what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[Nords]

I spent the day with a drywall virtuoso.

Landlord wannabes beware: if your rental has an attic, it's only a matter of time until the tenants go there. (Whether you approve or not.) And then it's only a matter of time until someone puts their size-15 feet through the ceiling.

The first time was over a bedroom closet, so it didn't seem worth fixing right then. The second hole (a kneecap through a bedroom wall) was hidden behind furniture. When the third hole happened in the garage, though, it was time to do something about it.

Luckily the drywall guy is good. He trimmed out the big holes, fitted in some framing, screwed in the new drywall, then added adhesive mesh tape and three coats of 20-minute joint compound. After lunch he sprayed on the orange peel texture, and tomorrow I'll paint.

$450, all paid for by the tenants. All I had to do was survey the damage, find the drywall guy, arrange the date/time, and spend six hours [-]not surfing[/-] supervising. "Easy money"!

Yep....my secret is slippin' out. Ooooo, and my gun has a gorgeous custom made leather holster. Matching gun and holster is essential don't ya know....

Well, I imagine it'd be tough to match that caliber in a garter...

Fairborn Farmer's Market opens early
Crap, I'm old.

Eh, it's a good clip.

It's even better that "Farmer's market opens a month early!!!" is where the local news teams have to get their excitement.

 

[freebird5825]

Damn, I'm tired today. A crew of 9 w*rked on the kitchen for over 8 hours yesterday. We have an electric powerwasher, so I grabbed it and started cleaning EVERYTHING. Another guy ran the floor squeegee and we switched off duties. Sunglasses are now needed for the gleaming kitchen equipment and floor.

It's official...One of the officers formally [-]twisted my arm[/-] asked me to serve on the kitchen committee to help address overall cleanliness issues and tasking. Pending Board approval, I will be putting together a matrix of critical versus optional duties and personnel currently assigned to those duties. I will be mentoring the 3 young men (ages 20, 19 and just 18) who do the dishes and whatever else is necessary to run the kitchen and stay strictly compliant with Health Codes. I already can see some areas where they could be more time/effort efficient and not feel so overwhelmed during rush times.
I already w*rk with these guys and we get along great. I can envision special projects on days when dinner is not being served, and of course a followup pizza party for them .
I am a firm believer in the "Carrot" not the "Stick". Effort gets rewards. Sometimes more than a paycheck is needed for extra motivation. Treating them to pizza is such small thing for me to do, but I know they will enjoy it.
I was told that one of them has a not-so-happy home environment, so I have enlisted Mr B to be a low-key but positive male role model for him. Simple things like shake his hand and say hello when he sees him, ask him about school, see if the young man has things to get off his chest, etc etc. Mr B is happy to do that.

I'm having FUN!!!!!!

 

[Huston55]

DW and I went to a blues concert staring Mac Arnold & Plate Full O' Blues at The Square Room in downtown Knoxville. Mac is the sole remaining member of the Muddy Waters band. And, it was walking distance from home. Backbone and gristle baby; doesn't get much better.

 

[Nords]

Our taekwondo dojang hosted the Hawaii state championships today. Winners of their brackets are eligible for the national tournament. In Dallas. In late June/early July. Presumably in some air-conditioned building. I don't want to have to learn the details.

Last night we had a USAT two-hour seminar on judging & refereeing-- Korean vocabulary, standard hand signals, points, warnings, penalties, and other procedures. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then we loaded the rental truck with tables, chairs, medals, computer/electronic equipment, 400 square meters of rubberized floor mats, and all the food/water required to support a tournament. This morning we filled the basketball court of the local high school gym with four rings and all the peripheral gear.

Then it was just 4-5 hours of judging & refereeing (with short breaks). I enjoy working with the younger kids who are in their first or second tournaments. A few of the teenagers are almost too fast to follow the action.

I didn't compete this year, and I'm glad I didn't. The guy who I would've sparred is an Army sergeant in his late 30s, a three-time member of the All-Army TKD team, a 6'4" beanpole with a 40-inch inseam. (The kind of guy who has his "Airborne" parachute-jumping qualification patches sewn onto the sleeve of his dobok.) The trick to that kind of opponent is to get inside their reach before you get your head kicked off, and then to stay inside where they can't protect their long torso area very well. Extra bonus points if you bulldoze them out of the ring with your fists, where they have to take the penalty for going outside the lines. I don't mind sparring matches like that, but I really mind the part afterward when the adrenaline wears off and you realize how bruised up you are.

