Appliances are in new locations to make the kitchen more functional, new porcelain tile has been laid, and our new granite counter tops are in and level. Right now I’m thinking I don’t want to do this again, but I also know than in a few months we will start in on the master bathroom. Actually thinking about taking the tub out entirely since no one ever uses it. But that may get the room declared a half bath instead of a full bath.

In either case, here are a couple pictures of the finished kitchen.

The New Layout

Granite

The New Layout

It’s the end of another month and it was a productive one. Between finishing up the kitchen remodel and getting back out in to the work force I’ve been pretty busy. Here are just a few places you can read what I’ve been up to.

Dojo Radio is off and running. This month we’ve had several shows.
Episode 5: Interview with Local Search Expert Darren Shaw who talks about his new tool Local Citation Finder and Dave, Terry and I discuss issues like Google Social, Webmaster Tools, Reverse SEO and several other topics.

Episode 6: Interview with Richard Baxter who helps explain microformats and RDFa. The whole crew is here with David, Terry, Justin and me discussing other issues such as siloing, Yahoo! API updates and the always popular SEO Consumer Advocacy discussion.

Episode 7: Interview with Gabriella Saninno from Level 343 who discusses content strategy and development. David, Terry, Justine and I talk about Google’s patent for identifying search topics with limited content, Facebook Places, and aa host of other reasonably relevant topics.

I’ve recently started writing for BestCovery. My first article there is titled Best Northern Pike Lures and is obviously about one of my favorite subjects, fishing.

You’ll also find an article about the Best Saltwater Spinning Rods. A great list if I do say so myself.

Things have been starting to pop over at Metal Monster Marketing as well. I take a look at the drama surrounding Nestle and their miserable failure at using social media. And offer a few suggestions to anyone in a similar situation.

Valyn testing the first couple rows of tile	getting close	The supervisor approves
Kitchen floor and cabinets	Kitchen floor is done

I really should resize these images before posting them.. Oh well, maybe next time..

For those of you that don’t know Acid is a Nicaraguan cigar from Drew Estate. Acid cigars are heavily infused with flavors from around the world and tend to be looked at as dessert cigars by many people due to their usually sweet flavors. Personally, I prefer sweeter cigars and so far I’ve loved every Acid I’ve tried.

The Toast is a 6 x 50 cigar, about the perfect size in my opinion, and is a nice easy draw with a solid ash. I’ve read a lot of reviews that claimed a cherry flavor with a hint of popcorn, I didn’t get that at all. The wrapper is very sweet and sugar infused, but I didn’t get any popcorn flavor at all, no real cherry either. What I did get a was a bit of a sharp spice flavor. It reminded me of the ginger and nutmeg cookies my grandmother used to make. The ash reminded me of her too, but that’s a different story.

This cigar had a great flavor all the way through and smoked very well while out mowing the grass. I’ve had a lot of cigars that are too fragile to be smoked while doing anything other than sitting still so this was a great surprise. At just under $6 per cigar they are a little pricey for daily smoking, at least they are for me, but I really liked the Toast and look forward to smoking another one soon.

This cigar scores a solid 4 out of 5

Over at the HuoMah SEO Dojo I’ve written an article about Cause Marketing. Cause Marketing is a way for for-profit companies to work hand in hand with non-profit organizations in an effort to promote both organizations and enable them to reach larger markets than they would alone.

Pet Photo Pendant

Over at Animal Charms we’ve launched a new product, Pet Photo Pendants. We can take nearly any photo of your favorite pet and imprint it on metal, in color. We have developed our own process to make these pendants far better than any that we have seen before.

Also over at Animal Charms I’ve written an article called 5 Ways You Can Help An Animal Rescue. Animal rescues and charities need all the help that they can get these days, this lists 5 ways that you can help without reaching too deep in to your own pocket.

And finally, I’ve been dusting off Metal Monster Marketing and exploring ways that we can help more businesses join forces with non-profits in a way that both benefit from the relationship.

When tearing things out we discovered a few minor issues with the original construction and dealt with those as well. Why can’t people just do things the right way the first time?

The kitchen

Tear Out

Supervisor taking a break

Floor leveled and backer board going down

I’ve owned this nice Trek Navigator 3.0 for 3 days now, and other than the incredibly sore ass, I think I like it.. A few more rides to get used to riding, then a new saddle to make things a bit more comfy, and I should be well on my way to losing some weight..

Now if my wife would stop making things like Zucchini Bread I might be ok..

Total miles so far : 10.5

But first, I need to figure out what’s broken. When dad gave me the game a couple years ago I was told that it was working in the break room until one day it didn’t. Sounds about normal for pretty much anything that breaks. Right now when I hit the power switch I get a pale glow from the monitor but that’s as far as it gets. Since there isn’t any game play or sound I’m leaning towards a board issue. But this is all new to me.

So far I have checked all the fuses and jiggled a few wires, but not much else. This weekend I’ll see if I can get electrocuted playing with electricity.

Ms Pac-Man

Dead screen

Inside