Take This Job and Do You-Know-What With It

Ugh. Christmas shopping season 2011 is now officially over. At least where I work. It's been a crazy week. Made more crazy by the fact that our store was not adequately prepared and my boss kept stealing people out of my department (which was at least partially adequately prepared) to use elsewhere in the store. This morning I blew up at him in a not-nice way. He later called me back into the office to let me know that he appreciated that I stick up for my department but that I let him know about it in a less than respectful manner. That is probably true. But still, quit stealing my fucking people.

I got a call from the doctor's office yesterday that my x-ray looks normal. So at least I probably don't have lung cancer.

Anyway, aside from all the bitching about the job, I'm thankful that I at least have a job, and that I don't have to work in a dangerous or uncomfortable environment, and that I have decent insurance, and that I haven't had to like move to another state or anything for work. And when I got home from work today the J-Dog was in the process of cooking a delicious chicken dinner with roasted vegetables, and had set up a beautiful, candlelit table in what one day may very well be a dining room, and had a table cloth and everything, and had Christmas tunes playing (which I very politely and gently asked if we might switch to something else). And now we're just waiting for the chicken to finish cooking, and I am taking a long overdue poop, and typing this blog post.

Tomorrow I would like to:
1. Sleep in.
2. Give myself a haircut.
3. Go outside somewhere, if it's a nice day.
4. Maybe put up a door?

XXX-ray vision

I have had a bit of a cough for the last 2.5 months. So Monday I went to the doctor. And she asked me questions and listened to my breathing and stuff. And she said that it doesn't sound like anything super terrible is going on, but she told me to go get a chest x-ray and gave me a prescription for an inhaler that will help my bronchial tubes not constrict if for some reason my bronchial tubes are constricted. Constricting. One of the two. So yesterday on my pseudo day off work I went and got a chest x-ray. Which I had never done before. It was neither fun nor not fun. Also: using an inhaler makes me feel like Sean Astin in The Goonies.

Work has been pretty bad some days and not too bad other days. Today was not too bad. They have ok'd managers going overtime this week, so I'll probably work somewhere between 50 and 60 hours, but I don't care cause I'll be making time and a half. And that should pay for a lot of homemade sausage gravy.

J-Dog and I went to her work Christmas party last night. It was relatively uneventful. She won the "Richard Gere" award for being smooth under pressure. And as a result she had to wear a life-sized picture of RG's head around her neck for a good portion of the evening.

We bought a new camera which arrived yesterday. We took our picture to test it out, and this is what we look like:



The neck beard is coming in nicely, thank you very much.

+ gravy

So much has happened, so much has happened.

Last weekend, a bunch of people (I think like 10 or 12 total) from Jeannie's work came over and helped us work on shit at our house. And since they are all from Habitat, they were all pretty skilled. So they were able to get a lot done in one day, probably stuff that would've taken Jeannie and I a week or two to do by ourselves. So that was pretty awesome.

And then Sunday night, Jeannie's brother Jake came in for a visit and stayed with us until yesterday (Saturday) morning. He spent much of his time here up n our roof, helping us put some new shingles on a section of the roof that's been leaking. So hopefully that's been taken care of. He also helped with some floor framing and electrical work, too.

And, perhaps most importantly, he helped me take my biscuit game to the next level. He taught me how to make homemade sausage gravy. It's deceptively simple. I think that this will probably change my life in a big way.



Thanks, Jake!

In other news, today at work was pretty crazy busy. My feet hurt. I'm tired. I'm tired of people. I need a couple days of peace and quiet. Wish I didn't have to go back tomorrow.

Next up: read through the blog to find out when I last served on jury duty to see if I can get out of the new jury duty summons that I got in the mail the other day. Shouldn't have to go if I've served within the last 365 days. And by 'served', I mean 'sat in a room and watched The Pursuit of Happyness.'

Ultrasound (Light My Way)

I'm a bit worn out this morning. Had the day mostly off from work yesterday, and spent it prying up layers of flooring, underlayment, and adhesive off of the kitchen floor. It was a bit tough on the knees, back, and hands. Today I go into work in the afternoon, so I'm taking Jeannie's advice and having a relaxing morning. As soon as I'm done writing this, I'm gonna start on a tasty breakfast and listen to some car talk.




Monday morning we had an ultrasound appointment, where we got to see the little bambino. Everything looked good. I was expecting to be not very impressed or moved by the ultrasound, but I gotta say that seeing the little bugger moving around was pretty cool.

Just took a break from writing to go up into the attic and do some leak checking.

What else? Been catching mice, been watching CHEERS, been listening to the CD's I bought last week. I remember when I first bought Wilco's Summerteeth many years ago I didn't like it. Probably cause it didn't sound like AM, and I ended up giving it to Sean or selling it or something. Anyway, this time around I am totally in love with it. I guess things just have to hit you at the right time.

The other day Jeannie was trying to say "a bag of fake vomit," but instead she said, "a bake of fag vomit."

