Chugging along
2005-11-10, 3:56 p.m.

Day 445 Just chugging along

I need to find an easier way to share files between the 3 different computers I use. The 2 at work are pretty easy, but not the best places for storing personal files. The one at home is fine for personal stuff, but doesn�t share access to the same drives that my work pc�s do. Suppose I could find some on-line storage for journal related files. You know the stuff � half finished entries, archived entries, essay ideas, silly memes & survey results, non Diaryland journal reads (shameful, I know), but I don�t know how friendly the corporate firewall will be to that kind of thing. I�ve been emailing stuff back and forth with an account I can access from anywhere, but that gets kind of clunky after a while.

Well. That was a useless little tangent. Ought to get to the point of this whole post. Updating my activities for the last umpteen days or so. How very exciting! (channeling Martha Stewart there, I think).

Finally finished putzing around with the inside of the new family room windows. The wall is as nice as I will be allowed to make it. Much painting ensued. Pain in the ass painting. Smallish room, maybe 10x18 feet. 3 windows (new), 5, that�s FIVE doorways. One to the garage, one to a closet, big sliders to the patio, a door to the powder room and a door leading into the kitchen (and the rest of the house). Add to that a fireplace and some shelves and there�s a whole lot of cutting in to do. Had done one entire first coat. Personally, was having second thoughts about the color. Communicated this to Cindy. Was told � �it�ll be fine once the second coat is on and the shelves are painted� (the accent color). Had actually finished the cutting in of a second coat. Took like 6 hours. I�m a picky painter, deal with it. Was getting ready to start rolling the final coat. Cindy says �I�m not so sure about the color�.

Guess what color I was? Ahhhhh, she knew it was coming. She even asked me not to get mad at her before she broke the news. I didn�t blow up too bad, but it was enough to let her know I was kinda pissed about it, especially since I told her before the first coat was finished that the color was a little too much.

Now, we�ve picked a new color. A little less bold than the first. Doesn�t cover quite as well. Have two coats on everything and I see plenty of spots that need a third � mostly on curved, wood trim pieces. Have to spot paint those.

Thing is, we needed the family room to store all the living and dining room furniture temporarily. Some of the upstairs bedroom furniture too. Finally gave up on the idea of ever re-finishing our lovely red oak floors. Bit the bullet and got carpeting for the entire upstairs (except bathrooms) and half the downstairs. No interest for 4 years. So we were hustling to get the family room painted so we could use it to store all the crap we had to pull out of the rest of the house.

Also had to remove ALL the base moldings, since they were all installed on hardwood floors, thus not set high enough for carpets. Also had to remove anything we didn�t want broken, since the carpet installer guys apparently work fast, not carefully. Anymore also�s? Not sure. But we sure did move a lot of crap considering we were paying the installers $140 to deal with moving all the furniture around for us.

At any rate, the carpet is in. The moldings are back down in all but the kids bedrooms. They won�t be home till Thanksgiving, so who�s worried about that? Not me. Still have to do the touch up painting in the family room. Have more touch up painting to do where carpets rubbed walls and window sills. Have until next Saturday to get this all done, because that�s when Child #2 (Eric) will be arriving home from Fredonia on his Thanksgiving break. This whole carpet deal is going to be a surprise to both kids. We�ve let them in on painting the family room (big whoopee there), but so far, we�ve kept mum on the carpets.

Speaking of Child #2 � he turns 20 this weekend. Still not legal to drink in the states, but I�m sure that won�t be stopping him. We were going to head out his way this Sunday and take him out to dinner. He asked that we scuttle those plans since he�s going to be coming home the following weekend. Instead, he�d like to go to the Dinosaur Barbeque (Barbecue?? BBQ?) downtown for his b�day dinner. Works fine for me. Saves about $50 in gas, and I never complain about having to eat at the Dinosaur. Except for that whole part about trying to keep the cholesterol down. Just have to do an extra half hour on the ellipticals and a full lap of the weight machines to burn it off.

