Back to the Grind

My 10-day Christmas break is over. I have enjoyed being away from work and attending to the needs the family and myself while enjoying the holidays.

Today is my first workday of 2017 and I am sure I will be behind already as soon as I arrive. It will be a bit tough getting back into the swing of things.

Un-decorating the Christmas Tree

We live in a tumultuous time. There seems to be something new in the news every day. The new Congress is seated today and the biggest business for the next few weeks we will be preparing for the new administration and impending change in our political operations.

And writing of change, the Christmas Tree is no longer gracing the family room in my house. Christmas is apparently over even though the colorful lights on my back deck still illuminate every evening. It rained yesterday and I was unable to get the exterior lights down and stored. I will have to wait for a dry day.

The new year is off to a rapid start. Come this time in 2018, I wonder how we will characterize this year.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

My Retirement Calling

Louis, our ragdoll cat, did something very uncharacteristic last evening. He crawled up onto my chest, while I was dozing during a TV show, and made himself at home. 

Louis Enjoying Me Time

Chris was laughing and as I woke she asks for my camera to capture the moment. Louis is not a lap cat and only rarely consents to being touched. This was a major step forward in his development as a cat! I think he is a bit slow and now, after seven or so years, he is only beginning to enjoy close human contact. 

Well, he only stayed for a few moments after I started stroking his soft fur. 

Perhaps my retirement calling should be as a cat whisperer!

I think not, they make me sneeze. 

I need something that is more suitable to my temperament--like being a wine taster! Now that would be a great job! Even a laborer at a vineyard might be educational, learning about the business side of wine making without the stress of having to turn a profit!

I guess I need to keep thinking about it.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Project Complete--Wood Floors Installed

The sense of satisfaction that comes with the completion of a major project has yet to set in for the all consuming wood floor project. But, I installed the last piece of quarter round last evening and we began the slow, tortuous process of reoccupying the office and clearing out the rooms that have become holding areas for the displaced items.

Actually, I do have to reinstall the closet doors in the office, but I hate doing closet doors and decided that I was too tired last evening to attempt to put them back.

The floors shine and add a new dimension to  the house and especially the upstairs. The 12 year old carpet was showing its age and needed to be replaced.

I call this shot the "money shot" because it shows the floor from farthest point to farthest point--across the hallway from bedroom to office.

Thank you to all who helped--Francis, Jeremy, Mike, Patrick, and of course my partner in projects Chris. This was truly a team effort. And thank you to Mary, Nicole, Nicole, and Tina for letting your guys spend what seemed like forever helping me with the project.

And so with a few more minutes to get the closet doors reinstalled and some final touches on moving everything back--it will be onto the next project. Of course, at some point the other two carpeted bedrooms will be converted to wood as well--but not this summer.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

New Wood Floors--Almost

The MBR is Finished

It is amazing how seemingly small things can take a real long time to get right.

For instance, on the floor project, Fran and I spent about 4 hours ensuring the top stair would integrate into the flooring in the best possible manner.

And then it seemed that we worked around the edges of the room for seemingly hours. We started in earnest on Saturday at 9AM, but did not lay the first piece of flooring until 2PM because we were trying to ensure that the line being used to connect the study, hall, and master bedroom was straight and true. Who knew that it could take hours to get that seemingly small thing it right.

That written--I learned a lot and there is still a lot left to do--closets, my study, and the rest of the hallway. Life on the second floor of our house looks like a refugee camp. I worked a thirteen hour day today slinging wood and cutting boards.

The Office Still Needs to be Completed

It still is not done!  But what is done it beautiful.

Thanks Francis for teaching me and for giving up your weekend to work like a dog putting in the floors. Hopefully, I can pull it together and finish it off--this week.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

It begins

I have been out all over town already this morning collecting the last remaining pieces for the flooring project. This is going to be a long and tiring day, I can tell.