Jewdy Blewm (or The Potato, the Ladle, and the Hammer.)

Whew! I'm takin' a break! Just did a little painting on the ceiling in a closet. Good times. I'm going to take a dinner break (the Jeanners has given me permission to get Chinese food. She's at a dinner for work.) and then I hope to get a ceiling fan installed before it's time to turn in for the night. I have a day off tomorrow (planning on starting to clean out the attic) and I am very much looking forward to it. I stopped by Joe's (Trader) on the way home from work and picked up some biscuits and bacon in preparation for it. My day off. When we were in St. Louis at the beginning of November, I was having bacon every morning at Jeannie's folks' house and I have once again ignited the flame of my love for the stuff. And then the other day I had a little bacon and egg on a biscuit and damn if it wasn't like the best day of my life.

The other day at work I bought a bunch of stuff (it's the time of year when we get an extra 10% added to our employee discount), including but not limited to:
1. a french press
2. the second in a series of five Bloom County books. I already have volume one and three. When I have all five I will have the entirety of the comic strip Bloom County. Bloom County is one of my top 7 or 8 favorite pieces of art in the whole world.
3. Many CD's, including (but not limited to): Tom Petty, Sam & Dave, Wilco, Dione Warwick, Andy Williams, Sonic Youth. Oh, also Rosemary Clooney.

I'm getting a little light headed from the paint fumes in this room. Don't worry, I won't let Jeannie come in here when she gets home. Maybe I'm just hungry.

I've had a cough for about 2 months now. Some days it's better and some days it's worse. Now that I mention it, though, I haven't really been coughing very much today. When I watch Breaking Bad, it makes me think I have cancer. I probably don't have cancer, though. Knock, knock.

That's all I got for now. I need to go call the Chinese people. It's the place that Jeannie got food poisoning from when we last ate there. Fates be damned!

You Can Stop Blaming BJ Now

BJ finally called me back. Which means I was able to tell him the news. And I heard back from Spiff, which means that he has heard the news. So now that most of the people that I needed to tell the news to have heard the news, I guess I can post the news on the blog. The Jeanners and I are expecting a baby in April. I think that everybody who reads the blog already knows, so it's not that much of a revelation, but I think it's more of like a place marker in the life of the blog. It has been weird to know for a few months and not tell other people, including our family and closest friends, and just keep it to ourselves.

Anyway, it's getting late. The Jeanners is pretty much asleep next to me on the couch. Black Friday was today. Not a big deal. Another Black Friday on the books. Work felt annoying all night long, even though it wasn't particularly annoying.

For Thanksgiving we headed up to Katie's farmhouse outside of Gettysburg. Spent a lovely day taking a hike, cooking up tasty grub, playing games, and listening to music. Really relaxing, really wonderful day spent with a good friend.

That's all I've got for now. Work tomorrow morning, so we should hit the hay.

Blame BJ

I haven't been keeping up with the blogging. I think it might be because I might be working more hours at work during the week, thus leaving less time to do things at home. I'm not sure. Whatever. I'm blaming BJ.

What's been going on? Lots and nothing. The usual. Jeannie and I cut a big-ass hole into the wall that separates our kitchen and dining room. Kinda scary, kinda exciting.



I chose this picture because the blurriness and the way I'm standing reminds me of every picture of bigfoot. The mythical creature, not the monster truck. I blame BJ for that, too.

Work has gotten a little crazy. Got a few new people working for me, which I don't like cause I hate training new people. That's probably why I'm working more hours - so the newbies work less. Fewer, I mean. Hours. BJ, again.

Today I'm heading down to a high school in Columbia (Maryland, not South America) to help set up the set for the last shows of the Midsummer tour. Then it's off to work. Oh, I'm having to work more nights now, too, which is pretty sucky because then I see the J-Dog less.

I'm done writing, for now. I'm thinking about going back to bed for an hour. But I really need to do the dishes, too. BJ's dishes.

Biscuit

A little over a week ago, Jeannie was out of town and I was home alone. I was very bored and I had already watched some CHEERS, worked on the house a little, and tried to do some reading. All my usual time-killers. But I knew that the St. Louis Cardinals were in the world series, and they were playing game 6, and if the Cards lost they would be eliminated so I decided to get online and see if I could find a broadcast or something of the game. And I haven't followed baseball (or any sport, really) since 8th grade, and when I last followed the Cardinals their manager was named "Whitey" and Ozzie Smith used to do flips before the games. So really, the only player I knew was Albert Pujols (pronounced poo holes) and I didn't give a rats ass about the Cardinals, the World Series, or baseball in general. And then I found a broadcast of the game on internet radio and turned it on and it was the 6th inning, and it was the best baseball game I've ever heard. And I was laying in the dark listening until 1am when the Cards finally won on a home run in the 11th inning. It was basically everything that is good and exciting and somewhat mythological and sacred (at least in the U.S.) about baseball distilled down into a few innings. Really amazing.

