Excellent.

#61: Help ten restaurants recover. A good French brunch.

#4: Do something I wouldn’t do if not for this blog
#65: Deep Sea Fishing

Wouldn’t think about going on a two night fishing trip with mostly strangers one hundred miles from land, but the virus has thrown a wrench into my plans.

The sea was rough and most people got sick. I tried to sleep in my blanket-less bunk during the overnight boat ride, but the turbulence felt like a 7.0 earthquake for ten straight hours. But once I hooked this 244 pound monster tuna the next day, all was grand.

#48: See 10 New Movies

It’s no Training Day, but most movies in the age of Covid are watchable.

#61. Help 10 LA restaurants recover

Can’t let good Italian fail either.

Only because it’s 120 degrees outside does he tolerate a good shave.

#91: New Car for Sonia

#61. Help 10 LA restaurants recover

Can’t let sushi fail.

Enjoyable enough.

The kids were the first to jump on the air frying trend, but we finally got one. So far, Sonia has made fries, reheated soggy pizza to crispy perfection, and even used it to make her lechon. Tonight, I air fried a couple of Branzinos.

After cleaning them, I scored them, then made a marinade paste of oregano, salt, pepper, and a Korean chili mix.

Rubbed and stuffed the mix.

A little flour and lemon.

Air fried for 30min.

Paired with some Spanish rice. Two thumbs up.

#5: Go to a Marquette Game

Over a hundred degrees today, but Devin kept us cool with his DJing skills.

#93: Add five vintage hard covers to the library

Excellent.

#25: Eat Seafood Seaside

Beautiful day in Malibu at Mastros Ocean Club.

Another good one.

One of my favorite pics, so I’ll continue to post it.

While I feel a pang of nostalgia for my former employer Skil/Bosch, Dewalt offers a more innovative and diverse product line here in the states. Next project: a workbench.

#61: Support Restaurants

LA restaurants remain prohibited from serving indoors, so parking lots have become dining rooms.

Enjoyed my cousin-in-law’s witty debut novel.

Celebrating a bunch of July birthdays gangnam style.

#61: Help 10 Restaurants Survive

Antica Pizzeria Da Michele. At least Covid has finally brought more al fresco dining to LA.

#21 Done: Read an additional 20 books

Incredibly well written.

Called I the experts for this one. They removed all of the old insulation, sanitized and sealed the attic, and installed new insulation.

#14: Celebrate Sonia’s 50th.

I was busy cooking paella and gazpacho, so the pictures are lacking. Devin, Brittany, Alex, Dad, and Georgeanne made the Monday night trek to put the exclamation mark on Sonia’s 50th. Georgeanne’s poem stole the show.

#21: Read an additional 20 books

Dark, but a good read.

We should have been in San Miguel de Allende celebrating Sonia’s 50th before Corona took on a different meaning. While not the same, we brought a little bit of Mexico to the back yard.

29: Spain/Portugal Album

#48: See 10 New Movies

A movie doesn’t need to be good during the pandemic to get amazing reviews, it just needs to be new.

#82: No car for me.

I was going to try and make a go with it with the Bronco, but break downs would’ve been inevitable. Sooo, I got a M2 Competition Series, because, you know, the 405 is a racetrack.

#70: Frame Pearl Jam posters

#41 Star Gaze

It was so dark, even my iPhone could take a picture of the stars.

#100 Done: Tour a winery

Finished with Niner, Sixbridgeswinery, and our friend’s winery, Dilecta.

#88 in Progress: Celebrate Brittany’s 25th

First day and night in Paso Robles. Toured Jada and Opolo winery, followed by a Korean BBQ dinner at out ARBNB.

#4: Read 4 Pulitzer winning/finalist Fiction Novels

If there was ever a book that deserved the Pulitzer, it’s Middlesex. Loved it.

It took a pandemic, but I needed a space to write.

Step One: Cleared out the room and removed the base boards

Step two: I wanted a dark and luxurious library, so I settled on this blue paint color. It took several coats.

Step three: Put together the bookcases that would eventually become built-ins.

Step four: Secured the bookcases to a frame that I bolted to the studs. They’re going nowhere.

Step five: Brought the frame up to the ceiling so that I could add lights.

Step six: Added voice commanded lights and covered the frame with MDF and plywood. Watched a lot of YouTube instructional videos on how to wire electricity.

Step seven: Bought a nail gun and added trim between the bookcases and on the ceiling. Next, I added the baseboards to compete the built-in look. I must have cut each corner of the baseboards a dozen times before I got the angles right. I also caulked every hole, crack and blemish.

Step eight: Sanded and painted everything. After using a paint roller on the first shelf, I bought an electric paint sprayer and banged it out in a day.

Step nine: Hung the chandelier and began the difficult process of tiling the ceiling. The old adage, measure twice, cut once, didn’t seem to work for me. I would measure twice, cut once, scream, then try again.

Step ten: Somehow I managed to tile the entire room and it looks great.

Step eleven: Books, furniture and artwork. Still need to add some furnishing and artwork, but I couldn’t be happier with how it all came out. Now I can put the tools away and write.

My only regret is reading so many books on Kindle.

15 boxes of donations later.

Finally organized my tools in my Father’s Day gift to myself.

Wait, what?