Riding the Bike with One Pedal.

Category: weather (Page 2 of 2)

Random Orts. Shake ‘Em Like an iPod Nano.

1. We now both have iPod Nanos. James exclaimed he never ever thought he’d own anything Apple. I, on the other hand, work amongst the Mac devoted, and as a consumer, have looooved their marketing. So, when the new 8G Nanos went on sale at Target, coinciding with my work anniversary, I decided to engage in a little retail therapy. Since my husband likes to tell me I have to have everything better than him, I decided a couple days later to buy HIM one, too. I even loaded it with a ton of music.  So now we’re finally in this millenium, and I enjoyed using mine while doing yard work on Saturday. He was fairly amused by the “shake-to-shuffle” feature, which he proceeded to do for about five minutes (while it was hooked up to a speaker).  Mine is turquoise, his is black. I think they’re stupendous.

2. So I went to the Apple store on the Plaza, to get an armband thingy. I couldn’t have felt like a bigger Luddite if I’d tried.  I determined that one of the qualifications to be an Apple Genius is to have a really interesting haircut.

3. When we were at Em Chamas, there was one waiter who didn’t have much showmanship. He was the one serving flank steak. So now the big joke at home is to flip one’s emo hair while braying “FLANK STEAK”, just to illustrate your attitude and disdain for the situation at hand.

4. I have a dear friend coming to visit this weekend, so I was working on cleaning the guest bedroom. In the process, I discovered that I have a lot of yarn. That job springboarded to my Huge Project, and you can see, I’ve got some good storage upstairs. And a lot of yarn.

Just one day of sorting....

I still have a lot of work to do, but this makes me happy.

5. I need sunshine. This doldrums- rain crap, combined with freeze warnings, is making our household very emo. We are ready for spring.  Our thoughts on the weather can be accurately captured with two words:  FLANK STEAK.

6. My (very conservative) friend Shan accidentally went into a gay bar on one of our trips to NYC. He was reassured by the bartender (female) that it wasn’t, they served all kinds (including the two gay men at the bar).  He then told us it was a unique bar, because it had all these roosters all over the place.  I responded by asking him if he thought perhaps all the cocks in the room were a CLUE.

7. My friend Laura is finishing her final week of retail hell at Macy’s, before starting a really kick-ass job that will use her education and skills. She had posted about a certain crazy ceramic rooster that had gone on clearance and would make a great white elephant gift.

8. My friend Shan’s desk, as of last Friday:

Office Rooster

I love doing stuff like that. Ceramic rooster – $17. Making everyone laugh – worth every penny & then some.

9.  I finally got a Blackberry that works, exchanged by the eBay seller. I’ve discovered that you can chat with other Blackberry peeps (I have two!) and you can look up directions to Em Chamas because it’s in the Northland and you can’t remember the road, and you can see your email all the time. It’s pretty cool, I must say – and yes, I’d love an iPhone, but right now I’m stuck with T-Mobile (the aforementioned G-Foible) and this phone will at least get me through the end of our contract.  Still have that RAZR if anyone would like to take it off my hands; got a direct connection to Satan, should you need to be phoning him up anytime soon.

That’s it for today! Shake it up!

Can’t Buy A Thrill….

Alrighty, so, we’ve had a little bit of an issue with our furnace. And said issue happened so infrequently, we didn’t think much of it. Until it started happening with greater frequency, and then we discussed it. And then it happened when the Wo was doing his laundry right next to it. That is how it moved to the top of our attention! list.

See, it would suddenly make a whooshing noise and then unbelievably loud banging. Which would subside, or you would race over to the thermostat to turn it off, then on again, and it would be fine. As the resident worry-wart in the house, I have been concerned the furnace is going to explode.  While I’m in it, of course.

Turns out, it still could self-combust. But a LOT of things would have to go wrong, all at the same time, so until the repairman gets back here with the correct part, we’re coasting on karma and playing the odds! Living. On. The Edge.

The first company we called (after consulting Angie’s List) couldn’t get out until sometime this week. The second company, equally well-rated, was able to come out Friday afternoon, which was awesome. Kristin wished me luck, & that I’d get Luke, the really hot repairman (they’d used the same company earlier.)  The repairman was waiting in the drive when I got home, and as I wrote her later, unless the definition of “hot” includes “missing no less than three visible front teeth”, “being a heavy smoker”, and “looking like you walked straight out of 1972, replete with porn ‘stache and wild hair”, then my conclusion was that no, I had not gotten Luke to fix our furnace.

I took the repairman down to the furnace, where he proceeded to plug & unplug things, and actually re-created the whooshing gas igniting, which startled the shit out of me. He was silent most of the entire time, and as I shifted back and forth on my feet, I finally said, “I feel like I’m standing here to hand  you tools; I’m not sure if my presence is bothersome, or if it’s ok.” He peered up over his shoulder at me. “Makes no difference to me.”

ok.

“Well, I find it fascinating,” I chirped, because I really do, I envy specialized skill sets that I don’t possess, and I admired his fearlessness in the face of exploding gas, what with all his facial and head hair. Plus you never know when someone’s gonna have a question.

He replied, “Well, let me tell you, for me? The thrill is gone.”

And we laughed, because of course, he’s seen more furnaces in a week than I have in a lifetime, and I’m sure he looks at furnaces and sees a whole list in his head. Kind of how knitters think when we see you wearing a really unique sweater, or when I watch a commercial on tv that doesn’t make sense. I appreciated his humor, and I finaly asked if he had made a diagnosis. He had, it’s a faulty gas valve, and he needs to locate one that can replace it.  These little things are not the cheapest things on the planet, of course. Frickin’ Tilli Thomas silk yarn of furnace parts.  Which doesn’t thrill me, either. But having the heat come on and not blow up the house? It’s not only necessary, it’s desirable.

Extra points if you got the reference in the post title!

Absolutely, Without a Doubt, the Funniest Visual of the Day.

Driving up I-29, in this horrid rain that won’t leave us, we pass a low-riding, beat-up-ass Caddy. First thing I notice? Windows are down.
Then I see the enormous crack across the windshield.
None of this is extraordinary.
However.
The driver?
Cigarette dangling from his lip, right hand on the wheel. Torso in awkward position. You’ll see why in a moment.

Left hand? Out the window, wrapped around, holding A SQUEEGEE as he frantically cleared the window.

Oh if only I’d had a camera.

Wiper: FAIL.

Slightly Combative, Microbursts Possible.

Well, I’m at least half of that weathercast. I don’t feel at all like crying, or bursting; in fact, I’d classify my mood as “good” to “sunny”. However, I am feeling quite combative, as related to some work things, and I need to shake it off. Otherwise, I may have somebody in a headlock, and while I haven’t read a lot of business books, I understand that putting someone in a headlock (or any of the other WWF moves) is often seen as a career-limiting move.

Speaking of microbursts, though, JWo drove down to Schell City last night, because their duck club is there, and the town was hit by a microburst yesterday afternoon. Their house was affected – the paint on the back of the house looked like someone sandblasted it right off, windows were broken, the deck was pretty well taken out, and they have the neighbor’s carport, well, everywhere. He had an enormous carport, with sides, that wasn’t anchored to a foundation? It looked like the wind picked it up like an empty plastic grocery sack and tossed it around for an artsy good time, ala American Beauty.

Back of House

IMG_1868

Unanchored Carport

Crazy! James said the grass was broken. Yep. That’s how crazy fierce and horizontal those winds get. He was just glad there wasn’t more damage. I bet their neighbor wishes he’d put a little more into anchoring that carport….because I don’t think he’s gonna be able to salvage it.

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