Working Christmas Night Away! (just like Santa)

It's Christmas day. It's 1 am. I'm at work.

Not what I would call the best case scenario but it will have to do. Tomorrow, after a long night of work tonight, is our first (and maybe last depending on how it goes) annual "Day After Christmas" party. I think we sent out about 40 invites and so far about 20 "sorry we can't make it because (Insert generic excuse such as the in-laws are going to be in, the weather is supposed to be bad, I'll be to hungover, I may have to poop that day)" so it may be just us and about 300 dollars of wine and food, mostly wine.

But I remain optimistic, not about the party but about the wine and besides Saturday I'll be off to get some fish for my new aquarium! and all that wine...

So apparently it seems Friday will end up being about 7 or so gusts and one over tired and rapidly drunk Draffish. Is it really that tacky to get sloshed at your own party? what about just one of the hosts? is that even more tacky? Probably... but then again I've never really paid too much attention to my state of tackiness, besides I usually can't avoid getting a little tipsy after only four hours sleep.

To be honest, anyway it goes it should be fun, at least I won't be at work!

and on that note Merry Freaking Christmas! NORAD says Santa will be here soon!!!!!!!

Cheers!

Of News and Things

Have I been absent?

No not really. More just not having done anything that anyone (including myself) would find interesting enough to read.
I am in the process of setting up my first aquarium in a long time. Exciting I know. This is the first one for about 13 years, when I was a bit younger I had five going at once, with all types of fish and a turtle and crabs and crayfish.... So I was lucky enough to get one for Christmas! (we did our gift giving early because I'm working through the holiday) which was just perfect, I really needed a hobby so here I go again! we'll see if I get the bug and end up with another 50 or 100 gallon tank...

Other then that, I am thinking about painting the interior of the house, or at least portions of it, though probably not until mid January (I need to find something to do during the Inauguration that will keep me IN the house)

As far as crazy news for today, we have a few points of interest;
The Bethesda flood
Shooting at the Wheaton mall

Other crap

I'm sure if you live in the area you have seen the pictures of cars being washed down the street by a massive flood caused by a 60 inch water main bursting in Bethesda. Crazy! What a mess, that will take a while to clean up!

A gang related shooting at the Wheaton mall (nicely located close to home...). Apparently a group of four or so respectable young gang members decided to dual with another group of four or so highly regarded individuals. As these young ruffians beat each other about the head and whipped out their pistolas an undercover cop got involved and chased one down shooting him (or so I heard). All this occurred right outside (and INSIDE) of Macy's which was subsequently locked down for an hour or two. Gotta love you local gang members during the holiday rush! I love being alerted to things like this by seeing 6 or so helicopters hovering in the sky all facing the same direction, makes one a little nervous....

To keep on the crazy crimes topic, has any else noticed that there have been a lot of bank robberies of late, 6 that I have noticed, one occurred moments before we walked on by a Bank of America on University about 3 months ago. Is this a sign of the economy or just that I live in a bad neighborhood?
I also read a good piece in the Gazette about some hotels in Silver Spring on 13th st that have had multiple arrests for prostitution and drugs and even some bodies found in rooms. I wouldn't mention it but I think my folks stayed there last time they came to town... Won't be staying there again...

Lastly The Post had a wonderful article about an Iraqi spy under Hussein that lived in MD and was arrested and charged recently. That’s also very nice...

Cheers

and lastly they have arrested a

Another Italian

So here it is getting on in the evening, waiting for my folks to arrive from MA and my wife from work. Naturally I decided what better time then now to pop a cork on a new bottle of vino and see what we have. Tonight it's Arceno, PrimaVoce, 2004 - Italy, on sale for 12 buckaroos.

After a slight mishap, lucky I had a backup.

As I first took out the cork the nostrils detected a fruity but acidic alcohol smell... better let it breath for a bit while I go breathe somewhere else....

Back for the first little sip, little sip because the folks are en-route and I am on 3 hours sleep in the last 24 so I don't want to be passed out on the floor when the get here. Though the evening may go smoother if I am (parents are fun).

Too my surprise, though still a little bit of a dry bite, very tasty indeed, maybe two sips...

