What is On Jeffs' Mind

So long 2010, not going to miss you…

Not in the least.

Sorry, nothing personal to you, the year, I am just glad your run is done.

Who knows if 2011 will be any better or not, but at least it is a start and can start with some Optimism.

I have to say 2010, you were not all bad. You did bring some good things:

I got to meet my friends the Moyers this summer in Aberdeen Washington. Rick and I have been friends for a few years now, and I finally got to meet him, his wife Amy and his family on Tao tao and My summer trip. Was so great to meet, and spend time with them. Hoping to see them again, as it was a lot of fun. Great friends that I will have for the rest of my life.

Hasbro finally came out with a Twin-Pod Cloud car from the Empire Strikes Back. I had been waiting for this ship for quite some time in the modern line. Ironically enough I also got that well I was in Aberdeen Washington well visiting Rick, Amy and his family. Actually Rick had called me just as I was picking this bad boy off of the shelf. Not a big collecting piece, but one I had been anticipating for quite some time.

My Basement development was completed (with a few touch ups I need to finish). For years I had really wanted a basement where I could display my collection properly, and now I have something that I can display what I have and feel good about it. I am happy it is done, and now I am hoping I can start working on some of my hobbies again like scale model building.

Good News/Bad News – My Rear Projection TV bit the dust in 2010, probably at a time when I was really hoping it would not, but I was able to go out and get a LCD TV, so that was good, helped me enjoy HD programming more.

So I guess looking back, 2010, you were not all that bad…

But why did you let Work be such a monster?

I hated that my life was overshadowed by work. WORK SUCKS!

2010, you were very tough. To start off, I made less this year then I probably have had in at least 5 years. I worked a lot of stressful hours for free. There was zero satisfaction from work. Everything I did this year for work, I walked away with no sense of accomplishment. People seemed very upset this year, executives and management always all over people, expecting more. But they wanted it all done for free. For some stupid reason, I gave them hard hours for free, expecting some how I would be rewarded. Joke was on me, as none of that was coming. I guess some would say, be happy you have a job, I guess that is the attitude I will have to take.

2010, you taught me a valuable lesson. My time is precious, if it is not worth paying for, then it is not worth doing. I know more of these situations will come up, but for 2011, I will be diligent on taking back the hours I gave away for free. I know now, in the work world, no one is looking out for you, so I am looking out for me. I probably always knew that, but 2010 you showed me that.

2010, like I said, I had made less then I had in some time, and the first time in quite some time, not even a raise, and the realization that my pay has fallen behind. I guess that is on me a bit, in that I need to be more in control of where my career is taking me.

2010, sure you brought some good things, but you are done, time to move on, get out of hear, we don’t want you around anymore. You had your run, and I am glad it is done.

2011, I welcome you, and not quite sure what to expect yet, but going to take the lessons from 2010, and hopefully when your end comes, I feeling better about you.

Tags: 2010, 2011, Basement renovations, Rick Moyer, Twin Pod Cloud Car, work

I have arrived at my Autumn vacation, and I must say I am really looking forward to it.

I have a few outstanding projects around the house I should work on finishing.

1. Patch Hole in Basement after plumbing fixed. I need to cover up a hole in the basement, after I had a pipe replaced in the summer. I was going to get someone to come and do that for me, but been waiting awhile, so going to attempt on my own. I need to get some Mortar to cover the hole in the floor. Also I need to patch a small hole in the wall. I might give that a try as well and see how it goes. Would like to get it done so I can move all the shelves back and get my basement back into order.

2. Finish my Wife’s Ping Pong Table. It has been half assembled for the past few months. I made a mistake when I started so I will have to take it apart and start over again. I think I might need to get some glue for the screws for the legs. So will give it another try and see how it goes. I found the instructions were a bit vague, leading to the mistake I made.

3. Fix basement computer. My second computer in the basement I need to fix, it cannot load windows, not sure what happened, so will try rebuilding it again. It has proved frustrating, as I tried reloading windows a few months ago, but since I have a serial ATA drive, the drivers for the OS does not see it. Some how I was able to install XP the last time on this computer, so I had figured it out before. I am thinking either I need to find some way to get the drivers loaded, or maybe I need to locate a floppy drive so that I can copy the drivers to it. After I get windows reinstalled, I will need to get a wireless network card, so I can use this computer in the basement for my scale modeling and other hobbies.

4. Reorganize basement. After I fix the holes, I need to reset up the basement again. Plus I have some posters to hang up as well. I have to buy a few poster frames also. I am not very good at hanging things up, so always takes more time then I would like.

5. Finish Star Trek Titan novel. I am have been reading Star Trek Titan Synthesis for months, I pick it up and I put it down, I would like to get it finished so that I can move onto some other books. It is alright, just not sure why it is taking so long to finish. I would like to get back into reading a book or two a month. With my working arrangement changing, and going back into the office, looks like I might have more chance to read now, with taking the bus to work, plus trying to find something to do with my lunch break.

I have to really push myself to be more productive in my life, and spend less time watching it. A few other things I have planned after. Get more familiar with my SLR camera, start on my scale modeling and work on my  collecting podcast that I have neglected for far to long.

Tags: Basement renovations, Computer, Star Trek Titan

I have been on Vacation for the past week, with one more to go. So far it has been good and reasonably productive.

The main thing I wanted to accomplish with my time off was to make some progress on my basement. This week I think I was able to do that, as I made more progress on painting the basement. First I had to remove some ceiling stipple from some areas, that was a dirty job, so I am glad that I am finished with that. I will do some more painting today, and hopefully I can make some good progress on that. I think that I am a few days away from being completed with all the walls. After I was finished with my painting yesterday, I stood there and visualized where things would go. I am getting excited to be getting close on on having the basement done.

Yesterday Morning I went to Costco to pickup a few things for my wife. Well I was there, I picked up a copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, the price looked reasonable. I had been planning on buying this for sometime, as I need it to edit pictures for my collecting podcast, Whats in Jeff’s Basement. Now that the basement is nearly finished, I can get back to that. I really hate the breaks, but I am hoping 3rd time is a charm.

Tags: Adobe Photoshop Elements 8, Basement renovations, Vacation, What's in Jeffs Basement

The contractors came today to finish up on some work in the Basement. The laid the carpet, and finished a few other things as well, such as attaching a light in my display area, and putting down some shelving. I had a redder color wood for the shelving area, but decided to go with a black colour, as it will match the Shelves I have more closely. Now back to me to do some more painting, and to purchase some baseboards, and paint them up. I also have to scrape some ceiling stucco off some of the walls and get those primed and painted also. It was so messy down there, so it was nice to get all the garbage out of there, and clean the basement up a bit. Will make it easier to move some things around, and I will not be trailing dust and dirt around the house after making a trip to the basement.

Carpet looks very close, probably as close as I was going to get, and over time it might fade a bit and match closer to what is already in the basement. I will continue painting the walls, I am painting them a cloud gray and quite happy with the colour so far. I think with White baseboards, should look very sharp.

So I am hoping over the next month I can get my painting finished, and then once the Baseboards are done, I can start moving things down there, and getting things setup. Really looking forward to the day, when I can have my collection setup, and can show to people who come over.

Tags: Basement renovations