Six days since my last Hive post! Did you miss me? I sure did miss posting and interacting with all of you. All is good, it’s been an extraordinarily busy week in this corner of the world.
The hardwood floor project is finally complete, only the baseboards need to be replaced now. The crew had to come out and use wood filler in the cracks and divots and buff out a few problem areas and reapply the topcoat. It feels great to have this phase done. The crew installing the floor has been out to our house a total of six times now. Although we’re thrilled with the final result it took a lot of pushback from us to get to this point. I’ll just say pride in workmanship is definitely not as common as it used to be.
IKEA Loses Their Crown (this isn’t a bad thing)
Also, we also managed to find furniture with even more steps to assemble than IKEA. We’d been searching for a sectional to put in our lower level TV room and my wife found the LoveSac brand.
This sectional is modular and can be reconfigured into separate chairs, a traditional loveseat, couch, or a sectional. It also was delivered in almost twenty separate boxes. Even the fabric covers had to be put onto the separate pieces. All in all, this couch took a total of about six hours to put together, from start to finish.
It’s surprisingly the highest quality couch we’ve had in the past twenty years. I’m very happy with it. The covers can also be removed, washed, or switched out for different colors if your decor changes. This thing will be with us for a long time to come.
Maroon 5
Last week my wife and I were lucky enough to see Maroon 5 in St. Paul.
Although Adam Levine had a somewhat rocky start after the first couple of songs he cleared up his voice-issues and it ended up being a really good show. Adam isn't exactly a young man anymore. It’s always nice to change up the usual routine and do something different on a week night.
And, I'll say it again, the Loop 2 earplugs are a gamechanger when it comes to live music. I enjoy concerts so much more with these.
Bitcoin Rewards
Some of you might remember my plan this year of converting my credit card cash rewards into Bitcoin. When I saw Coinbase was launching an AMEX that actually pays rewards in Bitcoin I decided to streamline my dollar cost averaging process and sign up.
This card works like any other regular rewards credit card only you earn Bitcoin directly. The advertisements say you earn 4% rewards but beware that to get the full 4% you must carry a $200k total balance with Coinbase. This is very steep and a little deceiving but you still get 2% with little-to-no balance and pay just $49 per year for the annual fee.
Props to Coinbase for including a glimpse of the BTC white paper on the packaging.
Tesla Shareholder Meeting
In two short days I’ll be making the pre-dawn trip to the airport for the flight to Austin, TX. With the government shutdown still in full swing and flight cancellations and delays beginning to pile up I hope I don’t encounter any snafus on my travel day.
I’m truly excited to be visiting a new city and get to take part in this meeting. There’s a very small chance the new Tesla Roadster will be unveiled next week as well. During a recent podcast appearance Elon Musk said the new Roadster will fly. The jury is still out as to whether or not what he said is literal or figurative. Either way it should prove to be entertaining.
Last But Not Least
If you use Gmail be very careful! Hackers are getting way more sophisticated. Despite using 2FA, I discovered today that my email was hacked in June and someone using a Kansas IP address has had access to my inbox for for months. So far I don't see any irregularities anywhere else or evidence that my accounts have been compromised but I'll be doing the proper sleuthing this week.
With all of the data breaches that happen on almost a weekly basis now be sure to change passwords frequently and turn on 2FA wherever you can.
All for now. Thanks so much for reading.
The floors incredible. I wish we had put a whitener on the pine but whatever, one day we will replace with hardwood maybe. At this point I'm so over it and it's only a floor. The couch looks gorgeous - love the colour too. It's all coming together!
Thank you! I really feel like we're making progress now. The pine will develop a great patina over time, I'm sure. Do you have a photo of the finished floor? I'm super happy with the couch. We've found that it's difficult to find quality furniture at any price but this brand has impressed us.
I'll do some photos this weekend. Waiting for paint to dry.
Yeah furniture is expensive! We just bought a sofa bed which is a lovely green colour but most of ours is either second hand or built ourselves as we can't justify cost, let alone the cheap materials they use!
Hi Eric, I was thinking earlier today to check on you as I've not seen you around here for a while! Your floors look really nice, pity it was a struggle to get it done properly. I love your couch, looks very comfy, well done with the assembly, you need patience for that!
I hope things return to normal so you and your brother get to the Tesla meeting, but I'm sure it will!
Thank you Lizelle! It's good to know someone noticed my absence! The hardest part of the couch assembly was getting the fabric covers on all the pieces. My hands were sore for days afterwards. The fabric covers are so tight it really takes some muscle. Unfortunately I'll be going solo to the Tesla meeting. My brother had to travel for work so he can't make it. This will be my first solo trip like this so it'll be interesting to see how I like it. I hope you've been well and are still liking your new home!
Sounds like a really busy and exciting week! Finishing the floor project and putting together that modular couch must’ve taken a lot of effort. The Maroon 5 concert sounds awesome too! Good reminder about staying careful with email security — hacks can happen to anyone. And those Bitcoin rewards plus the Tesla meeting trip sound really cool.
Thank you!
Sorry to hear you got hacked, but everything else sounds pretty great! The house seems to be coming along nicely (and yes, you definitely need a break from time to time, and a concert's just the thing - for me, at least). And hey, the Tesla thingy's so close. Have a blast! Can't wait to read your experience (hope it's everything you've hoped for).
Thank you! Online security is such a problem nowadays. Fortunately it doesn't look like anything else has been breached. There was an online data breach that leaked millions of Gmail passwords and I assume someone got their hands on it from the dark web. They've been trying to sign into my Insta and Facebook accounts too but, so far, haven't been successful. Yes! I'll be boarding a flight on Wednesday. I'm going to try to score a ticket to Rogan's comedy club while I'm there too. I hope you have an amazing week my friend!