My nose was not crazy about it at first but upon return I have decided that I could be enticed by the mocha and fruit aroma, though it was still a bit acidic. I wouldn't go calling it extravagantly delicious but I didn't want to vomit so that's good.

As for the first taste, I think I detected fruit like prunes and cherries in there as well as chocolate and spices that lead into a peppery woody finish. I'd also say that it most assuredly has a better body then I do.

The acidic and boozeyness of it was a bit Strong right out of the bottle but giving it a good half hour to take a breath fixed that and the balance of tannins and fruit helped greatly. Besides, who would want to drink a wine that wasn't a little bit boozy? All in all I'm not too disappointed (who could be for that price!). Tentatively I'll rate this a +4 for good taste and an easy finish though I'll refrain from solidifying this until tomorrow. Time to wait and see how I feel the morning after...

Well it's not the morning after but I can most assuredly remember waking up that fateful Saturday morning knowing only two things. One; I must get out of bed, take a shower and spend the day "touring" DC with the folks. Two; My brain hurts.
Yes indeed, Arceno may make a good companion for the evening, but this Italian is not fun to wake up with. This fact MAY have been compounded by my staying up late (after 11, remember I worked all the night before and only slept for 3 hours) and the fact that the bottle is now empty along with some (or all) of another....

As for an officially unofficial rating wholly decided and bestowed by myself, +3 (The I might be nice tonight but in the morning I'll make you feel like I killed your cat award). As a disclaimer I am only lowering it by one point because it was tasty and these painful and bitterly remembered after effects were probably brought upon by my own foolishness as well as exasperated by the fact that my folks expected a chipper chauffeur and tour guide during the 4 hours we were at the American History museum. As for the museum I actually do recommend it. The remodel is not too bad and the "America at War" display was stimulating. Just don't go on a very hungover Saturday, the screaming children everywhere will in no way make your brain feel any better.

Cheers!

A Holiday Post

There it is, the old homestead, painstakingly adorned with crisp whit lights. All decked out for proper holiday celebrating, designed to lift the lowest of spirits!

To think it only took two trips, actually a trip and a half, to the Wallet Depot for a ladder and two more trips to the local hardware store for a dozen or so strands of lights. It took a trip and a half because I purchased a ladder, strapped it to the roof of my little VW and got halfway home before we decided that this ladder may be a little too short and since I am so bad at making any and all purchases we went back to get a slightly longer version, didn't want to get home and not reach the gutter (which was really in the need of a good cleaning, things were growing in there!). They didn't have one. Well they did but it was fiberglass so it weighed about 50lbs more and cost about twice as much, I took it anyway. Three hours later, eight rotten leaves in the mouth, three near plummets to my demise, one slight shock from a broken light bulb and it’s done! I feel wonderfully Christmassy, I just wish that damn strand on the tree would stop flashing, damn fancy ass lights with a defective button!

I am not usually a holiday nut, but I do love putting an obscene amount of lights on the house and blasting Christmas music while drinking eggnog all night long, wait, I guess that does make me a little bit of a holiday nut. Nevertheless, I enjoy the festive nature of the holidays more the "Go out and buy Buy BUY!" portion (though I guess most of the festivities do involve a bit of buying but that’s mostly booze and ladders (one should note, these should NOT be combined unless one wants to spend the holidays in traction) which are the more enjoyable parts of celebration, well at least the booze is.

So even if you do find the holiday season a bit tacky, materialistic and full of incredibly bad made-for-TV movies why not enjoy the good portions! Portions of spiked eggnog, Christmas ham or goose, portions of pie and then some more portions all of the above until you pass out on the sofa, then get up and so it all over again!

At least that’s my credo.

Cheers!

The Good, The Bad and The Drunk

I've decided to help out my fellow humans by giving an unbiased review of the wine I drink ungodly amounts of. No reason I can't put my liver abuse to some good use and share the wonderful and horribly headpoundingly miserable experiences with the rest of you folks so maybe you won't make the same mistakes I have.

