Mother Nature

Storm watch 2011! Sounds like we're going to catch hell and fury from the skies. However, it hasn't started yet. After looking at the doplar maps I see no evidence of storm activity in our vicinity. But, I'm generally wrong.

Got the floor down in the bathroom. Just waiting on it to set completely. Then we can grout, and I'll try and caulk the tub, then it's on to the wall tile. It's really coming together and the big tiles in a small room really do give for a larger room effect. Barring the intensity of this "storm" the bathroom should be done this week.

Messing with knitting. Finished a hat. I think I'm going to start knitting bracelets. Or cuffs. Or whatever the hell you want to call them. I think it could be a trendy fashion accessory (prepares self for verbal jabbing). I'm thinking something with a big button closure. Maybe a cable pattern, or maybe a knitted flower. Looking at a sock loom too. Because well... I like the idea of making my own wool socks. Lion Brand (not necessarily the best, but it's not awful) has a fisherman's wool blend that's a really nice grey. I think it'll make great socks.

Anywho, off to work.

Progress

Shower surrounds up in Donnie's bathroom. He and the misses move in this weekend. Just tile to go and it's done. Week is going so slow.

Will commemorate the first bathroom job I've done sans a boss with new ink. It should heal before we get back in the field and all will be well.

Been playing the uke a bit. Victoria and I were planning on an outing to the zoo on Saturday, but the 50 degrees they were preaching on Monday has become a sad high 30s. We'll see how that goes. Maybe I'll just do tile. Listening to Michael Franti and it makes me want to dance.

Got the screen protector and rubberized casing for the Pre this week and installed that. The screen skin isn't perfect. It has a couple bubbles, but I think I can live with them. Been playing Angry Birds a bit on it.

Sent another story Benson's way and am pouring over it. I think I'll rewrite it. Most of it maybe. I need to print out the revision I wrote while I was still in school and take some scenes from it, I think. The chronology is fucked. Apparently at that point in time I tried my hand at Tarantino-ing things.

Been listening to the Wheel of Time books at work. I don't know why I didn't do this before. It's the most logical answer... however I find myself getting drowsy and have been listening to significantly less music.

Happy Weekend

The weekend of a short week will sometimes feel like it takes longer to get to than it will last. Benson commented on the time it was taking for the clock to tick by today and I swear she broke the space-time continuum. It took literally 5 and a half weeks to finish the last hour and a half today.

Spontaneous Dinner Party!

Making a sweet cream ice cream with butterscotch ribbon. Butter base and butterscotch sauce are cooling in the kitchen right now.

After they're cool, I think I'll make my crepe batter before I go to bed so I don't have to rush it tomorrow.

Enjoying a big bottle of Kirin Ichiban and some bits of Manchego cheese. Not the perfect combination, but what's perfect anymore anyways?

Realized last night that I tuned my ukulele improperly. I'd been tuning the G string an octave too low. Retuned, it has that uke tone. I think I'll practice cover songs in a falsetto because it just sounds like a good idea.

Tub surround walls and concrete board goes in tomorrow. Shouldn't take long, but then we didn't think the tub base would take long and it just went in on Wednesday (5 days after we started w/ it).

More snow this weekend, so if you're in the area drive safely.

Snow Day!

Though there is a bit of guilt in me that there are people at work, I don't feel so bad about not going in today.

At roughly 300am this morning a soft whine that was just out of my sleeping-ear's audible detection became a near roar. Apparently the at&t building across the street required snow clearing that early. I was under the impression that it was some contractor the company hired to do the job and they had somewhere else to be. That still didn't constitute the use of a leaf blower to clear the sidewalk. So... after about a half-hour of the racket I decided to go out and ask how much longer they'd be.

The lady I spoke with looked a little surprised to see anyone else out in the cold with them. She apologized and assured me they were done with the machine. In a soft rage I went home and unable to sleep sought an email address for at&t. I found none. So, I sought other avenues of contact and stumbled upon the direct email for the CEO. I await my reply anxiously.

Wrote an article about Johnny Depp's new movie for Associated Content and have already taken in 100+ hits. I think I'm getting the hang of this SEO thing.

Cleared the drive with the help of Neighbor (I think his name is Rick, but we always call each other "Neighbor"). He asked if I needed a hand, but I assured him I'd shovel it myself. He has a proper snow blower. Well, despite my answer he insisted on helping, which I'm grateful for. The city plows had compacted snow at the end of our drive pretty well and his blower cut right through it. My plastic shovel would have had a hell of a time at it.

So, all that's left for it is some reading, some cocoa, and some Ramen noodles. Maybe I'll write some too.

If you have to, travel safely.

Yay Long Weekend!

Demo'd my buddy Donnie's bathroom with him on Friday. Saturday, got to revisit plumbing. Though gravely anxious about taking a torch to the inside of the bathroom wall in my friend's new home, I attempted to sweat the copper. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but when we finished for the night we had the valve and extension for the spout in. Tested and had one leak at the valve. Next time in, we fix that and put on the shower head extension and the tub can go in. That fucking tub. We had to resquare the walls to the alcove to get it in. Then the wall surrounds. Then the tile. The list goes on.

