If you have read my previous posts, you may remember my mentioning a guy named Pat, who lives just across the way. He's an older guy (I thought he was about seventy, but it turns out he is 59. Ooops) and he's been very good to me since I moved into my new house. He cut my grass, has told me alll about the neighbors, and the other day we talked for about an hour and he offered to haul my garbage, because he was going to the dump the next day. So he pulled his truck up, and we threw my bags of trash in the back. Pat is just an all-around good guy, it seems to me..
Anyway, the other night I was sitting on the computer, and I noticed a diesel engine running outside - just running in one spot, like it was sitting right outside my house. Anyway, I looked out my window to see an ambulance pulled up at Pat's, and Pat being wheeled out of his house on a cot. Anyway, I did some investigating through my sister (who works at the hospital) and he is in intensive care, although she couldn't get details on what's wrong. I feel horrible for him, because he seems like the type of guy who doesn't have anyone to look out for him. His house is constantly overrun by young punk-ish kids, driving in and out and hanging out around that house. "Rose" lives there too, whoever she is. She is on oxygen and has diabetes, so she apparently doesn't leave the house. But every since Pat has been gone, which is about 3 days now, those punks just keep coming in and out over there, and there's no sense of anything amiss, even though this poor old man is in the hospital. I would like to visit him, but I would feel a bit strange about it - plus you can't visit in ICU if you're not family.
And, my garbage is all loaded up in the back of his truck, which hasn't moved in three days. Must be stinky. I feel like doing something, but don't know what yet. Hopefully he's okay, or will be soon.
Another day off, and another day of rain. I planned on painting, but I worked last night, so I slept in, and when I got up, it was raining. And I'm off tomorrow, and it's supposed to rain all day. I have never seen a September like this! Not much of a transition into fall - just a WHAM! HERE'S SOME COLD SHITTY WEATHER FOR YA!
I've never liked fall. It's a pleasant-enough time of year, generally, because it usually seems like things are going to slow down and be a little less hectic that time of year (I'm talking early fall, not holiday time.) But I don't like the fact that everything outside is dying and summer is over, and we have nothing to look forward to up here but snow, cold, and misery for the next 6 months. God, I'm cynical tonight. Smack!
Oh, and if you haven't heard - George W. Bush officially became a fascist dictator yesterday, because now he has the right to jail any one of us without a trial, for as long as he likes. And torture us. That's what the conservative, neo-christian majority wants this country to be like, and that's what they're getting. Really depressing - more reason to go vote.
I have an interview on wednesday for a job in the emergency department at the hospital, in registration. It would be 3-11pm, union job, full free benefits, and good pay. My status as an EMT gives me the edge in getting in. However, I just started a new job, and already had one, so I'm just really numb right now on what to do. It's pretty much a guaranteed job - they've already done a reference check, and I passed all the tests with flying colors (back in August). We'll see what happens.
I just really need some time to do what I need to do - paint the house and SLEEP, among others. So the prospect of starting a new job doesn't help with that picture. I don't mean one day off to sleep and paint - I need like a week to get this place in order. Insulating, painting, cleaning, tiling, painting, cleaning, painting, sleeping...........
Grrrrr. Love you.
p.s. If you need a little humor, go to this site. It gave me a good 20 minutes of giggles this afternoon.......
29 September 2006
25 September 2006
Disturbances
Not much of a post here, but.......just a few things that disturb me lately....
1. I keep getting myspace "Friend Requests" from middle-aged women in far-off places. I was getting used to receiving requests from chicks named "LatinoBabe" and shit like that, advertising porn sites. That was fine - I just deleted them. But these profiles are of seemingly innocent, post-soccer-mom types with no detail. I delete them right away, because I just don't trust that they are genuine. One of these ladies has sent me two messages, saying nothing but "hello." I have a feeling that if I were to reply, my computer might crash or start sending out ads for free gift certificates for Texas Roadhouse or something.
2. Totally unrelated, but there was just an advertisement for new countertops that actually resist bacteria or something like that. How do they do this, I wonder? I remember buying socks once that supposedly resisted odor. My feet aren't actually that stinky, so I never really judged whether these socks worked. But I look into the future and I can see products coming such as "bacteria-resistant ground beef" and I feel frightened. Because humankind has co-existed with bacteria for thousands of years, but suddenly we are to live in fear of them, despite the fact that there are several million of them per square inch on your body. And of course, news stories like the big "Spinach Scare of 2006" don't do any good to ease people's anxiety. I work with several people who seem to live in fear that their skin will rot away if they don't immediately sanitize it after touching something potentially "infested." If the news bureaus get their way, we will all have that fear soon.
(I am now worried that those of you reading will think that I am a filthy beast who cares not about the germs crawling on his bodice. YES, I do wash my hands. Very frequently.)
3. Not really disturbing - but I have moved into a neighborhood with a lot of neighboring dogs, and they like to bark at EVERYTHING. They don't bark all day, or hours on end, like some dogs do. They just bark at anything that moves, for a minute or so, then stop. So every time I hear one of these dogs bark, I wonder if someone has pulled up to my house, or if there is some commotion outside that I should be aware of, and it makes me want to look out the window cautiously. I have to strive to get used to it, I guess. One of these dogs is "Mr. Beefy", who lives with 70-year-old Pat across the way. He's not very beefy, but I guess he came with that name.
