Forever Young

Tomorrow: Bono's birthday, my brother-in-law Tom's birthday, and the 5 year anniversary of this-here blog. Mozel tov!

Yesterday the Jeanners and I worked on putting some framing up for our future bedroom closet. We then headed down to the DC area to have dinner with PKP and birthday girl T-Pain. PKP makes a tasty black bean burger, fer sure. Had a good time lounging around and chatting, playing with Dr. Finn, who is walking around like a little monkey. We then headed in to the 9:30 Club to see Josh Ritter, who decided to play an evil trick on old folks like us by not taking the stage until 10:30-ish. So it ended up being a late night. But it was a good show, and Josh Ritter seems like A) he took a fistful of happy jumpy pills before the show, or (and more likely) B) he's just a super nice, happy, aw-shucks type midwestern type dude. The 9:30 Club is the type of dark, phosphorescently lit place that I haven't been to in a long time, the type of place that when you're young makes you feel very young and hip and alive, but apparently when you're old makes you feel very old and quiet and tired. I have to say that although higher-caliber bands seem to play the 9:30 Club, I much preferred the atmosphere at the Black Cat a few weeks ago when I went to see Midlake. I wonder what the next concert will be? I've been very happy with the shows I've seen this year. Here's to live music that don't suck!

One more week of work before we head off to St. Louis. Should we plant our vegetables before we go? Will we be able to finish the framing in the closet before we leave? I'm predicting yes and no, respectively.

Quotes of the day:

"Personally, I think I would have an easier time killing a bunny than a monkey."

and

"Why are you massaging that bird's anus with a Q-Tip?"

We Can Now Bake Large Things But As of Yet We Have Not Taken Advantage of This Ability

I am off work today, and I have a list of things to do but not sure which things I'm going to get to. I would like to go to the gym, go to Trader Joe's, go buy some new underwear, go to Best Buy, update our MP3 player, watch Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, look for a birthday gift for T, have eggs and fake sausage for breakfast, and play Civ III. Not necessarily in that order.

I have begun the project GUT BEGONE 2010. I've been hitting the gym every day and eating better. My tummy and love handles hurt so bad that when Jeannie poked me in the tummy last night I just about started crying.

We went to a meeting of our neighborhood association last night. It was OK. Nothing too exciting. But I like that our neighborhood seems to include a nice mix of different races and classes.

The J-Dog and I got a lot of good work done last weekend. Fixed the oven, fixed (hopefully) one of the roof leaks, ran the vent pipe for our bathroom sink into the attic, and worked on the garden. Things are coming along nicely.

Remind me one day to tell you the story of Jerry Orbach's cousin. It's not that exciting or I would just post it here, but it's funny in a smile-not-laugh sort of way.

Hmmmm. What else? Yesterday the J-Dog and I were sitting on the front porch after work and we were watching the cutest little tiny baby rabbit munching away on some clover in the yard. It was the cutest little thing ever and it either didn't know to be scared of us (cause Jeannie strangles rabbits) or it didn't care and it was just munching away just a few feet from us. It was cute. In fact, it was the cutest little thing ever.

We Will Soon Be Able To Bake Large Things

The oven has never worked at this place. We've checked a few things here and there to try and figure out what was wrong with it, but haven't ever really done much about it. We've been able to bake things (biscuits, pizzas) in small batches in our toaster oven, so it hasn't been a big deal. Nonetheless, we want our oven to fucking work, so the other night, after some helpful advice from the Jeanners' pappy (an engineer and all-around handy guy), we got serious about it and went out and bought a multimeter, and yesterday after work I spent about 5 hours fooling around with the range and trying to diagnose the problem. And finally I found the problem, and (if I hadn't knocked the igniter off of our counter and broken it and had to order a new one for $50), it's a simple, cheap fix. So hopefully in two days when the parts arrive we'll fix it up real good and bake a lasagna or a turkey or something like that.

The other night it rained super hard and we discovered that our roof is leaking in two spots. One is a pretty simple fix that we should be able to take care of this weekend, and the other is a bit more complicated -- replacing the flashing around our chimney. We should be able to handle it, but it saddens me because I feel like I was getting motivated and gaining momentum about getting the bedroom fixed up, and dealing with the leaks will throw a monkey-wrench into my plans. Monkey-wrenches in my plans knock me out of sorts and make me temporarily depressed.

I'm off work today, waiting for the waterproofing guys to arrive so they can do some more (free!) work on the basement. Also fixin' to cook up a large breakfast with lots of eggs and biscuits. And fake sausage and juice. If the grass is dry enough later on I'll cut the grass. Maybe do a little work on the bedroom closet.

