Random Lunacy

The Amazing, Ever-Expanding Laundry Room Sink Replacement Project

2008-03-22T18:17:20Z

(Crossposted from LJ, because I remembered to post it here too, for once!)

To recap, for those joining our story mid-episode: it all started with a broken stopper in the laundry room sink. Now, sure, we could have just fixed the stopper... or even gotten a new faucet set, which would have completely replaced the old stopper. But we'd never really liked the sink in the laundry room (it was a standard bathroom sink and not very usable), so we figured we'd just get a nice utility sink for that spot... which would mean getting a new counter-top and actually a new vanity/cabinet to put it in (since the old one had drawers where the new sink would need to be). The psychics at the Home Depot credit card department were working overtime that week and happened to send us a "12 months same as cash" coupon, followed two days later by a "10% off your entire purchase" coupon. Score! So, we bought the new cabinet, new countertop, new sink and new faucet... and tore out the old one.

Which is where it really starts to gain steam. We looked at the walls (not painted where the old cabinet used to be) and decided that while the cabinet was out, we may as well paint the room. And if we're going to be moving the washer and dryer anyway, and the cabinet was already out, why not replace that ratty old linoleum with tile? Oh! And we've always wanted a *window* in this room! (Seriously, it had a wall that just cried out "I should have a window!")

We'd originally planned on taking down the old wire-rack shelving and replacing it with some spiffy new wood shelving to match the one cabinet we'd already purchased... except that turned out to be WAY more expensive than we would have thought. And after checking with Home Depot again, we discovered we could get a roomful of cabinets for less than the shelving system we'd been looking at (and they're actually decent cabinets -- nothing fancy, but sturdy and nice-looking). Once again, the psychics at the Home Depot credit department, sensing the impending expansion of our project (or perhaps just annoyed that we'd already paid off the last batch of stuff), sent us *another* coupon. Their timing really is impeccable.

Then we decided we wanted to put in another countertop, in the area between the door and the washer. It was an odd size (18 inches by 6 feet), but we figured we'd just get another of the prefab countertops and wing it. Except in the intervening months, they'd quit carrying the color counter we'd previously purchased. *headdesk* We spent a Saturday morning touring all of the area Home Depots on the off-chance someone still had it in stock and started chatting with an employee at one of them who finally said "Have you considered just going with tile?" So, um, yeah... now we're doing tile countertops to match our floor.

After we picked out our tile, we realized that the old light blue-ish grey toilet, while still perfectly usable and in good condition, really wasn't going to work... so a week or so ago, we picked a new one up at CostCo (it was on special... and, even better, it was the style that we'd really wanted. The dual flush type, with a split button on top of the tank, like practically every toilet we saw when we were in Australia). And then we decided to bring the tile out into the little hallway in front of the laundry room. Not too much of a problem, considering everything else we have planned.

Long story slightly shorter, so far we've torn out the old cabinet/sink, put in a window, painted, put in a new light fixture, ripped out the old flooring, and replaced all the outlets and light switches with fancy new white ones (the old ones were that color optimistically referred to as "Ivory" but were really more of a dirty, dingy looking off-white, sort of like the old color of the walls). Honestly, even with just a bare concrete floor at this point, it *still* looks better than it used to!

Today we'll be putting up the upper cabinets on the washer and dryer side of the room, and I'm pretty excited about it (and, okay, I'm sure you've realized by now that for the most part when I say "we" I mean rackham and whatever friends we manage to talk into giving us a hand -- because aside from some of the painting, my shoulders still aren't up to this kind of work). I've been taking plenty of pictures, and as we get a bit closer to being done, I'll probably see about posting a few!

Sunday Evening Musings

2007-09-17T02:54:43Z

Alas, I'm not watching the Emmy's, so I can't join in all the commenting... because, of course, even though the awards ceremony is being held here in the Pacific time zone, we won't get it until three hours after the rest of the country. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And even more stupid, why would anyone on the west coast bother watching? Since all the results are being discussed everywhere online already anyway, by the rest of the country who gets to watch it live.