I have been working at it for 2 weeks, and I am only about 25 percent finished with the scraping of my house, in order to remove the chipped paint so that I can prime/paint. Every time I get motivated to go out and climb the ladder and get to work, it rains, or something comes up, or I lose my motivation. I need a kick in the ass, or I need to organize a "let's scrape paint for fun" party. BYOB - lead poisoning is supplied. Behr Paints (a brand sold at Home Depot - very premium) has this website where you can choose paint colors and apply them to various "cyberhomes" on their website, so that you can see the colors in action. Kind of cool - but of course the houses they show are very nice, albeit of many different styles. It's a nice feature, but not very realistic - I mean, the paint will make my house look better, but there will still be blemishes and ugly windows and a bad roof. I wish they had homes like mine on the Behr website, so that I could realistically see what their paints look like on a banged-up, weather-beaten old stick-built house.
Or I should just give up on any type of technology and just mix up some whitewash, buy some oil lamps and a woodstove, and live off the grid. It is so tempting sometimes! Wow, I just got off subject, but I have always had it in my "life plan" that I would live some sort of simple existence along the way, someday, where I was self-sufficient and lived simply. Of course, that simplicity would have to include a computer though. And a fan, because I have to have that "noise" when I sleep. Enough. Good night!
1. I keep getting myspace "Friend Requests" from middle-aged women in far-off places. I was getting used to receiving requests from chicks named "LatinoBabe" and shit like that, advertising porn sites. That was fine - I just deleted them. But these profiles are of seemingly innocent, post-soccer-mom types with no detail. I delete them right away, because I just don't trust that they are genuine. One of these ladies has sent me two messages, saying nothing but "hello." I have a feeling that if I were to reply, my computer might crash or start sending out ads for free gift certificates for Texas Roadhouse or something.
2. Totally unrelated, but there was just an advertisement for new countertops that actually resist bacteria or something like that. How do they do this, I wonder? I remember buying socks once that supposedly resisted odor. My feet aren't actually that stinky, so I never really judged whether these socks worked. But I look into the future and I can see products coming such as "bacteria-resistant ground beef" and I feel frightened. Because humankind has co-existed with bacteria for thousands of years, but suddenly we are to live in fear of them, despite the fact that there are several million of them per square inch on your body. And of course, news stories like the big "Spinach Scare of 2006" don't do any good to ease people's anxiety. I work with several people who seem to live in fear that their skin will rot away if they don't immediately sanitize it after touching something potentially "infested." If the news bureaus get their way, we will all have that fear soon.
(I am now worried that those of you reading will think that I am a filthy beast who cares not about the germs crawling on his bodice. YES, I do wash my hands. Very frequently.)
3. Not really disturbing - but I have moved into a neighborhood with a lot of neighboring dogs, and they like to bark at EVERYTHING. They don't bark all day, or hours on end, like some dogs do. They just bark at anything that moves, for a minute or so, then stop. So every time I hear one of these dogs bark, I wonder if someone has pulled up to my house, or if there is some commotion outside that I should be aware of, and it makes me want to look out the window cautiously. I have to strive to get used to it, I guess. One of these dogs is "Mr. Beefy", who lives with 70-year-old Pat across the way. He's not very beefy, but I guess he came with that name.
I have been working at it for 2 weeks, and I am only about 25 percent finished with the scraping of my house, in order to remove the chipped paint so that I can prime/paint. Every time I get motivated to go out and climb the ladder and get to work, it rains, or something comes up, or I lose my motivation. I need a kick in the ass, or I need to organize a "let's scrape paint for fun" party. BYOB - lead poisoning is supplied. Behr Paints (a brand sold at Home Depot - very premium) has this website where you can choose paint colors and apply them to various "cyberhomes" on their website, so that you can see the colors in action. Kind of cool - but of course the houses they show are very nice, albeit of many different styles. It's a nice feature, but not very realistic - I mean, the paint will make my house look better, but there will still be blemishes and ugly windows and a bad roof. I wish they had homes like mine on the Behr website, so that I could realistically see what their paints look like on a banged-up, weather-beaten old stick-built house.
Or I should just give up on any type of technology and just mix up some whitewash, buy some oil lamps and a woodstove, and live off the grid. It is so tempting sometimes! Wow, I just got off subject, but I have always had it in my "life plan" that I would live some sort of simple existence along the way, someday, where I was self-sufficient and lived simply. Of course, that simplicity would have to include a computer though. And a fan, because I have to have that "noise" when I sleep. Enough. Good night!
11 September 2006
Matin
Sometimes I wish that MySpace was a little more complete. For example, yesterday I looked at my home page, and noticed that I had one less friend! Well, I wanted to know who had dumped me, but there is really no easy way to find out, unless you do a process of elimination, which is hard when you have 104 (pseudo)friends.
