Deeply Getting to Know Meme

Thinking about the interview thing, I also had this article I ripped from Real Simple a couple of years ago. This is a long list of questions, for getting to know your family better (or friends, for that matter, if you can get it rolling). I'm thinking of hitting the family with one group of questions by email a month, rather than the whole thing in one shot, but here is the whole list FYI and so I can find it again myself!

I may even answer some of these myself in future posts - but for now, it's just the questions. Use as needed!

BTW, if anyone feels compelled to fill this out and post it or email it to me, that would be great to see. I'll probably be pinging a lot of you anyway! And I promise I will answer some myself, especially if asked directly.

Childhood
• What was your childhood home like?
• Your neighborhood?
• Was your parents' relationship a strong one?
• Which of them were you closer to?
• When you were growing up, what was the biggest disagreement you ever had with your parents?
• What was your role in the family?
• What were your siblings like back then, and how did you get along with them?
• At school, what were you like?
• Other than family, who were the most important people in your life when you were growing up?
• What were the happiest times of your childhood?
• What were your biggest disappointments?
• What were your hobbies as a kid?
• Who was the first person you ever kissed?
• Tell me about your first serious romance.
• When you were a kid, what did you imagine your adult life would be like?

Work
• What was your first job, and how did you get it?
• How did you decide what field to enter?
• Did your parents influence your approach to work or your choice of career?
• Was money a big factor for you?
• Was there one person—a mentor, maybe—who had a big impact on your working life?
• Is there anything you think is absolutely crucial to success at work?
• What was the best job you ever had? The worst?
• Did your career have any major turning points?
• What were the best moments of your working life? Any lingering regrets?
• On balance, how did you like your chosen field?
• If you had it all to do over again, would you choose the same path?

Love and Family
• Were you and your spouse in love from the start, or did the relationship take time?
• When did you decide to have children?
• Over the years, what was the most rewarding thing about raising kids?
• The toughest?
• What do you remember as the best times you had as a family?
• Which family vacation was your favorite?
• What was the worst thing you went through with your family?
• Did you dream about doing anything special once I'd/we'd all grown up?
• What are the secrets to a good relationship or marriage?
• Do you have any advice about being a good parent?
• Is there anything you'd do differently as a mother/father now?
• Would you try to do anything differently as a spouse?
• What would you say love is? Have your ideas about it changed over time?
• Now that you're all adults, what are your relationships like with your siblings?
• How are you like your parents? How are you different?
• Who in the family is most like you?
• What have you always regretted not asking your parents?

You and Me
• Is there anything you've never been able to ask me or say to me?
• In what ways do you think we're similar? In what ways different?
• What were your favorite times with me?
• Is our relationship anything like the one you had with your parents?
• Are you happy with the way you and I get along?
• Is there anything you wish had been different between us? That you'd still like to change?

You as You
• Who knows you better than anyone?
• Other than family, who are the most important people in your life right now?
• What's the key to a great friendship?
• Who makes you laugh the hardest?
• Do you have a favorite book or author?
• A favorite movie?
• What was the best trip you ever took?
• The most amazing place you've seen?
• If you could go somewhere you've never been, where would it be?
• Would you rather be living somewhere else?
• What are five things you couldn't live without?
• What's your most beloved personal possession?
• What's the bravest thing you've ever done?
• The scariest? The dumbest?
• Is there anything you always wanted to do but never did?
• What would I be surprised to learn about you?

The Kind of Life You've Lived
• What were the best years of your life?
• What was the hardest decision you've made?
• What are the most important things in life?
• What do you consider to be your strongest character traits?
• What traits or habits do you wish you didn't have?
• Do you believe that people can change?
• Do you believe in God?
• Has life made you more cynical or more hopeful?
• What do you consider to be the most important world events of your lifetime?
• Do you think life now is harder or easier than when you were young?
• If you could do anything over in your life, what would it be, and what would you do differently?
• What are you most proud of?
• What do you hope to be remembered for?

Gearing up to return to CA

I've been in Denver for almost a week now, and it's gone very quickly. Despite the tranquilizing effect of cable, I pulled it together and did a lot this week that I'd wanted to do. I did quite a bit of cooking, helped dad with a house project (can never get entirely away), visited a HS friend, hung out with the family, and took some walks down at Cherry Creek Reservoir. It was cold.

The only crimp in the week was being here when dad had a blood sugar problem and the paramedics had to be called in. Everything went quickly and ended well, and we did everything we were supposed to do, but it was still upsetting (I've been repressing my response to it, since it will just get people wound up if I talk about it here). I am hoping there are still some changes that can be made so that this happens less often - it's frightening.

Aside from that it has been a drama-free week. Heather and her family are up from Arizona, and it's been good to see them. In fact, it's been rather odd to have the whole family together twice within a year, since it often doesn't happen for years at a time. Tish is still here at the house, but she's been working full-time this week and is pretty antisocial at home (watching TV downstairs by herself every evening). From all I hear she's doing well, though.

After a few days of doing not so much, I'm starting to get itchy to do something. This is good, since I have a list of things I'll be working on at my house next week (hopefully finishing the bathroom plus some other projects), along with another wine bus trip, and New Year's Eve. On the other hand, getting itchy to do something is bad, since I'm tempted to start helping with things around my parents' place, and they get bristly at all my suggestions (going through the pantry, organizing the linen closet, painting something). Oh well, I'll keep suggesting. I go back tomorrow evening and am hoping to have a boring, on-time flight this time. Kent is on notice that we are going out for sushi on Monday.

Before I go, I'm going to see if I can convince everyone to play "Apples to Apples" tonight. I've been reading the rules and it sounds hilarious. And I have a "getting to know you" list of questions I'd like to run by the family.

I know I should also do one of those interviews I blogged about recently, while I have the opportunity. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time asking anyone if they will do one. I'm getting annoyed with myself there.

I sense my resolution for 2009 is going to be going back to the issue of confronting repression and/or fear (often connected). Stay tuned on that.

Inertia: I has it.

Well, I made it to Denver! All three of my flights in the last week have been fraught with drama. Unannounced cancellations. Weather delays while whole carriers cancelled around us. A possible mechanical problem discovered during a takeoff (aborted takeoff, returned to gate, part replaced, on the way about 2-3 hours behind schedule). I really hope the flight back to SF next week is boring and on time!

I finally finished my Christmas shopping (I just typed "stopping", interesting Freudian slip) today. Everything is wrapped and under the tree, and now I have no set plans for the rest of the week. I do have some school friends I'm trying to arrange visits with, some of whom aren't back yet due to their own flights being cancelled, and I've got some things I want to cook for the family, and some house projects to help with, and some cold winter walks to take.

The problem? Whenever I visit home, my activation energy seems to go WAY up. It takes a lot of effort to make calls, to look up recipes, to put my shoes on and get out of the house. I partially blame cable TV, which is like a high-dose tranquilizer (I recommend turning your cable off to anyone, although my replacement activity was reading when I was without any TV).

So, I've got to make an effort. I bought key ingredients for making Bengali red dal (lentils) today, and now will have to make it sometime this week. I want to make slow cooker minestrone, and need to see which state Sheri is in now. And help dad secure the bathroom light fixture.

All I need to do is tear myself away from the TV. As soon as "Chocolat" is over. As long as there's nothing good on right afterwards.

Uh oh - hope I can get out of Seattle tomorrow.

A winter storm warning is in effect from 4 pm today through 10 am tomorrow - 4-8 inches of snow are expected. http://weather.yahoo.com/storm/USWA0395.html

While this would be a minor nuisance in a lot of places, they're not used to snow here (much less 2 storms in a week). I'm nervous now. We're leaving Lynden early tomorrow morning and I'm hoping that the airport keeps running. If my flight is cancelled, I'll miss my flight to Denver on Monday. If I miss that flight, I'm hosed.

A couple of years ago, my flight to Denver was cancelled outright due to storms and DEN closing for a whole day. Since it's the holidays, the higher number of flights is already overbooked, and it's very difficult to get on another flight. My option that year was to fly on Christmas Eve, SFO-LAX-Palm Springs-DEN. If I have to do that again I will be most displeased. I got my tickets in March, using miles, and that doesn't help for priority in rebooking (although my 1K may be good for one more miracle if it's needed).

Everyone keep your fingers crossed for me! If things get squirrelly I may try to fly directly to Denver from here.

Holiday travel drama!