So I spent the day dancing in circles around the floor mats, keeping the competition clean and making sure the points ended up on the scoreboard. It didn't seem like much work over the last 24 hours but once again I'm eating 800 mg of ibuprofen with dinner and feeling too exhausted to do much other than [-]tax returns[/-] read posts.

 

[TromboneAl]

We went for a walk and saw a whale spyhopping about five body lengths from the shore. This is the closest one I've seen.

Here's a photo of one that Lena took four years ago:

 

[Nords]

We went for a walk and saw a whale spyhopping about five body lengths from the shore. This is the closest one I've seen.
Here's a photo of one that Lena took four years ago:

The whale's body must be longer than the water is deep. Maybe they're using the rocks for backscratchers.

Hopefully it's not trying to beach. I wonder if you'll see it in the same place tomorrow.

 

[TromboneAl]

The bottom must slope off very quickly, it's very surprising. He was definitely feeding, going back and forth.

 

[Nords]

The bottom must slope off very quickly, it's very surprising. He was definitely feeding, going back and forth.

Good thing you're not [-]shark bait[/-] surfing that break...

 

[Major Tom]

Received the delivery confirmation for my state tax return from the Franchise Tax Board in Sacramento. It was received by a Peter Dosh.

Those familiar with the British vernacular will understand the reason for my amusement.

 

[Khan]

Went to dentist and had incisors installed. They feel very good. Wonder how many more I'll need to have replaced.

 

[NW-Bound]

I reviewed my tax return with TaxAct one more time, and verified all 1099's and K1's info were transcribed correctly. Yes, even though I am not a day trader, there are a few stock trades. Still found a couple of errors. Arghh...

I started this more than a month ago. Then, more than one brokerage house sent in their corrected 1099s in early March. Arghhh.... Then, I sat on it a bit longer.

Today, I could not stand the monkey on my back anymore, so after one last check, hit "send", and all those 0's and 1's bits were on their way to who-knows-where.

Just got an email saying the IRS has accepted my return, and the refund will be deposited around April 11. Even when I get a sizable refund, why is filing taxes as painful for me as Khan having her teeth fixed? Many years, I would procrastinate until April 15, even when I expected a refund.

I hate filing tax returns! Maybe I will live to the day when the IRS will figure out the taxes for me. Hey, they already know everything about me, where I keep my money, where I live, what I do. Then, they can just reach into my checking to get some more money, or to put some back, then just send me an email telling me what they have done.

 

[MBAustin]

Catching up after being away for most of the week, back in the Philly area taking my Mom to medical appointments. Also got to have dinner with DS who is in college nearby so that was a nice bonus. Fortunately my flight back yesterday was not affected by this idiot:

M-80s Taken to Feds' Lab After Airport Fireworks Arrest | NBC 10 Philadelphia

Last night I went directly from the airport to a chorus rehearsal - big concert with orchestra on Sunday (Durufle Requiem and Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem for any choral music geeks out there). Today I got my morning walk in, caught up on e-mail, made my "got to do" list, and had lunch (shrimp tacos) with a woman I serve as a volunteer career mentor for. Came home, packed up Easter care packages for DD and DS, made the grocery list, and headed out to mail the packages and get the groceries.

After putting everything away, fed the (new) goldfish in our (new-ish) pond and came in for an hour of polishing up the rough spots in the music before tomorrow's dress rehearsal. Then poured a nice glass of Chardonnay to enjoy while catching up with the forums.

Off to fix dinner (DH deserves a fresh cooked meal after my week away). Then I'll catch up on DVR'd TV and my prayer shawl knitting. A good day!

 

[dm]

Flew 200 miles and stopped at 2 airports for my long cross country on my way to my pilots license. The wind was blowing, I was only covering 65mph ground speed on one leg, so instead of taking 2 hours as planed it ended up taking 2.8 hours.

 

[Nords]

Replaced the tenant's kitchen sink faucet. We've had this Delta model for a year and it's working great so far.
Amazon.com: Delta 468-SD-DST Cicero Single Handle Pull-Out Kitchen Faucet with Soap Dispenser, Chrome: Home Improvement
The entire faucet seems to be plumbed in PEX. It certainly made the swap go faster.

