New Bathroom fan & the Heat

It was a slightly unusual day today. I worked from home as Home Depot had their subcontractors come in to install a ceiling fan and electrical outlet into my bathroom. I live in a house built in the late 1950s so none of this was standard and I like most of us around here have lived without such things for years. We opted to just open the door and window to vent out the condensation but lately I've noticed some mold and peeling paint so I decided to get the fan installed.

It should have been a quick two hour job. I planned on going into the office in the afternoon. No such luck. First off they came expecting me to have all the purchased parts ready. They didn't and had to go to Home Depot to get them. Second, the quote I already paid for didn't included the purchase of the electrical outlet for the bathroom. I had to pay them seperate for it. None of this was a big problem. They guys were Italian and were quite friendly but there's always an undertone of being ripped off when it comes to these sorts of things. The next issue was to vent through the eaves, the side or the roof. The roof was their last option as it is major work. It turns out my home is so well built with large solid materials every option was a nightmare for them. The eaves were not accessible. The roof would be risky and prone to leaks so they opted for the side of the house. It turns out there was 6" thick support beams... brick and wood siding under aluminium siding plus some other layers he had to drill through in 34 degree heat. The guy was a pool of water in the end. He said he never has seen such a well built house anywhere he's worked. He didn't even have the drill to really penetrate the wall in order to vent out the piping.

In the end though I wasn't really all that happy. They broke my dimmer switch and I opted to have them install a regular one in it's place. I'll get a new dimmer myself along the lines of all the others. I love a dimmer in the bathroom... especially at night when it helps cut the shock of facing bright lights coming out of the dark and a deep sleep. Then both around the switches, outlets and around the fan they made the hole in the plaster (yes plaster) too big and it shows in both locations even after the plate was put on. I'm going to have to build that up to hide it later when I repaint the room. So their work was a bit sloppy and I'm out a dimmer and had to still pay for more parts. The guy apologized though for breaking the dimmer which at least was nice. He was mad at himself for doing it.

This evening I just stepped out into the heavy heat and humidity... It felt good to get away from my laptop... working from home is nice since there is no drive to and from work but hell it's distracting with all the beautifuil sunshine, the backyard, the TV and fridge all way too close. I did sit there for 8 hours and only at the end did I start to give up as the connection speed made any really serious work kinda difficult.. so I drifted to the Internet for a bit around 4pm.. Oh well..

The heat though has it's effects.. look at these Cardinals who seem to be enjoying themselves a lot more than me this evening LOL...





Pretty colours on the male....

The news is full of things that make you scratch your head these days. Al Quaeda is threatening the US and the UK again. I guess this signals a warning of major attacks to come. Not a good sign. You have to wonder how they can sleep at night... then again I ask the same question about George Bush. The Space shuttle has been repaired with a space walk and this evening the last of the known threats to the craft have been given the ok by NASA so it should return without incident. The Canadian built robot arm did wonders... Video game developers are at it again. Recently it was a hidden sex sequence that could be unlocked if someone found the key to activating it in a program sold to young people. Now it's a game aimed at mimicking the London bombings and 9/11. We have weird priorities in this world. We freak out over any thing sexual and accept violence and theft without much after thought. Seems to me kids will grow up and have sex but they hopefully are not going to grow up and blow people's heads and limbs off and steal cars and rampage through villages. We ought to have our priorities straightened out. Gas is up to $1.06 a litre! Egads.... I need to ride my bike more...

I guess that's it. Back to the regular routine tomorrow.