Bring on the Railways!!

Just read an interesting article on CNN on the issues airlines face with overweight passengers. Normal sized people feel that fat people are encroaching on space and that airlines should have the right to throw these people off or make them buy two seats. Overweight people feel that it is discriminatory against them, and that as a whole, people in this country are getting bigger and that airlines should accomodate this by making bigger seats. I feel for both sides. I'm 5'3, 130lbs, fit perfectly into a seat, and still find flying uncomfortable. On the rare occasions that I do get an exit row, bulkhead seating, or an upgrade, I'm in heaven and thank god there is some advantage to being short and small. I can't imagine what it is like for the 6', 200lb folks, much less the people considered to be "overweight."

I actually wrote a blog some time ago on how much I've come to hate flying (see post Boycott Flying). I realize eliminating flying entirely is difficult, but how about looking at alternatives? This country is severely lacking in public transportation options. Obama unveiled a high-speed railway plan sometime ago, which is a good start, but probably not good-enough. I don't think the people of America realize just how much we need a railway system. Look at the wonders that it has done in places like Europe and Japan. Think of the vast amounts of time Americans spend sitting in traffic in large metropolitan areas. Wake up, America! We needed to get going on this railway project long time ago!! Not only do we need the metro system in cities, we need a railway system to get us to & from various cities. Flying has become a nightmare for everyone - we need alternatives. Bring on the railways!!

Snowmageddon

After the whole window ordeal on Friday night, I was up late dealing with some unexpected work issues. At about 2am, I had a look outside the window just to see how much snow we were getting. We were getting tons, and the branches on our 40ft spruce tree were getting heavy with it. There were also very high winds. The tree listed 20 degrees out and swayed all over the place. At that moment I felt like I was in some horror movie and the image left me disturbed. I went to bed fearful of what might happen if the tree fell. As I curled up in bed I prayed. It's not something I normally do because I'm not religious, but lately I've been having a really rough time with a lot of things. Not only did I have work and window issues to deal with that day, I've also been unwell for the last week and a half recovering from minor surgery. Add to that a few other household issues that keep cropping up (e.g. roof falling in, furniture problems, lost wedding ring, second car purchase, yada yada yada). Even our marriage and livelihood is being threatened by the merciless USCIS. The last thing I needed right now was that tree falling and taking out some cars, or maybe even the house across the street. I went to bed thinking, "Please... please... don't let the tree fall...."

My husband was the first to wake up on this day now infamously known as "Snowmageddon". He immediately ended up waking me up because we had a "big problem". I asked him what it was, although I knew in the back of my head it was that darn tree. Yep, the tree had snapped at the root and fell into the street, blocking the entry way into our cul-de-sac and taking out two cars in the process. Great. Just great. I'm going to have a lot of pissed off neighbors now. Well, at least it didn't fall on a house or kill anyone.

First thing I did after seeing the tree was call my insurance company. The second thing I did was call the VDOT and reported the downed tree since we live on state maintained street. The guy on the other end said a crew will come take care of the tree as soon as possible, though I had no idea how any car could get in and out of our neighboorhood. It seems like the plows never make it out here. There was a lot of downed trees in the county that day. On my block alone 2 other trees had fallen, although they were smaller.

Somehow a few phone calls and lunch took us well into the late afternoon. By then I needed to do something enjoyable. I donned my snowboarding pants and waterproof boots and decided to go for a walk with my husband. As much of an inconvenience snow can be, I actually really like snow. It's very pretty. We took a nice stroll down the tree lined paths to our neighborhood shopping center. The shopping center was deserted and looked almost like a scene from the movie The Day After Tomorrow. Very eerie. So much for hoping Safeway was open.

Once back, it was already late in the day but we finally decided to face reality and start shoveling our driveway. Still in recovery mode, I didn't last very long and went in to cook dinner while my husband finished the arduous job. The neighbors had managed to cut up the tree and clear a path in and out of the cul-de-sac, but parts of the tree still blocked our driveway so he had to clear that away too. We both went to bed exhausted that night, but also still fearful of the many trees that still surround our house. We have 2 other coniferous trees in our yard. One which could fall right through to our bedroom and kill us in our sleep. We also have several oak and maple trees, and although they seem sturdy enough, it would flatten our house if any of those fell on top. Suddenly, the idea of living in a dream home on a lake surrounded by the forest wasn't so appealing anymore. Fortunately we woke up this morning with the house in one piece.

The snow stopped by early evening yesterday. I'm guessing we got about 2.5 feet of snow in that one storm. I suppose things could've been a lot worse (e.g. we still had power and food), but this combined with everything else sure made me feel like I was supposed to be having a nervous breakdown of sorts. I could use some happy pills right about now. This whole homeownership thing is cramping my style. I do like my house, but I'm really not a settling down kinda person. I didn't get married to play house and have babies. I got married for love and companionship, and to have a partner in crime for the various adventures I want to partake in. I suppose it's a tough time to be vagabonding right now though with the global economy in the dumps. Then again, with the world ending in 2012, maybe we should just sell up, cash out and enjoy the last two years of our life on this earth.