The holiday travel season has officially begun. Most of the people from work are now off for the rest of the year (if you don't use vacation, you lose it), and I've been hearing on the radio that the 19th (today!) is expected to be the heaviest travel day.

I was scheduled to fly out of SFO at 8 pm yesterday to come to Seattle, so I made sure to catch the train by 5. I was at the airport by 6:30, and started killing time, waiting for the boarding to start. The flight was listed with a 20-minute delay once I got through security, and by the time I was at the gate, it had been moved to another gate, and there were announcements that our crew was missing.

That's not good news.

Apparently, there was weather going on all over the country, and somehow our crew's flight was diverted to Sacramento. Why, I don't know, since for once we were not having weather problems in SFO. Maybe mechanical problems? Anyway, we needed the crew at SFO, and we were waiting for them to show up, with the caveat if they couldn't make it in time, we'd have to get a backup crew. Their plane to SFO made it out of the gate by 9, but didn't take off till 10:15. There was another flight going to Seattle, so I was trying to find out how full it was, and couldn't get anyone at the desk to actually talk to me (or any of the people in line, for that matter).

By 10, people were starting to get mad. By 10:30, the screens by our gate went out, but there was no one manning the gate to answer questions. Then, those of us with phone updates got calls that our flight was cancelled. WTF?? No announcements, nothing? My name had been called so I was trying to track down the guy who called me. I was in line when he hand-carried a couple to the other gate - and didn't return.

When I got the cancellation call I went to the other gate looking for him, and kept trying to get his attention to ask why I was called. When it was finally my turn, I was ready to ask, and a guy in line behind me jumped around to the side and started yelling at the gate guy. AHEM, there is a line! This guy was mad, I was giving him a big stink eye for jumping the line, the United guy was threatening to call the cops, and then the guy's wife lost her shit and stared hauling at the guy's shirtfront while screaming "Stop it! Stop it! Stop embarrassing me! And ON MY BIRTHDAY!" before bursting into tears and running off.

Wow.

Thanks to my massive work travel last year (130,000 miles), I had a 1K status (which is still good for another week or so!), and by some miracle was able to finagle a middle seat way in the back of the one plane going to Seattle last night.

I got to Seattle by 1:30 am, and Kent had been waiting at SEA since around 9:30. Then we drove to Lynden, usually a 2 hour drive, but there was a lot of ice around, and didn't get to his mom's place till 4 am.

Naturally we are moving slowly today, and will need a nap. We're making blackberry pies this afternoon and I am slated to take a tour of the house and town. Tomorrow is the CLB (church ladies' brunch). It's cold and sunny and I'm hoping that the trips back to SFO and then to Denver are less trouble. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Crazy may be crazy - but not like a fox (updated)

So, with the rain and wind we've been having, leaves are coming down in bushels, and Crazy is in her usual winter mode. Every day, sometimes twice a day, I've been finding her little presents of rotten leaves, dirt, and spite all up and down the parking strip. Since many end up next to my car, many end up getting moved into the gutter, where people won't step on an unstable pile of muck. I'll admit it's an added petty bonus that it pisses her off when we are not picking up her trash.

When I got home tonight I was not surprised to see three new piles of slimy leaves, and so - into the gutter they went. I checked the security camera to see if we had anything (since those piles were not there when I left for work), and hit pay dirt... so to speak. About five minutes after I left, in excellent light, Crazy hand carries two double handfuls of leaves up the hill, but nothing down the hill. On one pass she's wiping her hands off. One one pass up she pauses to pick up some gutter trash (I should go back out and pick it out and put it back exactly where she got it). She left shortly after this but I've learned some new things about her:

1) She is willing to carry this stuff in her bare hands, (update - after looking at the video a little more closely, it looks like there is some latex glove action going on there)
2) She thinks it's gross enough to wipe off, but not gross enough to wash before getting in the car to go somewhere, (update - I guess she just keeps the nasty latex gloves in her pockets, which... is... an.... improvement?) and
3) She seems not to realize that cameras can take good pictures when there is sufficient light.

To which I can only think: EWW! And then, DUH!

It's kind of sad; she's obviously got it in her mind that we (us and our other-side neighbors) are to be punished, and therefore feels justified in doing this. After all, the leaves don't make it back to the point of origin (a big tree around the corner from the other neighbor), so it's obviously some attempt at a message. Unfortunately she's so nutty that it would do no good to talk to her about it. Lately I've been thinking of her more as one of those dogs that gets out in the neighborhood, growls at people, craps on their lawns, and is a nuisance. Except, of course, that the owner of such a dog could get in trouble for letting it out. Oh well, I can always hope for a foreclosure next door. (I know, bad karma, but it's better than hoping for grevious bodily harm)

Hat tip to dad for a tip on free editing software - I was able to cut the extraneous stuff out of the video this time.

Very, very lazy day

Ahhhh. This is nice. It's been raining on and off all day long, but I haven't even set foot outside. Instead, I've been eating and sleeping and watching bad TV. Mostly while under a thick, snuggly blanket. Oh yeah.

Kent is on his way to Seattle for work. I'll be going there on Thursday night and spending the weekend with him in Lynden, his hometown. I've already met his mom and sisters, but this is the first time I'll be on their turf. I've been warned that I'll have to run the gamut of the "Church Ladies' Brunch", which worries me. With Kent's sister Lynn there it will be better, but I have a feeling I'm going to snap under questioning and start telling the weirdest Burning Man stories I have. The fact that there will not be mimosas will increase the probability of this happening (without anesthetic, the operation will be more uncomfortable). I will be making offerings of lotion and Peet's coffee, and am hoping for the best.

For dinner this evening I made a recipe out of the America's Test Kitchen cookbook, baked acorn squash with maple-soy-ginger glaze. This was delicious although I think I will have to rename it as "Good and Evil Squash" or "Two Faced Squash". When it's baked, glazed, and then cut into quarters, one cut edge is a sunny orange while the other is a dark, blistery brown. Quite striking, and very tasty with steamed rice.

The Mitchells' annual gingerbread party was yesterday, and Lani was in town for it. The theme of the main building was the Taj Mahal. When we got there around 5, the kid to adult ratio was about 1:1, with 90%+ of the kids aged 5 or younger. YIKES.

For those that haven't already heard, Lani and I are famous for doing a sick, adult-themed gingerbread house at this party which is related to the main theme in some way. When the main was London, we did the Tower of London complete with torture chamber and a rat-infested dungeon, all made out of cookies and candy (the rats were Tic Tacs). For this year, we did a Temple of Kali, similar to the description in the book "Lamb" (by Christopher Moore, which we read last month for book club). So, it included a big, four-armed gingerbread Kali, and a sacrificial table filled with little cookie goat heads. On the back of the temple we stuck Kama Sutra chocolates we found at a local chocolatier, in the manner of the erotic temple carvings at various locations in India (it should be noted that they are not a normal part of a Kali temple. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to use those chocolates, though). I have to admit I enjoyed fashioning her skirt of human arms out of bubble gum tape. And for a festive touch, we added Rudolph's head among the goat heads on the table.

For the record, I've been to a Kali temple (in Singapore) and it was nothing like what we made. I think we'd need a few weeks and a lot more material to get the whole thing right.

Time for some more bad TV, and fiddling with the blog settings.

How to Interview your Loved Ones

I was listening to NPR while working at the house last weekend, and they had a program talking about StoryCorps, where people interview close friends and family members, and the interviews are saved for posterity. Many of the stories are very moving. Connected to this is the "National Day of Listening". I poked around and found the website.

Click here, and on the site you can download a do-it-yourself guide, including a question generator. (they ask for your name and location at the beginning of the download, but it's optional to give it - you can still get the information without providing that). They suggest recording the conversation (tape, computer, whatever you have).

Sounds like a lovely way to spend some of the holidays. And as they say, do it sooner rather than later. You can never be sure of the future.

I have a working toilet. (ahem. YAY!!!)

We finally installed the toilet in the bathroom today! Surprisingly, it went pretty smoothly. I still have to caulk around the bottom edge but really, really want to tape off first. The thought of smoothing (meaning, hopelessly smearing around) a bead of white caulk by that dark brown floor gives me the willies.

Looks like I didn't check all the dimensions closely, and the front of the toilet is a few inches closer to the tub than the old one was. Hopefully it's not TOO close. It looks like it will be tricky but still possible to reach the far side of the toilet for cleaning the floor.

