1.28.2008

All,

Hope you all had a terrific weekend. Mine was well spent in the Pennsylvania house where we enjoyed a somewhat relaxing yet somewhat productive weekend. The biggest initial renovation to make the PA house rent-able is the shower. Currently there is a ghetto and grungy looking shower stall that is inproperly installed and in dire need of retirement. Maggie and I have been shopping around for a couple of months and have now decided to get the work done. We decided to replace the shower stall with a new full size tub and shower. This makes the home more attractive for renting and resale. We met with a contractor over the weekend to close in the bathroom's window, but our major task was the purchasing of this new tub. We new in the back of our mind that we weren't going to get anything expensive because we know that we'll be renting more than using, so when we found a shower with walls for under $200, we jumped. For those of you who have never been in the market for a new tub, this is super cheap with most low end models costing twice as much. We figure that if it lasts three years, than we have gotten our money's worth out of it and we'll simply replace the tub.
Having found our "Dream Tub" (and by that I mean a cheap one), we were forced into the ever so dreadful transporting issue. At first, we though Maggie's parents left the van at their house a couple of miles away, but after purchasing said tub. . .we learned otherwise. Doing some quick thinking, we decided that nobody in the area that we knew had a vehicle that could transport such a large object. Since we purchased the item so cheaply, it hardly seemed correct to pay half as much again for delivery or truck rental - so we sat on the issue. Luckily Maggie's friend Danielle came to the rescue with her Toyota Matrix. One tie down later, we had the Matrix's trunk filled with a bathtub.
Maggie had two friends (and their significant others making a total of four guests) visiting this weekend, so we entertained for the first time. Now if any of you have ever ventured into the great state of Pennsylvania than you might know that the purchasing of alcohol is as difficult as the purchasing of illegal drugs (maybe even harder). You have to go to a special beer store to buy it because the sale of alcohol is heavily regulated in PA, and here is where having a house in the boondocks becomes a problem. Finding these beer stores sprinkled in the small towns with one way streets and crowded scenery can make for a tough time (especially when you are being followed by a Toyota Matrix with a bathtub in the back. Eventually we purchased some Sam Adams from a local store and we went on our way.

That evening we cooked, ate, watched some TV, and sat by the fire. All in all, we had a nice retreat to the mountains of Pennsylvania. We shall return in two weeks on the weekend of February 9 and if all goes extremely well, we'll have a new bathtub.
Hope everyone has a good week! Happy Super Bowl Sunday ahead.
Ryan
PS - Political Points of Interest -
Senator Barack Obama wins Democratic Primary in my home state over Senator Hillary Clinton of my Birth State
President Bush delivers final State of the Union tonight.