General
Decorating for the Holidays
This is the first year since we’ve moved away from our Valley Trails house that we’ve had the opportunity to fully decorate the house. Abriana helped Cynthia decorate the Christmas tree this year. Abriana had the honors of placing the star (a ceramic gingerbread cookie snowflake) on the tree this year. Unfortunately, it was far to heavy for the tree, so it drooped over. I ended up replacing it with a lighter silver plastic star.
Home theatre installation
I finally got around to replacing our 5 ton 32″ television with a new 52″ Sony Bravia LCD television. I ended up getting a Yamaha 7.1 Surround Sound receiver, Sony Blue Ray player, Yamaha iPOD docking station, IR Repeater system, In-ceiling speakers, Yamaha subwoofer, external speaker volume control, and external speakers to go with it. It turns out I had to throw in a 2.1 channel 200 watt amplifier from AudioSource in order to get my external speakers to work on zone 2 of the receiver. Here is a picture of the back of the new TV along w/all the boxes for the new components. The dinosaur TV is in the back.
I was going to do all of the installation myself, but it looked like it was going to be too daunting of a task. I found a guy advertising on Craigslist that he would install/mount the television for $250. That was a great price, so I figured I’d give him a chance, although I was a bit skeptical. After all, contractors in San Antonio are extremely dishonest, lazy, incompetent, and unreliable… throw in the fact that I found him on Craigslist and we have all the ingredient’s for a disaster.
To make a long story short, Jeff (The guy advertising on Craigslist) did an exceptional job, was always on time, did everything he promised he’d do, was not satisfied until everything was perfect, and kept the work site clean. I would highly recommend him to anyone.
We had some big challenges to overcome. Mainly, the in-ceiling speaker wires were hidden behind drywall and were not found were we expected to find them. I ended up cutting 7 holes in the ceiling in order to find where the builder had buried the wires. Trying to find these wires probably burned an entire day, but Jeff remained extremely patient. You can see the holes I made in the ceiling in the picture below:
Another big challenge, was that the builder did not terminate any of the component cables, so Jeff had to terminate them before he could install the wall plates for the patch cables. Here’s a picture of the wall plates; however, it was not complete yet at this stage.
We also had some electrical challenges that Jeff helped me resolve — hence the two circles above the 4 gang electrical outlet.
Here’s the wall with the mount bracket before the television was hung.
After the television was hung and after I installed the wall shelfs.
I plugged the holes I made using the slugs from the drill bit. I will have my friend patch this up when he paints the house. When he’s done, you’ll never be able to tell there were holes in the ceiling.
I ordered this audio/video cabinet online and assembled it when it arrived. I was up until 2am assembling it.
I ordered the IR repeater kit online as well. This is a project I completed myself a couple weeks after the television was hung. Now we can point all 5 of our remote controls to the center of the TV to control all the components.
Project complete! I think it will look a lot better once we get some color on the walls (probably should have done that first).
Polar Express 2008
We visited our time-share this November up near Tyler Texas. We only stayed the weekend, but had a pretty good time. There is an in-door water park inside the resort (not really designed for small children). The highlight of our trip was the Polar Express. Inspired by the movie, many railways all over the United States host a similar train ride. The train picks us up in a small town about an hour south of Tyler, then takes us to the North Pole. We each received our golden train ticket, you can see the conductor taking the ticket from Abriana in order to punch a “B” into it (I’m assuming it stands for “Believe”). Throughout the train ride, there is music, dancing, and hot cocoa. Once we reached the North Pole, we had picked up Santa Claus for the journey back, he handed out single jingle-bells to each of the children.
Abriana’s first Art Exhibit
Abriana’s day care hosted it’s first annual art exhibit featuring the art of all the children they take care of. They had cake and ice-cream to snack on and a slide show of all the events that were held throughout the year. Here is a photo of Abriana next to her painting. You can tell that she is very proud of it.
Halloween 2008
We stayed home for Halloween this year. Nelly and Orlando brought over Ernest. Abriana learned how to trick-or-treat pretty quick; however, there were not many households participating in our neighborhood. She’d run door to door with little plastic cauldron in hand while we pushed James and Ernest in strollers. When all was said and done, I think only 4 or 5 people answered their doors. We live in a pretty small neighborhood right next to a very large community. I think most people just trick-or-treat over there. The kids were pretty content with what they got. Abriana was a cow (her costume cracks me up), James was just wearing some Halloween inspired baby ensemble, and Ernest was a puppy.