We also installed the tub faucet today.

No painting - Kent made an order of pavers for his patio and we had to get going before they closed. We're now back at home, I'm off to book club in a couple of hours and Kent just got HD on cable.

The work party last night was fun! I had one too many and am a little hung over today (mostly sleepy), but managed not to decide to tell some people what I REALLY think of their office manners. I'm also in better shape than a co-worker that got really done up, but fell on the dance floor and dislocated her wrist. Ouch! Kent was feeling a little rough today, too.

Lazy day

Well, the plan today was to go to my house early, install the toilet, and start painting the door and door trim. However, I read for a while when I woke up, fell back asleep, had some incredibly vivid dreams, and didn't really make any kind of move until noon.

And then, I watched "Bachelor Party".

The big office holiday parties are tonight, and since I'll have to start getting ready in an hour I'm not really motivated to do much. I will have to go to my house to get my outfit, but that's about it. If I go soon, I could stop by the hardware store, too!

"Do you want to go for a ride?"

On Cute Overload, this is known as a "Baroo?" Teh awsum.

Short update on bathroom progress

No pictures, since I got home late, will be at the house late again tonight, and don't have my camera cord anyway. So there. Yesterday was a big day at the house, including paint touch up, sealing the tub enclosure, trying to scrub off extra sealant (more on that later), installing the showerhead and valve, grouting the backsplash and mopboard tiles.

Tonight I'll be painting the trim around the window, since it will be easier to do before the toilet is installed, and doing a tiny bit of wall touch-up (from damage I did while grouting). Tomorrow I'll seal the mopboard and backsplash - and on Wednesday we can install the toilet! And the vanity! And my bathroom will be functional, if not done!

We picked up a curved shower rod yesterday and will have to see the best height to install it. And then I have to choose a new shower curtain. I will probably use the old one (including red, gold, and green) in the mean time, even though it will clash.

The sealant I was using was very effective, although it left some residue on the tiles that is very difficult to scrub off. And the kicker? I think the gray that turned up on the floor grout is actually the sealant. I have to call them today and yell at them (the grout is supposed to be dark brown). I hope I don't have to grind the grout out of there and re-do it, because that's not happening this week. Maybe I just need to scrub with some special tool. We'll see, but if the last week's worth of work was ruined by this product, I'm going to be pissed off.

And now, I have to cram for a 1:00 meeting. More later...

Grouting sucks! (with pictures)

If you liked playing with mud as a kid, you'll probably like grouting. Then, however, as now, it's the clean up part that's really painful. Here's a pic mid-grout:

And post-grout (same wall):I spent time today tiling the backsplash:
And the "mopboard":
However, I won't finish the mopboard until the door trim is in. I also sealed the floor grout, and unfortunately some of the wall grout dust got on there and didn't get cleaned off - and now it's sealed in. Damn! It's a problem due to the color being different, but oh well. Tomorrow: touch up paint, seal tub enclosure, grout backsplash and installed mopboard. That's a lot of clean-up in my future.

People have been asking when I'm going to take a break. My answer is, when I get a functional bathroom. Never underestimate the convenience of a working toilet in your house. With any luck I may be able to take some days off over Christmas break! Fingers crossed...

More slow, slow progress

Worked more at the house yesterday. Now the wall bullnose tile is all in...

And the floor tile is grouted.
Classy, no? Next steps (in rough order): seal floor grout, grout shower enclosure, install remaining backsplash tile, install floor bullnose tile, grout floor bullnose tile and backsplash, seal tub enclosure, seal backsplash, seal floor bullnose. Fix paint (prime and paint repairs and gouges). Then? I can install the toilet!!! You never realize how convenient it is to have a toilet in the building until you have to walk 5 blocks to the shopping center with public toilets. Seriously. The way things are going, though, I think it will be after the coming weekend.

Oh, the door glass is already done, too. We picked it up yesterday and lo and behold, the experts in glass removal damaged the door. Jerks, that's the whole reason we took it to you to start with! Why didn't you break the old glass instead? Grrr. So now we'll have to figure out how to minimize the obviousness of the damage, and I'll have to prime and paint the thing. You know, in my down time.

I'm really getting exasperated (although I prefer the more colorful "easily vexed") with how long this is taking. We're taking today off from projects, but only because we're going to an orphan's dinner at 6:00 in Oakland with 20 other people. I know if I started on grouting the tub enclosure, it would take a good 6 hours and I'd show up for dinner angry and stained with grout.

Kent, who has been "taking it easy", does not get the concept. He moved almost 900 lb of gravel the other day and has been tamping down his patio area. In the rain. While sick. The sympathy I had for his feeling bad is reduced a bit.

I should check on the soup - I'd been meaning to make a pot of black bean soup over the last couple of days, not realizing I wouldn't be home before 10 pm. It's been on the stove for an hour and a half or so and I'm hoping the beans will soften soon so we can have some for lunch.

I hope you all have a nice Thanksgiving - we're making red dal for the dinner we're going to, are also bringing 2 nice bottles of wine, and we'll have to remember towels for the hot tub. Thanksgiving parties in northern CA are like that!

Photos and commentary from today's tiling work

The new door - already nicer than the glass brick. The door is now at the glass shop and should be back within a week with privacy glass. Then I can paint it! (the fun never stops!)



This is what about 2 hours of tiling work will get you: (note, cuts galore in this part)

That's some fancy cuttin' Tex.

Even fancier...

And this is what about 450 spacers looks like. I will probably have dreams about this.

The last row? SUCKED to cut. That little stick you see is 3/8" wide. In the doorway it's a whole 7/8" wide.

And I was a little fuzzy eyed when I finished around 9 pm:

But the floor is done! So, I'm off to SF tomorrow for some shopping, and will clean off the thinset when I get home. If I'm feeling really energetic, I'll do some grouting. But we'll see.

I like the way the floor color and medicine cabinet color pull on each other. It almost looks like it was on purpose!

Some bathroom progress

Today, we got the new toilet flange installed and also installed the new door where the glass brick used to be! I'd have pictures but I forgot my camera today - oops.

Tomorrow I'm getting up early and going over to tile the bathroom floor. It should be slightly easier than the tub enclosure (gravity working for me this time rather than against me), but I bet it will still take me all day to do the 4x8 room.

The plan for the rest of the week:
Tuesday - go into SF for Christmas shopping
Wednesday - grout the floor and (maybe) install the last tub bullnose
Thursday - grout the tub enclosure, cook some red dal and go to an orphan's dinner at Nicole's
Friday - seal all grout and stone tiles, caulk around edge of floor
Saturday - install door trim
Sunday - install tile "baseboard" and backsplash

So, I won't have a functional bathroom by December, but should have one shortly thereafter. The remaining tasks would be:

• paint touch up on the walls,
• paint the door (and door and window trim),
• grout and seal the baseboard and backsplash tiles,
• order privacy glass for the door and have it installed,
• install the new toilet,
• install the old vanity,
• install a shower curtain rod,
• choose a new shower curtain,
• install tub/shower hardware,
• install towel racks,
• choose and installing a new storage cabinet, and
• add decorations.

Yeah, I'm wishing I hadn't written that all out now, too. Maybe it will be closer to Christmas before I'm done after all.

Other updates, Kent is feeling better but very low energy (and swears he's getting flu shots from now on), I'm still flu-free, and I'm taking all this week off (obviously) to burn off some vacation I wouldn't be able to carry over.

Crazy progress!

So, I came home at 7 tonight, to find a spiteful little pile of leaves - but this time it was in the street instead of the parking strip! I checked the video and it was still done under the cover of darkness, but this is an improvement. Can't wait till we get the floodlights...

Come on, flu shot!! WOOOO!

Kent's sick. I mean, really down. He's the kind of guy who doesn't notice things like cuts when he's working on a project, and he just doesn't seem to get sick. The last thing I remember was a horrific but short-lived food poisoning incident when he was traveling every week. That was two years ago.

So, when I saw the IM yesterday that he was going home in the middle of the day, that was a bad sign. He IM'd again from home, saying he was feeling worse - chills, aches, congestion. Uh oh.

Being the trecharous socialite that I am, I still went to happy hour after work after making sure he didn't need anything. When I got home around 8, he was on the couch and not looking too chipper. He had some soup and went to bed.

