Month: April 2003

It’s Been Like 3 Years & I Still Miss It

Sunday night isn’t the same with out the X-files. The only thing that is remotely worth watching is “Inside The Actors Studio” with James Lipton. This week I skipped it because it was a rerun of Richard Gere, but next week is a must watch because John Travolta will be on. On a somewhat related note, I could have sworn I saw Mr. Lipton as a court sketch artist this morning in “Escape from the Planet of the Apes” on the Fox Movie Channel. He is not credited with that role on IMDB or on the Bravo site’s biography of him.

You’re Dumber Than You Think I Think You Are

Went out for breakfast this morning and managed to eat outside although a little chilly. Afterwards we were going to walk around downtown and pay our bills, water, cable and power, but the rain started lightly so we had to put the top up and drive to the three places. I’m sure we burned more in gas than we saved in postage, but oh well.

Watched Chinatown and The Two Jakes back to back today. I remember watching The Two Jakes on video way back when it first came out and I thought it was an OK movie. At the time I didn’t even know that there was a prequel. Today I thought it sucked, most probably it was because I could compare it to Chinatown. May even buy Chinatown for my meager collection. To me everything just looked right, Jack Nicholson was perfect for the role, as were the other main characters, but Roman Polanski’s direction is what made the thing great. On a side note, Chinatown was on AMC today about the time I finished watching it on DVD.

Favorite quote from the first movie: “You’re dumber than you think I think you are.”

Purchased Today: $15 in gas
Money spent since 03/03/03: $73.75
Started down, went up, still up.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 51

This Is Like, Ya Know, Work

We had the deck installed on the back of the house 2 years ago, a portion of it was built over the concrete pad that was outside our bedroom door. The only thing on the pad was the grill and the only time I used it was when grilling steaks once every month or so. The concrete was mostly covered in moss and every couple of years I go out with some bleach and a broom to try and eradicate the green stuff, never 100% successful. They were supposed to get rid of the concrete pad, but it was poured like 8″ thick so after wasting a day with a jack hammer and only nibbling around the edges I told them to go ahead and just build over it. Big mistake, the moss just jumped up the 6″ onto the wood of the deck. I spent a couple of hours this morning trying to get all the moss of the deck. Just like the concrete pad I was not 100% successful. I got a big portion of it off, it is no longer slick in spots and the green color is almost gone. I used some deck cleaner stuff in a bottle and scrubbed with a big stiff brush. I think to do a thorough job I am going to need a pressure washer. Must be some one at work with one I could borrow, instead of spending several hundred bucks on one.

Eating Lawn Clippings

Half-Day-Friday. We met Donna’s mom downtown at Malia’s. Donna loves this place because Donna loves salads and Malia’s is the king of salads. I eat there because I get brownie points for taking Donna and they have a manly steak salad there so I can still feel like I’m on top of the food chain while eating lawn clippings. Afterwards we came home and started the back deck cleanup. There must have been a 1/32 of an inch thick layer of pine pollen coating every surface on the porch area. Donna washed this off while I hit the front porch. Tomorrow I will attack the deck area with some cleaner to rid the thing, hopefully, of mildew.

Purchased Today: nothing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $58.75
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 50

Extruded Potato Flake Mush

Had the April Master’s Miata Club meeting tonight. In our never ending quest for just the right combination of food, price and privacy we ventured to the S&S Cafeteria in North Augusta. I don’t remember who suggested it, but I hope they don’t read this blog – the food was terrible. The trout was cold and the coating too thick, the green beans were bland. The succotash was so over cooked that you couldn’t tell the difference between the corn or the lima beans except for color (barely.) The “cheese” potato was extruded potato flake mush in a tin foil oval with a bit of cheddar like coloring on top and the deviled egg had so much pickle in it that it overwhelmed any egg taste. If I never eat there again it will be too soon. On the bright side we had 22 people in attendance, a record.

Purchased Today: nothing
Money spent since 03/03/03: $58.75
Started down, still down.
Top Transitions since 02/02/03: 50

Mint Oreo Blizzard

A little background – Donna’s favorite Girl Scout cookies are Thin Mints. Her favorite ice cream treat is a scoop of chocolate chip and a scoop of mint chocolate chip on a sugar cone. Every time we go out to eat Mexican food she always gets one of those peppermint patties for a dime at the cash register. She keeps a stash of mint lifesavers in the door pocket of the car, her purse and lunch pail. I on the other hand hate mints, I like the taste, but if I get one little bite of a York peppermint patty it keeps repeating on me all day.

After our lousy dinner, Donna and I stopped at the Dairy Queen just down the street to split a blizzard to cleanse our palettes. There was a sign for a Mint Oreo Blizzard that even looked good to me. I asked if she wanted one of those, and Donna said sure. After it was made and she took one spoonful, she turned up her nose and said, “I don’t want anymore.” Great, I was stuck eating it while she went back inside and got a vanilla cone. Fortunately we’ll be going to sleep soon and I won’t have to put up with the mint burps for much longer.

USPS

I’m trading a couple of CDs with a fellow blogger. Sinclair lives in the UK and he sent me 2 discs already, got them yesterday. The fine folks at the Royal Mail charged him 1.89 pounds for postage or the equivalent of 3 bucks and I got it in less than a week. For me to reciprocate I will have to pay the USPS $6.40. I can mail it cheaper, $3.80, but that has a delivery time of 4-6 WEEKS.