Septiheptihan

Another odd day.  They all are, I suppose.

Today was our CPA's last day -- she's retiring.  Exec. Dir. is out of the office.  Deputy Exec. Dir. stops by 10 minutes before the reception to ask if I'd give the speech (instead of him).  It wasn't an entirely unreasonable request, because he'd known her all of a month (as compared to my two years.)  More than 10 minutes notice would have been nice.

Being the affable and flexible fellow that I am, it went just fine.  Strange situation, though.  The woman has cancer in her lungs and brain, but she strictly fobade any mention of it.  Seems her adult daughter doesn't know about her illness.  I can't imagine that.  In my family we're utterly incapable of keeping a secret.  It'd be around the next day.  Also, I can't imagine facing something like that without every possible measure of support from my family.

Finished Post Captain.  Excellent, as ever.  Went to the library, but they didn't have the next one on tape or paper.  Kind of frustrating, but I will check in Shelbyville in the morning.  The series is like LOTR -- really one loooong story.  So, I browsed and browsed for something to listen to and finally settled on something.  Went to check out -- the Wodehouse is overdue from there.  I'd thought it went back to Shelbyville, dammit!

Had a good workout tonight.  First arm workout since last week due to muscle pain.  Would have been great because there was only one other person in the weight room.  Pretty teenaged girl.  Problem was, she was playing some horrendous Christian rock on the CD player (and restarted the CD when it ended!)  I don't know why I react to badly to this sort of stuff.  I strongly believe in Christ's message of love.  I suppose I resent bad music and bad lyrics being used to market the sacred like Pepsi-Cola.  I don't really agree with the theology it presents either.  I think it overemphasizes faith.

What is the point of faith in a vacuum?  So you steadfastly believe what you are told to believe.  If it does not affect the way you live, what is the point?

I articulated something else that bothers me about Christianity as a religion (and Islam and Judeaism, for that matter.)  God is always presented as a completely separate entity from the individual.  God is over there, I am over here.  My eternal fate depends on my relationship with God.  Until one comes to God, one is apart from God.  I do not beleive this to be the case.  I think I'm a part of God.  All creation is.  My life is a little spark of God-light.  We cannot be apart from God because we are God and God is us and everything else.

In a way, even if you do think God is a separate entity, it's arrogant to think we can have a relationship with God.  In some sense it places us on a equal level.  We are sufficiently parallel to enter into transactions with God.  Seems like bargaining with the Ocean.

But the main reason I reacted so badly was that the music was really crappy.

An old boss of mine (R) called me today and asked about the Staff Assistant position we have open.  He'd been let go by the new administration and was looking for somewhere to jump.  Strange feeling.  I'd love to be able to help him, but I know I have minimum pull.  Still, I'll mention it to Mr. C.

Got our personalized work shirts today.  I'm going to wear mine tomorrow and see if it creates some esprit de corps. 

Ordered myself Volumes I and III of the Achewood books today.  Personalized.  I'm convinced they'll be worth something one day.  Of course, I'd  never be able to actually sell them, but, it would give a certain satisfaction to have an original Onstad from the early days.  Kind of like vintage Bil Keane.

Still having insomnia.  Haven't been drinking all week.  Haven't been sleeping all week.  It sucks, but it's something I decidedly need to do.  I keep hoping it'll get better, but it hasn't yet.  Here I sit now at 1 a.m. only vaguely sleepy.  Ah well, more time for reading.

After a pretty non-productive day at the office I took the girls to the FAC.  I was playing it by ear with regard to my back.  Ended up just doing the elliptical and no weights.  A couple more days won't hurt and could help.  Or maybe just one more day -- might go in tomorrow.

Anyhow, went to Wal-Mart afterwards (woo-hoo!)  I'm circling an aisle with Patty and we're having some silly conversation ("What would you eat if you were a fish?  That girl's developing a fine sense of the surreal.  I've got to introduce her to Python.) and I notice this odd looking couple looking at the car radios.

"Are you gonna git one with a CD (pronounced "say-day")?" asked the skinny, stringy haired girl.

