Clothing triage

Last night I went through my clothes again. I've been getting rid of all the stuff that is worn out or lacks anything resembling fashion sense. Some quick notes:

• I have enough socks and underwear to last a long time.
• None of my dress shirts remotely fit me anymore. As I've toned my body more, they just look funny. Same goes for undershirts.
  
• Ties go out of fashion really fast.
• So much of my wardrobe is jeans, darks or whites that my few colored items get washed individually.
• Do I really need to keep a memento t-shirt for more than 20 years?
• I should get some of those stylish bike jerseys.
  

Memories of New Year's by the decade

40 years ago I was crawling on a floor somewhere in Highland Park, New Jersey. I don't recall that time. We were probably getting ready to move to Laurel, Maryland at that time.

30 years ago I was sad that the digital watch I got from Channukah '78 no longer had the same magic. It listed the time and the last two digits of the current year. Until we went into 1979 at 12:34pm, 56 seconds into the minute each day I looked down and saw this: 12:34:56 78. This was now gone from a daily activity.

20 years ago I was at the house of my friend Tony's girlfriend trying to fix her parent's bed. Do the math yourself as to what happened... As for my thoughts, I was dwelling on whether or not I would get to hook up again with the girl I met during the autumn.

10 years ago me and my wife celebrated the last New Year's of the second millenium, and started one more year at Aurora Highlands.

The temptation is very strong...

I want a vacation. One away from home, my daily chores, work and anything involving responsibility. A clean break from life. Our finances are in improving shape, so a vacation is in our reach. I don't have expensive tastes, and neither does my family. Preferably I want to go somewhere warm and enjoy the ocean. The sea gives my soul energy. Ideally I want a $1000 vacation for the three of us (me, wife, 16-year old son).

However, upon any sort of reflection, now is not the time. We have so much that needs doing. A quick list of things to do:

• Take down the dying tree in back ($2300)
• Take down a tree growing on the side of our house ($1000)
• Redo the kitchen sink ($1000)
• Install a dishwasher in the kitchen ($1000)
• Electrical work in the basement ($500)
• Replace the upstairs toilette ($300)
• Replace all our 1960s era windows ($5000)
• Fix the back porch roof ($750)
• Pay back a hospital bill ($300)
• Buy me a new bike ($500)
  
• Pay back a bigger bill or three ($infinity)

And that is just after a minute of thought. Bleah. I think if I can consult more and use leave time to get regular salary while doing so things might be better. Hrm...

Moving major appliances

On Sunday I did a ton of work around the house.

It started in the morning clearing brush in back of the house. My old clippers are pretty much done so I grabbed one of my kukris and went at it. As a combination hatchet/knife I have to say it worked smashingly well. The kid came out and asked why I wasn't using both at the same time. I laughed, said that only happened in the movies or on the mat, then taught him how to do what I was doing. He liked doing it, but didn't like the bugs. When I was 16 I was more used to bugs and stuff so it was pretty amusing.

Then came in the lifting. The kid was busy so this was all me. Besides moving stuff all around the basement, I took the old water heater out. Alas, not all the water would drain so it weighed about 150 pounds when I took it up the back stairs. That meant I had to dead lift all 150 pounds of it above my head, which tweaked my shoulder a bit.

The old dryer came next. I rolled it up the stairs.

I cleaned up stuff a bit and took a shower to get grunge off of me.

Then it was to the place where we were getting our new washer and dryer. That meant taking both pieces down two flights of stairs and lifting them up into a van. Fortunately I had the kid and this other guy to help there.

We got the pieces home and the kid helped me take the pieces off the van, through the backyard, and down the stairs. I'm proud to say even through that tight back stair nothing got scratched, and most of it was him doing the thinking.

I'm still much stronger than the kid, but if he sticks with this fitness thing we are on he should eclipse me within 6 months, if not sooner. He outweighs me by about 40 pounds and has youth to boot.

There was more labor too but that was the hard stuff worth writing about.

New water heater

Late last night we finally finished getting our old water heater replaced. What a difference! Went from 5 minutes of lukewarm water that took many hours to recover to a never-ending stream of scalding goodness. Bonus is that the new water heater is much more energy efficient to boot.

This morning I dragged the kid out of bed and pushed him grumbling into the shower. He was not happy when he woke up and there was resentment in the air. He came out 25 minutes later with a glowing smile on his face and said, "Now I see why you woke me up early."

The simple pleasures are some of the best ones.

Flooding sucks

Rain. Mislabeled breaker that turned off our sump pump. Ankle deep water in my basement.

That was mother's day.

And I forgot to call my mom. She ain't happy.