My wife and I recently celebrated our one year anniversary. Our one year anniversary of buying a house.
We looked for a house for about 3 months and found a good little house that needed only minimal amount of work to make it liveable that was very near to the parish we go to.
We placed a bid and got the house, our realtor helped me fix the plumbing to the kitchen sink and we closed on Friday and moved in on Saturday.
Ok, so the house is able to be lived in, but needs tweaking.
With some help from my dad on some of these projects,
1. I have fixed the downstairs bathroom so the toilet and bathtub don't leak, (replaced 3 hole bath fixture with 2 hole) made a hole in the dinning room to repair the broken pipe to the shower, repaired that.
2. put a french door in the downstairs bathroom to have access to the closet, replaced the fan in that room ran a new wire to the switch, and Ellie pained the walls,
3. Ellie painted the dining room
4. had foam insulation put in the attic
5. had a new furnace and a/c unit installed, with the furnace moved to provide better flow in the basement.
6. moved all the water lines to accommodate the new furnace placement.
7. had energy audits and recommended improvements done
8. installed rubber floor in the TV room of the basement
9. replaced/moved hot water heater
10. worked on wiring to balance load in the house/free up circuits for new outlets/lights in the basement/behind the entertainment center
11. Ran heating and a/c duct work to the second floor and installed Fantec fan to move conditioned air up to the second floor.
12. dug dry wells, sowed grass in the back yard
13. built a raised garden next to the garage, planted produce there
14. built rain barrels to collect water off the garage to water the garden
15. outfitted garage as a workshop (benches, table saw, miter saw, drill press, new light)
16. Installed motion detection lights on the back door and front of the garage
17. got Joseph a playset
18. Ellie started a rose garden in the front yard.
19. Replaced the fence going from the house to the garage
Also, we wanted a house in this location so we would be close to St. Gertrude Church.
We liked and were familiar with the Dominican priest, were in the choir and close the the choir director and several members of the choir.
Well, almost a year exactly after we moved, all the priests at the parish were moved to other parishes, the choir director moved on and we both dropped out of the choir, due to reasons no related to the changes at the church.
We try to stay in contact with our friends from the choir with game nights and individual visits.
We are trying to get used to the new priest, but the choir director left due to the new pastor not liking the wide variety of music he uses to give glory to God and sanctify and edify the faithful, so that has left a bad taste in my mouth.
All in all, I am very glad to have moved where we did. It is a nice neighborhood, close to lots of stuff (grocery stores, Lowes), close to the church we still attend. It is about the same distance from Ellie's work, but with her going to part time soon, that will have less of an impact.
I have a short list of projects to complete (short, but will not be able to be finished quickly) After they are finished, I plan on taking a break from the improvement bug.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
A letter to Netflix
This is blog I meant to post back when Netflix broke this news.
Netflix,
I have enjoyed the unlimited streaming and 1 disk at a time offering for about $10 per month for a long time (well the option of 1 disk and unlimited streaming, the price has changed since I started).
Both in the past and now with the new subscription plans Netflix continues to be extraordinary good service especially when it comes to cost verses value. It is almost as the former plan (unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs 1 at a time) was coming for public service company/not for profit business that existed for my benefit, not for itself. Most everyone I know who uses Netflix is very ready to sing your praises to others (even if they have Netflix) Your following could be compared to the following Apple has.
I believe the backlash and anger seeming felt by some (everyone if the internet is to be believed) maybe partially due to this sense of service for me/entitlement that people have for Netflix. You have been (and still are) the best deal on entertainment (the most and widest variety of titles available the most ways in the most places for the least amount of money). I can't get the selection you offer over the air, and find paying for cable/satellite a waste of too much money for to little return/enjoyment. Also, you are available everywhere, just not were cable TV is.
The new price structure/increase/plan offerings, where the will be a 60% increase if users wish to maintain what they have have now may seem like a lot, percentage wise, but an increase of $6 a month is not a big deal. Using Netflix is very inexpensive and easy for me. You are still the best deal by a long shot for what you provide. I want Netflix to succeed and grow. You have weathered the recent economic storm (the Great Recession) without raising rates to much until now.
You want to increase your selection of titles, from what I read mostly for streaming. I want this. As a company you need money for this increase and to make a profit (yes, I realize and recognize that you are a for profit business) As such, you have the need to adjust your subscription plans/price structure. My question is, how where you able to wait so long before doing this?
