I Delcare This Bathroom Open!

 Yet another long gap between posts. As usual, I think about writing all the time, but never do it. But today seems a good day to mark time.

Our upstairs bathroom renovation is, at long last, finished. It only took five months (literally). The project was started on 23 September 2022 and went through delay after delay, including replacing two (out of three) damaged surround panels, which meant contacting the company not once, but twice, to send replacement panels. Then waiting for the contractor to come back and install them. 

Then we waited for a contractor to put in the flooring. 

Finally we waited for a contractor to drywall around the new shower. First, he was finishing a larger project (which took more than a month), then he was delayed for a month due to illness.

Wait. Wait. Wait.

Finally this weekend I put the finishing touches on the project on my own, including caulking, recutting floorboards that no longer fit, and cutting and fitting quarter round molding around the vanity (first time using a miter box and it actually looks nice). 

New flooring replaced crappy linoleum.

Partial picture of the surround. Only one panel was undamaged when we opened the original box.

My very first attempt at cutting a 45 degree angle using a miter box. The molding was $17 so there was a little pressure to get it right the first time.

After the new tub went in, waiting for undamaged panels. We looked at this for two months. You can see the old linoleum floor in the lower part of the picture. 

I also completed our taxes today. So, it's been a productive weekend. On top of that, I took a major fall in my driveway today--slipped on the ice. Luckily my bones are pretty strong, but my hip, elbow and wrist are going to be black and blue for a while. How dumb. 

Speaking of breaking shit, our garage door broke last week as well (it has been exciting around here). The spring above the garage door broke in two which meant there was not way on God's green earth I was fixing anything (oh, and it was 20 degrees below zero). It also happened on the day the drywall guy was finishing our bathroom. It was like we were being challenged to the very end.

I've been listening to the band Bowling For Soup lately. My own band has learned their hit "1985" and I just couldn't get the song out of my head (this happens frequently to me), so the way I exorcise that demon is by listening to the culprit song really loudly wearing headphones. 

Once I listened to "1985" a couple times, I started exploring their catalogue (they've been together since 1994 so I'm a little late to the party), and they've got a bunch of fun, tongue-in-cheek, power punk songs. Nothing complicated, nothing earth-shattering. Just fun party music. I needed to find a new band to dig and I have.

I'm currently reading The First Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch and I'm loving it. Last year I read The Lincoln Conspiracy by the same authors and it was excellent. Both are well researched non-fiction history, but they read like a suspense novels. Not an easy task.

These days I am spending my free time (when I have it) watching college basketball and, on occasion, hockey. I'm a football guy to the core, so I just take a passing interest in sports during these winter months. Obviously I am looking forward to the Super Bowl next week. Then the long offseason.... maybe I should write more since I'm not distracted by football every weekend?

Snow is Here

 Winter has finally come for its annual visit. And so it will overstay its welcome for the next five months. 

Flurries and snow showers have been falling for days now, nonstop. The season has gradually snuck up on us and now we've gotten several inches of accumulating snow. I blew out the driveway Tuesday and it'll need to be done again in the very near future. Even as I write this, flurries continue to fall. It doesn't seem so bad while sipping a mug of hot apple cider.

Ava's fall play, "Father of the Bride" opens Friday (tomorrow). She's stressed about that, putting in very long hours over the past week. She was promoted to stage manager for the theater department this year (she was assistant stage manager last year); it's something she really wanted to do and this is a big test to see whether it was a good idea. She's doing well with it to be honest, and it is certainly a learning experience. I know she takes pride in what she's doing after texting me a picture of the set last night:

"Father of the Bride" BHS Theater Dept, 17 Nov 2022 

Since last posting, our upstairs shower is complete. Now we are waiting for someone to sheetrock around the surround and another to install the bathroom flooring. This is all being coordinated by our plumber and the pace is... well, there is no pace. We've come to another standstill. It has been a very frustrating experience. We are now two solid months without a second shower.

