C'mon ...really?!
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Posted:Jun 22, 2015 11:15 am
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2021 8:51 am
8672 Views
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Saturday night when I was walking the little goombah before bed, I looked at the weather on my phone for the helluvit ...it was a nice night and when I had checked a few days previous, I hadn't seen anything in the immediate future to really think anything of. I still like to check the forecast from time to time and the website I use once upon a time was beyond awesome; I had discovered it in the early 2000's and back then it was the BEST! My brother worked offshore and after I shared it with him, his company even started using it because of it's excellent hurricane tracker.
I heard a rumor that they had sold it a couple of years ago, and it turns out that the rumor was correct; it sold to the Weather Channel. Now I'm not going to go off on a political tangent regarding climate change although I think you have to be a complete idiot to try to deny that it's happening. The big political football lately has been what's causing it ...now the people who were most most vociferously denying that it was happening at all are saying okay ...well maybe it is happening, but humans didn't cause it. Don't know, don't care, but if Exxon-Mobil is funding the research, I'm going to regard it with a little bit of skepticism.
To that particular political football, I have the same interest as in regular football ...don't really know, don't really care. I'm not into "activism" much, although I've been at least a little bit outspoken on gay rights for 20 years or so. Having a gay family member brought that one on ...I'd like to say that I'd have reached the same conclusions otherwise, but who knows really. The main thing I'm talking about now is that the founder of the Weather Channel is one of the guys that denies climate change.
...and since they bought out the weather site that I've known and loved for over a decade, their weather forecast has reached the level of fucking absurdity (weather forecast set for "ludicrous speed!").
I checked the forecast Saturday night (late) and no rain in the forecast for the next week. I wake up entirely too early yesterday morning to take the out (still can't find the damned snooze button on the little goober), and when I get back to the house and give him his treat ...I hear this sound.
...it sounded oddly like rain. Before I've had my coffee, I'm not THE most attentive guy; sure it was cloudy, but I didn't pay all that much attention. I looked out the patio window and it was POURING outside!
I pulled out my phone and checked the weather AGAIN ...and it NOW said 40% chance of rain.
C'mon folks ...if eight hours previous you said NO chance of rain, and then it's raining RIGHT NOW and you are obliged to change what you had previously said ...why not "go for broke" and say 100% chance if it's already fucking drowning you?! Why mess around with those pesky probabilities if you've already got it wrong?!
I think this guy has more of the correct idea:
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Hole shipping is now available
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Posted:Jun 19, 2015 1:50 pm
Last Updated:Jun 19, 2015 3:27 pm
8622 Views
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Back in 2007 or so when my relationship imploded, I moved down to Waco to live with my brother for a while while I got back on my feet. Except for the whole "Waco" part of it, I look back at it with fondness (I often say that about the only that I miss about Waco was there was no shortage of things to make fun of). I mentioned to my brother once that when I moved back to DFW, I could go months without seeing somebody obviously strung out on drugs while in Waco I couldn't even go to the nearest store without seeing at least two meth-heads. He responded "To be fair ...the nearest store was probably where they sold the meth."
My little mutt had a slightly more difficult time as he got stuck in the middle of two much larger dogs that were ...well, ONE of them was an "alpha" and the other was a HUGE that wanted to be an alpha but was dumber than a box of hammers (totally sweet dog ...just not the sharpest tool in the woodshed). It was amusing to watch the other one trick him mercilessly to steal his treats and whatnot. I had to pull the two of them apart on many occasion while my little guy sat on the couch watching and eating popcorn.
One of the funny things was outside the back porch, the dogs seemed to take turns digging this huge hole ...I always thought that they just liked laying in it to keep cool on a hot summer day, but my niece had another theory ...that they were trying to dig a hole to China.
Today I find myself wondering. I wrote in my last blog about ordering a new tablet; I don't know that I mentioned the fact that I ordered it from a Chinese wholesaler that I've used a fair bit and had great success with. I didn't use expedited shipping ...just the plain old standard shipping. The times I've used this outfit in the past it's taken a couple of weeks at best.
I had a knock on the door TODAY ...and it was my package. I had to look at the side of the box to confirm that it had indeed made the trek from Hong Kong in three days, but it did.
So now I'm wondering if the two dogs actually completed their task, and now electronics wholesalers in China are just dropping packages through a hole in the ground beside the bloated two dogs surrounded by empty Chinese food boxes, and they're coming out in Waco to be shipped wherever.