An Introduction:

I'm not going to lie, I have absolutely no formal training as a sommeliers (professional wine person) but I do have years of boozing under my belt and I can tell a red from a white most of the time, I'm still a little confused where a blush falls. So don't worry, I may steer you wrong some or all of the time (like that time in France when I accidentally bought cooking Sherry to go with my Roquefort (also accidentally purchased) cheese took a sip, argh!, then a bite of my cheese, In the name of god that’s bad!, and almost lost it) but at least a not so good wine is still a wine, and wine is good.

Let me also say, I am a red wine person. Though I do love wines of all shades and colors, I primarily drink the reds. And I will include an image of the bottle when I get around to taking pictures or scanning in the label (I'm lazy).

As for a rating system, I had considered dividing the drinkability by the number of drinks, subtract the remainder from the number of ounces in the bottle and then multiply that by pie (the food not the math equation) take that, flush it in the toilet and see how many time it takes to go down, before just giving it a score of between -3 and +7. Yes that will be it, and I'll also come up with some completely arbitrary name for each score that will be different each and every time, because it really doesn’t matter and I highly doubt any of you readers really care anyway...

Oh, and I also promise to include any antics the may or may not occur while the imbibing is taking place, not that that kind of thing ever happens to me anyway.

That said, TO THE WINE!

Montecillo Crianza Tinto (Red) - Spain - 2005 - $17.00
Quite an easy drinking red Spanish table wine if I do say so myself. The first sip or two were a bit strong in the nose but that passes if you properly let the bottle breath for a bit (or just pound that fist glass or two so that you don't notice anymore or at least just don't care). Some dark fruitiness to it, like plums or cherries and you can most assuredly taste a wood cask (or maybe that’s just me). Over all I would give this one a +3 (The Purple Tooth Award) for good table manors, going well with all kinds of snacks like olives and cheese (if your as pretentious as I am) or just Cheeto's, not inducing nausea, having a good "bouquet", not causing me to act in a silly sort of a way too soon, and mild hungoverness from finishing that 2nd (or 5th maybe?) bottle.
Goes on the good list!
Rated +3

Fetzer - Cabernet Sauvignon - California - $11.00
Now I know some folks may like this staple American wine (it always seems to be the only brand that my relatives can buy for those ill fated "get togethers" that end up with my aunt flying off the side of the road on the bike with two flat tires that she hasn't ridden in an unknown number of years or some cousin deciding that 35 is NOT to old for cartwheels) but I am not a fan. I find it a bit bland, sort of like a glass of juice with ice but the ice is all melted but your out of juice so you drink it anyway. That’s about how I feel about all those Fetzers, not a fan but if you poor it in my glass and I don't have something that’s a bit more tolerable, then I'll throw it down the old pipes for a good time and not complain about it, until someone shows up with something better, then I'll shamelessly make fun of it and anyone who happens to have brought/be currently drinking it. I'd talk about the "nose", but I don't like to put mine near it... As for a rating? I'd have to give it The Fuzzy Eyeballs Award of -1. Awarded for lackluster performance on the old taste buds and an attempt at a standing ovation in the hangover department, nothing says lovin like waking up and feeling like there are two kittens in your head fighting over your eyeballs.
Rated -1

So those are the two wines I remember drinking last weekend, the good old County Liquor and Wine Shoppe is having it's holiday sale so I have quite the mishmash of different and interestingly named wines in my wine cellar (and by cellar I mean the cardboard box in the corner by the washing machine) so I can only be expected to remember the first two or three bottles drank in an evening. Maybe next week I'll try and take notes while I can still write legibly enough to decipher it the following morning, or maybe I'll just look at the empties and make up some more B.S. No worries though, there are a dozen or so bottles left and I plan on making a big "holiday" purchase of heavily discounted wine again this week, or at least enough to get me through the next few weekends. In either case the reviews will keep coming like it or not.

Cheers!

P.S.
I will make some sort of half arsed attempt to learn more "proper" terminology when I can muster enough giveacrapness and I'm not so drunk.

Another Normal Weekend

So the weekend passed with little of interest occurring. There were far too many sick people coming to my hose for my taste (if your sick stay home, that applies to going to work too. Keep your plague to yourself!) So I'm bracing for a cold, got my Zink and oranges all lined up. I went and walked through some Christmas light displays, that was actually very nice. It happened to be the first night that we've received a discernable amount of snow, so it was actually very, well, Christmassy.

