CaptainTux
September 9th, 2006, 06:41 PM
Well, I have been a busy little man in trying to establish my future, beautify my home, and try to remain sane.
Home fires: I tried looking at new homes, but have not liked much that I have been seeing for the prices they are charging for homes. I owe 82k on my home and it is appraised at 215k. So, I am taking a loan out on the home and making some changes to it. The patio is going to be an expansion on the home, it will be a large breakfast room made mostly out of glass to add some natural lighting. This will allow me to expand the kitchen. The house used to have an attached 2 car garage that was converted to 2 rooms. There is an awkward closet in the middle that eatsup space. by eliminating the closet I I will have a clean divide that will make for a new living room and the office will have glass double doors which will open it up more. I will put a small coat closet in the current living room which will reshape it to have a foyer and allow for a nice family room/library. I will add recessed lighting . The basement is just one big open area. I will eliminate the small closet next to the small bathroom so I can install a shower stall and make the half bath a semi full bath. The basement will be divided to two rooms. One will be a utility/laundry area and be a good place to store cleaning supplies, vacuum, etc which will resolve storage issue. The other room will just be a nice play area (bar, pool table, etc. and I will keep a nice futon down there for guests. Now for the upper level. I will have the bathroom expand into my bedroom to make it larger. I want a luxury tub with a shower stall, nice double basin, mirrors, etc. Then my bedroom will encroach into my daughters bedroom to make my room larger and have a nice walk in closet. My daughters room will not only encroach, but eliminate the third bedroom giving her a larger room...with a walk in closet and a nice dressing area as she gets older. The way I am sectioning this will allow me to have room for a small linen closet in the upper level and also allow me to install a lift (i will get to that later). I will also have a 2 car garage added to the back yard, privacy fence, and a japanese style garden. From the garage I will have a small stone pathway to the breakfast room which will have a small mudroom with a coat closet on what is now the outside and lead to an open entry to the new living room.
Daddy Front: My daughter is having a rough time. She is six and I have her in counseling. She goes into crying jags at the drop of a hat. She also has taken to pulling her hair. She is very bright, very happy, but she has trouble with new things...like first grade. I wish I could explain it better, but it is hard. She has some form of anxiety stress disorder...which sounds odd for a six year old, but there it is. We still go on our once a week dates to the zoo, arboretum, etc. We have mastered shoe tying and monkey bars and are working on two wheeler sans training wheels.
Business. I almost gave up on it, but it is starting to boom! I am also finally enjoying it again. I am co owner of one company and sole proprieter of another and slowly getting some media attention. Business one is Gigastrand International. http://www.gigastrand.com . Our largest seller is the Linspire Laptop Plus. Making and selling computers online...yawn! You cannot touch Dell. Especially when you sell Linux. So we have an independant agent program. Our agents buy into the business for the price of a laptop. They get the right to sell our laptops...and well...a laptop. It is strait forward. they show the laptop, they take an order, they get a commission, the customer gets a computer. Any service issues are handled by US, not the agent. We also have incentives for the agents. They get stuff for selling so many in a certain time frame. That stuff can be a PALM, a MP3Player, or even a free laptop depending on what they sell. The other front is the one taking a major change. My original pet, Silver Strand Solutions. Silver Strand was mainly a consulting arm and IT on call service. My most lucrative clients have been training and technical writing. So, in a few days the website will be re geared to reflect that focus. It also lends itself to more speaking engagements.
I was recently quoted in a press release as an industry expert commenting on some changes in Palm Source. I may be in a webcast on server migration (not for sure yet) and in May of next year I got something REALLY big coming up that I cannot talk about yet. Add to that being on the board for Freespire and the Freely Project and things are starting to tun around. I damn near gave up recently.
Personal life? Well that part sucks. Friendships are good. being a dad rocks. I just found that I am not good at that whole personal deal. I have some health issues as well. The lift I spoke of is necessary. in ten or fifteen years, I may not be able to use my legs in the same way. To extend that sentence, I have befriended a retired Navy Seal who is meeting me at the gym 4 days a week. The goal is to not only lose weigh, but to be as strong and fit as possible.