Right now I'm chomping at the bit because the battery has to be charged (manual said eight hours is recommended before first use ...or at least a pigdin English variation of that general idea), so I'm having to learn a thing or two about patience. *sigh*
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rainy days and post-hangover productivity
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Posted:Jun 17, 2015 6:24 am
Last Updated:Jun 19, 2015 12:51 pm
8380 Views
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Gads I hate feeling sick, and I've been a little under the weather since the weekend. I think it started out as the "brown bag flu" but may have turned into something more given how congested I am ...and I think I'm going to stop buying the "torched cherry" bacardi rum regardless. It seems the last two times I've overindulged myself into a hangover, that was the particular poison. I seem to recall that back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, it was the flavored schnapps that got me into trouble from time to time as well (not that I needed much help getting into trouble ...perhaps into "the worst possible hangover" would be more accurate). Perhaps booze that tastes a little too much like a soft drink is just trouble waiting to happen; kinda like booze and energy drinks (never had them, but it just seems counter-intuitive somehow).
I even managed to post an "I love you man" blog while plastered, and I took it down Monday after a bit of deliberation. There wasn't anything terrible or revealing in it ...it just didn't go with the hangover, so I hid it. bleh!
Right now the is droopy enough for any three people; he woke me up way too early as usual, rocketed down the stairs and to the door, I opened the door and he zoomed out ...into pouring rain (that's how awake I was ...I didn't even notice myself until getting to the door). It was almost cartoonish how quickly he changed his mind once he realized it. He came back in and I took him out the front door that at least has an overhang so he could do his #1. He trudged back in and into the kitchen and stood by the pantry door. (I DESERVE a treat ...how DARE you let it rain before my morning walk!?) Now he's sprawled across the couch with his head buried under a pillow. I can relate.
We're supposed to be raining for the next couple of days and so I'm not sure just what I'm going to do with myself. Hungover Monday I was a slug ...I watched "Boston Legal" most of the day. I really loved that show; amazing how much you can love and hate characters so much at the very same time. Alan Shore and Denny Crane were just a little too much fun though. I was looking online for details about one specific episode that saw a user remark that struck me as pretty amusing ...that they wanted to see Kevin Spacey and James Spader do a "droll-off." THAT would be funny.
So anyway ...I haven't been productive at all the last few days. Sometime in the near future I'm going to do some couch shopping though. I sprung yesterday and purchased a new tablet that I'd been looking at for a while online. I don't really NEED another tablet, but I have very specific uses for the one I already have, and it stays upstairs. There's something to be said for not having to jog up the stairs to get it when there's something I want it for down here, and I suspect that it will see a lot of use once I actually have it. I also want to buy a new laptop (the one I'm currently using is over four years old); I had considered buying a "convertible" laptop that flipped into tablet and decided against it in favor of a more traditional laptop that just has a bit more oomph than the one I'm currently using (which probably won't take much). No rush ...what I have works fine ...I just can't figure if it's a better idea to wait until W-10 comes out, or do 8 with the free upgrade. Decisions decisions, but I really don't care much for 8, and traditionally Micro-whatsis alternates between decent and crappy OS's. decisions decisions
In other words ...nothing particularly fun or enlightening to post about today; maybe later when I start couch hunting!
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ADD vs OCD
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Posted:Jun 13, 2015 8:51 am
Last Updated:Jun 15, 2015 7:17 am
8662 Views
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I found a blog the other day with that title that reeled me in and had to add to my watch list ...over here: [post 3647909]
I was there last night. I had a doggy wake me up around five, and when one has an elderly and they say they gotta go, it's in your best interest to listen ...even though I'm pretty sure the little goombah just saw a squirrel or perhaps a really menacing looking leaf out the window (curses for living in a clean, well lit neighborhood).
After staggering around trying to find a bathrobe and then jogging up and down the stairs, when I plopped back down ...I was wide awake, and then my mind started recycling through all the silly stuff going on.
My attention span has had a little to be desired of late. I recently met a lady who was talking about her ADD and she was pretty funny about it. I've wondered a few times if I might have a touch of it
Oh gosh ...look at the bird!
What kind of bird is it? I'd better go on the computer and read everything I can find out the bird, wow ...didn't know that, I wonder why it's beak is shaped that way *finds taxonomy site and reads all about it* Dang, is it even native to this area? *searches Audubon sites*
How in the world can somebody be both OCD and ADD?
My goldfish has a longer attention span, but I think more than anything I just don't multi-task very well anymore. I can give one thing my FULL attention but not much else ...but it seems I'm getting easily distracted more often while I'm OCDing out on whatever though.
Okay, I'm off to watch TV ...or maybe fix breakfast ...perhaps find a good book
...I'm off to research goodreads for the next two hours to find what book; I'll let you know what I come up with.
