Just installed the Wordbook and Lifestream plugins on the blog. If all goes well when I publish this post to the blog, my facebook wall will also receive the update. I’m using the Lifestream plugin to display any of my facebook posts back to the blog. I like the idea of integrating my blog and facebook to make both sites more “fresh” with content. Let’s see if this works.
Fireplace
One of the gifts we got for the house this Christmas was gas logs for the fireplace. We had been burning the artificial logs to be able to have a fire and keep the mess to a minimum. The artificial logs were not even close in comparison to a real wood fire, both in the heat given and the look of the fire. I didn’t like burning wood because of the mess. There would be wood splinters from bringing the wood into the house and building the fire. There was also the mess of ashes the day after.
The logs provide a much more realistic fire. The size and color of the flame is good. The amount of heat that is generated is really nice. The logs are rated to generate 34,000BTU’s. That is roughly 1/2 the size of the furnace for the whole house. And to top it off, there is no mess and no fuss. When we want to start the fire, just grab the remote and press on. The setup I choose included 7 logs. I liked the 7 log setup over the 5 log placement. The 7 logs placement had 2 additional logs stacked across the top at an angle. To me this setup provides a much more realistic looking stack of logs. The logs generate so much heat that the stone work surrounding the fireplace absorbs the energy. For a few hours after turning the fireplace off, the stone work continues to throw off heat into the room.
Installing the fireplace took about 8 hours from start to finish. The hardest part of the job was to drill a 1″ hole through the side of the fireplace to run the gas pipe through. Using a hammer drill it took about 3 hours. At one point the bit grabbed the brick and spun the drill. The 1″ drill bit was bent out of shape when the bit grabbed. I had to use a 2lb hammer to coax the bit back into a straight shape. Running the pipe was time consuming, but it was physically and mentally easy. The pre cut sections of black gas pipe from Home Depot really makes the job easy.
The one unexpected task was that I had to relocate the thermostat for the forced hot-air furnace. The thermostat was in the family room with the fireplace. When we had the fireplace turned on, the family room temperature quickly rose to about 77 degrees. This caused the rest of the house to not have heat. I had to run a new thermostat wire to the other end of the hallway down by the bedrooms and remount the thermostat. Since relocating it we haven’t had an issue with the heat being balanced.
Christmas Eve Dinner
Christmas Eve dinner was extra special this year. We had shrimp scampi in a white wine sauce over linguine. What made it extra special was that MJ cooked the entire meal by himself. Every time Cathy or I tried to enter the kitchen to help, we were shoo’d out. He did a fantastic job. The shrimp were cooked just the right amount. The white wine sauce and linguine were perfect.
Metropolitan Museum
For our 15th wedding anniversary Cathy & I wanted to do something unique, something we normally wouldn’t think of doing. I don’t remember how we came up with the idea, we found the Guarneri String Quartet playing at the Metropolitan Museum. It was a fabulous time.
We spent a few hours roaming through the Met taking in the different exhibits. The Monet exhibit is still one of my favorites. I always enjoy seeing how Monet’s work progressed over time and evolved into what we consider the impressionist movement. To make the night really different we decided to have dinner in the Trustees Dinning Room. The Met has several options for dining. The Trustee Dining is typically reserved for the Trustees and members of the museum. With the tickets to the Quartet, we were also able to get reservations into this 5-Star restaurant.
The concert was really cool. We were able to get stage seats. The museum has about 60 seats up on the stage around the musicians. The concert hall held about 500 people and was sold out. We were within 20 feet of the musicians. It was great to be so close. It felt like we were a part of the concert and not just listening.
Pumpkin Carving
As the kids get older Pumpkin carving takes on a different dimension in the Petersen household. Every year the carvings get more elaborate and I actually have less to do. We have several of the carving kits that allow you to saw the pumpkins while following a picture. This year Jill went with a very traditional carving, but she insisted that she could do the whole thing by herself. And you want to know something, she was right. MJ went with a witch riding a broomstick with a half moon in the background. For some reason we didn’t capture a picture of it. Although it really came out great!
A Quote to Reflect Upon……
The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, and the public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled. And the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest we become bankrupt.
Cicero, 63 B.C.
Dutch Springs
Last Sunday I got to Dutch Springs for a day of diving. Both Mark and Rich dove with me. This was my first time to Dutch Springs and we got 3 dives in for the day. Needless to say it wasan awesome day. The first dive was out to the underwater platform to practice our skills. Then we went to the school bus for a nice swim through. All of the underwater objects have been made completely safe for divers. There are ropes leading to most of the objects, making navigation a no brainer.
The second dive was out to the Cessna and then to the Sikorsky helicopter. From the Cessna to the helicopter we used our compass to navigate. On the first pass, we missed the helicopter. Rich and I had to surface to get our bearings. The helicopter is suspended by large floats about 20′ off the bottom. You can easily swim through the structure. On this dive I had my 135 cubic inch tank with me. It s a high pressure tank, 5250psi. I’m calling that bottle my never ending tank. I bought it specifically for the deeper dives. I got tired of having short dives with the 80’s cubic inch tanks. Well it did just nice. At the end of a 45 minute dive to depths of 50-60′, I still had 1900psi in the tank.
The third dive Mark & I tried to navigate to Hellcat plane by compass. We did find the Hellcat. Although in true fashion, Mark & I had several laughs underwater. Especially when I flip-flopped the compass heading and took us straight into an underwater cliff.
Training Wheels – No More…
Well, Jill has finally got the hang of riding her bike.
This past Wednesday, Jill talked MJ into removing the training wheels on her bike. It is nice that MJ knows how to do some of the mechanical tasks now. The kids aren’t totally dependent waiting for me to come home from work.
She was able to ride for short distances. Then she got tired and put the training wheels back on. Thursday the training wheels came off for good. By Friday she had no issues starting or stopping the bicycle. Jill even rode over the grass.
With Labor Day weekend upon us, Sandy Hook will soon start their off season rates at the park. If the weather is good next Saturday, I’m sure we’ll be heading over there with all of our bicycles!
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Viva La Mexico
I can’t believe we have been home almost a full week from Cancun, Mexico. I brought my computer with the intent of blogging while on vacation. I did manage to upload some photos while I was there. But never got to write a post.
The trip was amazing. We took a jungle boat tour, snorkeled on some of the reefs, went parasailing, toured Chichen Itsa (Mayan ruins), swam in a Cenote, went Scuba diving, toured a real haceinda, went horseback riding, sailed a hobby cat and went sea kayaking.
Check out the pics! I’ve uploaded about 60 pictures. We actually took around 1600 photos on trip. Between everyone we had 3 really good digital cameras and everyone was shoot.
The resort, Sunset Lagoon & Marina, that we stayed at was fabulous. The staff really made the trip memorable.
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Circle Line Tour
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