I'm pretty sure everyone has some type of food that they consider to be "poor food." I don't mean that in a derogatory way... it's just the sort of meal your parents were likely to serve when the money and fresh food supplies started running out before payday. My parents had a bit of an odd choice for "poor food": salmon patties with french fries and fry sauce. My mom would buy canned salmon on sale and keep it in the food storage, and we generally always had saltine crackers and eggs on hand... then it was just a matter of either using frozen french fries or making them from scratch if we had the potatoes. And, of course, fry sauce is just mayo and ketchup. I mention this, because it's what I fixed for dinner tonight... still yummy after all these years. But do you know how hard it is to find saltines without high fructose corn syrup?!? I know it's just a tiny amount, but sheesh, why do we need HFCS in saltine crackers?!?! We ended up running down to PCC Natural Food Market in Kirkland last night to pick up some organic saltines.

In other news, I've got the freezer all stocked with Kashi frozen dinners (they were conveniently on sale at Safeway yesterday) and I picked up four tank tops yesterday at Target, to wear with some of rackham's button down shirts. I'm trying to get my fill of playing LOTRO, since it's fairly difficult to do one-handed, meaning it's likely to be a few weeks before I can do much with my characters there again. My cough finally seems to be subsiding, although it's hard to tell because I've been taking Mucinex-D at regular intervals (pleasebegonebyTuesdaypleasebegonebyTuesday).

My m-i-l was IM-ing with us earlier today from Cairns, having just left Brisbane (I believe my f-i-l is speaking at several different climate/pollution conferences around Australia and New Zealand, so they decided to make a huge vacation out of it). I'm so jealous... I would love to go back to Australia! I still need to decide if there's anything Australian I want them to pick up for me that I can't get mail order here in the US. It's been so long since we were there, that I'm beginning to forget all the fun things we found... and it's too early to have them snag some Christmas candy/chocolate. Anyway, she made a very good suggestion for the upcoming surgery trip, recommending taking along a towel and a bowl for use on the drive home after the surgery. I wouldn't have thought of that, but I suspect it might come in handy (given the way I tend to react to anesthetics). I'm really hoping that I'm so drugged up that I'll just sleep the whole way home, but I doubt I'll be that lucky. :-p

Getting ready for surgery

2007-09-14T22:54:55Z

(Sorry to be spamming your flists today... I just have a lot to say!)

I swear I've got about a Christmas level of anticipation for the surgery... I woke up early yesterday morning with that eager sort of feeling, having apparently convinced myself in my sleep that it was Tuesday. I was highly disappointed to realize I still had nearly a week to go before my appointment.

This weekend is going to be filled with making preparations for the surgery... or, more accurately, for after the surgery. I have one big advantage in that I have at least a small idea of what I will and will not be able to do afterward. And, in fact, I'll be much better off than I was after the car accident when I really couldn't use either arm for anything... with the right arm completely unusable and the left one unable to do much above waist level, it meant I couldn't use the microwave, I couldn't reach the dishes, plus I had difficulty brushing my hair and even just getting dressed. This time I'll at least have one arm capable of doing pretty much anything I need.

I've got some spray deodorant (after we got to their house after the accident, it was one of the first things I asked my in-laws to buy for me -- when you can't lift your arm at all, there's very little in this world better than being able to get at least some sort of anti-perspirant in your armpit). I need to pick up some more microwavable dinners for my lunches (Kashi is my friend!) and also see about getting some large, loose button down shirts (most of the ones I got after the accident were thick and flannel, since it was winter) and a few tank-tops (I tossed the ones I had, since they were all pulled out of shape from being yanked around over non-functioning arms). And, of course, there's the big stuff... cleaning the house in preparation for not being able to do much for a month. We were lucky after the accident... we'd left for our Christmas trip a day late and had spent the extra time giving the house a bit of a deep clean, so it was in great shape when we got home and were unable to do much. I'd like to repeat that, if I can manage it.

I called the Orthopaedic Surgeon's office this morning, just to double-check that everything was squared away... mostly that the insurance companies are all on board (since this will exhaust our funds from the car insurance, our regular insurance is stepping up to cover the rest). I also wanted to find out about things like followup appointments (especially since the office is on the other side of the state) and when I'd be starting PT. I'm glad I did, since it looks like they'll want me back about a week later to check my progress and to remove stitches (which means rackham needs to let his boss know he'll be gone for a day). As for PT, it'll depend on what they wind up having to do, which makes sense. They're pretty sure about a few things (the tear in the labrum, the frayed tendons/ligaments) but are also going to be checking around for other damage to the joint and fixing whatever they find.