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Does the dragon taste a little off to you?
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Posted:Jun 12, 2015 6:13 am
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2021 8:56 am
8843 Views
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I have quite a few cameras ...I actually still have my very first digital camera, and remember how many "oooh's and ahhh's" I used to get when I pulled it out. I bought it back in the 90's for a ridiculous amount of money, it would take about 10 really low quality pictures (that were pretty good for that day and age) before completely burning through a pair of batteries ...faster if you spent much time looking at previous pictures. We've probably all had the cell phone that gets hot on occasion, but it was business as usual with that thing.
Crazy that a guy with a family that used to have camera's grafted onto their wrists and all the years of always having a camera at hand NEVER seems to remember that the highest quality camera I have is in my pocket all the freaking time, as well as a camcorder and a flashlight. Using the LED flash on the phones for a flashlight is quite possibly one of the handiest ideas ever.
Except for g00gle maps of course. THAT is the coolest thing ever, and it's free. Anyone who has ever fought with fold up maps, street atlas for finding stuff, interstate vacations in the 70's and 80's and having to buy maps on the road can tell you how fucking awesome g00gle maps is.
Anyway ...I went to my usual Thursday lunch with my friend yesterday and needed to visit a store in an area that I'm totally unfamiliar with. Okay ...since I admitted buying a hideously expensive camera for the geek cred in the day, I guess I can admit that I saw that Best Buy had the Bluray second season of "Arrow" on sale for sixteen bucks ...but neither of my local stores had it in stock. Oh yeah ...and I had a gift card; it was worth the drive to indulge my inner geek, and zero out of pocket.
Right next door to the store was a Chinese buffet that neither of us had ever heard of, so we decided to give it a try after my geek buy and impulse buy of the previous season of "Supernatural" at the same price (woot).
My first reservation came when we walked in, and they told us we had to pay first, and THEN they would seat us and we could look at the buffet. I paid, and thought it a bit funny that it asked for "tip amount" when you hadn't even been seated yet.
Sorry, but I'm just not that trusting. I actually felt a little sorry for the wait staff though; that HAS to affect tipping at least a little.
Turned out that the food was actually quite good ...waiter guy was Johnny on the spot with refills. It really wasn't bad.
Until I made another trip to get a bit more of the stuff that had been really good.
I wish it had occurred to me to have taken a picture ...it may be common and I'd just never seen it, but I doubt it. There were two trays of eggrolls and the little signs said "Dragon Rolls (meat)" by the first and "Egg Rolls (no meat)" by the second.
I'd never had dragon meat before (will eating it make me breath fire?!), so I thought I'd give it a try.
For everything having been so good up to that point, I just don't know what to say. My friend had one and was fine ...but I only was able to eat three or four small bites and then I was suddenly reminded of the line by the comedian Ron White:
"When I say I gotta yak, that does NOT mean I have a small hairy water buffalo that lives with me"
No, I didn't get sick ...I was just nauseous for the next two hours or so. I don't think I'll be going back to that particular buffet either though.
...and if I ever having a craving for dragon, I think I'll just stick with "Game of Thrones."
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my kitchen is apparently a frightening place
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Posted:Jun 11, 2015 6:15 am
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2021 9:00 am
8805 Views
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Sometime in the future I'm going to start looking into updating my kitchen counters and shelving, probably losing the wall tile on one side of the room and definitely redoing the plumbing. When I bought the place, I had new linoleum put down and repainted everything (previous owner painted the kitchen BLACK) and bought all new appliances. I really want new shelves and counters though; the ones now look passable, but they're old and I have exactly one drawer in the whole kitchen.
I'm just starting to get settled into it though ...the kitchen is pretty tiny, but given my kitchen skills ...smaller is probably better. Keeping it clean is certainly easier. Sooner or later though, I'm really going to HAVE to use my (brand-freaking-new) dishwasher. I accidentally bumped the start button the other afternoon when wiping down the counters after washing dishes, and I didn't notice until I went upstairs and heard something going downstairs that sounded vaguely what I remembered a dishwasher to sound like.
The owners manual and documentation packet appeared to be really clean. I still haven't cut out the zip ties securing the roller racks either, but hey ...at least I know the thing actually turns on and runs.
So anyway ...last night I made chicken burrito's for dinner, and it's one of the things I actually make pretty well. I'm just a little bit hit and miss where consistency is concerned ...sometimes I think it's slightly "meh" and other times (like last night), one bite and I can't stop gobbling it down. I don't necessarily keep track of exactly what I throw in, and I seldom actually measure anything unless I'm actually following a recipe, so my results often vary wildly. I usually have another meals worth of leftovers, but last night I nom-nom-ed my way through the entire thing before all was said and done.