So anyway, I just wanted to write about that because it was a very strange experience for me.

The Jeanners and I are in St. Louis, in town for the impending nuptuals of E. Elz. We got in town relatively late Thursday night and it's been a good trip so far. Had some good time with the fams, and last night I went to dinner with Drew and Eric and some other dudes that I didn't know and we had a good time chatting and having drinks and smoking cigars (although I abstained from the cigars [I think if I had one it might be a little too close to a cigarette and I don't even want to tempt fate with that]) and speaking of manly things. Then we headed to a bar that was called, I think, Atomic Cowboy, that included a patio out back and a quonset hut and a bathroom without a toilet, and swing dancers and a stage. And the ladies arrived from wherever they had been out dining, probably speaking about womanly things, and I got to see Catherine and Karista and Felicity and Amy E. and meet Catherine's sister. And so we sat around and chatted and had drinks and took pictures and then Amy E. threw a Guinness glass against the wall after being egged on by someone. So that was weird. But it was a good time, and great to see Eric and Drew, and I had a lot of fun.

Today Jerns and I had lunch with my brother at the high school where he teaches, and right now she is getting a haircut, and then tonight we are meeting Uncle Rico to have some Mexican food at a restaurant that will most likely not have the word "BIG" or an animal name in its name. Which means that we will be breaking our tradition of eating in restaurants that have the word "BIG" or an animal name in their respective names.

What else?

I'm done working on the set. The tour has started in Maryland and the set is travelling around and so unless it needs mid-tour repairs I'm done.

Work has been busy, mostly getting ready for Christmas (I think it's going to be a busy holiday season this year) and getting ready for my being out of town.

My Undies

Let me tell you a little bit about the history of my underwear wearing. I started out as a little kid with tighty whities, and they were fine. And then in high school I switched to boxers, because something about them seemed rebellious. And then in college, I moved on up to boxer briefs, because they are the sexiest of the underwear. And for a long time I've been wearing good, old fashioned 100% cotton boxer briefs, Fruit of the Looms or Hanes or whatever's handy. And they've been great, but in the summer time when Jerns and I would go for walks they'd get a little chafy around the inner thighs. So I scouted around and found some Under Armour polyester/cotton/spandex blend things that cost like $25 for one stupid pair but that totally solved the chafing problem, and were still sexy boxer brief things, and then I found some off-brand p/c/s blend things that were still expensive but considerably less expensive, and all my underwear planets seemed to be aligning and life was good. But after a year or so of wearing those p/c/s blend things, something has happened in either the chemical makeup of the underwear (perhaps from constant exposure to a state that my brother refers to as "swamp ass"), or the humidity or PH or general atmosphere that's occuring in my undies, and they have stopped letting any moisture (hopefully caused by sweat) out and have started giving me isolated instances of what appears to be good, old fashioned, American diaper rash. So now I've gone back to wearing the 100% cotton boxer briefs. And the diaper rash problems have abated, but they (the cotton BB's) are just not as comfortable as the suped-up p/c/s blend. So now I'm on the lookout again for the perfect pair of underwear. I think they probably are some sort of weird hybrid - a cotton crotch and ass but with spandex leg portions sewn on.

Anyway.

The Jeanners is out of town on a work trip as of this morning. I wasted no time and promptly hit the grocery store to by 20 hot dogs & buns and extra tonic. We just got off the phone a little while ago. We have started a new thing where before we go to sleep I ask her questions from a Trivial Pursuit handheld game. She answered one of two questions correctly tonight, which means she has won my love for another day.

We moved our furniture from one half of the house into the other half last night. This doesn't mean that the half we moved our shit into is done, it just means it was done enough for us to move in. Either way, it feels pretty good to be sleeping in an actual bedroom and not in the room that's smack-dab in the middle of the house with a big damn picture window that looks out into the front yard and street. So anyway, work continues on that front.

Tonight at work I spent most of my time reading various parts of the Steve Jobs biography. Although I really don't give a rat's ass about Steve Jobs or Apple or anything, it was weirdly inspiring to read. Inspiring to read about a guy who built something from the ground up and loved it enough to stick with it and explore all kinds of different areas with it, areas he probably never dreamed he'd be getting into when the thing started.

Bought the new Coldplay album and the new Tom Waits album today. Looking forward to both of them, although Brian Eno isn't as involved with this Coldplay cd as much as he was with the last one, which makes it decidedly less interesting for me. But who cares. It's new music.

Lots of changes at work. I am coasting through it all on an "I don't care" attitude.

Bushy Bush

I thought I had to go to work today, so I got up this morning and took a shower and got dressed and drove to work only to find out it was my day off. I should really start looking at those schedules that I make...

So I had a surprise day off. Spent it mostly farting around - worked on the CSC set, looked at new printers online (we're in the market for a new printer), disconnected some old wiring, did some new wiring, put up a little drywall, and now I am sitting on the couch listening to an old Kate Bush album. Not wanting to go into the torn up kitchen and do dishes.