Apparently, he didn't sleep much last night - he went downstairs around 6 am, and when I got downstairs at 7:30, I found the Nyquil and Sudafed out, and him back on the couch and looking horrible. Poor guy! He's now added "nauseous" to his list, too.

When I leave work I'll pick up some pho for him. And I've got my fingers crossed that my flu shot is close enough to this that I'll escape unscathed (so far, so good). Maybe next year he'll get one, too.

Looks like I'll be doing tiling by myself this weekend, between chicken soup runs. Hopefully he'll get some sleep today and will be feeling better soon. Too bad yesterday was his last scheduled day in the office before December - what a waste of time off!

tiling roadblock

So, I was back at my house last night, working on finishing the field tile and putting up bullnose, when I realized that the vertical bullnose can't just be stuck on - I have to work from the bottom up (duh). I did some measurements and then realized that I really need to put the floor down before I can do this properly.

Sigh.

So, tonight, after work and the gym and errands, I guess I better start working on the layout for the floor, and get the door and toilet flange installed.

I used to be fun. Really.

I carry too much stuff

So, as many of you know, I'm not really a purse person. Handbags look nice and all, but they are a pain to carry around. I used to try and get by with carrying the minimal requirements in my pockets, but that is just not helpful in many situations (including warm weather and outfits with fewer pockets). I forget things if I try and switch bags to match outfits, and I like having my hands free, so my go-to is a messenger bag.

I think the situation is a little out of control, though.

I was just getting my wallet to get some lunch and noticed what all I am carrying around:

1. blackberry
2. wallet (with driver's license and credit card out of the wallet)
3. camera
4. ipod with charger
5. laser level and tripod (obviously not usual items, but still - I brought them to work today)
6. various receipts
7. paint samples
8. toiletries (hairbrush, eye drops, lip balm)
9. extra car keys (since they keep breaking)
10. earplugs
11. quotes for replacing door glass
12. a ziplock bag (empty)
13. headphones
14. small spiral notebook
15. zip bag for carrying gift cards
16. a paperback copy of "Moby Dick"

Yeah, I think a clear-out is called for. Yikes.

Tiling is very slow. Verrrrry slow.

It's taken me two long days to get to this point:Note, this doesn't show that I haven't even touched the wall with the water yet! Hopefully we can finish tiling the enclosure tomorrow. Then I'll grout and seal it and start working on the layout for the floor tiles. Which should be easier.

New pictures available for viewing...

Things I like

One thing a little annoying about blogger - if you start a post and don't finish it the same day, when you finish and post it, it will show up stamped when you started it. Sheesh.

So, here's a link to an entry I started on Sept 30 and just found and finished. Enjoy!

Surprised and impressed at MSNBC!

This is getting all over the place now (which is good!) - I am totally impressed by how passionate he is about it even though he has no stake in it. TEH AWESUM.



Found this originally posted yeseterday by the fabulous Rich at fourfour.

It's starting to look like a bathroom!

Is there such a thing as adult onset ADD?

If there is, then I have it. There was a show on NPR recently that talked about the decline of multitasking ability as you age, but I just seem to have a problem maintaining focus on one thing at a time these days. Today at work was a good example - it seemed to take forever to get little things done because I'd get distracted halfway through, then come back half an hour later and see that that one little thing wasn't quite done yet.

It was stupid.

I'm hoping it's stress and anxiety making my brain get in its own way. It's either that or lead in the Mexican cokes I've been drinking over the last year (but oh, the sugar is so much tastier than the HFCS). If I don't get smarter again once the house projects are done, we'll have eliminated one variable at least.

Snarly and in need of soup

Yep, that's me. I got a lot of sleep last night, but once we finally got over to my house, I did not have the patience to deal with the inevitable setbacks with ANY project. We got all the switches in, and the outlets, and the medicine cabinet, but we didn't even start on the door and were so late from the other things that we had to drive to SF, rather than take the train. Plus, it's been drizzly all day. Given the choice, I would stay in and read and snack and nap, but the anxiety from not having a functioning bathroom is driving me.

We were in SF to meet a friend's realtor and look at a house in Upper Ashbury. Nice enough place, I guess - lot of potential - but it costs $1.2MM (which I think is a tad out of our price range) and would require about $250,000 worth of work immediately, to replace an old cracked brick foundation and get the plumbing and electrical up to snuff. Yeah, no.

We're back in the east bay now and we are talking about what cooking to do this week. Looks like we're making lasagna tomorrow, and I've got a hankering for soup. I recently started reading a blog called "Bread and Honey" written by two women in Oregon - the recipes and pictures are all great. Here's a link for their soups (I really need to try making chicken stock) but they also have recipes for things like "donut muffins", rosewater cupcakes, and breads, which are all intriguing. (as you can see from the pictures one of them is a SERIOUS baker) Also check out the famous WTF Broccoli entry.

I can't wait until I have enough time and energy to mess around in the kitchen. I'd especially like to try making bread - I don't think I've done a yeast dough since home ec in 8th grade. And I haven't made black bean soup for over a year. Terrible!!

Yay! No more painting for... a few days, anyway

FINALLY! I finished painting the walls and ceiling of the bathroom today. I cannot believe how many rollers shed fibers into the paint, though. I tried a new package of the rollers that had done so well in the spring, which shed this week, and... they shed all over. I called the company to complain and they told me to return the rest of the package to Home Depot, which I did (after arguing with the managers there that they had an agreement with the manufacturer to take faulty ones back). However, the others I tried were also sheddy. So, a good part of my day was spent like this:

roll roll roll, pick pick, roll pick brush roll roll swear like a sailor roll roll pick pick pick pick pick brush roll roll etc.

This is strange. I mean, it can't be a seasonal thing like the leaves coming off trees, right? So my theory on this comes down to two things:
1) This has been happening the whole time I've been painting in four other rooms, and I just haven't noticed (pay less attention in dry rooms), and
2) I don't have low angle oblique lighting on most of my paint jobs, like I did in this one.

When I came home and got cleaned up, we went out for some sushi and then I got talked into not one, but two cocktails, so I'm feeling better about the progress now. Tomorrow: medicine cabinet, electrical outlets and switches, and... there is one other thing I'm forgetting. Vanity lights. And one other thing. Oh yeah, install the new door (just picked up today - will replace where all that glass brick was).

More pics soon. And yes, I still have to paint all the trim and the new door. Don't harsh my buzz, dude.

ARRRRGH damn shedding rollers!! $&%@(!!!!

So, I was all happy, thinking I was finishing up the bathroom painting tonight. Second coat on the walls and tomorrow could move on to finishing electrical. Right? Not so fast...

While I was painting the wall I was up near the ceiling, and noticed all these bits sticking out from the surface, several with fibers hanging out. What the...? They were all dried in there but extra surface area + fibers + a lot of moisture = mold hotel. And when I pulled some fibers out, they were much like the fibers on the roller. Oh nooooo. ARGH! Then I started looking at the part of the wall I just painted, and sure enough, there were loose fibers in there too. NOOOOOOOO!

I stopped immediately, and since I didn't have any new rollers, I spent the rest of the evening scraping the ceiling down with my 1" blade. Now I have to reprime parts and repaint the whole ceiling, in addition to putting the second coat of paint on the walls.

I could spit.

So, instead of taking an easy day tomorrow (I'd arranged to take the day off for a big push on house work this weekend), I'll be up to my elbows in paint and irate phone calls to the roller manufacturer.

Still hoping to make good progress this weekend but the loss of a day is going to hurt.

pics only, no video, still crazy

Something is up with the video capture today so no stills from that - but here's an example of Crazy's handiwork. I wish she would take up knitting or something instead, although I'm starting to get a sense of satisfaction in documenting her craziness thoroughly for when it can be used against her.


New pile of rotten leaves where I usually park:HUGE pile up leaves left in the street on the other side. As I've mentioned, she's not very bright. Ain't nothing stopping these from racing back down the hill at the first opportunity.

Don't worry, I'll stop posting pictures of leaves unless I do something interesting with them. I'm starting to think of plans to make it more fun for me. Like tonight, instead of the gutter, I moved the by-my-car leaves to a nice line up the driveway where it crosses the parking strip. Later this week I might pack a bucket with them and make a little leaf castle. Or rearrange them into a happy face. What else could I do?