Wow, what a boring post! Sorry, it's what's going on. Looking forward to our trip to the Lou! I decided yesterday that I'm gonna take the Jeanners on a dinner date when we get there...

Into the Boudoir

The J-Dog and I are starting to work on the bedroom, which is pretty exciting. The bathroom isn't finished yet, but it's at a decent stopping point, and hashing out the details of the bathroom really brings the major work to a halt, and we'd really like to move into the bedroom sometime this summer. So -- onward and upward.

The last couple of nights, I watched a fairly lengthy 10 part interview with David Foster Wallace on the Youtubes, and I realized who he reminds me of: Schmor. A very self-conscious, socially uncomfortable, straight Schmor. But anyway, while listening to him in the interview, I got the same sort of feeling that I used to get while listening to Schmor, both in and out of class: that you are listening to someone very intelligent and interesting speak about things about which they have thought and felt deeply. And at the same time, they're completely down to earth, funny, dirty, and conversational.

I'm feeling a bit down this evening. Bored. Tired. I think I'll kick back with a G&T and some reading and sit in the living room with loud tunes on. I'm off work tomorrow, and planning on doing some work in the bedroom. Pulling down plaster, which is pretty shitty, indeed. But it will be good to get it done.

What else has been going on? Anything? Hmmm. We're heading to St. Louis in a couple of weeks for a visit, which we're looking forward to. My boss brought his kids to work today for "bring your kids to work" day, and they were pretty damned cute. I ate lunch with them. He has a 10-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old son. We chatted about Justin Bieber and Avatar. I told the daughter that I think Justin Bieber needs a haircut and she said that's why she likes him. Ha!

Universal Symbol for Medea

Lost in the Supermarket

A lazy Saturday night tonight. The jeanners is on the phone with her friend, the Geners. I've got some tunes on, up pretty loud. Listening to a little bit of the Clash, some Beck, and some Coldplay. So far. Now a little Bowie action.

Not too much new or exciting going on. Had work today, which was fine, middle-of-the-month boring. But fine. I've worked a little bit on some music over the last week or so, with no decent results. It's been a little depressing, actually, the lack of any inspiration or results. I'm going back and forth between "go down and work on some tunes a little bit every day, even if there are no results" and "take a break, give it some time, and put in the work when you feel excited." Not sure which is the right direction to pursue, but I'm leaning toward the "putting in a little effort every day" option.

Finished up the DFW interview book. It made me look forward to eventually reading the last novel he was working on, "The Pale King," which I was initially not too excited about. Unfinished posthumous things usually leave me feeling a little bit cheated. But now I just feel like really diving into some DFW language for a little while longer.

TOMORROW: A tasty breakfast of eggs and fake sausage, biscuits, juice. I'll spend the day working in the bathroom, trying to get some inset shelves to work out, and the Jeanners is going to put in some more quality time on the garden, and will also be giving me direction on the bathroom work. She actually cares how things look. Silly girl.

I would like to say that I know very little about trees and flowers. However, I really like the azaleas that are blooming in the yard. They make me happy. You are all hereby invited to come sit on the porch with me and enjoy the azaleas.

No Sleep 'til Brooklyn

I did not sleep well last night for several reasons. And I think that talking about those reasons will fill you in on everything that's going on right now:

1) I bought some fake hot dogs from Trader Joe's yesterday. They are actually called veggie protein links. They are Satan's food. The gas that they gave me sucked for a variety of reasons: A) There was lots of it. B) It stank bad. C) It hurt my tummy. D) Every fart I cut made me feel like I was pooping in my underwear.

It's strange though, because I'm craving hot dogs so bad right now that I have the package of veggie protein links in front of me on the table, and I want to cook some up and eat them -- despite the fact that I know they taste like the vaguest approximation of a hotdog, and despite the fact that as recently as 3 hours ago I sat on the toilet and vowed to never ever eat them again. Satan's food.

2) There is a position that will be opening up at my place of employment in the near future, and it is a position that I have expressed interest in before, and I fear that the long-term future of the position I currently hold is in jeopardy. So this morning I went up to work and told my (relatively new) boss that I was interested. We'll see if anything happens with it. It would be a lateral move for me, and it might involve a pay cut, and there are other people interested in the job, so there are lots of proverbial shoes that are still waiting to proverbially drop.

So I was thinking about that a lot last night.

3) I received in the mail yesterday a notice from the Circuit Court for Baltimore City Jury Commissioner that on April 1st I failed to report for jury duty and that they were going to fine me a thousand dollars and put me in jail for 60 days. OK, actually it said that those things were the maximum penalty for not showing up for jury duty, and it turns out that all I had to do was call today and reschedule my jury duty (July 14th. Bastille Day!), but nonetheless it helped keep me awake last night. As I said to the J-Dog, I wouldn't be able to make it in prison.

