jeremy the electrician arrived at the house this morning a little bit before 10am, the same time my father and i got there. i watched as jeremy loaded boxes of lightolier recessed lights into the house. we closed all the windows and cranked up the air conditioner to 5, but even then it was only cool in the living room. 
the kitchen, where the recessed lights were being put in, was still warm, although a lot better than outside where the world was melting from the heat. after removing those awful track lights in the kitchen, jeremy started by figuring out the exact positions of the 11 recessed lights. he'd occasionally call me to ask if i wanted the lights this way or that. then he started poking the ceiling to make sure their weren't any beams that would obstructs the placements. all went well except for the last two lights by the back door, one of the position was right below a beam. 
i ended up deciding to go with a single light by the door instead of two. once that was all set, he put up these 5" diameter red template stickers on the ceiling, and then he carefully cut around them, making holes for the lights. next he started snaking the wires through the walls, clumps of old insulation (chewed up paper pulp that was probably pumped into the house when they did the ceiling) falling out of the holes like grey snow. when he was finally done, the ceiling was dotted with strands of electrical wires hanging from each hole.
somewhere around 2pm my father and i went to zoe's again to get lunch. thick chinese food on a hot day isn't particularly appetizing and i wasn't able to finish my spicy kung pao chicken. in order to pass the time while jeremy was working, i either surfed the web on my ibook or watched tv. he finally left at 4pm, i felt bad for him working 6 hours straight without lunch (we asked, he didn't want any) on such a hot day. tomorrow morning he'll be back to continue with the installation, connecting the wires so the lights will actually work. after that he's got a few more electrical things to take care of.
i love recessed lights. they're so elegant, kind of hidden inside of the ceiling, a simple clean look. after seeing them in the kitchen, i almost want to get them everywhere in the house. too dark the closet? bam! recessed lights! not enough illumination on the bathroom? bam! recessed lights! living room corners are murky? bam! recessed lights! you can really do a lot with them, that's why in a lot of modern homes you find an abundance of recessed lighting.
owning a house has made me into a details freak. there's nothing in the house that i haven't thought about at one point or another. underneath the kitchen cabinets. the little space above the window frames. below the bathroom sink. the knobs on the faucets. inside the forced air vents. the windowpanes. the spaces between the floor boards. is this making any sense? because i own all of that, i'm responsible for keeping them clean. every little detail of the house is slowly starting to seep into my pores. i guess that's a good thing. i'm also such a proud parent when it comes to my house. you know, that condition new parents get when they think that their baby is the prettiest, or the smartest, that they have the best baby in the world? that's how i feel about my house. maybe that's why i still check out condo listings, for that confirmation, that reassurance that the place i got is the best, or at least i like to think so. maybe that's why i love showing the place.
and i finally finished guns, germs, and steel last night. the final chapter was all about the potential field of historical science, kind of dry, took me a while to finally get through it. a very good book though, i know two people already lined up who wants to borrow it. i'm looking for a new book now, but in the meantime i've been flipping through the visual quickstart guide to php, trying to gain some skills so i can update this weblog and make it more dynamic.