I started my new job yesterday, which as always is a nerve-wracking experience. I had to attend a weekly meeting, which is at 9am each monday, and it was about 2 hours long. It's basically a meeting of all the LSTs (Life Skills Technicians, which is what I am) with the behavioral psychologists and therapists, and they discuss each client (called a "consumer" in the neuro-medical world.) After all the input, then there is a scheduling session when the LSTs decide their schedules for the coming week. Of course all I could really do was listen, but they did a good job of describing to us (there is another new LST - she started yesterday too) each client and their sometimes-difficult families. Then we were basically given our gear - backpacks with locks on them, full of goodies, and our scheduling calendars. So basically I have a job now where I carry a "briefcase" and I have to keep a calendar of appointments. It may sound dumb, but I actually like that - makes me feel important, hee hee.
Of course, I had mixed feelings all the way through all this, because I also love my existing job, and since I've been there now for 2 1/2 years, I am quite established. Although the new job is strictly a "work as much or little as you want" job, technically it is more involved than that. And in the coming month or so, I have a lot of training sessions, some of which are in Marquette, so it's going to take up a lot of time. But oh well - I guess I will be "rich" now, because now I have two good-paying jobs and will be working more hours. Goodbye, nice house! Guess I'll be renovating you a little bit later.....
I found this ultra-cool site - it is a list of free utilities available on the web, with reviews, and most of them are better or easier to use than their non-free equivalents. For example, there is an Acrobat-style reader that reads pdf files that is WAY faster loading than the Adobe version. I always have dreaded looking at .pdf files because Acrobat is so slow to load, although maybe it's just my computer. There's also a cool audio editor, input on the best free anti-virus software ( I have never bought Norton, etc., and never will) and many others. Here's the address -
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm
Off to work, dammit! Have a nice day (it's very gloomy outside here, ho hum)
Douglas
I started my new job yesterday, which as always is a nerve-wracking experience. I had to attend a weekly meeting, which is at 9am each monday, and it was about 2 hours long. It's basically a meeting of all the LSTs (Life Skills Technicians, which is what I am) with the behavioral psychologists and therapists, and they discuss each client (called a "consumer" in the neuro-medical world.) After all the input, then there is a scheduling session when the LSTs decide their schedules for the coming week. Of course all I could really do was listen, but they did a good job of describing to us (there is another new LST - she started yesterday too) each client and their sometimes-difficult families. Then we were basically given our gear - backpacks with locks on them, full of goodies, and our scheduling calendars. So basically I have a job now where I carry a "briefcase" and I have to keep a calendar of appointments. It may sound dumb, but I actually like that - makes me feel important, hee hee.
Of course, I had mixed feelings all the way through all this, because I also love my existing job, and since I've been there now for 2 1/2 years, I am quite established. Although the new job is strictly a "work as much or little as you want" job, technically it is more involved than that. And in the coming month or so, I have a lot of training sessions, some of which are in Marquette, so it's going to take up a lot of time. But oh well - I guess I will be "rich" now, because now I have two good-paying jobs and will be working more hours. Goodbye, nice house! Guess I'll be renovating you a little bit later.....
I found this ultra-cool site - it is a list of free utilities available on the web, with reviews, and most of them are better or easier to use than their non-free equivalents. For example, there is an Acrobat-style reader that reads pdf files that is WAY faster loading than the Adobe version. I always have dreaded looking at .pdf files because Acrobat is so slow to load, although maybe it's just my computer. There's also a cool audio editor, input on the best free anti-virus software ( I have never bought Norton, etc., and never will) and many others. Here's the address -
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm
Off to work, dammit! Have a nice day (it's very gloomy outside here, ho hum)
Douglas
09 September 2006
Le peulonc
Definition of "peulonc" - I don't know. I made it up. But I like saying it in a French accent. I've been saying that word for 2 years now whenever I pretend to speak better French than I really know.
I had a dream today that I actually remember. I was standing in line at a Citgo, and a lady I used to work with (who was quite eccentric, but keep reading) came in with a ziplock bag full of mayonnaise, and asked if she could trade it for a lottery ticket. The clerk said no, and was snotty! Ok, that was a dumb dream, but the lady in question is the type of lady that would do exactly what happened in that dream. Except it probably wouldn't be a ziplock full of mayonnaise. But, this is typical of the sort of dream I have.
Wow, now I remember another dream! This one I had this morning, way before the first. I was walking through a wooded area, and fell in quicksand. I just plunged right into the depths of it. And when I have THOSE dreams, I wake myself up by telling myself over and over "it's just a dream, it's just a dream" and then, thankfully, I wake up. I hope that's not what happens when you really die! I mean, I hope you don't keep telling yourself "it's just a dream" and then find out it isn't. I hope it's just over, or you wake up as a newborn in Florida or Sumatra or somewhere.
Those of you who know me well know that I can be suckered into just about anything, unless it involves bees or spiders. Well, I got suckered in again a couple weeks ago - a co-worker asked me to take a cat. Like I needed another cat - I had four (plus the one running around Escanaba right now makes 5) and was quite happy that way. But anyway, this was a "very special" situation. See, this coworker worked in a home-health business, and one of her clients was a kid with cerebral palsy who was leaving to go to NMU, and he was going to be living in campus housing (I assume the type with ramps), and he couldn't have the cat there, and wouldn't I just be a dear sweet guy and take the cat until December? I almost said no, but of course I was given the sob story that this kid would be heart-broken if he had to give his cat to the humane society or something. (Don't ask me why the lady asking me didn't take the cat herself. God, some people.)