I was never able to get my head around the math of paying for procuring, shipping both ways the DVDs you have offered for so long, let alone adding streaming to that. When the US Postal service talks about cutting out Saturday delivery, may only concern is that I will be losing a day that I can get/send DVDs from/to you.
Currently you are the best provider of streaming movies and TV. Yes, there is Amazon and Hulu Plus and others, but Amazon is not as slick or convenient as you and Hulu Plus does not have the amount of content you do. Since I have been utilizing the 1 DVD at a time plan to catch up on TV shows, if a new release came out, I have been getting it from Redbox or Blockbuster Express rather than disrupt my TV series watching. You might not have technically been the first to provide streaming media, but you were the first to do it well enough for large scale adoption.
Like I said Netflix, I want you to succeed. Your decision to separate the subscription offerings into 2 price plans, while necessary, needs some public relations efforts.
It is too late now to talk about how you broke the news, but please, lets see some work on you part to mitigate the storm of bad publicity this change is causing. We need some Netflix executives commenting on Facebook, some more post on the internet about the need for this change; some showing that you understand and feel our "pain" but this is necessary for the good of all Neflix subscribers. Yes, I and you know this, put you need to be telling "us" that. The public (even those who don't subscribe to Netfix) needs to hear from you, that you hear us, that you understand that we are upset, but that this needs to happen.
I hope that separating streaming from DVD by mail will enable you to become more profitable and increase you selection and offerings, especially in the streaming segment.
Jonathan Aud
Netflix,
I have enjoyed the unlimited streaming and 1 disk at a time offering for about $10 per month for a long time (well the option of 1 disk and unlimited streaming, the price has changed since I started).
Both in the past and now with the new subscription plans Netflix continues to be extraordinary good service especially when it comes to cost verses value. It is almost as the former plan (unlimited streaming and unlimited DVDs 1 at a time) was coming for public service company/not for profit business that existed for my benefit, not for itself. Most everyone I know who uses Netflix is very ready to sing your praises to others (even if they have Netflix) Your following could be compared to the following Apple has.
I believe the backlash and anger seeming felt by some (everyone if the internet is to be believed) maybe partially due to this sense of service for me/entitlement that people have for Netflix. You have been (and still are) the best deal on entertainment (the most and widest variety of titles available the most ways in the most places for the least amount of money). I can't get the selection you offer over the air, and find paying for cable/satellite a waste of too much money for to little return/enjoyment. Also, you are available everywhere, just not were cable TV is.
The new price structure/increase/plan offerings, where the will be a 60% increase if users wish to maintain what they have have now may seem like a lot, percentage wise, but an increase of $6 a month is not a big deal. Using Netflix is very inexpensive and easy for me. You are still the best deal by a long shot for what you provide. I want Netflix to succeed and grow. You have weathered the recent economic storm (the Great Recession) without raising rates to much until now.
You want to increase your selection of titles, from what I read mostly for streaming. I want this. As a company you need money for this increase and to make a profit (yes, I realize and recognize that you are a for profit business) As such, you have the need to adjust your subscription plans/price structure. My question is, how where you able to wait so long before doing this?
I was never able to get my head around the math of paying for procuring, shipping both ways the DVDs you have offered for so long, let alone adding streaming to that. When the US Postal service talks about cutting out Saturday delivery, may only concern is that I will be losing a day that I can get/send DVDs from/to you.
Currently you are the best provider of streaming movies and TV. Yes, there is Amazon and Hulu Plus and others, but Amazon is not as slick or convenient as you and Hulu Plus does not have the amount of content you do. Since I have been utilizing the 1 DVD at a time plan to catch up on TV shows, if a new release came out, I have been getting it from Redbox or Blockbuster Express rather than disrupt my TV series watching. You might not have technically been the first to provide streaming media, but you were the first to do it well enough for large scale adoption.
Like I said Netflix, I want you to succeed. Your decision to separate the subscription offerings into 2 price plans, while necessary, needs some public relations efforts.
It is too late now to talk about how you broke the news, but please, lets see some work on you part to mitigate the storm of bad publicity this change is causing. We need some Netflix executives commenting on Facebook, some more post on the internet about the need for this change; some showing that you understand and feel our "pain" but this is necessary for the good of all Neflix subscribers. Yes, I and you know this, put you need to be telling "us" that. The public (even those who don't subscribe to Netfix) needs to hear from you, that you hear us, that you understand that we are upset, but that this needs to happen.
I hope that separating streaming from DVD by mail will enable you to become more profitable and increase you selection and offerings, especially in the streaming segment.
Jonathan Aud
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