!!TMI Warning!! I think the thing I'm most looking forward to with the outcome of this surgery is being able to wear regular bras again. I couldn't wear one at all for quite some time after the accident... and I've only been able to work up to wearing sports bras (since they don't put quite the same amount of pressure on the shoulder and the straps tend to be closer to the neck). It seems like such a minor thing, but it's been a real hassle.

Oh, and there's the whole lifting things and being able to sit like a normal person and sleep without having to prop myself into certain positions and, well, a whole host of things...

At this point, my biggest worry is that I haven't managed to quite shake the cough I picked up when I was in Louisville... if I'm still having lung issues when I go in for my Pre-Op appointment on Tuesday, they won't be doing the surgery on Wednesday which would really, really suck.

That Career thing

2007-09-14T22:53:17Z

I've been meaning to post this for a few days now and kept putting it off...

1. Go to Careercruising.com.
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top results:

1. Computer Programmer -- Not surprised by this one at all

2. Computer Support Person -- This just makes me laugh, because I selected "Dislike" for the question about dealing with people and "Strongly Dislike" for the question about teaching and training people. Apparently, that means I have the perfect personality for Computer Support. Hee!

3. Business Systems Analyst -- I have no clue what this is, but I did say I wasn't at all interested in how businesses work. Weird.

4. Web Developer -- I've done this one and still do occasional work with it.

5. Database Developer -- I could see this, especially since I've been thinking of learning how to do it, already.

6. Video Game Developer -- This is really more of a subcategory of #1, isn't it?

7. Computer Engineer -- Not entirely sure what this is in comparison to Computer Programmer. Dealing more with the hardware? I do that all the time.

8. Multimedia Developer -- Again, a subcategory of #1

9. Optometrist & 10. Optical / Ophthalmic Lab Technician -- Huh. Interesting

11. Website Designer -- Okay, isn't this the exact same thing at #4? Been there, done that

12. Stationary Engineer -- O_o An engineer who stands still? What?

13. Power Plant Operator -- ewww-kay

14. Tailor / Dressmaker -- Not something I'm really interested in... and wouldn't that involve working closely with, you know, people?

15. Electronics Engineering Tech & 16. Electrical Engineering Tech -- Yay! Electronics!! I wonder what the exact differences are between the two.

17. Forensics Specialist -- Hmmm... that can't be as cool as it sounds...

18. Avionics Tech -- When I graduated from high school, the Air Force tried VERY HARD to recruit me to be an aircraft mechanic. Apparently, they were on to something.

19. Fashion Designer -- *sputter* *sporfle* ROFLMAO... That's just... *lapses into another fit of hysterical laughter*

20. Conservator -- I'm not sure what this is... something like an archivist?

21. Dental Assistant -- I could do that, as long as I didn't have to be anywhere near any syringes... and it's not like people end up talking to you a lot.

22. Electrician -- This is something I've often thought would be interesting to learn.

23. Dental Lab Tech -- Again, doable... especially since it is much more likely to not deal with syringes or people.

24. Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator -- Yeah, if I could, oh, I don't know... draw?

25. Biomedical Engineer -- Fun!!

26. Chemist & 27. Chemical Engineering Tech -- Both sound interesting, but I have never taken a chemistry course in my life.

28. Explosives Specialist -- There's a part of me that thinks I'd enjoy this... and another part that's gibbering in the corner at the thought of handling explosives.

29. Optician -- Goes along with #9 and #10, I guess...

30. Electronics Repairer -- I've done this one, back at the job I had in high school... we rented out VCRs and TVs and had to do some of the basic maintenance and repairs ourselves. Much easier in those days than it would be today.