Anyway, that was at the point when I was getting ready to move into my new house, and while saying "no" in my head, I said "sure, when do you want do drop her off?" Anyway, I'm going to make this short. I have lost that cat twice now! The first day she was in the house, she found a way to get behind the bathtub. I couldn't find her for two days. But I did find her, and fished her out from behind the bathtub using a toilet snake.
The second time - last week - she decided to PUSH OPEN the crawlspace trapdoor (it's heavy, and don't ask me how she did it) and was gone. There's a hole from the crawlspace to outside. And the cat didn't know me or even LIKE me, so I figured oh well, I tried, but she's probably miles away by now. So for a couple days, I just figured she was gone, while at the same time wondering, shit, what am I going to tell my coworker?
Then one day I was leaving for work, and I thought about the cat, and I wondered if maybe she was still in the crawlspace somewhere, just hiding. And she was - I peered in that hole, and there she was - about 6 feet out of reach. So for another two days, I tried to coax her out with cat food. No luck. She would eat the cat food, but not when I was looking! So then I brainstormed and found out that Home Depot sells live animal traps, and I bought one, put food in it, and put it in the crawlspace. Four hours later, I went to check, and there she was, locked up and meowing at me. Now she seems to like me, and she even gets along with the other cats a bit.
That was my "long story short."
Tomorrow I start a new job. I was very excited about it a week ago. Now I'm not so sure if I want to work two jobs again. I have worked two jobs for most of the last five years. It's kind of nice now to come home and go to bed without setting the alarm (although I usually do anyway, or else I would sleep for 3 days.) And wrangling two jobs can be a pain in the ass, especially since the new job requires a lot of training, and some of the training I have to travel for. Although I do get paid mileage and expenses! But, I just don't know. There is another reason I am having a dilemma with this, but I am not going into that.
I almost exploded last night at co-worker who watches Fox News all night. I finally got cocky and turned the channel at 2am, after hearing all night about how it was Bill Clinton's fault that 9/11 happened. And they are STILL talking about Jonbenet Ramsey on there.
Well I'm done writing. I have to clean, or paint, or do something productive now. Or not.
Doug
I had a dream today that I actually remember. I was standing in line at a Citgo, and a lady I used to work with (who was quite eccentric, but keep reading) came in with a ziplock bag full of mayonnaise, and asked if she could trade it for a lottery ticket. The clerk said no, and was snotty! Ok, that was a dumb dream, but the lady in question is the type of lady that would do exactly what happened in that dream. Except it probably wouldn't be a ziplock full of mayonnaise. But, this is typical of the sort of dream I have.
Wow, now I remember another dream! This one I had this morning, way before the first. I was walking through a wooded area, and fell in quicksand. I just plunged right into the depths of it. And when I have THOSE dreams, I wake myself up by telling myself over and over "it's just a dream, it's just a dream" and then, thankfully, I wake up. I hope that's not what happens when you really die! I mean, I hope you don't keep telling yourself "it's just a dream" and then find out it isn't. I hope it's just over, or you wake up as a newborn in Florida or Sumatra or somewhere.
Those of you who know me well know that I can be suckered into just about anything, unless it involves bees or spiders. Well, I got suckered in again a couple weeks ago - a co-worker asked me to take a cat. Like I needed another cat - I had four (plus the one running around Escanaba right now makes 5) and was quite happy that way. But anyway, this was a "very special" situation. See, this coworker worked in a home-health business, and one of her clients was a kid with cerebral palsy who was leaving to go to NMU, and he was going to be living in campus housing (I assume the type with ramps), and he couldn't have the cat there, and wouldn't I just be a dear sweet guy and take the cat until December? I almost said no, but of course I was given the sob story that this kid would be heart-broken if he had to give his cat to the humane society or something. (Don't ask me why the lady asking me didn't take the cat herself. God, some people.)
Anyway, that was at the point when I was getting ready to move into my new house, and while saying "no" in my head, I said "sure, when do you want do drop her off?" Anyway, I'm going to make this short. I have lost that cat twice now! The first day she was in the house, she found a way to get behind the bathtub. I couldn't find her for two days. But I did find her, and fished her out from behind the bathtub using a toilet snake.
The second time - last week - she decided to PUSH OPEN the crawlspace trapdoor (it's heavy, and don't ask me how she did it) and was gone. There's a hole from the crawlspace to outside. And the cat didn't know me or even LIKE me, so I figured oh well, I tried, but she's probably miles away by now. So for a couple days, I just figured she was gone, while at the same time wondering, shit, what am I going to tell my coworker?
Then one day I was leaving for work, and I thought about the cat, and I wondered if maybe she was still in the crawlspace somewhere, just hiding. And she was - I peered in that hole, and there she was - about 6 feet out of reach. So for another two days, I tried to coax her out with cat food. No luck. She would eat the cat food, but not when I was looking! So then I brainstormed and found out that Home Depot sells live animal traps, and I bought one, put food in it, and put it in the crawlspace. Four hours later, I went to check, and there she was, locked up and meowing at me. Now she seems to like me, and she even gets along with the other cats a bit.
