Some Days Are Better Left In The Past

This wasn't a horrible day at work. It was a mediocre one.

It wasn't a horrible day at home, though it was less than mediocre. (Any day that starts with calling a "drain guy" and ends with the drain guy telling you that there's nothing he can do, that the leak in the pipe is getting worse, and that the entire sink drain has to go - which he can't do, so you need to call a plumber... yeah... that's not a great day.)

But there are a number of blogs I read, and one of them is called "Garfield Minus Garfield." Basically, it's a bunch of Garfield comic strips where Garfield (and his side of the conversation) has been removed. So you get people just kind of talking to themselves.

Usually, I read these and laugh, or kind of feel sorry for Jon, or kind of feel relieved that it's not me. Today, though, I feel way too much like the strip is about me.

I don't want to copy and paste it, here, since I don't have rights to it, so you'll have to just click through this link to see it. (I recommend bookmarking the page - garfieldminusgarfield.net and checking it daily for your dose of the semi-Existential.)

All in a Week's Work

Sometimes, when I look at what I do, I am both amazed and befuddled by it. 

Because I work for a company that offers editing services to anyone who will pay for them, we get some strange things that need to be edited. And, if not strange, then at least incredibly diverse. 

In the past week, I've worked on a piece about dealing with the effects of chemotherapy, a novel that questions both art and religion, and a how-to manual for heterosexual men trying to "pleasure" their partners. 

I can only imagine what my Internet search history looked like by the time I was done, considering how many things I had to verify. 

I'm just glad that no one walked up behind me while I had any of the images (yes, the latter of the three had illustrations) on my screen. And I'm even happier that I didn't accidentally send the wrong critique to anyone...

Who Needs Black Friday?

We all know that you can get great deals the day after Thanksgiving. We also all know that you can find amazing markdowns on candy the day after Halloween (if you're speedy - because otherwise all the stuff you like will already be gone).

Just last week I saw some leftover Easter-themed products on the "at least 75% off" cart at the grocery store. (Don't worry - it was non-perishable goods, not things like colored eggs or bunny cakes.)

But I never would have guessed that there would be post-Mother's Day markdowns. Today on my way home from work, I was proven wrong when I found this single-layer beauty for half off the regular price:

I'd love to blame the way this looks on poor lighting but... no... it actually looks like that.

Okay... So the colors are a bit faded, but since I celebrated with my mom a week ago, and we celebrated with Christopher's mom, yesterday, this was more of an "I think we're going to need this to get through the week" purchase. In other words, I totally bought it because it was a half-off chocolate cake with white buttercream frosting, and I thought it would be good.

I was not disappointed.

Post-Plant Sale-ing

I made it to the Friends School Plant Sale after work last night. There were a ton of cars around, so parking wasn't great, but there didn't seem to be that many people there.

That's one of the great things I learned the last time I went on Friday night. You see, the plants all get stocked (or re-stocked) overnight, so the serious shoppers go first thing in the morning, and not as many people are there the rest of the day.

Of course, this means that if you go late in the day there are also a number of plants that are already sold out (at least for the day) by the time you get there.

Yeah... That's what I dealt with.

About half of what I was looking for was already gone. Luckily, I'd made up a kind of back-up list, so I knew what else I could look for, but it was still a little depressing.

Today, though, I was out and about and made a "filler" trip to the local garden store, and then came home and planted things. (Technically, it's too early to do that in Minnesota, but I checked the forecasts, and we should be okay for the next 10 days - and the usual planting date is May 15, so... hopefully we're in the clear.) I've got a few things left to put in the ground (I gave up after my back started to give out), but our yard is already looking pretty good.

We still have to deal with ripping out some old shrubs (some are dying, some we just don't like), but that can happen later on. Sometime after I feel like I can stand up straight, again.

Pre-Plant Sale-ing

There is a really big plant sale that happens every year in the Twin Cities on Mother's Day weekend. Really big.

It's a fundraiser for the Friends School of Minnesota, and it takes over the area beneath the State Fair Grandstand for the weekend. The plants are smaller than you'd find at a greenhouse-type garden store (for the most part), but are also less expensive than those.

But what really brings people out - at least most people I know - is the selection of plants. They have all sorts of native and/or unique plants which you really can't find anywhere else.

For a long time, the hot peppers that Christopher really likes could only be found there. We've purchased Pasque flowers at the sale, too, which are really cool. (The rare Lady Slipper orchid we tried didn't survive the first season, unfortunately, because our yard just wasn't the right microclimate.)

The past few days, I've been checking out the catalog - both physical and online - and trying to figure out both what we "need" and what we want. I think I've got it figured out. But I'm sure I'll change my mind multiple times once I'm there - especially since I'm going after work tomorrow, so some things will probably be pretty picked over (to be re-stocked Saturday morning). Not to mention that at the end of the day I'm likely to be a tad tired and hungry.

We'll see how it goes, and whether I end up sticking to both of my budgets (you know - both the monetary one and the yard-space one).

Pixelation

Could someone please explain to me why digital cable pixelates all the time?

Regular TV doesn't pixelate.

Regular non-digital cable doesn't pixelate.

But the more-expensive digital cable seems to pixelate all the time.

I don't understand that. And I really don't understand how companies can tell us that things are getting better and better when simple problems like this keep getting worse and worse.

If you have any explanations, please comment. This isn't entirely rhetorical - I'd really love to know why it happens.

Middle (No) Ground

The bathroom renovation started last week. I have to admit that after the first day of demolition, it was really cool to go down and open the door and realize that there was no bathroom left. It was completely down to the studs. 

I stood there for a while and stared at it. I had seen all of the drywall out in the dumpster on my way inside, but it was still kind of a shock. 

I was also surprised to notice that, although we'd have a bunch of issues with the shower backing up and getting the floor wet, there didn't seem to be any mold anywhere. Yes, there were a couple of studs which seemed like they had a little water damage, but no mold. There's definitely something to be said for having a big humidifier running in the basement all year. 

On the third day PD (Post Demolition), the changes were a bit more subtle. Part of me actually kind of thought that all they had done all day was put down some protective cloth on the floor. But then I looked a little more closely. 

The most obvious change was that the hole in the floor around the shower drain had "spread" and now went under the bathroom wall into the utility room. How did I notice this? By opening the door to the utility room and almost stepping into it. That was a surprise. And as I was standing there marvelling at how there was no ground beneath my feet, I noticed that the water-damaged studs from a couple of days earlier had been replaced by pristine new ones. 

The other change was a bit more subtle - and much more exciting for me. They actually removed part of the former dropped ceiling's joists, so that the full window is visible. Before, because the ceiling had been put in low enough to compensate for the ducts running above it, the window was only about half visible. The rest of it was hidden behind ceiling (unless, of course, you were standing right next to it and looking up). I'm not sure how much of that will still show when the new ceiling is in, but any "extra" is exciting. 

So now we have to wait to see what's next. We've been quoted a total timeframe of about 2 weeks, but I'm honestly not expecting completion until the end of the month. (I figure that if I keep my expectations low, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.)