4) I got this book yesterday, about DFW. And it kept me awake because I was both thinking about it as I was in bed and also reading it during my numerous I-think-I-might-have-just-pooped-in-my-PJ's-and-I'd-better-go-check bathroom trips.



That's all. That's the stuff that was going on last night. And I really didn't mind it too much, because I'm off work today and I can nap if I want to, and because the Jeanners was having trouble sleeping, too, so we would chat briefly and hold hands while we both laid awake.

Climate Mood Swings

So it was like 90 degrees here a few days ago. Then we had a storm and it dropped down to like 40-50 degrees. Now today it was a pleasant 75ish. Delightful.

When it was cold, the jeanners and I decided to have a fire, because 1) I love fireplaces and I've wanted to have one the entire time we've been here 2) The soil in our future garden needs many pounds of wood ash dumped on it so it will get some nutrients and grow tomatoes as big as, well, big tomatoes, and 3) we have lots of bundled up sticks from the Great Tree Felling of '10 that we want to get rid of. The fire looked sort of like this:



But not really because it was actually much darker in the room (except for the fire part).

Today on the delightfully sunny, pleasant day, the Jeanners and I were finally able to rent a tiller and turn up the soil for our future garden. Jeannie's pretty damned excited. She's been waiting for a garden of her own for a long time. Using the tiller was hard work, but it went pretty well. I was very impressed with the J-Dog's tilling. I thought the tiller would throw her around a little bit, but she was totally manhandling that thing around. She's tough like that. This picture, however, makes it look like the tiller is about to take off down the street and she's trying to stop it. She wouldn't let me post it on Facebook:



Last night we had tickets to go see David Sedaris down at the Meyerhoff Symphony hall. He was reading from a bunch of his stuff. It was pretty good. Neither of us are slobbering fans, but we enjoy listening to him when he's on the radio, and last night's event was kind of like listening to him on the radio but you could see him. Oh, and in person he's allowed to say FREAKY MUTHAFOCKA. He also talked about how if you die at home alone with your dog, your dog will wait a few hours and then eat your face.

Red Snapper

Ugh, my belly's too full, full of biscuits that I accidentally burnt. I think our toaster oven's on crack, because lately its baking/toasting times have been less than predictable. Oh well, added adventure to the day. Anyway, my belly's full of biscuits and eggs and fake sausage and it's uncomfortable.

I have spent the day mostly working outside. I fired up the lawnmower and trimmer for the first time and cut the grass this morning. Not too bad, about 45 minutes to cut it and 45 minutes to trim, then 15 minutes to sweep up. I would like to take this opportunity to point out that "lawnmower" was one of the first words I ever learned to say. I could say it before I could even say my sisters' names, "Peggy" and "Patty."
Then this afternoon I've been finishing cutting up the remaining branches from the Great Tree Felling of '10, and raking the last of our autumn leaves into the compost bin that the J-Dog built:




Red Snapper, by the way, is the latest nickname that I've given the J-Dog. Monday night I was super tired from staying up too late on Sunday night (more on that later) and I was laying in bed, and the Jeanners was sitting in the living room and I was kind of deliriously joking with her that I was going to start calling her Red Snapper because she gets angry and turns red and starts snapping at me. Most of that is untrue (except for the snapping part), however. I don't think Red Snapper is going to stick as a nickname, but I've been enjoying it the last few days.

Sunday night I was up too late because I bought some concert tickets for Midlake down in DC and after I got off work, Abbey and Brian G and myself drove down and caught the show. It was really pretty damned good, although I have no idea how they make any money because there's 7 guys in the band and the club they were playing was pretty small. The keyboardist looked kind of like PKP. The drums on their albums are sometimes a little boring, but I thought the drummer rocked during the show, especially the song "Core of Nature," during which I almost shit my pants because it built up to such a stirring conclusion. Anyway, I didn't get home until after 1am (and I rushed into the house and made a little bit of a racket because I had to poop so bad (I thought I was going to poop in my pants for real after dropping Abbey off), so after I pooped I didn't get to bed until around 1:30. And then I had to get up at 5:45 for work in the morning. So I was tired, which eventually led to the delirious Red Snapper comments later that night, etc, etc.

My typing has really deteriorated. I hope it's because I've got the laptop at an awkward angle on my lap and not because I've had a stroke.

The biscuits are slowly making their way in a southerly direction, and I'm afraid I must go now.

Spring and All.