Feeling a little bit at sea lately. Slightly overwhelmed by house stuff (but not too bad), feeling busy because I've got to get CSC's set done in addition to the house stuff, work is a little crazy (lots of upcoming changes) and annoying, and I think I overdid it last week while working on the house so now I just feel sore all the time. I had a dream last night about tearing shit up in the house, and in my dream I was feeling sore, and I was also probably feeling sore in real life, so I got up (mostly asleep) and took 2 ibuprofen.

Looking forward to the J-Dog getting home.

Oh, I forgot to mention something that I did today. I watched The Werewolf of London on Netflix. Haven't seen that movie since I was a little kid. When I was little I went through a phase where I was obsessed with old-school monster movies. Except it was the before the days when you could watch whatever the hell you want whenever the hell you want, so I never saw many of the movies, I just used to read books about them. But Werewolf of London is one that I did see as a youngster, and I remember being impressed by the werewolf-transformation sequences. For 1935, I guess they were pretty good. Almost as good as Teen Wolf, made about 50 years later.

Speaking of Teen Wolf, the J-Dog is in the market for a full-body hair suit and a yellow basketball uniform so she can win the Halloween costume contest at work. If anybody has a full-body hair suit that they can quickly ship to Baltimore, please leave a comment on this post.

I could go for a Sprite and a coupla ibuprofen. What's fer dinner?

Bad Blogger

I have been a bad blogger. Lots going on to keep me busy, and writing about what's going on seems far less important than it did back in the days when I didn't have anything going on.

My parents were here for a visit, and I think everybody had a pretty decent time. The key, I think, is getting the hell out of the house. We headed down to the Eastern Shore for the weekend, had beautiful weather all weekend, got to play on the beach, etc. When we got back to our place on Sunday evening, we had a nice dinner of ravioli, complete with red wine and some Italian music on the cd player. Good dinner and good conversation, too. Probably the highlight of the visit for me.




Now the Jeanners and I are both on vacation for a week, trying to get some shit done. Mostly we've been working outside, doing a lot of planting, but we've also got a little bit of work done inside, too. Hopefully we will be tearing into the kitchen in a major way before the week is over. I also need to get some work done on the touring set for CSC's upcoming school matinees.

Feeling busy, feeling somewhat accomplished, enjoying spending time with my sweetheart. I think we'll be heading off to bed now.

Chunky Beef

I just erased a large rant about why I feel like the world is becoming a stupid place to live.

The Jeanners and I got some good work done this weekend - parts of the house are actually starting to look like parts of a house. I'm starting to feel a little run down. I've started making a list of things I need to get done every day. I hate that shit. I'm not a list-maker by nature. I like to not have a plan and just figure shit out. But I seem to get a lot more done when I make a list, and I think there's a lot to get done right now.

What I need right now: a four day weekend spent in Ohio with the Schluetermetz' and Uncle Rico, with one day in the middle where Jeannie and I take off by ourselves and get massages and DQ Blizzards.

I also wouldn't mind another steak dinner from Applebee's. Did I mention that Jeannie took me to Applebee's a few weeks ago and it was just about the best thing I've ever eaten? I know I shouldn't like Applebee's, and mostly I don't, but jeez that was a tasty steak.

I am waiting for impending rainstorms. I am also procrastinating.

Breakfast for dinner?

King Duncan Donut

Remember the last time I wrote? I'm guessing it was a week or so ago, and I remember writing that I was very, very, very tired of working on drywall. I also know that Jerns and I have been working on drywall pretty much every day since then. Jesus, am I tired of working on drywall. The main problem is that I'm just not very good at it. It takes me 5 passes with the knife when I know it would take somebody who was good 1 pass with the knife. And theirs would look better. Frustrating. But, only a few more days and then we'll be done (with the rooms we're working on right now, anyway), and we can start priming this shizzle.

Jeannie and I watched The Hustler the other night. I had seen it when I was a kid, and I remember liking it. The other night it was OK. Better than The goddam Bucket List, which Jeannie made me watch a few weeks ago. Next up in my Netflix movie watchin' list: Die Hard. Never seen it.

My folks are going to be coming out for a visit in a few weeks. Hopefully it will not be a repeat of last year. The plan is to go down to the Eastern Shore and stay out of the house as much as possible. I am cautiously optimistic about the visit.

Jeanners is buggin' me about letting her use the computer, so I guess I should go. Plus, I gotsta poo.

Butterhorn Swirl, or, Saturday Night When Buttholes Fight

I am very tired of working on drywall. Very, very, very tired of it. Unfortunately, about 2/3 of our house still needs to be drywalled. Oh well.

Went to a 50th birthday dinner for Ian last night. It was a good time. It was at an Asian fusion restaurant that had lots of neon-ish colored lights in it and the place made me feel like I should've been wearing a sportcoat with rolled-up sleeves and doing lines of cocaine off of a mirror while a Don Henley song played in the background.

