Saturday, January 29, 2011

H A M

The Jeanners is off helping Katie the North American Traveler pack up her shit and get ready for another move, this time up to Gettysburg to farm with her sister. She's (Jerns) been gone most of the afternoon, and I've spent the afternoon working on wiring. Up in the attic a lot, eating a lot of insulation, not wearing the proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), not a good idea. I'll probably be coughing a lot tomorrow.

Yesterday I was at the grocery store and I bought some ham, which is a big deal cause since the J-Dog don't eat the meat we generally don't have any meat at home. So last night I made some delicious mashers for dinner and tonight I had a tasty meal of ham, leftover mashers, and some crusty bread that the J-Dog bought this morning.

What should I do tonight? The Jeanners probably won't be home til a bit later, so I have awhile to entertain myself. Maybe a little Civ III, maybe a little recording or remixing. Who knows. Maybe watch somethin' on Netflix.

Because a co-worker of mine changed his availability to being only available on weekends to work, it means that I have had quite a few weekends off lately, which has been awesome. The Jeanners and I have been able to make some good progress without driving ourselves crazy.

Another weird tidbit: a coworker of mine who is in his mid-40's had a seizure the other day, went to the hospital where they found a brain tumor and did an emergency surgery on him the next day. Jeez. You never know what's going to happen to you over the course of a week, I guess.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Don't Think Twice, It's Alright

I had a dream last night that my brother and I were chaperoning Bob Dylan at some sort of lodge. Lodge isn't the right word, it wasn't like a ski lodge or anything, it was more like a non-expensive woodland resort. Anyway, he was going to be performing there, and my brother and I were charged with hanging out with him, making sure he had everything he needed, and basically being his handlers. And then my brother started making all these anti-semetic comments, using the word "jewed" as a verb, etc. Bob Dylan got upset, and I was totally embarrassed. And Bob Dylan started being really aloof and pissy, which is generally how he is decribed as acting in real life. It was very strange, and it taught me that I never want to be on the wrong side of Bob Dylan's disappointment.

In other news, the J-Dog and I have gotten lots of good work done over the last week or so. The snow that we got this week gave her two unexpected days off, so we were able to get some shit banged out in the evenings.

She's home from work now so I'm gonna go.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Radio Silence

I am procrastinating. I've been doing a mix of easy errands/jobs and procrastination all morning long. At the moment my two choices are: work on some wiring stuff so that Jeannie and I can start putting up drywall in the middle bedroom this weekend OR go sit in the bathtub and read a DFW short story that I started while taking a shit and that I remember not liking that much when I first read it but I was getting somewhat interested in while shitting. Or I guess there's an unspoken third option that I'm currently taking advantage of: write in the fucking blog, which you (I) haven't done in a million yrs.

The Jeanners and I bought a new used car last night, after a relatively unstressful but still stressful search. I mean, it felt stressful, but I'm sure it could've been a whole helleva lot worse. We ended up buying a 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid that we got a too-fucking-good-to-be-true deal on. So either the car is stolen or it's going to conk out in about 15 minutes. I'm hoping for stolen. Anyway, we weren't looking for a hybrid, but like I said, it was sitting there with this too-fucking-good-to-be-true price and it's a Honda and it was within the mileage range and price range that we were looking at, so we said "why the fuck not?" So I guess now we are officially capital 'L' Liberals, which I feel uncomfortable about because I don't like to identify myself with any sort of camp or tribe. I feel about politics the same way I feel about fraternities or the military: if I spent any amount of time with anybody who's supposedly on "my team," I would probably want to punch them in the face and then go join the opposition. Where the process would repeat itself. So anyway, in order to balance the potentially political statement of our car purchase, I'm going to start sending a weekly turd to our local NPR station, and start throwing away mass quantities of plastic bags at work. If I can round up any endangered animals I will grind them up into felafel balls and have a big vegetarian dinner party.

