Hot water should never be taken for granted.

Since last summer, we realized that the hot water heater which came with the house was on its last legs. The amount of available hot water was decreasing each month. It required regular flushing due to internal corrosion. I had our regular HVAC guy come in earlier this year, but we weren’t ready to bite off the quote he provided. It was just a lot of money.

On the way home from shopping, we decided to check out our local Lowes. They had some decent hot water heaters, and install costs were just $299. We signed up.

Of course, the usual rigamarole occurred — long waits for a contractor to come out and do the initial inspection/measurements, miscommunications on dates, switch from plumber to another, etc. Also, the cost would jump up significantly as we found out we’ll need additional work to move up from a 40-gallon tank to a 50-gallon tank.

Did I mention that on the day of the install, as I was driving home from work midday to meet the plumber, I got a call from him to warn me that the hot water heater I had selected was likely too big for us to accommodate? And did we want to select a smaller (and cheaper) alternative, or take our chances with the bigger tank with all the bells and whistles?

In the end, we downgraded to a cheaper tank with a smaller footprint that wouldn’t be too high, and it was ultimately the right decision. Phew! The heater installation took a little more than an hour, and is working fairly well.

Yea, clean hot water that lasts more than two showers.

For many years, our dining room furniture consisted of a simple round table and four chairs that my future-wife bought me as an apartment-warming gift back in 2002. It’s stood the test of time against three cats, two children, one move, and multiple house parties. However, the time had come that we’ve outgrown this little table. Probably the umpteenth time we had more than two guests over, and I had to sit on the stairs to eat.

Cognizant of the costs to purchase a new dining room set, and since she has been looking to find one she liked for years, my wife was happy to find something she liked on Craigslist. This married couple rarely used theirs, and were looking to get rid of it. I went by after work one evening to check it out, and it looked great. Pretty good condition, six chairs, a built-in leaf for expansion, and a china cabinet. Have I mentioned that our wedding china has been sitting in our basement (or storage) for 8 years?

After making arrangements, my brother-in-law Robbie was a good sport and came with me to rent the truck, and help me move the furniture to our house. A note on the rental truck process — 6 years later and the reservation process still sucks. I’m still scarred for life after spending 12 hours back in 2005 worried that we wouldn’t be able to find a truck back then. In 2011, the information on the Budget Rent-a-Truck website is still meaningless and inaccurate. To be safe, I called a few locations, and no one had the size of trucks that the website said were available. I eventually located a storage facility in Trenton that could rent me a 16′ foot truck for $29.95 a day plus mileage, but that’s after calling place after place.

The move went off without too much of a hitch, except for when we went on a wild hunt in the truck trying to find a nearby branch of my bank in that part of NJ to get cash to pay for the dining set. We efficiently loaded up the truck, sat for a quick bite at a nearby McDonald’s, and drove home. Got gas for the behemoth, unloaded the furniture in our house, I gassed up the behemoth again, and returned the truck before 4pm.

We got the table and china cabinet together, and it looks good, so we’re pretty happy.

Our friends Sunil & Ligy hosted an Onam party at their house Saturday night. Onam is what I refer to as the “Malayalee Thanksgiving” because I believe it’s some sort of harvest festival celebrated in the southern Indian state of Kerala. You have to dress up in traditional clothes, eat on the floor, with your hand, off of a banana leaf. It’s all very cultural.

I, of course, being some sort of ABCD, do not celebrate the wonders of Onam, nor do I eat off of banana leaves with my hands. Call me a heathen, but we’re way past my comfort zone. Still, I’m generally up for almost anything. It was a good time, but I was the lone exception when it came to dining. I dressed up, but I was happy to sit on a chair, eat my dinner on a plate, with a fork. I was also happy to change into my regular street clothes after all the requisite group pictures were done!

Sample picture below, but I’ll work on getting others in my hands and posted for your Onam-viewing pleasure.

I'm all dressed up in a mundo

Hey, who thought it would be a good idea to make an expensive phone out of slippery glass? A bunch of geniuses at Apple.

I had to make a quick run to the Indian grocery store this afternoon, as my wife was cooking up two dishes for this party tonight. I was wearing gym shorts, and had my iPhone 4 in my pocket. As I opened my car door in the strip mall parking lot, I felt/heard my phone slip out, and watched it crash to the ground. It landed face up, so I was initially relieved. Sadly, the back was more than just scratched — it had cracked and shattered. Luckily, I had the phone case in the car to cover up the broken (and sharp!) glass. You know, the case I bought in case I ever dropped the phone, but had stopped using because I’m an idiot.

