Brian and Stephanie on the Web!

Bed & Breakfast stay...

2008-05-22T12:55:00.001-04:00

On our vacation, we found that some plans from friends changed and we were in need of a place to stay. Between Buffalo, New York, and Bangor, Maine (long drive if we went direct), we started looking for Marriott hotels, as we’re paying for the hotels through points I’ve earned with my travels on the business side of life. Well, there weren’t many choices. Remembering back to a business meeting I had in New York, I stayed in a rather quaint Bed and Breakfast in Summit, New Jersey, and found that the Bed & Breakfast industry up here seems to fill the gaps where hotels lack.

Suggesting this idea to Stephanie, she got right to work researching the different options that were available to us. Several that we looked at were nice looking, but that’s about it. They offered the traditional B & B style of a customized bedroom, with usually a continental breakfast. After searching for a bit, Steph found one that looked a little different. Reading the reviews, she found that the Kenburn Orchards Bed and Breakfast offered more than just a place to sleep with a quick bite and then off you go!

The Kenburn Orchards Bed and Breakfast was one of the few that had a king size bed (which made me happy!), and a full breakfast in the morning. Looking at the reviews, we found that Susan and Larry not only offer a warm welcome when you arrive, they are wonderful people with a definite love for their business.

Our experience there was one that we’ll never forget. We arrived mid-week, and were the only ones staying there at the time. Susan and Larry were very open about how they loved to entertain, and by reading the reviews on their service, we found that it was all genuine. What they’re known for, besides comfortable rooms, is their breakfast. We were blown away by the quality and amount of food they served! Most of their food is from their own garden, and they truly live the organic lifestyle, which is good for their environment as well as for our benefit.

Breakfast started with fresh granola, choice of juice, coffee, and a rhubarb casserole*. This was followed by fresh strawberries covered in real whipped cream. After this, we were brought out a raspberry clafouti, which we had never heard of before. I would like to say that this was completely beyond our expectations, and they went the extra mile with us. Based on the reviews of their service, I would be led to think that this is how they treat everyone that stays in their home.

One note that I would add as a footnote here, when travelling to this lovely escape, I would recommend getting with Larry at the B&B to get the proper GPS coordinates for their location, as most GPS manufacturers have incorrectly listed them in the database. Larry has been good about emailing the companies with the corrections, and they should be making the necessary changes, but if you don’t have an updated map, I would recommend this as the tip of the day for getting there. You won’t be sorry!

Vacation so far....

2008-05-22T11:51:00.001-04:00

Well, we’re almost a week into the vacation, and we’ve been able to accomplish the following:

Visiting with friends in Cincinatti

Dinner with good friends, Rod & Megan Trent in Cincinatti

Brian was able to attend the Dayton Hamvention

We were able to see (briefly) Niagara Falls

Driving across the New York Thruway to visit with a friend of Stephanie’s

Stay at a B&B where we had the most awesome breakfast, and met the most wonderful hosts!

Drive to Bangor, Maine through some of the most beautiful terrain in the USA

Anyway, with all of the driving, it doesn’t feel like we’ve accomplished much, but just being in awe of everything we’ve seen so far is amazing in and of itself.

The Niagara Falls piece was pretty good, although the temperature was in the high 40’s (f) and extremely windy, so it made for some quick walking, and unfortunately we weren’t able to take the “Maid in the Mist” tour or the tour under the falls. The common theme we found with all of the paid tours is that you’re guaranteed to be soaked, no matter how much rain gear you have (they do provide some for you)! At those temperatures, we unanimously voted to come back at a different time when the weather is a little more appealing. Nontheless, the sight of the falls was gorgeous!

Driving across New York was mostly uneventful. However, thinking back, it’s nice to see the state in its beauty, rather than as how most people know it (only by New York City, the concrete jungle!). New York – upstate – is a really beautiful part of the country and I would encourage anyone to take a trip up there.

I’ll save the B&B update for later, as that’s a blog posting in and of itself!

Driving to Bangor was a good long drive, and there were plenty of our nations finest out there! Believe me, we did the speed limit pretty much the entire way, as the farther north we got, the busier they looked! Anyway, suffice it to say, last night we spent the night at the Fairfield Inn here in Bangor, and woke up this morning, had breakfast and were about to head to the Acadia National Forest, but were stopped when we saw that today’s weather up here calls for rain. Oh well, we’ll have to find some other things to do today to get us through. We pretty much don’t want to hang around in the hotel all day, thats for sure!

