"I'm Back in the Saddle Again"

So it's officially been 1 week and 1 hour since I had my "incident" with the chop saw, and I'm 80% back in action. First, off many thanks for the nice messages and emails from family, friends, and stranger in the interwebs, it helped out immensely.

I won't rehash all of what Christina wrote last week. On a side note, when we got back from the ER she ran upstairs to document what happened before I even know what was going on. I mean she had her post started within 30 minutes of walking back in the door and helping me get situated. Part of me secretly thinks that her and the chop saw conspired to get more blog hits for 3 days. I wouldn't put it past her...but I digress.

So I cut my hand with the saw. I preformed the "wiggle your finger and pray hard they're there" thing in the car to the ER a couple times to myself as to not panic Christina any more than she was. 5 fingers to start with, and 5 in the end. The ER folks said I was FRIGGING (I'm trying to keep this post PG) lucky that I missed my thumb and forefinger tendons. They did tests before stitching me up to make sure that I had full movement. That was a huge relief as I'm a software development manager by day, and I need my fingers. That's 2 for 2 baby! Without posting any of the gory pictures I've been keeping I have one of where my cut was with a little (bad) photoshopping to illustrate where I did the damage.

The small line on the top is where I got my finger, and the one on the bottom is where I got my thumb knuckle. Think the start and end of the saw blade...without getting too graphic.

So that's that. I would say my hand is healing really well, but then I'd be pretending to be a doctor. So...I'll say that it doesn't hurt anymore, but the stitches are TIGHT since the cut was wide and really jagged. So I feel a "pulling" sensation when I make a fist or something equally stupid.

On Saturday I had the idea to work/finish the baseboards this weekend so that it was all out of my life for good. Needless to say I was a bit gun shy yesterday morning with the first few cuts, but I just went slow and really made safely the priority over "gittin' er done". Of course that's how it should be EACH AND EVERY TIME anyone uses any saw, but after so many times it's just white noise.

Anyway, I wrapped up the base caps yesterday and I bit today (I couldn't work more than a couple hours without a break since my hand would ache a bit). I took a couple pictures tonight of the baseboards just for a bit of reference. They ended up blurry for some reason, so I apologize. (note to the Boss: time for that new SLR right?!?!).

The base caps proved to be hard to cope for me. I think with the limited range of motion I have in my left hand right now and my utter lack of patience this weekend, it just didn't work out. So I reasoned that since there are only approx 5 inside corners that aren't in a closet, and the real work are the 14 some outside corners...that I'd just miter the base caps and pray for the best. Well Jeebus was listening to my sinful self because the insides worked out perfectly for the most part. The two that have small gaps were fixed when I caulked the baseboards today. VIOLA! The picture on the right shows a span of baseboard with the base cap and the caulk applied to hide the curvy walls. I'll touch up the wall paint after the trim is all painted. In like 2 years I'm sure.

The picture on the right shows one of my lingering buckets of joint compound. I actually used that today to fill in some unsightly gaps in the window trim. It's really hard to explain, but rest assured that none of it was my doing. It was a combination of how the ex-contractor installed "the box" for each window and that the Boss wanted the curved part of the window trim to be flush with the bowed edge of the boxes (thanks to the install...meh).

Well that means there's a gap. My solution: lightweight joint compound. The pictures below show the windows with the first coat joint compound applied just a bit ago. I'll sand them tomorrow after work and apply the second coat. Hopefully it all looks seemless, but who knows.

I have no clue why that last pic on the right (two windows) has "spots" on the walls. Part of me wants to race up there to see if they are in fact mysteriously on the walls or not. The other part of me says "why on EARTH does it matter at this point, plus you have chips and french onion dip". I think the second part of has the sound reasoning at this moment.

I guess that's it for now. Christina is at a baby shower far away, so I'm settling in to watch the Colts play tonight. So if you're the church going type, light a candle for them. They need it. Oh, also I celebrated the Phillies being WORLD F*#KING CHAMPIONS (my homage to Chase "I'm druuuuunk at the parade" Utley) for a few days last week which was great. I missed the parade because of you know...having a job...but since we live a block off of the parade route, the party was all night Friday.

Good stuff. Thanks again to everyone for the messages last week.

- Bryan