I am totally procrastinating. I should be doing some sanding right now. Or mudding. Ugh, I don't want to. Don't make me.

My new favorite video, courtesy of Brian G:

PopKorn

Korn was in town for a visit, so she and I and Brian G got together, and they came over to the neighborhood to check out the house and then hit Los Amigos for mediocre mexican food and drink.

What else? Not much. The Jeanners and I had a fun time last night working on some drywall and blasting some tunes. We had a nice run of a few songs in a row that were good and pumped. Good workin' music.

It seems to rain here all the time now -- the remnants of whatever current tropical depression is breaking up down in the Gulf.

Tonight Jerns and I did a stack of dishes that was taller than [here I came up with three possible conclusions to this statement, none of which are very funny. Feel free to use a conclusion of your own. 1: your mom. 2: my mom 3: the height of my ballsack from the floor.]

I had to google "ballsack." I thought it was spelled "ballsac," but it seems "ballsack" is the preferred spelling.

Tomorrow: work and drywall.

Thursday: drywall and work.

Friday: work and drywall.

Saturday: drywall.

Moo Pants

Today at work I was tired as hell, so during my 15 minute break, I went into the managers' office and took a quick nap in one of the office chairs, during which time a co-worker of mine was having a phone conversation in the same room. When I woke up, I asked her if she had used the expression "MOO PANTS" during her conversation because that phrase was in my head when I woke up. She said she hadn't.

My 11 days of work in a row is now over. I'm going to celebrate by not standing up for the next 3 days.

Goodnight Irene

I wonder how many blog posts have this title today. Hmmmm.

Well, hurricane Irene has passed, and if you know me well you know I don't like the wind. Irene had some wind, and I spent a good portion of the night worrying about our trees. We have quite a few big, old trees in the yard, trees that need to be trimmed, most of them hanging over cars or near the house or stuff like that. So I worried, and every time I'd hear a big gust of wind I'd worry more, and it went on like that for awhile until I decided to put in the ol' earbuds and fire up the mp3 player and listen to the sound of a fan that we've got on an mp3 loop on there, and turn it up just loud enough to drown out the blowing. Worked pretty damned well.

So this morning I got up and headed into work, and there really wasn't much damage around the neighborhood - a few downed branches (a decent-sized one fell in our yard, but didn't hit anything), that's about it. We never lost power for any length of time, which is pretty miraculous. I don't want to jinx us, but we haven't lost power very much in this place, which has been nice. Also, no new leaks and the basement didn't flood. All things that I worried about that did not come to pass.

I'm in the middle of a long stretch at work and it's getting a little annoying. Any days after 5 in a row get to be a pain. Tomorrow will be day 8 of 11.

That's it, really, for now. There's not that much interesting going on. Cut up some branches when I got home from work. Jeannie worked on drywall. We went to 3 different grocery stores looking for one that had power so we could buy something for dinner. I ate too many mashed potatoes. Back to work tomorrow. And so it goes...


Oh, and for you Infinite Jest fans out there, in case you haven't see it:

Chesterfield Kings

Something is wrong with my taste lately. I think it all started with the CHEERS bender I've been on, and feeling nostalgic for cheesy, earnest things. This is the music I've been listening to and, for the most part, enjoying for the last couple of weeks:



I think it is the beginning of the end for me. Wait, no. Listening to smooth jazz is the end of the end. It is the bottom.

But no, it gets worse. Here's another one:



The thing is, I bought the Donald Fagen CD because 1.) the cover is awesome 2.) it was cheap 3.) I'd been on a little Steely Dan kick a few months ago, and 4.) the reviews at work gave it 4.5 stars, and when I would listen to samples of it, I would think to myself, "Jesus, that sounds really cheesy, how could it have gotten 4 and a half stars?" So my curiosity was piqued. So I checked it out. And damn if that stuff doesn't grow on you like a thick orange fungus.


The Jeanners and I sat down last night and figured out how much work we need to get done before the insulation folks can come in and complete Phase 2 of the insulation work. Which needs to be finished by the end of February for our loan shit to all work out. We figured that, after we finish the two bedrooms we're working on now (which we've given ourselves until the end of September to do), we've got about 20 days of work to do. The problem is, because of our work schedukes, and Christmas, and all the other stuff that's coming our way over the next few months, it's gonna take us pretty much the entire 6 months to get those twenty days of work done. And as we were going through the list, it seemed like a lot of stuff that we need to get done. So I got a little overwhelmed. And, although I've been abstaining from the G&T's since around my birthday, I had a G&T so I could melt my brain a little bit and be able to sleep without worrying about house stuff all night. It worked. It also worked that Jeannie was willing to come into the bathroom with me and sit on the floor and watch a CHEERS on the laptop with me while I soaked in the tub. True love, ladies and gentlemen.