"Naw" replied camo T-shirt and cheesy mustache, "I wanna git an 8-track."

Now, I didn't get a real good look at these two.  It's entirely possible that they were being sarcastic.  In fact, it's probable that they were kidding around.  But they were just odd looking enough, and the lines delivered just deadpan enough, to leave the possibility that this was a genuine exchange. 

I love this state.

Pretty much a wasted day.  Drove two hours to Somerset to give a 5 minute speech to the Deputy Fire Marshals.  The main thing I was slated to talk about was directed at the fire chiefs who would be attending, but they left before I was scheduled to speak.  Long drive back, but pleasant company on the return trip.

Did a leg workout when I got home.

The damn upstairs DVD player doesn't seem to be working.  S'only two months old or so.  Crap.

Listened to the last part of Al Gore's speech on the way home from the FAC.  Great speech, showed true emotion, fire and humor.  If he'd made speeches like that four years ago he'd be president now.  Did not catch Clinton's speech.

Took Mom and Dad to CVG this morning.  They're taking a river barge from Vienna to Amsterdam for two weeks, then spending a week in England and Ireland.  Nice.

Took the scenic route home, through Pendleton, Bracken and Harrison Counties.  Also a quick jaunt through Robertson County, which I've always been fascinated with because it's the smallest in area and in population.  Anyway, it was a pretty day and beautiful country.  Very hilly -- lumpy hills closer to what's around Bald Knob rather than the gently rolling one's we've got.  Since we've had so much rain, everything is still green.  Very green.

Spent the evening mowing.  That stupid mower bogs down if you go faster than a crawl.  Frustrating.

Reading three books at the moment.  Bee Season is excellent, more on it later.  Feet of Clay is my second attempt to read Terry Pratchett.  I tried The Color of Magic a while ago and didn't finish.  This is good, but not great.  Finally, Starlight (or Starsomething) can't remember by Neil Gaiman.  It's good -- a faerie story in the traditional sense described by Tolkein in On Faerie Stories.   Oh, and Bob Edward's book on Edward R. Murrow is in the can downstairs and I'm about halfway through that.  And HMS Surprise is on tape, so I listened to a big chunk of it on my drive today -- it's excellent, O'Brian doesn't disappoint.  And a P.G. Wodehouse Psmith novel (Journalist?) on the Palm for reading on the go.

My back was hurting when I woke up.  Hadn't taken any time off in a long while and didn't have much going on today anyway, so stayed in bed all morning.  Very helpful.

In the afternoon, I took the girls to see Fort Boonesborough.  Pretty darn similar to Old Fort Harrod, but more demonstrators.  They did a good job.

Met Sue in Frankfort for dinner -- Fazoli's, which was pretty unremarkable.  Of course, one expects Fazoli's to be unremarkable, doesn't one.

I think I might go soak in the bathtub now.

Not exactly sure when, but when I was doing military presses I noticed a little twinge around the middle of my right shoulder blade.  As a result of my last experience, I quit then and there (OK, I did do one more set, but it kept hurting so I quit.)  Don't know how, but I strained something.  Back on the naproxen for a few.

Had lunch at Rick's (first time in years).   A muffaletta w/key lime pie for dessert.  Delicious, but expensive.  $13.00 for lunch!  It was very good though, so I might have to make it by there more often.  Not regularly, but as a special treat.

But I feel obligated to post.  Comments would be welcome if anyone is reading this drivel.

When I got home from work the girls still weren't home from the movies.  Sue and I had the house to ourselves.  I got ideas and took decisive action.  30 seconds later the phone rang.  "Come pick us up, Dad!"  Sometimes it pays to be decisive.

Price of alternator replacement -- $174.  OW.

Went to dinner in Eminence.  First time we'd been through since the storm/tornado(?) a month ago.  Lots of trees down, some building damage that we could see.  We wanted to go to the Chinese restaurant, but they didn't take cards and we didn't have much cash.  We ended up going to the worst KFC in the world instead.