That was my "long story short."
Tomorrow I start a new job. I was very excited about it a week ago. Now I'm not so sure if I want to work two jobs again. I have worked two jobs for most of the last five years. It's kind of nice now to come home and go to bed without setting the alarm (although I usually do anyway, or else I would sleep for 3 days.) And wrangling two jobs can be a pain in the ass, especially since the new job requires a lot of training, and some of the training I have to travel for. Although I do get paid mileage and expenses! But, I just don't know. There is another reason I am having a dilemma with this, but I am not going into that.
I almost exploded last night at co-worker who watches Fox News all night. I finally got cocky and turned the channel at 2am, after hearing all night about how it was Bill Clinton's fault that 9/11 happened. And they are STILL talking about Jonbenet Ramsey on there.
Well I'm done writing. I have to clean, or paint, or do something productive now. Or not.
Doug
Doorknob
A word of advice - don't ever buy a house if you work midnight shifts. I get home at 6:30 a.m., and then of course, I'm wide awake. But at 6:30am, being wide awake doesn't mean that I want to work on the house - it means watching a little tv, or going online, or maybe throwing some laundry in, but that's about it.
Then I decide to go to sleep, maybe around 8, and sleep until maybe 12 or 1pm. So actually 1pm is my "morning" and I wake up groggy and irritable (as I always have) and the last thing I want to do is go out and pound nails or rip up carpeting. So I usually dawdle.
And if there's an errand thrown into that day, it totally throws things off! If I have to be somewhere at, say, 11am, then I usually don't sleep beforehand. So then I'm just wired on caffeine or these awesome "Charge!" pills that I get at Walmart. :) When I get home after that, then there just seems no sense in going to bed, but I know I have to at some point, because usually I have to go back to work at 10pm that evening.
Last night I worked with Carol, and I love her, but she can drive me insane at times. And last night she was sick - I mean cold/hacking/stuffy sick, and to the extreme! Her coughing was enough to drive me up the drywall. And since she was sputtering and coughing all over everything, I was paranoid, so every time I touched something that I KNEW she had previously touched, I washed my hands, and then washed my face. (They say that you most likely transmit a cold to yourself by touching the virus and then touching your face. And I am a squirmy type, so I touch my face a lot.) It makes a lot more sense to me now - people who are sick should just STAY HOME! Especially in the work environment that I am in - we have 6 retarded people (and if you get offended by the word 'retarded', too bad - it's right there in their case files) and it's not fun when they get sick -for us or for them. Anyway, Carol must have 84 weeks of sick time built up - she's worked there for 14 years. I work again with her tonight, and I think I'm just going to wear a garbage bag over my body.
I'm not usually that paranoid of sick people. But I HATE getting a cold. Some people are lucky - they get a sniffle which lasts a couple days, and then they're fine. When I get a cold, I literally have a non-stop spigot of snot somewhere in my head, and I get crabby and sore and SICK. And it lasts a week. And yes, I smoke a lot, and when I didn't smoke for a year, I never got a cold. We won't go any farther with that.
So back to the beginning - I really haven't got much done with my house in the last couple days. And I notice that the floors are really cold, which means more insulation needed under the house. But I do have new doorknobs.
I have beautiful old interior doors - four panel, with keyholes and the kind of lock mechanism that is attached to the door instead of built in - they are VERY old. But none of them had doorknobs! The bathroom door is the only one I have kept closed, because there is still some openings in the wall where the cats could get through, so every time I exit or enter the bathroom, I close the door. To open it, I have used a screwdriver, but about 28 percent of the time, I lock the screwdriver on the other side of the door from where I am, so I have to hunt until I find something else to improvise with.
So one day at Home Depot, I went through the doorknob department, and I thought to myself - hmm.....maybe they sell replacement knobs for those old doors (the knob mechanism is much different on an old door than a new one.) Anyway, I looked and looked and I didn't see anything remotely resembling what I needed. Bummer.
A couple days later, I was again in Home Depot, buying screws or something, and as I was leaving I inadvertantly walked through that doorknob section again. And what caught my eye? Crystal doorknobs! They were on the right side, not the left where I had been looking before. They had old-fashioned crystal doorknobs, and old-fashioned faux-porcelain knobs, and brass knobs. And they were cheap - from 5 to 7 bucks a piece. So I bought a crystal one for the bathroom, and a "porcelain" one for the front door. And they are awesome! I dreaded the thought of putting modern "technological" knobs on those doors, and now I don't have to. Very cool.
Well, off to babysit my nephew for an hour, and then work again tonight. Ho hum.
ps. - If you like conspiracy theories and are just a little open-minded, google "Loose Change", which is a documentary some young guys made about the 9/11 attacks and the inconsistencies within the Commision report, etc. You can watch the movie online. Maybe a little over-the-top for some people, but like I said, watch it with an open mind. There's a lot of unanswered questions about that day, and for some reason, they never get coverage anymore.....
