I finally took the plunge and signed up for charter telephone. Was getting sick of at&t, bill was going up and I was starting to get a hum on the line. Didn’t want to go through a repair so I am going to try charter. Wanted to do this awhile back but now it was a pretty easy decision. I think we are going to end up paying less (will be able to tell as soon as I get the first bill) plus we will have unlimited long distance. Previous we payed per minute but very cheap. Long distance bill was 2 to 5 dollars a month normally.

So in preparation of the new device for telephone I decided it was time to get the 8 port drop amp that I have been reading about. I found that they range from about $60 plus shipping to well over $100 plus shipping. It is hard to get them under 80 or 90 plus shipping. I found a place in IL that had a buy it now option for it on ebay plus I could get terminators and surge suppression from the same place with cheap shipping so I went for it. Box showed up in mail 2 days later. Went down and started taking current mess of splitters and Motorola Drop Amp out. I was thinking I would have to plug in a few terminators to a few extra ports but I was wrong. I have 7 active devices in the house already. I put a terminator on one terminal until the phone adapter shows up. I hope to mount the new drop amp to the wall just above my current shelve holding a few devices. The phone adapter I hope to mount in the same area and then all power I plan to plug into a wall mounted apc surge arrest power cord that is plugged into an apc ups. That should keep everything up and running in the event of a power outage. I have a little more cleanup to do and then I will mount everything to the wall before the telephone adapter shows up.

Hopeing in the end I will have a cheaper bill, more service and better/clearer signal from this service.

Man that was a nice long weekend.  Went down to outlet mall on saturday.  Found a few things.  Not to much tough.  Sunday got work down around the house.  Monday worked in the yard a bit and cleaned a few things up.  In the evening we started putting the boarder up in the new baby room.  Finished that up and hopefully that will be mostly dry later today.  Just need to schedule to have the carpets cleaned soon and we will be ready to move furniture in to that room.

Still have a few things left on my to-do list but it is getting smaller.  Really need to start working on that shelving unit soon.

Started first thing Saturday morning. I was clearing out the old office so I could get it painted. Jen was helping, a little while later her sister and husband came over and helped load up our elliptical machine. Brought it over to their place and now the basement has a little more room. I need to move things around a bit but that thing did take up a bit of room. The back room or new office in the basement is full of junk right now. Between us piling some stuff from the upstairs office in there and me having a pile of stuff to take pictures to post on ebay, that room is to full right now.

I started painting the new baby’s room and about half way through we thought the paint was a bit dark. We ended up getting a lighter can of paint but in the end did not use it. We stuck with the original paint. After we got back from getting the paint we didn’t use, I started on some mulch in the front yard. Ran out (used 12 bags), headed to meijer to pick up another 14 and kept going. Had 6 bags left when Jen’s other sister and husband came over. Showered and cook a nice meal on the grill and enjoyed the late afternoon in the sun eating on the deck.

Today again got up early and got a few donuts and then went right to work on the basement. Cleaned up the utility room. I finally got around to draining the hot water heater. While I was draining and flushing the hot water heater I cleaned up the work bench and moved it to the other side of the wall it is on. I organized everything on the floor and first 2 shelves. I will work on the top two shelves some other time. I now again have some room so I can start on the shelves I want to make for the office downstairs. I am going to make a quick wood shelve to hang from the ceiling in the utility room so I can keep the small pieces of wood out of the way. I have a bunch of solid oak that is laying in the center of the utility room right now. I also have 7 or 8 pieces of plywood against the one wall. Most of the wood is for the current shelving project for the office. Left over plywood I still plan to use for a few cabinets for the utility room.

I finished up the last bags of mulch in the front yard and finished the last 2 walls in the baby room. I have a few touch up areas but the paint is almost done. Now I have to work on putting the border up.

Feel like I got a bunch done this weekend. To bad I have plenty more to do.