Sue is pretty much an expert on KFC operations as a result of her QSC job (damn near 20 years ago, yikes), but we didn't need her expertise to know that this servise was just downright pathetic.  Food was OK, though.  Also, it's now a KFC/TacoBell.  Weird.

Left the KFC and notice a big plume of smoke across town.  Driving down 55 we could tell it was close.  Just before we got to the cemetary and had to turn we found the fire.  A big outbuilding behind a house -- a garage, big shed, carriage house, etc. -- was fully FULLY engulfed in flames.  The FD was there with one hose ineffectually trained on the blaze.  This thing looked like it was going to be fully consumed and ashes in about 15 minutes.  Weird.  Despite working for the State Fire Marshal's Office, this is the first fully active fire scene I can recall attending.

Roofter attacked Lucy today.  She, of course, reacted like Delta Burke, full of screams at the time and scoldings for me afterwards..  She has a two inch barely visible scratch on her shin.  Roofter is pretty much a shithead, but you just have to let him know who is the boss.  I put a size twelve upside his wattles the first time he came after me and we came to an understanding about who weighed 250 pounds and who weighed 1% of that.

...was caused by the alternator, not the battery.  So the fix will be slightly more expensive than first thought.  Meh.

Electrical Advisory Board meeting this morning, went better than expected.  That makes me concerned about the HVAC Board meeting on Thursday, because I'm expecting it to be innocuous.

Had a good leg workout tonight, then came home and vacuumed on the pool.

Listening to Bryson's Notes From a Small Island.  OK so far.  I like Bryson pretty well, but he does strike me as a little fatuous sometimes.  A little impressed with his own wit.  Not quite as bad as Dave Barry, whom I cannot stand.  He just seems to go for the cheap shot a little to easily, and then pretend that he's invented a new form of humor.

The Diddly Awards

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry.

Kentucky New Era Online -- News Article: The case of MISTER BEAR

Unfortunately, it's not about Cornelius.

hate freedom.  Or so they tell us.  How should we respond?

I think we should all quiver in fear and give up our civil liberties, one by one.

 

Still decompressing.
 
After a blah day at work (no energy -- didn't accomplish much), I had a lousy trip home.  I had planned to go home, pick up the girls, then head to the FAC for a leg workout followed by a fast food dinner.  But no.
 
Coming up the hill to the BP station, the truck started to shudder.  I had noticed that it was low on gas, so I thought I'd just pull in and fill up.  Which I did.  Got back in, turned the key and click-click-click-click-click.  Nothing.  Then I remembered thinking that it was slow to crank this morning.  On recollection, it had been slow cranking at lunch, too.  Dead ass battery.
 
Called AAA.  They promised to have somebody there within 45 minutes.  A hour and 15 minutes later the guy showed up and gave me a jump.  Managed to make it to Vigo, where the truck died again.  Got another jump from the folks whose house I stopped in front of.  From there I managed to make it into Bagdad and leave the truck in front of Howard's.  His new mechanic guy, Les, will take care of it tomorrow.  I hope it's only the battery and not the alternator.  However, the battery does look pretty old and may be original equipment in which case I'm way overdue.
 
Sue made dinner (for once), God Bless Her.  Watched Ken win again while I ate.  She wanted me to check on the filter, so I tracked down both kinds of screwdriver and took it apart.  Cleaned some grit out from under the grommets and lubricated the O-rings.  As I was going to put it back together, I bumped against the little platform where I had stored the nuts and bolts.  They went everywhere.  After a long search I found everything.   Except one nut.   So I can't put it back together and I get to spend lunch tomorrow at the hardware store.  Yay!
 
I hadn't really planned on it, but I think I'm going to have a drink tonight.

Been very irritable all afternoon and evening. 
 
Mowed the lawn this afternoon, which went fine.  We were supposed to go see the Louisville Bats play tonight at 6:15, and Sue wanted to stop at Lowes to look at parquet flooring for the upstairs.  Everybody was dragging and I could not motivate them to move any faster.  Made me grumpy.
 