Pumpkin patch 2008
Cynthia and I continued our yearly tradition of visiting the local pumpkin patch and picking out a pumpkin to carve for each member of the family. This was baby James’ first time of course. We took some photos of our visit and some photos of the pumpkins once they were done being carved. I must have misplaced the jack-o-lantern photos. If I find them, I’ll amend this post with those as well.
Abriana’s 2nd birthday
Abriana turned 2 seven days after her baby brother james III was born. Her mother and I were a bit exhausted, so we didn’t do anything big this year, just a small party w/Nelly, Orlando (“O” as Abriana calls him) and their new baby boy Ernest. We reused her big Styrofoam Backyardagains birthday sign.
We gave Abriana a big sister shirt and big sister book to help explain that there was an addition to the family and that she was involved.
She’s wearing her “googlehead” for those of you that watch “Jack’s Big Music Show.”
Introducing James III
Our son James III was born September 12, 2008 at 9:08AM CT. He weighed 5 lbs., 8 oz. and was 18 3/4″ long. Other than the fact he physically resembles his big sister, he is completely different than she was when she was born. James is very very quiet. He does not cry much and he doesn’t get upset easily. Abriana always wanted her chupon (pacifier), but James refuses to use one — he is content using the back of his hand.
Cynthia was checked into the hospital the prior evening. In the morning, I dropped Abriana off at day care, got stuck in traffic, then arrived at the hospital around 8:30ish AM. After I arrived, the nurse administered some medicine for pain relief in her I. V. and a shot to her hip. The nurse told us that this would put Cynthia to sleep. Cynthia told me to go get breakfast, but I figured it would be best for me to wait until she fell asleep. I’m glad I did, because James wasn’t going to wait. Cynthia had James about 20 minutes later before the pain medicine took effect and before she had the option of an epidural.
I finally made the switch
After many years of dedication to the PC, I’ve finally made the switch. I am now a full fledge Mac user. I’ve given my old laptop to my wife, and now I use a little MacBook. It’s packed w/4GB memory and a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. This thing weighs less than half of my old laptop and is about 4 times more powerful.
I initially purchased the the mac as a light-weight, cost effective laptop for going back to school, but after owning it for just a couple days, I knew that I no longer needed any other computers. I should have made the switch a long time ago.
I’ve loaded VMWare, so I can run my old licensed version of Windows XP, Red Hat Fedora, and Ubuntu all simultaneously with Mac OSX. It’s awesome!!!
Abriana turns 1!!!
Abrian just had her first birthday. We had her party at the local park the weekend prior to her actual birthday. It was a Backyardigans theme party. Cynthia had a custom “Tasha” outfit made for Abriana to wear at the party. Tasha is the yellow hippo.
One of Abriana’s B-day presents was her own chair.
GE Adora Dryer E61 Error Code
First GE did not send us our $600 rebate check on the $12K in GE appliances we purchased. We sent the rebate forms in two envelopes because there were not enough lines on one rebate form for all of the appliances that we purchased. They claimed that they never received any rebate paperwork from us, and now it’s too late. Then, mysteriously, GE sent us two letters asking us to purchase an extended warranty on each of the appliances that they don’t know we have since the rebate paper work was the only form we sent in detailing our purchases!
Then our GE Adora electric dryer died with error code E61 on the display panel. We called the GE answer line. They could not find any information on what the error meant. They don’t have all their appliance error codes documented? They sure were happy to send us out one of their own GE appliance repair technicians for $65 just for showing up. There were no available appointments, so Cynthia and I had to wait for a week and a half.
I worked from home the day of our appointment and my in-laws were over preparing to host Nelly’s (Cynthia’s youngest sister) graduation party. I was in my office all day (about 15 feet from the front door). The GE repair man never showed up. I called to enquire when he was going to get here since it was far past the 5 hour window for the appointment. They told me that he was already at my house and no one was home. There were like 8 people in my house that day! They said since he was already at my house, they would have to reschedule the appointment for 2 weeks later. I was extremely upset with them at this point.
I asked them what recourse I had for a) the dryer failing, b) them not coming to my house while I stayed at home, and c) their service being so awful that they couldn’t send the technician back out (I believe he was one at the right address, but one street over. It happens all the time) or at least schedule another appointment sometime before I was forced to burn all of our clothing. Essentially, we have no recourse. The best they could do is “document our complaint.” So our complaint has been “documented,” meaning, it’s been sent directly to the bit bucket.
