Porch light: before

Yeah. So that’s nice. Even no porch light appears to be an improvement from the current edition.

Improvement, no?

So in one of my many adventures to Home Depot, I procured a new porch light.

I found one I liked on sale for $40. I was ready to pull the trigger. But they didn’t have any in stock. So the HD guy asked if I wanted the display. Then decided he couldn’t sell it to me in its current condition, sans box/hardware, so instead, he grabbed a new package of hardware, stuffed it in and wrote up a new ticket for $5!! The light I was prepared to pay $40+ for I got for $5. WIN!

My $5 Home Depot win

Oh, and it looks pretty good to.

Also, it’s awesome being a female in Home Depot.

2012 tag design

This continues the inexplicable obsession to make the tags more ostentatious than an H3. FAIL.

The only worse design that comes to mind is Kentucky’s awful ‘it’s that friendly’ plate:

No, this is not a joke, it’s that AWFUL.

Seriously, I think I would move to another state than put that plate on my car. Evidently Kentuckians would rather have Mr. Sunshine rather than this?

The silver lining, is that there is a ‘standard alternate’ Georgia plate that you can get without paying any specialty tag fees.

Whew!

Since I have lived in Atlanta (2003), I believe this is the FIFTH redesign that they’ve had. Not sure why the need to change plates like underwear, but at least it keeps everyone on their toes.

On the flip side, in Massachusetts, people CLING to their old license plates, probably in large part because the state never changes them. There’s even a lottery for the low-digit plates since apparently people need to make a competition out of completely meaningless things.

The current Mass tag has been around since 1987:

1987-present

People ’round these parts don’t seem to care for vanity plates, and the special interest ones are few and far between too (the offerings aren’t that robust, either). The ‘Spirit of America’ plates are required front and back, and due to this, people would rather you take their first born child than take away their old green tag, which is just one tag for the back.

1977-1986

Personally, aside from not needing a tag in the front, I don’t care for these, as the plates are 20+ years old and New England weather hasn’t been kind to the metal. But again, since everything here is a competition, you would have to pry these tags away from their cold, dead Massholey hands.

From a design standpoint, I equate this to a PowerPoint presentation.. LESS IS MORE. Seriously, there’s no need to gum up a plate with a bunch of crap. Since when should a plate be the focal point of a car? I also believe that there should only be 2 colorways, max (including white/black). Otherwise, you are more susceptible to clashing with, oh everything.

Apropos to @someecards for this blog post: http://t.co/AR6Lup9K

And here’s the best license plate I’ve witness in person:

YES!

And here’s a good one, albeit not seen in person: click.

First, the bushes:

BEFORE: Front bushes

Talk about curb appeal! I guess I have to thank the bushes for their contribution for why this house sat on the market for 6 months. We brought in an arborist, who very politely hid any sign of his horror, and identified the bush on the far right as a hydrangea, and the far left is a Rose of Sharon. He knew the middle one too but I’ve promptly forgotten it because it doesn’t have any flowers. He then got down to business and trimmed them to the proper shape.

AFTER: Front bushes

AFTER: Front bushes

Viola! Who knew bushes were supposed to be that shape? And how much better the place looks with a little weeding? The only bummer is that the bushes were still blooming, so those got cut back a bit. But we’ll enjoy them in all their glory next year. And hey, maybe I’ll actually live there by then! (That is another blog chapter in itself).

Anyway, moving on. The great part about this lot is that the house is next door to a chunk of town conservation land. Which means no neighbors on one side, which is a great for my naked omelet making. Kidding!

BEFORE: Conservation land/retaining wall

We had to call in a mason to deal with the basement, and turns out he does landscaping and patio work too. So he did a lot of clearing on our behalf. Which is great considering how much poison ivy there was along the retaining wall.

BEFORE: Retaining wall

AFTER: conservation land/driveway

Another curb appeal feature has to be the backyard. I use the term ‘yard’ loosely, as 2/3 of it is asphalt. I suppose one way that you can avoid getting poison ivy in your yard is just to have an Italian driveway?

BEFORE: Italian driveway/backyard. Yes, this is the backyard.

The mason had some fun with jackhammers, took out the excess pavement and regraded the whole thing! (Grass will be seeded shortly).

