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This President’s Day/Valentine’s Day Weekend, Christy and I decided to tackle remodeling our decrepit bathroom. After years of putting the project off, we finally said enough was enough. With a limited budget and a short timeframe, we decided to forego the complete remodel and try to salvage what we could. The tub and toilet are still in good shape, but the floor, sink, lighting fixtures, cabinets, and towel racks had to go. Plus, the main reason we needed to redo the bathroom was the chronic mildew issue that required us to bleach the walls and ceiling every 2 weeks. Not a fun task.

We started tearing down on Thursday night and finished final trim work on Monday night. Christy spent 3 full days in the bathroom sanding, painting, and laying floor tiles. I only had Saturday and Sunday to work, so my tasks were limited to plumbing and electrical, plus installing the cabinets and lights.

The only hiccup we had was the closet flange which holds the toilet to the floor. Our old flange was rusted and the concrete floor around it was broken up and unstable. I tried to patch the floor with a concrete patch compound, but after two days, it failed to set as it was mainly meant to be used to fill cracks, not holes. I dug it up and used a quick-dry cement and was able to secure a new flange to a rock-solid floor in a couple of hours.

All in all, we are ecstatic about the new bathroom. We love the new sink and floors and the walls and ceiling are now coated with a mildew-resistant primer and paint by Zinsser (supposedly the best on the market). We are hoping to never have to bleach those walls again!  

For more pictures from the project, click here.

Many of you know that I love me some barbeque. It is the only way I know how to cook. I’ve been grilling ever since I moved away from home at age 17. I even remember the first grill I bought when we lived in the apartment on Rosemead. I especially remember my first attempt at beef ribs when I charred the outside to a blackened crisp and was shocked when the meat underneath the crispy layer was still practically moo’ing, it was so raw (Cyndi, I think you still have nightmares about that. I’m surprised you didn’t go vegan after that meal!).

Over the years, I’ve honed my craft, especially with chicken, steak, fish, and burgers. But I never got over the nightmare ribs from 1991. I’ve only attempted beef ribs a handful of times since then, and I was never pleased with the results. UNTIL NOW!!!

I finally found a method that worked for me. The ribs came out juicy and delicious. Just the right amount of flavor, cooked to perfection. They were so good, I decided to blog about it so I can refer to this method in the future. It is commonly known as the 3,2,1 method:

Step 1: Preparation
- Remove the membrane from the bottom side of the ribs.
- Soak wood chips for at least 30 minutes. (This time I used hickory wood)
- Apply dry rub to ribs (this time I just used kosher salt and fresh ground pepper)

Step 2: Smoking
- This is the “3″ portion of the 3,2,1 method, because it takes 3 hours.
- Place the ribs directly on the center of the grill, meat side up.
- Place soaked wood chips in smoking box and turn on wood chip burner to minimum level
- Turn on burner on far left to minimum level (I am using a Weber Summit S-650 6-burner grill).
- Ensure that temperature stays at 225 F.
- Mop ribs every hour with Trader Joes unfiltered apple juice.

Step 3: Cooking
- This is the “2″ portion of the 3,2,1 method, because (you guessed it…) it takes 2 hours.
- Mop the ribs with the apple juice and then wrap them in aluminum foil
- Keep temperature at 225 F and cook for 2 hours. (Edit: Maybe closer to 250 F)
- This is what is going to make the ribs juicy and nearly falling off the bone.

Step 4: Finalizing
- This is the “1″ portion blah blah blah… you get it by now.
- Take the ribs out of the foil and place them back directly on the rack.
- Leave the temp at 225 F and cook for one more hour, or until the meat reaches 175 F. This only took 30 minutes for me this time, so check regularly to prevent over cooking.

Step 5: Enjoy!

Yes, if you do the math, the ribs did take 6 hours to cook, but they were well worth the wait. While waiting, I did have time to enjoy my freshly brewed Passionfruit Jasmine Iced Tea:

Shamir Merino

Trying to be creative and spontaneous, (not to mention lazy and cheap), I decided to make my own card for Valentine’s Day to give to Christy. I wanted to find a bunch of pictures of just the two of us and create a collage to put on the cover. Well, that is easier said than done. It turns out that of the more than 25,000 digital pictures of our family on our computer I could only find 12 pictures that was just the two of us. That’s it… twelve. That’s pretty sad, if you ask me. So my lofty plan of a grandious collage turned out to be fairly weak. Here is the result:

So here is my plea… I know I’m not the most cooperative person when it comes to taking pictures of me, but I would appreciate it if any family or friends have a chance to capture a shot of me and Christy together, go for it. Also, please e-mail it to me at shamir@merinospace.com.

