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| What it looked like in Dec |
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| Dec 2012 |
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| Today, a big mess |
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| Attempt at planter box |
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
So Now What?
So we have this hole in our yard where the pool was. We need to come up with something to do with it. The challenge is we just aren't creative enough and don't really have the dough to engage a professional designer and a landscaper.
Various forms of wall hanging
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| Powder Room |
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| Upstairs bathroom |
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| found at separate thrift stores |
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| Obligatory cat element |
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Don't Understand how they could possibly be going Out of Business
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| This would look good with all our coats drapped across it |
I did like this item pictured here. It would work beautifully in the space that is our hallway. Unfortunately, it was listed for $1600 or so. I don't remember the exact amount. I'm sure there was some wiggle room built into it but I really didn't have the money for such a lovely piece of woodwork.
However when the store propriatory told me the price I said it was out of my budget. He asked me what my budget was and I said I wasn't sure. I said that because I didn't have it in my mind how much we thought we'd have to spend on the Ikea Hack Project I've mentioned here.
That apparently was the wrong thing to say because Mr Personality decided that it was wasting his time by breathing the same oxygen and occupying the same zip code. "You don't have a budget," he said. "You are wasting my time." He went on to mumble a few more things about how he doesn't have time for this because he's going out of business.
A couple of things. First, when someone says the item is out of the budget it just might be their polite way of saying your shit is really overpriced.
Second, blaming customers for your failure to succeed in business is wrong on so many levels.
Third, your wife -- if you have a wife -- is undoubtedly sleeping with other people because she has long regretted the moment she ever gave you a blowjob.
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| and this would be wonderful too |
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Kenosha Half Marathon Race Report
'
On Saturday I ran the Kenosha Half Marathon along with some runner friends. Our group has done this race at least twice before. That makes sense because it's a short enough drive that you can either stay local and get up early or you could pay the extra dough to get a hotel room as we did this year.
Last year I ran it under someone else's bib and was just trying to finish the race with minimal walking. IIRC I forgot to bring gels so it is no wonder I kinda faded at the end.
The first time I ran this race in 2009, I had had a tumultuous April and had struggled with my running all winter training. I was signed up for the full marathon but exercised the option to switch to the half because I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. I really just wanted to finish that race and take a break. I was also registered for SF10 but a business trip to Hong Kong made me miss it, which was probably a blessing in disguise. So it was pretty much my last race of the year, except for the Bastille Day 5K which was technically my second date with Nightingale.
This year, I managed to run with something that has been missing for a long time. I won't use the word effortlessly -- because there is no such thing when it comes to racing -- so instead I'll say Struggle-free. I started out further back than usual, around the 10 mm group and just took the first mile easy. After the first mile I managed to get a running lane and increased my speed just slightly. I ran the race in 1:48, or 8:14 pace.
B had a good run too. She posted a sub 5 hour marathon and it's been a long time since she's done that. In Detroit the wheels had come off again so I think she was over due for a good one.
If you run enough, you are gonna have days when you run like the wind and you are gonna have days when you suck wind. Luckily, this was the former instead of the later.
The trip was supposed to be a lazy get-away. However, because we had to spend 3 hours moving furniture my former tenant left behind and cleaning the condo, we didn't arrive until after 9 on Friday, missing our chance to explore the outlet malls. So even though she was willing to come out and support us on the race course, I told Nightingale to sleep in and enjoy the Outlet Malls as soon as they opened.
As part of my hair brained scheme, we were going to go to West Chicago for a wedding shower in spite of my long standing policy of not attending showers or kiddy bday parties. Fortunately it was a very casual shower and I had already set the expectation that we would arrive late. In fact, we got there just before they removed the buffet so we were able to get some much needed grub as I hadn't eaten much before because of my wisdom tooth extractions. So all in all it was a busy yet fulfilling weekend.