I've never been one who really notices spring very much. It has always seemed like such a short season; there's snow on the ground and then it gets a little warmer for a few days and then it's a hundred degrees and Jeannie and I are walking around in our underwear all the time. But this year has been different, probably because we had so much snow, and the house was so cold all the time, and winter seemed so long. This year spring seems especially deep and fragrant and lush, and is beginning to feel warm. It's pretty freakin' wonderful.

For the past couple of days, when Jeannie gets home from work we've been sitting on the front porch, soaking up the sunshine and talking. Resting, relaxing. This evening the J-Dog fell asleep out there as the sun was starting to set. Again, pretty freakin' wonderful.

I've got almost all the branches cut up from the Great Tree Felling of '10. Maybe a day or two more of cutting and bundling up branches after work. This weekend we're gonna try to rent a tiller to start the garden, although I think it's gonna be tough because everybody and their mother is going to be trying to rent a tiller.

Tonight on Twitter (!) I found out that Midlake is going to be playing in DC on Sunday, and I had no Sunday night plans, and tickets were cheap, and I'm making a conscious effort to see more live music, so after wok I'm gonna drive on down and catch the show with Brian G. Should be a good time.

Woodsman

Well, jeez, it's been a week, although it hasn't really felt that way. What's been going on?

Last Saturday the Jeanners and I chopped down a tree in our yard. It was dead. We never saw it with leaves, so I have no idea what kind of tree it was. It was about 35 feet tall, and the trunk was about 15 inches in diameter. We only had one brush with death while cutting it down, which is pretty good I think. I've cut down a couple of trees with my dad, and we always had at least 1 decent brush with death. The last tree I cut down with him, a falling branch smashed the ladder that he had, moments earlier, been standing on. Nothing quite that exciting happened on Saturday.



Side note: we also cut down a tiny (alive) tree that was growing right in front of our porch, way too close to the house. Also took out a large, rotting stump that was growing right near the back of our house. It's nice to have all that stuff done, and now we have a bunch of wood to season and eventually use for firewood. Today I plan on using some of the old studs that we've taken out of the house to build a rack to get our firewood up off the ground so it will dry nicely and not attract termites. Also hope to make a dent in the large collection of branches in the back of our house that need to be cut up and bundled.

Jeez, enough about wood.

Had an inventory at work on Sunday night. It went very well, and then went over to the bar across the street (from work) with some folks afterwards. A good time. Our new store manager started last week. Seems like a decent guy so far, although he's pretty inexperienced.

The really big news is that PKP and T-Bone announced that they're gonna have another bambino, and when PKP called to tell me, his phone kept cutting in and out, and this effect caused it to be The Most Annoying Phone Conversation Ever. It sounded something like this:

"Hey!....news....Teresa....baby!...due in late...yeah....excited....baby...Finn..."

Cell phones are not my friend.

Today: I wait for the basement waterproofing people to show up so they can make our basement shed water like a good basement should, I'll probably watch some LOST, I'll cut up some sticks, maybe make a trip to the grocery, do some dishes. Yeah!

Afternoon

Well, it's now 4pm. I got home from work a little while ago and watched LOST while eating popcorn. The show is starting to get down to the nitty gritty. I'll be glad when it's done.

It's a beautiful, sunny day outside. I should really open a window. The house is usually about 10 degrees colder inside than it is outside. I'm hoping that the same is true during the summer, but my guess is that the heat of the sun is just gonna warm the stone up and the inside of our house will be kinda like an oven. Awesome!

The Jeanners and I made some decent progress on the bathroom last week:





A bit more trim to go, and a radiator cover, and some electricity, and maybe some built-in shelves, and some refinished floors, and paint and then it will be good to go and we can move on to the bedroom.

But anyway, life is good. The Jeanners and I have been watching BIG LOVE in the evening, which is pretty good. Also been enjoying some delicious G&T's. Been reading a very good book about the Columbine shooting. It's called Columbine. That seems like a pretty good title. But anyway, it's very well written and even the Jeanners is getting sucked into it. And usually she only likes to read books about ponies and rainbows and stuff. Actually, she can barely read. It's time you all knew.

The "a" on this keyboard isn't working very well. Have I missed any A's?

Yesterday, something smelled like pee.

Seasons Change, People Change

Remember when there was a lot of deep snow on the ground?

That was fun.

Lawn Mowin' Man

Tonight I bought a lawn mower, weed whacker, and some gas cans. I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that I used to professionally mow lawns. I was never very good at doing the trimming, though. Perhaps I will be better now that I'm no longer 15.