I'm not sure if it's the economy or folks just deciding that Christmas is for losers but I seem to remember a lot more folks lighting up their homes. I think that mine is the only house on the block with lights and there are only two others on the whole street that I've seen. Perhaps it's not green to light the house anymore, using up all that electricity for no reason other then not looking like your the Grinch. Oh well, I'm a fan of Griswalding up the place (never enough lights!) though I must say that the worst thing to happen to Christmas since boxed fruit cake is the inflatable lawn ornament. God almighty I hate those things. Huge inflatable snow globs and behemoth sized Santa's stomping atop the roves. Most folks can't seem to stop at one distasteful inflated rain dear; no they must invite Wal-Mart over to puke every damn inflatable object imaginable onto their lawns. I shudder to think what will be next... I actually can't think of much that would be worse to me, maybe next will be giant robot Santa's and Rudolph's prancing about, though at least with those their exists the slight possibility of the robots going rouge and mauling their owners then going on a twelve day rampage spreading Christmas terror coast to coast!

But I digress and ramble.

We made the annual trek to the tree lot, about a mile from the house. It's the tradition now to walk and buy the tree and carry it back, making jokes about getting tree-jacked. We always do this the weekend after Thanksgiving, though I have recently found out that it is actually illegal to buy or sell a Christmas tree in Montgomery County before December 5th. It's true, someone actually reported a church that started selling on the 29th and the County shut them down until the 4th. What on earth for? I can't imagine, though it does make the whole carrying an illegal Christmas tree though town all that much more exciting! I think next year we'll wear ski masks...

Other then that, most of the weekend was fairly unremarkable, though I am happy to say that I have finally fixed the plumbing problem in our kitchen. It seems that cheap faucets can go bad. Yes after spending hours replacing the pipes under the faucet to no avail, I was advised by my folks that cheep faucets have plastic innards that eventually wear out and stop working... so after multiple trips to that depot place that shall remain nameless (funny, I used to enjoy going there... when I rented) I returned once again to go faucet shopping.

I am astounded to say that the experience was actually very pleasant; well, parts. First the salesman knew just about everything there was to know about faucets. Yes he actually did. He explained all the inner workings and the benefits of the different brands and why some cost about 70$ and others closer to 300$. It turns out that when buying a faucet it can pay to spend more, as much as the idea made me cringe. So that was the bad part of going, the huge hole that that place burns in my wallet.

Installing went amazingly well. No more pesky nuts and bolts and gaskets, but clamps and clips! After taking just about an hour (that out with the old (45 minutes) and in with the new (15 or so) I held my breath.... turned on the water and........... Well I got sprayed in the knees because I didn't actually attach on key component quite tight enough.

So I re-tightened it, mopped up some water, and turned it on and...... HOT WATER!

I hope that will be the last plumbing fiasco for a while...

There are more exciting (if your idea of exciting is sitting in the waiting room at the dentist for a root canal) stories I could regale you with, but I think you've all probably had enough for now.

Cheers

A Temporary Lapse Into A Common Rant

Pardon the rant, but I need to go on about the drivers in DC just a little.

I am lucky in that I never have to drive on the beltway and due to my odd hours and work location I very rarely get stuck in traffic anymore. When I worked just off the "Mall" traffic would kill me, but I can deal, I understand, people need to walk and drive places. Yes, on one or more occasion, it took me three hours to drive the 9 miles to work. 7th and 16th streets can be very bad and so can anywhere near the WH. But traffic, though amazingly bad, is not what bothers me the most.

I don't feel the need to complain about the cyclists (though when your riding the wrong way down any major street at 530 pm your asking to be hit if you ask me) or the pedestrians (who seem to be strongly affected by crosswalk repellents), what really and truly boils my blood are all the rally car drivers around here.

I've lived in a lot of places, places with no speed limits or even no real roads in fact, but nowhere have I been where so many commuters want to be rally car drivers.

