March is nearly gone

Random bits of what I've been up to lately.

I took last weekend off from the hotel, because I needed to desperately get caught up with things around the house, especially the shower that was on the fritz. I also ordered upgrades for Darklord, and was looking forward to putting together Darklord Mark 4. Got all the parts assembled Friday night, then spent the weekend fighting with BIOS upgrade weirdness, Windows installation weirdness, video card weirdness, hard drive weirdness ... finally determined it was a bad motherboard, and shipped it back for replacement Monday. I've been living off the laptop all week.

Saturday, when not being bugged by the computer issue, I spent the day in the tub removing ancient valves and plumbing. I'm not a plumber, even though I've been told I have the crack for it. Thankfully, most plumbing goes together in a fairly logical way once you squint properly. I made my first trip to the hardware store for the tool I needed to get the valves out of the wall pipes, then once I managed to disassemble everything (with Andy's help in some instances - those pipes were old and corroded) I bagged up all the old parts and made my second trip to the hardware store. Andy and I spent the next 45 minutes matching old components to new components, with the help of a part-time clerk who apologized for not knowing where everything was, as he was part time and not normally in plumbing. We finally were down to one washer, when I happened to spy on the bottom of the shelf a kit that included ALL the parts we were searching for ... cheaper in a bundle. The clerk was a good sport about it; I think he enjoyed helping us more than what ever it was he was doing when we came around.

Got home, and found that the new kit had some pieces that I hadn't come up with when tearing out the old plumbing ... finally located the old pieces, screwed into the pipes in the wall, requiring a special tool to remove them, so I made my third and final trip to the hardware store. Oddly, no one came around to help me this time. Just as well- I only wanted to grab the tool and get back to the job.

Returned home, assembled all the pieces, and Andy turned on the water to the house (Using the shut off valve I installed last fall!) The massive cartoonish sprays of water that I was expecting didn't happen, so I finished up the job. I'm pleased with the results, especially since, while I can tear apart and reassemble a computer with my eyes closed, most home improvements are worlds beyond me.

I slept well that night.

Sunday, Andy and I raked up all the exposed dead leaves and dog poop the melting snow left behind in the yard, then bought some red brick flagstones from a local store and laid out a new pathway to the house, since the old pathway had finally disappeared into the ground. It looks nice, and Ike walked up and down the path three times in a row to inspect it. He still uses it, so I guess it passed.

(Speaking of the doggy, he's been doing a bit better. Does not seem to be in as much pain as he was before, if any. He'll get another shot this coming week, which is sooner than he normally gets them. Hopefully, this will help him to continue being pain free.)

The rest of the day Sunday was spent just doing some general organizing and cleaning, and lamenting at how quickly the weekend went. Considering how much I got done, and how much I enjoyed the weekend, it makes me wonder how much more I'd be accomplishing if I didn't work every weekend any more, especially since I'm NOT enjoying doing so. I've been working seven days a week for six yeas now, and I'm ready not to any more. Hopefully that can happen soon.

This past week, I went to bed early most nights to read "So Vile a Sin," which I found most enjoyable. Took me a little bit to get used to the Virgin NA Doctor once again, as well as the style of Kate's "early" books, especially the general chaos that she creates that always makes we wonder if I've either skipped something important, or just leaves me feeling a little stupid, before suddenly pulling everything together in a glorious "Oooooh!!!" moment. (Knowing Kate, she's probably going to downplay any cleverness on her part for this, but I'm convinced she sits behind her keyboard cackling like Invader Zim while she's writing.) I finished it Friday, and was satisfied with how well it wrapped up the Virgin NA series, even though it wasn't technically the final book.

So, this weekend I'm back to work at the hotel. Went to bed late Saturday morning (a little after 8) after working the night shift, then Ike woke me up at 1:30. Andy and I made the drive to the next town over; did some shopping (I bought a Crock Pot!) went and saw "Paul" (I liked it a lot- but far too little naked Nick Frost) did some grocery shopping, and made it home with just enough time to unload the car and then get to work. Now, here I am finishing a reinstallation of Windows 7 on the laptop, Blacktop (It was running sluggish) and trying really hard to stay awake.

Once I wake up today, I'm going to bake a ham, wash my new crock pot, clean the bathroom (no really- I'm going to do it this time) and put all my Doctor Who DVDs up on the shelf I bought last weekend. It's nice to have a home.

Hopefully, everyone is having a nice weekend.