On Saturday I ran the Kenosha Half Marathon along with some runner friends. Our group has done this race at least twice before. That makes sense because it's a short enough drive that you can either stay local and get up early or you could pay the extra dough to get a hotel room as we did this year.Last year I ran it under someone else's bib and was just trying to finish the race with minimal walking. IIRC I forgot to bring gels so it is no wonder I kinda faded at the end.
The first time I ran this race in 2009, I had had a tumultuous April and had struggled with my running all winter training. I was signed up for the full marathon but exercised the option to switch to the half because I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. I really just wanted to finish that race and take a break. I was also registered for SF10 but a business trip to Hong Kong made me miss it, which was probably a blessing in disguise. So it was pretty much my last race of the year, except for the Bastille Day 5K which was technically my second date with Nightingale.
This year, I managed to run with something that has been missing for a long time. I won't use the word effortlessly -- because there is no such thing when it comes to racing -- so instead I'll say Struggle-free. I started out further back than usual, around the 10 mm group and just took the first mile easy. After the first mile I managed to get a running lane and increased my speed just slightly. I ran the race in 1:48, or 8:14 pace.
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| The pita wrap makes the brat healthy, right? |
If you run enough, you are gonna have days when you run like the wind and you are gonna have days when you suck wind. Luckily, this was the former instead of the later.
The trip was supposed to be a lazy get-away. However, because we had to spend 3 hours moving furniture my former tenant left behind and cleaning the condo, we didn't arrive until after 9 on Friday, missing our chance to explore the outlet malls. So even though she was willing to come out and support us on the race course, I told Nightingale to sleep in and enjoy the Outlet Malls as soon as they opened.
As part of my hair brained scheme, we were going to go to West Chicago for a wedding shower in spite of my long standing policy of not attending showers or kiddy bday parties. Fortunately it was a very casual shower and I had already set the expectation that we would arrive late. In fact, we got there just before they removed the buffet so we were able to get some much needed grub as I hadn't eaten much before because of my wisdom tooth extractions. So all in all it was a busy yet fulfilling weekend.
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| Blues Brother tribute band |
No Second guessing these Life Decisions
It seems like I always second guess my decisions or have trouble making a decision in the first place. Sometimes I cannot even decide what I want to have for lunch. However, there are three decisions I've made over the course of my life that I am at perfect peace.
I refer to these as the Three Best Decisions of My Life. Sure, I’ve made many decisions that have arguably worked out better, such as marrying Nightingale. The reason I single these three out is they are decisions that I've never seconded guessed or looked back on and regretted, other than perhaps wishing I had done them sooner.
Going to G-School: When I finished undergrad, I swore I would never go back to higher education. However, after not breaking into a journalism and suffering years as a litigation paralegal for an evil corporate law firm, I decided that being able to eat and pay rent the same month was the life for me.
Becoming Catholic: My family is catholic but they didn’t send me to parochial school, probably more out of cost than true heathenism. As I got older I got more spiritual and ironically, I was reading a lot of Anne Rice at the time and her descriptions of the Catholic rituals got me curious. I started going to church and a few months later I had my epiphany.
It was Labor Day weekend 1999, and my roommate and long time friend from high school friend had just moved out. Talk about a souvenir of a terrible year: I had lost my job, broke my toes, and been mugged within a three week period. It was a very dark time in my life. I felt like a weight was about to crush me. Then I took a deep breath and felt like everything would be alright. And I know that wasn't my own steam, God had shown some mercy on me.
Getting Lasik Eye Surgery: It was never a question of if but when. I’m glad I did it because not fumbling with contact lens or waking up to blurry vision is tremendous. Lasik — short for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, which entails cutting and reshaping the cornea.
Were there risks? Sig Other 1.0 was an ophthalmologist and she told me that in the early years there were so many people who got Lasik that later research would have declared them bad candidates that the industry as a whole voluntarily tightened the definition for what a good candidate was so as to preventlawsuits unsuccessful surgeries.
Looking back, I don’t think going to G-School any sooner would have been an option from a financial standpoint. Same goes for Lasik. Sure. I joke that I used the money for Polish Girlfriend 1.0 ring to pay for my surgery. The truth is I had FSA money set aside and it came down to use it or lose it. And it took hitting rock bottom and having an epiphany to get me to become catholic. And in the baker's dozen years that I've been, I've certainly not lived up to all the requirements and have certainly challenged the doctrine.