Most of my driving is done in the wee hours where I see few other motorists. As was the case yesterday morning as I got onto Conn Ave. Driving along in the middle of three lanes, I approached a really slow SUV. So I move to the left lane, and waited till the light turned green (now mind you I still had about 7 sets of lights to go before I had to make a left and this fella or feller was going about 25 in a 30 or 35) and, as the light turned, I stepped on the gas and so did the SUV, in fact every light for 7 lights if I made ANY attempt to pass the SUV would make sure that I couldn't. So, because I don't think it’s appropriate to break 50 in a 30 zone, I slowed myself down and when behind SUV with 1 light to go. At this light SUV decided with no competitor why break 25...

Now normally I would blow this off and one nutball in a sea of nuts, but this occurrence is almost a daily event! Why on earth are there so many folks who are normal drivers until someone tries to pass them, or get over to make a turn! Or their normal until they see someone ahead then by all means they must drive faster then the wind to be in FRONT!!!!!!!!!!

I just don't understand at all... Its funny though, the more this happens to me, the more I seem to become like them, after being lapped by 3 or 10 drivers on my 10 mile drive, I start to get the urge to do the same. Is this how it started? One crazy rally driver came to DC and angered so many that he asexually produced a multitude of rally wannbes? Or is it an ego trip for the person "there! I passed you, therefore I am better then you!" (and something I may have or wish I had is much MUCH bigger!)

I am really not sure, though I always get a warm happy feeling when someone flies on past and later I see them being greeted by a police officer or the flash of a camera.... this does NOT happen often enough...

I just have to mention the two worst events I have ever witnessed. The first on 16th lots of traffic and some bozo drive 10 mph slower then everyone else was in front of me. So when the opportunity came, I passed. Then two lights later, two lanes and a left turn only lane, he came up on my left, blinker a going, as the light turned green Mr. Bozo gunned it and cut back in front! Only to resume his slow plod into DC... The second was on Irving, when It was really all tore up of 16th, and some jack*** in an SUV decided that the sidewalk was a great way to get ahead of all those losers who so unfairly passed him!

So to sum this up; you are not on a rally track, I am not trying to beat you there (in fact I'm not even going there!), and all this proves is that you need to spend more time either talking to a shrink or in court!

Rant done.

Another Heinous Plumbing Adventure

So, yesterday or maybe the day before (night shifts confuse my sense of days, they all just sort of mix together which can be nice and annoying at the same time) I had been talking about plumbing.

I had mentioned that there was a fiasco dealing with the plumbing in the basement washer/bath room. So here’s what it is...

One of the great things about the house I bought was the 2nd bath, you see it's a 1948 brick Colonial (Brick houses are the best!) and most (in my area at least) have only one bath and no finished basement. So needless to say a living basement and a bath to boot was a huge selling point. Yes, true the bath is oddly interspersed with a washer and dryer, the toilet is in a cubby on one side of the room while the sink and shower are in a cubby on the other side with the washer/dryer in the middle. But that was ok, it was tiled, the living area was carpeted (Berber carpet is NOT good for pets) and it is actually a very comfy TV room.

So about two months after moving in (bye bye warrantee!) the hole in the floor where the washer drains decided to start spewing water all over the place every time I washed the clothes.... not so good... good time to start drinking

Then it would just start happening any old time. Even worse.... Maybe I should drink a little more

So after about a week of this I called a plumber, who poked and prodded and snaked and plunged. After about an hour he stated that the problem was that whoever put the tile in washed all the extra grout down the drain and it hardened... Oh crap I need to buy some more wine

So now, I have to constantly run an enzyme mix down the drain to keep lint and what ever else may be going down the drain or toilet, from building up.

The fix?
Laundry sink! So easy, I can do it myself! HURRAY LETS HAVE A DRINK!
Step 1: Buy laundry sink (in other words really big sink that can hold all the H2O form the washer)
Step 2: Go to the Hell Depot and buy lots of PVC pipe in all sorts of fun shapes and sizes, and some PVC glue, and some pipe cutters, and some sandpaper, and a big wrench Have a drink, that was expensive!
Step 3: Bring it all home and get to work putting the PVC in place...
Step 4: Go back and buy more PVC after you realize that the glue dries instantly realize the glue is making you high
Step 5: Try to figure out three dimensional measurements and really screw it up again do I work tomorrow? no? have a drink
Step 6: Go back to the depot which has now started to seem fun because your high from all the glue and buy a huge amount of pipe
Step 7: Start to lay out the pipe and not remember how you got there maybe I should not be drunk plumbing?
Step 8: Go buy plumbing book and realize this should have been step 1
Step 9: Go to bed
Step 10: Take your time after 2-6 cups of coffee to read the book and do it the way they say to and have that not work either Is it too early for a drink?
Step 11: Thank god you bought a ton of pipe so you do not have to go back to that place and try ONE MORE TIME
Step 12: Let glue dry, try sink. IT WORKS!

