A Few Floor Pics (and Guests, too!)

Okay, this is kind of lame, but I STILL don't have a picture of the finished floor. I know, I know, but I have a good excuse. Or ... an okay excuse. Two of them. Firstly, right after finishing the floors, we began entertaining out-of-town guests. Secondly, we have ordered new dining room furniture but it hasn't come in yet ... So we have boxes of serving dishes, wine glasses, pictures, and vases that would normally be displayed on the bookshelf in the dining area but are currently sitting in boxes on the floor of the dining room. And, I mean, who wants to see pictures of boxes, really?

But here's a shot of the floor shortly after beginning the installation:



The black stuff that's over the subfloor is heavy (30 lb) roofing felt, which turned the bottoms of our sneakers black and sticky, but made the finished floor very soundproof! And it was A LOT cheaper than the $1/sqft synthetic stuff that's recommended for soundproofing.

Here's a shot in better lighting so you can really see the color. I'm still not sold on the combo of the bamboo color with the gray tile, but Nick says it's fine. More to the point, he says I'm crazy for thinking of replacing the tile. We'll just have to see how long it takes to wear him down (heh heh).



So, as I had said before, we are about a third of the way through a summer of entertaining guests. It started with my friend Kelly and her girlfriend Ginger, as well as one of Ginger's friends from the Bay area, Jenna. They were able to play San Diego tourist, and we spent two really great days together, going to the Wild Animal Park and Balboa Park. Here's a picture of Kelly and Ginger from the Wild Animal Park, taken on the tram tour just before dusk:



The three girls had been to La Jolla at the beginning of their stay and were disappointed at the lack of sea lions at the Children's Pool. We went back later in the week, but again, the only sea lions we saw were out in the water (not up on the beach), and even those were juveniles. One really positive thing, though, was the fact that the water was exceptionally clear. I can't say I've ever seen it so pristine-looking:



And here's one of the little guys swimming close to the beach (so cute!):



Now my dad is in town for the American Association of Clinical Chemistry meeting. We spent yesterday schmoozing together on the exhibit floor. One perk of dad's connections with the mucky mucks of the big companies - at these large meetings, they always throw one hell of a party. Last night we had dinner aboard the Midway aircraft carrier museum and then went to a huge nightclub that another company had rented out, and tonight we're having dinner/drinks at the San Diego Zoo! Hey, it's nice to be the daughter of an important person!