Dougles
Then I decide to go to sleep, maybe around 8, and sleep until maybe 12 or 1pm. So actually 1pm is my "morning" and I wake up groggy and irritable (as I always have) and the last thing I want to do is go out and pound nails or rip up carpeting. So I usually dawdle.
And if there's an errand thrown into that day, it totally throws things off! If I have to be somewhere at, say, 11am, then I usually don't sleep beforehand. So then I'm just wired on caffeine or these awesome "Charge!" pills that I get at Walmart. :) When I get home after that, then there just seems no sense in going to bed, but I know I have to at some point, because usually I have to go back to work at 10pm that evening.
Last night I worked with Carol, and I love her, but she can drive me insane at times. And last night she was sick - I mean cold/hacking/stuffy sick, and to the extreme! Her coughing was enough to drive me up the drywall. And since she was sputtering and coughing all over everything, I was paranoid, so every time I touched something that I KNEW she had previously touched, I washed my hands, and then washed my face. (They say that you most likely transmit a cold to yourself by touching the virus and then touching your face. And I am a squirmy type, so I touch my face a lot.) It makes a lot more sense to me now - people who are sick should just STAY HOME! Especially in the work environment that I am in - we have 6 retarded people (and if you get offended by the word 'retarded', too bad - it's right there in their case files) and it's not fun when they get sick -for us or for them. Anyway, Carol must have 84 weeks of sick time built up - she's worked there for 14 years. I work again with her tonight, and I think I'm just going to wear a garbage bag over my body.
I'm not usually that paranoid of sick people. But I HATE getting a cold. Some people are lucky - they get a sniffle which lasts a couple days, and then they're fine. When I get a cold, I literally have a non-stop spigot of snot somewhere in my head, and I get crabby and sore and SICK. And it lasts a week. And yes, I smoke a lot, and when I didn't smoke for a year, I never got a cold. We won't go any farther with that.
So back to the beginning - I really haven't got much done with my house in the last couple days. And I notice that the floors are really cold, which means more insulation needed under the house. But I do have new doorknobs.
I have beautiful old interior doors - four panel, with keyholes and the kind of lock mechanism that is attached to the door instead of built in - they are VERY old. But none of them had doorknobs! The bathroom door is the only one I have kept closed, because there is still some openings in the wall where the cats could get through, so every time I exit or enter the bathroom, I close the door. To open it, I have used a screwdriver, but about 28 percent of the time, I lock the screwdriver on the other side of the door from where I am, so I have to hunt until I find something else to improvise with.
So one day at Home Depot, I went through the doorknob department, and I thought to myself - hmm.....maybe they sell replacement knobs for those old doors (the knob mechanism is much different on an old door than a new one.) Anyway, I looked and looked and I didn't see anything remotely resembling what I needed. Bummer.
A couple days later, I was again in Home Depot, buying screws or something, and as I was leaving I inadvertantly walked through that doorknob section again. And what caught my eye? Crystal doorknobs! They were on the right side, not the left where I had been looking before. They had old-fashioned crystal doorknobs, and old-fashioned faux-porcelain knobs, and brass knobs. And they were cheap - from 5 to 7 bucks a piece. So I bought a crystal one for the bathroom, and a "porcelain" one for the front door. And they are awesome! I dreaded the thought of putting modern "technological" knobs on those doors, and now I don't have to. Very cool.
Well, off to babysit my nephew for an hour, and then work again tonight. Ho hum.
ps. - If you like conspiracy theories and are just a little open-minded, google "Loose Change", which is a documentary some young guys made about the 9/11 attacks and the inconsistencies within the Commision report, etc. You can watch the movie online. Maybe a little over-the-top for some people, but like I said, watch it with an open mind. There's a lot of unanswered questions about that day, and for some reason, they never get coverage anymore.....
Dougles
08 September 2006
OK, I finally have a point that I think deserves a rant.....
Remember when the internet and email were still "new", maybe 8 years ago (for me at least), and you got your first spam email and thought it was sort of cool? It was probably something along the lines of "Forward this crap to 10 unwilling people and you will be tapped on the shoulder by the Taco Bell Princess in 10 minutes. SERIOUSLY!" And so you hurriedly thought of ten people to send it to? Yes, I did it too
In my regular email account on Yahoo, I very RARELY get these kind of spam messages anymore. But here on MYSPACE, suddenly there are a few souls in my friends folder who get one of these "send it or doom" messages, and feel compelled to send them out to keep themselves safe from eternal misery, loss of companionship, etc.
So what I am here to ask is this - will you PLEASE just stop it? I admit that I am a very very superstitious person, which stems from my inborn craziness and too much caffeine and lack of sleep. So when I DO get an email saying that if I don't send it out in 10 minutes, I am going to be struck by a lead hammer and die, it does affect me! For about 30 seconds.
And then I remind myself that someone really bored and full of hatred for casual emailing originally wrote the message, and that it's a bunch of bullshit, and one of my friends is superstitious like me, and I just delete it. Or forget about it.
And so far, nothing has happened. My life hasn't gotten any better, but I haven't lost any appendages or suddenly broke out in a rash/crying fit combo, etc. So I beg all of you - RESIST THE URGE! THROW THESE MESSAGES AWAY!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!