Also found out today that my boss got the ol' shit-can yesterday. As in fired. Pretty sucky. He's a good guy, and he's got a new baby daughter, and in my opinion, he didn't deserve to get fired. However, life at the B&N will roll on. When we get a new store manager, it will be the 7th store manager since I've been there. They seem not to last too long.

I've been running every day this week. It feels good, although I still feel a bit winter-tubby. Nonetheless, my feet aren't hurting too bad yet, and my knees aren't hurting too bad yet, and my back isn't hurting too bad yet, so I'm gonna keep running until one or all of those things start(s) happening.

A customer at the store (who I sometimes trade jazz CD's with) told me the other day about a presumed ghost at his house who pulls the doorknobs off the doors. It was a funny story.

I can't wait for the Schluetermetz' to be back in Ohio. Can't wait!

Goodthings

Some good stuff is goin' down:

1. Both Jeannie and I have all weekend off work. Hopefully we will be able to get much done. Tomorrow we've got an electrical workshop in the morning, and then we'll spend the rest of the day shopping for various things. Sunday is planned as a serious work day.

2. I set up some recording equipment in the basement today. It felt so freakin' good to do some recording again. I haven't done any since we moved into our crap apartment last September. Also nice to not have to worry about other people hearing me be loud.

3. The best news is that our friends the Schluetermetz' are going to be moving from Oregon back to Ohio this summer. This means that they will once again be within a half-day's drive from us, back in the same time-zone. Pretty damned exciting stuff. Secret plans forming in my head...

Tonight for dinner I had some black beans and eggs with some spicy salsa. A fiery, burnin' salsa, which means it's gonna burn my butt on the way out.

Under the Influence of Texas

Today I was in a waiting room with a TV and there was a news report about a woman who was "driving under the influence in Texas," but I heard "driving under the influence OF Texas." It was pretty funny. Sometimes I think people should be arrested if they're driving under the influence of Texas. I'm looking at you and your boots, E. Elz.

2010 has so far been a pretty damned good year, music-wise. Laura Veirs is still up there with my favorite album, but she now shares the top spot with the band Beach House and their album Teen Dream. They're a Baltimore band that is getting some national indie attention (they were in the #1 spot on Rolling Stone's College Charts a month ago) and it's a really solid album. I would recommend it to pretty much everybody who I know that reads this blog, with the exception of Spiff because there's no acoustic guitars. Here's one of my favorite (although not my favorite favorite) songs on the album:



Midlake's album is in the #2 spot. It's a good album all the way through (some nice acoustic guitars, Spiff) but doesn't have any songs that reach out and grab you by the shorthairs. Plus, Josh Rouse's new album is decent (it's better listening to it at work than it is at home) and the show of his that we saw with PKP and T-bone earlier in the year was pretty awesome. We have also purchased tickets to go to another show with PKP and T-Bone to see Josh Ritter in May.



Our good friend Katie is over right now, eating stirfry and telling us about a Jewish farm. I think I'm gonna make a G&T.

I have started running again. The first day I thought my heart was going to explode. Second day was better.

I can't drive 75.

A container of black beans gone bad was discovered in our fridge and it smelled just like my farts. This has led me to conclude that on most days, my stomach and lower GI is filled with rotting black beans. I think I'm gonna make that the thesis statement for my science fair project next year. Blue ribbon fer sure.

Lysistrata closed last night. I enjoyed working on it, I'm glad it's over so I can devote myself to the working on the house. Also, I got a speeding ticket last night, which is sucky but not unexpected. I just drive too darned fast. Always have. So, I shall pay my debt to society and continue to speed. But for awhile, I will speed more slowly. Also, I have been officially warned that I need to replace my tag light.

Tomorrow after work I'm heading over to Hampden to scout out a mirror for our bathroom. We've been half-assedly looking for a mirror for awhile, but tomorrow I'm devoting the entire other half of my ass to it. Personally, I have already seen a few mirrors that I think would suit our needs just fine, but there is someone else living here that is picky, and I will give you a hint that her name rhymes with Fuh Sheeners.

Tonight Jeannie proposed the idea that perhaps we could start to keep bees here at the house. Rejected.

Cirsumvrent

Howdy!

Another weekend of Lysistrata down. Friday night after I got home from the show, I got on the internet and tuned into Whole Wheat Radio out of Talkeetna, AK, to catch a live performance from Spiff and Melissa. It was pretty cool, because when you logged on the site to listen live, you could chat with other folks who were listening and leave comments that they would read live at the concert. So, for example, I was able to request "Parents Just Don't Understand," and they read it to Spiff and Melissa, and Spiff instantly knew it was me who requested it. It was pretty cool. Also cool to read the thoughts of people who were hearing them for the first time. All-in-all, it was a really fun time, almost like being there. Unfortunately, because Alaska is 4 hours behind us, the show wasn't over until 3 in the morning.

