It never ends (but at least we now have something shiny)

The previous owners of our house, the adult son and daughter of the previous resident, were very much unlike people one is often warned about when buying a house.  They were both quite open about the work it would take to maintain the house as well as many of the problems they knew to exist - and they definitely didn't sugar-coat anything.  One of the things they mentioned, and that we've since been able to confirm, is that the people they hired to re-enamel the bathtub didn't do a very good job.

Soon after we moved in the new coating began to peel from the side of the tube.  As is common with these things, the area began to grow and grow.  Eventually a second location began to peel.  Eventually, each bath would lead to several square inches of peeling.

It became clear that a new re-surfacing was in our future.  Of course, given the life-span of the last refinishing I wasn't too keen on rushing into another round if it was not going to even last 2 years.

Fortunately, we learned that the previous re-surfacing was done by a fly-by-night operator and not the main re-surfacing company in Regina.  The main company in Regina has a reputation for good workmanship and has resurfaced the bathtubs of friends in the neighbourhood.

So yesterday, after 2 years of an ever worsening bathtub we had it resurfaced again.  Amazingly, the whole process - including stripping - only takes the better part of a work day.  So now that we've let it dry overnight we should be ready to use it at any point today.  

I can't wait to test it out later today.

Cameron - 4

Neil - 0

A Few Quick Notes 421

-Though I worried we might have some precipitation yesterday it seems that we seemed escaped unscathed. Unfortunately, we weren't quite so luck today. Not only has it been overcast all day, there have also been a number of periods of rain/precipitation.

-On Saturday Neil and Rebecca noticed that there were protestors walking around Cornwallis park. On Sunday I saw quite a number of protestors in the same location.

At the time we couldn't quite figure out why there were so many protestors. Eventually it became clear that much of this activity was likely related to G8 meetings that were scheduled to take place nearby.



Early this afternoon Neil and I tried to head to Pier 21 to see if we could see the protestors in person, but we wimped out once we saw how far we would have to walk through the rain to see them.

-Last night I had the misfortune of encountering a rather unpleasant bathroom fail.

As I was walking into the bathroom at the library I happened to pass an exiting janitor just as I encountered a rather overpowering stench. The janitor was trying to tell me something about someone "doing the South Park episode." Just as he said "it's not too bad now" I caught a glimpse of the middle urinal and noticed that someone had defecated in it. Classy (almost as classy as me telling the internet about it).

-Yesterday I had the pleasure of speaking to one of my profs about arranging a meeting about my upcoming comprehensive exams. While we were talking we somehow ended up on the topic of political biography. She highly recommended a multi-volume biography of Lyndon Baines Johnson by Robert Caro. Anyway, I am hoping to have something of a dent in at least the first volume by the time of my meeting in about two weeks' time.

-Yesterday I noticed that my banana plant, which has been growing quite rapidly of late, has sprouted a new pup.



This time I am going to try to leave the pup alone until it is actually large enough to transplant (instead of just killing it by transplanting it too early).



-We are hoping to get some Settlers in tonight. Should be fun.

Fixtures, of the bathroom variety

Just a few days ago I had to visit a doctor's office to pick up an x-ray requisition. Before heading up to the office I stopped by one of building's public restrooms. Once in the restroom I noticed that the building's designers either really wanted each male restroom to have a urinal or that they didn't really have a sense of privacy. In case you are curious, this basic set-up exists in more than one of the building's bathrooms (which makes it all the more impressive).



A few weeks ago, though I don't really know why or how, the subject of bidets came up in our apartment. Eventually Rebecca even sent me a "how to" article on bidet use (though they are still a bit of a mystery to me). Given the recent discussions and my continuing failure to understand why they exist I was a little surprised to find one in bathroom just off of the x-ray waiting room at the local hospital (where I was getting the x-ray associated with aforementioned requisition). Given their rarity and that many North Americans don't seem to know how to use them or why they exist, I wonder how many times these bidets are misused in the hospital context. It seems that having such a fixture would just be an invitation for trouble, particularly given that as you are in a hospital you know that some relatively high number of people are likely a little bit more out of it than usual. Though I was thinking of temporarily creating a fountain with this bidet I settled for just taking a photo.



To finish this theme off, while I was having my x-ray taken our apartment's bathroom was having its faucets examined for leaks and a new shower head installed. While these aren't really fixtures, I think that they qualify as related.

A Few Quick Notes 342

-I think that today has been the hottest day of the year. At times it was at least 30 degrees and, supposedly, felt as though it was 38. Amazingly, for at least the past six hours it has been 30 or higher.

-Many of you likely won't be surprised to learn that I haven't been finding this heat particularly pleasant. Aside from spending much of my day sweating rather profusely, I have also been rendered somewhat less productive because of the conditions. Fortunately, I was able to get some work in before the sun made my bedroom workspace unbearable. Now that evening is approaching I am hoping that things will go back towards a reasonable temperature and that I might be able to head back to work.

-A few days ago I was able to harvest a few more pea pods and two beans from my balcony garden. As with the first batch, these were used in a beef stir-fry.



Just yesterday I finally made my first leaf lettuce harvest, just in time for Neil to use it with the burgers we had for dinner. I think he may have killed off the rest at some point today.



I am expecting a few more pea pods, some beans, and more lettuce to be ready in the near future. As you can see, the tomatoes are still a ways away from being ready to harvest (the water melon and pepper are even further away).



-Yesterday evening we acquired a new shower curtain. Shortly after it was installed I decided to test one of its more prominent features.



It seems to work, though it does feel a little bit narrower than our previous shower curtain. Hopefully water seepage won't be a problem.

-It has been a few days since I last did a full balcony garden run-down, and it seems that it may be a few more still, but I thought that I would try to post a photo of the overall progress. As you might be able to see, things are definitely growing well. I am just hoping that I don't run out of season before all of the plants finally reach maturity.



The largest change that is likely noticeable in this photo is that the tomatoes are no longer all next to each other on the brick rail. Unfortunately, over the last few days the plants have become tall enough that they are now collapsing under their own weight and have had to be moved to locations that provide some support. Two of the pots are resting against the rail while the other two have been crammed in corners. I am hoping that this solution will get me through the rest of the summer, though I am a little worried that eventually even this will not be enough.

New Power Shower

Yesterday we had a plumber examine our shower, though I am not really sure why. The main result of this visit was that the flow restricting devices seem to have been removed. Showering is now a very different experience.

One of the first things that I noticed is that there is much more air displacement. The shower curtain appeared to be blowing in the wind, or more accurately sucked into the stream of water, once it was turned on. The downside of this pressure increase is that it is harder to keep the curtain next to the wall and therefore the water inside the shower area.