Weekend!
So, like, I turn around and it’s Thursday night again. How in the heck did that happen?
Well, I kinda did get an assignment at work (I’m sure I’ll look back at it as easy as pie but I’m still in the “I never done this afore” phase) and that’s been eating up all of my bandwidth and so when I stop and sit and force time to pass in units of seconds rather than hours, I’m surprised that I’ve been running this fast for this long.
I’m too old for this crap.
The biggest thing is the whole “switching schedules” thing. During the summer, Maribou is on the summer schedule. During the school year, she’s on the school year schedule. Which means that, during the summer, if we’re not working, we’re pretty much together… and, now that school has started again, I have, like, *HOURS* to myself after I get home from work. Oceans of time.
I’ve forgotten what to do with myself.
Anyway, this weekend has been decreed the weekend we get back into our new routine. Saturday we will hit the ground running and go all day (groceries, comic book store, pet store, so on) and then go to gaming that night in order that Sunday may be spent impersonating slugs.
My goodness, I can’t wait for Slug Sunday.
So… what’s on your docket?
So we hired a local outfit to pack us up and move us to the new house. It… did not go well.
I will probably write a post on it, but a sneak preview: the kitchen looked like this when they were “done.”Report
yeesh. i hope you yelp nuke them from orbit.
i’ve moved eight times in 12 years. i hope to never move again.Report
It’s the only way to be sure.Report
definitely – in certain areas you can absolutely wreck their search engine results due to yelp’s seo weight. so go slow and even and use their full name and location at least once in the review.
may your sword be guided by righteousness.Report
Dammit!
If punishment fits the crime, I’d say you had rights to tie an anchored rope to their tenders and push them off a cliff.Report
One of the many things I enjoy about switching to the school year schedule is the emphatic reminder that Jaybird really really does want me around. Come August, you see, he’s suffering as only an introvert with no true alone time ever CAN suffer (exacerbated by the frantic social whirl of trying to visit with everyone we can before I go back to my not-conducive-to-socializing school year schedule), and I start to feel like he’d just as soon I went on vacation or something…. but as soon as September rolls around, we go back to billing and cooing in every spare second :D.
I’ll be working till 10 pm Friday night. Saturday we’ll be getting up “early” (ie, before noon) and running lots of errands. Gaming Saturday night. Sunday I’m hoping to stay home and do chores, if all the errands got run on Saturday as planned.
You know what is BLOOMING AMAZING this week, and last weekend, and this coming weekend?
NO HOMEWORK. NONE.
I’ve been studying Russian a bit and Jaybird said, “What? Back to school already?”
“It Is Not School If You Don’t Have Deadlines,” I replied.
I have no deadlines!Report
Ha, my husband’s the extrovert. But, he’s a very very picky extrovert.
(being around stupid people annoys him, and really cuts down on his productivity).Report
I am participating in that very genteel sport of mini-golf on Saturday afternoon.Report
A casual email has resulted in a meeting tonight with an attractive asian woman, who appears to be a 9. This means, of course, that she’s either a dude, married, or dirt poor, because I’ll never find a smoking hot single chick, who’s obscenely rich, who wants me to quit my job and travel the world with her, as we jet around in her private plane.
SighReport
Not with that attitude.Report
Well, maybe you set your sights a little bit lower. She’s single and attractive and interested in meeting you. That’s a good start.Report
Ya can’t have everything.Report
Well, I’ve already dialed it down from a 10 and victoria’s secret model. What more must I do? 🙂
A guy has to have standards…Report
I’ve been car shopping. I went to the local Subaru dealer to look at a 2011 Imprezza Sport they have, and with the intent of also test-driving a Forester. While we were there, we also asked to test the Crosstrek hybrid, just for the fun of it.
I liked the Imprezza (2011) a lot, and would have been happy with it; but the seats obviously made my sweetie very uncomfortable.
I was very surprised to discover the Forester (a 2012), did not appeal to me; I know a lot of people like it, and it wasn’t a bad car, but something about driving it didn’t feel ‘fun.’
And then we tried the Crosstrek. The first few minutes were odd, but once I’d adapted to it, I loved it.
So yesterday I went back with the younger sprout to drive again and seek his sage advice. We drove a new Forester, to make sure I was comparing new to new; and I still had the same response; while the visibility is incredible, I still felt odd — too high up and swaying; seats sort of uncomfortable for me.
Next we took out the hybrid, and I still really liked it. Then the regular Crosstrek, and I didn’t like it nearly as much. Far as I can tell, part of what Iike about it is the difference in breaking; with the hybrid, which uses regenerative breaking, the whole car is engaged in slowing, not just pressure on the wheels. Plus the bonus that my Sweetie was comfortable in it. (We have issues there, he’s tall, I’m not, he’s got lower back problems, I’ve got neck problems; finding one car we’re both comfortable in is a huge challenge.)
So now I have to decide if I want to spend $10,000 more then I’d planned on a new car that has new technology.
Previous cars have been a Ford Explorer, a Subaru Outback, and currently, a VW Jetta. The Crosstrek feels like it has the best of all three. (I really do want an off-road car, we go out in the woods a lot, btw. I love how my Jetta sticks to the road, but hate it’s exposed oil pan.)
Younger sprout totally got why I like the Crosstrek hybrid. He also told me that it’s much greener to replace parts on a car then to replace the whole car, and we’d be better off putting that money into solar panels on our house, preparing for purchasing a plug-in electric in a year or two.
Anyone got some advice?Report
First question is “What percentage of your roads are crappy?” (with implied followups of “How crappy? What kind of crappy? Gravel? Dirt? Blacktop but filled with potholes? Covered in snow/ice 4 months of the year?”)Report
Crappy roads? Almost all of them; lots of ground water and a reliable frost/thaw cycle. Asphalt with potholes is the norm, smooth the exception.