Things didn't go any better at the ball game (Bats over the Syracuse Sky Chiefs, 5 -2) and I suppose I'm still pretty grumpy.
 
I don't really have a reason for it.  Sometimes I just get this way.  I can pracically see myself turning into a crochety old man. GET OFF MY LAWN!  It's kind of disturbing, though.  I'm going to go to bed as soon as the load of shirts gets done.

Way, Way, WAY too much information about what I did today.
 
Woke up at 8:15 when Sue came in.  Since I needed to leave by 8:30 or so to get to camp on time, I was a tad rushed.   A quick toothbrushing and face washing and I was off.  Hit Starbucks since I had to go down 127 anyhow and had an unremarkable Cafe Americano.
 
Timed it just right -- got there about 10:25.  Had to wait about 10 minutes for them to be done.  Lucy came over with her friend Brook(e?).  She was very happy to see her again this year.
 
Lucy was pretty chatty for about 20 minutes or so, then she fell asleep.  Slept all the way home.  This gave me a chance to continue listening to Post Captain.  I'm well on the way to becoming a Patrick O'Brian addict, I think.  Listened to it all day, even taking the walkman in while I was on the elliptical.  I think so much turn of the 19th century diction may be affecting my writing style, though.  I have to hand it to O'Brian -- he can tell a ripping yarn without resorting to crappy prose.   He's a hell of a stylist who can still tell a story.  Reminds me of Tom Robbins, somehow.
 
Got home about 12:30.  I fixed the girls hamburgers under the broiler and had one myself.  Not bad, not good.  Just there.  By 1:30 I was ready to go to the FAC, so go I did.  Did manage to finish reading Gore Vidal's Burr before I left.  Excellent, with a wonderful surpise on the last page.
 
Had a good workout -- better than good, really.  Had the place to myself for 2/3's of it, which always helps.  Got to play my music in the weight room.  Started off with a different pattern on the elliptical, which was weird, but burned more calories than normal (435).  Weights went well -- free bench presses and military press especially.  Also, the big frame is finally fixed so I could do some flies.
 
I hit Gallrein's on the way home.  Picked up more corn (Silver Queen today), two eggplant, two cukes and some Roma greenbeans.  Veggies for dinner.  I got home around 4:00.
 
Sue was up and in the kitchen when I got home.  We chatted for a while.  I wanted to get the cukes in vinegar ASAP, so I washed my hands and got started on 'em.  Since I am a nice husband/Dad, I made two batches -- one w/tomatoes for the girls, one w/o for me.  Sliced half a Vidalia (thin) into each bowl.
 
Started the green bean water next -- put some country ham chunks and another Vid on to cook while I sat down and snapped/strung the beans.  Watched a Reno 911 I hadn't seen yet on the TIVO while I snapped.  God bless TIVO and God bless Reno 911.  Greatest invention and funniest show on TV today.
 
Next I had to deal with the meat.  Grilling is pretty much expected of me on the weekends.  I checked my e-mail and surfed a little, checked the boards.  By this time it was 5:15, 5:30ish.  About time to start the fire.  Alas, no charcoal.  I'd thought I had a third of a bad left -- perfect for what I had to cook.  But couldn't find it.  So, I went out to the front yard to ask Sue if she'd bought any.  She was mowing over by the barn and the pump.  No charcoal purchased, but I was requested to check on the automatic vacuum thing she'd started running in the pool.  Happy to oblige, I was.
 
So, I trundled myself over to the pool and stood on the deck watching the vacuum thing.  Twasn't moving.  Only one thing to do -- I stripped down to my skivvies and dove in.  It had crap stuck in its gullet, of course.  A quick tracheotomy straightened things out quickly and I left the thing to its appointed rounds.  I sat on the steps and watched it suck up browny-green pool scum.  Hypnotic, peaceful in its own way.
 
Until it climbed up the wall and started sucking air into the pump.  Damn.  I jetted off my perch on the steps and quickly right the thing.  Obviously it required a higher level of supervision than previously anticipated.  I followed it around, being scrupulously careful not to set my feet down and thus stir up the pool scum.
 