Bowling has been going only so-so lately. My average has descended from it�s once lofty 209 to a more manageable 196. I think I�m ok with that. It�s still 20+ pins over where I finished last year, and I actually think it might be sustainable what with my whole �slower� (to me anyhow) approach. Last week I actually got back into the swing of things a bit and tossed a couple of games over 210 again. The third game was rather unmentionable. I had quite a few opens (like 4 or 5) but still managed to pick two wide open splits. All in all, made my average for the night, but just barely. Tonight however, I�m kicking butt & taking names. With my new, even slower (to me) approach. I�ll be thinking about footwork � trying to keep my steps slow. Also trying to aim a little further right when I really try to �hit� the ball (that�s trying to get a little extra �lift� or spin on the ball for those of you unfamiliar with the technical side of bowling) I�ve been having a tendency of getting the ball a little to the left when I really try to get the extra lift. So then, I have a ball already off line to the left that�s going to turn a little MORE to the left because of the added lift. Pretty sweet, no? Funny part is, if you screw it up bad enough, the ball crosses over to the lefty side of the headpin and you can still get a strike. If you only screw it up a little, you hit the head pin fairly flush, which generally results in those wide open splits I mentioned earlier. (good thing I�m kinda handy at picking them)

Duuuhhhhh, what else can I add to this drivel? Work is work � at least for now. Managed to avoid being right sized yet again. More due to being in the right spot at the right time. Our division is doing pretty well. If my freakin HDL code would ever start performing properly, we might even be able to develop a couple of new products to sell. It�s been murder trying to get things up & running.

Both kids have a good chance of making the Deans list at their respective schools. Zach had a tough year the year Cindy�s mom died and will have to go an extra semester to finish. Technically, I think he�s still a senior. Lets put it this way � he�s in his fourth year. When he does finish he�ll have an engineering degree in one of the specialized environmental sciences. I think the boy will be extremely marketable. His girl friend (damn near fianc�) is studying to be a dental hygienist, which makes her pretty transportable. I think hygienists can pretty much find work anywhere. I also think she�ll be living with us next year as she FINALLY ought to be able to get into the dental hygienists program at MCC. Poor girl has been trying for 2 years now. She has the grades, just keeps hitting the waiting list rather than the accepted list. I think her patience will finally pay off this year. Something about 2 years on the waiting list with good enough grades, blah, blah, blah, and you�re in. I hope.

Eric started out in Biology, but has since changed majors to history. He�s now taking a liking to some of the introductory law and poli-sci classes. Who knows, might have a lawyer on our hands some day. I just hope he remembers the part where we told him we�d support him through 4 years of school and after that he was on his own. Don�t think we could swing an additional 2 or 4 years of law school too. We�ll be glad to help when we can, but effectively 8 years of putting kids through school has taken its toll on our finances.

So have those durn carpets. Told Cindy that the little 25th anniversary trip to Cancun she�d been envisioning? Walking on it. Every day now. Good thing the carpet is kind of sand colored. We can just get an audio tape of waves gently lapping the beach, leave a bottle of sunscreen open for the aroma, and set up our beach chairs right in the living room. If we pretend the local mourning doves are sea gulls (they�re about as smart at least) we�ve got it made!! Just have to find someone to play the parts of the cabana boy (need those little umbrella drinks) and the maid (who wants to think about having to make the bed?)

Here�s a scary thought. Back in August, we were considering a trip to New Orleans over her Columbus Day break. Was 2 or 3 days from buying the tickets when Katrina stormed through. Then, we start to look at vacation packages to Cancun for our 25th anniversary next year. Along comes Wilma (or was that alpha or beta?), beating the crap out of Cancun. Thought about heading to Ft. Myers for Christmas this year. Hurricane (who knows which one) hits south Florida, narrowly missing Ft. Myers. Want us to think about coming to your place for a holiday? Those are some odd coincidences.

About time I got back to work. My latest simulation is getting ready to finish. Maybe I�ll have a more coherent piece ready for next time. With a theme even!!

445 days down. Hope my blood pressure is too.

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