Something struck me a couple weeks ago that I confirmed last night though. Two weeks ago I had dinner with a few people from the neighborhood at my buddies house a couple buildings down from me. He's Italian and I think has a genetic predisposition for awesome cooking skills or something, but when he was in the kitchen ...my was in the kitchen with him being his usual "Mr. Opportunism" self. When taking care of Mom and AuntiE would do any kind of cooking ...the would be right there at her feet in the kitchen.
I'm in the kitchen frying up chicken last night and the was on the couch. I make scrambled eggs or muffins in the morning ...muttifer is on the couch (or my chair once I vacate it). I used to joke that my liked to beg ...me NOT to cook. That the cockroaches picketed my kitchen with little "We have Standards!" signs. Even that I installed an icemaker because I keep fucking up the recipe for ice cubes.
...and as of last night, I confirmed that the doesn't even like to be in the kitchen with me. Dang, that smarts! (especially given that I've seen him lick his own butt)
*sigh*
I guess I'd best scratch cook off the resume.
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Milestone
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Posted:Jun 10, 2015 7:13 am
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2021 9:02 am
6860 Views
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So yesterday was a big day (perhaps "the big day" in a lot of ways) ...we closed on Mom's house, so that part is over now. I ran by the place beforehand and made one last peek in the mailbox and garage, and it occurred to me that I probably won't be back in that part of the metroplex again; there's just nothing in that part of town for me anymore. Mom lived there for nearly nineteen years ...me for nearly three. I'm not overly sentimental about it; at the title place, my sister kept going on about how "Mom would have wanted this" or "Mom would have hated this" ...and it occurred to me just how much we superimpose our own stuff on this sort of thing. She was correct with a lot of the "Mom would have liked..." stuff (sure, Mom would have liked a family with moving in ...but if we'd sold the place while she was still alive, it wouldn't have been an even remotely motivating detail for Mom). Every time she said "Mom would have hated..." it really hit home how Sis really either didn't know Mom that well, or is just adept at superimposing her own feelings over what she perceived Mom's feelings to be.
I may not be overly sentimental, but I sure have a lot of feelings to work through.
All this home buying and selling is new to me ...I've always lived in apartments, but since I paid cash for the condo, I only had to sign in four or five places on the closing day (I did a fair bit of stuff online beforehand). I turned in all the keys garage door openers and gave myself carpal tunnel from all the signatures and initialing everything in yesterdays business though. They said yesterday was a little MORE paperwork than the norm since there were four owners involved; I guess I got to see both ends of the spectrum in the buying and selling of homes. If I never have to do it again, that will be perfectly fine with me.
It's a done deal now though; my savings account is suddenly a lot healthier and I can begin looking at those other little details here at the condo. I need a new couch and coffee table (those will be sooner rather than later), and I will redo the kitchen (this MAY be on the "later" end ...no need to be in a rush); I'm half-considering replacing the downstairs AC unit simply because it's so old and has a few issues that will eventually need to be addressed. I think yesterday was our first triple-digit day and it kept up great though. I have to say it's a nice feeling to be debt-free and reasonably set up for the foreseeable future.
One other thing that came up with the closing yesterday was parties and entertaining guests. We were actually talking about a couple that the Realtor, my sister and myself know. My sister remarked the husband was one of the types that if he never had a party or guests over, that it wouldn't even remotely bother him ...and the people were like "Oh Wow ...really?!"
...and I was like "Wow ...people really like having LOTS of people over?!"
Don't get me wrong ...I like company under the right circumstances. When I get slightly better furniture I'll probably be a little more open to the occasional gathering here, but I guess I'm a bit more of an introvert than I thought. A houseful of people on a regular basis exhausts me even thinking about it. There was a day when I did that sort of thing a bit more often, but it's been a while.
Hey, but it's a brand new day and the future looks pretty bright, so there's just no telling!
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house plants besides myself
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Posted:Jun 9, 2015 6:40 am
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2021 9:03 am
6997 Views
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I posted the blog yesterday about my plants and the attempted de-blacking of my thumb, and a couple people asked for pictures ...so ask and ye shall receive:
They really are sad looking things, but they are just SO much happier after being brought in the house. I'm just impressed they've survived me this long!
I woke this morning to a surprise of a different nature that I honestly could have done without. I suspect the doggy-will agree.
