Home Sweet Home

Dear Blog,

Now I'm writing all my blog entries in DreamWeaver CS4. The design interface allows me to write some nice clean HTML without having to type <p>paragraph</p> or <a href="somewhere">Link</a> and most importantly format images the way I want them! I had to disable "Enter as Line Break" so the rest of my blog looks all messed up as of today. I plan to go back and start editting them and rereading to get that reminiscent feeling.

Well during my previous post I had some ginger and old, way overripe bananas. So I made some good eats and I always make some Iced Tea with my little Ice Tea Maker. I love cooking and I love eating. That's what makes it soo hard to lose weight around here!

Well I've hermit crabbed my life into this house. I am completely infatuated with making this the best possible that I can make it for the cheapest possible. I think I was born to flip houses, but that's another day, another market. Here are a few of the many repairs I've done to my wonderful house.

Colleen and I cleaned out a water filtration system we had with bleach and vinegar. I guess every year or two it's required to do this. But now we getting nice crisp clean and cold (or hot) water on demand! Nice!

Check out our old TV setup! Yikes, right!? Well, since then we went to rooms to go on this awesome fall sale, and we got the floor model of this excellent set. Everything reclines except the center of the main sofa, and it just completely rocks! I love it!

My bud Brett gave me this awesome computer desk. When I paint the office, this piece of furniture may be getting primed and painted black black black.

Then waterproofing the deck! Well first we have a set of dry deck pictures.

Then I hose blasted it! Notice how the water seaps right into the wood.

After some deck cleaner and waterproofing agent that I applied with this cool little garden pump device, my deck doesn't absorb the water. It just beads up on the surface. I think that's soo cool.

Colleen's parents has also given us some old items that they had in their shed that we can revive, such as this microwave.

But the restoration that has taken most of my time is this cool little dinet set that Colleen's parents gave us. Notice in the original that the table top has some rust on it, and the color of the furniture is like a faded red or orange.

I primed it, put some Rust-Ex on the table top, and painted the table top with some white enamel paint. Looking pretty cool now! Now that we are primed in the next few days, I'm going to paint the furniture hopefully a nice glossy dark brown.

And the chair padding was really thin also. So I pulled it apart to find that it was a layer of fabric, a layer of tough leathery material, and then some kind of sheep wool padding. I'm not sure if I'm going to reuse this, or just use my old pillows in the padding. I want a green that matches our walls in the kitchen as the fabric to go on our chair padding. This project may take me just a bit longer, and I can't wait to get it done!

Life at the house can seem hard, but it really is fun creating something for myself and my loved one. One day everything around the house will be done.... one day!

- E.T.

ET's Yum-Yum Pho

Dear Blog,

This entry is about my first experience making Pho. I absolutely love this Vietnamese traditional soup, and was not even remotely sure how it was made. However, I looked up some sites and recipes on the net, and I was brave enough to try. Now my pictorial story!

I split up the ingredients into two teams! The Pre-cook team, and then the post-cook team. Then I start with the Pre-cook team.

First I take my beef bones (not very good choice of beef bones my frist time around, not even bones! I hear knuckle bone is a good choice, and will try it next time) and parboil them (boil them for 10 - 15 minutes before actually cooking). I take two yellow onions and split them in half. I do the same with the 4" - 5" nubbin' of ginger. Stick them in your broiler on HI. After about 10 - 15 minutes you should have some nicely charred veggies. Your beef bones should be done too, just scoop up and scum on surface and toss that in the trash or sink.

Alright, I throw everything into the slow cooker, and I add some sugar, salt, beef broth (cause I didn't use real bones) + water, and fish sauce. I let this cook for about 8 hours in the slow cooker on low.

Ok! 8 hours have passed and I'm ready to prepare the post-cook team. I get a nice big bowl, put some rice noodles into it. Then Itake some nice steak and slice it very thin and put it in your bowl. I chilled my steak for a little bit in the freezer so it was easier to cut thinly.

Add hot broth!!! Let is set for about 5 minutes. Mix in some lime, hoison sauce, chili sauce. If you have mint leaves and bean sprout, those are great too! EAT!

My first experience was near Pho quality, but I think I screwed up cause I bought the wrong kind of bones (not bones at all, just ribs with small bones in them.). The ribs also made it extra greasy, which I could feel all over my hands after eating a bowl of Pho. Colleen and I totally enjoyed eating it, and I really want to add this to something I cook often.

New Beginnings

Dear blog,

Wow, my first night away from the Kovacs family. I moved in perhaps a day or two before Colleen is going to move in. But it's all very exciting. Like I just posted on facebook, I noticed my senses are all heightened. I hear everything, especially traffic on Clearview, although it's far away and very low. I also see and always focused on something, like the patterns on the ceiling, the color of the floor, the intricacies of the border in the room I am in right now. All very new to me, and happened so quickly. I felt like moving would take forever, and that I would have some more time. But, it just happened before I knew it. I have a lot of stuff, but I realize it's not impossible to get up and move. It's never impossible. How strange is that? Even when you feel like you are settled, you don't have to be. I sort of get that vibe when I think about my brother. He had a family, a house, some cars, and you think... OK, he's settled here in Metairie, LA. Granted there was a huge hurricane that gave him the opportunity to move, or maybe forced him to move. But I think he would have made the same decision either way, because he cares for his family and wanted them to have a good home with good education.

