Posts Tagged ‘lists’
5 items.
I am both proud and jealous that my dad can write a better three panel strip than I can. Alternate title for this is: “Parental Approval Vol. 2″
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Yesterday was our “house-aversary” wherein we achieved one year of living in our new place. I have gathered many pieces of wisdom, knowledge and information in this 365 day period that I should like to share with you now.
1. Assume the Worst
I wish it weren’t so but it must be, based on all my experience to date. The previous owners of our house were some kind of crowd of thumb-fingered, well-meaning blockheads whose reach exceeded their grasp by a couple of orders of magnitude. There is so much that we just shake our heads in wonderment, trying to decipher the train of thought that led to a particular set of decisions being made (viz. all the wiring, most of the plumbing, a pretty fair percentage of the decorating, etc. etc.)
2. We Mock What We Are To Become
Even as I wrote the above, I realized that anybody coming into our house now (or likely me in two years trying to do something else) will feel exactly the same way about me as I feel about the previous owner. There are surface-mounted wires all over a couple of rooms because I didn’t want to hack up the wall. The power for the new fan in the bathroom comes from the same junction box in the basement that feeds the basement bathroom light, the exterior outlet and the backyard light. All of these decisions seemed like a good idea at the time but in retrospect (or from any outside viewpoint) they were pretty dumb.
3. You Can’t Tranquilize the Neighbour’s Dog or Grandkids
Although you definitely should be allowed to do both.
4. Living Four Doors From One’s In-Laws Is A Mixed Blessing
On the one hand, pies for no reason. On the other, they notice when I don’t mow the lawn for three weeks (though this resulted in it magically becoming mowed [Thank you, Ed]).
5. (Related To Above) Reel Mowers Work Best When Used Regularly
Going through 3″+ grass with naught but muscle power is a challenge at best and rare torture the rest of the time. 5.a. is that mowing one’s 1/4 acre lawn with a reel mower in under an hour in 30 degree weather is a recipe for dizziness.
6. It Is Important to Have at Least 5 Circuits in The Kitchen
And really unimportant to have labelled any of them on the panel in the basement
7. Immediately Over The Electrical Panel is The Best Place to Have the Shutoff For the Outside Tap
8. Water Shut-Offs For Toilets Are Highly Over-Rated
9. Brown Is The Best Colour For A Bathroom
In fact, they liked it so much that there were five different shades of it present before Amy painted all the trim white.
10. The Best House Ever Is Our House.
don’t you know it’s gonna last
This idea came courtesy of Amy probably because it’s quarter past twelve and she would really like me to stop typing. Here is a list of things about which I do not know very much:
- Runes
Apart from the fact that they’re sort of like stick figures of letters, I have got nothing on these. - Animal Husbandry
Speaks for itself, really. There is a boy cow and a girl cow and after that things get fuzzy. - Care of Oilcloth Hats
No idea where to start, even. - Airline Safety Procedures
I don’t even know where the exits are. - Ermine Safety Procedures
See above. - Bomb Building
This one is basically just an attempt to increase my search engine hits. - Bee Keeping
I wouldn’t even know how big of a jar one would need. Bees live in jars, right? - Tapestry Weaving
Also in this category, tapioca weaving and rug hooking, neither of which deserve their own bullets. - Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle
Really nobody knows much about this. - Fletching
Sure there are feathers but what kind and how does one even attach them? - Public Transit in Indonesia
There are like 1,000 islands and surely they don’t have amphibious buses to all of them. - Pastry Making
I know that it’s delicious and really, that’s all I need to know (I am deliberately not making a need/knead pun here and I’ll thank you to avoid it as well). - Diaper Changing
Every now and then Amy says something to the effect of “You’re 27 and you still haven’t changed a diaper?” and then she threatens to make me learn on some poor child who’s never done anything to harm me. - Tailoring
Needles tend to bite me. - Photograph Developing
Unless we’re talking Polaroid, I am totally at sea. - Non-Euclidean Geometry
How many dimensions do you people think we need, anyway?
Stolen shamelessly from Caley Dee
8 Things I’m Looking Forward To:
- Optometrist appointment on Thursday (these old glasses are getting loose and not in the fun, relaxing sort of way, more in the “we’re going to fall apart any day now and it’s probably going to be while you’re driving” sort of way).
- Getting together to play some music with Andy and Chad.
- Resumption of regular praise team practices.
- The weekend (Mum and Dad are coming down to hang out on Saturday)
- The return of warmer weather (though I really, thoroughly enjoyed the last few days of warmth/sun)
My boss getting here to switch cars so I can go back to listening to music with headphones.He just got here so um… the next song to come up in the playlist.- East Coast trip attempt no. 2 this summer (come on no hurricane)
- The first fire in our backyard. I went and picked up an open air burn permit this morning. $10 for the year is pretty reasonable, I think.
8 Things I Did Yesterday:
- Treated our new IKEA patio furniture with waterproofing to extend their life and ‘natural’ beauty.
- Ate dinner outside for probably the last time until mid-May (see #5 above)
- Wrote a post about the Cowboy Junkies (and as a result, listened to a bunch of their music which was pretty great and saw some of their videos which are pretty 80’s)
- I had a very long conversation in IRC about fountain pens and inks which will be the subject of an upcoming post.
- I flipped through a whack of really stunning colour pictures from the 1940’s on flickr (found via Steampunk Workshop)
- Read a whole pile of webcomics.
- Read a few webcomics more.
- Stayed up really rather late reading the first Lord of the Rings book even though I don’t really care for Lord of the Rings. I’ve just gotten to the Mines of Moria, if you’re curious.
8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
- Like Lord of the Rings more.
- Become a virtuoso bass player without actually doing any of the required work or practicing to become so. Andy T would probably like it if I did this as well.
- Justify spending any money at all on absolutely awesome stuff at Sky Mall. Things such as this, this or this, in particular.
- Go for days without sleep. Not that I have anything in particular that I need to do. I just think it would be interesting.
- Drive standard (this is probably the most realistic thing on this list and as a result the one I am least likely to pursue).
- Write a novel (heck, even a coherent short story would be a step in the right direction).
- Learn to snowboard.
- Work for a radio station.
8 Shows I Watch: Disclaimer: Some of these may not be real shows.
- Dukes of Fire Hazard
- Dr. Who
- Dr. Whom
- House
- Shack
- Magnum, P.I.
- The B Team
- Biggest Luger
A little while ago on Facebook (the source of many interesting surveys), I was tagged in a ‘have you read these books’ note by my sister-in-law. It’s a list of 100 books that most people ‘should have’ read. She scored 43 out of the hundred. I managed 13 which is just over twice the six that the BBC suggests that most people have read. It’s going to be a two-parter post because it’s kind of a lot to read and my opinions are only slightly interesting even to me. There are a couple of spoilers ahead so be forewarned! ↓ Read the rest of this entry…