March is nearly gone

Random bits of what I've been up to lately.

I took last weekend off from the hotel, because I needed to desperately get caught up with things around the house, especially the shower that was on the fritz. I also ordered upgrades for Darklord, and was looking forward to putting together Darklord Mark 4. Got all the parts assembled Friday night, then spent the weekend fighting with BIOS upgrade weirdness, Windows installation weirdness, video card weirdness, hard drive weirdness ... finally determined it was a bad motherboard, and shipped it back for replacement Monday. I've been living off the laptop all week.

Saturday, when not being bugged by the computer issue, I spent the day in the tub removing ancient valves and plumbing. I'm not a plumber, even though I've been told I have the crack for it. Thankfully, most plumbing goes together in a fairly logical way once you squint properly. I made my first trip to the hardware store for the tool I needed to get the valves out of the wall pipes, then once I managed to disassemble everything (with Andy's help in some instances - those pipes were old and corroded) I bagged up all the old parts and made my second trip to the hardware store. Andy and I spent the next 45 minutes matching old components to new components, with the help of a part-time clerk who apologized for not knowing where everything was, as he was part time and not normally in plumbing. We finally were down to one washer, when I happened to spy on the bottom of the shelf a kit that included ALL the parts we were searching for ... cheaper in a bundle. The clerk was a good sport about it; I think he enjoyed helping us more than what ever it was he was doing when we came around.

Got home, and found that the new kit had some pieces that I hadn't come up with when tearing out the old plumbing ... finally located the old pieces, screwed into the pipes in the wall, requiring a special tool to remove them, so I made my third and final trip to the hardware store. Oddly, no one came around to help me this time. Just as well- I only wanted to grab the tool and get back to the job.

Returned home, assembled all the pieces, and Andy turned on the water to the house (Using the shut off valve I installed last fall!) The massive cartoonish sprays of water that I was expecting didn't happen, so I finished up the job. I'm pleased with the results, especially since, while I can tear apart and reassemble a computer with my eyes closed, most home improvements are worlds beyond me.

I slept well that night.

Sunday, Andy and I raked up all the exposed dead leaves and dog poop the melting snow left behind in the yard, then bought some red brick flagstones from a local store and laid out a new pathway to the house, since the old pathway had finally disappeared into the ground. It looks nice, and Ike walked up and down the path three times in a row to inspect it. He still uses it, so I guess it passed.

(Speaking of the doggy, he's been doing a bit better. Does not seem to be in as much pain as he was before, if any. He'll get another shot this coming week, which is sooner than he normally gets them. Hopefully, this will help him to continue being pain free.)

The rest of the day Sunday was spent just doing some general organizing and cleaning, and lamenting at how quickly the weekend went. Considering how much I got done, and how much I enjoyed the weekend, it makes me wonder how much more I'd be accomplishing if I didn't work every weekend any more, especially since I'm NOT enjoying doing so. I've been working seven days a week for six yeas now, and I'm ready not to any more. Hopefully that can happen soon.

This past week, I went to bed early most nights to read "So Vile a Sin," which I found most enjoyable. Took me a little bit to get used to the Virgin NA Doctor once again, as well as the style of Kate's "early" books, especially the general chaos that she creates that always makes we wonder if I've either skipped something important, or just leaves me feeling a little stupid, before suddenly pulling everything together in a glorious "Oooooh!!!" moment. (Knowing Kate, she's probably going to downplay any cleverness on her part for this, but I'm convinced she sits behind her keyboard cackling like Invader Zim while she's writing.) I finished it Friday, and was satisfied with how well it wrapped up the Virgin NA series, even though it wasn't technically the final book.

So, this weekend I'm back to work at the hotel. Went to bed late Saturday morning (a little after 8) after working the night shift, then Ike woke me up at 1:30. Andy and I made the drive to the next town over; did some shopping (I bought a Crock Pot!) went and saw "Paul" (I liked it a lot- but far too little naked Nick Frost) did some grocery shopping, and made it home with just enough time to unload the car and then get to work. Now, here I am finishing a reinstallation of Windows 7 on the laptop, Blacktop (It was running sluggish) and trying really hard to stay awake.

Once I wake up today, I'm going to bake a ham, wash my new crock pot, clean the bathroom (no really- I'm going to do it this time) and put all my Doctor Who DVDs up on the shelf I bought last weekend. It's nice to have a home.

Hopefully, everyone is having a nice weekend.