Then, on Saturday, I had a matinee of Lysistrata, then a theatre company meeting, then an evening show of Lysistrata, then a cast party. Got home at 2 in the morning. Then up for work on Sunday morning. Luckily I was able to catch up on sleep on Sunday. The cast party was a really good time. Good food, and then small-group conversation in the living room while listening to Greg Brown and John Prine and such. I miss small-group late night conversation.

Tonight after work I was interviewed by a strategic planning consultant that has been hired by the theatre company to help us plan out the next couple of years. It was kind of fun and kind of one of those situations where you feel like a dick no matter how you answer and even if there's no real reason to feel like a dick. I guess maybe I just don't like to be interviewed.

Shit's been going on, so not much has happened with the house. Which is ok, I guess, but I'm a little worried that we've slowed down too much. Maybe we're just at a point where we're a little bit stuck until we find the trim pieces that we need to find to match the rest of the door headers in the house.

The other day I saw an older white woman combing her hair with a pick. Is that strange? It seemed strange to me.

Good News Bad News

The good news: according to my website-tracking stats, thousands of people visited this blog last month.

The bad news: I think that they were all spam robots.

Oh well. I will now write each post with my mental audience consisting entirely of robots. By the way, my mental audience up to this point has consisted entirely of strippers and the incarcerated.

What's going on? Oh, you know, the usual type stuff. Lysistrata has opened, and it made great strides during tech week, so it's not a complete disaster. I'd say up until 2 days before we opened, it was in serious disaster territory. But anyway, it has opened, and it turns out that I'm running the lights during the shows, which I didn't think I would have to do, but oh well. I'm actually having a good time with all the folks working on the show, and it's a nice excuse to get out of the house.

Work on the house has been progressing very slowly. We've been stripping paint off of trim and a door, and it's been a slow process, and a bit of a pain. It is nice, though, to have a basement in which to work on projects such as this.

I am sorry to say that, due to the annoying fucking spam comments that I'm getting on this blog, I'm going to turn on comment moderation so I'll have to approve all the comments before they show up. Fuck that shit.

I guess that's about it for right now.

PSA

If you've every wondered what Huey Lewis looks like when he's taking a leak (and who among us has not?), just watch Robert Altman's Short Cuts.

Skeleton Key

A few days ago I was telling my parents about how we got our bathroom door hung, and how we're stripping the paint off of it, and how we're going to come up with a way to lock it, because it's an old door with old skeleton key locks and of course, since we bought the door from a salvage place, the key has been long lost somewhere.

A little while after I got off the phone with them, my dad called back and said that about 60 years ago, when he was around 12, he and his friends used to play in an old "haunted mansion" on his street. Basically, a big old abandoned house that they were all scared of (he said that they had theories that their grade-school janitor lived there [I remember having similar theories about my grade-school janitors...]) and that they used to vandalize. He said it was about 3 or 4 stories and they used to go up to the top and drop furniture into the basement to watch it explode. He said they once found a big mirror ("about as tall as a person") and they dropped it down and it was the biggest explosion he's ever seen.

He proceeded to tell me that one day he found a big bunch of skeleton keys and he was convinced that they were the keys to a treasure somewhere, and he had held on to them ever since. Yesterday this box arrived in the mail:



This morning I went down and tried the keys on our bathroom door. The one that I marked with blue tape worked.

Thanks, Dad!

(Your treasure will be waiting for you in our bathroom.)

You Are Not My Valentine

Real quick like, cause I want to go to bed soon. Things that have happened:

1. I haven't been to work for about a week, because of a) snow, b) just having days off, and c) fraudulent sick days. It's been nice, but the party's over after tomorrow.

2. Jeannie and I got to go sledding on Thursday. We walked about a mile and a half to Lake Montebello, where there is a pretty decent hill. It was fun until our snow tube blew far away, across a big field and then across the street on the other side of that field, into some trees. We were able to recover it, however.

3. Jeanners had her birthday. She worked pretty late and then we went to dinner at Clementine. It's right down the street and we had never been there. I enjoyed it, although the things we ordered were pretty much the only reasonably priced items on the menu. It was also a little loud, but I'll bet that on a night when there aren't bunches of cabin-feverish people out and about, it isn't too bad.