I do sometimes wonder if I should have chosen some different course work at DePaul. IIRC the program options for CTI were not very flexible even though they were toted as such at the time. That's the way of marketing, even in academia. They made it sound like you could switch from Databases to Networks concentrations when in reality most of the concentrations shared very few common courses.
Going to G-School: When I finished undergrad, I swore I would never go back to higher education. However, after not breaking into a journalism and suffering years as a litigation paralegal for an evil corporate law firm, I decided that being able to eat and pay rent the same month was the life for me.
Becoming Catholic: My family is catholic but they didn’t send me to parochial school, probably more out of cost than true heathenism. As I got older I got more spiritual and ironically, I was reading a lot of Anne Rice at the time and her descriptions of the Catholic rituals got me curious. I started going to church and a few months later I had my epiphany.
It was Labor Day weekend 1999, and my roommate and long time friend from high school friend had just moved out. Talk about a souvenir of a terrible year: I had lost my job, broke my toes, and been mugged within a three week period. It was a very dark time in my life. I felt like a weight was about to crush me. Then I took a deep breath and felt like everything would be alright. And I know that wasn't my own steam, God had shown some mercy on me.
Getting Lasik Eye Surgery: It was never a question of if but when. I’m glad I did it because not fumbling with contact lens or waking up to blurry vision is tremendous. Lasik — short for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis, which entails cutting and reshaping the cornea.
Were there risks? Sig Other 1.0 was an ophthalmologist and she told me that in the early years there were so many people who got Lasik that later research would have declared them bad candidates that the industry as a whole voluntarily tightened the definition for what a good candidate was so as to prevent
Looking back, I don’t think going to G-School any sooner would have been an option from a financial standpoint. Same goes for Lasik. Sure. I joke that I used the money for Polish Girlfriend 1.0 ring to pay for my surgery. The truth is I had FSA money set aside and it came down to use it or lose it. And it took hitting rock bottom and having an epiphany to get me to become catholic. And in the baker's dozen years that I've been, I've certainly not lived up to all the requirements and have certainly challenged the doctrine.
I do sometimes wonder if I should have chosen some different course work at DePaul. IIRC the program options for CTI were not very flexible even though they were toted as such at the time. That's the way of marketing, even in academia. They made it sound like you could switch from Databases to Networks concentrations when in reality most of the concentrations shared very few common courses.
Friday, May 3, 2013
To Avoid Separate Posts
Some stuff I don't wanna break into their own posts:
Today I'm getting my last two wisdom teeth extracted. I Reluctantly got the first two extracted in 2009. Since my mouth was left numb, I didn't exactly rush back to have the other two removed. It was a good six months before the tightness in my teeth loosened up. There's still some residual numbness in my left gums and lip.
I was pissed the people at the oral surgeon's office downplayed the whole numbness thing. Yes they probably mentioned it and it was in the waviers I signed, but they really focused on making sure I didn't eat or drink before the procedure. I swear they told me like 762 not to eat or drink the night before or they couldn't put me under.
Alas I've put it off long enough and figure that since I do have insurance that will pay for 80% of it, I should take advantage.
Then we are heading to Kenosha for a half marathon Saturday. On the way back home we are stopping by a wedding shower in West Chicago. Could I pack more into one day? Well yes.
Our first renter moved out the other day. He said he was feeling uncomfortable because of all the complaints about his noise and his smoking. Our Property Manager said he was a very nice guy and had reasonable explanations for the complaints. But they continued. Apparently he was smoking inside and also left garage bags on the back deck instead of taking them down to the trash.
He denied this to our Property Manager. First Renter found a sub leaser so we let him out of his lease and are starting a new lease with Second Renter. First Renter however left behind more bags of garbage, a computer monitor, a camera, a loveseat and pizza boxes on the washer/dryer.