Anyway, we couldn’t wait 2 weeks for a dryer, so I called a local appliance repair technician. They actually work on the weekends unlike the GE repair technicians. It was the same $65 fee to show up and tell us what was wrong with our dryer. It turns out that the E61 error is referring to an incorrect voltage being received by the main power board. The technician verified that the voltage was correct; therefore, the power board itself was faulty. No problem, just $360 for the board and $150 more for labor and we’d be up and drying again. That’s almost a new dryer! I don’t think so.
I kindly paid him his $65 dollars and escorted him out of the house. I found the board online for $260 at the GE parts website (part # WE4M331) but you can find it for about $50 cheaper on other sites. I received it via UPS in about 4 days and replaced it myself (a monkey could do it; it certainly wasn’t worth $150 in labor).
I’ve documented my steps for the Oh-so-mysterious TOP SECRET SQUERREL GE Adora Dryer E61 Error Code:
Here is a photo of the dryer displaying the evil E61 error code. 
First, First, unplug the dryer from the wall. Then take rear plastic display cover off by removing 3 screws. This is a picture from the rear facing forward.
Next, remove 2 screws holding the top cover on. Once removed, you will be able to lift off the top of they dryer.
This is what the inside of the dryer looks like, and that is the bad main power board (looks like something you would expect to see on the inside of a computer).
Here’s a picture of the main power board up close.
Before I start removing anything, I test the lines to make sure there is no electric current. If there was, this device would alarm and flash red light. You can pick one of these up at Home Depot or Lowes for about $12 dollars.
Now, just pull the ribbon and the other wires off of the main power board. Don’t worry too much about where to place these after the new board is on, as it’s real hard to get them confused.
All the wires are off, no just remove the screw on the upper left corner and the lower right corner and the board comes right out. Just reverse the steps with the new board and you’re done.
After the dryer has been put back together, I plugged it in and tested it out. It works great!
Abriana to be on KENS 5
Abriana has been selected to be the KENS 5 Cutest “Morning Mug” Shot sponsored by IHOP. You can see her on KENS 5 Eyewitness news on Tuesday, February 20th. 2007 between 7am – 8am CST. If we can find a way to pull the episode off the Tivo and post it here, we will. I believe this was the photo that was entered:
This photo was taken when she was 2 months old and weighed 10 pounds 7 ounces.
Abriana is 5 months old today
It’s been a while, but here is one of my favorite portraits taken of Abriana earlier today. Thanks Uncle Mike for the sears portrait membership!
It’s a Girl!!!
Cynthia and I welcomed our first child into the world this past Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 at 3:15 pm. Her name is Abriana Isabel Mullett. She weighed 5 lbs 14 ounces at birth and is 19 1/2 inches in length. For those who do not know, my birthday is also September 19th, so this year I received an extra special birthday gift. We delivered at North Central Baptist Hospital here in San Antonio. I’ve included some photos of the facilities.
We’ve officially lost our DINKhood status and have joined the ranks of parenthood. It is an unbelievably surreal experience. As we were leaving the hospital, I couldn’t help but be amazed that they were actually letting us walk out of there with a baby. They didn’t require a parenthood license or even proof that we are capable enough to take care of goldfish.
Anyway, just like we’ve been warned, our sleep has been limited. That’s the main reason it’s taken a couple days to post these pictures. I’ll do my best to update the site with photos of Abriana as she grows. If you didn’t already know, Cynthia has a website as well that she maintains independent of this one. You can visit it at Cynthia Mullett . com. Sometimes she gets her web site updated before I get mine updated.
We’re expecting a baby!
We haven’t told too many people, but Cynthia and I are expecting our first child this month (only 3 weeks away). We’ve had a friend, Betsy Suckarieh, paint the baby’s room, purchased all the baby furniture, bought a super cow sucking machine, and even had a baby shower. We are expecting a girl and have already named her Abriana Isabel. I will be posting photos soon of the baby shower that Cynthia’s sister hosted in Laredo last month.
