Totally Justified

The espresso machine purchase has been validated by the WSJ! Not really since I don't get my daily coffee(s) at Starbucks or elsewhere to begin with. I did some initial cost analysis on my coffee consumption and I'm not really saving much of anything. If you count the multiple shots of espresso prior to each of the Cherry Creek Time Trials for eight weeks and the occasional on the road coffee, my coffee shop purchases are well under $200 per year. I spent a little more than that on the new setup.

Parts and pieces keep trickling in. I have the water filtration bits in hand now so I can do the plumbing work needed to supply the machine with fresh, clean, softened water to hopefully avoid any sort of scale build up inside the boiler. I have a line on a timer (if I can verify that I can use it without any issues) thanks to the fact that there used to be an electric hot water heater at home in NC and my dad hung onto the mechanical timer.

Doing a little more demo in the back room continued to uncover the wonders of the 'how not to build world', this time in the electrical realm. My favorite was the piece of Romex just hanging free inside the wall. I can only guess somebody decided against wiring something and just stopped. I also need to figure out how exactly I am going to support the joists of the floor. There is a "floor" below that which I can only hope is solid enough to spread the load for posts under each existing joist. Given the amount of cold air that flows when I remove my temporary access panel, some insulation down there will be a good thing . . . once I get past the couple mouse carcasses I saw. Isn't home improvement grand?