Tempus Fugit

Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies

Category: Activities

  • Sanding the front room


    Sanding the front room
    Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

    Things are really moving along on Eric & Dez’s house renovation project. Lots of drywall finishing and painting happened during the week. This weekend I finished all of the wiring with the exception of some ceiling lights and some outlets etc. in the basement that are waiting for drywall. Eric and Doug put in the kitchen cupboards and Scott started the floor sanding. There have already been some long nights and I suspect that last night was a late one for Eric as he finished the sanding in order to return the rented sander by noon today.

    The sander rental was almost free in comparison to the sanding supplies. Wow, the sandpaper and backing pads were expensive and you need a lot ot them.

  • Missing the bike

    This summer I rode by bicycle to work 2-3 times a week when I went into the office downtown. With the colder and snowier weather and being a bit lazy for some reason I’ve reverted to taking the van and driving to work.

    However, the last could of days I’ve found the traffic just totally frustrating. There were no snow storms, no accidents, no road repairs on my route, just lots of slow moving traffic. On the bike I was so used to just passing by all the “parked cars” going to and from work. Now, just sitting in the van and creeping along to get in and out of the downtown core is just too slow. Perhaps I’m just getting more impatient and need to learn to relax more.

    I think not! I just need to get over the cold issue get out there. I know how to ride in the cold and have been out in -30C, you just need to dress for it. In fact, I’ve raced in many of the IceBike races here in Winnipeg. Just the other day I met up with Rob Nagy, the Veteran Icebike Organizer, and for sure I’m planning on entering IceBike #9 on February 4th, 2007. I missed #8 due to some business travel issues but manged to get down to the race course and take some pictures. I’m really looking forward to the blow-out events planned for the 10th anniversary. Yes, bring back the t-shirts!

  • Weighing In

    I’ve lost some weight over the last 10 months. Around 30lbs to be a little more specific. For quite some time only close family noticed or perhaps they were the only ones who said anything. But towards the end most people have noticed and said something. Generally. it’s been positive and I feel great about the accomplishment and I like the reflection in the mirror.

    I didn’t just lose weight, I worked fairly hard at replacing it with muscle mass. I work out almost every second day on the Bowflex and over the last couple of months I’ve been augmenting that with a targeted abs routine. This summer I rode my bike to work 2-3 times a week a 20km round trip, and I like to ride fast, which made it a good workout. So, less weight, more toned muscle – at least that’s what I think.

    Now I’m starting to hear that I might be getting too light! That I might be loosing my “presence” as a trimmer guy. This is quite a surprise. So I thought I’d look at what the recommendations are for someone my size. The first benchmark that came to mind is the Body Mass Index (BMI). OK,this may not be the be all and end all of measures, but it is one that is well respected and established.

    I’m currently 210lbs and 6′ 4″, well I may be closer to 6′ 3 1/2″, but I’ll give the BMI calculator the benefit of more height. According to the BMI calculator this puts me at a BMI of 25.6 which in in the 25.0 – 29.0 overweight category. OK, perhaps just inside the range but clearly not in the normal category of 18.5 – 24.9.  Now, there appears to be one overriding factor which may cause a higher BMI that

    BMI – Body Mass Index: BMI for Adults: About | DNPA | CDC

    • Highly trained athletes may have a high BMI because of increased muscularity rather than increased body fatness.

    I guess I could think of myself as a “highly trained athlete”, but then again, perhaps not.

    Since inquiring minds want to know and assuming my height will not change significantly, what would the BMI consider my normal weight range? Well, for 6’4″ It’s 151 to 205, so it seems that according to the BMI I still have some room to loose and still be “normal”. Hmmm, what would I look like at 150? Now that would be too much. Or would that be too little?


  • In the basement

    saw
    Saw by s2photography
    Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

    This weekend the renovations focused mainly on the basement.

    During the week Eric & Dez finished the upstairs drywall and started mudding the walls. Currently there are a couple of coats in most areas and sanding should start during the week.

    On the weekend about 3/4 of the exterior basement walls have been studded and the utility room framed up. The perimeter wiring is in place and some insulation and vapor barrier is up on some walls.

    Several bits of plumbing have been capped off or moved, and some of the reconnections are proving to be a challenge. About eight 8′ lengths of framing for enclosing the heating ducts were assembled and are ready to attach to the joists. So, quite a bit of progress in the basement and it’s starting to look quite good.

  • Bathroom Wiring


    Bathroom Wiring
    Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

    This afternoon, after church, I was helping Dez and Eric with their house renovations. Today, I was the electrician. We wired up a bathroom ceiling fan, replaced a bunch of wire, re-routes lights to different switches and roughed in the bathroom light fixture and a GFI outlet.

