TLDR; I moved from Quicken to Banktivity a little over 3 years ago and now I’m going back. I basically don’t trust the Banktivity registers and it takes WAY too much time manually inspecting, auditing, and repairing to be worth my effort. I have tracked my finances in detail since my university days in the … Continue reading Moving Back to Quicken from Banktivity (Long)
This morning, to my dismay, I found that my Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN had disconnected. It showed a little yield sign on the toolbar icon. A closer look at the panel showed me a note that maybe my account was disabled or expired. I then logged on to PIA’s web site and verified that … Continue reading Private Internet Access “Connection Refused”
I purchased this exercise bike as a replacement for my Vision Fitness E3600HRT which I used for over 10 years before it died on me. My experience with the E3600HRT and with a Vision Fitness Treadmill that I own are what led me to consider the U20. The U20, when I purchased it from Amazon, … Continue reading Vision Fitness U20 Classic Exercise Bicycle Review
It took a while to decide what we wanted to do with our lawn after the pool / patio project. The original lawn had heave issues, scarring from a water main replacement and was generally a mish-mash of unhappy fescue, crab crass, creeping Charlie and dead spots. Having a mini mountain of earth piled on … Continue reading 2012 Home Renovations – Part 33 – Landscaping
Arriving home after 5 days down South we were greeted with a VERY strong smell. I was thinking “Geez, what did the cat eat this time?”. But the answer came to us when we peeked out into the back and could see a couple of small barrels of sealant that still sitting on the patio. … Continue reading 2012 Home Renovations – Part 19 – Sealing the Deck, Start of Modular Retaining Wall
They say the devil is in the details and there are a whole lot of little details that are being dealt with both by the contractors and by Michelle and me. Final decisions have to be made for the color of the concrete and the way we want it cut – we’re doing a stamped … Continue reading 2012 Home Renovations – Part 17 – More Deck Pour Prep
Continuing to take advantage of the good weather, the guys worked on Saturday and got a whole lot more accomplished that both brings us closer to the deck pour next week and prepares us for the inspections that will be happening Monday. The remaining patio walls were all removed, here is an expanded 4 shot … Continue reading 2012 Home Renovations – Part 16 – Pool deck area ready for pouring, All patio walls removed
No shots from the existing patio today since you can’t see much change from there. But here we have a shot showing one of the trenches that were dug on either side of patio in preparation for the monolithic pour. Lanai supports will be bolted to this footing. and on the East side and the … Continue reading 2012 Home Renovations – Part 15 – Rest of driveway by house removed, Electrical, Gas and Water Returns in place
Continuing along at our rapid-fire pace, back fill and leveling around the pool has been completed. The French drain was installed behind the lanai retaining wall and the gap there was back filled and tamped The back yard has been recontoured into pretty much its final configuration. There will be a bit more done once … Continue reading 2012 Home Renovations – Part 14 -Backfill of pool retaining wall complete
I took a picture of the signs for the principals on this project, DC Enclosures and DesJoyaux pools. The site is always organized, even in the midst of rain and the chaos that naturally accompanies any sort of renovation work. At the end of the day everything is wrapped up nicely. Tarps are in place … Continue reading 2012 Home Renovations – Part 10 – First round of cement pour completed