The thing did an admirable job.  I removed a surprising amount of potentially clogging toys, leaves and branches from the bottom and it described a suitably random path about the pool.  It got to a point of diminishing returns, however.  Being a decidely impatient sort, I yanked the thing off the hose and hooked up the regular vacuum to finish the job.  I did as much as I could before the water got too cloudy from stirred up scum.  Also, I was worried about the green beans.  They'd been cooking unattended for a while now.  I'd purposely used a minimum amount of water so that the flavors would be nicely concentrated.  THEY COULD BE BOILING OVER ANY MINUTE.  As dire as my concern for my beans were, I took the time to backwash and rinse the filter.  This also allowed my time to drip dry (I hadn't brought a towel out, since I'd originally come outside to start the fire in the grill, remember?)
 
After a moment of confusion when I couldn't remember where I'd left my glasses (next to the steps, under the foam bone-shaped floaty thing), I used my T-shirt to dry off my face and headed inside.  Retreived a towel from the laundry on the kitchen table, dried off, then dug out undies and my shorts.  Could no longer supress my concerns about the green beans, so stepped over and checked them.  Thankfully, my worries were utterly unfounded.  They were bubbling happily in plenty of water.
 
By this time it was 6:20 or so.  I had pretty much decided not to grill -- it was late and by the time I'd be able to get charcoal it'd be close to 7 (even if I went to the B&N).  Sue had gotten store-made chicken sausages (onion, herb and mushroom and basil and cheese, I think).  I grabbed my old friend the Joy of Cooking and read up on sausage cooking techniques.  Shifted the beans to the smaller eye and got Lucy started husking the corn.  I wanted to do something different with the eggplant.  Simple is good.  While Lucy husked, I peeled the eggplant.  Then I cut them into rounds, laid the slices on the round cookie sheet, drizzled them in olive oil, sprinkled them with parmasean and salt and put them under the broiler.  Later on, I didn't like how they were broiling, so I baked them instead.
 
That done and the corn husked (after 10,000 detailed questions from L), I shifted the beans to the smaller eye and started the corn on the big eye.  Following the J of C suggestions, I found the last beer in the fridge and put half of it in the skillet.  I drank the rest (I came up with that on my own.)  Turned the heat on under the skillet.
 
The sausages were one long tube, which I think is pretty cool.  I can be cool too, so I decided to twist the long tube into links rather than just cut it.  It worked OK, but was probably more trouble than it was worth.
 
By this time the beer was boiling, so I put the two sets of links in -- keeping them scrupulously separate -- one set one direction, the other, the other.  Turned down the heat and went to get the skillet cover and DAMN! the round cookie sheet is in the oven with the eggplant.  I made do with a regular, rectangular cookie sheet.
 
It was pretty much maintenance from then on.  Just monitoring and stirring and such.  Browned the sausages after 10 minutes or so.  Kept checking on the eggplant and stirring the beans and corn until it was time to serve it up.
 
Called the girls and they showed up, but couldn't find Sue.  Hollered out one door, then two -- no answer.  Finally found her hoeing weeds in the flower garden.  She came right in.
 
The sausages were very good.  The beans, OK -- the flavor was good, but they were tough.  I'll stick with the half-runners from now on.  As mentioned earlier, the corn was good, but not as good as last night.  The Silver Queen was more tender but less flavorful.  The big hit of the evening was the eggplant.  Both S and I really liked this method.  I promised that it'd become a regular (at least for the summer).
 
Since I'd forgotten to take the video game (Simpsons Road Rage for the Gamecube, this game rocks) back to the store when I went to the FAC, I had to go back into town at some point tonight.  Sue had other errands for me.  She needed Diet Coke (addict!).  Also, we've been meaning to pick up the left over ceramic tile from my parents for weeks now.  So there were at least three stops I should make.
 
I took 20 minutes or so to digest my (excellent, if I do say so myself) dinner and play a couple of games of Simpsons Road Rage before it had to be returned.  Finished up, got my stuff, kissed the girls and left.
 
