What is On Jeffs' Mind

Been awhile since my last post. Missed the whole month of August.

Had a good summer. Tao tao and I went on a trip to Yellowstone National Park in August. Was very cool to see a National Park that was different then the ones we have in Canada. We were there for 3 days , and saw a lot of the park. I left feeling I saw everything that I needed to see there, so that was good. I have to say I was very impressed that it only cost 25 dollars to enter the park, and pretty much everything in the park did not cost anything more. So often these days, it feels like an admission price gets you in, and then everything else costs extra, so this was refreshing. Lots of wild life as well, which was cool to see, and we had a few very close encounters with some Buffalo on the highways. In the evenings we stayed in West Yellowstone and Gardiner, they were nice towns, and the expenses there were not to high.

Also on the trip, Tao tao and I were able to do a bit of shopping, Tao tao picked up a new iPod she wanted to get, and I was able to find an exclusive B-Wing fighter at a Kmart. So that part of the trip was a success as well. We were in Montana/Wyoming for most of the trip, and they are not very busy states, so pretty easy to get around to where we needed. The last time I was in the US, I wanted to go to Jack in the Box, but missed it a few times on our travels. Unfortunately, there are none in Montana, so it will have to wait for another trip.

I have to say I am looking forward to the fall, it is my favorite season of the 4. I think I like that it is cooler and I like all the color changes for the leaves on the tree’s. I am hoping it will be a good Autumn, and that I am able to get some things done that I want to. I have to get back to my collecting podcast, so will focus on that the next month or so and try to produce a few podcasts to make up for the ones I missed.

I am hoping as well to post some more posts which might be more informative, or on interesting topics, more so then what I am doing or feeling. As a person can only read so many of those

Tags: Autumn, B-Wing, iPod, Tao tao, Vacation, Yellowstone

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

I have been on holidays for the past few weeks, and now in the final week of my vacation. The main goal of my vacation was to get a start on getting some things done in my house in terms of renovations. The other goal was I really needed a break from work, and so far it has been very nice and relaxing. Even though I have been busy around the house, it was nice to not have the stress that comes with my job. It certainly makes me wonder what it would be like to have a job that was low stress, and certainly can see the appeal of that.

One of the things I wanted to get done was to paint the bedrooms upstairs. When I moved into the house, the bedrooms were painted a dark green and blue, and I just found them much to dark. I decided I wanted to go with a much lighter color and pretty neutral so that just about anything would look good in it. The furniture I have on those rooms right now is not the greatest, just mostly hand me downs, so if I ever decide to get some newer furniture, that I will have plenty of Options. I think bolder colors are good if a person has a theme or design in mind, but since I don’t, I would prefer the rooms to be neutral. I was happy to get the rooms painted, and went with a pale almond color with the help from my Mom and Dad on color selection. In the next few days I will hang up some pictures, and hopefully that will add a bit of character to the rooms.

Library – Exercise Room

Guest Bedroom

Also on the weekend, the renovations in my Basement started. The basement was originally developed with a main room and a bedroom and a utility room. I decided that I wanted just one large room instead of the two rooms. So I had some contractors in to knock out the wall between the bedroom and the main room. With the larger space I will setup my collection and also make it a bit of a games area. Also I had the contractors refinish the shelf area on the one side of the room. The setup before was very dated, and I wanted to change it since I would be using it to display some of my collectibles. There was a dated counter top and some mirrors behind which were chipped, and overall I just did not like it at all. They still have some more work to do, but I am looking forward to when it is done, and then I will start my job of painting. I have some many ideas running through my head on what I plan to do, but will probably have a better idea after it is completed.

Pieces of the old wall

Refinished Countertop, still deciding what I will display on it, either Dioramas or my Minibusts

Old Bedroom, had the worst brown paint I had ever seen. Really sloppily applied as well

Basement view. New lights installed as well, giving it much more light down there

Another Picture of Countertop

So with Home Renovations under way, it is time for me to start on getting ready for winter. I started raking up the leaves in my backyard today. There is a lot, so it is going to be a bit of work. We had snow last week, so I had to wait to start as it was still wet. but finally got a chance to start. Will do some more raking tomorrow, and then put on the winter fertilizer. Plenty of work around the house, but it is nice to be able to do it at my own pace.I am sure when I get back to work next week, it will be more rush and stress, so hopefully this vacation will have helped.

Tags: Home Renovations, Vacation