My preferred hobby (rather than documenting the crazy)? This week, of course, it's painting the bathroom. I got the trim up on all the ceiling stuff (light, fan, heating vent cover) and the first coat of paint on the walls. As usual, I'm freaking out that it's a big change from white. Well, out of 4 color selections so far, only one has been off, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it works out! But man, it looks dark to me:

I didn't realize how... appropriate?... the color was until I was telling someone I was putting "Brown Teepee" on the walls in there. Think about it. (eww!) In fact, forget you heard that. It's "Gobi Desert", do you hear me?

With luck, tomorrow will see the last of the wall painting and I will move on to installing electrical stuff and tile! COME ON, BABY! The sooner the bathroom is functional, the sooner I can get away from the leaf drama. I have new pictures of the project ready for your viewing pleasure.

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

Except that she knows there's a camera, so all dumping was done off camera (by my car). Behold!

We begin with the sweeping in the expected direction (that you sweep in the direction you're facing with the broom):

Which quickly turns around since NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION! I mean, who could possibly think someone could sweep in a direction they were not facing? Aside from the leaves being behind the sweeping surface of the broom?

Walking back down - note, no leaves, no sweeping downhill...

A cheeky wave at the camera: (although she should be careful of the sight lines, since she was caught sweeping uphill in this position earlier)

And another wave at the camera after parading up and down the sidewalk with the broom, keeping all nefarious activity off camera:

But what's even better? We have it on video. Check out the action between 1:27-2:38. (I know, I know - we are having issues with the transfer of videos and it ignores the times we set, and we are hopeless at editing software - but I am starting to enjoy the new system)

All the rotten muck was deposited by the driveway - apparently this is where she sends a message to the neighbor on the other side, but as luck would have it it's right next to my car. Bit of a slipping hazard for people who need to get in and out of the passenger side. So, back into the gutter they go. Berkeley does a lot of street cleaning - plus, I see she leaves giant piles in the street in the other direction - so why mind something in the street? It's still uphill of you. Then again, I get the feeling that logic is not her strong point. Duh.

Finally, primed!

I finally got to prime my bathroom and closet today! Sheesh! The mud was still a teeny bit damp in the corners but I couldn't wait another day for that last bit. Unfortunately it was still too humid to proceed to painting, so I have my evenings planned for the rest of this week. Hopefully I can get both coats of the ceiling done tomorrow. Between coats I can work on the tile mosaic layout.

Good thing I voted early! I can paint now instead of waiting in line at the polling place on Tuesday evening.

So, I'm thinking the hall closet needs an interior color other than white. Any suggestions? Kent suggested a disco ball and I totally see the appeal there, but at this point I'd rather stick with something simple. How about a nice fiery red?

The Return of Crazy

Well, well! I spoke too soon when I said that with the big tree gone, Crazy was minding her manners and not dumping her yard crap in the parking strip in front of Kent's house. All I had to do was wait for the first big rain. Which, of course, means that all the leaves uphill of Crazy end up in her gutter (she's the lowest point on the block both literally and figuratively).

I'd gone to my house to paint today but the patches done on Thursday STILL weren't dry, so, as easily vexed as I am these days, I was primed for a target. Kent came over later and told me that Crazy had dumped several piles of leaves in the strip. I immediately had visions of taking a firm handful of her hair and making her eat said leaves by the fistful. She may be a creature to pity, but damn, I would love to at least try and slap some sense into her. We have no trees any more that drop leaves, but we still get her "presents".

Little does she realize, though, that Kent has set up a security camera in the front window. After finding the piles today we're putting it on 24-hour-record. I also think we could do with some motion sensing lights out front that turn on when someone crosses the property line (these are not uncommon around here). With some pictorial evidence, we get to call the city to let them warn her not to throw her trash in other yards. I can't wait to bust her crazy ass. I know that is not very Zen of me, but HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA!!! I can't wait! Rake THIS, bitch!

Despite the disappointment with the painting, I got some stuff done at the house:

• cut eight 12x12 tiles into 2x12 strips
• cut three 12x12 tiles into 6x12 tiles
• swore halfheartedly at pieces that broke during cutting (saving primary vitriol for Crazy)
• in progress on a dry layout of the shower/tub enclosure
• marked walls to show edge of bullnose for tiling

My new favorite tiling tool is going to be Kent's new self-leveling laser level. I can sense it.

Curmudgeonly (but the rest of you, happy Halloween!)

You know what? there are a lot of parties going on tonight, and I'm not going out. I'm beat. We have a bag of candy here, but no kids have stopped by. I will probably regret sleeping instead of partying, but there is a lot to do this week. I'm very "meh" on the holiday this year but hope that everyone has a good time and takes pictures!

Bathroom progress today:

• sanded down drywall mud
• hit old glossy paint with sandpaper (to make new paint stick)
• cleaned up dust
• scraped blobs of drywall mud off of everything but the ceiling
• hooked new romex to the breaker panel and stapled wires to joists in attic (we can has lights!)
• rewired the fan (the hot wire had popped out of the wire nut)
• cut one of the fossil tiles down - I can get 6 strips per tile (sweet!).
• caulked the under-cement-board plastic to the tub
  

Tomorrow planned progress:

• prime bathroom and closet
• cut access panel hole in closet
• paint bathroom ceiling
• paint bathroom walls (if there is time - may not get all coats)
• cut more fossil tiles into strips and work on layout
  

I'll try to post some pics this weekend so watch for new things here.

BTW, I have a follower! If you wish to follow the blog, check out the new link on the right (under the blogroll)...

Online time devourers

Yeah, I must have too much time on my hands. Aside from work and house renovations and things like sleep, I must be SO BORED that I'm looking into things like Twitter and facebook. Peering into the abyss. Must... resist... Don't want to give up sleep...

Of course, when the alternative is watching the "this old house" guys talking about replanting rhododendrons, it seems downright attractive. Online stuff that is, not giving up sleep.

I spent the last two days in a technical forum for work. I got a surprise today when my boss asked me to describe my current study to the room full of technical experts (about 150 people). That wasn't too bad - it was after lunch and people weren't really listening. What was worse was changing tables this morning, sitting down, and chatting a bit with the guy in the next seat - when I managed to see his name tag, I realized I was making small talk with the CTO of the company and I didn't have an elevator speech in hand! OH NOES! So, probably blew an opportunity there. Oh well, I have not been feeling ambitious lately. In fact, for things work, I am finding it more difficult to care. I wish we had sabbaticals like SOME local biotech companies. (you know who you are, and I'm still sick with jealousy)

The first rain of the season is upon us. Between that (there are 2 storms expected this weekend, and people here freak out in the first rains like other places do in the first snow), the bathroom (theoretically the walls were finished today which means I can prep and paint tomorrow), and being tired, I am in serious doubt that I'll make it out for any festivities tomorrow. I apologize in advance to anyone and everyone I disappoint tomorrow by being lame. :(

By the way, I hate to say I told you so, but...

Ai yi wiring

More progress on the bathroom - unfortunately I forgot my camera today, but let me tell you about the weekend's work.

We spent quite a bit of time yesterday cutting the new ceiling holes for the recessed light and fan, and holes in the walls for new junction box placements. Also? Holes for getting wires through firebreak wood. Oy. And DUST GALORE. If my house ever wanted to go to Burning Man, now it knows better. What really chaps my hide is that I had just cleaned a couple of those rooms rather thoroughly. That runner that was washed delicately and dried for 2 days? Filthy. Now multiply that times everything I own.

So you'd think since it's late October, it would be pretty crisp out. Think again. It was quite warm out - maybe in the 80s? Enough to get sweaty walking a few blocks on an errand - and in the attic it must have been over 100. Seriously. I had streams running down the fall lines all over me, and my clothes were soaked. Yuck! Today was a little cooler but no one notified the attic. Blech. Sweatier than when packed into the workout room with 16 other sweaty people.

Fortunately, I think the wiring is mostly done. All that's left is to do some continuity testing (to make sure no wires dragged over nails and stripped their insulation), staple the wires down in the attic, and hook 'em to the new breakers in the breaker box, and we will have lights again! Everything is wired up and all the mud rings are in place. Hopefully that means I can get the walls finished up this week, which means painting and/or tiling next weekend.

I also ordered a door and bought a new toilet. The toilet was in stock. That never happens! I took Kent's SUV to pick it up today; it's still in the back. I don't dare pull it out myself, one or both of us would get damaged.