Don't You F#@$'in Look at Me

I have a day off work today. My plan is to eat a hearty breakfast, do some drywall sandin', and then have a delicious Chinese lunch. I've been looking forward to the Chinese lunch for a few days now. I will also probably watch a couple of CHEERS episodes at some point today.

Had a good birthday on Saturday. The Jeanners got me Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (the book), which has been on my list to read for awhile. Also a tambourine. Jeannie also got me a tambourine for my birthday. So now when you come over I will play the tambourine for you and dance my dances.

We spent the weekend (and the subsequent days) diving back into wonderful world of drywall finishing. I am attempting to get some practice in by working in the closets (in the hopes that one day Jeannie will let me "come out of the closet" (pun intended). Because my drywall finishing skills are non-existent. Meaning I've never really done it before. And fucking up the drywall finishing can make everything look really bad. So it seems that getting some practice in in the closets is a good idea before venturing out onto walls that we'll be staring at a lot.

Anyway, the fact that we're working on drywall is a good thing, because it means we're getting that much closer to moving into the bedroom. So anyway, yeah.

Alright, I think it's time for me to start on this hearty breakfast.

A Bad Case of the Sammies

The Jeanners was out of town for the last three days, and I spent most of the time (the time that I wasn't at work, anyway) watching CHEERS episodes and drinking gin and tonics. Ok, I did do some other things. I worked on the kitchen pipe and also played some guitar. But I watched about 20 cheers episodes over 3 days. I am currently toying with the decision to dress more like Sam Malone. Feel free to weigh in with a vote if you feel strongly one way or the other.

My birthday is tomorrow. 34. I will have officially beaten Jesus. Now I just need to avoid the lightning bolts until then. Speaking of lightning, Facebook has really made me aware of the fact that there are a lot of people out there who spell it "lightening." That drives me up a flippin' wall.

Some neighbors gave us canned goods this week.

Why not?

What else. The Jeanners and I are going to hopefully be working on some drywall tomorrow, followed by a birthday dinner at Kathmandu Kitchen, my recently-declared favorite restaurant in Baltimore.

Tube 'a Lube Express

The Gena's visit came to an end today and she hopped on a plane back to the Lou. 'Twas a good visit. Some things that happened:

1. We went tubing on the Gunpowder River. Great fun. Relaxing. Beautiful nature. And only about 45 minutes from home. Summer fun that I know the Jeanners and I will be repeating in the future.

2. I made them watch Teen Wolf. Couldn't get them to watch Teen Wolf Too.

3. They made me watch Dirty Dancing. I was hoping that the dancing would be dirtier.

4. Hot dog dinner. I don't eat hot dogs like I used to, but for a day I did. And it was good.


So we had a good time. Now, it is back to the realities of work and kitchen drain repair. The Jeanners is going to be flying to Chicago tomorrow for a few days of training, so I think I'll use the opportunity of her absence (and the subsequent reduced kitchen drain usage that comes with it) to start cutting up some pipe.

I finished re-reading The Broom of the System. I liked it more than when I read it the first time, but it still feels kinda sophmoric. It has some of the show-offy stuff that's in Infinite Jest, but doesn't create any sort of reader connection with the characters that IJ does so well (by the end). Basically, I didn't care what happened to any of the characters in BOTS.

Whatever. Anyway, I have to go now and clean up my hibatchi.

More Wine?

Our friend Gena is here visiting us, and it's been pretty damned fun. Although I've been working like a fool this past week, so I haven't been able to hang out with the ladies (The Jeanners and the Geners) as much as I would've liked. Especially yesterday, when they spent the entire day sleeping and waking up only to eat ice cream. And then we had a tasty home-made shrimp enchilada dinner last night followed by a wicked kitchen dance party. Anyway, it's been nice having somebody else around for a week.

One bad thing that's happened this week is that all the piping underneath our kitchen sink drain is basically falling apart. We've got a temporary fix set up and will attempt a more permanent fix after our guest departs, just in case things don't go well and we end up completely sodomizing the whole drain line.

So my dad spent a lot of time as a kid out in the sun, and he's always had lots of freckles on his back, and as he's aged the freckles have turned into some pretty wicked-looking, scary cancerous-looking spots. On his back and his face. And he's very stubborn about going to the doctor, so he'd never been to a dermatologist to get them checked out or anything. Well, after getting goaded by my Mom's sister ("I've never known anyone who is as smart as you to be so dumb"), he finally made an appointment with a dermatologist to get them checked out and, sure enough, all the really bad-looking spots are all basal-cell cancers. Which is not a huge surprise (he had pretty much figured that they were all cancer anyway), and is actually good news (basal-cell is the less-dangerous type of cancer; melanoma is the really bad kind), but is still pretty shitty. So for the last couple of weeks he's been going and getting a few of the spots removed, including the big one on his temple, right next to his eye. Basically, they either cut or scrape it off, and then burn and sew it closed. Yuck. He said for the one next to his eye, they had to put in like 20 stitches to close it up. And he's awake for the whole thing. And then his eye swelled shut the next day. And then he's been going and getting the ones on his back removed, too, which isn't as bad because they're in a less sensitive location, but still the same shitty procedure. And so anyway, now when I've been calling my parents for the last couple of weeks it's been weird, because my dad, who is usually fairly upbeat or at least stoic about hard situations, sounds depressed. He sounds like he's been almost beaten by this. And that sucks. I hope going to the doctor was the right decision. I'm going to call them today and hopefully he's doing better. Right now I'm wishing that I wasn't so far away and that I could go over and visit every couple of days. (audible sigh).