I really appreciate the Kovac's taking me in after the hurricane (after Colleen and I left her parent's place.. probably about 6 months after we graduated from LSU in late 05/early 06). Years kind of fly by, like you always hear, but never really understand it until it starts happening to you. I heard it all growing up. "ET, you are growing soo fast! I can't believe how fast times flys by." I heard it alot! Trust me! I thought to myself when I was younger, of course it seems like time flys by, you haven't seen me in X months. That's a long time I thought. But now I see that it is not. Especially if you have bigger goals in mind. I do! I have things I want that are not small. I don't know if I can complete them, but I want to give it a good ol' underdog try before I stop actively pursuing some of these dreams.

Ugh, but can I tell you, I'm feeling fat? I'm getting fat! I think I gained a good 8-10 pounds since I started worrying about this house and maybe sometime before that. I just stopped exercising altogether, and become a lazy pig who just sits around and eats all day. What a bad habit! Scrabble at Subway, and Monopoly at McDonald's is not helping either! On top of that, I have to go on a cruise this Monday! Way to let myself go at the wrong time, right? Anyway... I'll have all winter to make it up (I know, I know... Thanksgiving! Christmas! Cruise!) Yup, I'm screwed! I'll probably be the heaviest I've ever been in my life in 2009. I hope the heaviest in my life will be 2009... but we'll see.

Goodness, I'm writing a lot. I have a lot on my mind, I have a lot to ponder, I have many things to do.... life, whatever you have for me... bring it! I'm ready! Nothing will stop my passion for living the life I want to live. Thanks to all those that have brought me this far.... I can't wait to help others go further! Good Night! I'll post more entries later... and yeah, yeah, I know, I know... no pictures this entry... it sucks! Just like the money I lost in stocks today! But what can I say? C'est la vie! Get up, fight back!

- E.T.

PS - Thank you, Kovacs, for a wonderful 3 years! I had a blast living with you guys! I know Baby Kovacs will fill my shoes and more when he/she comes around.

Pre Forward

Dear Blog,

Well I got a whole bunch of stuff these last few days that I ordered online. These things include Laser Straight (a laser line that I plan to try to do some 3D scanning). A battery for my dell... I caved in... I wanted a laptop again, but didn't try it just yet. And then another Pre charger for my Touchstone, sent free from as a replacement our friends on ebay, 360wireless. Anyway, this charger still did not work on my Touchstone. I think I have the solution after reading some forums. I opened up the charger to see if the two pins in the middle were shorted (connected). Check! As I was closing it up, I noticed it was only 500mA, which poses a problem. The touchstone may require up to 1A (1000mA) to work correctly. So, now I just need to find a new charger (and not a new cable, like i thought earlier).

Oh, and I watched the like 4 episodes tonight of a show called Fast Forward on ABC. It's pretty cool... the whole world gets a glimpse of the future (6 months ahead), and everyone is trying to piece the future together, and maybe even try to pursue the future they saw, or completely avoid the future they saw. As we watch, we kind of get a feel for both sides... interesting show. Check it out!

- E.T.

An overdue post!

Dear Blog,

It's been ages! I guess I have to post many pictures, since I have some now! Well, first thing is first... I modded a Wii that was updated to 4.2U. Use this thread from GBATEMP, and you'll be home free. Phew! Anyway, it's been an eventful few weeks.

Colleen and I now own a home! Alright, Colleen owns a home, but I'll be living there, paying rent, and doing most of the household projects! We ordered a refrigerator, and that should be coming in next week. I did my first project around the house, but I know there are much much more left!

Let's go back two weekends ago (around the 2nd of October weekend). There was two cool things I did that weekend... first was toured the LPD 21 USS New York. Very cool stuff.

Then I went off to Brad's bachelor's party! They were celebrating in a very nice house in Pass Christian, MS. On the water, where we went fishing, had more than a couple drinks, and just had a very nice weekend.

Then after that, life's been a blur because it's been moving too fast. Colleen closed on the house on the 9th, and then we've been full speed ahead since. I helped Stephen put some wood floors in for two weekends, one weekend for his living room and one weekend for his bed room.

The first project I took on in the house was to remove a garden that was too close to the deck, and growing all around the A/C unit. So the pictures show that, one second we have a garden, later that day it's gone!

And then before we ordered the refrigerator, I wanted to ensure that the spigot on the wall was indeed a water spigot. Well one screw, one picture later, we can see that it was a water spigot... but one problem! It would not close back! Not only that, after the picture, the water exploded out of the spigot, and it was no longer a small deal! Well, I called Colleen over for support and she told me to turn off the main water line. I searched desperately in the night trying to find it, and after turning my phone to it's brightest setting and longest duration, I found the darn thing. I turned off the water, and all the water pressure slowly went away. 10 minutes later, water was no longer an issue, but the spigot still was. I ran over to the Home Depot, picked up the exact same "saddle valve" as it's called. and replaced the whole thing. Wow! What a different it made. Not only do we have a working valve again, it looks pretty too. I want all my home repairs to go like this... well without the water disaster to begin with.

I'm still living at the Kovac's for now, and excited about moving soon to my new house. Tons of adventures wait, and hopefully, tons of success also awaits! Well, good night, and hopefully you'll hear from me a lot sooner... than later!

- E.T.