Week 18 - Full frame with windows

It's been a while between full posts, so I thought I should try and get one up while I endure a hangover. Thankfully the hangover is not too bad, and is definitely mitigated by the excellent hospitality from Pete and Christine. But more on that in another post at another time.

This one is about the house, and it's fancy new frame and the dirty, dirty windows in them. They really are quite dirty.

I've actually ridden up to the site and taken pictures twice already, so I have a lot to put up.

This first shot shows a familiar view from outside the fence, where the most obvious change is the windows in the bed rooms. It was a pleasant surprised to see these in place!

This shot is taken from the front of the garage. Interestingly, the garage will not have an actual frame, it will be composed entirely of brick. on the left there, you can see the front door (right at the top of some dude's shadow..).

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Here's a different view of the entry way. I'm not sure why I didn't get a better shot of it, but for some reason I did not. I quite enjoy that the front door will have a wooden frame, and that it's got glass on either side of it. That was quite a pleasant surprise - in fact, a few things about the windows and glass generally surprised me. For example, the windows onto the courtyard were quite a bit larger than I had anticipated. I was worried that it would all be a little bit dark.

Speaking of the courtyard, here's a shot of it. As you can see, there's enough glass on it to let the light and the outside in. On the one wall bordering the courtyard that you can't see in this shot (on the right) there is also a window that pretty much is the entire height of the wall! Awesome.

Here's a picture of the window that you can't see in the previous shot.

Here's the view from the living room out to the courtyard from the living room.

This is the back of the garage from the living room. I've included this shot because this is where the TV will live! I'll be spending a lot of time looking at this wall, or rather the thing in front of it.

This is the living room, looking from the wall where the TV will be. On the left you can just make out the windows, and in the middle, what will be the kitchen. There's really not much to see in the kitchen at the moment, except for some drain holes. The kitchen is actually a bit of a mystery - we know what the bench tops will be, and have a vague idea of the layout from the footprint plan, but that's pretty much it.

This is another one of the downsides of buying off the plan. However, so far most of the things we didn't know about have turned out fairly well (the windows for example). I hope the trend continues.

This is the view down the corridor towards the bedrooms and bathrooms.

There were also a few things that weren't so great to see. The three shots above are all things that I thought were a little bit shoddy. I don't really know construction, but it seems to me that these three things at least could have been done better. Maybe it's like this in all houses, and you just can't see it.

There are lots of nails around the site - I especially like the coil above. It reminds me of Old Painless from Predator.

Yeah!

This last shot is of the last rays of sun on the park over the road. This is pretty much the view from out bedroom window.

If rap was a game I'd be MVP...

My man Macca forwarded me this today. I don't think it's entirely kosher, but I did laugh pretty hard.

HA!  In other news, I declare pub lunch a success.

The Navigation Act 1912 - Part II, Division 9 - The Discharge of Seamen

So I cycled up to the site last night (a substantial feat in itself) and am happy to report that there are frames in the windows! I jumped the fence and had a bit of a walk around my future house. I'm really happy with the size and number of windows and the courtyard is going to be an excellent place to have a party when everything's finished.

I took about a billion pictures, but don't have time to crop, resize, upload, post, etc atm. Will hopefull have a bit of time while waiting in airports and hanging around in Melbs over the weekend to select the best ones for blogging.

Today's track of the day - Mutantionz II by Black Sun Empire, off the Mutationz EP.

Are really sure you want to make that an election issue?

I've pretty much had enough of work today. Since I'll still be here a while longer, I thought I'd take a moment out before my brain explodes and do some reading and a quick post. I've been loving Google reader's "recommended" fucntion at the moment. Sure it's not all relevent, but it seems to be doing a fairly good job of finding stuff that I'm interested in. On the flip side, it probably says alot about how much Google knows about me, which is a little creepy.

Now that I think about it, they really DO know a lot about me, so I shouldn't be surprised at all that they can profile my likes an interests. They even know where I spend my days! They even know where I am right now!

Thankfully I don't really care. And it has led me to a few cool things, like Glennz Tees. I found Glennz Tees via an interview on Vector tutes+ (that Google reader recommended) with Kiwi designer and illustrator call Glenn Jones, who makes up half of Glennz Tees. I would never have come near it if it hadn't been recommended.

I really like his work, the style and the humor of it resonates well with me.

The store is full of more awesome designs that make me wish that threadless's hive mind didn't vote up so much shit that it's hard to find t-shirts I like on there. If I wasn't trying to save so much (and failing) I'd totally order a bunch of tees, starting with the one below, Living Room Legend:

The prices are pretty reasonable, looks like around US$20 for most shirts, which is comparable to threadless, and probably still cheaper than what you'd find in an Australian shop.

