New Years Eve...

For this New Years Eve it was just Daisy and I. I had been invited to a couple of parties, but with all the fireworks going off and Daisy being scared of them like crazy I couldn't do that.
In anticipation of the fireworks I took Daisy already out at 6 pm. At that time it was still fairly quiet. And we got a good walk around the block. Then I started to prepare dinner. I was making beef with several homemade sauces and Potato Salad and White Bread as sides. Turned out to be quite yummy and of course Daisy got a little of all that good stuff.
I had moved Daisy's doggie bed into the living room, placed it right in front of the TV and turned up that volume. That drowned out most of the sound of the small and medium velocity fireworks. But for the big ones it was pretty much no help at all. For Daisy that are always 2 terrible out as she is terrified of the loud fireworks and almost as jumpy as a virgin at at prison rodeo.
I was really glad when those 2 hours were over and only the medium velocity fireworks were still going off. I had opened right at midnight a bottle of champagne, but for some reason it hit not quite the spot. Daisy and I greeted the new year with a continuation of a Star Trek Enterprise marathon. But 3 am the sound of the fireworks had finally died down enough, that I could head out with Daisy for her walk before heading to bed.
All in all a fairly relaxing New Years Eve. And my usual concept of having Daisy hide between my legs while giving her lots of attention helped with all the crazy fireworks.

XMAS-Eve...

Well, this XMAS was going to be different. On the one hand it was going to be my first XMAS in my new place and on the other hand this year I was only going to celebrate XMAS with my family. A lot of people might be a little confused here, I'm not talking about my biological family. I'm talking about my family...and this family consists of 2 members: Daisy and I.
I had already done all my XMAS grocery shopping the previous weekend, but there still were a couple of things to be done. I started off with putting the TV-Bench together. Took me quite some time, but in the end I succeeded. Once I was done it occurred to me that I could have just gone with a basic table, but that bench just looked so cool.
Next up it was finally time to unpack my new Big-Screen TV and set the thing up. That was pretty much a piece of cake. I had it set up in no time and connecting it to my High-Speed Internet was a breeze. After that came some updating of the software. Up next was setting up the BluRay Player. With HDMI that was a piece of cake as well and connecting it via WiFi to my Internet was easy as it can be. Then I checked the USB-Ports and of course I can watch movies directly from a Flash-Drive. That's gonna come in very handy.

Next up was getting XMAS dinner ready. Warmed up the soup for my Fondue. While I was doing that I was preparing all the Sauces and Sides. I had chosen 4 Sauces: a Garlic Sauce, A BBQ-Style Sauce, a homemade Curry Sauce and and a homemade Mustard-Horseradish Sauce. As Sides I was going to have Potato Salad, Red Beet Salad and freshly baked Rolls. And as the main course 2 different kinds of meat: Beef and Turkey.
The only downside was, that my coffee table didn't arrive in time. So I chose to substitute it with my nightstand and a chair from the kitchen.
Of course Daisy got her own XMAS meal. She got a Knackwurst...and she so was into that. I was cooking my Fondue and the meat had been marinated very delicious I was watching Star Trek the Motion Picture. That's definitely the right way to see Movies...and a 50" Big-Screen TV. Absolutely loved it.
All in all it was a really great XMAS Eve. And I have to say that has been the most enjoyable and most peaceful XMAS I ever spent in Austria. Up till the time I met Kenny, I never knew that you can celebrate XMAS without screaming, yelling and fighting with each other. That's definitely an experience that I will always cherish!!

Assembling the Couch...

Well today I finally got around to assemble the couch. Unpacked everything and had for most part fun assembling my new living room couch. And since I bought it at Ikea there's some assembly required. Well it did take a couple of hours. Was taking breaks inbetween and spent as well some quality time with Daisy. But in the end I did finally succeed and finished the couch. And I have to say in the sandy painted living room it really looks great.
I know what everyone is going to say. An anthracite colored couch and a red Heeler just don't mix. Well, the only other choice would have been a dark brown with pretty much the same end result. And I was not going to go with a beige floral pattern. So if cleaning should get too much work I might just go ahead and invest a couple of bucks into a dark colored slip-cover that you can just throw into the washer.
But all in all I'm happy with it.

Last Minute XMAS Shopping...

Today I really wanted to get the rest of my XMAS shopping done. I just didn't want to have to do anything on the 24th, since that's usually a mad house. Well today wasn't much better. Luckily I had only a few items on my To-Do-List. I had pre-ordered the meat for XMAS and had only to pick it up at the butcher. Did some last minute grocery shopping for some items I had missed when I placed my online order as well. And it was truly a mad house. And it seems like that people are getting nastier and nastier every year. We all know there will be waiting lines on the cash register on the last Saturday before XMAS. So there is no point in getting furious about it. Luckily it took less than 20 minutes to get through the cash register and best part is it didn't even cost me a dime. I paid it all with coupons that I get as employee incentive from work. And that ended up saving me 50 bucks.
Up next was a trip to the hardware store, since I still needed a couple of things to assemble my TV-Bench. The shopping experience was so much nicer, as there were no lines at all. Guess the last Saturday before XMAS is really to time to go shopping for DIY stuff.
And finally my 3rd trip of the day was to Sparatcus. Had to pick up a couple of last minute presents for friends that I will be visiting over the holidays. It was busy, but way not that terrible than at the grocery store and people actually were patient.
So now that all the shopping for XMAS is done I can start assembling my couch and TV-Bench, but that will have to wait till tomorrow, since I really didn't feel like dealing with that after today's shopping trip.

Furniture Delivery...