So, that has been the last few months of my life. Wink
Missed ya all.
Home fires: I tried looking at new homes, but have not liked much that I have been seeing for the prices they are charging for homes. I owe 82k on my home and it is appraised at 215k. So, I am taking a loan out on the home and making some changes to it. The patio is going to be an expansion on the home, it will be a large breakfast room made mostly out of glass to add some natural lighting. This will allow me to expand the kitchen. The house used to have an attached 2 car garage that was converted to 2 rooms. There is an awkward closet in the middle that eatsup space. by eliminating the closet I I will have a clean divide that will make for a new living room and the office will have glass double doors which will open it up more. I will put a small coat closet in the current living room which will reshape it to have a foyer and allow for a nice family room/library. I will add recessed lighting . The basement is just one big open area. I will eliminate the small closet next to the small bathroom so I can install a shower stall and make the half bath a semi full bath. The basement will be divided to two rooms. One will be a utility/laundry area and be a good place to store cleaning supplies, vacuum, etc which will resolve storage issue. The other room will just be a nice play area (bar, pool table, etc. and I will keep a nice futon down there for guests. Now for the upper level. I will have the bathroom expand into my bedroom to make it larger. I want a luxury tub with a shower stall, nice double basin, mirrors, etc. Then my bedroom will encroach into my daughters bedroom to make my room larger and have a nice walk in closet. My daughters room will not only encroach, but eliminate the third bedroom giving her a larger room...with a walk in closet and a nice dressing area as she gets older. The way I am sectioning this will allow me to have room for a small linen closet in the upper level and also allow me to install a lift (i will get to that later). I will also have a 2 car garage added to the back yard, privacy fence, and a japanese style garden. From the garage I will have a small stone pathway to the breakfast room which will have a small mudroom with a coat closet on what is now the outside and lead to an open entry to the new living room.
Daddy Front: My daughter is having a rough time. She is six and I have her in counseling. She goes into crying jags at the drop of a hat. She also has taken to pulling her hair. She is very bright, very happy, but she has trouble with new things...like first grade. I wish I could explain it better, but it is hard. She has some form of anxiety stress disorder...which sounds odd for a six year old, but there it is. We still go on our once a week dates to the zoo, arboretum, etc. We have mastered shoe tying and monkey bars and are working on two wheeler sans training wheels.
Business. I almost gave up on it, but it is starting to boom! I am also finally enjoying it again. I am co owner of one company and sole proprieter of another and slowly getting some media attention. Business one is Gigastrand International. http://www.gigastrand.com . Our largest seller is the Linspire Laptop Plus. Making and selling computers online...yawn! You cannot touch Dell. Especially when you sell Linux. So we have an independant agent program. Our agents buy into the business for the price of a laptop. They get the right to sell our laptops...and well...a laptop. It is strait forward. they show the laptop, they take an order, they get a commission, the customer gets a computer. Any service issues are handled by US, not the agent. We also have incentives for the agents. They get stuff for selling so many in a certain time frame. That stuff can be a PALM, a MP3Player, or even a free laptop depending on what they sell. The other front is the one taking a major change. My original pet, Silver Strand Solutions. Silver Strand was mainly a consulting arm and IT on call service. My most lucrative clients have been training and technical writing. So, in a few days the website will be re geared to reflect that focus. It also lends itself to more speaking engagements.
I was recently quoted in a press release as an industry expert commenting on some changes in Palm Source. I may be in a webcast on server migration (not for sure yet) and in May of next year I got something REALLY big coming up that I cannot talk about yet. Add to that being on the board for Freespire and the Freely Project and things are starting to tun around. I damn near gave up recently.
Personal life? Well that part sucks. Friendships are good. being a dad rocks. I just found that I am not good at that whole personal deal. I have some health issues as well. The lift I spoke of is necessary. in ten or fifteen years, I may not be able to use my legs in the same way. To extend that sentence, I have befriended a retired Navy Seal who is meeting me at the gym 4 days a week. The goal is to not only lose weigh, but to be as strong and fit as possible.
So, that has been the last few months of my life. Wink
Missed ya all.