I’ve just set Stephanie up to post here as well, and she’s looking forward to writing some information about our trip from her perspective. So, with that, I’ll sign with this blog posting for now, and work to give proper praise to the B&B we stayed at!

Brian

Vacation!

2008-05-19T12:46:00.001-04:00

Stephanie and I are on a two week vacation that started Friday afternoon with us headed out to Ohio, where we visited some of Stephanie’s friends from a few years back that recently moved there, as well as I went to the Dayton Hamvention for a couple of days. Several highlights that we’ve encountered so far are:

Visiting the Cadora’s (Thanks Matt, Lisa and Alex for putting us up for a couple of days!)

The Dayton Hamvention (that one was mine!)

Dinner with Rod & Megan Trent – this was a true blessing! Stephanie was able to meet some people that I highly regard as good friends. We both had a wonderful time, and I’m glad to know that Megan had no issues with the seafood that was mistakenly served to her!

Today, we’re in Buffalo, NY and are about to head out to visit some vineyards as well as see about looking into the Niagara Falls options we have. Although the weather doesn’t look to good right now, we’re optimistic that we’ll still have a good time.

Stephanie and I are both well rested (we slept until we were finished!), and ready to take on the day.

We’ll post more later!

Windows Vista

2008-05-09T15:42:00.001-04:00

I’ve about had it with Windows Vista. I’ve had nothing but problems with it since my company migrated over to it last year when it came out. As a Microsoft Consultant, I’m more or less bound to be running the “latest and greatest” in everything from Microsoft, but in this case, I can’t say that it’s the “greatest”.

Maybe the “latest” flop from Microsoft.

As an example, today I left my home office to go do some network testing at a local coffee shop. The testing is for remote connectivity back to my corporate office to show the obstacles of dealing with an international company (as the remote country). Anyway, I put my computer in “standby” thinking that when I get to the coffee shop, I’ll just push the power button, and resume where I left off. Not necessarily the case (and it’s not the first time, either). It appears that one of Microsofts most touted features of Vista is “quick restore from sleep or hibernate” with almost immediate functionality. In this case, it was 25 minutes and two reboots later before I was able to even bring up task manager to see what was going on! All I could see coming out of standby is a black screen, after powering down, powering back up and logging in, I got to my desktop ok, but it was unusable for so long that I gave up, rebooted again. After the second reboot, it was ok to use (first things first, get connected, and blog about this problem!).

If I could switch back to Windows XP and get away with it, I would have done so quite a while back. However, as it’s not the case, and my company will only provide a 32 bit version of Vista, perhaps the 64 bit version would be more stable? May try it, but who knows…..

Anyway, off to the network testing now…

Flying around

2008-02-26T21:28:00.001-05:00

Have you ever wondered how the 'On Time Departure' rate that you hear about on the news for airlines is calculated?

I have become convinced that based on the past year or two of flying in and out of Atlanta that Delta's on-time departure issues are not necessarily the whole faultof the airline, but the fault of the smaller airlines that fly under their name.

For example, the last two times I have flown, I have flown with the same subsidiary, and both times, flights all over the concourse were delayed. By doing a simple flight status check, they were all from two of Delta's commuter partners.

If you can call an international flight from Atlanta to 0canada a commuter trip, then Ok.

I sincerely wish that the executives at Delta would press these commuters to better streamline their business so that he larger airline can maintain its good name.

On another quick thought, if this Delta Northwest merger goes through, I certainly hope that all of the Delta employees fare well, as I have flown NWA recently, and the service was less than desirable.

That's about it for now as they are about to close the door and I have to power down.

Will catch up with you guys later!

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AFC Championship

2008-01-20T17:31:00.001-05:00

Can someone tell me who's winning? Comcast died today and didn't leave me anything but a message saying that the channel would be available soon. Anyway, I'd like to see the game....may have to go out to see New England and San Diego - if I can get there in time...

Oh well....what reliable service we have here....

Cisco Technologies ahead of the Game again!

2008-01-03T17:49:00.000-05:00

I just got this link, and this is the way Telecommunications is headed. Telepresence sort of reminds us of Star Wars where the communications were through recorded or live holograms. Cisco has made it a reality!

