Year: 2008

Official Citizen

Sounds kind of Socialist doesn’t it? (not that there is anything wrong with that.) My 2008 Red Sox Nation membership card came in the mail today. Got a sticker too.

I’ve been a member of the Nation since I was 10 years-old or so, long before the marketing department of Major League Baseball thought there should be such a thing. I swore the oath at 12 in that incredible summer of 1967. I really don’t need the card to validate my citizenship, but seeing as they want $14.95 to join and it costs the same amount as a subscription Gameday Audio (which I usually get and is included in the membership), I signed up.

Because this weekend is a three game series against the MFY I am only listening to one of the games. The other two are on TV, because when the Red Sox play the Yankees it is like the Montagues and the Capulets, the Hatfields and the McCoys, the Sharks & the Jets, high drama makes riveting television.

But after listening to last night’s game and watching today’s, the rivalry doesn’t seem to have the same intensity so far as it has had in the past. Maybe because the FRS are still jet lagged from the Japan trip. Maybe because the Red Sox have finally exorcised the “curse” with the two championships in 4 years thing. Maybe all the Yankees are sad about them tearing down the House That Ruth Built. Or maybe it is just me.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 104

Hulu

Visible progress today.The shower walls got tiled and a little of floor too. Plus there was more patching and filling of walls.

I may or may not have heard about Hulu when it was first announced, but after “discovering” it a couple days ago I have been wasting quite a bit of time there. While the video is not broadcast TV quality it ain’t half bad. There are both movies and TV viewable. The movies are few and hit or miss, but there is a lot of TV, from McHale’s Navy to Bones. There are a couple of nitpick though, not all the seasons/episodes are available and not all the TV is commercial free. At least the ads are few, short and somewhat unobtrusive (so far.)

Tonight I watched Serenity, the 1-1/2 hour pilot for the sci-fi one season wonder from FOX, Firefly. A couple of months ago I rented disc one of the series from Netflix and turned it off about 10 minutes in. I guess I was a bit premature, as it turned out to be right on par with Hulu’s image quality, not half bad. I will probably watch a couple more episodes before deciding if I want to watch all 14.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 102

No New Pictures

I didn’t take any new photos of the bathroom today. Not that there wasn’t any progress, there was, but it was electrical, some internal plumbing and ceiling work. What seemed a simple request turned into a bit of extra work. We asked to have a foot added to the bathroom, stealing from the adjoining bedroom. When the contractor tore down that bit of wall, it turned out that there was a noticeable height difference between rooms, so he had to add a piece on sheet rock on the bathroom ceiling to even things out.

Yesterday the tile place called to tell me that I didn’t get all my tile. I guess I should have counted it, but the promised invoice never got mailed, so I didn’t know what I *should* have anyway (I got it today.) Four pieces of the 1′ square 3 x 3 floor tile was back ordered and it had just come in, but they were afraid it wasn’t the right color. Not only that, they said I should check what I had already picked up, to make sure it matched my 13 x 13 floor tiles. Last night I checked and the colors were the same. This morning the contractor did some quick figuring and I already have enough to do the job, I don’t need those other 4 pieces, so color matching them is not an issue. I think that when we were figuring the job, we ordered enough of the 3 x 3 to inset two rows as accents, and now looking at the space, one is pretty much what we want. As long as the square of 3 x 3 is still intact I can get my money back.

Good thing too, as the money back from those tiles will be enough, if not a little more, to cover ordering more bullnose tiles we still need. Seems like when we were figuring how much was required for the job we forgot about the whole vertical edge thing, we ordered only enough to run all along the top of the tile in both bathrooms. I ordered that today and it won’t be here until next week sometime, but that is not a problem because what we have on hand is enough to finish the current bath.

The big worry now is, where the heck is the pedestal sink and the toilets? The promised two to three days delivery from ordering them is now. Maybe they will be here tomorrow.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 102

Do I Know You?

We bought some double towel bars for the “big” bathroom the other day at Lowes. Trouble is we weren’t I wasn’t thinking. The towel bars are mounted behind the door, so because the double bar sticks out from the wall so far it wouldn’t allow the door to fully open. Tonight we went back to swap them out for a couple of single towel bars.

When we walked up to the returns desk the woman looked at me and asked, “Are you Brian?” She didn’t look familiar. I looked down to see if I was wearing my MMC Jacket which has my name embroidered on the front, I wasn’t. My name isn’t on the receipt anywhere… How did she know my name?

Donna was wearing one of these Ash Grey T-Shirts.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 102

Good Day

It was definitely a good day to be a Red Sox fan. The players got their World Series rings today in a 45 minute ceremony prior to the home opener. Bil Buckner, that’s right Bill Buckner, threw out the first pitch. The FRS won the game 5-0 behind the pitching of the 13 Trillion Yen Man. The only thing that didn’t go right is my official 2008 Red Sox Nation membership card didn’t arrive in the mail.

But Blue Miata and Tia were waiting patiently in the mailbox for me today. The red ones are at work and I think these smurf blue versions will stay home. There are also gold versions out there too, but I think I’m going to pass on acquiring them. I think is time to buy some Lost “action” figures instead.

Hard to tell from this photo, but a lot was done on the bathroom project today. The floor was repaired, a real shower liner of vinyl was put in place, and most of the new moved wall was put up. The contractor picked up the tile today. We will meet with him after work tomorrow to discuss how we want it put in.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 100

Crude Composite II

The small bathroom has been gutted. The genesis for this project was the fact that the pan under the tile shower was leaking. Turns out there was good reason for that, there was no pan. Apparently 55 years ago they just slapped a very (and I mean very) thick layer of “mud” and laid tile on top of it. As a matter of fact the whole bathroom floor was unorthodox. Instead of just plywood over joists there is a kind of lathe over the plywood sub-floor that was then covered with an inch and a half of the same mud, then the tile on top of that.

The file uploading that I thought I had fixed yesterday is still giving me problems today. I found another workaround, but for some reason I didn’t need it tonight because after a couple of failed attempts to upload the picture, somehow it was there and usable. I guess I should have read the forums before upgrading, but it seems that before releasing 2.5 into the wild someone would have noticed that the media uploader wasn’t working right.

I also found a hack to take the place of the plugin I was using to keep the Joke category entries from showing up on the front page. I added a cute one today — The Golden Screw. In spite of the title, it is actually PG rated…

I forgot one item that should have been included in the Saturday Snippets post — A Fool And His Money Are Soon Parted.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 100

The Golden Screw

Once upon a time, a young lad was born without a belly button. In its place was a golden screw. All the doctors told his mother that there was nothing they could do. Like it or not, he was stuck with it.

All the years of growing up was real tough on him, as all who saw the screw made fun of him. He avoided ever leaving his house and thus, never made any friends. One day, a mysterious stranger saw his belly and told him of a swami in Tibet that could get rid of the screw for him. He was thrilled.

The next day he took all of his life’s savings and bought a ticket to Nepal. After several days of climbing up steep cliffs, he came upon a giant monastery. The swami knew exactly why he had come.

He was told to sleep in the highest tower of the monastery and the following day when he awoke, the screw would have been removed. The man immediately went to the room and fell asleep.

During the night while he slept, a purple fog floated in an open window, bearing in its mist, a golden screwdriver. In just moments, the screw-driver removed the screw and disappeared out the window.

The next morning when the man woke, he saw the golden screw laying on the pillow next to him. Reaching down, he felt his navel, and there was no screw there! Jubilant, he leaped out of bed, and his butt fell off.

The moral to this is, “Don’t screw around with things you don’t understand — you could lose your ass.”