Windows Part 2

Ok, so I was wrong. The whole windows installation process was a huge disappointment. I couldn't have picked a more highly recommended company to do my windows. Yet, somehow I managed to still have a very unpleasant experience. The day started off around 8am when I thought the installation crew was going to arrive. When they didn't show, I gave the company a call. Their receptionist, probably the owner's wife, said the guy who was scheduled to come out couldn't make it because his truck broke down. However, they did manage to find a replacement crew and said they could come around noon. I was a bit concerned because of the forecast, but the woman assured me that it would not be a problem. Apparently it is not a "big" job and it would only take couple hours. I got the impression that they were trying to rile up a large crew to speed things up. Well, at about 11am, it starts snowing. At noon the guys don't show up yet so I call and am told they are running behind. Around 1:30pm they finally show up - and it ends up being only 2 guys doing the work!! So these guys are slaving away for hours popping out my six windows and putting the new ones in. At some point it gets dark and they don't look anywhere near finished. Sure enough, some time around 6ish, they tell me they can't finish the outside work because they "misplaced" their headlamps. (I think they just wanted to go home.) The finished caulking up the inside and told me they would be back Monday. This would almost have been acceptable except that we were expecting a snow storm overnight through the next day. They were about to leave untreated cracks on the outside which would exposed to the elements. The last thing I wanted was for moisture to enter through these cracks and lead to mold, leaks, or rotten wood. So we ended up calling the owner, who instructed the crew to tape up the window edges on the outside. At that point there was nothing I else I could really expect. It was already very late - about 8 pm by the time they finished cleaning up. My husband and I were more than ready to get them out of the house for the night. The guys were nice enough, but they sure didn't seem to do a very thorough job. They left a lot of things (e.g. old window frames, insulation) lying around the perimeter of the house half buried in snow. They also wouldn't have caulked the entire perimeter if I hadn't insisted they take out the frames for the blinds and caulk behind it. On top of all this, my car sat out in the snow for 6 hours while they commandeered my garage to work on the window caps. After they left, we spent another hour digging our cars out to put it back into the garage and driveway. Good job we did, because disaster struck the next day....

Windows Part 1

My windows suck. They are drafty, single-paned, and hard to open. Some time ago, I got the idea to get replacement windows and called Long Windows after seeing their advert for $179 a window. Before they arrived tho, my brother said he got his windows for about $200 a piece and were happy with them. So naturally, I expected a window to be about $200 a piece. So this sales person from Long Windows shows up late, looking unprofessional, and starts making awkward, irrelevant conversation and a really slow sales pitch. I asked him if we can cut to the chase and get prices, so he goes to measure one of the windows. Then he goes on to tell me that I have to get the exact same windows I have now (brown sliders) because I live in Reston (a planned community). I proceeded to ask him for a quote the kind of windows I wanted (white double hung). He continued to lecture me on Reston Association policies even though there are houses just like mine in the neighborhood with white double hung windows. By now I was getting annoyed and told him to let me worry about getting permission to get a different style and to just give me a quote. The sob then blurted out "$1500 a window". My response to him was "get out." I couldn't be bothered to call up another window company after that.

Fast forwarding to the present, I decided to start up my window project again. Now that I'm married I've been in this home improvement mode a bit. A new bed and sofa are some of the other upgrades we made recently. We're loving our Stearn & Foster mattress. The RoomStore couch not so much. But back to windows. This time I called up Thompson Creek Windows because the local radio station kept promoting them. The sales associate this time was much more professional. I was also requested ahead of time to set aside an hour and a half to listen to their presentation so I patiently listened to the pitch. Occasionally I had to push through parts that I didn't care to go into details of. Had I not, they would've been here much longer than the hour and half. They started off with a quote about as ridiculous as Long Windows - close to $8000 for 6 windows about 47"x47". However, these guys supposedly had the most superior windows ever. They've thought about and addressed every imaginable problem a window could possess. These were the most ideal windows one could possibly get. Oh, and it comes with a lifetime warranty. I waited for them to add all the discounts in for a final price of $5000 something. Still my husband kindly reminded me that we lived in a distinctly average house and that we didn't need the Mercedes of windows. Even after the final show down price of $4300, $700 a window seemed a bit much. I politely apologized that it wasn't in our budget and sent the guy on his way. I felt a bit bad at first that the guy wasted 2 hours of his time, but then again, he apparently makes over 6 figures selling these over-priced windows so my sympathy didn't last very long.

Slightly bummed I hadn't found my windows guy, I decided to do the smart thing this time and consult checkbook.org. I picked out a few companies in the area that had high ratings and settled on NOVA Installations after a friend recommended them also. These guys ran a small family operation and were no bull type of people. This time my husband listened to the pitch in my stead, which apparently lasted all of 6 minutes. Apparently he could tell no difference in quality between the window they pitched versus the window demonstrated by Thompson Creek. Their quote was $2500 total for the 6 windows. These windows also qualify for the energy tax credit and come with lifetime guarantee. I don't have the new windows installed just yet, but am looking forward to them a lot. I don't expect any surprises or disappointment, but will be sure to post if I'm wrong. I'm also going to get rid of the ugly blinds I've had and put curtains up on some windows. Who knew I could get so excited over windows.