Let's find out exactly why flooring installers get $2 per sq. ft.

Someday I will determine whether it is a blessing or a curse my insistence that given a little instruction I can do anything. In what has become a perfect storm of activity this week, I have the first of many furniture deliveries, the cable guy, and this weekend I'm looking forward to friends from two states rolling in for long overdue visits. So, could there be a better time to get a new floor installed? I think not.

Better yet, I will do it all myself - research, measure, purchase, pick up, deliver to the 2nd floor apartment and install. The video clip of the happy lady at the flooring site made it look oh, so easy. "Simply tilt the plank and snap into place."






And here it goes. I love how the dog is less and less thrilled with the process as time goes on...

Walkway View

Here's a quick post with a shot of the view from my walkway. I have made it a habit to stop and take in the view for a moment as I head out of the apartment. I promise that the tiny spec of tan is Venice Beach and the ocean is the 1/8 inch line of gray above it.

Actual objects are closer than they appear from the lens of the iPhone.

If you know me and you're heading toward So Cal, show up or call ahead and know and you'll have a place to stay. At least as soon as the restoration of the brick hotel in the foreground is complete!


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A friend has sent you a video!

Usually when I get a message stating "A friend has sent you a video!" I delete it immediately and wonder if my spam engine is malfunctioning. However, this time it really was a friend sending me a link to a video from one of the new spat of free video services. This one was from http://www.Veoh.com and they have a good array of content both amateur and professional/broadcast. Another is http://www.joost.com which requires 3D drivers on a Windows box but promises to have most of the programming that comes with a basic cable subscription with all programming "on demand" instead of scheduled.

The folks at Joost expect you to chat back and forth with others who are watching the program in an attempt to merge the viral network and social networking with traditional TV network programming.

Very interesting segment. I think in some form most people will eventually get their programming on demand.

I've never been "that guy" before...

Ok, I'm walking the dog at midnight Saturday on the deserted Venice boardwalk. In the distance a couple lean on each other as the head back to his place or her place. A pair of likely tourists walk along, looking in vain for the excitement that packed up and headed to the city hours ago.

The two guys stop to admire Jasper, the wonder dog. I find out they're in town early for business, looking for some excitement. So, then the talkative one turns to me and asks if I know where he can "score" some weed. Then he adds, "You look like the type who would know."

I had to keep from actually ROTFL! Me, who has never successfully inhaled anything. Me, who actually had to ask what does this "420 friendly" phrase mean in these ads? while looking for an apartment in L.A. And earlier in the day I had asked the girl giving out cards what "Kush" was before I saw the telltale leaf on the logo.

Now to be fair I did have my black leather jacket, evil black shirt and underworld faded jeans on so I tried to be polite and let the guys down easy (i.e. NOT LAUGH IN THEIR FACE!) and directed them to the "medical" clinic down the way. These guys were obviously a long way from home.

Just call me Blahblah "420Friendly" yaya from now on. Gotta go, it's almost time for church.

A New Day

You never know how a day at work will go. A funny thing happened on the way to lunch the other day, I got called into a meeting and was summarily dismissed! Ten minutes after arriving at work one Monday I was back standing in the parking lot with Rocky, the head of maintenance, who was shaking his head as he helped me load two half filled boxes into my car. Those two boxes and a couple of pictures amounted to the sum total of physical assets I'd amassed at The Selling Source, Inc. - my freshly minted previous employer.

I won't bore you with "my side of the story" as I'm sure there were plenty of reasons to part ways with little ol' me. Chief among them being the old stand by, 'you see, [insert name here], we can do without you now.' I learned early in my work-a-day career that any business is better off with the attitude that no one is indispensable. Far be it from me to break a good axiom.

So, there I was, pulling out of my covered and assigned parking spot (#10), wondering what the next move would be. (as I drove off I'm sure dibs on the patch of pavement had already been completed and the new owner was idling just out of sight ready to claim the prized possession.)

Not 20 minutes before I had no idea it was about to be my turn to play!

In that moment, I got something that not many people get at any time in life and especially not at my advanced age ;). By way of a combination of a number of more or less random events I get to start over. I mean really start over. Last December I could say I was happily married for 17 years. Then my wife was taken by cancer. Over the next 15 months or so I found that pretty much all I could muster the energy to do was work - so work I did.

Anyway, back to Monday. Quickly taking stock of my situation: single, 2/3 a country away from family and non-work friends, a non-gambler in the gambling capital and a techie in a city that doesn't have much tech work. I knew I needed to get out of this place.

Fast forward three months later and I'm just getting settled in Venice, Ca with a job seven miles away in Culver City. I've changed just about everything in the last 2 years.

Married ---> single
3BR House with private pool ---> 1BR apartment (with shared ocean)
Cody ---> Jasper (ok they're both pure bred Samoyeds)
Run from the heat ---> stroll on the beach
Lots of semi-expensive cars ---> one 1987 BMW 2 door (as soon as I sell the truck)
287---> 229

And on the work front...
400 person financial company---> 20 person ".com" startup
Meeting and more meetings ---> conf. call the client and then code it yourself
At your desk 7am sharp ---> please call if you're going to be in after 11:30!
Fly to Kansas ---> bike-cycle to Culver City

We'll see how it goes from here...