I love old houses...

My house was built in 1926 and apparently some plumbing under the concrete dates from around then. Some food got washed down past the garbage disposal which blocked up the drain. A bottle of Liquid Plumber, a bottle of lye, much plunging, a kitchen flooded with greenish/black water, and a sprung leak in the pipe later I found out that a clay pipe under the foundation collapsed. So much for the spare money I had been saving for a trip to the Berea gun show.

They (Ace Building & Remodeling) ended up having to rip out the concrete, replace the pipe, then backfill it and cover it with new concrete. It was all done in one day but unfortunately it took me almost a week to determine that I needed it done. A week without a drain sucks more than I thought. Dirty dishes everywhere, can't rinse them, can't throw them in the dishwasher, and can't cook since the pots and pans will be dirty all over the place.

Once again I'd like to thank the original idiots that worked on my house for not putting in any sort of access point to run a snake, not using the proper PVC fittings underneath my sink, and not elevating the dishwasher output line (all of which have been corrected now).

Nifty pictures here.

I'm back

I just got back from attending the Internet Retailer Mobile Commerce Forum 2010 conference in Chicago. Internet retailers from around the country gather to discuss mobile marketing and technology strategy as it relates to the mobile web. Speakers included mobile executives from Walgreens, Fandango, Travelocity, Rhapsody, Crutchfield, Finish Line, and ShopNBC to name the more mainstream presenters. The overall theme was marketing centric and not as technical as I'm used to, but I did take away information pertaining to topics such as apps versus mobile sites and prioritizing mobile site features.

I have been to Chicago before but as with this trip I barely had any time to do much "touristy" stuff at length. I did get to check out Navy Pier, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., and get some sweet Chicago deep dish pizza from Giordanos. I never knew that Bubba Gump was a real place that was actually created for (or after) Forrest Gump was released. The tables actually have license plates on them that say Run Forrest Run or Stop Forrest Stop to indicate if you need something from the server.


Other than that I just took some random urban shots around town as I was walking between places. All of the pictures I took can be seen here.