Sanchez CD

The second picture I took was of the “Sanchez is Driven By Demons” album that I listened to a couple of times through out the day. It had been laying around for a couple of weeks and I needed to review it for Now Like Photographs. Not as good as their other records but the ambient drone fit really well with the rainy day outside (yes, I know how pretentious that sounds).

Painting
While listening to the Sanchez CD I did some touch up painting around the condo. I had putting this off for awhile and I figured a rainy Saturday was as good as any. So I busted out some painters tape and marked all the places over the day that I noticed had chips and then touched them up at the end of the day.
Wall Plate
After painting I finished up the project of mounting my computer monitor to the wall that I had started a few weeks ago. It was all finished but the cable coming out below my desk was through a big hole in the drywall. Paal had recommended using a low voltage electrical box which I picked up at home depot for 15 cents or something. So I hacked up the hole in the wall to be even bigger to fit the box and then cut up a wall plate to fit the video and power cables for the monitor. I hope to not do any more work with drywall in my condo since I’ve made a gigantic mess both times. This time I at least laid a bunch of plastic down so I didn’t have to wash the jumble of cables under my desk.
Rainy Day Outside
I started getting bored of taking pictures of the little things I was doing around the house so I went out on to the balcony and took some pictures of the river. It was really dreary and rainy but relaxing to sit on the balcony and listen to the rain and river. It was also incredibly quiet for a Saturday. Usually there are a bunch of people out walking/biking across the Stone Arch (the bridge on the far right of the photo) but not today. There has also been a construction crew out working the last few months on the strip of land that juts out into the middle of the river. They were landscaping, laying sidewalk and putting up fencing for the new park extension that is suppose to be done soon. There has been a lot of development along the river in the short time I’ve lived here but the park extensions along with a possible Best Buy less than 5 blocks away and a Whole Foods are by far the ones I am most excited about.
Work
This is the most boring picture of the bunch but I had to take it since the majority of my afternoon was spent working from home. That’s by laptop with the good ole’ NetBackup Activity Monitor.
Home Made Trail Mix
Recently I discovered the genius of making your own trail mix and I made a Trader Joe’s run last weekend just for that purpose. This batch is almonds, craisens, pine nuts, chocolate covered sun flower seeds and some weird flax cereal my Mom gave me. I love making it myself now since it’s cheaper and I can make different combinations each time. My only problem is trying not to get sick off of eating large amounts in a sitting.
New Base Boards for Hiding Cables
Later in the afternoon it started getting nice and sunny out. So I ventured out into the living room and decided to work on another weekend project I had been putting off for awhile. I have a bunch of cables snaked around the living room for the TV and surround sound. Most of them are behind furniture so they are out of sight but I have a stretch in front of the windows that always seem to be in the way. When shopping at Home Depot for some other stuff last weekend I noticed these fake base boards that are hollow to allow for hiding cables, so I picked up a pair and put them in. They work great and you can’t even tell they aren’t baseboards except where the cables pop out on the right of the picture there. Lines up well for the minimalist layout that Dwelling Designs did for my condo.
Flowers
Here is a picture of my new flowers/plant that I also picked up at Home Depot last weekend. I’m just happy I haven’t killed them yet. After much argument with Jim, they are not pansies, they are violets. I think. They are purple but a very dark purple in a manly type of way. I know I wouldn’t have knowlingly bought flowers called pansies but I can’t remember what they really are.
Running
Since the weather kept improving I opted for a run since I wasn’t really feeling like going down to the gym anyways. It was really nice since it is rarely quiet on the weekends but most people stayed away from the river with all the rain during the day. This also reminds me that I really need to buy new running shoes…
Sierra Nevada
For dinner I had my first Sierra Nevada. Inspired partially by the Diggnation podcast and Dave Ryan (while playing Xbox together one night), I decided to start trying different beers each week. I have a nice safe nest with Newcastle, St. Paulie Girl and a few of the other beers I really like but it’s time for some new experiences. The beer was pretty good, a little too bitter for what I normally like but I’d have it again. This was the last picture of the day since I didn’t feel like lugging my camera around with me at night. It was fun taking pictures all day and even more fun looking at all the pictures from other people on Flickr. Surprinsgly the most viewed/favorite picture I took was the first of the morning with my fruity pebbles. Probably the most least thought out shot since I was half awake. Ah well.