Been doing some shifts as a real manager-manager at work. It is strange because on those days I end up running around like crazy and actually doing work. As opposed to standing around and waiting for the clock to tick tick tick, which is what I do on most other days.

Tonight: Faidley's crab cakes (the best in Baltimore!) and possible karaoke! You are jealous!

Johnnycakes

Lookout, DC, K-Torr be all up in ya.

Yesterday evening the Jeanners and I had a nice drive down to DC to visit with one J. Hubert, aka K-Torr, who is in town for a convention of folks who conduct choirs. It was a longer drive than usual (we were leaving from the very north side of Baltimore and heading down to the very south side of DC), but we had a good chat, and we got down to K-Torr's sweet-ass hotel suite at around 8. Headed to a nearby PF Changs for dinner and drinks and conversation, covering conversational topics such as children, therapy of various sorts, jobs, and marriage. It is always such a wonderful feeling to get together with someone that you haven't seen in awhile, who in the olden days seemed like such a unique, sweet person, and realize that they are still a wonderful, sweet person and that if they lived around the corner you would almost assuredly be calling them several times a week to go over to their house and play cards or watch a professional tennis match or borrow a wheelbarrow. Anyway, it was really good to see K-Torr. And he invited me down to attend a workshop tomorrow with one of the members of Sweet Honey in the Rock, and I ain't got nothing going on and I'd like to hang with Johnny again so I think I'm gonna head on down.

Other news:

The insulation folks came in did their insulatin' thing on Monday, and although they were able to make progress in several areas (basement, rear bedroom walls, rear bedroom floor), they discovered that anywhere where we left the plaster on the walls and drywalled over the plaster, there was not enough room behind the plaster for them to run their insulatin' hose down into the cavity to shoot their insulation wad behind the walls. So that means they couldn't/can't do the walls in our future bedroom or in the middle bedroom. And also that they won't be able to do the walls in the other half of the house, when that time comes. So we are now in the process of re-thinking what we want to do with the money that had originally been earmarked for that purpose. Not the end of the world, but definitely a snag.

Feisted Out

Today Jerns and I took a day off and headed up towards Gettysburg to visit Katie the North American Wanderer on her farm. We all drove to Fuller Lake and had a fantastic swim on a hot afternoon. A lovely little vacation-in-a-box. Meaning a short vacation.

Busy times coming up:

Tomorrow the insulation dudes come to the house and start (and hopefully finish) phase one (of two) of the insulation work. We've been working towards this day pretty much since we bought the place (almost 2 years ago!), so it feels pretty good to be getting them started.

K-Torr will be arriving in DC tomorrow. We hope to get down there for a dinner and nocturnal stroll.

Work's gonna be a little busy this week.

Bill Morrissey and Amy Winehouse died yesterday.

\

p.s. Feisted Out means that you've listened to too much Feist.

kd

Feeling entirely unmotivated today. It's my day off, and so far this morning, I have farted around on the internet, made a tasty eggs-n-fauxsage-n-biscuits breakfast, and talked to my mom on the phone. Also, took a concrete paver (that I made!) outside and leveled it. Eventually the rain boxes (barrels) will live on it. I will soon head to home depot to buy concrete to make more pavers, but, again, feeling unmotivated.

Yesterday I had a training session at a swanky boardroom-type room in a swanky office building on the harbor downtown. Jeannie drove me down on her way into work yesterday morning, so I had a few hours to sit by the water and read and contemplate. It was a really beautiful morning. It's too bad I don't spend more mornings out and about, it would be nice to get up early and run or walk or something, but really, sleep is gonna win every time.

Then after work Jeannie and I headed over to the house of one of her coworkers for an end-of-the-Americorps-service-year soiree. A good excuse to drink beer and eat meat and get eaten by bugs.

And after the party we headed back downtownish to the Meyerhoff symphony hall for the k.d. lang concert. It was a pretty good show. We were surrounded by mostly bluehairs (it was at the symphony hall, after all), but the band sounded good (some really good pedal steel playing), and k.d. has a pretty unbelievable voice. Plus, it ws nice to see a show and arrive 10 minutes after the show started and still have good seats, and not have to stand around for 4-8 hours before the show. I did not stick around afterwards to meet k.d. (but probably only because Jeannie wouldn't let me).