So, back at home now, with the last of the minestrone and a little pinot noir, debating whether I should bite the bullet and clean up a little in the bathroom here (toothpaste boogers in the sink and the like). I'm learning that my tolerance for disorder is not only lower than Kent's but decreasing fast (again, probably driven by having to search for every little thing in the last year). I will have to start assigning him domestic tasks to keep this equitable. Suggestions for where to start? What housekeeping tasks are the most manly?

Live Hot Puppy Action

This was posted on CuteOverload last night:

Oops, embed is not working (some error in the code), but here is a link to the bit on CuteOverload:

People are going insane over the puppies. Kent got up first this morning to go work out before going to the city, and came up saying he heard squeaking somewhere downstairs. When he investigated, worrying about what kind of infestation he had, he finally traced it to the computer speakers. When he woke the monitor up, it was a big squeaky pile of puppies. Then mom came into frame and it was a feeding frenzy.

FYI it was blank when I copied the link, there may be a technical issue, but most of the time it's been working fine. Check back later if you don't see anything now.

House report and new pics this evening...

Teeth grinding? Blood boiling? Yes, it's election season...

There are few things I find more annoying than election season, especially big elections. The huge number of small "special" elections in California over the last few years was annoying enough, since each came with its list of propositions (more on that later), but these big ones with their ridiculous attack ads and naked attempts at fearmongering are extra bile-filled.

One of the big ones in California this year is proposition 8, which intends to change the state constitution to strip gay people of the right to marry, which they were granted in June by the state supreme court. There was an article in the paper today that the supporters of Prop 8 (including the Mormon Church, Knights of Columbus, and other socially regressive groups) have sent letters to companies who made donations to oppose Prop 8, threatening that if they don't donate an equal amount of money to "yes on 8", they'll publish their names as "opposing traditional marriages".

WTF???

I'm not even sure where to start here, but here's a short list:
1) I have donated $200 to "no on 8" and am proud of it
2) if people could choose who they were attracted to, they would. it would have made my life a lot less dramatic.
3) the current state of allowing gays to marry does nothing to oppose traditional marriages in the state. Heck, people can have as many traditional marriages as they want to (ahem, right-wingers with multiple divorces).
4) Prop 8 is all about TAKING AWAY a group's right to marry. Taking away civil rights isn't right when it's gays, it isn't right when it's racial, it isn't right when it's women, it JUST ISN'T RIGHT. Get it??

NO ON 8.

From what I've seen, there is apparently fear about talking about gay marriage in schools. I don't have any kids, but from what I hear and read, parental permission is still required for things like sex ed. I missed a conversation along these lines at a dinner last week and I'm sorry I did - a woman was arguing the schools point with Kent, and he said, "Oh, you're afraid they'll learn about reality?" and she got pretty huffy. It's probably better I wasn't involved, since I would have asked if she supported the higher suicide rates of closeted kids who don't know there's a life out there for them. What, too strong? I knew one of those.

Moving on to propositions in general, if there was ever a proposition banning future propositions I would be all over it in a heartbeat. There are lots of things on the ballots that just should not be in the hands of John Q. Public voters, although some of these people have their hearts in the right place. But don't people understand what a bond is? (it's a loan) Don't they get that if money is earmarked for something, the money doesn't just appear out of thin air, but must be taken from other programs? My opinion is the legislators should be doing the job of writing and putting laws into effect, for prioritizing on the budget, and making decisions for the greater good of the state. The voters can select which legislators they think are best, and let them know what is important to them as constituents, but stop it there. It's a pipe dream, I know.

BTW, if you have any question at all on supporting a proposition, vote no. That just means "no change".

Two last observations:
1) I can't decide if Cindy McCain looks more like an evil drag queen or a Disney witch.
2) I predict that Sarah Palin will be the #1 drag costume in the Castro this Halloween.

(climbing off soapbox)

#100 on Blogger, #376 overall

Wow, how did I get up to 100 blog posts here already? I feel so loquacious.

Anyway, it's another busy week here. Strangely, some kind of nesting is kicking in and I'm getting the activation energy to do all kinds of housekeeping projects. Maybe it's the approach of winter and knowing I'll be in the house most of the time, or that my last good nerve is wearing thin from having to hunt for EVERYTHING, but at least it means that things are getting done.

Last night, for instance, I cleaned the fridge. I didn't have to throw much out, but all that dried milk dandruff and dried leaves and a mysterious dried spill of something got to be too much, so I moved things around to take trays and drawers out and wash them. I will have to do the door bins next - I have a feeling some of that stuff is ready for the trash. I'm always happy, though, when I don't find something like a bag filled with liquefied moldy peppers or something. Don't laugh. It's happened.

I also called that store yesterday and filed a complaint about Inappropriate George. I'll have to follow up but they promised he'd be spoken to. We shall see.

Brace yourselves for the next round of "working on my bathroom renovation". We're realizing that placing the vanity lights is probably going to be more than we'd bargained for. With luck we'll be done with the wiring by the end of the weekend, so I can start patching and painting the walls.

WHAT did he say to me??

Well, that was a new one, even for Berkeley. I went to the local grocery store to get ingredients for soup, and I had a sweatshirt on with my work logo and the word "refinery" on it (part of my vast 4-sweatshirt wardrobe). While I was getting checked out, the cashier looked at my shirt and asked if I worked in a refinery. I said yes, and then jokingly asked, don't I look like a refinery worker? To which he replied, "I don't respect anyone that works in a refinery,"

Oh?

He then went on to tell me how all oil companies are really in a monopoly and in cahoots with each other for price setting, and also that they were only out to get as much money as possible, and that they didn't care about people at all, only money. Wow.

I was pretty stunned to be getting a lecture like this - not to mention from a sales clerk (it usually happens on hikes with friends of friends when gas prices are high). I didn't think to ask for the shift manager while I was still in the store. But tomorrow, I'm making a call. It's probably better that I'll be completely cooled off by then.

I don't really care if he thinks my company or I am evil, but if I were his manager I'd be interested to hear that he's insulting customers while he's working. Very unprofessional, even if he is "only a cashier" (in his words). Oh, George from Grocery, you're in for a surprise on your next shift. I doubt you'll be relegated to unloading trucks, but with luck you'll learn to watch your mouth while wearing a company uniform.

Jerk.

I did sarcastically thank him for letting me know he has no respect for me, but at least I was able to refrain from getting into a real argument with him there, so no (further) damage to my own company's image there. Whew.

Goodbye, knob and tube...

We did some more work on the bathroom today - the goal was to disconnect everything and pull the new wires and be ready for closing up the walls. Of course, this was wildly optimistic, especially since we were out drinking wine the last two nights. Oog. We got to my house around 2 and set out to see what was going on with the old knob and tube wiring.

At first it was very confusing, since there were often more than four connections per feed, but we figured out that the wires embedded in the walls were the hot wires powering the light (of course). We found where a wire was going into the wall, but it was on the other side of a dividing wall, and even after cutting it, we couldn't pull it out from above or below. Since I knew which wall it was, I went into the bedroom closet with a wrecking bar, a hammer, and safety glasses (safety first and all that). I knocked a hole in the wall and sure enough, the feed was in there, and there was a ceramic clamp holding it, along with a splice - one wire going to the light, one to the outlet. I cut them and we pulled those wires out - now I just need to do more wall repair.

I also pulled the old light and went about the business of disconnecting all old wiring that was feeding that part of the house (successfully - no fires, no getting zapped, and all the other lights on the circuit still work).

Kent has started setting up the new wires to feed in, and is placing the new junction boxes in the room.

We're not as far as we'd hoped, but feel good about the progress made today. For later this week I'll have to mark the holes for the ceiling light and fan, and also the locations of the vanity lights. I'll have to let Kirk know we're not ready to close the walls this week.

I also got 9 color samples for the walls and will agonize over those.

But now, I must go wash the fiberglass out of my hair, and get some ingredients to crock pot some minestrone tomorrow. Arrivaderci!

Surprise guests!

Last night Kent and I went out to get some dinner. We'd just crossed the street when an apparition appears half a block up and says, "Is that Kent and Derende??" It was our friend Angie, who we haven't seen up close in a few months. She was in the neighborhood for dinner with her boyfriend and a friend from work. We were headed in a different direction (you know how it is when your mouth is fixed for something specific). But, we knew a good place for cocktails and agreed to meet there when done with our respective dinners.