31. Small Engine Mechanic -- I could see this, too. I did all the maintenance on my first car and really enjoyed it.

32. Security Systems Technician -- I'd have to deal with people again, wouldn't I?

33. Materials / Metallurgical Engineer -- Huh. Not sure what they do, but it sounds interesting.

34. Physicist -- Physics is an enjoyable hobby. I don't think I'd want to sully that by taking it up as a profession.

35. Helicopter Pilot & 36. Pilot -- Not something I'd considered. Ever. Not sure what I think about it, really, except that my depth perception is bad enough, I don't think it would work.

37. Picture Framer -- As in framing pictures? That's a career?

38. Medical Lab Tech -- As long as there weren't any syringes involved...

39. Upholsterer -- That could be fun.

40. Writer -- What I wanted to be from about the age of 10. Did some freelance work for a few years and wouldn't mind giving it a whirl again.

I realized that it sort of looks like I hate people, but it's not that at all... I just really don't enjoy jobs that require dealing with a whole lot of strangers. I used to find it invigorating, but now it just wears me down.

Oh, and an addendum to my last post... I've been listening to the radio this afternoon and during the news at the top of the hour the newsreader kept talking about the President visiting Marines at (and I'm spelling this sort of phonetically) kwan-TEE-ko. It took a few minutes to realize she meant Quantico. The sad part is that no one seems to have bothered to correct her pronunciation, because it hasn't changed all afternoon. I actually feel a bit embarrassed for her.

Spoonerisms, they'll get you every time...

2007-09-14T22:51:33Z

A headline out at KING 5 News this morning:

"Bit pulls in Mount Baker attack to be euthanized."

Not a funny story, but I still couldn't help giggling at it.

And for a few more editorial errors... we have a small local (and free) weekly paper called the Kirkland Reporter. Just in doing a brief skim through last week's edition, I found one place where they spelled the word "beach" as "beack" and the headline "Dunn's death blaimed on blood clot."

Okay, forget needing a good proofreader/editor... do they not even bother using a spellchecker?!?! Sheesh.

Surgery - Yay!

2007-08-24T15:26:16Z

So, I mentioned that I'd gone to see an orthopaedic surgeon over on the other side of the state... there's a pair of them in Colfax (which is, quite literally, in the middle of wheat fields -- you really have to want to go to Colfax to get there) who specialize in the sort of shoulder injury I sustained in the car accident (for those who may have stumbled across my LJ recently, Rackham and I were in a fairly nasty car accident at the end of December 2005 (I've got links, if you're interested, to several entries about it in my memories, including the entry I made the night of the accident)). The ortho I was seeing here locally was actually quite good, but his specialties are knees and hips... and since he couldn't see anything obvious in the MRI of my shoulder, he'd switched to what I call the Hunt & Poke method of diagnosis (which I understand is a perfectly legitimate way to do it, just not my favorite -- basically, sticking a needle into the shoulder joint and injecting cortisone, then moving to a new location if that doesn't help... once you find the place it helps, then that's where the problem is). So, on the recommendation of my step-dad the physical therapist, I made an appointment with one of the orthopaedic surgeons in Colfax (I should point out that there are plenty of good orthos here in our area, it's just that these guys are among the best at treating this type of injury... good enough that they can stay in Colfax and have people come to them).

To back up a bit, in the accident I broke my right shoulder in three places. Considering the amount of pain I was in from that (to give you an idea, I had a piece of glass sticking out of my foot that I never felt and only found because I noticed a hole in my sock a few hours later in the ER), the bruises, strains, and the general achiness and stiffness I experienced afterward, I wound up not noticing how bad my left shoulder was until about a week after the accident. We'd finally made it home and the first time I went to grab a plate out of the cupboard, I discovered I couldn't lift my left arm anywhere near shoulder level, much less high enough to reach the shelf. I had several months of PT where the main concern was the broken shoulder, but we did do a bit of work on the left one, getting to a point where I could mostly use it for everything... except for this annoying catch and pop it did whenever I lifted it above shoulder level. Or pulled something toward me. Or tossed something away. And my shoulders kept getting tired easily and achy (to be expected at first, but it just wasn't going away). This led to an MRI and the aforementioned Hunt & Poke.