(and for my own safety, knock on wood........;)
Doug
Remember when the internet and email were still "new", maybe 8 years ago (for me at least), and you got your first spam email and thought it was sort of cool? It was probably something along the lines of "Forward this crap to 10 unwilling people and you will be tapped on the shoulder by the Taco Bell Princess in 10 minutes. SERIOUSLY!" And so you hurriedly thought of ten people to send it to? Yes, I did it too
In my regular email account on Yahoo, I very RARELY get these kind of spam messages anymore. But here on MYSPACE, suddenly there are a few souls in my friends folder who get one of these "send it or doom" messages, and feel compelled to send them out to keep themselves safe from eternal misery, loss of companionship, etc.
So what I am here to ask is this - will you PLEASE just stop it? I admit that I am a very very superstitious person, which stems from my inborn craziness and too much caffeine and lack of sleep. So when I DO get an email saying that if I don't send it out in 10 minutes, I am going to be struck by a lead hammer and die, it does affect me! For about 30 seconds.
And then I remind myself that someone really bored and full of hatred for casual emailing originally wrote the message, and that it's a bunch of bullshit, and one of my friends is superstitious like me, and I just delete it. Or forget about it.
And so far, nothing has happened. My life hasn't gotten any better, but I haven't lost any appendages or suddenly broke out in a rash/crying fit combo, etc. So I beg all of you - RESIST THE URGE! THROW THESE MESSAGES AWAY!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!
(and for my own safety, knock on wood........;)
Doug
01 September 2006
Buying A House With A Credit Card
Well, I am now living in my new house, which has been an adventure. If any of you ever decide to buy a cheap house, you should keep in mind one thing - there is a reason it is cheap! Here are some of the delightful things I have dealt with so far....
First project - fixing the plumbing. I installed a new pump on the well, which took 2 days because there were two pipes coming up out of the crawlspace (which is about 1 1/2 feet in height - lovely for crawling). Since it is a "shallow well", there should only be one pipe, but there are two, which means that it isn't so shallow, or that there are two wells. There is no evidence of a well outside - just two pipes coming in from the crawlspace. Anyway, I finally got it working, at about 200 bucks, which was much cheaper than a plumber.
After that, there were other things to deal with. The kitchen faucet leaked, so i replaced that. Of course, I was missing ONE freaking gasket, so it leaked for 2 days until I finally bought one today. So now I can leave the pump running without slowly flooding the kitchen. Then there was the incident when I decided to move *by myself my washer into its spot in the bathroom, and in doing so, I hit a loose wall, which broke a pipe. So I had water gushing forth in my bathroom. I turned off the pump, fixed the pipe, and got the washer moved. So I went to do my first load, and there was water gushing from the washer! Apparently in moving it, I cracked the drain hose, so I temporarily fixed it with electrical tape and will be buying a new one tonight. Lovely.
Probably the most interesting thing about this house, which I knew when I bought it, is that it is CROOKED. It leans to one corner, and there are a couple spots where the pilings underneath are pushing up on the floor, so there are some hills and valleys in my floor. If you ever have to deal with a foundation expert, remember one thing - they are hard to get a hold of, and once you have reached them, then they don't like to show up. I finally have a guy coming tomorrow, so it will be interesting to hear what he says. I mean, I can live with a crooked house, but I would rather have nice straight floors, because it makes me feel a bit drunk at times to walk across the bathroom.
I want to install a pellet stove in here - they are much more efficient and cheaper than a gas furnace (especially an old Montgomery Ward's model). But, my mom (who now lives close) convinced me to use the gas furnace this year, and the gas water heater, so as of today, I have heat and hot water. I have been either taking showers at my mom's or at work, so it will be nice to finally be able to keep myself clean on a daily basis, the way I like to. But, first I have to deal with the bathtub. It is gross. There were so many layers of caulk on it, that it just peeled off like leather, and what was underneath was shocking. I plan to renovate the bathroom next summer, so I'm trying to deal with what I have for now. But somebody brilliantly installed the bathtub with a subwall of particle board behind it. If you know what particle board is, then you know that it isn't very waterproof. So, when I pulled off the caulking, there was this lovely black, soil-like material that kept coming out from behind where the caulk was. It is basically decomposed particle board, and although it doesn't smell, it is scary looking. So tonight, before work, I am heading to Home Depot to get the most heavy-duty caulk and gasket material I can find, so that I can actually take a shower or bath, and although I still will know that the horrible black stuff is behind the wall, at least I will not have it getting on my body.
Other than that - I had to fix the siding on the front of the house, which I think turned out pretty impressive. I had to replicate 100-year-old wood siding, which isn't an exact match, but I think it will look good when it is painted. Just a quick fix until I can afford to re-side the house. I also put in a toilet, and removed decades worth of carpeting. Whoever had put that carpeting in (back in 1978) decided to line the floor underneath with newspapers. So I have a huge stack of newspapers from 1978, which are quite interesting. A lot of National Enquirers in there too. Lots of exposees on Elvis's death, Patty Hearst, etc. Fun reading, but it will have to wait. The floors underneath are all maple, and will be beautiful when they are finished. God knows why they were ever covered, but I remember well that in the 70s, shag carpet was much cooler than cold wood floors.
