The countertops were installed yesterday. The cut was perfect, and the installation was very professional. They precisely and cleanly installed the wrong selection of stone. Patricia’s (who spent a lot of time shopping for it, and spent extra money for a contractor with a large selection) upset has no bounds.

Two steps forward, one step back.

I’m assuming that a) the wrong countertops can be removed with minimal upset to the new cabinets and b) that the place will recognize the necessity to do so, at their expense. They’d be out the cost of the labor to to a desinstallation/reinstallation, plus whatever they can’t salvage from the ones they cut from the wrong slab for other potential customers. I’m sure they’d like us to just keep it and take a discount on it, but the color really doesn’t work with the kitchen. I’m hoping that they won’t want the word to get around that they expect their customers to bear the cost of their mistakes.

We’ll find out Monday, when we get back to Florida.

[Update at noon on Monday]

They’re replacing it, and should have it done this week. It’s a shame, because it’s a beautiful stone, but it just doesn’t work in the kitchen.

Sorry for the light posting, but I flew back from CA yesterday, and had a bunch of stuff to do here, having been gone for over two weeks. The countertops are being installed today, and I’ll be dealing with Home Depot over issues with the cabinet installation, and having debris hauled off, and possibly even getting the sink plumbed.

And we get to leave for the airport at 4 PM for a weekend trip to St. Louis for a sister-in-law’s birthday party.

You might want to go read about useful leading indicators in Iraq, though (and no, number of car bombings aren’t among them).

Lots of other good stuff in the blogroll to the left, as well, and as usual.

I had a niece graduate from USC on Friday, and most of the weekend was consumed in consumption, at places like this, this and this, the latter for a Mother’s Day brunch. Family (in-law) barbecues in Cerritos were involved as well.

The commencement was a little deja vuish, because her sister graduated from there a year ago. The commencement speaker was much more impressive last year though. This year’s speech was a trite bit of hackery from Antonio Villaraigosa (current LA mayor), with too much veiled politics in it.

I built the partial wall for the bar today (sans drywall), and we got the new appliances in place, though the plumbing will have to wait for the sink to be installed, which in turn has to await installation of the counterstop, which will be a luxurious pattern of granite that we haven’t selected yet, so no cold water or ice from the new fridge. It’s definitely starting to look like a new kitchen, though, and we have cooking functionality back and a fridge, though dishwashing remains problematic, and will continue in that mode until I get back from CA in two weeks.

It occurs to me that you know that you’re in the middle of a major remodel when, in addition to keeping a grocery list, you keep a continuous Home Depot list. In building the new wall and attaching studs to each other, I discovered a miraculous thing–screws that the heads won’t strip out of under the tender ministrations of an 18-volt drill. The down side is that they eat phillips bits for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Still, its easier to change a bit, and they’re cheap these days, than to try to remove a half-driven screw with a hole where the cross used to be…

Anyway, I’m packing now, flying out to LA in the morning, and I’ll be at the International Space Development Conference on Thursday and Friday, at least part of both days. Hope to see many of you there.

I’ve come to this conclusion myself (actually a couple years ago, but I’ve been too lazy to do much about it). As a result of that, I had Andrew Case co-blogging with me for a while, until events overtook him, and Sam Dinkin has been helping out some. I just can’t hold down this fort by myself and make a living as well (at least not until I get circulation and potential ad revenue up).

But as this weekend shows, I need help. I’m soliciting potential co-bloggers (at the risk of hurting feelings of those I don’t select, but it’s no different than a job interview in that respect). If you think you have something interesting to say on space policy, technology policy, and policy in general, drop me a line (or even audition and make your case in comments here).

My experience is that many people who I would have thought would be good bloggers…aren’t. It takes more than writing skill to be a blogger. It takes an attitude. You have to not only be willing to let your first draft hang out there, you have to be eager to. People who have actually been bloggers will have a leg up on people who are simply published writers, because they’ve demonstrated they have the chops for getting things up there quickly and timely.

I’m putting out feelers to people I know, but I’m opening up the opportunity to all readers. If you want to be part of this site beyond commenting occasionally (or more than occasionally), make your case.

I must be getting senile.

I almost always take a red eye back to Florida from LA, so I’ve been going merrily along for the past few days thinking I had a flight tonight. Well, when I logged on this morning to see if I could improve my seat, I discovered that my reservation was cancelled. Why? Because I was supposed to leave this morning.

No credit for the ticket. The only way to get back without buying a one-way is to go standby. So I’m off to LAX, with hope in my heart for a seat on a plane to Dallas, and then hoping I won’t get stuck in Dallas because there’s nothing available to Fort Lauderdale (the flight I missed was a non-stop that would have had me in about three this afternoon).

Probably no blogging for the rest of the day, unless there’s wireless in a terminal.

I must be getting senile.

I almost always take a red eye back to Florida from LA, so I’ve been going merrily along for the past few days thinking I had a flight tonight. Well, when I logged on this morning to see if I could improve my seat, I discovered that my reservation was cancelled. Why? Because I was supposed to leave this morning.

No credit for the ticket. The only way to get back without buying a one-way is to go standby. So I’m off to LAX, with hope in my heart for a seat on a plane to Dallas, and then hoping I won’t get stuck in Dallas because there’s nothing available to Fort Lauderdale (the flight I missed was a non-stop that would have had me in about three this afternoon).

Probably no blogging for the rest of the day, unless there’s wireless in a terminal.

I must be getting senile.

I almost always take a red eye back to Florida from LA, so I’ve been going merrily along for the past few days thinking I had a flight tonight. Well, when I logged on this morning to see if I could improve my seat, I discovered that my reservation was cancelled. Why? Because I was supposed to leave this morning.

No credit for the ticket. The only way to get back without buying a one-way is to go standby. So I’m off to LAX, with hope in my heart for a seat on a plane to Dallas, and then hoping I won’t get stuck in Dallas because there’s nothing available to Fort Lauderdale (the flight I missed was a non-stop that would have had me in about three this afternoon).

Probably no blogging for the rest of the day, unless there’s wireless in a terminal.

And it looks like a beautiful day for a drive. Often when I leave LA heading east, there’s a thick marine layer, and clouds that don’t break up until Palm Springs, but it’s blue sky and mountains all the way from the beach today.

This is the most beautiful time of year in southern CA. There’s been a lot of rain and the hillsides are green in a way that they only get for a few weeks, spangled with yellow mustard flowers that make their greenness look all the brighter from a distance.

If I see anything worth taking a picture of on the trip, I’ll post later.

I’m waiting for a flight at Fort Lauderdale. The airport now has free wireless in the terminal. I’ll be flying into LA today, then driving to Phoenix tomorrow for the conference. Probably not much posting today, but I’ll check in tonight. Hope to see some of y’all in sunny Arizona.