Monday-Friday - what do you mean they are different days?

These days tended to blend into one blurry sleep punctuated whole. There were a few things worth noting.

The best way to describe the construction effort is that it is moving along at its own pace, with the foreman saying we'll have done today (I think he has said that everyday) and at the end of the day it is about 10% further on. Don't make the mistake of thinking that means it will take 10 days - nay, nay - it is 10% of what is left - so if you start with 100% the first day it is 10% of the whole, the second day it is 9%, the second day it is 10% of 81% (8.1%). So those of you who are thinking clearly will realize that this is one of those series that never actually gets to 100% and that is how it feels at the moment.

At the end of the week, Friday, there are several doors that need to be started, several that need to be finished and a few that are finished. The kitchen is close to being done but there are a couple of errors that may involved undoing it a bunch then redoing it. The bathroom is close to being done but they forgot to install the sensor for the heated floor in the floor so they will have to run a wire from the switch to the floor which means cutting into the drywall and then refinishing it. We are now down to the last 20% which as everyone knows takes a lot longer than 20% of the time. But we are soldiering on.

There were a couple of incidents that stood out in the week :

1) We ventured into the NYC culture of food delivery - with forays into the local Chinese and Mexican restaurants. I think both went well and seemed to go without any major protocol issues and the food was very good.

2) To be filed under the more colorful side of city life. There is one local character who seems to spend quite a bit of time walking down the street shouting to all who will listen about the ills of the country - such as the fiscal crisis, Guantanamo Bay, etc etc. The content is not that crazy but the delivery is. There is another down and out who spends a lot of time sitting on the seats outside the local stores. This second guy has an imaginary friend who he talks to quite a bit. We were walking down the street when the 2 guys passed close to each other. I found it extremely funny when i heard the guy telling his imaginary friend how crazy the shouty guy was !!!

3) Felled by the staff at Best Buy. I needed a router to make the home network work and I went to the local Best Buy (5 miles but it seemed a long way, how quickly our standards change) to get it. When I got there they didn't have what I wanted so I asked them if they could suggest anything and I then did something I promised myself I would never do and that was be persuaded by the Best Buy staff that I was wrong and they were right. They sold me a switch and of course when I sat down at home it was the wrong thing.

4) But that did lead to another adventure - my first trip into Manhattan on the Subway. How hard can it be - Claire and thousands of other people do it everyday. Well surprisingly the answer was extremely easy. I was in the Staples in Union Square less than 15 minutes after leaving my front door. I met Claire, went with her on an errand for her work, had a cup of coffee, took some money out of the ATM, bought my router (the right one this time) and caught the train back and I arrived home about 90 minutes after I left. I even had some time to admire the man playing the didgeridoo on the Union Square Station.

So as of Friday the home network (wired and wireless) is working, one of the 2 phone lines is working (just need to connect 2 wires for the other one). Both bathrooms are functional, the kitchen works, there are doors everywhere important.

I think one more week should do it.