I was really impressed with my new orthopaedic surgeon (I did like my old one as well, just... this is not his area of expertise). She spent about an hour with me, all told. Not just going over the various x-rays and MRI results, but doing a rather in-depth hands-on examination. At one point, to test her theory, she had me lay down on the table with my shoulder off the edge and she was able to pull my shoulder in and out of joint with pretty much no effort at all. So, the run-down on what's going on: torn labrum (the tissue around the ball-joint of the shoulder), possible torn rotator cuff, frayed ligaments and/or tendons (I'm afraid I don't remember which). Essentially, the things that would normally hold my shoulder in the joint are not able to do so... and it actually slides forward out of the joint, which is why it catches and pops when I use it. This is also putting a lot of strain on everything else attached to the shoulder, which is why the shoulder gets fatigued easily and why I have some problems with the area where the clavicle meets the sternum (because it's being tipped out a bit). This is also likely the source of the rib that keeps getting dislocated.

The answer? Surgery. And yes, I meant every iota of the "Yay!" in the subject line -- I am so ready for this to be *OVER*.

So, on September 18th, I get to head across to the other side of the state again for my pre-op appointment, stay overnight in Colfax and then get up bright and early the next morning for my surgery... which is generally an outpatient procedure. The ortho is going to go in laparoscopically and fix the tear in the labrum, anchor the frayed tendons/ligaments and check the rotator cuff for tears, fixing them if they're found. It'll mean no driving for a month (which is probably going to drive me insane... it nearly did after the car accident) and around three to four months of recuperation. But then (and I can't even begin to contemplate how wonderful this will be) it should done. Over. Finished.

We actually would have scheduled the surgery sooner, except I'm leaving next week to visit Nmissi and to drive down to Atlanta to visit Rosiewook and go to Dragon*Con.

It seems like I remember someone on my LJ flist mentioning having had shoulder surgery... was it Ayinhara? Anyway, mostly I'm curious about anyone who might have had experience with anything like this... so far, the few people I've talked to who've had similar surgeries have all raved about how effective it was (and warned me it's going to be painful afterward, but really... I highly doubt it'll be more painful than a broken shoulder/acromion process).

But everyone is doing it...

2007-08-07T04:12:33Z

Since it seems to be the thing to do, here's where you can find me on three of the other popular LJ-style blogsites:

LiveJournal (my main journal site)

GreatestJournal

JournalFen

Like many others, I'm not planning on leaving LJ (especially since I have a permanent account -- purchased long enough ago that it's paid for itself, thankfully), but I accept the idea that LJ may leave me. Until then, the other journals are going to end up being mostly a reflection of that one.

Looking for a good quality screencap

2007-08-06T01:11:22Z

Does anyone know where I can get a really good screencap of the Angel drawing Spike made for his punching bag in, I think, "Chosen"?

I was just thinking it would be an excellent addition to the pictures on the August pages of the official BtVS calendar...

fenchurche @ 2007-07-24T15:45:00

2007-07-24T22:47:40Z

Sheesh. LiveJournal is down *again*?!?!

ETA: Huh. Apparently, LJ's server farm is in the middle of a power outage. At least that's the rumor.

EATA: And, it's made SlashDot!

Side effect of Potterdammerung?

2007-07-18T21:18:08Z

So, what happened? Did rampant HP spoilage crash LiveJournal?

A lovely summer day

2007-07-13T06:13:31Z

About 20 degrees cooler than yesterday, yay! It literally felt like an oven outside yesterday... even though it was only about 97 (and I can hear my Arizona friends laughing now), that's just not a temperature we see around here very often. Today, I barely had to run the air conditioning.

I'm going to Dragon*Con!!!

Okay, so I'd planned on it already and I'd purchased my D*C membership a few weeks ago, as well as tickets to the James Marsters concert that same weekend... but yesterday I bought my airplane ticket! I'll be flying into Louisville, so I can visit nmissi for a few days before and after the convention... and, weirdly, it was much cheaper to fly in there than to fly into Altanta, even though I have layovers in Atlanta both directions. And better still, the reason I bought my tickets yesterday was the weekly TravelZoo Top 20 newsletter arrived, mentioning an airfare sale over at Orbitz... it ended up costing about $100 less than when I was checking the same route just a week ago! rosiewook has already graciously agreed to let me crash at her place during the convention, so all that's left is to reserve a rental car! And it seems like practically everyone is going to Dragon*Con this year, so I'm hoping to meet up with a bunch of people during the con. Squee!!!