I checked last week's drywall repairs and noticed that they're darn near undetectable. Either the previous drywall contractor never painted the ceiling, or the new drywall repairs are a perfect match for the ceiling paint. As long as I don't have to paint, I guess I don't have to care.

Since the tenant is a retired military aviator, I put a couple signs in the attic on the ceiling drywall reading: "NO STEP".

Flew 200 miles and stopped at 2 airports for my long cross country on my way to my pilots license. The wind was blowing, I was only covering 65mph ground speed on one leg, so instead of taking 2 hours as planed it ended up taking 2.8 hours.

Jimmy Buffett wrote once about flying his float plane above a highway and watching cars pass him...

 

[NW-Bound]

A friend of mine who used to be an Army pilot told of flying a small chopper in a high head wind, where he pulled the collective to his armpit and with the cyclic full-forward and could not really tell if his ground speed was positive.

 

[Walt34]

Flew 200 miles and stopped at 2 airports for my long cross country on my way to my pilots license. The wind was blowing, I was only covering 65mph ground speed on one leg, so instead of taking 2 hours as planed it ended up taking 2.8 hours.

Great! If you're doing the long cross-country (without getting lost) you're close to getting the ticket.

 

[REWahoo]

Jimmy Buffett wrote once about flying his float plane above a highway and watching cars pass him...

Margaritas will do that to ya...

I flew a Cessna 172 into a strong headwind, slowed to near stall speed with flaps down, and watched the plane move backwards across the ground below.

 

[dm]

Great! If you're doing the long cross-country (without getting lost) you're close to getting the ticket.

I was only lost for a little while. I ended up following a road to my first stop. The second stop had a VOR located at the airport so I followed that. On the last leg I was off my coarse some, but my home airport is close to the Mississippi River so I just kept the river in sight. No problem. I'll be glad when I can just use a GPS.

 

[REWahoo]

I was only lost for a little while. I ended up following a road to my first stop.

IFR

The second stop had a VOR located at the airport so I followed that.

VOR

On the last leg I was off my coarse some, but my home airport is close to the Mississippi River so I just kept the river in sight.

IFM

I'll be glad when I can just use a GPS.

Who needs GPS when you've got all the other navigation acronyms nailed!

 

[TromboneAl]

At Costco today I found that they had removed all the self-check lanes, saying they were too costly to maintain. I loved those things. They were where all the introverts checked out.

 

[Gumby]

Last night I went directly from the airport to a chorus rehearsal - big concert with orchestra on Sunday (Durufle Requiem and Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem for any choral music geeks out there).

Good luck with your concert. I have performed the Durufle before. It is a beautiful piece. And difficult enough that one feels a real sense of accomplishment on mastering it.

 

[Gumby]

Today I went to the New England Air Museum with a friend from church, his 18 year old daughter and the 16 year old neighbor boy who regularly rakes leaves for me. We all really enjoyed it.

New England Air Museum

My personal favorite was the gleaming restored Sikorsky VS-44 flying boat. That was traveling in style.

 

[Major Tom]

Yesterday I bought a new saddle for my bicycle, and have been pleasantly surprised at how the combination of a newly-oiled chain and new saddle have made cycling easier and more enjoyable.

A couple of weeks ago thanks to Al, I discovered the wonder of golden roasted flax seed from Trader Joe's as a snack food and source of omega 3 fatty acids and fiber. Am now snacking on them, along with dark chocolate and a couple of glasses of shiraz (Block Red boxed wine from TJ's).

Life is good

 

[harley]

Yesterday I bought a new saddle for my bicycle, and have been pleasantly surprised at how the combination of a newly-oiled chain and new saddle have made cycling easier and more enjoyable.

A couple of weeks ago thanks to Al, I discovered the wonder of golden roasted flax seed from Trader Joe's as a snack food and source of omega 3 fatty acids and fiber. Am now snacking on them, along with dark chocolate and a couple of glasses of shiraz (Block Red boxed wine from TJ's).

Life is good

Just fyi, from what I've read flax hulls are really difficult to digest, which cuts way down on the absorption of the omega 3s and other good stuff. They recommend ground flax seeds for omega 3s. Not to say you shouldn't be snacking on them, but I suspect you'll be getting all your omega 3s from the dark chocolate and the wine.

 

[Rustward]

IFR

VOR

IFM

Who needs GPS when you've got all the other navigation acronyms nailed!

I believe he might have given new meaning to the IFR TLA -- as in I fly rivers.