ONE WEEK AGO (six days really) ...I gave the little guy a haircut. He'd been long overdue and was beginning to get uncomfortable in the heat. He's really pretty good about the whole thing, but the older both of us get, the less patience we have with each other it seems. I also wish he came with a snooze button, but he's been getting me up a little too early pretty well ever since I moved. When I was in the house, if he needed to go out at two in the morning I had a nice backyard for that. I do miss the yard for THAT reason, but that's about it.
As of this morning, I've got a new and different problem though. He was licking and scratching at 5am ...I seem to recall that to a lesser degree he was doing it yesterday as well (and I'm really bugged by that NOW). I was scratching him and thought I felt the "flea dirt" stuff on him so I rolled him on his back and turned the lights on.
UGH ...fleas ...and LOTS of them! Holy crap ...he just got a bath less than a week ago with super-duper flea shampoo that not only costs a lot but guarantees no fleas for 30 days, and the little goober is infested! That's one thing I hate about getting up that freaking early (and before coffee to boot) ...my knee-jerk was to put the "Advantage" stuff on him and then vacuum everything (I'm still asking myself how bad it could get in less than a week), but now I'm wondering if I need to just give him another bath ...problem is I already put the flea stuff on and know you not only aren't supposed to wash it off, but also can't put it back on again immediately after a bath either.
Blah. Looks like I'm just going to be vacuuming every day for the next week or so and keeping my fingers crossed. I got a REALLY bad flea infestation with a kitty I had 16+ years ago and have never had anything even close since. I really hope I don't have to go through that crap again.
Much as I hate to waste a dose of advantage, I'm afraid I'm probably not doing either the or myself any favors by NOT giving him a bath to get rid of what's already on him though. The most I've ever seen on him has been one or two though.
Wish me luck ...dang it ...but off to the bath we go. Three hours after the advantage and I still see the little fuckers on his tummy.
*sigh*
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What HAS happened to my thumb?
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Posted:Jun 8, 2015 6:39 am
Last Updated:Jun 9, 2015 8:43 am
6631 Views
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I used to take an almost perverse glee in my "black thumb" where plants are concerned. In fact, on a dating profile many moons ago, I used as a tagline the Mitch Hedburg quote: "All my fake plants died because I forgot to pretend to water them." I've never been "in" to plants, never had them around any of my apartments in the past ...just never had much interest.
But I "inherited" some plants after Mom's death last year ...two were Mom's and the rest were from plant arrangements that family and friends sent for condolences. I think I've mentioned it in the past, but my sister said she'd take them but never did. I've actually surprised myself that I've managed to keep most of them alive ...I've lost two I believe and one of those was a succulent ...I thought it almost took work to kill a cactus, but it turns out I was more than able to do it effortlessly.
I've been on a learning curve in any case. My back patio probably has a bit too much sun exposure; I have an indoor outdoor thermometer with the sensor mounted on my fence and it's not unusual at mid-day for the thing to be reading in the 100's. I had started out with the plants on one side of the patio that had a LOT of sun and ended up scorching a few badly, I moved them to the opposite side where there is a bit more shade and they've done a lot better.
Now that our monsoon season appears to be over and we're back to "usual Texas weather" ...two of the plants have become a little bit unhappy. I've been having to water them daily, but the leaves were getting huge holes and very wilty looking between waterings; one of them the stems were bent in the middle and the leaves were hanging below the pot even. So last week, I finally caved in to their little plant demands (how DARE you make me feel guilty by looking so wilty in my presence!), and moved them into the house by the front door. I cut the worst of the leaves off, watered ...and by the very next day, the one with the bent stems was standing tall.
...and now, a few days later, I come down this morning to find the larger one has about three of the prettiest (really large) white flowers that have bloomed out almost overnight (with about four more coming out that look like they'll be opening soon).
I've been known on many occasions to tell people that I "don't get" something or other, and quite often they take that to be something disparaging about whatever I'm remarking on. It's really not the case at all ...it's a combination of being a little bit oblivious and probably a few childhood scars from growing up on the rather extreme end of introversion. When I say that I "don't get" something, I usually see it as a failing on my own part rather than a flaw inherent to what I'm remarking on. Some things, I'd love to find out more about so that I can "get it" while other things are just so far off my radar that I don't waste much thought on it.
But after bringing back these silly plants from the very brink of death on more than one occasion, then finding a more suitable place and coming down to the really pretty blooms this morning, I think for the first time I can actually say
"okay, I finally get it."
