes in the sink where the knobs fit in are not perfectly centered and the Cold water knob rubs against the porcelain.

I ordered a new set of sink hardware off Amazon* and also checked the box that included professional installation at a set price ($109.07 don't ask me why not just $110).  I knew that the price was based on average time to install something like this and having a 106-year-old house, I would do better with this fixed price than hiring a plumber who would charge by the hour.  Also, I didn't want to learn Plumbing 101 and install it myself.

So they schedule a 3-hour window and the guy shows up 1 hour into it.  He is a nice enough fellow and he figures out pretty quickly that some parts (spigot) aren't gonna fit or look normal with the current sink basin.  My choices are order new part but I'm still on the hook for his time -- he gets paid whether or not he installs anything.



So we opted to keep the old spigot and use the new handles (which are different from knobs apparently).  He could not use the drain piece without taking the sink off the wall and we decided this might open up a bigger can of worms so we opted not to do that.

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Friday, August 17, 2018

Did I mention its been one long week

This has been one long week.  I thought that when I started working from home 100% my running would increase.  Indeed, it has but not nearly as much as I assumed.

Usually, it's the weather.  With moose and squirrel taking so long to get ready in the morning,  I don't have the hour before work.  If it's a quiet day I can usually sneak out for a quick run between 830 and 900.  but lately, there has been one thing or another that prevents that.


sometimes I wait until my check-in call at 10 and then rationalize that I'll just go at lunch when the temperature has already climbed.  I've vowed to use the treadmill on really hot days but somehow I just seem to find ways to put it off until its too late to go for a run.

I'm still on a good pace this month, I've already run 24 miles, which is what I ran in all of July and there are still 14 days left in the month.  Of course, we are going to spend the next 5 in Michigan and although I'll pack running clothes, there is no guarantee it will work out.  Update:  did not run at all in Michigan.



I think I vowed not to count miles so much this year and even got off to a slow start with only 25 miles in Jan and Feb combined.  I ran 156 miles in the first six months.  I'm definitely on pace to beat that in the second half assuming inclement weather or injury doesn't impede me.

This has been one long week. A friend was supposed to come over tonight, cook us dinner, then head out to the Green Mill and stay at our place overnight instead of drive back to Hinsdale.  However, Nightingale thought it would be rude to wake them up early with our packing so I canceled.  A younger me would have felt guilty about the comment "we did already buy all the ingredients for dinner and hoping to crash at your place after the Green Mill, but understand that things come up."



But older more cynical me knows they are more disappointed about missing out on the Green Mill (or they may still go to the GM but have to drive back to the burbs late at night) than our company.  This dinner was promised to me back in 1999, another few months, years or never won't make a difference at this point.

Saturday, August 11, 2018

Saturday Photo: Mr Steer Steakhouse

cheap steaks and cocktails

Back in the day, there was a chain of steak restaurants called Mr. Steer.  Think Sizzler but local chian instead of a national franchise.   It wasn't the best steak around but for the relatively cheap price, it was serviceable.  In the downtown area, you can still find vestiges like Ronnie's Steak House.

This was the one at the legendary Six Corners intersection of Irving Park, Cicero and Milwaukee Avenue on Chicago's northwest side. I think my mom took me there a couple of times for birthdays or when we were doing some shopping at the once vibrant Six Corners.

This is what it looks like today (2018)

 Apparently, once they removed that reddish flat awning, it exposed some windows as I cannot imagine those were retrofitted.  Notice the sign shaft was left behind.



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Friday, August 10, 2018

They love this water fountain

As part of our new morning routine at school, we have to stop and get some drinking water.  Although Boris can easily reach the shorter water fountain, he wants the higher one.  Natasha is happy with the one she can almost reach without a step stool but the stool does make it easier. 







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