Our remodeling project commenced last week starting with the demolition phase, as contractors came and tore out much of our kitchen and master bathroom. To prepare for the job, we moved all our kitchenware, small appliances, food, and TV to the guest bedroom, turning it into a make-shift bomb shelter. For food, we stockpiled on ready-to-eat cha lua, frozen dumplings, hot dogs, and canned goods. Melody was also craving hot pot, which covered a few meals using a single pot. With the old fixtures quickly filling up our garage, we’ve also begun selling on Craigslist (even the kitchen sink!) to make room for the new stuff. The small influx of cash has been nice in light of the recent downturn in the stock markets. Meanwhile, we’ve also begun looking for lighting fixtures and finishing touches. This weekend, we drove to Roseville to check out rugs at Macy’s, kitchenware at Crate & Barrel, and light sconces from Lamps Plus. We also drove to Vacaville, and were glad to dig out a pendant from the Restoration Hardware outlet, which saved us almost $300. I was also excited to finally find a large canvas print of Brooklyn Bridge which I had been eyeing from Ross, but ultimately took three trips back and forth from home to prove that it could only fit in a rental truck, and neither of our sedans. With the renovations in full swing, I look forward to some reprieve this Labor Day weekend.

With many recent expenditures, we’ve decided to put an embargo on eating out. This meant more time relaxing at home and a glut of TV watching. Season 5 of Game of Thrones was another engaging thrill ride, although the finale proved once again that no one is safe. To lighten things up, we decided to shift over to watching sitcoms, including Netflix’s incredible Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, which reminded us of Tina Fey humor and New York quirkiness, as well as CBS’ Big Bang Theory. Already in its 8th season, the show brilliantly touches on a spectrum of neuroses and eccentricities that are so pervasive and characteristically ingrained in the science and nerd-geek community. And while Melody was keeping step with new seasons of SYTYCD and ABDC, I began working on the new vacation album. The mindless task and dual-screen displays allowed me to clear out part of our movie queue, though none were very memorable. We did score a free screening of Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation from our BMW dealership which was surprisingly decent and entertaining. But perhaps our greatest excitement this summer is the arrival of a new beginning, which we hope is the start of a new adventure for us. We made the official announcement to our parents this weekend, and already my mom has added us to her Costco membership. Our life is about to change, and after many years, we feel finally ready.

With news of raging wildfires and triple digit weather, we decided to stay cool indoors these past weeks. I kept myself occupied with some small grant submissions and photo editing, while Melody was babysitting our niece’s betta fish and cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Sadly, our year-old refrigerator was also feeling the heat exhaustion, as the top-shelf butter turned into mush. While awaiting the GE repair man to arrive, we smuggled blocks of dry ice from lab to keep our big pot of bun rieu from turning sour, although the irregular chill zone turned our rice to ice. We were relieved to find that it was just a broken fan that was easily replaced, and I used my morning off to meet our contractors to plan out our renovations. This also meant cutting out a few big deposit checks, which along with ordering the bathtub, appliances, and fixtures, made a sizable dent in our bank account. Meanwhile, the release of the new Windows 10, touted as “the last version of Windows,” also kept us busy as we upgraded both our desktops and SP3’s. While the clean interface and renewed start menu were welcomed features, my favorite update was the ability to delete without a confirmation dialog. I also discovered new Gmail features including new keyboard shortcuts, auto-advance after reading, and a plugin called Boomerang which returns emails to my inbox after a specified time or if I got no response. It’s amazing how much productivity could be enhanced with just a few small changes.