Now That's Cool!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-15T15:35:00.001-05:00

These guys are pretty good. The name of the group is "Straight No Chaser" and they are from the University of Indiana. I've seen several of their videos on Youtube, and they appear to really enjoy what they're doing.

Take a look at this video, and you'll see what I mean...

Macbook updates

2007-11-06T22:27:00.001-05:00

Back in September, Stephanie and I bought two Macbooks and have been experiencing somewhat of a learning curve. While the Mac OS is easy to navigate and use, I have to say, it feels like starting all over again. Being a Microsoft specialist, moving to a Mac is definitely an education in EASY. Software installation is easy (drag & drop), the OS configuration is blatantly plain, and the system is overall understandable.

However, being a Microsoft guy, and Stephanie being dependent upon MS Word for her work documentation, we had to do something. The version of Office that came with the Mac is a 30 day evaluation, and tends to watermark everything you do, which isn’t really good for day to day use — mind you, perfect for evaluation, but not good at all for production work.

Therefore, we had to resort to parallels and Windows Vista to get the licensed software we owned installed. Once we got this, and then followed that immediately by de-kinking the issues, everything seems to be working well.

To do this posting (as well as all others on my blogsites) I’m using blogjet, running on Windows Vista, virtualized on a Macbook (now, how’s that for technical!)

Anyway, sitting in the hotel room, hauling the macbook is a little weight added to my backpack load, but in the evenings, it’s quite recreational, as when I sit down to my company owned laptop, no matter what I do, it feels like I’m working. Whereas when I break out the white macbook, it’s my time, even though it’s a computer. Sounds weird doesn’t it?

Well, I’m off to post on my other blogsite, because I found something that will make life a little easier for some Vista/VirtualPC users. In order to see that, you’ll need to go to my other site at http://myitforum,com/cs2/blogs/bktucker!

The deck is finally published!

2007-11-06T22:12:00.001-05:00

Well, I got the pictures, got the time, and was able to get a moment to post these pics of our deck. Stephanie and I have entertained a couple of times here, and look forward to many more celebrations!

Anyway, I know that it’s long awaited, so without further adieu, here are the pictures!

i

Well, that’s it. We’ve filled allthree of the tables, had the umbrella up for rain, had dinner and simply just enjoyed the time on this deck. In my opinion, it was well worth the expense, as well as well on the way to being paid for! I hope that you enjoy this as much as we do! Perhaps one day, each and every one of our friends (both local and remote) would be able to join us at one time or another for some simple relaxation “out back by the grill”!

Headed out of town....

2007-10-09T11:45:00.000-04:00

Ok, Ok….I did take pictures of my deck, and am going to post them. I took them yesterday while on the phone with a good friend in North Carolina.

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary, and I went and picked Steph up early for dinner from school (she subbed yesterday – can ya believe it, she taught 4^th grade again!). We went out to Longhorn’s and had some pretty good steak and conversation. After dinner, she went back to finish her Ancient Egypt lesson guide, and I went to Home Depot, then Best Buy. It was a dangerous mission, but someone had to do it!

Anyway, I’m sitting at the airport waiting to board a small puddle jumper so that I can work with a client this afternoon, and participate in an executive level meeting tomorrow. I’m hoping that once this meeting is complete, I’ll be able to manage this client more or less remotely than local.

Tomorrow, Stephanie comes back to the airport and leaves for Washington, DC and will be returning Saturday. She’s going to see some really good friends of ours that recently moved there, and will be relocating again to another country before the end of the year. I wish I could be there, because it would be good to see them again.

Next week, I’m headed to Texas for the week, and then later this month, off to Seattle. In December, I’m back off to London, and hopefully will have quite a bit to post from there as well!

Anyway, that’s all for now, it’s time to get on the plane!

As Stephanie is taking the camera with her to D.C., I’ve asked that she email me the pics of the deck so that I can post them. As soon as I can get them, they’ll be up here!

2007-10-08T16:01:00.001-04:00

Saw a link to this site today.....Want to find a speed trap???

http://www.speedtrap.org/index.html

I've seen this before, but have forgotten about it. It's quite interesting. I wonder if the only people to post here are the ones that got busted?

2007-10-06T21:23:00.001-04:00

Well, after a week with the Macbooks, I've travelled for business with it, and Stephanie has used hers to complete a lesson plan that she's been adamantly working on for school.

I think the more she uses hers, the better she likes it. I am starting to think that this was a good decision (I always thought that, really).