Thanks!!!

Shamir Merino

After years of denial and abstinence, the Merino family has finally succumbed to the pressure and fully converted to the dark side… yes, we are now iPodders.

When Apple first came to market with the iPod and iTunes, I refused to give in to the hype. I forged ahead with various mp3 players and smart phones while tirelessly converting my Napster downloads (legal, of course) to unprotected mp3′s that could be played on any player I threw them in. I tried getting the kids excited about music with Sansa’s and Sandisk’s mp3 players, while I used my Windows Smartphones to play my tunes. Sure, they worked- they played music. But that’s about it. When Apple introduced the iPhone and iPod Touch to the market, they finally got my attention. Not just music players, these devices are full blown entertainment systems with gaming, movies, podcasts, GPS, photos, internet, not to mention music.

I was the first convert in the family. With the new job allowing me to commute via train and bus, I wanted to have the option of drowning out the ambient noise (some of which was quite colorful) with my choice of sights and sounds. As effective as a good book is, it simply can’t drown out the noises. I ponied up for an iPhone and never looked back. It’s been 3 months now, and I am still playing with it as if it were a new toy.

David was the second convert. He used some of his Bar Mitzvah money to buy his 8GB iPod Touch, and has been flaunting it in front of his brothers ever since.

For ChrismaHanuKwanzikah, we decided to get Steven his own 16GB iPod Touch, which made Mark the odd-man out. So with Bar Mitzvah money burning a hole in his pocket, Mark bit the bullet and bought himself an 8GB iPod touch this weekend.

The only thing we have to worry about now is how to keep the music organized, and the four iPods charged without the inevitable “Power” struggle (pun intended).

The Merino iPod Family Portrait:

Let’s play a little game here. What do you think when you see someone driving a hybrid car? Pompous do-gooders? Attention whores? Tree-huggers? Or are these people that simply want to make a difference? Now… what do you think when you see someone riding public transportation (especially in car-loving Los Angeles)? Low income? Suspended license? Illegal immigrant? Quite a disparity of image between two modes of transportation.

This past week, I joined the group of public transportation riders. Why? Because I did the math, and the dollars and sense did not add up for a hybrid car- especially the current crop of hybrids that will take 7-10 years to pay dividends for the extra expense they carry on the front end. Sure, you can argue that if you buy a hybrid, you save the planet by spewing less pollution, or using less fuel, but you would be wrong. Today’s hybrids are heavy, gutless, and rarely provide better than 30% improvement in fuel consumption in “real world” use. Which is why I chose to “Go Metro”. Commuting from Pasadena to Downtown Los Angeles during rush hour traffic is hell if you’re driving a car- hybrid or otherwise. For a 12 mile commute, it takes anywhere from 45 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes. In that time, my Nissan Maxima will consume just about 1 gallon of gas. At today’s fuel prices (~$3.89/gallon), that adds up to $7.78 per day for fuel alone. Not to mention the wear and tear costs like brakes, tires, drivetrain, etc. AAA calculates true cost of ownership for a mid-size sedan to be $0.72 per mile, based on 10,000 miles per year. That’s $7,200 per year! I purchased a monthly pass to ride the Metro for $62, for a total of $744 per year. That, my friends, is almost a 10 x savings!

Besides the cost savings benefit, I can consider myself more “green” or environmentally conscious than any Prius owner out there, who still consumes fuel and emits greenhouse gases. So not only am I saving money and saving the environment, but more importantly for me, I am saving my sanity. I hate sitting in traffic. It is a complete waste of time and an accident waiting to happen. Sitting and stressing for 2 hours a day is not productive, nor is it healthy. Now, I can sit on a train or a bus and read a book, or catch up on the latest news on the internet, or simply put on the headphones and zone out for two hours a day, catching up on thoughts and ideas that need nourishment.

I now see why the rest of the world has embraced public transportation. It is so unfortunate that the transit system in Los Angeles is so poorly designed and therefore underutilized. I am fortunate to have a fairly straghtforward route from door to door, and I would be foolish to not take advantage of this opportunity.

Shamir Merino