In Numfar news... on Monday we took her back in to our regular vet to get the first booster on her vaccinations. Our vet seemed to be of the opinion that the vet who'd worked on her at the Humane Society was very clearly on crack, although of course he didn't put it in those exact terms. She's got some nasty scar tissue from the spaying... he checked up on it again during this visit and thinks that it should clear up a bit more eventually and that it's not herniated (which was his main worry). Oh, yeah, and I finally remembered to ask him how old he thought she was... and learned that several of our assumptions (based on the Humane Society's info sheet) were completely wrong and my guess of her age upon seeing her for the first time was actually pretty good. Yes, ladies and gents, we have ourselves a kitten! Our vet checked her teeth and said that she's only about four months old... *maybe* as much as five months old (since she still doesn't have all of her adult teeth). Counting back, that means the people who brought her to the Humane Society got her when she was eight weeks old... so they had to know exactly how old she was when they brought her in and apparently felt they needed to make stuff up.

And finally, if anyone is interested, the coconut husk garden mulch I was talking about yesterday is The Original Mulch Block, which is possibly the most boring and UNoriginal name they could have come up with. However, I'm absolutely loving this stuff... and I'm also inordinately pleased with myself for managing to take the whole project slowly. I worked on it again today and spread another three blocks of the stuff on the flower bed and then stopped. Yeah, it doesn't seem like that should be an issue, but I usually have a problem working on things in stages... once I start on something, I really do like to just work on it straight through until it's done, however long that takes and however much it wears me out. So, I've ended up with the slightly odd situation of feeling like I've really accomplished something when I manage to make myself not finish a project. :-p And the flower bed isn't looking half-bad, either!

Passionfruit! Stupid things! No more cedar!

2007-07-13T06:12:00Z

Last Friday, I found some passionfruit at a local grocery store for a not-completely-hideously-high price... and, of course, that means only one thing: cheesecake!!! So, rackham made cheesecake on Sunday evening and we've been indulging in a slice every night since then, with wonderful fresh passionfruit pulp squeezed over the top. Yum!

The last few days a few things have cropped up that have made me want to smack my head on the desk a few times, because obviously my brain hasn't been working (warning, this is all rather boring and somewhat embarrassing, but I figure if I share, maybe I'll be inspired to use my brain a bit more often in the future).

Stupid thing #1: Yes, the brand of shampoo really does matter.

About three months ago or so, I ran out of my regular shampoo... which is a bit on the pricier side (although I generally buy the mondo bottle and it lasts me over a year) and can only be purchased at licensed outlets (okay, it's Aveda). I didn't exactly have the time to run up to the Aveda store in Alderwood and I was leaving on a trip so I picked up something from the grocery store that looked like it would do the job... and it did. In fact, I was actually fairly happy with it... enough so, that when my hair started having problems a few weeks later, I didn't connect it with the change in shampoo. So, for the last few months I've been battling horrible hair day after horrible hair day. And then three days ago I stumbled across a bit of the old shampoo still in my cupboard and the wheels in my brain suddenly began turning... Two days of hair washing later, and my hair is happy, healthy and cooperative. *headdesk* I sure could have saved myself a few months of grief if I'd put two and two together back in the beginning.

Stupid thing #2: Hey, did you know Outlook has its own Junkmail folder?

I didn't. Well, I did... you know, in a theoretical sort of way, but not in a practical "Oh, I should check the Junkmail folder to see if the mail I've been missing has been languishing there for the past SIX MONTHS." *headdesk again*

Part of the problem is that we were using some REALLY good spam filtering software on our mail server until the first part of the year when we had to find a different spam filtering solution... and the previous one was good enough that the Outlook junkmail folder was a dusty wasteland of nothingness, so I had quit checking it and completely got out of the habit. Considering how long things had been piling up since the switchover, I was a bit surprised that there were only about 3500 messages in there (meaning our alternate spam filtering methods were actually working, mostly) with around 200 of them from email lists I really did want to read: a bunch of CJ stuff, everything ever sent on the Beta-reading email list I'm on, half the stuff sent to another SF&F list since February... you get the idea. I'm just glad I noticed the lack of messages from CJ this last week (when I knew there had been some) and finally thought to check it out. *add another headdesk for good measure*