The carpet is gone, and the hardest part so far was lugging 24 long and heavy boxes of flooring upstairs and positioning them for action.

But all is ready--and as they say, so it begins.

Hammers, nailers, and saws at the ready.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

The Weekend Project

The project for the weekend is laying hardwood floors for two bedrooms and the hall.

It is going to be a long weekend, but the deconstruction is nearly done--the existing carpet and pad have been removed form the floors and the nails, stables, tacky strips and other assorted debris has been collected. The room are mostly bare--and we are living like we just moved in with boxes and furniture repositioned throughout the upstairs.

The truck is loaded and ready to head off to the recycling center to get rid of the old carpet and pad.

We realized that the carpet is 12 years old and the pad was about 20 something years old. It was time for a change. And the time is now.  Of course deconstruction is a lot faster and easier than laying the new wood floors is going to be.

It is going to be a busy weekend!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Fourth Amendment Alert

In Maryland police take DNA from accused suspects--who are not convicted without probable cause--and do not see that as wrong. The article Maryland Law Enforcement Agencies Still Taking DNA Samples, as reported in the Baltimore Sun, details the latest insidious assault upon our Fourth Amendment right to protection from unreasonable searchand seizure.

I have copied the Fourth Amendment here: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


The court told them to stop--and they haven't. I read an editorial, Court of Appeals vs CSI which thinks the practice is a justified expedient because they are solving other crimes by violating Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Although the end (convicting perpetrators of crimes) seems to justify the means, it is still a violation of our rights.

The author writes, For starters, the majority opinion conflates the presumption of innocence afforded to a defendant prior to conviction with his expectation of privacy. Judges Mary Ellen Barbera and Alan M. Wilner correctly note in their dissent that arrestees' expectations of privacy are diminished in far more intrusive ways than the collection of DNA by means of a cotton swab rubbed for a few seconds inside their cheeks. They are subject to thorough searches of their bodies and possessions (including strip searches, an intrusion the Supreme Court recently blessed), and are observed in states of undress by police and fellow detainees while in jail.

But collection of DNA is an intrusion and a means to collect evidence without probable cause to be used against people--to convict them. The line between authorized intrusion for safety and security and intrusion with the intent to collect evidence may be a fine one--but it is a line that must be protected.

Sure it means the police have to work harder to develop probable cause--but hey, that is a good thing. The down side is that the erosion of Fourth Amendment protections will become so complete that ultimately our personal freedoms will be just a memory of what past generations used to have.

We must protect our rights and freedoms and be aware of the forces in our society and government which seem to want to protect us from ourselves.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

New Position - An Update

Well, after all of the waiting and wondering I decided not to take the new job after all. Actually, they moved the location of the job to a place I really didn't want to drive to--so I passed on the new position and decided to stay where I am--at least for a while.

Life is moving along at it seems an ever increasing rate of speed. I've been playing in a Racquetball league and loving it. It has provided me with a way to stay in shape and meet new people. I moved up to the A League for the winter session after winning the B league in the Fall, and surprisingly, I'm not doing too badly, so far. And my game is getting better, too. Something to do I guess.

New Position- When?

So, I've accepted a new position which requires shift work and a bit (a lot) more driving to and from work--but is only for 18 months. Here's the funny part--I don't know a lot more than that and it really is fun to watch the family try to fill in the holes. This is one of those things that is a "process" and it will all be revealed to me in good time. I applied for the job, so I know I want it and it is a good career move. It's just the way it works there are some missing pieces like a start date. Coordination takes time and it has only been a week.

So what about the lifestyle change of going from 5 days and 40+ hours a week to a shift schedule. There will be some growing pains I am sure and it will be hard no only on my family but on me too. Change is not easy, but I also find change exciting and I'm ready for change because I recently became aware that I'm not getting where I really want to be because I've been playing it too safe and not expanding myself enough. So let's expand. Guarantees? Nope. Change? Yep. Tough? You bet. Will I miss what I'm doing now--definitely.