4. After quite a bit of wrangling, we hung the door for our bathroom today. It's really nice to have a bathroom door. Unfortunately we took it right back down again because we're stripping the paint off of it. We've been stripping the paint off a lot of stuff lately, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. It makes our basement smell like oranges. Funny story about our bathroom door: I bought it from this architectural salvage place called 'Second Chance,' and it was painted white, but they had marked it in the middle of the upper panel on one side with a red spray paint glob. I really like the red spray paint glob because it kinda looks like somebody blew their brains out right next to the door. Jeannie, however, does not like the red glob and doesn't understand why I do. Whatever. She wins, the paint is all getting stripped off, red glob and all. One day after the divorce I'll have my very own all-white bathroom with a red spray paint glob on the back of the door.

Side note: I have discovered that every time I try to write the word 'bathroom,' I first write 'bathrrom' and I have to go back and correct it. Annoying.

Tomorrow: guys coming to tear up part of the basement floor, and we don't have to pay for it. Will they show up?

Who knew?

Who knew it really would be the blizzard of the century? Right now it's snowing again, a predicted 13 to 21 inches on top of the 26 inches that it dumped on us the other day. The Jeanners has been off work for a pretty long stretch, and it's looking like she'll be off a few more days if the snow falls tonight the way they're saying it will. For me, however, the snow seems to fall only on days when I'm already scheduled to be off, so I haven't gotten any extra time. The opening of Lysistrata, though, has been pushed back a week because we've lost a little under a week of rehearsals. I am both happy and sad about this. I was looking forward to my portion of the show being over in a few days.

I will say this: shoveling snow is a great way to meet your neighbors and give them a good impression of yourself, and the City of Baltimore has not done a good job of clearing away the snow. It stopped snowing (the first time) on Saturday, and we have yet to be plowed on Tuesday night. On Sunday, one of our neighbors with a snow blower cleared pretty much our whole street, and myself and another neighbor were out there with shovels helping, and that's the only reason I've been able to get to work. Oh well, at least we haven't lost power.

Today at work I told a customer that it was very rude for her to be on her cellphone the whole time she was talking to me. She was about 65 years old and a bit of a bitch.

Tomorrow the J-Dog and I are goin' sleddin'!

I have determined H. Steinmetz' future occupation: concierge.

Blizzard of the Century!

Perhaps not. It's snowing now, a bit. And maybe it'll keep snowing all night and all day tomorrow. But I doubt it'll be the blizzard of the century. According to PKP, it's not even a blizzard at all. Speaking of PKP, he and Teresa and the J-Dog and I went to see Josh Rouse the other night at a little music venue in Alexandria, VA. It was a good time. A good show (it sounds like JR's next album is gonna be pretty good, although mostly in Spanish), and it was good to see the cool kids, too.

Tonight, the Jeanners has made a tasty potato soup, and we'll probably sit and watch the snow fall and listen to some tunes and then probably watch an Arrested Development or two. Speaking of Arrested Development, I had a customer come in the other day who was looking for it, but could not remember what its name was. He described it thusly: "That HBO show about the screwed up family where the dad was a secret agent in Iraq. It's called distorted something." Just in case you've never seen the show, I will fill you in on the fact that there is nothing accurate about what the man said, except that the program is about a screwed up family.

Work on Lysistrata has commenced in earnest, and by this time next week the show will have opened. I am very much looking forward to that.

Tomorrow we will be snowed in, and we will do a lot of work on the house, hopefully. I will have biscuits with breakfast.

The other day I saw someone who looked exactly like a Jewish Ricky Elz (more Jewish than he already looks, that is). It looked so much like him that I didn't think to myself, "Wow, that guy really looks like Ricky Elz," but rather, "Why is Ricky Elz in Baltimore wearing a yarmulke?"

Potato soup is good.

Two Things

First, I'm starting to get spam comments on old blog posts, which is annoying. Suck mah duck, comment spammers!

Second, there's a guy that comes into work like, every day, and today I realized that he looks like a chunky and mentally challenged Brad Pitt. A little bit.

Postscript

Mouse House update: I forgot to mention yesterday that we have not seen any rodent activity or rodent poop in the house for several weeks. We think that when we plugged the holes in our kitchen that we really did take care of all the mouse entryways, and that the 4 mice that we caught in the days following our hole-plugging had just been living in the bottom of the stove.

Also forgot to mention that the new Laura Veirs album is really good. Very good, in fact. An early candidate for album of the year. A taste:

	Laura Veirs - July Flame
	Found at July Flame on KOhit.net

Pork = Smoke

Haven't written in awhile, but shit's been going on and that's what happens. I was off work for many days in a row over last weekend, and my sister and nephew were visiting DC, so I spent some time driving them around and whatnot. It was nice to have them around. We went to dinner at Ban Thai one night and it was delicious. I must remember that I really like that place.