We whooped it up over a couple of cocktails, then came back here to show them the finished bathroom at this house, and some of the painting jobs we'd done (I hadn't thought it was that long ago that they were here, but apparently it was). We hung out in the kitchen quite a bit, so I was feeling pretty smug that I'd done quite a bit of cleaning in there yesterday.

They left and we went to bed around 1, then slept till 11. What are we, teenagers?? I guess doing actual physical activity for a few hours will wear you out more than I remembered...

BTW there are new pictures in the bathroom album!

Busy, busy. But all about houses!

I had my scheduled day off today, and pretty much hit the ground running after finally waking up (very strange dreams last night, BTW). The morning was all about being little Suzie Homemaker. I washed the kitchen counters, did 3 loads of laundry, dusted some things that sorely needed it (although that only covers about 5% of the things in the house that need dusting), made the bed in the guest room, and then met my friend Chris for some pho.

After lunch, I went to my house, admired the new drywall, and miraculously found my receipts for the too-yellow glass tiles. I was hoping to find some white and do an exchange, but when I asked for help, the guy started looking at my tile samples and somehow talked me out of using glass tiles at all, since the marble is so busy with fossils. He then convinced me that it would be cool to cut the fossil tiles down and distribute them in a random pattern (I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it will be art). So, danger ahead. I did a bit of a layout using my original plan and he's right, it will look weird. So tomorrow I may be cutting some down.

I then used my fan-of-2000-colors and selected about 7 that might be good in the bathroom. I meant to go to HD and get samples, but came back to Kent's on autopilot. Oops. He has been doing house stuff too (cleaning out the garage, doing a Goodwill run, severely cutting back the overgrown juniper out front). We've got to get cleaned up, scrounge up some dinner, and go get some paint samples.

The next two days are slated for electrical work and me working my tub enclosure tile layout. And a work volleyball league banquet. The swinging fun never stops around San Francisco...

By the way, here is the junction box that appeared during demo. The wire going right is the one worrying me. The wire nut was added when they found the bare wires, to make sure no one is accidentally zapped.

WTF are you kidding??

So, I've hired Kirk to help out with some stuff on the bathroom - framing, wallboard, a little demolition. He works way faster than Kent and I do and has already made quite a bit of progress in half a day.

One thing I asked for was for him to cut out the old door frame, so I could put in a new prehung door. Kent stopped by the house on the way to the gym, and when I saw him at the gym he told me I would not believe the wall where the door was. Oh? Why?

1) they decided to strip off all the wall surface - easier to put up one sheet of drywall than try and match depth (this I'd OK'd)
2) the wall from the inside out was button board and plaster (like the other walls) and then on top of that was ANOTHER layer of thick drywall. Okaaaaaayyy...
3) when they took off the top layer of drywall, they found a junction box in there. With bare wires in it. THAT WERE HOT!!! (energized)

What the blue hell were those people doing?? Did I mention that I'm glad the house has not burned down??

So, that answers the mystery of where that black wire in the attic was dropping down to. It raises the new question of, where is that wire going sideways into the wall ending up???

Pictures soon. Unbelievable.

we should have our own show.

It could be a farce!

I also have new pictures - check it!

Is there blood coming out of my ears?

Between the house and work I am totally wound up today. Kent and I spent most of yesterday working on the bathroom and each other's nerves, and today I come in to work to find a condescending email from one of our experts, not so patiently pointing out that he does things to our data which he did not previously tell us he did. And so, what we sent and what he used did not effectively capture what we need in the data he generated.

Add to this that I seem to take the brunt of dealing with this guy for things that the team has done (not just me) and for misunderstandings, and I'm not happy.

One of my teammates (different project) came in here today demanding information about fuel oil blending practices in the Singapore region and taking an argumentative tone with me when I said that information was not handy. He did not notice the large, I'm-this-close-to-exploding-so-why-don't-you-go-back-to-your-office gestures I started making with my arms, but still escaped unscathed. For now. I'm not going to his 4-hour meeting this afternoon, though.

So, I've wasted my entire morning dealing with those two, I'm behind on my other project, and I already got a snotty reply from guy #1 above when I spelled out what we had and asked what we needed to do (basically, "don't bother me until you know what you want," Jerk.).

I suppose my dreams while waking up this morning should have been a warning sign (I was in Montana and had been awake for over 24 hours and was exhausted. Waking up feeling exhausted can't be good).

Yoga is on the agenda but it's 5 hours away. I'm all tightened up, my stomach is in knots, and I may cry before the day is out. Sounds like it's time to try and burn some vacation at least making headway on the house, so I can spend weekends relaxing again. If only I could take the time away from my projects.

Oh, we made some headway yesterday despite the annoying each other thing. Cement board is up, fan is out, bedroom closet light is wired (that was cut a long time ago) and Romex to nowhere has been removed. Yay us!

Bathroom progress - pictures soon...

Ow. Made some progress on the bathroom yesterday - got the studs covered with heavy plastic sheeting and Kent got 3 sheets of cement board up (I was not much help in this area). There's one more sheet to go in the shower enclosure area, and we'll need to figure out the floor next. Since the toilet flange apparently needs replacement, I think we'll be hiring that part out along with prepping the floor for tiling.

We also demo'ed the backsplash (I need to see if I can re-tile on old, cracked, but pretty flat mortarbed), removed the guts of the fan, and started looking at the rat's nest of knob and tube wiring feeding the bathroom.

While I was up in the attic, I found that all this time, the bathroom fan has been venting directly into the attic - not out of the house. I was furious but I suppose I could have checked this before. I just assumed that people do jobs at least to minimum standards. Guess I was wrong. Fortunately there doesn't seem to be damage from condensation up there - it very rarely gets that cold, so there's that. But the replacement venting will be done right. Also unfortunately, they seem to have installed the fan casing and then walled around it - we're going to have to cut a big hole to get that thing out of the wall. Grrrrrrr.

Most frightening of all, I can't see in the attic how the fan is getting power. In fact, most of the wiring up there is not clear in what is feeding what. We need to make sure when we cut the knob and tube and run new wire to the bathroom that we are not cutting power to one of the bedrooms, too. SIGH. It also means that we need to cut power to that side of the house before we go sawzalling the wall to get the fan out, since its power source is hidden in there somewhere.

I will save the descriptions of the full horror of the wiring for when we do it, but here's a taste:

A loose piece of Romex with only the black wire nutted off! (not in a junction box)
Wire connections done outside of junction boxes!
Wires disappearing into walls where there are no switches or outlets!

It's a wonder the house hasn't burned down. I suppose when I get around to fixing up the attic I should consider replacing a lot of the web of knob and tube wiring, or at least tracing and labeling it. Fixing up the attic is on the list but not at the top - I guess it would be a good wintertime weekend job. Insulation pulled up for these construction jobs needs to be put back, and some tongue and groove should be put on top of it so I can get where I need to go up there. There's a lot of solid insulation and other stuff just piled up there too that has to get thrown out. I just hope I don't run into a rat colony or something. Or more wasps. Blech.

Traffic hell!

So apparently there was some kind of small concrete failure on a local bridge this morning, taking traffic from two lanes to one. (side note, there is a full-sized breakdown lane on this bridge, so I don't see why they couldn't divert traffic around the problem lane, but I won't get into it too much. However, if one of my five readers secretly works for Caltrans, look into it, would you?)

I should check the traffic before leaving home; the first indication of trouble was a Caltrans truck and sign about 5 miles away from the bridge, immediately followed by stop and go traffic. ARGH. If I'd had my computer with me I would have turned around and worked from home today.

My commute usually takes 15 minutes, 7 of which is on the freeway, but today it took me 1:45 to get to work. I also parked in a nearby neighborhood, since all the roads were backed up for blocks in all directions from the office. Sadly this includes lanes into work which are not the primary way to get to the freeway - apparently lots of people are FAR too special to have to sit in traffic, and line jump by roaring through our parking lot, turning around, and using the light from that direction. These people need to have their tire valve stems removed. Jerks. I've nearly been hit in the parking lot more than once, but I don't know if our local security can do anything.

Sigh.

Nothing much to report this week other than that, so, sorry. It's more meetings and more spreadsheets and no workouts, and last night I fell asleep before 10, so I got nothing. Oh, wait - I do have one thing. Heroes is maintaining its annoying level of stupidity. Mohinder really is turning into the Fly. Lots of time jumping makes it unclear what's happening. Etc. However, I do enjoy watching Sylar. Any villain (although now we're not so sure which side he's on, do we?) that eats ice cream while stalking his victims? I can get behind a character like that.

new personal record?

