Well the marathon is over.  Yvonne's dad left last night and I finally got some sleep.  none too soon either - my hands are as sore as can be and covered in bruises and cuts.    Sometime back my brother John gave me a list of ways to do home-improvements.  They included (1) Do it yourself and spent a load of money buying tools and even more time and money learning how to use them while breaking everything and redoing it twice in the process.  (2) Hiring a contractor and spend a load of money and then spend a few years paying off the debt; or (3) Hire a contractor and work with them - using their tools and playing gopher.

I have a new method I'd like to suggest:  Marry a woman whose father can do anything and then have him fly up for a week.  Make sure the father really loves his daughter so he lavishes gifts upon her (like Dewalt drills).  If the father doesn't mind sleepless nights (as the swineherd said to Odysseus: "Even too much sleep can be a bore") then try and keep up as he works day and night for 6 days straight.

Alain left at 11:30 and was working up until the second he walked out the door.  That guy is a beast... he works at a frantic pace... non-stop from the second he walked downstairs till the second he walked upstairs.   [Read More... ]