I love my drill press

I've been searching for a good-old, heavy-duty, American-made drill press. I think I hit the mother load. For $100, I brought home this Delta 17" industrial drill press from a garage sale this weekend. It must weigh around 300 lbs.

It was probably made in 1939, the same year our house was built. It was from the Burlake Manufacturing Company, a WWII munitions factory, here in Burbank.

Crestview studies

These are the design studies that David Erwin of Crestview Doors sent me for our new front door. He said that he thinks the wider windows are more dramatic, and I have to agree. I love design #6. As David said, it makes a reference to the window architecture of our stair tower, without replicating it.

Buried alive

We have a mystery! The phone/data/cable outlet in the guest bedroom seems to have been buried alive. The low-voltage wiring guy (I wonder if that name gives him a complex around high-voltage guys) said he remembers installing it, but it must have been drywalled over. Luckily, I have an unprocessed fisheye photo that reveals its whereabouts, so we should be able to rescue it without too much damage.

The steps from the living room (old house) to the hallway (new house) just got installed today. Symbolically, this is huge. It means we're finally bridging the two parts.

In fact, we've got our first guests coming to stay with us in a couple of days. Why bother finishing the addition, or getting your C. of O., for that matter, when you can just plunge headlong into it?! It's going to be fun, and a great trial-by-fire of Park Haus Guest Resorts. Please book your room early.

LEGO soccer

To answer Silvia's other question, LEGO soccer is this. The fun part is that Ronan likes to bring a ref onto the field to admonish the players for dirty play. I heard him say, "Player nine, no more spitting on other player nine".

Fiorenzato Bricoletta

Since Silvia asked, this is the espresso machine I have and love. Its companions are a Mazzer Mini burr grinder, and freshly roasted beans from Phil Hand at Supreme Bean in North Hollywood.

For way more info, check out espresso master Chris Tacy's review on Home-Barista.

MAKE Magazine plug

Blatant plug time! I wrote an article for the new issue of MAKE Magazine on using the free Google SketchUp software to design a workbench. You can also follow along with my video version here.