I have a metallica gig next year and Ithink I will get these plugs to safeguard my poor hearing. Last time I had whistling in my ears for two weeks
They're AMAZING live. I'm telling you, these contraptions are an absolute game-changer. You can still hear everything but it's just like someone turns the volume down by half. I was born with a condition called Tullio's phenomenon and loud music gives me vertigo but the Loop's have solved that.
Passkeys are starting to be the best way to go now. It's a pain, but we need to stay secure. The floors look amazing and I hope you have a safe trip down to Texas! I'm excited for you! We saw Maroon 5 quite some time ago and they do put on a good show. LoveSacs are no joke. I hung out in one of their stores a while ago and it was a great time. I wanted to get one for our house after Jo passed, but then I saw the price!
Yikes!
Yes, they are the way to go! I'm convinced my password was leaked in a data breach because I already have a biometric passkey activated on that account. As soon as apps go away in lieu of personal AI agents I think we'll have less of this kind of thing happening. Thank you my friend! I'm getting pretty amped up about the trip now. I really enjoyed the concert. The venue was amazing too. What wasn't amazing was the $33 we paid for a beer and a bottle of water but these days that's almost expected. Oh man, they definitely aren't cheap but we've found anything short of disposable furniture isn't cheap anymore. We made the mistake of getting a couch and chair from Slumberland about five years ago. The couch and chair together were around the same price as this sectional from LoveSac and were completely broken down after about the fourth year.
Oh, that is too bad about the other furniture. I like how customizable the LoveSac stuff is. I didn't notice, did you get the big subwoofer and all of that too? :)
The floors look good. I don't know whether craftsmanship pride is gone, or we've just lived in a world of linoleum and carpet for so long that craftsmen are few and far between now, and those who remain are less experienced.
Maroon 5 is... not one of my favorite bands.
Imagine if Elon Musk used Tesla to re-launch the Moller Merlin/Skycar. If he were to promise a flying car then, I'd actually believe him despite my misgivings. But a new roadster is good news no matter what. The SUV craze is boring, and the Cybertruck was more hype than practicality, but a proper EV sports coupe or convertible would be awesome.
Thank you! I don't know, this hardwood floor company claims to do hundreds of these installations a year. They destroyed our baseboards, left gaps and divots in the floor, the corners weren't sanded properly, and the topcoat was applied unevenly. They had to fix all of that over several additional visits but we had to get the project manager involved before that happened. That had to have really cut into their profit.
Honestly, they aren't one of my favorites either but I enjoyed it.
I'm guessing this roadster will use some SpaceX tech like cold rocket thrusters to hover short distances. Xpeng already has an EV capable of this but they use the suspension achieve the "bounce" off the ground.
The Roadster might hover a little more like a drone. I can't believe how many SUVs you see in parking lots and they all have nearly the exact same form-factor.
Your home looks transformed, at least to my eyes, and the couch looks comfy enough, one that would afford an enjoyable sitting or resting experience.
I'm excited to read you're a Tesla shareholder, that's something to be proud of, at least in my opinion, no matter the amount you hold of the shares. I hope your travel to the meeting goes well, and Elon and his engineers indeed gets the Roadster to fly. That would come in handy for beating the traffic. Though I suppose we would be contending with air traffic by then.
Looks like you had a nice and enjoyable time out at the concert.
Thanks so much.
Those new floors look great! Looking forward to your reports from the Tesla shareholder meeting.
I appreciate it! We're very happy with them now. We just have to get our baseboards fixed and we'll be all set. I'll definitely be blogging from Austin. I still don't have my ticket but from what I've heard from all previous attendees, if you receive the RSVP and respond then the tickets land in your inbox the day before the event.
Great to see you back and that furniture seems great, I have truly detested IKEA for decades lol so great to see someone using something else!
Good music is amazing live and glad you had fun!
Thank you!
Busy weeks like this are exhausting but so satisfying! Excited to hear how the Tesla meeting goes, and smart call on staying vigilant online.
So true! Assembling something gives you a whole different level of appreciation for it. IKEA, ingeniously, discovered this early on.
I honestly did miss you! But I thought you would be very busy with the remodeling of the house, which, by the way, is looking very nice and cozy, and with the preparations for the convention, which is apparently just around the corner. I am very excited to hear what you have to tell us. I hope everything goes great, my friend. Sending you a hug.
Thank you Nancy! It was such a crazy week! I'm so looking forward to some normalcy returning to our lives soon. I feel like things have been in disarray for months. Next is the kitchen remodel. I'll be bringing my laptop to Austin so I plan on taking lots of picture/video and blogging about the meeting. Great to hear from you, as always. Have a wonderful week!
The f;oors look wonderful. Thank you for not using laminate! I'm looking around in Nashville, and every single home has vinyl floors somewhere in the house, if not everywhere.
Enjoy the meeting. Hope you get a chance to tell us all about it, but no pressure!
Thanks! I'm glad we decided against luxury vinyl. This floor will outlive both of us and will develop more character along the way. I'm glad we made this choice. The maple was sustainably harvested just next door in Wisconsin. : ) I'll definitely be blogging about the meeting and Austin. I'll have plenty of time to do that since I'll be going solo. I hope you're well @owasco!
I love how the living room looks with that spectacular sofa. Everything is so beautiful.
Thank you!
#hive #posh
You have been manual curated and upvoted by @ecency
Thank you very much for being among the works mentioned and recognized this week. I appreciate it and congratulate the other participants in initiative 284. Have a great week. Best wishes and regards.