Anyway, I'd better get back to work. Too much to do and too little time.

PS: I really miss the spellchecker function in the blogger.com post editor!

Fully framed mate!

Just a very quick note to say that the house pretty much has a full frame now. I took some pictures on the weekend, but it's a bit hard to see the progress from the shots - will have to roam the site at some stage soon and get some better ones. Will see if there's time before the trip to Melbs.

No time to post properly...

I'm only working three days this week as I'll be in Melbourne next week. Combined with Parliament sitting, things are pretty hectic at work, so I don't really have time to post with the time and love you all deserve. Instead, here's some planning for Melbs, peppered with youtube vids.

Plans for Melbourne are fairly sketchy, but based around gigs I'd hope to hit, it goes roughly something like this:

• Thursday night my man DOS4GW is playing a gig at Bar Open in Fitzroy. Should be all skittles and beer, check out this bandcamp page for a listen of his last album. 

• Friday night Hugo seems keen to catch Gaslamp Killer, which I'm A-OK with.

Edit: after some youtube-ing, GLK is a little confusing. All the tracks that are by him on the youtube are very laid back funky things (ref "Degasse" below), but all the live stuff I can find is filthy dubstep. I'm not sure which I prefer more - they're both awesome. I'm really looking forward to this now!

Second edit: OK, found this dodgy quality youtube vid of a set he did for a BBC Radio 1 gig. Looks like it's a little form column A, a little from column B. Sweet.

• Saturday night, I was planning a civilized catch up with some friends, hopefully followed by some ridiculous bassline business by the man like Dom and Roland (a slight warning on the background music on that link - too loud). I haven't been to a decent (or even a single) drum and bass gig in a while, and I'm really looking forward to it. The latest Dom and Roland album rocks pretty hard. Check out the clip below - "Jungle Beast" for a bit of a taste.

That's just about it in terms of gigs that I want to hit. I'm really looking forward to being in a town where there are excellent gigs on every weekend! Canberra does get some OK stuff, but its few and far between, and I end up going to Sydney to catch lots of stuff. Anyway, I'd better get back to work, there is too much stuff to do!

Rainy weekend

As mentioned in an earlier post, the weekend's plans had revolved around outdoor activities. The foremost of these was a bike ride. It was Dana's birthday this week, and I got her a new bike. It's a pretty sweet bike, in a retro style and a lavender colour. It's an Electra Amsterdam original 3i

Dana's is pretty much as you see here, but it now has a wicker basket on the front for additional "cuteness". It's quite a contrast to the road bike that I ride!

The design has a dew advantages apart from the retro look, or at least according it marketing mumbo-jumbo. These include an enclosed gear system that can't get clogged up and doesn't need servicing regularly (apparently most do, which was news to me). The other is a pretty much completely enclosed chain, which means it lasts longer and you can't get your trousers dirty on it. 

The slightly more questionable benefits are the upright riding position, the big comfy seat and the forward positioning of the pedals, which contribute to a very cruisey ride. I don't know if that will be a benefit on a longer ride, but you can't help but smile when you ride it.

Unfortunately the cycling plans were ruined by Canberra's crazy ass weather. The middle of summer, and what happens? Around 100 mm of rain! It's a massively good thing for Canberra, which is as dry as a nun's nasty dessicated coconut most of the time. 

This is a drainage channel near where we live (we live in Braddon, the channel is in O'Connor). I go running (or walking) on the pathway next to it every morning. It's about 2m deep by about 4 wide across at the top. In this picture it is a gushing torrent!

The drainage channel meets up with a few others, and eventually pours into Lake Burley Griffin eventually. The Lake is artificial, created by Scriviner Dam (not sure of the spelling). There was so much water flowing into the Lake that they had to open the overspill on the dam, which looked pretty awesome.

The picture above (and all the rained out shots) were taken by a friend of mine on the weekend. It's usually dry as a bone on this side of the dam.

The rain also made for some awesome scenery.

It probably seems a little strange how much I'm going on about some rain, but we really don't get much of it in Canberra, and it's been a great thing.

It did mess with our plans for the weekend though. We found an excellent alternative - Season 13 of ER. People may diss this, but I have a real thing for it. I've got pretty much all the seasons that have been released yet (1-13) on my shelf. It's a guilty pleasure that I've taken a bit of flack for, but I care not. It's excellent.

In this season, Weaver has an unexpected career change, and the sassy ambo joins the staff as a doctor. Kovac and Abby have a baby! Pratt's brother comes out of the closet. It's all happening!