I saw my doctor this morning for a check-up. Not surprisingly, he added a new blood pressure medication. In a month he wants me to do bloodwork to make sure my liver and kidneys aren't being pickled. To think, this could all be avoided (probably) if I could get motivated to lose weight like I did in 2012. Actually, I'm not as heavy as I thought I was going to be. I weighed in at 251 pounds today, which is about 14 or 15 pounds less than what I was at my heaviest some ten years ago.

I started reading a book by Jon Meacham called And There Was Light. It is a biography on Abraham Lincoln; I've read multiple biographies/studies on Lincoln and I always find something new and interesting about him. He's one of my favorite historical figures. I read American Lion by Meacham a couple of years ago, a biography on Andrew Jackson. So far, his new book is proving to be just as good as that one.

I suppose that's it for now. Looking forward to absolute darkness at 5:00 PM. Not. My wife and I have come to an agreement that we have to do something in the evenings to keep us occupied. We cannot go to bed at 7:00 PM (even though it feels tempting). Maybe we'll hold a winter-long gin or rummy tournament? Anything is better than staring at the t.v.

Sunday, 30 October 2022

 A crisp Sunday morning. Clear skies, sunny and a bit chilly (47°F), but it feels good. 

The Mugwugs played a private Halloween party last night south of St. Cloud, near a tiny town called Rockville. We had a good time, sounded decent. I think the crowd enjoyed themselves. I got home a little after 11:00 PM and made some fun money in the process.

My lost book finally arrived via Amazon, days after it was supposed to be here. I had claimed a lost package (actually, Amazon suggested it was lost) and they sent a replacement. Now have have duplicate books, so I will have to return one. Or maybe I will just keep it? The jury's out.

Our shower debacle continues.  We STILL do not have an upstairs shower. The plumbers were here to finish the job this week, only to discover another panel to the surround is cracked at the bottom. The company was again kind enough to send another replacement which we are now waiting for (although at this point I am questioning the quality of the product). I cannot believe our bad luck with this project. 

...actually, that's not true. If it is going to go wrong, it will happen to me. 

So we are going on week six without an upstairs shower. It has really, really tested my patience. Our plumber does feel bad about it, though. He did say to let him know as soon as the panel comes in and they will make the time to come out and finish.

Today is reserved to be a lazy day for me. This past week has absolutely sucked at work -- the worst it has ever been. It is to the point where I am contemplating looking for another job, but that's a lot to digest. I am too old to start over again doing something else. I've done the college thing and soon my kids will be going to college. It is their turn now, I've had my shot; if I screwed up, that's on me, not on them. 

I have nearly 25 years invested with the organization, I have climbed the seniority ladder, and I have well over 500 hours of sick time which I've earned, but will lose if I leave. Can I tough it out for another 10 to 12 years before I can seriously think about retiring? I'm not sure. Maybe if I stopped caring about the quality of my work, if I just did the bare minimum and went home for the day, it would make it easier. Maybe that's the answer.

It is a pity because I know I am very good at what I do, but the company I work for does not give two shits about its employees. Simply put, it is miserable working for shitty people. And yeah, I know this is on the web and can be read by anyone. I won't mince words about how I feel. Fucking fire me.

I have a lot of thinking to do about this.

That said, I am going to plant my ass in front of my 72 inch t.v. and watch NFL Redzone all day. A Bloody Mary is undoubtedly on the radar as well. Maybe two.

Monday Morning

 Monday morning, a beautiful thing. I was on call this past weekend and I am glad it is over. I logged in 18 hours of work time and I never sleep well when I'm on call, so I am pretty tired. There's a good chance a nap is on my radar today.

My wife texted me on Saturday to tell me our thermostat wasn't working right (again). It keeps going dead (the screen goes blank) despite fresh batteries. It was a programmable high tech thing when I originally installed it (I am guessing 12 years ago?). I am disappointed it didn't last as long as I was expecting, but nothing is built to last anymore. 

