We had a great time at the Buffett concert. And that is not just because of the Margaritas and Mai Tais. Doug made some really good salsa and awesome food. The neighbors in the parking lot enjoyed it as well, and wanted us to come to their house today for a party. I think instead we are going to work our way home, so that we don’t have a 15 hour drive Monday which would make Tuesday really rough. The concert was a blast especially listening to the Parottheads singing the additional words to the songs. And the guy at the front desk of the hotel had an intesting statement of one drunk guest- I would like to report a drunk caucasian male in his thirtys in a suburban wearing a flowered shirt. Hmmm… describes the majority of the people in the Frisco Plano area.
Geek
Yes, I am a geek.
One who uses technology to my benefit, advantage, and definitely for entertainment.
While I was packing last night, I thought to myself that it would be nice to have Sirius Radio,
as then we could listen to Radio Margaritaville on our voyage. I asked around at work to see if
I could borrow any of the Sirius radios left in stock, but I was met with lots of opposition. Alas,
I had to find other methods of opportunity.
Enter online streaming from RadioMargaritaville.com.
However, driving down the road, how was I supposed to get to a computer, let alone Internet Access? Then I thought to myself,
‘Self, I have a computer, a nice laptop, actually!’. Well that takes care of the computer, but what
about Internet access. Enter GEEK. Long story short, I hacked my Palm phone to connect my computer
to the Internet, and with Christy’s tape-deck replacement cd player, voila, streaming Radio Margaritaville on the Car Radio.
So as Christy and I are driving south of Pueblo, listening to Buffet-style tunes, I am writing this blog entry.
Yes, I am a geek.
Christy just asked if I was proud of myself for this. A resounding YES I AM! is the answer.
Blame it on Buffet.
Parrot Head
“I would never drive to Texas just for a concert. You’re crazy.†–co-worker
“Do you not know me by now?â€- me
“Ah, right.†–co-worker
Jimmy’s view of the Parrot Heads… “My interpretation is that they are basically pretty normal people with a slight strain of insanity in their makeup.â€
http://www.margaritaville.com/about_jimmy6.php
“The 1985 Fall issue of Country Hits described it best, “All of the reviews written about Jimmy Buffett over the past several years have seemed to have a couple of things in common: first, the reviewers enjoy and admire Buffett and his music; and second, these same writers are at their wits end trying to come up with a nice pat label to pin on the man.” Their recent attempts would indicate that Buffett is a `unique, funky, easygoin’, charismatic, enigmatic, colloquial, progressive, intellectual, maverick country-folk-rock singer/songwriter/performer.’â€
http://www.margaritaville.com/about_jimmy3.php
If you know Doug, it becomes perfectly clear why Doug is a Parrot Head.
And if you know me, you will understand why I will go to Texas… just to see him smile. Or cry happy tears.
I know someone who buys his gal fancy handbags, and another who goes out to operas and plays. I am taking my guy to see Buffett because he is a Parrot Head.
What do you do to make your sig. fig. smile? To what lengths will you go to make them happy, and what simple things make them happy too?
New Pictures
I have updated a bit of my own page, and have finally found the first picture of Sprite, our second kitten. Neither are as small now as they are on this page.
New Wheels
I have joined a carpool, and we are in process of getting our route figured out. Doug and I agreed that this would be part of what we would implement when we moved to Fort Collins. Australia spoiled Doug and I- there would be a train from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs if the Aussies had their way. They do in Brisban and they do in Sydney.
Anyways, the Van-Go program has 75 vans running, and more on the way. I can’t figure out why they don’t have a bus to Denver yet. 300 people or so in downtown every day would warrant one I think.
I am looking forward to it, except the part of being up even earlier than I already am. This will save wear and tear on my car, and a LOT of gas money, and then I don’t always have to drive either. I also will be able to be home sooner, because the van gets us all home at about the same time each day. It adds structure to my daily work life- structure that I don’t really have right now because the people I work with are so laid back.
I also get to meet a whole new group of people too.
Supervised
Through everything we have been doing to the house, we have been carefully watched to make sure everything is done correctly. Our two supervisors pick through our work area even getting under foot or in the way at times, and also sit just beyond the edge of destruction, making sure we do it “just soâ€.
Sprite, all black, sometimes lies in the drywall dust on the floor and is half and half for a while, and Sadie’s tail is like a broom across the dusty floors. Kitten footprints are everywhere but best seen on the black folding chairs. They are getting smarter about what they shouldn’t try to play with such as carpet tacks, all the while making sure that we pay attention to them an equal amount. Sprite doesn’t like the hammer drill, but Sadie, trusting as ever sometimes gets underfoot, and is finally learning to get out of the way of feet, which is forgotten the next day, and has to be learned all over again.
While we’re at it…
The phrase “While we are at it…†is our least favorite phrase right now. We were doing a lot of dry walling, so we figured… why not take out the paneling between the dungeon (a study) and the second bedroom in the basement, and replace it with drywall before we get new carpet. The paneling came off really easily. If that were all we started doing this morning, then we might have the pieces up and ready to be mudded right now.
But, Joe-Home-Owner-The-FM-Guy (a previous owner over 15 years ago who wired the house with FM radio wire) as we call him, was very lazy when he did remodels on the house. So, we have to fix things that he did wrong.
Which, in this case, meant moving that wall. If we had left it, then the drywall, thicker than the original paneling, would make the door not open all the way- poorly placed narrow door. So we moved the wall to line up with the rest in the basement, and correcting that little hall area, and putting in a 30 inch door, not a 24 inch door to the second bedroom, and getting the wall off the original carpet and on to the cement. We discovered that moving the wall over 7 inches wasn’t that hard, and so we did. It is moved, mostly nailed in (we are taking a break) and the next step is drywall, finally. The original carpet that Joe had built the wall on top of, not the brown carpet, was really a gross yellow shag. Yech. Don’t worry, nothing that we are doing is structural. But it will help straighten out some stuff that has always been really wrong.
It makes both of us wonder where a home improvement project ends and a remodel begins.
Why not, while we’re at it…
Swiped Space
Was it my idea? Or was it his? Either way, we did it. We stole 12 square feet this weekend, and his older brother was an accomplice.
What a difference that amount makes too. We basically moved two walls, expanding the inner corner of the master bedroom, eliminating the L shape with the bump out and a new walk in closet with pocket door. The room is a whole new space and much more usable now.
We could not have done any of it without Ron. While he and Doug were moving the wall, I made the coat “closet†(really a cubby) under the stairs. I bought two sets of hooks from Target and hung them at a 45 degree angle to match the stairs, and put a bookshelf at the back end. Doug put in new light fixtures in the bedroom, and I helped hang drywall too.
We are mostly finished with drywall, and can mud and tape and texture next. Then, paint, and after that, new carpet.
Picturesque
Amidst the busy noises around the house of fixing and planting and cleaning, she sat serenely on the window sill above the sink, enjoying the new kitchen window planter box of herbs and flowers. The sunlight and bird twittering danced in through the open window, while the warmth of the gorgeous day slowly coaxed her into a drowsy sleep.
That is, until Doug and I decided that cats are not allowed on the kitchen counters here either, and made Sadie get off the sill above the kitchen sink.
Whereupon, she found another open window, overlooking the now-finished tree ring surrounded by fresh cut green grass, and fell asleep in that sunlit window instead.