Karen and I went out to eat last night; we went to Perkins, the place with the Big Flag. Not too bad, we had breakfast. The last time we went there, about a year or so ago, we got really shitty service and food, and we vowed that we'd never return. They redeemed themselves somewhat.
I was in bed by 20:30, completely worn out. Karen came to bed shortly after... her headaches exhaust her, and even though she got rid of it, it takes a coupla days for her to get over the after-effects.
Sometime yesterday afternoon, the power was fixed. They must've done the work on the pole, 'cause they never came up to the house. So now I have to figger out what to do...
I've got the old box connected to the power line; it's a 100-amp box, the afore-described Push-a-Matic. It's in really sad shape, aside from being outdated and completely inadequate.
And, right next to it, I've got a new (well, I put it in about 5 years ago) Square-D 200-amp breaker box. I've got it about half-way populated right now, but I'm only using three circuits on it. I've got it connected via the Push-a-Matic box, wired directly into the main.
What I've got to do is replace the Push-a-Matic with the Square-D. And to do this, I've got to turn off the power. No problem, I just need to take the meter off, right? Well, unfortunately, it's got a seal on it. As in, "It is ILLEGAL to remove this seal". At least, that's what I think it says, the seal is very old.
Normally, I ignore stuff like that. In this case, though, I have to take it seriously. Because... they might decide that the house needs a mandatory inspection if the seal is removed. If they do that, they will turn off the electricity until the inspection is passed.
And there is no way that I could pass an inspection right now. The original wiring would be grandfathered in, normally, but not after I'd changed the breaker box; it would all be viewed as new, and it's 50 years old. The only grounded circuits are the ones that I've added in the last five years... the easy ones.
So the only way that I can accomplish this safely is to remove the seal and the meter and replace the breaker box and hope that they don't notice until all of the other work is done.
Right. Not with my luck.
Well, something to contemplate while I get some other stuff done today. I'm going to work on the heating ducts and get part of the floor screwed down. Once I get that done, I can set the grill and the oven cabinets in permanently. Then I'll do a little more wiring, light-duty stuff today, some 110 volt, phone and cable. Karen and I went to Lowes last night before we went to Perkins and looked at countertops. Damn, they are expensive! But we made some decisions, and our floor plan is finally set in stone(?). We're going to have some trouble with the overheads, though.
On another note, I've got an interview with a panel of people for both the supervisor job and the radiology system manager job on Tuesday. Doug, the department director, is an old friend of both mine and the other internal applicant, and he does not want to appear biased, so there will be about six other people in on the decision.
I know all of the other people on the committee, as does the other guy, so it should be interesting.
This entry is going to be open-ended, kinda like yesterdays...
20:05...
A long and again very productive day. I got the floor leveled out and screwed down, and it doesn't squeek a bit. I also solved a big part of the wiring problem... I didn't have a good ground connection on the cooktop, which screwed up one phase of the 220. No, I really don't know how that works, but I have proof that it does...
Karen and I went on a quest for countertops, and found the type that we want... but nobody has them in stock here in town. So, while Karen went grocery shopping, I put on the old thinking cap.
First, I cut the old countertop, the one that we'd got with the cabinets, so that I could put the corner together so I could visualize it better. I had to cut off about eight feet, it was configured exactly wrong. I lined up the cabinets where I thought they should be... and then put the piece of the countertop that I'd cut off on top of them... and it was six inches short, like I'd expected.
But it looked really good except for that...
So, we've got the basic configuration working, and working well. When Karen got home she was ecstatic... and she figgered out what to do with the countertop gap, too. It's going to be a beverage station, kinda in the middle of the counter but closer to the sink.
Then we figgered out what exactly to do with the upper cabinets.
Then... we fixed a coupla steaks on the grill. Once again, excellent, this is such a cool way to cook...
And now I'm totally exhausted again, must be from lifting those doors I'm using for the
floor up and down. Well, no more of that... done with those, they're screwed down, never to be opened again.
And I just now got an idea of how to do the bar that Karen wants. She wanted something... well, unique. Like with curves and stuff. I initially told her how difficult that would be and explained why it would be so hard, and now I feel kinda stupid, for forgetting how smart I really am!
But that's tomorrow... right now, I'm gonna shower and hit the sack.