I have met three neighbors, and they have all been very cool. Especially Pat, the 63-year old who looks like Uncle Jessie. He likes to come over and chat for an hour at a time, and apparently I must be pretty funny, because it is easy to make him laugh, and he has a very boisterous laugh. His house is an exact copy of mine, except he has a basement, and they have been renovated slightly differently over the years. In fact, if you drive down the streets immediately around this area, you can see many houses that are cookie-cutter copies of this house. Sometimes you have to really look at them to tell though, because over the years people have added additions on, changed windows, etc. But they all have the same "Little House on the Prairie" roofline.
Anyway, at least now I have water, heat, and hopefully tomorrow, a decent place to take a shower. Although a shower will probably be the last thing on my mind when I find out how much it will cost to level the house.
Groan. But I'm having a blast with it.
First project - fixing the plumbing. I installed a new pump on the well, which took 2 days because there were two pipes coming up out of the crawlspace (which is about 1 1/2 feet in height - lovely for crawling). Since it is a "shallow well", there should only be one pipe, but there are two, which means that it isn't so shallow, or that there are two wells. There is no evidence of a well outside - just two pipes coming in from the crawlspace. Anyway, I finally got it working, at about 200 bucks, which was much cheaper than a plumber.
After that, there were other things to deal with. The kitchen faucet leaked, so i replaced that. Of course, I was missing ONE freaking gasket, so it leaked for 2 days until I finally bought one today. So now I can leave the pump running without slowly flooding the kitchen. Then there was the incident when I decided to move *by myself my washer into its spot in the bathroom, and in doing so, I hit a loose wall, which broke a pipe. So I had water gushing forth in my bathroom. I turned off the pump, fixed the pipe, and got the washer moved. So I went to do my first load, and there was water gushing from the washer! Apparently in moving it, I cracked the drain hose, so I temporarily fixed it with electrical tape and will be buying a new one tonight. Lovely.
Probably the most interesting thing about this house, which I knew when I bought it, is that it is CROOKED. It leans to one corner, and there are a couple spots where the pilings underneath are pushing up on the floor, so there are some hills and valleys in my floor. If you ever have to deal with a foundation expert, remember one thing - they are hard to get a hold of, and once you have reached them, then they don't like to show up. I finally have a guy coming tomorrow, so it will be interesting to hear what he says. I mean, I can live with a crooked house, but I would rather have nice straight floors, because it makes me feel a bit drunk at times to walk across the bathroom.
I want to install a pellet stove in here - they are much more efficient and cheaper than a gas furnace (especially an old Montgomery Ward's model). But, my mom (who now lives close) convinced me to use the gas furnace this year, and the gas water heater, so as of today, I have heat and hot water. I have been either taking showers at my mom's or at work, so it will be nice to finally be able to keep myself clean on a daily basis, the way I like to. But, first I have to deal with the bathtub. It is gross. There were so many layers of caulk on it, that it just peeled off like leather, and what was underneath was shocking. I plan to renovate the bathroom next summer, so I'm trying to deal with what I have for now. But somebody brilliantly installed the bathtub with a subwall of particle board behind it. If you know what particle board is, then you know that it isn't very waterproof. So, when I pulled off the caulking, there was this lovely black, soil-like material that kept coming out from behind where the caulk was. It is basically decomposed particle board, and although it doesn't smell, it is scary looking. So tonight, before work, I am heading to Home Depot to get the most heavy-duty caulk and gasket material I can find, so that I can actually take a shower or bath, and although I still will know that the horrible black stuff is behind the wall, at least I will not have it getting on my body.
Other than that - I had to fix the siding on the front of the house, which I think turned out pretty impressive. I had to replicate 100-year-old wood siding, which isn't an exact match, but I think it will look good when it is painted. Just a quick fix until I can afford to re-side the house. I also put in a toilet, and removed decades worth of carpeting. Whoever had put that carpeting in (back in 1978) decided to line the floor underneath with newspapers. So I have a huge stack of newspapers from 1978, which are quite interesting. A lot of National Enquirers in there too. Lots of exposees on Elvis's death, Patty Hearst, etc. Fun reading, but it will have to wait. The floors underneath are all maple, and will be beautiful when they are finished. God knows why they were ever covered, but I remember well that in the 70s, shag carpet was much cooler than cold wood floors.
I have met three neighbors, and they have all been very cool. Especially Pat, the 63-year old who looks like Uncle Jessie. He likes to come over and chat for an hour at a time, and apparently I must be pretty funny, because it is easy to make him laugh, and he has a very boisterous laugh. His house is an exact copy of mine, except he has a basement, and they have been renovated slightly differently over the years. In fact, if you drive down the streets immediately around this area, you can see many houses that are cookie-cutter copies of this house. Sometimes you have to really look at them to tell though, because over the years people have added additions on, changed windows, etc. But they all have the same "Little House on the Prairie" roofline.
Anyway, at least now I have water, heat, and hopefully tomorrow, a decent place to take a shower. Although a shower will probably be the last thing on my mind when I find out how much it will cost to level the house.
Groan. But I'm having a blast with it.
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