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Laundry List Update
2007-04-02, 12:47 p.m.

Day 953

So here�s yesterdays to do list:

1 � Finish yard raking
2 � Change oil in vehicles
3 � Fix rear tire on bike � patch or replace tube
4 � Clean out garage (potentially monumental)
5 � Take off pond netting
6 � Get over to The Bob�s and show him where he hid all his shit again. Probably have him over for diner too.
7 � Maybe go watch Zach�s Roller Hockey game tonight.
8 � Finish Eric�s taxes (easy)
9 � Start The Bob�s taxes (difficult)
10 � Call Mike with my daily update. Pronto.

Here�s today�s excuses:

1 � Rained. All day. No point raking mud.
2 � See �Rained all day� Garage floor wet with water dripping off vehicles. Didn�t want to swim while changing oil.
3 � BINGO!! Accomplished this one.
4 � Well, sort of. Work bench is cleared off, swept up, re-arranged, tossed a bunch of crap. Easier to maneuver around things, and still have 2 vehicles parked inside.
5 � Damn rain.
6 � For what it was worth, yes. I imaging we�ll be doing it again, soon. The Bob loses his shit on a regular basis. (His material things. His mind has been doing the slow leak for years)For some reason, if he can�t find something, he thinks I have it. Always.
7 � Went. Too bad the goalie gave up midway through the second period. Ugly, ugly game.
8 � Done. Nice return for the young man. College students love multi-hundred dollar tax returns. Finances beer pong tournaments. Even New York State was nice and refunded him $50+.
9 � I did start The Bob�s taxes. This is going to be a chore. Ugh.
10 � Call Mike? Mike who? We did swap voice mails this morning. Caught up, for now.

What wasn�t on the list:

Fixed the terlet in our bathroom. It was constantly leaking water through the flapper valve. For part of the winter, I thought we had water leaking inside from ice dams on the roof, till I finally isolated it to the terlet tank. I really like the $4 fix vs. re-doing the roof.

Fixed the tub drain in the kids bathroom. Seems girls with long hair have a tendency to get the drain clogged with said hair. Found a nice little $2 widget that makes a nice little drain snake and yanks hair clogs out very nicely.

Helped the Secretary of War cook dinner. It was actually very nice. We normally do cook very well together. When she�s not drinking.

Looked at new front door units at H0me Despot while I was getting plumbing fixer-upper stuff. We have a 36� door with the little side light things. It needs replacing. Side lights are single pane glass, no insulation. Door itself is steel clad, dull, boring, row of tiny windows way up high. Ugly as sin. Leaks cold air like a sieve. Do you have any idea what a new door like that costs? Wow. The fancy-schmancy ones? Over $4000!!!! The Bob is going to have to reward me VERY handsomely for doing his taxes this year. OK, no � not really. Although I do have authority to grant gifts up to 10K � I think gifts to myself are going to be looked at as mighty suspicious by the bro-in-law. But he can be bought, and I know how. It�s all share & share alike.

Dinner tonight. Something slightly different is in the works. Last summer, at The Bob�s family reunion, we stopped by the Readington River Bison Ranch and picked up a sampler pack of bison meat. Very tasty. Difficult to differentiate it from beef, really. Tonight, we�ll be finishing off the last of the Buffalo burgers. At least the kids & I will. Cindy will be having chicken. Some pre roasted squab looking thing she picked up at the store. I think it�s a slightly misinformed attempt to avoid fat.

Anyhow. Buffalo. Chicken. Grilled asparagus. (spritz with olive oil (EVOO), sprinkle w salt & pepper, grill till lightly browned), some sort of mystery potato (mystery because I don�t know what I�m doing with them yet), and the usual giant tossed salad.

New board here at the zoo is self immolating. Think I figured out what�s up. Time to go test a few ideas. Hope the tech has the changes put in & ready to fry, I mean fly. Time to go work for a bit. More later.

Well, it�s later. Good news is the boards are fixed. Better news is this same circuit is also being used on another circuit board that�s coming along, so we can fix that one before it goes to production. Makes the rest of the day look MUCH nicer.

One thing I didn�t do yesterday is go to the Y. Didn�t even make yesterday�s top ten list. As a consequence, this mornings workout was quite vigorous. Had a substitute instructor for cycling this morning, so we got a bit of a break from Patty the speed demon and Gary, the uphill sprinter. Today was Len, the 60�s beach music freak. Len does a good class, but his choreography leaves a little to be desired. He doesn�t fit the exercise tempo�s to the music as well as some of the more �polished� instructors. Still, we�re only in there to sweat, so it all works.

Cindy threw me for a bit of a loop this weekend. Except for a couple of beers while we were out at dinner Saturday night, I didn�t notice any other imbibing. Could be that she hid it very well. Could be that she was feeling a bit of a cold Saturday too or her extended couch session could have been a hangover from Thursday night too. Can�t say for sure, but it caught me a little off guard. Had myself all geared up for letting her drink what she wanted and just try and steer clear of her, and she has to go and spend the whole weekend relatively dry. It�s tough to not expect certain behavior, especially given my experiences so far. It is nice however, to be able to change gears and not be on guard constantly. Need to get a little more nimble with the clutch & gear selector is all.

Tomorrow could present a challenge. My parents long time neighbor passed away over the weekend. I went to school with her kids from the time they moved in till we all finally escaped, er, graduated. Calling hours are tomorrow, 2 � 4 and 7 � 9. Considering how well I knew the family, I really must go. But it�s a close call with getting there and still making it out to the meeting on time. If Cindy decides to come too it could really complicate things. In order to avoid a tantrum like I had last time my meeting times got violated, I think I�d better come up with some limits to my expectations. I suppose the world isn�t going to end if I don�t get to that meeting, no matter how badly I think I may need it. Going to calling hours, seeing old friends, offering what support I can should be the primary focus. If getting to the meeting afterwards is possible � fine. If not, there�s always Thursday.

Personally, I don�t think Cindy will be going. We�d have to leave right after she got home from the gym, but she�d want to shower first and with her head of hair, well, calling hours might just be over by the time she dried that mane. She may also suspect that I want to head elsewhere afterwards. It�s not like where I go to hang out on Tuesday evenings has been a secret. Pisses her off to no end, but it�s better she knows where I�m going than me having to manufacture reasons to be out every Tuesday.

Time to get back to work. Have another board to modify and one more pesky circuit to test out. After this morning though, it�ll be a breeze.


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