At the end of August, a very large storm went through the area. It ended up causing a lot of damage in the surrounding area, including structural damage and downed power line and poles. As it turns out, a tornado was also in the area and cause lots of damage, including loss of life, along the highway.
Continue reading “Shed Adventures”The Year 2023 so far…
It’s been a while since my last blog post – to be expected I guess…too busy living life to stop and write about it. But we are halfway through the year, and I want to catch you up on what’s been happening in our lives. Let’s go!
Continue reading “The Year 2023 so far…”Christmas train comin’ at ya!
Ah yes…it’s that time of year again. Time to decorate the house…trim the tree….wrap presents….and, oh yeah, ride the Christmas train! Choo-choo!
A roof over our head…sorta
In 2018 we re-sided the house. As part of that, we added a ledger board to the back of the house – the future home for the deck that would be built in 2019. When we got around to building the deck, I had the idea of building one without a railing. Because the deck was going to be relatively small (essentially 12’x12′), I didn’t want it to feel claustrophobic with a railing. On top of that, because we have such a large expansive back yard, I wanted the deck to feel open – one of the main reasons I went with 10′ wide steps. It took us a while to get actual patio furniture, something we did this year (2022), but even without the furniture, we’ve gotten a lot of use from the deck. The biggest problem however has been the sun.
Continue reading “A roof over our head…sorta”It is the year 2022 – A check-in
Wow, it’s been a while since my last blog entry. A lot has happened since the last one…let’s try to cover some of that.
Overhauling the house flooring
When I purchased this house back in 2016, I knew the flooring was eventually going to have to go. Initial pictures of the house when i found the listing showed that it had a somewhat dark brown stained hardwood flooring. When I toured the house, the current homeowner was trying to update it a bit, and decided to sand the flooring and overhaul it themselves with black stain. Upon taking ownership of the house, I literally had a weekend to seal it – the previous homeowner didn’t even get to that. In the end, its was a black hardwood floor….which would have looked OK if it had been done right, it wasn’t. So because of that, I knew I would eventually change out the flooring, and over the spring and summer of last year, I did just that. Ripped out the old and put down the new. I have a lot of photos of the process, but I’ll include just a few here.
Continue reading “It is the year 2022 – A check-in”HTML5 doesn’t have that? Hey, there’s a custom web component for it!
I’ve been on a custom web component kick for the last few months. Why? Let’s go into some background on that…
MSU’s College of Natural Science is currently in the process of migrating from one CMS to another. The reasons for doing so I won’t go into, but the process has revealed the need for some custom functionality that won’t be in the new CMS on Day 1. At this point in time I haven’t had any training on the new CMS, that is actually coming in the next month or two, so creating custom functionality in our new system isn’t even an option for me yet. So, I’ve had to turn to custom web components.
That camping life…
I grew up camping with my family, so it’s still something I’m interested in to this day. We started in a tent, but quickly moved to a travel trailer when I was a kid. Throughout my childhood up through my teenage years, we continued camping all over, but mainly in Michigan. The trailers came and went as my parents continued upgrading and ultimately moved to a 5th-wheel. One of our favorite places to go every year was the Mackinaw Mill Creek Campground in Mackinaw City, MI. We would go over Labor Day with my grandparents (on my dad’s side). Even when I was older, and the family camping stopped, I managed to go to this campground with my grandparents the very last time they went. There are a lot of great memories there for sure. The picture below however, is not one of them. This is a picture of teenage me in my apparent self-described “badass” look, sitting outside with my grandparents, eating something while wearing an Outback coat. Cool huh? 😂
When you want to fill the space…CSS Grid it!
Graduation is upon us once again in higher education, and for another year, it is taking place online (though there are some in-person ceremonies for those that would like to attend – while social distancing of course). What does an online graduation celebration look like? For the College of Natural Science, along with many of the other colleges on campus, it looks a lot like a custom website. Let’s take a look at one specific feature of the NatSci graduation site, the use of CSS Grid.
Daughter
You’re the joy of my life,
You’re the sparkle in my eye.
When I’m feeling down, mad or upset,
Your laugh, your smile and your hugs brighten my day.
You amaze me with your intelligence, curiosity and wonder,
And your personality is one all it’s own.
Daughter, you’re the greatest gift I could have ever asked for,
I love you with every fiber of my being, with every ounce of my heart.
Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man…
Have you ever seen that movie? It stars Micky Rourke and Don Johnson, the latter of which would have been better off staying in Miami. The movie is ridiculous, but the opening sequence is phenomenal. If you’ve never seen it, give it a watch here: