Medal Watch

British Olympics are go.

Tarafied

Tara comes for a visit! And like all of our dogs, promptly falls asleep. Maybe it's something in the water here.

Paperless Paper

Irony is the phone book company wasting paper to tell you you've opted out of wasting paper. (This was hanging on our front door.)

Prize Cluck

Mari explains it best.

Nice And Hot

We've used Lee Company for everything to do with heating, plumbing and electrical since we moved here. Sometimes we question if we shouldn't get second opinions or look somewhere else, but whether or not their prices are competitive they've always had great, friendly service. (And I'm not saying the prices aren't good either, it's just we've never tried to find an alternative so we don't know.)

Today they proved it again. They came out and removed the old tankless, plugged all the holes for it, ran new pipes, new gas, new electrical, and mounted a completely new outdoor unit. It took two plumbers, an electrician, and the manager. All for free to make up for the saga we've been going through. All today so we wouldn't be out hot water.

That's how you make loyal customers for life.

Check Mari's blog for similar thoughts.

Four Is Enough

We had a pretty big storm last night and guess what, no hot water. I went outside, looked under the house. Yep, it flooded AGAIN.

To recap we had our tankless water heater put in March of 2010. The tech told us putting it in the crawl space under the house was the best location. Here is what it looked like.

Then in May of that year we had the Great Nashville Flood which swamped the crawl space and destroyed the unit. We asked if it should be there, were told it was a once in a century flood and wouldn't happen again. Repair was was covered, unit fixed, life moved on.

Then there was another storm in June, crawl space flooded, unit wiped out. This time we had to pay to have it fixed and it was not cheap. Asked if it should be moved, were assured it was a fluke (this was not very long after the flood, I think the excuse was something about the ground still being saturated or something.)

Then in August (still in 2010 mind you) the crawl space flooded again. Needless to say we were not happy, and the resolution was if we would pay to have a sump pump installed, Lee would fix the unit free.

So now we're at heater number four. I am fairly livid. Went straight for a manager. We'll see what happens.

Foreshadowing

I admit this is cheating a little, because I didn't take this picture until tomorrow.

Anyway, we got this in the mail today (tomorrow), and didn't think anything of it until tomorrow (today).

You'll see what I mean tomorrow (today.)

I went all Star Trek 4 on you there.

Musical Chairs

So I've been puttering around with the idea of learning to play guitar, no aspiration of greatness, just something to do for myself. My sweet, always supportive wife surprised me with this as a final birthday hurrah. Now the only musical instrument I've really tried to learn was the saxophone in grade school and that did not go well, so I'm giving it a 50/50 chance this turns into a maker of music or a six-stringed dust collector. Time will tell.

The Ville

I'm usually the one driving when we go past downtown, so I don't get a lot of chances to take a picture of it. Dad was at this point, so here it is. Seeing how unimpressive the shot turned out to be, I think I'll stick to driving.

Heading Nord

Mom loves Nordstrom and they were having a big sale, so down to Green Hills we went. Kind of an extended birthday type deal.

Cascading Away

Continued the tradition of going to the Cascades Cafe in Opryland Hotel for the fantastic marlin dip, but it just wasn't that good. To start with the marlin dip is no longer made of marlin, it's now mahi-mahi. I like mahi-mahi, but now the dip tastes a lot like tuna fish, and I can get tuna fish a lot cheaper and closer to home. The entrees didn't blow us away either, so we've decided it's time for a new tradition. Something probably revolving around whoever makes the best hummus in town.

The Family That Reads Together...

My folks are in town for a few days, mostly because my Dad has a business meeting on Monday, but also to celebrate the combined birthdays of Mari (the 9th), my Mom (the 11th) and me (the 15th). If there was ever any question where my love of reading comes from...

Public Defacer

Sometimes the clients of the Public Defender across the hall from us (who we also support) are less than happy costumers. These are the wood panels that we have in all the elevators, someone ripped one off the wall and wrote 'Suck It" in sharpie. I'm actually surprised it wasn't some other choice four letter word. Our building managers, being committed to keeping our building in tip top shape, later covered it over with duct tape. Classy.

Farming For Pizza

There's a new pizza place in the Farmer's Market called Bella. They brick fire cook your pizza right in front of you, it's kind of fun to watch it bake, and the end results are really, really good.

Flower Girl

Happy birthday!

Chaffin's Dish

Checked out Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre for Mari's birthday. Though instead of dinner we went to the lunch matinee of "Fiddler on the Roof." Food was above average and the show was really good.

Retreading Space

Big fan of Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson but I picked the wrong book of his to start of with. This was less his thoughts on space and more a retread of various speeches and interviews he's given put in book form. Interesting, but not what I was wanting.

WOTM

July. He's not moving, those are heat waves.

Equality

Mad gets a little blog time, balance in all things.

Say No To Alliteracy

Purchased portable petite pickle packs proclaimed "picklicious" per package, perhaps presumptuous?

Parenthetically, pained pup perfectly prosperous presently.