We didn't get a whole lot of work done on the house during my days off, but I did manage to find a couple of decent doors (Lino, for some reason, got rid of most of the doors in the house, except for the basement door and attic door), so once we get the stupid things hung (which, in the case of the bathroom is proving to be tricky business) we'll be able to start working on trim and other finishing-type details in the bathroom. Still, a long long way to go.

After my stretch of days off work, my mood has improved dramatically. I no longer feel like I want to kill every person that comes into the B&N, and I feel cheerful and motivated. It is very very nice, and much better than the way I was feeling before my time off.

A co-worker who shall remain unnamed to avoid any legal repercussions was able to furnish me with a copy of Midlake's new album. It's pretty damn good. I would describe it as pastoral prog-rock. Nice harmonies, nice acoustic guitars, nice song structures.

Started working on our taxes last night. I want my guv'ment dolla billz!

Real Heat at Last

Life is rolling on. Work has settled back into boringness, some slight progress has been made on Lysistrata, and work continues on the house. We got our first heating bill and are sad because it's higher than we thought it would be and we've been trying to keep our house pretty chilly. Oh well. I guess a lack of insulation will do that.

Been re-watching the last season of LOST, getting ready for the airing of the final season. I am reminded that watching the show on DVD (or illegal download, as the case may be) is much better than watching it on TV. Anyway, I am looking forward to the rest of the episodes.

Been thinking a bit about recording some music. Not really sure about how to go about it. Should I try and set up a temporary little workstation in the basement? Should I get out The Boss and just do some acoustic sketches? Should I just wait until a room is finished where I can set everything up? Not sure. I'm thinking that for the next set of songs I work on, I'm going to try and stay away from the acoustic guitar. Not sure. No real ideas yet. Little flashes of lyrics go by in my head but that's about it. Like watching a fish swimming in a clear stream. Or a muddy stream, which is probably a better analogy. And actually, it's probably more like a turd than a fish. Anyway, you get the idea.

My friend Jenn posted this blog the other day on fecebook. It's pretty hi-larious.

What else? Our friend Katie the North American Traveler is back in Baltimore and is going to be living in our neighborhood, which is pretty cool. And my sister Patty and her son Kevin are going to be visiting us this week, which should be fun as well. They're pretty much just going to be sleeping here and spending their days in DC, but it will be good to see them.

VERSHITZON

I would like to submit that there is nothing in the world more brain draining than being on the phone with the phone company attempting to take care of a problem with your phone line.

Yesterday, after one such very long phone call, I was rescued by Jeannie and Katie and we went out to dinner at the local Mexican joint, Los Amigos. Which is not great but it'll work when you have a craving for a Mexican place and you've been sitting in a dark corner of the living room all day.

THINGS TO DO:
1. start doing actual work on lighting Lysistrata.
2. start exercising again.
3. put the rubble from our basement into THE BAGSTER.
4. find a door for our potty.
5. read through old blog posts to find out if I get depressed every year at this time or if this is new.

It really is lovely taking a shower in the new bathroom. It's nice and tall, and the water pressure is good, and it's easy to make the water the right pressure, and the shower curtain lets just the right amount of light through. We need to finesse the drain mechanism a little bit because it's not working right, and when we do I look forward to taking a few baths, but for now I'm just gonna really enjoy the shower.

Settling In, or Mouse House 2

We have settled into our new place, which is 1,000,000 times better than the apartment we were living in. I cannot tell you how good it feels to be out of that place. We're continuing to work on the bathroom, and also starting on the living room and bedroom. Since moving in, though, our rate of work has slowed drastically, which is a good thing. It's going to take awhile to get everything done, but there's no real hurry and we won't kill ourselves (and each other) in the process.

There are mousies in the new house. We thought we had successfully plugged the hole where they were getting in, but we caught 4 mice in 3 days so I guess they're getting in somewhere else. I feel bad for those poor little mice. But I also want them to stay the fuck out of my house.

I might be becoming bipolar or something. Going crazy in some way. I have had some moments lately where I get real crankypants in a major way for a few minutes, and then it passes. Or, like today I feel like I've been under a dark cloud all day. Which is odd for me. I don't like it, and I know it's hard on the Jeanners because she's the one who gets the brunt of it (although the customers at work get it, too, in a much more subtle way). Maybe I just need to get back to exercising or something.

Maybe I just need to listen to more Phil Collins because I swear, 'Easy Lover' rocks. Do it.

Anyway, my pick for best album of 2009 is Phoenix' Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. An easy pick. Also, I downloaded my first bona fide rap song the other day. Jay Z's 'Empire State of Mind.' I can feel my street cred rising as we speak.