AFTER: backyard/driveway

AFTER: Backyard — Italian driveway gone and whole area regraded.

Speaking of grass, we have some! A lot, if you consider that it never got mowed!

BEFORE: side yard (from backyard)

Thank goodness for our savior, the mason. And I haven’t even gotten to the basement project, which was the real reason why he was there.

AFTER: side yard (from front)

TA-DA! Who knew that all you needed was a good old fashioned lawn mowing? Thanks, unsightly yard, for yet another reason why this house was so unsightly/unsellable for very minor cosmetic reasons!

And yes, I see it too. That bench sitting there will be another project. Looks like it needs some new wood and some paint.

Next up: basement project with the mason, front and back porch fixes, and bathroom gut job. And at some point in Sept, moving in. Hooray!

I figured this might be a good opportunity to fire up the blog again. Thanks to Shannon, who has trailblazed the home improvement front and documented it all so well!

First project worth blogging about: the front doors.

Front door before

Sticker unit numbers, really?! The 2nd unit’s door has an ugly doorbell in the center, that will be destroyed shortly. The 1st floor’s door got tended to first, since there are tenants still in the 2nd unit, and I don’t feel like making arrangements to keep the door open for 4 hours to let the paint sufficiently dry (slumlording, here I come!)

Front door after

The sticker numbers were so heinous I had to do something immediately. A quick internet search will tell you that you can make this numbers thing very complicated, and very expensive. Matching mailboxes, door kickers, etc. At some point I would like to put in a kickplate, and figure out if those mailslots are actually brass (probably not), but in the meantime, I got some numbers from Home Depot for a couple bucks each. I actually really love the font and am bummed that they are only sticker-backed (i.e. I can’t use them for the house numbers, which are exposed to the weather on the porch).

Once we get some more paint on (the porch and the 2nd unit’s door), I’ll have another update with the doors and address numbers.

In the meantime, I need to figure out how to sufficiently stalk the Property Brothers and get them to come to Boston.

Announcing my debut on NPR’s featured Tacky Tourist Photos blog!

Also to be mentioned, I’ll be appearing on the Pongr advertising blog thanks to my fascination of American brands in foreign countries. Will link when ready.

It’s happened.

I’m not sure who I am anymore.

The die hard roadie just got herself a mountain bike??

Oh, but it sure is PRETTY.

Lord Kegasus

Meet Lord Kegasus, my new (to me) 2010 Trek Top Fuel 9.8. I’m still not sure what exactly I’ll be doing with it (probably riding/falling/crashing/flailing more than racing or showing any signs of competence), but hey maybe I’ll acquire some much desired steering skillz that have eluded me riding exclusively on the road.

Thanks to Uri for letting me borrow his extra Fisher for the last year and helping me commit to yet another financially zapping hobby.. disposable income is overrated, anyway.

And to all my mtb friends.. you may regret offering to teach me the ways of the dirt. It’s a good thing I have so many of you to burn through.

If that’s not hard enough to believe.. now it’s a music video. And it’s DAMN CATCHY!

Is there a reason why I cannot make lefthand turns?

Heart (and sad face),
deeps

Two Mexicans are stuck in the desert after crossing into the United  States, wandering aimlessly and starving. They are about to just lie  down and wait for death, when all of a sudden Luis says………

“Hey Pepe, do you smell what I smell.   Ees bacon, I theenk.”

“Si, Luis, eet sure smells like bacon. “

With renewed hope they struggle up the next sand dune, & there, in the distance, is a tree loaded with bacon.

There’s raw bacon, there’s fried bacon, back bacon, double smoked bacon … every imaginable kind of cured pork.

“Pepe, Pepe, we ees saved.   Ees a bacon tree.”

“Luis, maybe ees a meerage?   We ees in the desert don’t   forget.”

“Pepe, since when deed you ever hear of   a meerage that smell like bacon…ees no meerage, ees a bacon tree.”

And with that, Luis staggers towards the tree.   He gets to within 5  metres, Pepe crawling close behind, when suddenly a machine gun opens  up, and Luis drops like a wet sock.   Mortally wounded, he warns Pepe  with his dying breath,

“Pepe… go back man, you was right, ees not a bacon tree!”

“Luis, Luis mi amigo… what ees it? “

“Pepe.. ees not a bacon tree.   Ees

Ees

Ees

Ees

Ees a ham bush….”

So, what has been so distracting from regular blog updates? Here’s a hint:

The Wall of Pain! It started off last fall looking decidely less crowded. Thanks to cycling, race frequency exploded exponentially (practically every weekend v. every month or so).

The Wall of Pain

I couldn’t even get the whole picture to fit. Here’s a further away attempt.

Massachusetts Criterium State Championships

This summer alone I’ve completed 18 road cycling races (the 19th and final road race will be on Wed). The only thing worse than complete burnout is the mental estimate of $$ spent on race dues. And that’s just the beginning, cyclocross season is right around the corner! And I wonder where my disposable income and free time goes.

I wish there was something more exciting to post about for the non-cycling audience, but really, you’ll just have to deal with it until I get a normal hobby. Of course, more frequent updates can be found on Twitter, Facebook, Facebook pt II and Foursquare.

Back for its second year, we’re not talking about retirement-spurned Lancelot, but the Nike Chalkbot! Graffiti the French countryside with a message that will forever last in history be around til it rains.

The only thing more exciting would be if a fight broke out and a cyclist used a wheel as a weapon. Wait..

Make your own Chalkbot message here.

The only thing that I can think of that could improve upon this mash up would be the inclusion of some Pat Green/Garth Brooks/Lonestar.

Even more importantly, what might inspire more Americans isn’t fancy footwork or actually winning (Slovenia? Really?) Why don’t we take a page from the Italians and their partnership with Dolce and Gabbana?

Okay, so I’m slightly biased because I’m part Italian, but seriously.. Count me in!

Naturally, I have one improvement.

I’m sure the folks at IBC won’t mind the slight modification.

Recently at the Cupcakes and Cocktails event on Newbury St., my liberal friend CP (if you can’t make peace over cupcakes, where can you?) made the observation that my political views, much like many other things in my life, are an anomaly. Having grown up in a small, southern town (and in a Catholic family), my conservative roots have been in place for decades.

However, as I transition from the twilight of my youth to quasi-adulthood, my political views can be summed up in the following: I don’t care what you do, who you marry, or how you are paying for healthcare.. as long as you leave me and my hard earned money out of it. And you’re generally not an IDIOT (no crying for a bailout when you buy a home you clearly can’t afford). So that’s kinda libertarian, but I really don’t want to move to Verhampshire and live in the bush and not shave my legs to embrace the affiliation.

So after some big think tanking (the booze helped), we came up with this. This ain’t your average Libertarian or Conservative Party.. this conservative libertarianism is a revolution:

PREPPY LIBERTARIANS

We focus primarily on fair taxes, personal accountability and seersucker. Based on one-day feedback via Twitter, the movement is strong.

Pretty sure the Tea Party is regretting not recruiting me to be their mascot/chairperson.

How to make this week any better? Two words. Bacon. Beer.

Yes, it’s true..

It’s as if this was my own birthday party so thoughtfully planned out by complete strangers. Not on my birthday.

Questions that linger:
- will this hold up to the original baconfest, the one Skybil and I discovered before it was even cool to like bacon?
- how much bacon is too much bacon? Unlike beer, which gives you a pretty good indication on when you should be put in timeout.
- why am I racing at Dartmouth the next day? Not even sure why I’m going at all. If you recall, this was the scene of my most horrific crash to date. (And shockingly, that was NOT the elbow fracture).
- how do I top my outfit from Halloween?

Attention: current and potential suitors and admirers

Need to harness inner rage. Need some motivating songs for a 30 min all out blitz session. Any suggestions, Nation?

Some of my all time running faves:
- Push it, Garbage
- Stronger, Britney Spears
- Change, Deftones
- Song 2, Blur
- Diary of Jane, Breaking Benjamin
- Faint, Linkin Park
- List of Demands, Saul Williams
- Riot, Sugarcult
- Get Free, The Vines

Got some to add?

Villanova: Tournament Ready, Since Day One

http://go.nike.com/villanova

As an MBA with a specialization in informatics, I can only conclude that this is irrefutable proof that UVa is superior to Virginia Tech.. as we are worth more according to Lowe’s.