The past few weeks here at Casa dé Hambone have seen some changes (for the better) that aren’t without

• We turned off for-fee television by putting our DirecTV account on a 6-month suspension
• We’ve not had any incoming television feed for nearly two weeks and don’t (yet) miss it
• I bought two ATSC tuners for my Media Center PC, but we took down the chimney today to which the antenna was mounted; doh!
• For the first time ever, The Wall Street Journal is being delivered
• I figure without television, we may as well subscribe to a good newspaper
• I really like The Morning Read from The Wall Street Journal as delivered by audible.com; I really wish The WSJ included this as a subscriber benefit
• I have switched to Comcast Business for my Internet and VoIP services, leaving Speakeasy after nearly 4 years
• My Caller ID now says Casa dé Hambone when I call people
• The installation was seamless and nothing in the hose missed a beat in the cut-over
• One of the strongest storms in recent history blew through the area two weeks back, leaving many in our neighborhood with between 4” and 3’ of water in their basements
• We were blessed that our flood control worked as promised
• I have a leaky gutter that seems to backup and results in a considerable leak into the basement … from the first floor floorboards and immediately above where I kept my computer and desk!
• My primary desktop and computer have relocated to the main floor in light of a leak uncovered by the above mentioned storm
• The new digs are reachable by the entire family, equating to more use and contention by all
• The new digs get way more sunlight and the breeze while I type this is wonderful
• We had a new cap poured and new flue pipes installed on our primary chimney, including new tuck pointing
• My now-empty plumbing chimney was deconstructed to below the roof line due to a 30 pound piece of mortar falling into the gangway between my neighbor’s house and mine
• New glass block windows were installed in all of the basement windows, replacing what had to be windows far older than I am
• We now have full ventilation in the basement … something we’ve never had and would have been quite beneficial back when we discovered what Hell must smell like
• I’m currently soliciting bids to put on a new roof and install new gutters
• This final point has become quite urgent given I now have a hole in my roof due to deconstructing the now-idle chimney
• Know any good roofers in Chicago?

Quite a bit to take place in less than two weeks. Surprisingly, we’re quite calm about it all. The last two major home improvement projects are new windows and a new front stoop. Maybe this time next year.

There some interesting detail behind some of the above bullets, each worth its own dedicated post. More to come.