As for other things, I've been travelling again, and will be on the road Tuesday afternoon for a Wednesday morning meeting with a client. Stephanie will head out on Wednesday morning to spend the week with some good friends in Washington, DC.

I'm looking forward to this trip that I'm taking, because the owner of the company that I work for will be on the trip, and we'll be seeing potentially one of the largest clients to date that we have (should be very interesting, to say the least).

The next week, I'll be in Texas working with about 3 or 4 clients over a week, and Stephanie will be back home.

Tonight, we had a neighborhood chli cook-off. I entered a pot, and for about 35 people, there were about 12 pots of chili! That's a lot of eating! I was amazed at the different flavors that there were, and learned quite a bit, just by tasting. There were a couple of vegetarian chili recipes, as well as several different varieties from around the country. I chose to put together a standard Texas Chili for a start. While I didn't exactly keep to the recipe, I thought it was quite good. There were several that liked it, and I was just happy to be involved.

I didn't place for the contest, but it didn't really matter, because I had fun cooking it anyway.

Well, that's about it for now. hope everyone tracking this blog (if anyone is!) has a great night!

2007-10-03T21:48:00.001-04:00

Well, Stephanie and I have new toys. We got matching MacBooks! It all came about when her laptop crashed for good. We needed to get her a new computer, and with the travel back and forth, we decided that a laptop would work best. I wanted her to have one that would travel easily, unlike the beast that she had. We looked at Dell, Sony, and the MacBook.

We were definitely looking for the system that gave us the most bang for the buck, and the features that we got for the price made the MacBook the only choice.

The only other item that was left was that Steph really likes Outlook. So, after looking at different options, I think we're going to settle on VMWare's new product, Fusion. Fusion is the Mac equivalent to VMWare Workstation, which allows us to load up Microsoft Windows running under Mac OS X. Then we can run Microsoft applications on the Mac.

There are a couple of other solutions that are out there, and I've tried them (Parallels is one, and the other is the commercial version of WINE), and they just didn't seem to match up with what VMWare has to offer. Maybe I'm biased, due to my experience with VMWare products in Windows, but I honestly feel that it works best for us.

Anyway, I know it's been a while since anything was posted, and this post is actually coming from the "blogger" widget that I got off of Google, so I'm interested in seeing how it looks!

New Search view based on Windows Live Search

2007-09-11T18:09:00.001-04:00

Just found this from a friend’s blog site. It’s pretty cool, although I don’t know how functional it will turn out to be. It would be nice to see the web this way one day.

Check it out: http://www.tafiti.com

You’ll need Microsoft’s new Silverlight technology in order to view it. By the way, when you get to the search engine, and perform a search, click the “Tree View” and see what happens!

Will it blend???

2007-08-29T21:57:00.001-04:00

Just found this link and it’s pretty funny….DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME!!!!

http://www.willitblend.com/

Tuesday in Dublin

2007-08-14T01:27:00.001-04:00

After a good night’s sleep last night, and a filling breakfast this morning (oh, did I mention Stephanie tried Black Pudding yesterday? That’s a surprising story!), we were off to the bus stop to take Dublin on for a second day.

I bought a jacket yesterday, as I didn’t pack one, due to the constant weather changes on this island. I have to say that this is the first place where I’ve got an umbrella out one minute and the next, I’m wishing for sunglasses!

We purchased tickets today on one of the tour bus lines and were able to jump on and jump off as we hit one of the 15 stops. We started at Kilmainham Gaol and worked our way back to the stop over the afternoon. This Jail (Gaol as the Irish spell it) has some history behind it as one of the most ruthless prisons in Europe.

Once we got through there, we headed back in and stopped off at the Dublin Castle. After looking into tours here, we quickly found out that they were sold out for the day (bad luck). Since that was sold out, we decided to take a tour of Dublinia/ChristChurch.

Dublinia is a building right across the street from Christchurch that houses a museum of Viking history. We covered that in short time to get over to ChristChurch Cathedral, which is an active church and holds services daily. They also allow tourists to roam through the main parts of the church.

Once this tour was complete, we enjoyed a meal at one of the local Irish pubs located just across from ChristChurch. After my Fish & Chips and Stephanie’s Beef & Guinness Pie, we were back on the tour bus getting back to the initial stop so that we could catch our bus back to the hotel.