I hosted a conference call meeting today that was 6 hours long. YIKES. I have to write up the notes which will take a while, but I was typing throughout the meeting while facilitating (a brainstorming meeting and lots of ideas flying around like popcorn). Apparently I awed the senior guys by doing this. OK, my agenda and starter notes went from 3 pages to 17, but big deal. Wait till all those sentence fragments are extended into full sentences!

I also discovered that a lot of my work from Friday and Sunday was a waste - one of the dangers of having multiple people working one spreadsheet is, if it starts looking funny, the latest person on the sheet may not notice it. And things will need to be redone. Over. And. Over. Annoying. I would be happy to own such spreadsheets in the future - then it's just my own drama.

I should go - I have a feeling I did enough typing today.

I should be cooking something for dinners for the rest of the week (I already ate), but I'm also debating other housework and Heroes. Hmmmm. That chard ain't gonna cook itself... but Mohinder might!

Do you love the earth?

So, there was a bit on Corbert earlier this week, about how you see a lot of energy companies flogging their work on unconventional and sustainable sources in their ads these days. He had a mock up of an ad I can't find on youtube yet, when I find it I'll post it. But my favorite part was the line:

"Sure, people talk about loving the earth, but how many of us actually penetrate it?"

Awesome.

Vows during cocktails?

We went to our third wedding in three weekends yesterday. The wedding was down in Palo Alto, at a ridiculously palace-like private residence on acres and acres of property. We heard enough about the wines there that we quickly agreed that neither of us should have to be the designated driver, so we got on the list to get a ride in one of the limos going from the hotel. (first time in a limo, woo!)

Once we arrived, we wandered around thunderstruck for a while, looking at all the floral arrangements and luxuriousness of the castle, I mean house. Not ten minutes later, servers came around with trays of wine for the guests. Really? Now? Well, OK. Then the trays of hors d'oeurves (I never spell that right but you get the idea) started coming out. This was rather confusing but we don't argue with things like double cream gouda, or dates stuffed with brie and wrapped with bacon, or duck on shortbread with pear confit. No, we don't.

The guests were already getting squiffy on the wine, when our attention was called to the front of the room, where the grooms and officiant were standing. A few words (literally), two rings and a smooch, and the party went back to being a cocktail party. That is by far the shortest ceremony I have ever seen, but since these two were married in 2004, and did a short ceremony at City Hall on Friday, they told us their focus was just that people should have a good time. They were definitely driving the mood of the day; those two were positively glowing whenever we looked over at them. Yay!

There was also a short cake cutting, and then the cakes came out. As threatened, we tried all four flavors (vanilla raspberry, chocolate with caramel filling, ginger spice, and apple spice). And of course, the champagne. (first time drinking French champagne, woo!)

We were called back out to the cars at 4:00, and discovered that the bottle of champagne in our car was still there. We opened it, but three of the people didn't want any, so three of us partook. Horrifyingly, the bottle was gone by the time we got back to the hotel. Oops.

The newlyweds were hosting a little afterparty in their "penthouse" suite, just down the hall from our room but worlds apart. The suite was great, including the big terracotta tiled patio with lots of outdoor furniture. We chatted with them and all their cruise friends from all over the country, and then went for a short dinner.

We also watched some of the "Mythbusters" marathon that was going on. The test they did of the overpressured water heater is by far our favorite (may be on youtube).

Today was a lot of puttering. Kent is on his way to South Dakota for some meetings, so we went to SFO and I took BART home. I'd left my blackberry at home yesterday, which I guess is good, since it would have ruined part of my weekend earlier if I had it with me. I just found out that the few hours of work I put in on Friday (my day off AHEM!!) is USELESS since there is some kind of bug in the program. That's. Just. Great. Since I'm hosting an all-day meeting tomorrow, I'm either going to be working late, or someone else is going to have to fix the presentation when the model is corrected. I vote for the latter, and also for Mr. "hey I think I made a mistake in the model" to send his corrected one to Mr. Cranky-As-All-Hell, because I do not want to be yelled at again for something I'm not responsible for.

*****UPDATE***** it's now 8:30 and I've been working that work thing since I got it. Turns out someone didn't update a cell in a crosslinked file (don't look at me!). Hopefully that is that, I redid everything from Friday, and hopefully will not have to work until midnight on this tomorrow. I don't expect thanks but I'm not coming home after the gym next week (meetings scheduled for gym time this week or I'd do it now while the resentment of weekend work is fresh!).

Things I like

This looks like a meme but it's not (unless someone wants to take this and run with it). But, I've been noticing lately several things I find delightful, and I'm not afraid to share. I am a simple creature in many ways.

• the springy moving walkways at SFO in terminal 3 (you know, the long ones that go by exhibits)
• places where there is a lot of bustle, especially with transport other than cars. Transfer stations on the DC Metro were especially fun. Or airports, where you can see some amazing fashion statements.
• Being in a car when a BART train whizzes by overhead. Or being on BART and riding alongside or over the traffic.
• sourdough toast
• getting something exactly right in a drawing. I cackled out loud when Gadget's teeth turned out perfectly. Ask the ladies in the Drink and Draw class.
• listening to trance when working on spreadsheets. I also like music with lyrics, but if I've forgotten myself and started singing along without noticing. In the office. Luckily, trance is both safe and motivational.
• DRAG QUEENS! Love them! But this is a subject for a whole other post.
• Soft faux fur.
• Clear days in San Francisco when you can see everything around the Bay Area.
• "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr." (Bruce Campbell was HAWT in the early 90s!)
• Finding exactly the right word. I remember in one conversation the perfectly placed word "withered" made me laugh delightedly.
• Foofy vodka cocktails.
• Cooking and eating soups or stews when it's cold out.

First in a series! Watch for more as the mood strikes...

Oh, and Crazy Neighbor found a new place to dump leaves... on the shredded remains of the stump where the tree used to be. Coo-coo!

lists and LOL link

So, it seems like another normal week so far. It doesn't feel like I've done anything worth an essay, but a random brain-dump bullet list is another matter entirely. Ahem.

• The shower/tub plumbing is in place. I helped (did 4 solders).
• The level of chaos in both houses is making me insane. If Kent asked me to go out of the bathroom and find One. More. Thing... I was going to kill us both (I did know where the blue wrecking bar was). I don't care if it was something that would be magically ON TOP of the giant pile of everything in the house, I couldn't take it. In fact, I should be tidying right now instead of blogging since I will be able to look around the house and breathe normally at the same time (note, both houses are in a state of complete squalor. Very, very bad feng shui).
• Work time is primarily spent writing emails to process experts, and in meetings. It is as fun as it sounds.
• I've been semi-obsessed lately with what I read on a Coke can in the UK. The nutritional information is presented slightly differently there. Here, you see how many calories and grams of carbohydrates are in a soda. There, you see that the amount of sugar in a 12-oz can equals 40% of a recommended maximum for someone on a 2000-calorie-per-day diet. WOW. This is making it easier to keep it to one a day. I know none is better but soda is so sweet and bubbly, I can't resist its charms.
• Tonight, I did my first yoga class all summer. My leg joints are paying the price.
• Kent gave me a Kindle (electronic book) for my birthday. I like it, but am still figuring out how to handle it without accidentally turning pages all the time. It's pretty cool technology.
• After growing it out for 3-1/2 years, I'm starting to get that old urge to do something to my hair. I'm not totally bored with it long yet, but am not sure what I'll do with it. I do know, however, that no one accepting hair donations will take it. It's too gray. Places will accept hair that's <5%.
• As I was saying, but Blogger kept eating (WTF, blogger?), my hair is 30-50% white, so it's only good for making mats to soak up oil spills. Pardon my lack of enthusiasm for that project. So, since it can't be donated anyway, I'm free to mess with the color as well as the length. Decisions, decisions...
• Kent is in Seattle. I feel like I should be clearing biohazards out of the fridge while the getting is good.
• I still don't get what's happening with the markets, aside from it is bad. There was a clause in the original bailout plan which I assume was taken out (making all future prosecution impossible no matter what Paulson does or how badly he screws everything up) as part of re-writing it from a 3-page document to a 100+ page document. Although, since the revised one did not pass the house today, I guess it is moot and I'm just as clueless about what is going on.

And at last, a story that hangs together, from Schmutzie. I LOL'd. Enjoy!