For two weeks

Then it floods again and water shoots out the back of the toilet. Guess i should buy more wine next time I go out, maybe i should buy a lot...

What the hell....

Call plumber

The fix?

After another 2 hours of watching him do really nothing but shine a flashlight on things, I get the fix...

Oh there is no fix; did I forget to mention that? You cannot remove the grout. The pipes need to be replaced. Ask the plumber if he wants a drink too

The pipes are under the floor.

The floor is cement.

Oh crap...

Now I have two choices;
1 - Deal with it and invest in drain cleaner.
2 - Spend 8,000 -15,000$, yes that much, to have the floor removed and pipes replace and then the whole shebang put back together after. better stop drinking, too expensive

Umm, well. I guess deal for now, though that means random floods and never EVER using the shower because that floods it instantly. Saving for the next year or so and prying it gets no worse so I can afford to fix it...

All in all, it's not that bad, the toilet works (I had just loosened the seal with vigorous plunging) and the washer works like a charm... so next year I'll give the steps to removing and replacing a bathroom...


Can't wait...

7 More Hours

The news continually amazes me.

Ever since going 24/7 on the all news channels, things have gotten quite, how shall I say, absurd. Why is this? I have become convinced that either those who decide on the programming of CNN, FOX or MSNBC either think that we, the viewer, are complete idiots and have no idea what important events are going on in the world or they care for nothing but keeping things "interesting" enough to boost their ratings. Of course I really believe that the answer is both A and B.

As I sit, forced to watch the big three (named above) for at least ten hours a day, I cannot comprehend why while their are hundreds of thousands of both horrible (think terrorism, starvation, war, recession) and wonderful (think great Obama appointees, The possibility of disease cures, countries working together as they never have before) things going on that are all very news worthy. So why in the name of all that is good and holy am I looking at a shrimp on a treadmill! Or some foolish putridly rich celebrity mauling a car with an umbrella over a year ago!

It makes my brain hurt so much I need to pour wine all over it every chance I get... I realize that they do need to make money, but is this the only way? Putting on "news" stories about Obama serving in a capitol building that slaves helped make? Ironic? Maybe, something that I need to have pumped into my head 52 times a day? No.

Now, some may be inclined to say, well these stories are used as levity between serious and depressing news. I could understand that, if it were true. But the fact is that these ”levity" stories make up the bulk of the programming, and that doesn't even begin to look at "news" sources like Headline News, oh horror of horrors!

Headline News (and I always say News with the up-tilted eyebrow and scorn in my voice) is the most insulting channel on the television. All these channels have their talking heads, my personal favorite being Anderson Cooper, just because he seems to get as disgusted with the news he is reporting as I do. But then there’s Headlines talking monsters and morons. And by monster I mean Nancy Grace. Words cannot describe the absolute disgust and and... I can't go on about her. Then there’s their reporters which seem to be people they found hanging around a college, which may or may not teach journalism, and asked if they would like to sit in front of a camera and smile while talking about the same inane drivel all day every day.... To much disgust to continue...

So why and I going on and on? I'm not sure, but I long for the days when the news was on at 6 and when something actually news worthy would come about, they would interrupt their regularly scheduled programming with what ever the goings on were. But I am a hypocrite as well, not only am I forced to watch the news I watch it on my own time as well. I think this election is what did me in, the constant sensationalism and tension. I became an addict.

Now I find myself itching to know what is going on in the world, I listen to NPR in the car and watch the news when at home and was an inch away from adding news alerts to my phone, but stopped myself short thank the lord....