I got home after grocery shopping, and looked up how to get it fixed. Turns out, it’s relatively cheap and easy to replace the either the front or back. Replacing the front is more time-consuming, but not impossible. Replacing the back requires removing two screws with a special mini Philips screwdriver. I ordered a replacement back (and screwdriver) for $6.70 from an Amazon affiliated retailer. I also ordered another phone case.

Seriously, a glass phone?

I was standing in the supermarket checkout lane, and couldn’t resist checking out what ridiculous headlines were featured in the gossip rags. I saw this magazine cover below, and still can’t believe people read this trash. Somebody threw out their wedding cake — trouble? Who the Hell cares? I suppose some people do, since these publications stay in business, but it just seems so…. immature.

Inquiring minds want to know: Joel, how are you recovering? Here’s the latest update, in a nutshell.

I decided to see my regular physician yesterday to get checked out. The overall pain has decreased, but I almost feel that the tailbone pain hasn’t decreased enough, my left knee and ankle still hurt, and my right wrist hurts more these days. After an exam, it appears I’ve developed tendonitis in those specific joints, including my right wrist. The inflammation started up, and it has not properly healed. In addition, my tailbone is either severely sprained or has a micro fracture.

Next steps? Continue taking naproxen as an anti-inflammatory, get a wrist splint to keep my wrist from making wacky movements, and no physical exercise for the next 6-8 weeks.

That’s right, it is official. My 2011 cycling season is over at 396 miles. I beat last year, but I so wanted to reach 600 miles this year. Furthermore, no gym time — no stationary bike, no treadmill. Argh.

Yesterday, we went to Jon & Nicole’s wedding. Well, to be accurate, we had a lot going on, but we eventually met up for the wedding reception. Today was one of those busy parenting days sitcoms make fun of.

Lily had dance class. They both has soccer games at 1pm. We had a wedding with a break of a few hours in the middle before the reception in Pennsylvania. The kids were sleeping over at my in-laws’ place. Everyone needed to take a shower.

After taking Lily to dance class, Namita went to the wedding. I took the kids to their respective soccer games, walking back and forth between both fields. After hosing off the kids, getting them packed, and dropping them off, I got ready, and my wife was back home. We hightailed it to Bensalem, PA, for the wedding reception. Very nice program, but too bad our camera batteries weren’t charged. I’m trying to get some pics from another friend. I think we got home after midnight.

Nicole & Jon cutting da cake

10/5/2011 Update:

See, we DID attend the wedding. I posted two additional photos (besides the one below) to the 2011 September Photos gallery. Thanks to Shannon for sending these over.

That be us, purplying it up

I bought my first external hard drive. Yes, my FIRST external hard drive. I’ve been backing up to a secondary 250 Gb hard drive since 2006 (since the HDD crash wakeup call of ’06), but with music, videos, and files, I’m running out of room. Inconceivable, to be sure, but it’s a fact nonetheless. I also need to rebuild my father-in-law’s home PC, and an external drive would be perfect for storing his data temporarily during the rebuild process.

I’ve unpacked the drive, plugged it in, and that’s all the setup required. Pretty cool.

I bought some new running sneakers. I do a lot of running these days at the gym, and my old sneakers are getting worn out. Of course, with my current list of injuries, I’m not sure when my next opportunity will be actually running in them. Still, hope springs eternal, and it’s just a matter of time.

Treadmill, you are mine.

My wonderful wife

Last night while I rested, Nums took care of packing up our stuff. I appreciated this, because I wasn’t in much shape to do much. This morning, we were up early to wrap it up, get the kids ready, and get the car loaded. When my sister and her husband came over yesterday, they brought a cooler for us to store the leftover food we had. No reason to waste, you know?

We had to check out by 10am, and no issues, we were on the road by 10:10 to drop off the keys and activity pass badges. A quick stop to get gas and a donut for Lily, and we were off! First stop? Lunch at the Dover, DE, Waffle House. We let Josh decide, and he was in the mood for a waffle. Me too, actually. I tried a bite of Lily’s waffle earlier this week, and it was way better than a frozen Eggo waffle. A fresh waffle is delicious!

Lunch @ Waffle House

Nums took care of driving on the way to Dover, and I drove from Dover to home. We beat the traffic, and got home in the afternoon. I got the perishables in the fridge, and everyone wanted to rest/nap. In the evening, I decided to play it safe, and I went to the Brunswick Urgent Care. Took about 90 mins of waiting, but I eventually saw an ER doc. Prognosis? I’m just banged and bruised up, and I’m lucky that’s all it is. Treatment? Higher strength naproxen (“Alleve”), so that’s it. I’m going to take it easy for a while.

That’s basically it for the big part of the vacation. It was good, despite the car accident yesterday. We’ve got church and Labor Day, and then I’m back to work on Tuesday.