New phone on Sunday, well new phones. Victoria and I went grocery shopping and then we went to the AT&T store to get phones activated. She's got the Sony c905a for the pictures and the photography and the kids say the darnedest things, and I made my return to Palm products. The Palm Pre is a fantastic machine. The only downside is that the library's wi-fi reaches to the end of my driveway... not to my house, not even the kitchen (that last is only a valid detail if you know that my kitchen is the closest part of the house to the library). Maybe a wireless router is in our future.

So, went to the library to leach wi-fi and download some apps and get a few movies. Picked up Pushing Daisies. Sadly, just another show that is fantastic and has been cancelled. The narrator, Jim Dale, is great and reminds me of the narrator from the Hitchhiker's Guide movie. But, alas he isn't (Stephen Fry is).

Maybe go and see Black Swan this week. Still have coupons with stipulations to use.

Dug a bit about the Arrested Development movie and it's sounding promising.

Now to figure out what's for supper.

Productive!

With the winter set in, it's almost too easy to put on pajama pants, a cardigan, and a soft and fluffy bathrobe and just sit around in front of the computer with the space heater at your back. Well... maybe this weekend I did that, but I also typed up this regional chert manual for work. Not that we'll use it, maybe we will, but I had planned on doing it last winter when my wife took the pictures of the type collection.

So, that's done. We got our cable upgraded so for the same price we've been paying for just internet for the last half a year we're now getting a basic digital cable package along with the interwebs. Law and Order LA is no original Law and Order or Criminal Intent, but having it on On Demand is pretty sweet.

Speaking of internet we missed our appointment to have our modem looked at. Got hung up at work and missed the call to verify. Will just bring it in to the ISP store, I guess. I hate dealing with those people, but I hate having strangers in my house more.

Considering purchasing a domain for this thing next month. Prices are down and I can get it for two years for pretty cheap. It's been a while since I've actually managed a webpage. This wouldn't be much, it'd just direct users here. This is my project for the year or so. I'd like to at least have 52 posts at the end of the year.

Supper! Went grocery shopping last night and stocked the freezer just in time. A big snow storm is pushing across the Midwest. It started as we were leaving work. Have some tomatoes that I'm going to roast and make a kind of salad with some mozzarella (shredded, sadly. couldn't find any good mozz but it'll do) and cubed french bread. Pretty excited about that. Hopefully there will be some left for lunch tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

2010 can kiss my ass.

It's time for those resolutions. I know last year's I didn't stick to, but I'll make a list again. Lists are good.

#1. Write more. That's why I'm here. I've been half-assing a work blog and decided that, sure it's nice to talk about that, but the confines of it make me feel like I can't talk the way I really want to. The voice even sounds different!

#2. Cook more. New year new things. Tonight, I finally nutted up and made risotto. Thank you Benson. Mushroom and asparagus risotto to be exact (cooking soundtrack: Cassadaga by Bright Eyes and the first 4 tracks of Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons). I wandered around Wal-mart for 20 minutes trying to find "risotto" not knowing that I needed to be looking for arborio rice. Half an hour of stirring and we have bowls of sweet sweet deliciousness in front of us.

#3. Read more. Jeff at work has given me reams and reams of information concerning archaeology which I need to delve into. I've also began my "Whitman a Day" which is pretty much just me reading a passage out of Leaves of Grass. I've dabbled in the book countless times over the years, but have never read it cover to cover. That's the plan for 2011. It's already proven useful in getting the creative juices flowing. I've got an outline for a script on my desktop along with jotted notes for another and a few songs.

#4. Exercise more and maybe lose a little weight. Dropped almost 30lbs in 2010 and finally hit my wall at ~240. Need to get back into portion control and watching what I put in my face. Have almost completely given up soda. Drinking mostly water and tea at the moment. Acquired a copy of 30 Day Shred that we kind of half-assed in the last months of 2010 which I think we'll put ourselves through this year.

#5. Play more music. I love playing music, I just don't make time for it like I used to. Got a ukulele for Christmas and it's really rejuvenated my interest.

#5.a. Take more pictures. Really, this could have just been "Be more creative" as #5, but I itemized it on paper, it gets itemized here. I'm a big fan of lomography and though my digital attempts are not nearly as good as real lomo I'm going to continue with it. I'm also going to see about picking up a Diana mini.

#6. Watch more movies. It's my bread and butter. There was a reason I used to have a webpage called www.robthemovieguy.com. I guess this could have gone with "read more" now that I think about it, but it didn't.

#7. Get out more. Spontaneous Dinner Party, soccer game, upper bar, etc. We never were "going out" people. But, those were really great times and they really meant a lot (you know who you are). Maybe we can be "going out" people.

#8. Get more ink. The arm has to get done. What better year than 2011? Have some ideas to finish the lower, should be pretty easy. Now need to think about what to get up top.

And that's it. That's the New Year List. I already feel good about this. We'll see you when we see you.