Today was on the one hand the last day of work before the holidays, since I'll be having this year the 24th off. What makes for a nice mini-vacation, since I will be off till December 26th. It was also the day I had scheduled my furniture delivery. Could have already had it delivered on Tuesday, but with this being the last time before XMAS and all the work that has to do with end of the tax year, that was just not really an option. And on the other hand even if I had done that the furniture would have just put into the living room and I would have taken time on the weekend to assemble it.
I had planned on leaving work by noon. By the time I left I was already running about 20 minutes late. but I did manage to get to my apartment in time, since delivery was scheduled between 1 and 4 pm. Well, about 3.45 pm get a call form the delivery guys that they will be at my place in about 20 minutes. I was fine with that. They carried all the boxes up 4 flights of stairs. All in all almost 300 lbs...and I certainly didn't envy them that task. That was one of the reasons why I didn't mind paying the 100 bucks for the delivery. And yes I did give them a very nice tip.
After the delivery guys had left I went out to get my XMAS haircut done...and it was more than time. Didn't have to wait long there, about 10 minutes or so. After the haircut I went to the local pharmacy to pick up some meds that I had ordered. Got back home about 5.30 pm. Figured I might as well take Daisy for a quick walk since my grocery delivery for XMAS was scheduled between 6 an 9 pm. When I got back with Daisy I saw the delivery guy getting all the stuff out of the car. So I got back just in time. In fact the delivery guy was about 15 minutes early.
After I had put away all the groceries I realized that I had forgotten to order a couple of things, when I place my initial order. Well, that's not terrible, since I had to go to pick up the meat on Saturday anyways.
So, all in all quite a busy day actually.

TV Delivery & Running Errands....

Today the day had finally arrived that I would be getting my new Big Screen TV delivered. The delivery time was between 1 and 4 pm. So around 1 pm I settled down and waited while catching up on some TV on my iMac. Around 3 pm the TV finally arrived. Since my new Couch and TV-Table won't be arriving for another week, there was no point in unpacking the TV.
So I headed out. I figured I might as well head out and get some errands taken care off. My first stop was the local electronics store where I picked up an HDMI cable. But these things are still quite expensive. Next up was the local Hardware Store where I got some Power Tool, since there will be more remodeling in the near future.
For dinner I decided to check out a Burger delivery place and they really have nice & tasty American sized Burgers. All in all a quite successful Saturday.

XMAS Shopping...

Well, today it was finally time to get some of my XMAS Shopping done. This was a first for me as well, since I have never ever gone XMAS shopping on December 8th while working in retail. But this year I decided to break with that. Time was here the deciding factor.
Went to a local Electronics store since I had planned on buying a Big Screen TV for this XMAS. I did want one for quite some time now. Watching TV on my 20" iMac is OK, but I wouldn't quite call it a satisfactory solution. And on the other hand I didn't want to buy it until I was finished painting my living/media-room and ordering some of the furniture. I had already done my research and knew pretty much what I wanted. In the end I went with a 50" Samsung Big Scrren TV. Yes, and I did pretty much blow my entire XMAS Bonus on it. Spent about 1100 bucks, but it's so gonna be worth it...and that's exactly what a XMAS bonus is for. And I don't have to buy for anyone else, since for this XMAS it's just going to be Daisy and I.
I decided on having the TV delivered, since I really didn't feel like renting a car and then having to carry the 40 pound thing up 4 flights of stairs. So spending 29 bucks on the delivery is really quite a steal. And if everything works according to plan my Big Screen TV will be delivered on December 14th. Can't wait to set the TV up and start watching my regular TV stuff on an awesome Big Screen TV!!

Home Remodel...

Well, today the day had come that I finally started with the Home Remodel. Had been dragging that out for weeks. Just could not get to motivate myself. But I had taken 2 additional day off an d this was also going to be my first vacation since having started working. The longer ladder I had ordered arrived on Thursday. Turns out that I had taken the wrong measurements. Must have read the "foot" scale instead of the "meter" scale and so I ended up with a ladder that was too long and not much of a use. She I took a trip to the hardware store and got a ladder that fit my needs. I did manage to tape off all the borders but that was as far as my remodel went today.
On Friday I managed to put 1 paint of coat on all the walls. Since daylight at this stage of the year isn't available in abundance it wasn't bad at all. But finishing up early did give me the opportunity to prepare a tasty meal and later that evening I watched "Fellowship of the Ring" in preparation for the upcoming release of the "Hobbit".
Saturday was another successful day of painting. Finished up the Living/Media-Room with the second coat of paint and it turned out quite nice. In the beginning I wasn't to sure about the shade of the color and thought I should have gone one shade lighter. But now I really do like the darker shade. But by now it was pretty clear that I wouldn't be able to finish painting the bedroom. On the one hand it was a question of the daylight, on the other hand I really didn't feel like having to sleep in all the paint fumes. Since you can leave the windows open in winter that much. So I opted to finish up the paint job in the living room and wait until the pain fumes are gone and start with the bedroom at a late point in time. That way I can sleep for a couple of days in my living room. Later that evening I watched the "Two Towers" and as it was with Fellowship it was amazing TV fun. OK, it would have been way more fun on a big screen TV, but since I don't have that yet my 20" iMac had to do.
Sunday was a pretty low key day. Spent lunch time on a date with a guy I had recently met. He had joined Daisy and I for our walk in the park. And we were getting along actually quite well and Daisy seemed to be interested in him as well. Later in the afternoon I did some paint touch ups and then I settled down and enjoyed "Return of the King". Didn't feel like making dinner though, and so I ordered  Chinese Take Out Food. You can say what you want, but Chinese Take Out and a great movie makes for an awesome Sunday!!