To Mom and Dad's first.  Got the tile loaded and sat on the porch talking for far longer than I should have.  Yes, the porch reminds me of Grandmother's screened in porch.  Updates on state government gossip.  Younger brother has a serious girlfriend.  I have muscles they haven't seen before.
 
Next to Wal-Mart (feh).  Got the Diet Coke, utility knives, Fix-A-Flat for the riding mower and half-a-dozen roses that were on clearance (brownie points rawk!).  Noticed that the school supply lists were out, so grabbed a couple because L has been asking and asking and asking about them in her particular obsessive way lately.
 
Back across town and drop of the game at the video store.  Must be a Shelbyville native who is parked talking in the fire lane and preventing me from pulling up to drop off my stuff.
 
Home again, listening to Post Captain all the way.  I could finish this thing tomorrow.  I did listen to Bryson's Notes from a Small Island for a while this morning.  All about his experience in Dover, which was ironic since a big chunk of PC was set in Dover.
 
Got home and started pulling up carpet in the hall.  Got it all up until I got to the alcove where all the furniture is.  Leave that till tomorrow.  The floor underneath looks surprisingly good -- better than expected.  This may mean refinishing rather than parquet.
 
Next the girls want to light fireworks that Sue has bought for them.  Seated on the porch I sort through them and discover exactly four worth shooting at night (not snakes, smoke bombs, etc).  We shoot them.  3 of the 4 as expected, 1 disappointing.
 
Next, I try to make a sparkler bomb as I've learned from secret information.  Did not work.
 
Finally, the girls went to bed.  I played some Snood (to little sucess), made myself a rum and resign myself to writing this.  It took longer than I'd expected.
 
The day is done.  Good Night.

Got home from work and finished installing Patty's tetherball pole.  She discovered tetherball at camp and loved it, so Sue had to immediately rush out and buy her a pole.  Which meant that I got home from work last night, dug a hole, mixed two bags of concrete and tried to get the pole sleeve level.  Then I went and worked out.
 
Anyway, final installation pretty much consisted of slipping the pole into the sleeve, tying the rope to the pole and tying the rope to the ball.  It was surprisingly hard to remember how to tie a bowline, but I dug it up from somewhere.  We played a few games, but it's very hard for me to stay out in the yard at the moment.  The mosquitoes are the worst I can remember.  After 10 minutes my ankles are covered in itchy bites.  This irritates me, a lot.
 
Grilled brat burgers on the Foreman, heated up some leftover rice.  Sue stopped at Gallerein's.  Without a doubt, the best corn of the year so far.  Yellow, which I don't like quite as much as the white.  But this corn was perfectly tender and very very sweet.  I love corn.  I'll eat corn straight out of the can (preferably with a little hot sauce).  Fresh local corn picked today is something I look forward to all year.
 
Watched Airplane after dinner with Patty, mainly to get her to watch it with me.  She stayed for about half, and laughed very hard in spots -- pretty much where I thought she would.
 
Gotta get up early in the a.m. to pick Lucy up from camp.  She will probably be mad because I didn't e-mail her every day.  Oh well.

We call him "Roofter" because he hangs out on the roof of our garage. Most of the time, at least.

Here is a former attempt at bl, er journaling I did early in '03. Maybe this one will last longer. Worth a shot.

Well, Wombat and V seemed to think it was a good idea at least -- I'm making another attempt at journaling. In a nod toward quirky iconoclasm, I've decided to not use the B-word.

The point of this endeavor is to instill some discipline in my writing habits. Also, to provide a medium for publishing some pictures that I have taken or may in the future take. Also, to share links to funny things. Also, to create a lasting record of the events of my puny little life in case I get famous (or infamous) some day.

Thanks to Jough for cutting me a (reasonably) good deal on the space to host this thang. Thanks to Onstad for inspiration -- if he can maintain 8 (or whatever it is) surely I can manage 1. Thanks to Mrs. Jackson in 8th grade for teaching me how to touch type.