Weel 16 - partial frame

The key thing about this weekend in Canberra is that it is VERY FREAKING WET. We've had something like 85mm in two days here which has precluded all the out doors activities I was planning for this weekend. I'll post about one or two of them in a bit, but this post is about.....(drum roll please)....a partial frame!

That's right, the rear part of the house, where the bedrooms are, now has a frame.

Hooray for exposed wood! Dana tells me it's not even a thing that the wood is all exposed and wet, because it's treated pine - I'm not sure if I actually find that particularly reassuring, but there's not much to be done for it. And as should be clear by this stage, the house will have a timber frame with a brick veneer on the outside.

I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine who used to work in a design/architecture firm about wood frames versus brick (aka double brick). I came from the perspective that double brick houses must be better, because they were more solid etc. However, according to my friend, there's really no difference in terms of structural integrity, or insulation, or any of the other arguments I could come up with. He also pointed out that they had some advantages. I'd be lying if I could remember what they were now, but I would imagine saving space is probably one of them. I imagine they'd probably be a bit cheaper and easier to put up as well.

Anyway, back to the house.

Above is the view into my future bedroom. Note the massive puddles everywhere on the building site. It's wet.

This shot shows where the walk in robe will be. We were quite stoked to have a walk in robe, which I thought was a mega luxury. Unfortunately, I've since estimated that Dana's clothes will take up at least an additional wardrobe. On the bright side, at least there will be a place to put the chronically overflowing dirty clothes hamper(s).

As you can see from the two side on (ish) shots above, the front part of the frame still hasn't gone up. If you look closely at the first of the two, you can see the windows piled up in what will be the courtyard. Never fear poor windows, you'll have a home soon!

This is another unit on the site that has the same floor plan as ours (but mirrored). This one is quite a bit further on than ours. I've included it just to show what ours will look like a bit further down the track.

This is the house next door to the one with the same floor plan as ours. I've included it because it's the first indication of the sort of height the end product is going to be.

One thing I haven't included, which I will have to in the next blog post, is a picture of some of the external walls on the other units that are already along. It's good to finally see the colour and texture of the brick in the flesh - it's been a long time since we looked at the sample board. It's a fairly dark neutral tone, nothing fancy, but inoffensive.

I can't wait until the rest of the frame is up and things have dried out a little! I really want to jump the fence again and look around the unit.

Until that time, I shall bide my time and wait.

Today's blog is brought to you by the Chemical Brothers "Where do I begin". My mate Shanwise helped me share his appreciation of the Chemical Brothers back in high school, and they're still excellent. This track in particular is pretty much the quintessential Monday morning track. A quick heads up to any of the kids planning to watch the clip embedded below - it's got a few visal drug references in it. It gave me a bit of a shock while sitting at my desk at work, as it is quite possibly not something you'd want your supervisor seeing over your shoulder (innocent as it may be).

Edit: It occurs to me that it is a singular frame, and not frames. Have edited the post accordingly.

Genius

This made me laugh rather loudly at my desk.

In unrelated news, as you may be able to see, I'm trying a different format. This way media (particularly wide screen youtube clips) fit on the page much better. To paraphrase that most excellent of movies, Starship Troopers, I needed a new template. This is it until it dies or I find something better.

Helmet

I've spent the last half hour or so listening to Helmet while I wait for Dana to finish work so we can walk home (I'm only still waiting because its her birthday) and I've been rather enjoying it. It's the first time I've actually given them a listen, despite them being recommended to me a couple of times over the past few years.

I've been listening to their 1994 album "Betty" (see above for the cover art). The laid back weight of it has suited my mood perfectly, and has been an excellent accompaniment to my procrastination.

The above is "Wilma's Rainbow", the first track from Betty. Good stuff. And for a bonus, check out the below video of "Gigantor"!

I didn't actually find "Gigantor" a totally awesome listen, but the video is pretty amusing. I'm a fan of giant robots where ever I can get them.

On the subject of music, I really need to get some more on my work computer. The choices are pretty much Kyuss, Karnivool, a single Soundgarden album (not Superunknown, unfortuantely) and half of the White Album. I have no idea what happened to the other half. I need something that's all bass and beats!

Edit: So it turns out Dana isn't even at work - she's been out at some meeting and is going straight home. That's pretty much an hour wasted, if it wasn't for new music. I'll call it a draw.

Week 15 (ish)

As promised, here is a picture of the slab...

Ha! Ok really, here are some pictures of the slab.

Above is the view from the kerb

Here's a picture over the fence...

And here's a picture of the unit next door. The one next door already has a frame up and the other units on the north edge of the complex were going up on the weekend. That means we're next! We pretty much have to be next anyway, we're one of the only sites left without frames (grumble grumble).