Hey, it's 2011! We did not make contact in 2010, as was previously advertised. Balls. There were a few decent albums that came out, though. Here's some of my favorites:

1. Beach House, Teen Dream. Yes, they are hipster darlings, but I really love this album. I can listen to it all the way through, I can't understand the words which means it takes longer for me to get sick of it, it's kind of lush but kind of lo-fi, and I like the lady's voice.

2. Laura Viers, July Flame. I think she's kind of like a female Josh Rouse. Great weird songwriting, nice instrumentation, good stuff.

3. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs. I'm usually pretty hit-and-miss with the ol' Arcade Fire, but this album is definitely my favorite of theirs. I don't like every song, but I like enough of them that I consider this album to be a winner. The whole thing hangs together well, it conjures a mood without having every song sound the same, and it's got a few lines that reach out like diamonds.
"Now you're knocking at my door
Saying please come out with us tonight
But I would rather be alone
Than pretend I feel alright"


I think those are my 3 favorites for the year. In semi-related news, I got The Very Best of the Staple Singers on Stax awhile ago, and I've really been enjoying it. I think that I would rate Mavis Staples as my #2 favorite female singer, behind Emmylou.

That's all I got for right now, I guess. I'm gonna go poke around.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

G's & T's?

We no longer own Reverend Al. I did get a chance to go and clean him out and say a proper goodbye. I will admit that I had not cleaned the reverend al in quite a few years and found lots of interesting things in the back seat. In addition to lots of garbage. A random sampling of some of the things found: 2 pairs of combat boots, a curtain rod, a shower curtain rod, a propane camping lantern, numerous play programs, a pair of flip flops, and a mini maglite case filled with drywall screws. That's just the back seat. Other shit in the trunk.

Today at work I was scanning out product that was getting sent back to the warehouse. A mostly physical task that leaves my mind free to wander. Today I was trying to figure out the best plural version of "gin and tonic." Gin and tonics? Gins and tonic? Gins and tonics? I think I like the last one the best. Which one do you like?

I might be getting a cold.

I am definitely eating cheese and crackers.

Today at work there was a turd in one of the toilets that was a real monster. I would like to emphasize that it was already in the toilet when I arrived in the stall, I did not put it there. But anyway, it was massive and it ABSOLUTELY REFUSED TO BE FLUSHED. It kept getting stuck sideways and just hung out while all the water swooshed around it. Anyway, after several fruitless attempts to flush it I had to give up and try a different stall. And no, I'm not proud that I just left it there, but I really try to only clean up poop at work when I absolutely have to.

DFW's last (and unfinished) novel being published in April. On tax day. Cause it's about IRS workers. I am looking forward to reading it.

I think the Jeanners is home!

Sunday, January 02, 2011

R.I.P. The Reverend Al Crawford Slater

Well, the insurance company decided to total my car. So the Jeanners and I will start looking for a new used car. Which is kinda sad because I liked the ol' Reverend Al Crawford Slater, but kinda not sad because it was really only a matter of time before he developed some major health problems, plus the cd player/radio had pretty much stopped working well at all. I do most of my music listening in the car, so when the cd player conks out it makes me sad.

Jerns and I got some real good work done on the house over the last few days:





It don't look like much, but it's a nice start to the middle bedroom. Now in that room we just have to rip out the old wiring, cut trenches for new wiring, run the new wiring, add some drywall nailers, drywall the ceiling, wait for the insulation folks to insulate the exterior walls, and then drywall the walls. Then add doors and trim and all that bullshit.

Not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow, but all in all it's been quite a decent weekend. I feel bad for the J-Dog, who will be returning to work on Tuesday after a two week hiatus.

I'm currently reading The Corrections, and I'm enjoying it. It's been on my list for awhile, so it's nice to finally be able to scratch it off. I'm about three quarters of the way through it, and I'm kinda ready to be done with it, though. I've liked it enough that I'll probably read his latest book when it comes out in paperback.

We had a real fun New Years' Eve the other night, and I actually stayed up until midnight for the first NYE in quite awhile, I believe. Katie the North American Traveler and her sister Anna and Anna's boyfriend Chris came over and we played Carcassonne and ate chili and baked macaroni n' cheese and drank tasty beer.

That's all I got fer now.