After returning to the hotel, we rounded out the evening by cashing in our complimentary drink coupons for a glass of red wine each, then off up to prepare for our flight the next morning back to London, then off to Glasgow!

Vacation!!!!

2007-08-13T06:03:00.000-04:00

Well, I'll have to get deck pictures up in a week or so, because Stephanie and I are on vacation! This is the first vacation that we've taken for ourselves since our honeymoon.

This year, my company blessed us with her airfare and hotel to go to London. While I was toiling away at the home office, Stephanie was catching up on seeing museums and London in general.

After the end of the week, we took off and are now enjoying the intermittent showers of Dublin, Ireland. We're here for a couple of days before venturing off to Glasgow where we'll be staying in a hotel, but plan on seeing Edinburgh, Scotland.

Yesterday, we toured Trinity College where we saw the history of this school, heard some of the student rights and rituals, and then toured the Book of Kells, which is probably the most notable reason anyone visits this historical landmark.

Afterwards, we walked down Dame Street and passed the General Post Office, ChristChurch, and ended up at one of my "need-to-experience" sites, The Guinness Storehouse. Here, we were able to hear the history and learn about the experience of Ireland's Trademark drink, Guinness Beer. The building is a 7 story structure. You start on the first floor winding your way up to the seventh, which is called the "Gravity Bar". When you pay admission, they give you a "Guinness stone" which has a ring good for exchange of a pint of Guinness upstairs.

Once we made it to the top, we were treated with a pint. I have to admit, I've never had a desire to try Guinness, but since it was included in the price, what the heck? Well, I'll tell you, that it definitely will not be my last! I enjoyed it more than I thought, and now understand why the Irish love their Guinness!

Well, it's time to go catch the bus for today's ventures!

The Deck is complete!

2007-07-31T08:25:00.001-04:00

Ok, Ok, I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’m currently out of town on business, and haven’t had the time to keep everyone updated. For that, I’m sorry. I’m hoping to get some pictures up of our COMPLETE deck WITH Furniture before Stephanie and I head off to Europe for a couple of weeks.

I’ll have some pictures Saturday, and then hopefully, we’ll be able to post some of the better holiday pictures of our European trip over the next few weeks!

We’re going to London (I’m going for business, and Stephanie is going to enjoy London!) for the next two weeks and the second week is going to be a vacation for us. We’re taking off out of London to Dublin, Ireland, then on over to Glasgow for a couple of days.

I’m hoping to take several pictures and as long as I can find some free interned while I’m there, maybe make a post or two. I don’t think free wi-fi will be readily available, but I’ll be keeping an eye out!

If not, I’ll work to make some posts anyway, and then bulk upload them here.

That’s it for now! Hope everyone has a great day!

Start laying that floor!

2007-07-19T15:17:00.001-04:00

Today, the guys were very busy finishing out the framing and starting the decking (laying down the floor to walk on). This is the longest part, but also the most exciting to watch, because this is where we’re actually getting something to walk on!

So, I took a little walk today on my new deck pieces. I had to be careful for the obvious reasons:

No rails yet

Center supports not installed underneath

Not everything is as secure as it may appear

So, carefully sticking to the outside edge where all of the support is, I slowly walked to the “deep end” (opposite from where I’m standing in the picture above) and took this:

Notice that one of the posts has a sleeve on it. All will be sleeved like this, and will be capped as well. Here’s a closeup of the sleeve:

Just after taking this picture, the rain came in and it started pouring, so I had to run inside. Not to worry, though. I took my time getting safely back inside after playing on the deck for a little bit (all of about 3 minutes just to get these pictures!).

Anyway, another day with quite a bit of progress! The goal for tomorrow is to finish the decking, get the center support system installed, and then if time allows, get some stairs built and installed. Next week, we’ll most likely get the railing for the entire deck completed, and then will just have to worry about the rails on the steps. But we’ll see then….

The Creation Story

2007-07-18T20:12:00.001-04:00

NEVER HEARD CREATION EXPLAINED THIS WAY BEFORE !!!

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth and populated the
Earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow and red
vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

Then using God's great gifts, Satan created Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and
Krispy Creme Donuts. And Satan said, "You want chocolate with that?" And Man
said, "Yes!" and Woman said, "and as long as you're at it, add some
sprinkles." And they gained 10 pounds. And Satan smiled.

