Mom, seriously.

So, after two years, I got a new phone.

To the mass of Verizon subscribers, that sounds like a normal thing. But my new phone is still with Republic Wireless, which continues to provide a really excellent service at a really excellent price.  And my monthly bill dropped.  To less than half of my previously "unthinkably cheap" $23/mo.

See, the crummy Defy XT was a beta, and Republic offered only a single plan for it - talk, text, 3G, $23 or so per month.  But the newer better faster Moto E/G/X phones have a much broader suite of plans offered, including my favorite, $10/mo for talk + text.  I have WiFi at home and at work, and those are the places I spend most of my time.  But if I want 3G (say for a road trip), I can add it online, and then drop it when I no longer need it, since Republic lets you switch plans! On the fly! Up to twice a month! (last time I checked)

They were sending around $50-off mother's day coupons, and like a good son, I used it to by myself a new phone.  So, I got a snazzy new Moto G for $120 (which includes tax +shipping).  With the drop in my plan price, it will pay for itself in a bit less than a year. 

So here's to all of our change-averse family and friends.  You can do it, Mom.

To Dream the Impossible Dream

I had the opportunity to counsel a young engineering graduate yesterday.  She had just received a really fat offer from a very good aerospace/defense firm in my state, and she was asking my advice.

First, I said she should say "thank you", and maybe "and when do reviews happen?" because the offer was very generous and the job will be fun for her (certainly for a few years - manufacturing and test can be great, or it can be great for a while). 

Second, I said "and you're not buying a car for at least five years".  This caught her up short, because apparently her mom had (jokingly?) said "Now you can afford that Audi!".  As thought that were a funny joke.  Ha.Hum.

We then had a crash discussion of the core principles of Mustachianism as relate to a student who is really tempted to dive into the newly-employed lifestyle inflation that I have (regrettably) done myself and seen so often. She had just assumed that this would happen.  She had no idea that you could NOT succumb to this.

I asked how much she had lived on in the past few years.  The average was about $24k.  This is more than necessary, but certainly not insane given her preferences (she does not like roommates, and has cats...sigh).  So I just asked her if she could keep living on that amount. This was like cold water.

(Her, eyes wide) "Well, yes, I guess." 

(Me, eyes narrow) "So do that."

That would automatically put her in the admirable category of 50%+ savers, and this would be of discretionary take-home pay, not including the pretty-good employer match 401k.  I pointed out that this would allow her the privilege of deciding to do whatever work she wanted in a fairly short period.  This was news.  It was not news she expected, but I hope she realizes it is good news, and that she can take this unique opportunity to start off right in her career.

Cheers!
MM

Still actually alive

and putting radiant barrier in the attic.  I have done most of BR3 and about half of the master.  It is slow work, with lots of attic-crawling on my back, and stapling the mylar up into the joists.  But I anticipate a savings from it, and it made a difference in the master, which is at some remove down the ductwork.  It got less cold in the room at nights after the install, so that was good.

In other news, the kitchen is almost done!  And I mean, almost done.  Like, I have to build the corner-cabinet door and the over-fridge cabinet door, then we're good.  The vent hood is installed, but I need to fish vent duct through the attic, and I have been putting off attic work out of sheer laziness - it's annoying to get to that side of the house, crawling over the HVAC nest is required.  However, I would like to eventually do a full-up pipe insulation in the attic, and lay additional batts over all my ductwork.  That would help muches in the summer.

The garden is growing!  We have a 2'x12' bed going gangbusters with last fall's plants, and a third of our 6'x12' bed is planted with seeds and beginning to sprout with spring stuff! 

Also, beginning work on the front yard.  Prognosis is good, though the patient's present condition is poor.  Application of two lantana has not made a full remedy.  Flower beds are being dug, and we are planning for nut/fruit trees.

That's about it for now.
MJM

Floored

In the space of five days, Papa (with some help from Uncle Petka) put down the front room floor.  It is about 300sqft of 3/4" red-oak face plywood, cut into 2'-wide strips, with a lap joint on each edge.  It is laid staggered like floorboards, so the edges don't line up everywhere (my biggest beef with most DIY-plywood floors).  The worst part is the transition from the built-up wood subfloor that fills the old sunken living room to the concrete on the slab - the concrete dipped at the curb into the sunken area, and the height of the subfloor was not perfect along the funny bend.

But - it looks good. It sounds like a music hall (over the subfloor) and walks just right.  We aim to paint it with chalk paint and then Varathane over top.  It makes me wince to paint the red oak, but I bought it for hardness, so it will do that job as well under paint as exposed.  All told, I expect this to be about $2.50/sqft, which is better than anything manufactured that is of the quality I want (which started at about $5/sqft).  It will, after all, be the music room, and it needs to complement the harp and the piano well.  I'll take some photos sometime, but my Republic Defy XT camera is really disappointing, as a general rule.

Cabinet doors are a success!

Successfully hung one today - and these are a true Mustachian success - homemade Shaker-style doors, hinges from secondhand-building-supply, and a few bits of wood and shim. 

Less successful is the AC unit.  The old one was sliding off the roof, and the options were crane-stand-reattached-crappy-unit or crane+stand+new+unit, I opted for the new unit.  It blows very nice and cold, and the new thermostat seems to read true.  Now we just have to deal with the unexpected cost.

In the new house

Have spent two nights there - found a leak or two this morning in our torrential rainstorm - hooray for summer rains where I can do roof patching in a swimsuit.  No more water ingress after the wet-patch was globbed on to the offending penetration (it was the gas line for the HVAC).

Did find a major crack between the cold-air-outlet duct and the air handler, so we are blowing cold air into the sky - will fix ASAP.  The definition of P remains to be determined.

Much left to do, but now I don't have to drive to the jobsite!

Not quite dead!

Actually, we are cleaning the concrete floors today (lots of construction dust), and we aim to sleep at the house tomorrow night.  It might mess up our church commute... we'll have to see.