So am I just lambasting the news for the sake of it or do I have a point? I think they just make me angry, besides I'm on hour 4 of 10 for tonight and I've already seen a giant squid, a squirrel on a skateboard, something about TiVo guilt, and something about the addictiveness of leg waxing.

Who needs a drink...?

Plumbing issues, or how things go wrong

So I have no hot water in my kitchen. Just the kitchen, due to a faulty hose (I like saying the word hose, though it always looks misspelled to me). See the hose that is in place, or rather was in place until I removed it last weekend or rather is actually still in place due to me removing the wrong hose, has a sort of anti flood your hose when said hose bursts device on it. And as with most good ideas, this device (better known as a pressure sealed gasket) went wrong.

It went wrong by constantly deciding that it had burst so it would shut off the water supply. Meaning no hot water, for some reason the cold has no such safety device attached. So off to the horrid Home Depot I went and purchased an overpriced length of hose and returned home, that was last Tuesday. Due to the need to be at work I decided not to try to attach the hose until I had more then 20 minutes free and being that it was the week of Thanksgiving, I managed to put it off on Wednesday so I could prepare for Turkey-day, and well I spent Thanksgiving giving thanks for way too much food and wine. Ditto Friday, I think I had a Saturday but it was lost to 13 hours of doing little more then was necessary to survive through till Sunday, and well I spent Sunday getting better from the massive gluttonous hangover.

So now it's Monday, I feel marginally better by sleeping till 10 am, not nearly long enough with having to be at work at 8 pm, and I decided after coffee two that it was time. So hose in hand (yes I know how that sounds) I crawled under the sing with my trust adjustable pliers and then crawled out to find the other not so trusty ones, it's a two plier job. So I crawled under the sink, then crawled out (quickly) to find a bucket, or large bowl to catch the water that was squirting about because I still cannot remember which direction left is sometimes.

Now with bucket in place, two pliers, Plumbers tape (without having to go find it while underway thank you very much) and a length of hose, I went back in. Removed the old hose (which was oddly connected to the faucet by another hose on a connector) cleaned off the old plumbers tape, reapplied and reattached using the trusty pliers. All was done, time to turn the knob and then turn it again very quickly because I didn't quite use my trusty pliers enough. Now that I had nearly exhausted myself with tightening, time to turn the knob again. No drips yet, good, goood!!!! Turn on the tap and walah steaming hot H2O! Voondabah!
Clunk and no H2o... no nice hot water to wash the dishes and my greasy hands with... what the crap.

So it seems the hose I removed did indeed have a gasket on it, but it also seems that the hose that is actually directly attached to the faucet ALSO has a wonderfully thought-out device attached to it as well. I would also have you know that I ruined the hose I removed and that there is no way what so ever to remove the second hose without completely removing the faucet from the counter. Now it's Wednesday again. I can't try to fix it again till Friday, when I get to get home at 6, sleep till noon and then go to the Hell Depot again. More to come on that I'd guess.

Why is it these nice little inventions go wrong so often? I had a similar fiasco with the upstairs toilet, with every flush the flood stopping gasket would kick in and prevent the toilet from refilling, so I would to shut off the water, and wait an hour for it to reset. A plumber friend said it was too much water pressure for the gasket and to place a regular one on. Problem solved. Now I am not one who would like my house to flood due to a burst hose, but please I would like the hose to perform its hosley duties correctly, so off with.

Ah, plumbing... the bane of my new house... next time I'll talk about the wash/bath room disaster........