And God created the healthful yogurt that Woman might keep the figure that
Man found so fair. And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat, and
sugar from the cane and combined them. And Woman went from size 6 to size
14.

So God said, "Try my fresh green salad." And Satan presented Thousand-Island
Dressing, buttery croutons and garlic toast on the side. And Man and Woman
unfastened their belts following the repast.

God then said, "I have sent you heart healthy vegetables and olive oil in
which to cook them." And Satan brought forth deep fried fish and
chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained more
weight and his cholesterol went through the roof.

God then created a light, fluffy white cake, named it "Angel Food Cake," and
said, "It is good." Satan then created chocolate cake and named it "Devil's
Food."

God then brought forth running shoes so that His children might lose those
extra pounds And Satan gave cable TV with a remote control so Man would not
have to toil changing the channels. And Man and Woman laughed and cried
before the flickering blue light and gained pounds.

Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with
nutrition. And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy
center into chips and deep-fried them. And Man gained pounds.

God then gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still
satisfy his appetite. And Satan created McDonald's and its 99-cent double
cheeseburger. Then said, "You want fries with that?" And M an replied, "Yes!
And super size them!" And Satan said, "It is good.." And Man went into
cardiac arrest.

God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery. Then Satan created HMOs.

The Deck Takes Shape

2007-07-18T18:26:00.001-04:00

Well, today was a beautiful day! We had two carpenters on site today, so things went much faster. The deck frame is completely bolted to the house, and the sturdiness is taking shape.

As I look out my Kitchen door, I see quite a bit of change over what we used to have.

Anyway, the posts are up above the deck, and it looks like the Trex decking will start being laid in place tomorrow. If all goes well, we should be able to walk on it tomorrow afternoon or Thursday afternoon. We’ll have to see, as the weather here has been pretty unstable (forcasts for scattered showers keep us looking at the sky!). We’ve been pretty fortunate so far though, as the rain has hit after the workday is done.

One note of consequence on the Trex stuff today. The rails that we are getting only come in six foot lengths, so we tried to make that work. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the six foot lengths to work properly with the design of the deck, so we’re going to have to trim them back a bit. The distance between the posts is 49.5 inches, which is just over 4 feet. So, we’re going to lose two feet of each segment of railing (that stuff is quite expensive!). This was a tough call, but after looking at all of the options, this appears to leave the deck posts with an almost perfect symmetry, which Stephanie and I like.

I can’t wait to see what it will look like tomorrow! These guys have been going solid all this week and I think we’re going to have two carpenters through the remainder of the week, so hopefully, we’ll have some walking space by Saturday!

That’s all for now!

Today's Progress on the new deck

2007-07-17T18:48:00.001-04:00

Well, today started with the expectation that there would be two team members working on my deck. But due to uncontrollable circumstances, only one was able to make it. The one that made it worked all day, and got quite a bit accomplished though. By the end of the day, all of the materials were delivered, and the installation was started (whew!).

Here’s where we started:

and the Trex Composite materials:

Here’s where we ended up:

Not really as far as I’d hoped, but it’s a good start considering the circumstances. Hopefully tomorrow, there will be two people and the progress will show it! I’m still happy with what was done, as it’s really good for just one person! We did some measurements at the house and at the furthermost part of the house. The difficulty is with one person keeping the entire deck square. It appears that the one man crew has done a fantastic job of keeping everything perfectly level, and there was only 1/8 of an inch difference in the measurements!

I would consider that pretty close to perfect if you ask me!

Photos on this site

2007-07-16T17:32:00.001-04:00

All photos on this site have been taken with a NIkon Coolpix 5000 that I just bought. I am really impressed with all of the features that are packed into this little baby. For more information on this camera, check out Digital Photography Review.

A little background on the deck and what we're doing

2007-07-16T17:25:00.001-04:00

I thought after posting these pictures, that I should give a little background on what we’re planning for the new deck. We’ve chosen to go with Trex Accents Composite decking. Rick Bacon Construction is who we were recommended to for the construction. After viewing some of his work in person, I was quite impressed (the pictures on his web site do not do his work justice).

Rick gave me a fair price for the work that he’s doing for me, and has gone the extra mile to work with me to ensure that I am getting the best deal possible.

Tomorrow, the framing for the deck will be delivered and weather permitting, the frame will be started. I’ll post more on that later. But for now, I’ll let the wildlife enjoy my back yard!