    Len, Darlene and Jared were there as well. Len and Jared completed the basement tile removal project and then demolished some storage cabinets at one end of the basement. Darlene had the job that everybody has done some of and hates, removing floor tiles. Ones that really didn’t want to come off at all.

    Doing the electrical work with Eric made me thing about doing the wiring at the cottage. I really enjoy electrical work, so it was lots of fun to help out. Next time, I think it’s back to drywallling.


  • Building

    Today,I send a good portion of the day with Eric and Doug at Eric’s new house doing renovations. He’s only two weeks into the project and major work has taken place. I was the drywall guy today and did the inside of the new front room closet and about half the kitchen. Doug & Eric focused on the plumbing and hooked up the tub drain, connected the shower control, filled in the cuts in the basement floor with concrete where they moved the entire stack and ran a new drain line to re-locate the washer closer to the furnace to create a consolidated utility area.A little drywaller’s confession. As I was working on a small panel that had a light switch on it, I noticed that if I cut the hole for the switch box the way it was, that there would be no where for the switch tabs to rest on the drywall, because the opening would be too big. I then noticed that there were some extra tabs on the box that we didn’t need in this application and that they should be removed first and then everything would be good. Well, after that I went back to a larger panel and noticed that I’d made that mistake there. Also, Eric came along and asked if I’d taped up, the vapor barrier behind that panel, which I’d forgotten to do. So, not being one to leave things messed up, I pried off the panel and set about to make it right. Well, that was a good thing because I’d total overlooked cutting opening for the electrical outlet for the refrigerator! I kind of wondered why the panel didn’t sit quite right when I was screwing it on in that area. Oh well, it’s all better now & drywall is fairly cheap.

    So much has happened in such a short time. The first week focused mainly on demolition, taking the entire kitchen and bathroom back to bare studs, and opening several doorways to create a more open concept feel. The place was a real mess! But now you can feel that the corner has been turned as the building and restoring phase has begun in earnest. Fresh drywall really makes you see the progress and that things are on the up swing. Soon there will be paint etc. and then moving it. Yahoo!

  • Maah Daah Hey – not this year

    Well, this is the weekend where I should be in North Dakota on the Maah Daah Hey trail biking with the boys. But, it’s not happening. We had a great run for 5 years of making the annual trips with a bunch of guys for some great mountain bike riding. The trips were always fun, and resulted in some great stories, guys getting lost in +100 degree weather, crashing and landing on a cactus and other guys (me) crashing and getting a 3rd degree separated shoulder in 2005.

    But this year, thing just seemed to work against getting enough riders to make the trip. Some had weddings to attend, some were moving, some were over worked and needed some home time. Gee, where are your priorities? This would have been easier to take if the weather was really bad because the trail is un-ridable when wet. But at 8:45am in Medora it’s 56F and sunny and the forecast high is 81F and the same for Sunday!

    What are we doing here in Winnipeg? Ugggg.

    Technorati Tags: Maah Daah Hey, Mountain Biking, cycling

  • Kiwi Critter

    As you my know, I enjoy geocaching and I was just checking up on one of my travel bug, Kiwi Critter. This little guy has been transported by stranges over 17,407 miles since he hit the road in November of 2004. He’s been around the US, crossed the Atlantic (3 times!) to Germany and is currently touring England. If you have Google Earth you can check out his travels.

    He still has a ways to go as fellow geocachers are supposed to help him get to Australia or New Zealand and spend Christmas on the beach.

  • Busy Weekend

    This weekend was a little busier that most, and we had a great time.

    Friday night was a wedding with friends, then Saturday morning we had a birthday brunch with Mandi.

    Saturday after noon was a funeral for the parents of friends who were tragically killed in a car accident. The funeral was a wonderful celebration of their lives and the impact and legacy they have left on all their family and friends. They will be missed.

    Afterwards we drove to the lake for a visit with my sister Gail, husband Gord, their son Craig (Happy 21st) and girlfriend Kim. They treated us to several wonderful meals,and good conversation. Thanks, we love you.

    While we were at the lake we got a closer look at the pirate ship and it’s crew that is marauding around the bay. Still no pictures, but more on that later.

    In one hour we will be at Cirque du Soleil and we’re looking forward to that.

  • Update: Lake – Good Times

    The reason there were no photos is that the camera was off earing a living and generating income for Eric. You can see some of the results of his photo shoots in the Hardscapes Gallery

    Lake – Good Times – Tempus Fugit

    Technorati Tags: photo, camera, hardscapes.ca, Method Media