Juice

Why is it that at 7 in the morning, when I am just on the verge of falling asleep (I work a night shift, so I spend most of my waking time between 3 pm and 7 am) that my mind comes forth with huge monologs that I should really put down on paper though, do to an overwhelming need for sleep, I never do. Then night falls and I find myself facing another ten hour shift with usually little to do but read the news and check my email (or lately read Abe Lincolns biography, a wonderful book I might add though dryish) and I cannot remember for the life of me all of those wonderful thoughts that faded into dreams, sometimes coloring the dreams ( I really enjoy when I fall asleep thinking about something then dream about it also, I try to think about pirate's and superpowers a lot (like in that story about that kid that could point and make a red spot appear on things, though that’s not much of a super power I guess, what book was that and why did I read it?) though I avoid the dirty thoughts because they tend to keep me awake) anyway I got sidetracked there.
The creative juices seem to come at the most inopportune moments. another instance is of late I have been seen things in that viewfinder way again, something I have not done in quite a while, where everywhere I find myself I see wonderfully composed photos, or what would be wonderfully composed photos if I could afford a camera. Why did I sell it again? Oh ya... cash. I do have a camera actually though the whole buying film and developing them without my own dark room has lost its appeal for me, I really should put together a dark room... all those years studying and teaching photography out of the window...
And so, I started a blog to help cull out these so called juices in a coherent (and free) form, and as I sit here at the computer, nothing worth putting in the public eye (if there is a public that will see this) comes to mind. C'est la vie.

Why to write, or a way to pass the time

I'm bored and I need a change. I can't leave my job, that would be foolhardy to say the least, I work in a pretty highly specialized field (one that seems to have no specialization or specific resume) anyway that would be a bad idea, bills and all. So that also means I can't take a really extended trip, though that would most assuredly lift my spirits, it would also deplete my nigh empty checking account (and get me fired for not showing up because I was in Morocco or France or well not at work). I can't move, even a short distance, just purchased the abode. So where does that leave me. Bored... and writing to alleviate that boredom.

So a bit about the I involved here.
-I am a DC transplant, well a DC Maryland suburb transplant.
-The last three places I have lived in no specific order are Texas, Germany and Missouri, though I hale from none of the above.
-I went to school and studied Art and Philosophy, though I do nothing that is related to the Arts or thinking in a philosophical manor (well I do think to myself about Philosophical issues, as lowbrow as they are...)
-I have recently realized that I dislike visitors to DC as much as homegrown DC folk.
-I have little to no use for most of what I own.
-I like my dogs more then most people and my cat less.
-If wishes were fishes I still would have no idea what that meant, though I seem to remember being told that in the past.

And I also seem to remember having a better grasp of grammar, but it was lost through years of grammatically horrendous technologically use, which has also stripped me of the ability to spell.

All that said, like many in the DC area I came here for work, but due to my current distaste for that four lettered word and its contributions to my tethered and bored state, I'll avoid the subject. Some days I wish for my younger days when the world seemed to be filled with unfulfilled potential, all that was required of me was I show up for class some days and work others and spend my untidy paycheck on booze and well, some more booze and food. But I know what kind of unbridled resentment they lead me to at my situation, and an overwhelming desire to change it.

Which I did, with what 99.876% of the folks I associated with highly discouraged to down right threatened me with bodily harm, if I did so. I told Uncle Sam I would like to see the world on his dime, so sign me up! thus I say some amazing and some really not so amazing places, then after my four left for greener pastures, though there are some days which I am not so sure which are the greener. I call it partial and useless regret, I regret not staying on about 23% of the time that I spend thinking about it. So all in all, not that much, though I would like to have seen a few more of those wonderful places, and maybe even some of the not so much.

As to why the I was threatened with harm, well I was in no way what you would call, well, ideally cut out? I was a good deal older then most, I needed to lose almost 50lbs just to make the cut, and well I was never what you would call, that type, Art degree and all. My college days were spent bouncing from art the philosophy class all the while covered in my art (meaning covered in paint and saw dust and clay) and well, the whole thing just never seemed to be me.
But hay it worked out pretty well, who knew.

So that covers all of the bases for the whole who the I is, and just leaves what the I talks about. Because I suppose that’s the all important point of Blogging, is it not? Even if a Blog has no specific focus, as may out there do not, a blog is about something. So I suppose I'll spend my time talking, writing, blogging about things that either disgust of fascinate me (there was a whole inner monologue behind that rather obvious decision that I left out due to it's rather mundane and obvious nature, I mean, what else would I blog about, things I find boring, plain, flaccid even? that would just contribute to the situation the has spurned my blogging enterprise, though the boring does tend to disgust me... bah, never mind)

Well, I think this covers enough of my mental state to qualify as my first post,

hope you enjoyed it enough to come back or despised it enough to never come back. just hope it was not too boring.

more soon, I hope.