Anyway, a poorly functioning thermostat is not a good thing going into the winter months, especially in Minnesota. So this morning I installed a new thermostat. It is a simple, non-programmable digital model. I am all about keeping it simple at this point in my life. 

Also, on Friday my wife's mysterious iPhone showed up! It took four times longer than it should have, but it finally arrived no worse for wear.

And in the continuing saga of things not arriving on time, I ordered a book from Amazon a week ago (And There Was Light by Jon Meachem). Today I got a notice that said "Your package might be lost, click here for a refund or a replacement."

My package was last seen at the Baxter post office some five days ago (the post office is about four miles from my house). I have no idea why getting a package to my residence is so incredibly difficult. It isn't like I live in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

A face only a mother (and father) could love. 

My daughter is a member of Key Club (a high school club) and that organization was on the "scare team" at the Northland Arboretum's haunted trail last weekend. She loves putting on (and creating) special effects make-up and she was completely in her element. I have to admit she does look a bit horrifying.

Today is my only off this week (my first day off since last Wednesday). After I get off work Friday, my band is rehearsing and we are playing a private Halloween party in St. Cloud on Saturday. We haven't played since the end of July, but I think everything will fall into place pretty fast. It will be fun to make music again and get away from work-related crap. Ugh.

More updates to come...

Observation Unrecorded

 What a beautiful fall day; it is very breezy, but with a temp of 78°F, it is hardly worth noting. 

I've not posted for a very long time--six months, to be exact. The spring, summer and most of fall has gone by. Indeed, I'm still here, which is pretty obvious since you are reading this. 

And if you are reading this, thank you for visiting. You must really want to be here because I'm not posting the link for my blog on social media anymore (in fact, I don't even look at social media anymore), I'm just posting for myself (and anyone who cares to read). I like journaling. I like keeping tabs on ideas and current events and looking back on them in context. 

I just finished a book today, Undaunted Courage by acclaimed historian, Stephen E. Ambrose. The subtitle of the book is Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West. I purchased the book while on vacation in Cody, Wyoming, this summer (I bought a whole bunch of books on that vacation!). I've been reading it for multiple weeks (I am a notoriously slow reader); essentially it is about the history surrounding the Lewis and Clark Expedition, with special emphasis on Lewis and Jefferson. 

The odd part is I finished reading it on the day Lewis died (today, October 11th), exactly 213 years later. 

Anyway, excellent book. I looked forward to reading it every single day. My interest in Corps of Discovery (the official name of the Lewis and Clark Expedition) piqued after visiting an interpretive center near Washburn, North Dakota, last year, where the Expedition spent the winter of 1804-05, near the Mandan villages. I purchased the Lewis and Clark journals while at the interpretive center, which I am going to read at some point.

~

Our upstairs bathroom is still not complete. A new shower is being installed (after waiting some 16 months for a plumber) only to find the main piece for the surround was damaged in the box. We contacted the company (Lyons) and they sent a new piece, no questions asked--great customer service. Now, two weeks later, we are still waiting for the surround to be installed.

Still not done...

I spent the 53rd birthday in Walker, MN. A quick getaway. Enjoyed the crisp air and beautiful fall colors on Walker Bay of Leech Lake. Also enjoyed the fantastic beer of Portage Brewing. 

Walker City Dock, near Chase on the Lake Hotel in Walker, MN

Of course it is football season and I've greatly enjoyed watching my son play. He's really improved this year and he seems to really enjoy playing. My daughter is really active in school: member of student council, theater department stage manager, plays in the pep band, symphony and jazz band. They are my source of eternal pride and happiness.

Seven tackles that day!

She's become "famous" for her frog hat during pep band

Some times I get in on the act at football games. It's a pretty good view from here.

Well, there's a quick update. I suppose I am a bit motivated to jot something down since the passage of yet another birthday. It always seems like a good reset. Plus, I read a quote from Undaunted Courage last night that struck me: "Observation unrecorded is knowledge lost." (James P. Ronda)

Now, if I could just keep at it for 21 days. They say it takes 21 days to form a habit.

We'll see.