Forbidden love: Logitech Harmony 700

This remote right here is the best and super-awesomest invention known to my living room.  While I could stop there, and I probably should (seriously, just stop reading now), let me count the ways that it is the best ever.

1. You can finally put away all those different remotes and just use this one.  The end.

Before if I wanted to watch TV I would need at least two remotes, the receiver remote  and the satellite remote (that also turns on the tv).  If the input on the TV had been on anything but the TV input I would need a third remote.  Likewise, if I was firing up the xbox to watch some netflix or some downloaded TV shows, again I would need three remotes.  

Not so anymore, compadre (which is spanish for "herder of remotes").  You setup the remote by telling it what devices you have, what components do what, and what inputs your components should be on.  Bam, instant awesome.  There are many different models in the Logitech Harmony line, I chose this one because it was just $60 refurbished and it did everything I wanted.

The only small issues I've had so far are there was some initial panic when it didn't work with the satellite receiver (I needed to change the receiver to IR mode, not UHF mode), and when switching from a full powered off system and doing an activity that changes the TV input, you usually have to do the activity twice as the TV is slow to start up and it can't receive the change input commands.  There may or may not be a way to change this, but honestly it's not a big deal since I know it's going to happen.

Even Amber knew how to fix the problem, though so I can say the remote is very intuitive.  I honestly kick myself for not buying one earlier.

While the wife's away: Showerbeer Vol 1

Amber had an overnight training last week which gave me some time to myself.  Aside from the aforementioned showerbeer it was a pretty mild time.  After work on Wednesday I had my first experience picking up a baby from daycare all by myself.  Me, picking up a baby!  Shattering everyone's expectations, I delivered the baby on time and unharmed.

My next pickup and delivery task was to ask Gigi if she was a bad enough dude to stay at Casa Dreese overnight, and she accepted with a lot of enthusiasm, which could have been confusing to her since I was holding her leash.  I now realize my rookie mistake.

With Gigi at the house I didn't have to worry about the cats making any sort of disturbance since half of our cat population is deathly afraid of Gigi, while the other tries to play it really cool and show the other one how brave he is.  

Since Gigi and I both share the fact that we're big both fat fatties now adays, I thought it would be a great opportunity to do the big loop around the house, which I've rode on my bike before, but not walked.  It was a gorgeous day so I figured why not.  It took us about an hour and 16 minutes to cover the 4.4 miles, which isn't too bad considering the elevation changes.

It was nice to have Gigi around to force me into taking her for walks, but at much as I love her it just further solidifies the fact that I don't think I'm ready for a dog now, nor do I think I will be anytime soon.

Drywall? More like took-you-long-enough-wall.

Contrary to my best efforts of dragging out the bedroom remodel as long as I can, I am one stinking piece away from being done hanging the drywall in what will be the baby's room.  All in all I'm pretty happy with how it turned out as a first timer.  Buddy Brian helped me with the ceiling and starting one of the walls, but since then I think I've done an adequate job not screwing it up too much.

Working by myself wasn't too bad though I could not have done it without one of these or these, I'd highly recommend them for anyone doing the work themselves.  My harbor freight multifunction tool also made cutting holes for the drywall super easy.  Maybe a little too easy, especially if you can't measure all that super good.

Tonight or tomorrow I should be getting the last piece of drywall I need and hanging it, then it's just a matter of time to get my finishing expert guy to help me out and curse me for doing such a lousy job hanging it.

Still to do:

1. Drywall finishing/sanding
2. Priming/paint
3. New pre-hung door
4. Closet jambs
5. Flooring
6. Wiring baseboard heater and thermostat
7. Hang closet doors
8. Fancy closet organizer
9. Trim, lots and lot of trim

Destination: IKEA

This weekend we went to visit Julie and Tim and take our very first ever trip to IKEA.  We had a good time checking out all the staged "rooms" in the showroom and didn't get enough time in the 1st floor that we decided to go back after we ate lunch.  At the end of the day we bought a dresser for the baby's room, a desk for the office, two lamps and some picture frames.  In contrast to the ride down to IKEA, we were all silently comatose on the way back, tired from mere hours of shopping.  Super rough life, I know.

After a long drive home Saturday night I was determined to assemble the desk while Amber played with the stroller and carseat that arrived on Thursday.  As you can see above Amos "the Shmameos" Dreese was trying out his best "I'm a baby, I swear" shtick that was oddly convincing given our levels of exhaustion.

As if disassembly of the old desk and assembly of the new desk wasn't painful enough, I bought a dump cart at harbor freight on Sunday and spent 2.5 hours assembling it.  In hindsight I really wish I would have just bought a used one that was already assembled, but at least it's done and now I shouldn't have to worry about it anymore. I was then able to slowly putt around the yard while the cart made a terrible racket bumping around over our uneven terrain, at least I know no one will be able to steal it and make a silent getaway.

Dan's Frugal Shaving Tips

As I was shaving this morning I thought I'd share some of my frugal tips for saving money while carving your face up.  As a bit of disclaimer I don't have a very full beard so what works for me may not work for you.

1. Wet shave - I shave while I'm in the shower.  This might waste water, but at the very least I find it more convenient than to shave in front of the mirror and then having to clean up afterwards, anyway.
2. Use hair conditioner as shaving cream.  I have a big bottle of suave conditioner that I've been using for at least 4 years now.  Granted, I only shave a few times a week, but at about $3 this has got to be one of the cheapest ways to shave there is.  It's not as full as it once was but I'm pretty sure I can eek this out another year or so.
3. "Hone" your razor blades using your arm hair, as shown by the creepy old naked guy in the video below.  I know this sounds really weird but I've been doing this since I bought a new pack of razors and it honestly seems to have really helped.  I'm guessing that since hair is actually very tough (which is why razors don't last that long), stroking the blade against the tough hair hones the edge of the blade.  I suppose I should qualify that using your arm hair means running the razor down your arm in the opposite direction that you would to shave it.  Please don't yell at me when you shave your arm hair off.

There are other ways to shave cheaply (as in cost of the blades - but there does seem to be a bit of an up front cost), and some dudes really get into it and become these "shaving ritual fundamentalists", it just seems like way too much hassle for me.