I seriously meant I go off road; gravel roads; often unmaintained. Steep slopes common. Mud common. Rocks abound.
Snow/ice potential up to from mid-late Nov. to April.Report
The last time I did research on this, there was a serious difference between temperature extremes when it came to battery performance. I assume this has been mitigated… but what did the dealer say about this?Report
@zic Doesn’t “Maine” alone answer the question. 🙂Report
(Yeah, I realized it was dumb a minute after I asked. But I was kinda hoping that maybe she’d say “Oh, I mostly drive around town” or something and that’d allow me to say “Go for the Outback! You’ll be happier.”)Report
@jaybird the only thing I know of this is that at lower temps, 14F or below, the combustion engine doesn’t switch off at lower speeds or when you’re stopped. Since typically only have a week or two of cold that severe, otherwise, winter day-time temps typically around 20F, this shouldn’t be too much an issue.Report
Fledermaus is going to a baby shower and related things in Calgary, so it’s me and Kiddo for most of the weekend.
Maybe I’ll dig a fire pit tonight – the rounded cinderbrick thingies have been sitting by the garage staring at me reproachfully for some time now.
Saturday, there are too many parties – a barbecue and dance thing in the park with a DJ who played an epic 9 hour closing set at a festival a couple months ago, then a party at Kiddo’s day home to say so long and thanks for all the fish to the kids who are starting all-day school, and then a get together with a friend who’s visiting from Montreal. Yesterday afternoon I only knew about the first one, by supper time I was trying to figure out the trajectory that would cover all three.
Sunday, practicing my slug impression sounds like a really good idea.
Also, I just got Lev Grossman’s That Magician’s Land from the library. I’m excited to dig into it.Report
Oops, “the” not “that” magician’s land.Report
R.’s birthday is next week, so Saturday we’ll be going out to eat and then dancing with 20-somethings to music that causes your spleen to vibrate violently.
I will probably try to get some work done, sleep, and heal my internal organs after that.Report
So I came down with a sick-thing this week and have been all gross and tired, so I’m working from home today and thinking I’ll not go out tonight. Which is infuriating since I have my amazing new purple hair and the world needs to see me!.
Tomorrow we have our months Trans Women Picnic in Boston. Which (hint hint) if anyone here by chance knows a trans gal in the Boston area: https://www.facebook.com/events/728087993894828/?ref=22
Just saying. If that happens by chance.
Anyway, no matter how sick, I’ll be there.
I kinda wanna go shopping. I’m getting bored with my wardrobe.Report
Sewing, sewing, sewing till I go blind. very delicate hand sewing with thread about a thick as a hair. Working on a 1890’s ecclesiastical garment of first bishop of Oklahoma that needs to get back to the parish by Sunday for the 125th anniversary…no pressureReport
You, and your finger tips, neck, eyes, and patience, have my sympathy.Report
After wednesdays Godsmack concert I find the need to tape my eardrums back together. Part of the -wife must go to rock concert once a year- mandate (and she has a thing for Sully). Skillet was a pleasant surprise, the drummer was a knockout redhead that looked a lil like animal bashing away with the sticks.
Neighbor was a little worse for wear, he joined in that thing were the fellas take off their shirts and push each other ’round until face plants occur. Though most pastoral arts require blood letting and exceptional pain, I passed on this particular version as I had my “go to town” duds on.
From overheard copious remarks about high concert fashion, I have learned that pasties work for some girls but not ALL girls. And that pasties look alot like colored electrical tape used to cover nippular regions.
If that isn’t enough, our patched up neighbor and wife will be going with us to a nearby watering hole that plays karaoke. I pray to all the holy gods of music that no one expects me to sing tonight. Mind you its not that singing is difficult, just that long ackward silence afterwards followed by the cricket chirps.
If an hour of peace finds me this weekend I hope to turn some soil and plant fall tomatoes and carrots. Maybe harvest some sunflower seeds for spring.Report
I just came back from burgers and beer with James Hanley.Report
The big, scary, never-been-done before project at work that we have been working on for the last three months goes live on Monday morning so this week involved a lot of OT for everyone trying to get everything in place. On Thursday I had 10 extra hours and was sooooo excited about next week’s paycheck and then I remembered that damn rule about holiday pay not counting towards your OT count. So my 10 hours turned into 2 and that made me sad. An idea struck and I asked the boss for the day off on Friday as a consolation prize and he said, “Go for it dude!” (I love the fact that my boss really talks like that and is sincere when he does it).
With the crisis averted I headed down to beautiful Green County, KY to my friend’s farm for a two-day dove shoot. As I type this my shoulder is sore but there are 20 doves in the fridge and I can still smell gunpowder on my hand and I am THRILLED that hunting season is officially in full-swing.
Tomorrow I need to get caught up around the house and then mentally prepare for the craziness that will start on Monday.Report
Now that I can’t jinx things… I ran our club’s annual fencing tournament on Saturday. The tournament has a peculiar team format, so none of the regular software packages for fencing tournaments can handle it, and parts of the process are a pain to do by hand (especially with 30-40 fencers hanging over you waiting to see the seeding for the final bracket). The software I wrote to handle things this year worked without any problems, the tournament went very smoothly, and our club won our own cup for the first time in 24 years.
This piece of coding was another “learn Python” exercise. I seem to be approaching the point where I’m going to have to choose between Python and Perl. I’m having trouble holding the “idioms” and standard libraries for two languages in my head (some days I long for my youth, when soaking up new large complex things was so much easier). The biggest argument for Perl seems to be the moderate body of existing code that I still tinker with from time to time. Which probably means that I’m just being lazy.Report