And, finally, I found the coolest stuff up at Top Foods recently, in their garden department... it's a garden mulch made from shredded coconut husks! It looks quite a bit like regular bark mulch but is much more lightweight (it has to be rehydrated after you spread it) and comes in a compact little cube wrapped in plastic, so it's easy to transport. Even better, it's not cedar!!! No more worrying about itchy eyes, swollen eyes, swollen throat, or having my lungs seize up. Yay!

Hot, soon to be hazy, day of summer

2007-07-05T03:57:43Z

Happy Independence Day!!!

We've had a fun day at home... did a little bit of work in the yard this morning, before the temperatures got too high (and yes, here in the Seattle area that means anything above about 75F) then ran out to Trader Joe's to pick up a few last minute things for tonight's dinner with taradaktyl and her family... it was so nice, because there was almost no one on the road! Bonus!

The good, the bad and the ugly of our broken air conditioner:

The good: We were able to get a repairman out yesterday to look at, only about a week after we discovered it wasn't working.

The bad: We had at least two days last week where we had to retreat into the basement. Yes, I know we're wimps, but once it gets over 80 upstairs, I just can't get anything done.

The good: Apparently, it's just a blown capacitor (although sadly not a flux capacitor... because that would be neat! Except I have no idea how we'd get the house up to 88mph and I suspect the 1.21 gigawatts needed would be murder on the electricity bill).

The bad: They don't have that part in stock.

The good: It can be express mailed overnight.

The bad: Today is a holiday, meaning it won't be delivered today anyway.

The good: Even though the repairman's schedule is booked solid on Thursday, it will take him about 15 minutes, tops, to replace the part... if he isn't able to swing by between appointments during the day, he says he'll just stop by on his way home.

The even more good: The diagnostic visit, the new capacitor, the shipping and the installation visit are not going to cost us an arm and a leg. Still not cheap, but it's not going to break the bank. Yay!

The bad: With all the fireworks likely to be set off tonight, it's going to get smoky around here... and we aren't going to be able to seal up the house and let the AC clean the air.

The ugly: Instead of waiting until the day after Independence Day, summer showed up two days early (which is really not all that peculiar, we were just hoping the old local joke about it would hold true this year). It got up to about 84 upstairs yesterday, is currently 80 up there now and will likely be just as warm tomorrow. We have figured out the best way to work the blinds and curtains to maximize cooler temperatures in the house. We're maintaining at about 77-78 in the basement (which is where we usually keep the temperature with the air conditioning) and it should start cooling off outside any time now. Rackham fixed the blinds in the front of the room down here so we can open them, which means we can open the windows on the "cool" side of the house once the temps drop and that should help a lot, too. I'm still looking forward to having the AC working again tomorrow, though.

And now for something that's likely to be a regular occurence:

Tales... Of... Numfar!
After we got Numfar home, we left the cat carrier sitting, open, in the upstairs hallway... giving her somewhere at least somewhat familiar to curl up in. Well, on Sunday I was walking down the hallway and noticed something in the back of the carrier... I reached in and pulled out a white Beanie Baby mouse! Weird. Somewhat confused, I was trying to think where we could have been with the carrier in the car that would have sold something like that... and then it hit me. The mouse belonged to Rackham and was usually kept on his desk next to his computer monitor! So she had gotten on the desk, grabbed the toy mouse, hopped down, carried it up the stairs, down the hall and into the pet carrier! Even funnier, a little while after we put it back, Rackham was holding Numfar at his desk and she suddenly whipped around and lunged for the mouse! Hee!