It still looks kind of small from where these pictures are taken, outside the site fence line. However, from the inside, they look pretty good! I'll blog further impressions when the frames are up - will probably jump the fence then and have my first wander around inside my new place!

NOTE: the blogger post editor has removed the spell check for some reason. I'll try and proof read, but expect the number of speeeeling mistakes to go up.

We have a slab!

Just a very quick note to say that I checked the house on Saturday, and we have a slab! I took some pictures on the new camera, which I will post when I blog on it in more detail.

The weekend itself was a bit epic - multicultural festival and Dana's birthday celebrations dominated most of it. I'm still feeling under the weather and am gladly looking forward to not drinking again until I meet up with Hugo in Melbourne on the 25th.

In other news, Judas Priest and their giant robot stage show rock.

Jay-Z feat. Louis Armstrong - 99 Problems (Bossa Nova Remix)

This made me chuckle this morning.

Props to my man Daver for posting this up on his Clay and Motion blog (http://daversan.blogspot.com/)

Week 14 (ish) - phone pics

So I know in my last post about the house I said I wouldnt' bother putting up pictures, but I changed my mind. Here are some I took on my phone last week. Apologies for the low quality, but I didn't have my camera on me at the time.

As you can see, it's ready any waiting for the slab to be poured. It seems like its taken an age to get to this stage. I can't wait for the frames to actually go up so that I can see where the walls are and get a better sense of it.

Sydney

Just a quick follow up on a previous post - the TCV gig last week was great (John Paul Jones is a legend), and it was excellent to catch up with people in Sydney. A big highlight for me was John Paul Jones's piano interlude, which was excellent. Check it out in the Youtube clip below!

That Youtube user has fairly good quality vids of the whole gig set up as a play list with all the track names. That's actually a little bit shocking - I was expecting just crap phone rips, but the whole gig is pretty much up there and you can see and hear everything. It's amazing what technology can do, but I can see how that would piss bands off - sure its a poor substitute for going to the gig, but its also free, which makes spending $100+ for the gig a little harder to stomach.

Although maybe its not that much of a thing - I'll certainly still go to the gig rather than just watch it on Youtube, its just not the same.

Anyway, here's another video of the gig, this time of Mind Eraser, No Chaser, which I dig.

One thing I did realise while I was up there is that I cannot handle the Tekken drinking games like I used to...although I can apparently still whoop all of you at Tekken while passing in and out of consciousness.


For those less in the know, the Tekken drinking game goes along these lines. You play a modified version of champs and challengers in versus mode, where the champ has to drink when they win, in addition to staying on. While it's a litte crude, the idea is that if one person is better at the game, they will soon be too inebriated to keep winning, giving everyone else a fighting chance. Unfortunately for me, it took Rob and Brian a little too long to hit their stride.

Also did a couple of other groovy things in Sydney, like visiting the beach, catching the ferry to Manly, ate some excellent food (including sushi train, dope style laksa and a bitchin burrito), hit some shops and generally lounged around. I bought a couple of new business shirts, including a blue gingham shirt. That's right, I'm bringing gingham back.

Things that I'm looking forward to at the moment (in chronological order):

1. Leaving work today;
2. Pay day tomorrow;
3. Multicultural festival on Saturday (which will see excessive amounts of exotic food and beverages consumed) followed by;
4. Drinks for Dana's birthday;
5. Melbourne in a couple of weeks with my boy dos4gw; and
6. Prodigy in Sydney in early March.

Just build it already.

This delayed gratification business isn't working. The delay is giving me this shits proper.

Still no slab, but it should be any day now. To counteract my disappointment at this, I jumped the fence last night and checked out the rest of the sites, including one unit that is a mirror image of ours and already has the concrete as well as a frame up. My conclusion is that the inside looks a decent size. Still fairly compact in terms of the rooms, but comparable to what I have now, with more bedrooms and extra storage.

This makes me happy.

My plans on how to set the living room up look like they will work nicely, although the space will change again when the walls, roof and kitchen are in. At a bare minimum, the TV placement looks like its going to be ace. I can't wait!

We've also had some advice from the real estate agent that says June/July for completion, which gels with what we had estimated, but maybe a little later. No photo's this post. I have some, but I can't really be arsed, and they don't cover any new ground. I didn't manage to take any while I was sneaking around on site last night, mostly because the light was going and I was too excited to be breakin the law (but not in pants as tight as judas priest)...

Now that's out of the system, some other news. Looks like Massive Attack are coming to town. That should freaking rock. Looking like mid-March, so there's another gig to go to, just when I'd decided to be a tight arse again.
Time to get the hell out of the office and play some borderlands. I'm really close to finishing the damn thing, and there are some weird alien mujumbo's that need their arses kicking!