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buffets and beddings
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Posted:Jun 5, 2015 4:24 pm
Last Updated:May 24, 2024 6:22 am
6260 Views
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I had the next big laundry day on Wednesday at the little laundromat here at the complex. I stripped the bed (about as close as I'm gonna get to stripping much of anything lately, I fear), and gathered up most everything washable. I'd really like to get my shit together in the nearer future and start writing more, because there really is some pretty decent material to write about even though my life is pretty fucking boring. It's just a byproduct of viewing life through the glasses with the fake nose and mustache, but my heart just hasn't been in it for quite a while now.
I was struck this morning by the fact that I made my bed and that I made it yesterday morning as well. I washed the bedding, but I just remade the bed using fresh sheets before even going to do the laundry. I also swapped towels ...but honestly, I'm not sure if I would have if it hadn't been for watching a comedian the other day talking about single guys and towels ...he said something that was funny as crap, but close enough to reality that I did a double take and swapped it with a fresh one.
"Single guys only have ONE towel ...when it starts getting stiff we just throw it away and buy another one!"
...close enough to being true that I squirmed a little bit through the laughter; I'm pretty sure I only had one towel (maybe two) the whole time I was with Mom. Granted, I washed it regularly, but I seldom actually exchanged it. My condo really has a ridiculous amount of storage space; I have a dedicated linen closet that is totally full ...blankets and comforters, towels and washcloths, sheets and pillowcases. I donated as many (more probably) to charity as I kept, but linens are something I doubt I'll ever NEED to buy.
I'm still the single guy punchline with just one towel though. I might use two sets, but more than that?! I doubt it.
I feel like I should post a little addendum after yesterdays post about the cable people. I can only guess about it, but I didn't have to take my friends cable box back ...everything worked fine when I went over to take him to lunch yesterday. My brother works in customer support and I've actually sat there and watched him listening to recordings of the "problem customers" to figure out when and why the call went wrong ...so I KNOW it happens (at least with telecom companies). I'd like to think that my tenaciousness with repeating the stupid-ass response until they admitted it probably contributed, but who knows really? My brother once mentioned that I was pretty astute at being able to identify exactly where things started going awry, and like hearing my opinion (or maybe pretending to ...never thought of that angle!). I only know that if my brother heard a call where the customer proposed an absurdly simple solution, and the representative tried to make them jump through a bunch of hoops for no really good reason ...well, he honestly wouldn't fire them, but he'd certainly give an ass-chewing.
The customer is NOT always right ...in fact, I'd probably even go as far as to say that the customer is often a little too self-interested to be right even "most of the time." Letting them at least THINK they are right is a pretty decent business model though. I just know that when I got to his place, all was working like it was supposed to.
I got to pick the restaurant yesterday and my buddy ...the octogenarian world traveler, had never been to a Mediterranean buffet before! I had been to a few in the past but had mostly forgotten about them until last year. Not only did he go on about how much he loved it, but he also said he was going to recommend the place to some other friends.
We'd been doing a Chinese buffet for months, and I finally asked to do something different a few weeks ago ...and it turned out he'd been sick of the place for ages, but kept up because he thought *I* loved it.
Too funny!
I'm off ...like ...uhm ...bedding before I do my incredibly boring laundry detail.
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too much fun
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Posted:Jun 3, 2015 4:51 pm
Last Updated:Jan 3, 2021 9:07 am
6287 Views
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Man ...since I've moved, I've turned into a real dick when it comes to customer service people. My buddy called me up earlier this afternoon and he had picked up a new cable box. He was all proud of himself for installing it himself (I mean geez ...he's 86 years old, *I* was proud as fuck he managed it), but once it was hooked up, both the upstairs AND the downstairs quit working.
So he called me.
Honestly, I'm tickled to help out (I installed his and two other people's here; I do it for free and there is a neighborhood "handyman" whom I'm happy to put a dent in his business after discovering he was somewhat ethically challenged, especially with the elderly); I went over and was able to get the upstairs working almost immediately. Programming the new remote turned out to be a pain in the ass and was honestly an exercise in futility on my part since there is no way my friend will ever use the universal remote, but it's nice to have it all programmed correctly regardless ("just in case").
The downstairs had been working fine UNTIL he replaced the upstairs unit, and there wasn't a thing I could do for that one except call tech support.
Ugh.
Being a former tech myself, I'm probably the nightmare tech caller. I know tech and electronics, and I also know how to sniff through bullshit. After 45 minutes of listening to bullshit, I chewed some butt and finally got to the bottom of things (on their end of course). Fuckers. I have to return the cable box that was working fine before they fucked with it, but they gave him the next three months free for the trouble.
And I did the same thing with them as I did with the property manager here ...I kept repeating what they were telling me over and over until they VERBALLY admitted that they fucked up. In this case, it was "so you guys entered in the wrong serial number when you sent the original box, but rather than just change the number on the computer, you want ME to return the one YOU input wrong."
