Greg Moore

Category: Home Life

  • Fitting In Today

    Shakespeare pondered “to be or not to be, that is the question.” Most of us in tech today ponder this same thing, but in the context of to be a tech or a manager. Most of us got into technology because we loved something about it. For some, the thought of coding day in and…

  • Burnout Hobby

    One of the things I love about being a full time student while working full time is that I have no excuse to be “bored”. Yep – none at all. I get to have a list of to-do’s that is perpetual. So how is it then, after the homework is done, the day at the…

  • Nesting: Guys do it, too

    The routine of a pregnant woman often includes Nesting – preparing the home for the child that’s coming. Oh, my wife and I are expecting our first child. But, that’s not the point of this article. Yes, we’re excited. Yes it was a bit of surprise, but not that much of a surprise. Back to…

  • Martin Luther King Jr.

    Growing up the way I did, I’m unfamiliar with the world as it was back in the days that Martin Luther King Jr. was alive. His dream of a “Color Blind” nation is as much of a reality to me as anything. I pause to reflect today on the progress that has been made in…

  • SMB IT will never die

    The Cloud. It’s all the “future” of technology according to many. What these doomsday prophets fail to include is a little bit of market research. How we use technology in our personal lives and businesses is as unique to each as anything else. I don’t use Outlook or Gmail the same way as the next…

  • Simple Biscuits

    Ah, biscuits. The most basic bread. A ‘quickbread’ as some folks like to call it. I simply call them delicious. 2 c all purpose flour 3 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 tbsp sugar (recommend evaporated cane sugar) 1/2 c (1 stick) very cold butter cut into 1 tbsp squares 1/4 c melted butter…

  • Summer Dinner

    Traditionally, most folks will associate summer with lighter fare for dinner. It’s hot, so nobody really wants to pig out on huge meals. I’d like to suggest that, with everything in life, there is balance to be had. Summer is also grilling season. Frankly, I’m having a hard time finding anything I can’t cook out…

  • Visting the Farm

    Today, Betsy and I traveled about an hour outside of Portland to visit family in St. Paul, Oregon. If you’re not familiar with the area – it’s largely known to us city folks as the place where the internationally acclaimed St. Paul Rodeo is held every year in July. Yes, this is outside the Metropolitan…

  • 6/6/2010 – Moved in (for some time now)

    At the request of Aunt Connie, I thought it might be good to post a few pictures of our house. We’ve been moved in for some time now. I just neglected to take pictures and share. Silly me!

  • All moved in!

    So, it’s been a few months since we last posted anything. We’ve been busy getting ourselves moved in and settled. We moved on September 3rd. It took movers 4 hours to unload our storage unit and unload everything into the house. Amazing! Both Betsy and I had forgotten how much work setting up a house…

  • 8/22/09 – Done

    It’s done. We just completed the blue tape inspection yesterday. Our home inspector said that this house is the best quality new construction he’s seen in his entire career (over 2000 home inspections.) Pretty cool. Makes me feel really good about living here for the next 30+ years. You’ll see lots of little blue tape…

  • 8/20/09 – Update Lite

    Okay, so it’s been a week+ since the last update. My apologies. There’s lots to share! We’re in the final throws of getting the financing done and the final punch list to the contractor. In a fortunate twist of fate, I’ve also picked up quite a bit of side work that’s kept me busy most…

  • 8/16/09 – We have a yard!

    Our yard is in – grass and barkdust. It looks really good. As we suspected, they didn’t completely understand what we wanted on the slope in front. Geoff assured me that he’ll correct it.

  • 8/14/09 – Landscaping prep

    The landscapers have been busy, putting down fresh soil (I assume full of fertilizer) for the sod to be set on top of. We’re a little concerned that they didn’t quite understand what we wanted in terms of lawn in the front, as the dirt they put down doesn’t cover the entire slope. We’ll see…

  • 8/13/09 – More goodness!

    It’s getting so close to being done, I can almost taste it! Okay – here’s the rundown for today: The Electrician has finished up his topping out (except the fireplace switch – which we just discovered was finished over! Hahah.) Drywall guys came back to do the first pass on fixing issues – mostly spackling…

  • 8/12/09 – The Finishers went to TOWN!

    This was one of those days I was warned about by our GC that would make me exclaim “Wow”. Here’s what we found today: The porch is darn near complete, and it sure looks amazing! Base trim is in along the bottom of all the cabinetry. Landscaper stopped by and started clearing stickerbrush and trimming…

  • 8/11/09 – Carpet Completion

    Not bad – the carpet guys finished in 2 days. It looks amazing. I think we did good on our choice of color and pile height. It was nice that we had some choices to consider. Many spec houses go for the lowest quality carpet to save money (same is true with light fixtures). The…

  • 8/10/09 – Carpet & Grading

    Mmm. The smell of new carpet. It never gets old, quite frankly. If I could pay to have my house re-carpeted every few years, I would. Okay, I know it wouldn’t be sustainable, but come on, it’s a fantasy! The carpet guys got started, but didn’t make much progress save installing most of the tack…

  • 8/7/09 – Tile finishing, Deck progress

    The tile guy was back in finished the backsplash up to the vent-hood. I can’t tell you how pleased I am with how that turned out. They also did a great job finishing up little details on the tub surround and the master shower. The decking makes more progress today and Greg started on the…

  • 8/6/09 – Couter finised, Porch started

    The kitchen counters are finished and the front porch started. Greg, the decking/porch contractor is AMAZING. He’s taking his time making sure that this is a work of art that will last decades.

  • 8/5/09 – Plubming and finishing

    Plumbing is one of those disciplines I have a great deal of intrigue and respect for. The movement of fluids through a structure is one of those things that I think we all take for granted. It wasn’t long ago that indoor plumbing was a luxury for the rich. Today, it’s fairly inexpensive, but still…

  • 8/4/09 – More electrical, plumbing and DATA!!!!

    This may be my FAVORITE day yet! The data wiring has been terminated at all locations!! Check out the interesting data panel location in the closet. I know, it’s geeky – but how many people have a CAT5e network going to every room in the house!? One thing that’s kind of funny, and I won’t…

  • 8/3/09 – Lights, Electrical

    Most of the light fixtures went in today. There are a few more left and everything will get lamped with high-efficiency 2nd generation compact florescent (they don’t flicker or have that awful unnatural color). We picked all the fixtures over a 2-hour visit to Globe Lighting a few weeks ago. Fortunately, Betsy and I agreed…

  • 7/29/09 – Painters are back!

    The painters are hard at work with trim filling, painting and what appears to be sanding (for a smooth finish). The banister is looking great! Better than we could have hoped for. Same with the fireplace. Just amazing how it starts coming together when the painting happens!

  • 7/27/09 – Wally

    So, in a sad twist of “I didn’t think of that,” we are ending up with a retaining wall on the narrow side of our lot, constricting passage to about 28″. Sadly, if you change the grade (regardless of if you’re up or down grade), you get to build the retention system. It’s fair, but…