The Blog Of Rhian D. Block | Life In My Words

My Thoughts and Life for the World! | Rhian Douglas Block | http://www.rhianblock.com
Email: rhianATvazoom.com -- Server date is ~ September 09, 2010

Its once again time for the house updates section.  The wood floors are all re-done.  I am really happy with how they came out too.  Basically the easy way to re-do the hardwood floors was to rent a 4 disc orbital sander at Home Depot.  You have to use 3 passes with 3 different grits of sandpaper ranging from coarse to fine.  After all that is done you have to clean the floors up really well.  I used mineral spirits along with lots of sweeping with the swiffer to help get the dust off the floors.  The next step was to apply a water based polyurethane base coat to help avoid any discolorations the chemicals in the wood could have with the straight polyurethane.  I then applied 3 coats of the water based polyurethane. I didn’t stain the wood any color but if I did, the base coat would not be needed.  The whole project took about a week and a half to complete for me because of scheduling the time.  It cost me about $600-$700 to do all three bedrooms, the hallway, and the living and dining rooms.  This is a far cry from the several thousands of dollars it would have cost for some company to come out and do it. Some pics of the before and after are below.  My brother is cutting up all the quarter round molding to place back onto the baseboards for me.  Now its back to painting.  Besides doing all the baseboard painting I am also now working on what will be the office.

Figured the posting has been a bit light lately so I figured I would throw up some random MMA pics…. I have a video too although I need to remember how I converted to flash and embedded it.

If your reading the title you may be scratching your head going what in the hell is the word New York in the same sentence as Philly Cheese steak.  I completely agree now that I have been introduced to one of the nastiest sandwiches these teeth have ever bitten into. 

A couple of days ago I decided to head on over to the local Walmart to grab some lunch.  The newest Walmart to arrive in the King of Prussia area has a section right as you walk in with salads and sandwiches sitting on a refrigerated shelf.  Now I was going to purchase a wonderful pre-packaged Caesar salad although there were none left…. boo

I then made a big mistake. 

Mistake #1 - Buying a refrigerated yet microwaveable ‘cheese steak’ 

Mistake #2 – Buying a New York Deli Style ‘cheese steak’ marketed as the ‘HALF POUNDER PLUS’ 

Mistake #3- Buying a ‘cheese steak’ at Walmart

I arrived back at work with my half pounder prize and threw it in the microwave for the instructed 45 seconds.  After taking it out the sandwich was still only lukewarm.  Alright Mr. Cheesesteak so in you go for another 20 seconds.   ONLY 20 MORE SECONDS UNTIL I GET TO TASTE THE MAGICAL YUMMYNESS OF A CHEESESTEAK …… YAH!
My excitement turned into hatred when I took one bite and realized how much of a phony this sandwich was.  It was gross.  Not just gross but putrid and every iteration of the word disgusting you could possibly think of. I took a few more bites just to make sure my mouth wasn’t playing tricks on me.  With each additional bite I cringed more and more.  No more!!  The steak didn’t taste like any type of steak I have ever come across.  The bread was just doughy.  The McDonalds ketchup packet a co-worker gave me to throw on the sandwich in order to mask the awful taste didn’t even help. 

Stay away from this awful excuse for a cheese steak!  You have been warned. BARF!
Below is a picture of this creature and below that is an artist’s rendering of the actual event that played out in my mind.  Click for the larger images!

Artist’s interpretation:

Not surprisingly, this weekend involved working at the castle. When I first purchased the house, it had a really ugly electrical conduit running along the front of the stone work. Its intention was to feed an electical outlet near one of the windows for an A/C unit. Because the house now has cooling/heat throughout, this electrical outlet is not longer needed and I couldn’t wait any longer to rip it off the front.

In order to proceed with finishing up the bedroom, the electrical outlet needed to be removed so that the hole could be patched up.

Note: If you want to see more things relating to the house just click on the category House to the right or do a search for More House Updates