Home Improvement Update
Several months have passed, and we’ve finally seen a lot of progress on the house. I was able to finish the kitchen and utility room flooring with a great deal of help from Jeremy Carter. We installed about 550 sq. ft. of ceramic tile. Installing tile is extremely difficult and to put it simply; it sucks! I have no idea how people can do it for a living. Only a good friend would help with something so unpleasant. I’ve also included some before, during, and after pictures of the utility room as well.
Our cabinetry has been installed, we still have some trim work and hardware left to install, but it’s looking pretty good. The granite counter top and back splash, and all kitchen appliances are in. The sink has been installed and all the plumbing is done. After 2 years without, we finally have a fully functioning kitchen!
We decided to go with Kraft Maid cabinetry as I have a lot of pride in the town and people in which Kraft Maid is located.
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Along the way, our hot water heater gave out and we replaced it with a tankless water heater. It takes a little longer for the hot water to reach the faucet, but once it does, the water remains hot for as long as you want it. |
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This is Cynthia cooking the very first meal in the new kitchen. Notice the big smile on her face – no more hot plates. Also, you can see the French doors in the background. We replaced the large window that was there with glass French doors and placed a bar (left) where the old door was. |
Vacation, December 2005
Cynthia and I spent a week at Holly Lake just reading, sitting in front of the fireplace, and drinking wine. I read two books from the Wess’har Wars series by Karen Traviss and Cynthia made Christmas cards. We played some board games, air hockey, and tried our luck at archery. It was a very relaxing week; perfect to unwind and prepare for our trip to Las Vegas the following week.
The following week we went to Las Vegas. First we stayed with our friends Jeremy & Lisa, and then we checked into the Bellagio . While in Vegas Cynthia and I got massages, ate at fine restaurants, had plenty of room service, and saw a couple shows. We saw Jubilee at Bally’s and Cirque du Soleil’s Ka at the MGM Grand. Jubilee is the traditional Vegas show featuring show girls with the big feathers. Ka is another amazing Cirque du Soleil show of acrobatics, art, music, and technology combined to deliver a sensational evening of entertainment. If you ever make it to Vegas, or ever have an opportunity to catch any Cirque du Soleil shows, I highly suggest it. Last time we were in Vegas we saw Mystere, that too was equally amazing.
Just checking in
It’s been a while since I’ve last posted. I’ve completed all my obligations for the day and since I will be working from home tomorrow, I don’t have enough time to start a weekend project. So, I’m taking this opportunity to catch everyone up with my life.
Our house renovation is coming along. Cynthia and I just ordered our new tile for the kitchen and utility room floors, new French door for the kitchen, GE appliances, and cabinetry for both our kitchen and our office. I will be installing everything with help from friends Jeremy & Lisa Carter (I hope 
).
I noticed that I haven’t posted any photos of the fireplace since I’ve installed the mantle and the trim; I’ll try to get around to posting those photos soon.
Another change; we ditched our Visco-elastic (memory foam) mattress and purchased an ultra-soft latex mattress. I’ll write a more detailed post on it later, until then I thought I would just say a couple things about it. The latex mattress is a thousand times superior to the memory foam mattress. I am sleeping a lot better now, and I am very happy with it. Simply put; memory foam bad… latex good.
Most of my friends already know, but for those of you that don’t, I’ve been working for The Capital Group for the past couple months. I am currently a contract employee representing TEK Systems. If you are in the IT industry, I’m sure you’ve heard of them.
Progress on the fireplace
This past weekend my wife and I finally tiled our fireplace surround. It took 7 hours straight on Saturday to tile it and about the same on Sunday to grout it. My entire body is still aching from this back-breaking labor, and I still cannot clean the black grout stain off my skin and under my nails. Anyway, we used 1×2 mosaics for the top and bottom, and I cut 12×12 tiles down to 3×3 and 3×6 inch pieces to do the platform. For anyone interested, the platform was done in a “windmill” pattern and top and bottom would be considered an “alternating” pattern. We still have to give it one more good cleaning with a light acid wash and then seal it with a stone sealer.
We ordered the mantle cap on Monday, so hopefully we get it a couple weeks before Christmas. Once that is installed, we are going to prime it and the walls, paint, and put up the trim.
Halloween 2005
This Halloween was a big much-ado about nothing. It rained early in the day and a little in the late afternoon, but it dried up in time for the trick-or-treaters. I was surprised to see how small the turnout was. Cynthia still hung to our tradition of running out to the local pumpkin patch and picking out two pumpkins for us to carve.
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