It took about three times before he finally admitted that yeah, that was what they needed and he'd credit the next three months for the trouble.
I don't remember ever being this much of a dick on the phone until my mother and all of her pushy charity folks. Amazing that something that is supposed to do good is what taught me how to be such a total jerk.
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another day in the life
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Posted:May 23, 2015 8:27 am
Last Updated:May 29, 2015 8:47 am
5482 Views
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It's another rainy day in Dallas ...I think nearly all of them have been rainy for the last month. Don't get me wrong, we've been in a drought literally for YEARS, but it's starting to get a little bit old. I say that now, but when we start hitting the triple digits again I might be wishing for more rain.
It's been a pretty eventful week. My mother's house went on the market two days ago; when my sister told me what they were listing it at, I thought it sounded a little bit on the low side given all that we've done on the place. She assured me that the Realtor (whom I really don't like all that much, but hey ...he's a friend of a friend) said that the price was in line with the other houses that have sold in the neighborhood. It was on the market for less than 24 hours and we've already accepted an offer for 6K over the asking price. In that "less than 24 hours" he showed the house 7 times. I really think they should have listed it a little closer to what I thought was a little more in line given what the other houses have gone for and we always could have come down ...but I'm not the sisters friend who could do no wrong.
My sister sounded ragged and frustrated when she gave me the news; I have no idea if it's the house, grief, introspection ...or maybe even marital problems, but she didn't sound well. Her husband recently took an early retirement, and he's been camping out on the face-place thingie; full of political venom, warm-fuzzy Christian sentiment, and hate for anything new or different. I suspect retirement will amplify a lot of that, and I feel a bit bad for my sister in that regard. They posted on the faceplace about the sale of the house, and there were a ton of squishy-Christian remarks from their friends about how God must be at work on the sale, and I'm like "huh?!" ...not a single place in the neighborhood has remained on the market for more than two weeks in the last three years, and we listed at 15K less than the smallest of them. Yeah, I'm a heathen and all, but God?! ...really?!
I think mostly it's probably just grief though ...I don't think I'm handling my own very well, and I'm finally reconsidering the thought of some grief counseling. I know I've walled off the grief process, and I don't think I'm "feeling" much of anything lately. I read an insightful blog a week or so ago by a wife who was concerned that her husband had walled things off to an extent that it might be ingrained in his personality and it made me think a LOT about my own "closed-off" nature that has only grown with each loss. I know there's no "right or wrong" way where some things are concerned emotionally, but I'm just having a hard time shaking the "something ain't right" feeling.
On another front (next-up: Canus the homemaker)
I've finally started in full with home cooking again ...or at least as close to "home cooking" as I'll ever get. I don't particularly "enjoy" cooking, but after three years of being "the cook" for Mom, it's familiar to me now and I'm a lot less reticent about doing it. It beats fast food and eating out often is a pain; I'm betting that cooking for myself is a bit healthier (at least by a narrow margin, given my skillset). It also keeps the weight down.
Funny thing though ...I bought a new range after I bought the place. The one that they left here was just beyond NASTY and I had the painters dispose of it for me. It was a pretty ancient glass-top model and the top was completely discolored ...I thought an element must have shorted out to have caused that level of discoloration The oven part had over a quarter inch of grease in the bottom ...it was just beyond nasty.
My best friend had really recommended buying a glass top range and really went on about how wonderful his was, and how easy the clean up was with them. I really like the looks of the glass-top models and have never so much as used one, and the element types ARE indeed a pain in the ass to keep clean, so I decided to take his advice and get one. The glass-top got pretty funky on top quickly; in fact, the stains looked eerily similar to how nearly the entire surface of the old one looked. It got these really weird stains on the burner sections that LOOKED like they were actually either inside or even below the glass, and they wouldn't wipe off. I didn't want to use ammonia or any strong cleaners on the brand new range, and it didn't even occur to me use my best friend g00gle at the time.
When my buddy was over the other day, he saw it and asked what I was using to clean it ...and when I told him the dishrag, he rolled his eyes and told me there was a special cleaner for the glass tops. We went out to lunch yesterday, stopped by Tar-shay, and he pointed out what I needed (we were at Wally world a couple weeks ago and he was looking for it there, and apparently they either don't sell it, or were out). It has a "Captain Obvious" name ..."Glass-top stove cleaner" and given how much scrubbing I had done in the last week and a half, I wouldn't have bet two dollars for the stains to come out of the glass, but HOLY CRAP! ...three DROPS of the stuff on a paper towel and the stains came out immediately!