Second Renter doesn't want the rugs we left behind and apparently we have to do something with them. Property Manager is out of the country though I have half a mind to just leave it be and have him deal with it when he gets back. This has been the recurring theme of 2013: the people I'm paying to do stuff that I don't want to do are not doing that stuff to the fullest.
Today I'm getting my last two wisdom teeth extracted. I Reluctantly got the first two extracted in 2009. Since my mouth was left numb, I didn't exactly rush back to have the other two removed. It was a good six months before the tightness in my teeth loosened up. There's still some residual numbness in my left gums and lip.
I was pissed the people at the oral surgeon's office downplayed the whole numbness thing. Yes they probably mentioned it and it was in the waviers I signed, but they really focused on making sure I didn't eat or drink before the procedure. I swear they told me like 762 not to eat or drink the night before or they couldn't put me under.
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| Why couldn't he leave something like this behind |
Then we are heading to Kenosha for a half marathon Saturday. On the way back home we are stopping by a wedding shower in West Chicago. Could I pack more into one day? Well yes.
Our first renter moved out the other day. He said he was feeling uncomfortable because of all the complaints about his noise and his smoking. Our Property Manager said he was a very nice guy and had reasonable explanations for the complaints. But they continued. Apparently he was smoking inside and also left garage bags on the back deck instead of taking them down to the trash.
He denied this to our Property Manager. First Renter found a sub leaser so we let him out of his lease and are starting a new lease with Second Renter. First Renter however left behind more bags of garbage, a computer monitor, a camera, a loveseat and pizza boxes on the washer/dryer.
Second Renter doesn't want the rugs we left behind and apparently we have to do something with them. Property Manager is out of the country though I have half a mind to just leave it be and have him deal with it when he gets back. This has been the recurring theme of 2013: the people I'm paying to do stuff that I don't want to do are not doing that stuff to the fullest.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Weddings are quite the Protocol Mine Fields
I have two friends who are getting married on June 1st this year. The wedding ceremonies are 4 hours and 30+ miles apart, with the respective receptions starting immediately after. In theory, this should be lunch and dinner with two close friends whom I've known for years. In reality it will be a delicate balance of spending enough time at each and dealing with traffic.
My options are:
In the long run, I should get over myself and stop projecting. At our wedding, I was disappointed that some people couldn't let us know they weren't coming when they probably knew months in advance. One couple even wrote on the RSVP that they were gonig to a block party instead. Because those annual events are more rare than a once-in-a-lifetime first wedding.
And then there was the husband who said they never got the invitation and had already made plans to go to So-Suede's wedding and didn't recall what time it was so he couldn't be sure if going to both our ceremonies was an option.
The thing is, that option was never on the table. It probably never occurred to them to do that. here I am dragging Nightingale to two weddings 30 miles apart and my catholic friends wouldn't attend two weddings less than 3 miles apart. Note: I'm not saying that decision is a component of being Catholic, that's merely how I identify that particular faction of friends.
My options are:
- Goto the first wedding we were invited to, skip the second altogether. Practical but kinda cold.
- Goto the first wedding, skip the reception and head to the second wedding and reception. This leave a lot of spare time between and we have to forage for food in unknown suburbs.
- Goto the first wedding, stay for the reception and potentially miss the second wedding but hit that reception. Wouldn't be the worst though I still cring that some of my friends missed out on seeing the Polish Church we got married at because they opted to just make the reception.
- Goto the first wedding, stay for the reception and watch my watch until we have to split for the next one and stress over traffic. Winner.
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| Meeting some of the neighbors |
And then there was the husband who said they never got the invitation and had already made plans to go to So-Suede's wedding and didn't recall what time it was so he couldn't be sure if going to both our ceremonies was an option.
The thing is, that option was never on the table. It probably never occurred to them to do that. here I am dragging Nightingale to two weddings 30 miles apart and my catholic friends wouldn't attend two weddings less than 3 miles apart. Note: I'm not saying that decision is a component of being Catholic, that's merely how I identify that particular faction of friends.
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