Things I am contemplating doing:
1. bath
2. nap
3. trip to home depot.
4. playing Civilization III

Probably gonna do a 2 then 3.

Time

Appian Way

It's a hot day today. I am laying on my bed, the laptop resting on my belly, with a fan blowing room-temp air on my legs. I am deciding whether I should take a nap or go downstairs and put up some junction boxes for some wires that I ran through the walls the other day. I will probably end up going with a 30 minute nap followed by junction-box-installation.

It's in the upper 90's here, but it hasn't been hot enough to get the temp inside above 90. When it gets above 90 inside, I turn on the AC. Actually, I just turn on the AC whe I get uncomfortably hot, and usually that's around 90. If it's real humid, I might turn it on even though it's lower than 90.

Aren't you glad you read that?

Last weekend the J-Dog and I worked on putting in a new walkway in front of our house, from the porch to the street. The old one was cracked and falling apart, and then it got real bad when the landscaping guys drove the heavy equipment over it, so we had them pull the old one out and haul it away. And we've been living surrounded by an ocean of dirt ever since. But anyway, while we were putting in the new one we had to do a lot of digging, and tamping of dirt and gravel, and it was real chain-gang type work. At one point, I even tried to get Jeannie to join me in the singing of some spirituals, but she wasn't interested.



I would like to go on record, though, as saying that there is not much in this world that is as sexy as watching your wife dig a big hole.

Anyway, it took 2 full days of work, but we eventually got the thing done, and it looks pretty much like this:



And we're pleased with how it looks. Hopefully it will last.

Tonight: should we have breakfast for dinner or super-duper nachos?

Thursday: k.d. lang concert.

Later this month: k-torr in DC.

Early next month: The Geners coming for a visit.

Hey now, I'm an all-star.

During the past week, I've had three dreams where I was hanging out with rockstars. It's probably the recurring dream I've had the most, ever since I was a little kid. Back in the day, I would dream about hanging out pretty much exclusively with U2, but as I've gotten older and my musical tastes have broadened, so have my dream tastes. This week, I hung out with Tom Waits (he was sitting on a couch and he said I was a "pretty alright guy."), U2 (I think I was at a concert, but one where the band and I could converse back and forth), and Black Dub (again, I was at a show, one where the band and I could converse back and forth, and Brian Blade remembered who I was [from our real-life encounter at the 9:30 Club alley a few weeks ago]). So anyway, I think hanging out with rockstars is some very-deep-seated need that I have down in the core of my being, and I'm not sure what that need means or why it's there.

Also this week: battling ant infestation and figuring out how to build a walkway.

Went to a pretty great 4th of July party last night at Lesley and Scott's. I worked a long day yesterday and didn't really feel like going after work (actually I kinda forgot that there was a party), but Jeannie lured me in with tales of free food and drink, and socializing. All of which turned out to be true. Plus some pretty decent fireworks that we were able to sit close enough to to feel in our chests. Or at least my chest. I'm not sure if Jeannie was able to feel it in her chest, but she was sitting right next to me so I'm assuming she was. Anyway. Whatevs.

Tomorrow: gravel and sand and paver acquisition and babysitting at Chez Kilpatrick!

Out in the west Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican lasso.

Many things have happened in the million-year interval since I last wrote. The biggest things:

1. Continued digging up of our yard.
2. U2 show.
3. Relatively last minute, brief vacation to St. Robert, MO.

I will try to sum up each item in three words, and then post a picture of each.

1. Continued digging up of our yard - scary, dirt, holes.



2. U2 show - standing, dry, waiting





3. Relatively last minute, brief vacation to St. Robert, MO. - relaxing, good, smiles



Could probably write a lot about each one, but don't feel like it. The vacation was nice, although brief, and it was wonderful to get down to my family's cabin at Mossy Springs.

Yesterday, the Jeanners and I were still both off work, so we seeded half of the front yard, patched some cracks (that the ants were using to get in the house) and cleaned up the bedrooms so we can get some more work done. Topped it all off with an end-of-vacation dinner at the Hamilton Tavern.

Today: cleaned some nasty vine out that was taking over the azaleas, watered the grass seed, and catching up on e-mail, writing and facebook. Going to go finish wiring an exterior light and then drill some holes in the dining room wall.

Landcaper

There are dudes with large pices of equipment in our yard digging up shrubs and excavating some large holes, what will eventually become rain gardens. I've explained what a rain garden is to numerous neighbors and relatives who have asked, and I don't do a very good job, so feel free to google it. Or even look it up on Wikipedia. Or, if it's a nice day in your area and you feel adventurous, walk to your local public library and look it up in an encyclopedia Brittanica.

So anyway, dudes and large equipment and digging up lots of shit. It's making me feel a little bit queasy. I'm trying not to watch.

Also, there was a car accident on our street this morning where a car turned over into somebody's lawn.

Crazy day!