There was another method using baking soda that I saw listed, but most of them just said to buy the special cleaner. My friend said his came with a free sample of the stuff I bought, and he'd used it ever since. I'm certainly a convert!
My house is looking more like a home now ...I need to hang pictures still, but it looks pretty good! I've mostly reached a point where things get to start up again! I even installed a game I bought nearly three years ago (I'm really not much of a gamer), and have been playing it on the big-screen TV. I'm wondering how I ever played on a computer monitor before ...lol!
The rain has stopped and doggy is trying to tell me something. Guess I'd better take advantage of the lull!
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Those little things
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Posted:May 15, 2015 4:32 pm
Last Updated:May 16, 2015 6:32 am
5831 Views
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Yesterday I had a notice on the door that the water was going to be off today for a few hours today for some repairs in the complex.
I was actually tickled pink to get the notice. The week I moved in here, I bought a new kitchen faucet, but when I tried to turn the water off to install it ...the shut off valve was inoperative. "We're turning the water off" translated to me as "You have a great opportunity to replace the water valves and install the new faucet!" After lunch with my buddy yesterday, we stopped off at Home Depot and I bought new cut-off valves for the kitchen and downstairs bathroom. Almost to the minute of the notice, the water went off this morning and I got everything replaced that needed replacing (well, the stuff that needed the water turned off to do anyway ...the next project will be all the drain piping in the kitchen). Funny how something as little as replacing a really ugly and nasty faucet can change your outlook. Granted, I missed out on some plans I had last night because I kept finding other things I needed to have to be ready to do what needed to be done today, but at least it's all done (and probably at the merest fraction of what a plumber would have charged).
I also took a run up to Mom's old place after the water came back on (no way I would leave without leak checking), and the new paint looks great! I wasn't thrilled with the carpet color, but it looked fine; it was the cheap stuff installed to help sell the place, but the color just seemed "off" for a reason I can't quite put my finger on. The paint looked great, the carpet is adequate. It goes on the market Tuesday. Wish us luck on a speedy sale!
My best bud came over to my new place for the first time since I moved in yesterday ...I've been a little bit shy about visitor's I guess. He really went on about how great it looks (he's an 87 years old and a major neat freak, so that was a HUGE compliment). Most of the stuff that had me really antagonized were pretty minor according to him ...all I need NOW is to put up some pictures; my walls are very bare. I hid the speaker wires for my surround sound behind some really tall African tribal masks (not genuine I'm sure ...but they were a gift and work really well for what I'm using them for), but there is a ton of wall space that needs to be tactfully covered up. I've got a ton of pictures of my own and from Mom's place ...just gotta figure out what works where.
One of the things that really cracked me up is that my friend was really gushing about how well the buffet looks where I have it. It's a fairly old (SOLID) cherry wood buffet that's been in my family ever since I can remember ...not sure if my folks bought it, or if it was a hand-me-down from somebody. The spot that I put it was EXACT though ...when I moved, I told my brother where to put it, and said it was a perfect fit ...and he told me that we had wildly different definitions of the word "perfect" (seem to recall saying something to the effect of "well, EXACT then")! My friend thought it was great where it was at! ...even remarked that if he had know the length would have worked, he'd have put his own there.
...honestly, I trust his judgement a little more than my brother who married an interior decorator. My brother decorated with Ikea before meeting his hubby, and his place was 20 times more cluttered than this place. Love you bro, couldn't have made the move without ya, but it works for me.
Uneventful weekend coming up ...there is an informal meeting coming up tomorrow for "concerned homeowners" and there was a response to tomorrows meeting posted when I last had the out. This one was from the management company, "warning" that it wasn't an "official" meeting and that any legal action would only cost resident's money and decrease property values.
...a lot of the overly long "response" made sense. Some of it even rung true. The rabble-rouser's who want to fire the current "regime" have struck me as shady from day one. The response to some of the allegations presented by the rabble rouser's even strike me as probably true. Problem is, the root things what they are saying are still true ...the management company isn't managing a whole lot as far as I can tell. The head of the company is condescending and rude, doesn't return phone calls, and seems far more concerned about maintaining her position and letting people know whose boss than actually working for the people who pay her salary.
It almost seems like they didn't really take the rabble rouser's seriously until they figured out that people were actually serious about firing their asses. Day before the "meeting" posting a notice discouraging people from attending because it isn't "official?" ...yeah, I'll be there; that kind of crap has a tendency to backfire (especially when you post it just exactly after your office closes, presumably so you don't have to answer questions). Hopefully quite a few others will be there as well.
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