The first night after we brought her home, we kept her in the bathroom... just to be on the safe side, until she was a little more used to us and the house. Sunday night we left her out and woke up Monday morning with Numfar curled up my feet and Zoë curled up on Rackham's, looking a little put out about the other cat being on HER bed with HER people. There was even more of a surprise in store, though, when I reached the stairs to the basement that morning. Sitting right in the middle of the stairway, in the middle of the stair, was Scorch, the Beanie Baby dragon my mom had given me and that I normally keep on a ledge behind my monitor. And then down at the base of the stairs was the little beanie-style Herbie the Love Bug someone had given Rackham that was, you guessed it, normally kept on his desk. He came stumbling downstairs a little while later, carrying the little stuffed blue fairy penguin we picked up at the Phillip Island Penguin Parade in Australia... he'd stepped on it when he got out of bed.

Every morning is now a treasure hunt, trying to track down the various small stuffed animals placed randomly around the house!

New Cat!

2007-07-03T18:23:25Z

Before I get on with recounting the day's activities, I need to bring up something I haven't mentioned about our blind cat Polly, even though I probably should have written about it two months ago or so. At the time it was too tough to talk about, and then I put it off because I hadn't said anything and it had been so long it seemed a bit awkward. Back in May, the day before I left on my trip down to California, Polly passed away of kidney failure. We were expecting it, really, but it was still hard when it finally happened. I think leaving on such an extended trip right afterward was probably a good thing, overall... by the time I got home, I'd dealt with missing her and I didn't really ever have to deal with the pangs of being somewhere that was "her space" without her there.

For about the past week, we've been on the lookout for a new cat. We miss having two cats around and Zoë has been showing definite signs of being lonely -- she and Polly must have been interacting much more than we ever thought... because as far as we knew, all Polly ever did was hiss at Zoë, who began to treat such a thing as just Polly's way of saying "Hi!!" Apparently they were covertly speaking to one another in the secret silent cat language the whole time. We've been definitely looking for an adult cat, since we didn't want a kitten (they're cute and cuddly and a whole lot of work), although trying to find one on the younger side. So today we headed to the Seattle Humane Society Adoption Center (which is, rather strangely if you know the area, located in Bellevue (i.e. NOT Seattle)).

She was the actually very first cat we looked at when we walked into the first of the cat rooms (they'd placed her in the Library... a room designed to look like a library, with shelves and ladders for the cats to climb on). She hopped up onto a shelf, came right over and headbutted me in the face and then ran over to do the same to Rackham and we were hooked. We did take a token look at the other cats, but we were pretty much sold on her right from the start.

The vets with the Humane Society estimate that she's about a year and a half old and it's pretty obvious she's had kittens in the past. She was found as a stray about two months ago, but absolutely loves people, so we're guessing she used to have a home somewhere. She's a grey/black striped tabby and she's TINY (I suspect she had her first litter of kittens way too young). Oh, and she's a very loud purrer.

We'd been been bouncing potential names off each other through the whole "adoption" process... with Kaylee, Chanur and Numfar ending up as our top contenders. We figured we'd get her home and spend some more time with her before deciding... but after the third or fourth time one of us slipped up and, without thinking, called her Numfar, we decided that had to be it.

She's been very hard to photograph since she still has her investigating feet on and is moving rather quickly around the house, but here's a shot of her checking out the piano:

It's hard to tell in that photo, but she really is quite tiny... in fact, if they hadn't told us she was a year and a half old, I would have pegged her as being around 9 months old -- very much a gangly, gawky teenager looking cat. But she's very affectionate and, even better, seemed to treat our holding her down and putting caps on her claws as one of the greatest things ever ("There are two humans here! And they're touching me! Glee!")

Poor Zoë just doesn't know quite what to make of Numfar... there's only been a minimal amount of hissing, and Numfar seems to have hit upon *the* best way to get Zoë's goat: Ignore her. So, Numfar's wandering around exploring the house, completely ignoring Zoë who is trailing behind her everywhere she goes... keeping about a yard or so between them at all times. Very funny! But we have high hopes that they'll get used to one another quickly.

Hello again

2007-06-24T00:19:06Z

I didn't plan on ever really using this journal, but enough of my friends are on IJ now that I figured I'd better at least post *something*.

I will say that it does look like a decent alternative to LJ, in case things ever go horribly wrong over there... and I may see about updating both (although I have a hard enough time remembering to update my LJ alone, just less remembering to post over here as well).