Sunday, March 01, 2009
Walkway...finally!
It's amazing what you can get used to. I had a terribly walkway to my front door. In fact, it wasn't even a walkway so much as a misguided strip of concrete nonsensically meandered around the property's edge before bee-lining for the front door. So one day I christened my first sledgehammer believing that the best motivation for a new front walkway would be destroying the old one.
And that was over a year ago. I regularly have clients over to my house and with the rains this year, that has meant forcing them to slosh through ground with the consistency of a thick milkshake. So finally got my act together (I broke down and purchased commercial task/project management software) and set up some actual timelines for completing items. Right now, I've chosen to focus on the outside of my house.
Sidebar
This is probably obvious, but I think it's worth repeating becuase it's so important. While working outside in my front yard this weekend I had no fewer than 5 people from my neighborhood come by and chat for a bit. Everyone seemed interesting in what I was doing and had words of encouragement. I think that's pretty impressive, considering my neighborhood only has about 34 houses in it. I also had someone stop by looking for a Cliff May house who wanted to come inside and see mine. If you want to get to know your neighbors and improve your neighborhood, work outside and make it easy for people to stop by.
Before
During (just lining up the pavers)
Halfway Done (pavers positioned, half installed)
This is my buddy Charlie, who offered to help for free beer and Panda Express. If you look in the background, you can see both our Subarus.
Perspective
I thought it might be fun to bring out some old pictures just to show how much things have changed. Below is a picture from shortly after I moved in (in hindsight, my friends and family thinking I was nuts buying this house was a perfectly rational reaction).
Now...
And that was over a year ago. I regularly have clients over to my house and with the rains this year, that has meant forcing them to slosh through ground with the consistency of a thick milkshake. So finally got my act together (I broke down and purchased commercial task/project management software) and set up some actual timelines for completing items. Right now, I've chosen to focus on the outside of my house.
Sidebar
This is probably obvious, but I think it's worth repeating becuase it's so important. While working outside in my front yard this weekend I had no fewer than 5 people from my neighborhood come by and chat for a bit. Everyone seemed interesting in what I was doing and had words of encouragement. I think that's pretty impressive, considering my neighborhood only has about 34 houses in it. I also had someone stop by looking for a Cliff May house who wanted to come inside and see mine. If you want to get to know your neighbors and improve your neighborhood, work outside and make it easy for people to stop by.
Before
During (just lining up the pavers)Halfway Done (pavers positioned, half installed)
This is my buddy Charlie, who offered to help for free beer and Panda Express. If you look in the background, you can see both our Subarus.
Perspective
I thought it might be fun to bring out some old pictures just to show how much things have changed. Below is a picture from shortly after I moved in (in hindsight, my friends and family thinking I was nuts buying this house was a perfectly rational reaction).
Now...# posted by Stephen @ 11:30 PM 
