Wow it's been over two weeks since my last construction update - sorry about the delay. Let's get down to business...

Week 5 (3/17 - DONE)
The majority of the rough electrical was completed this week, and work continued on the pressure piping for Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Vacuum systems.

Week 6 (3/24 - DONE)
Okay, well - the original plan was to be done with drywall by the end of this week, but in fact by the end of the week it hadn't even started. So, we're now officially 1 week (or slightly more) behind. However, this week we *did* get everything else completed:

• Rough Electrical: Completed, and approved to cover up
• Rough Plumbing: Completed, and approved to cover up
• Network Cables: Completed, approved to cover
• Medical Gas System: Inspected and approved, still pending some extra paperwork and permitting. I had to work HARD to find someone at the city who wanted to look at this system. Nobody thought it was their turf, yet everyone figured someone wanted to look at it. Eventually I found "Special Hazards Inspector" Bob Happle who works for the Fire Marshall, and he was excellent. He came by, inspected the system, told me how to file the permit (which will land on his desk) and gave us the okay. So, despite my previous bitching about the city, there have been quite a few good people to work with there, and Bob is certainly one of the best so far!
• HVAC Venting and Gas Line: Completed, and approved to cover - this included a vent through the roof for the dryer, the water heater, the bathroom vent, and the medgas evacuation system.

So, with all those subtasks completed and all the approvals lined up neatly... we're ready to SHEETROCK!

We also had the "Wash 'n Roll" truck come by to groom DeeDee - it's a cool RV turned into a mobile grooming service. They did an excellent job, and they were very good with DeeDee!

BEFORE	AFTER

Week 7 (3/31 - THIS WEEK): Derek, the contractor doing the framing and sheetrock, had a hard time finding guys to do sheetrock this week - everyone was working on other projects. So Monday and Tuesday went a little slower than expected, although he got some leftover framing tasks completed, which was good. But Wednesday he found a crew of 4 guys who came in and sheetrocked ALL of the main walls and ceilings in 1 day! Wednesday night it looked like there had been an explosion in there, what a freaking mess - my tidy and orderly job site had been ruined, but at least the sheetrock was up!

So the rest of the week the drywall guys are taping and mudding, and derek is hanging doors and window frames. It's starting to look really different in there. I'll hold off on sending sheetrock pics until they get the joints taped and sanded, it looks pretty ugly in there at the moment.

Week 8 (4/7): The plan next week will be for us to paint a few critical areas in the evenings like the bathroom, breakroom and the lab area, so we can hang the cabinets and countertops, and the plumber can get in and do his finish work (hooking up sinks and wet tables). Hopefully we can also get the electricians started on some of the finish work up on the ceiling (pendant lights and fans). Then, next weekend, we'll be painting like mad.

Week 9 (4/14): Now the electricians can really come in and finish up. We'll also be bringing in a lot of equipment, and getting the floors cleaned and re-finished with a couple final coats of sealer. Then, towards the end of the week, we'll start setting up equipment, bringing in furniture, touching up paint, and putting down carpet tiles.

So, technically if all goes as planned, we could still *possible* open on Earth Day (4/22), but it seems unlikely that we'll be able to get all of that together by then. So, the next holiday to shoot for would be May Day (5/1) which is either "Loyalty Day", "International Workers' Day", or some pagany druid thing, or a day where you put flowers in baskets, or something - I don't get it, it's sort of a strange multi-purpose-holiday with a lot of functions all trying to stack up on that one day, but they may need to make room for one more... MTVC Grand Opening Day!

DeeDee feels much lighter on her paws since her haircut

Belmont Sunset, after that crazy day of hail, snow, sun, and rain - btw, "Belmont Sunset" would be a good name for a drink, something with carrot juice in it maybe, and tequila... not sure yet. I'll work on it.