Thursday, March 27, 2003

The Hills are Alive in South Austin12:38 AM CST (Link)
Ever since mid-January, Mel and I have been walking at least five mornings per week in an effort to get into shape. Whatever shape that ends up being.

Unfortunately, we live on the top of a fucking hill. No matter how you slice it or dice it, you have to walk uphill at least a portion of any trip around the neighborhood.

While it doesn’t appear to be that hilly in my South Austin neighborhood, those hills are alive and laughing. Cars toot around with the greatest of ease, but once you’re down at street level, those subtle rises take on new heights. They loom in front of you and grow taller with each step. Downhill is a rare occurrence.

I finally realized how why I wasn’t able to plot a flat route when I happened upon the City of Austin’s GIS site. I loaded up a topo map of my neighborhood and, lo and behold, we’re near the top of a hill that runs perpendicular to and bisects all the streets we want to walk on. To walk through our neighborhood from our house, you have to walk uphill both going out and coming home.

Don’t get me wrong, the elevation really isn’t that bad. But to someone who has arthritis of the kneecaps, it isn’t just a molehill. Contrary to what everyone has said, the daily morning trek isn’t getting any easier for me. We’ve tried lengthening our outing, but every time we do, something happens -- my knees give out, one of us gets sick, stuff like that. So we’re pretty much stuck on 0.6 mile distance for the moment.

I guess it could be worse. I took a coworker home the other day because his car was in the shop. After twisting and turning my way through a steep Oak Hill neighborhood, I was wondering how I was going to find my way out without stopping to dig out a map.

Catching my puzzled look, he said, “On your way out, when you reach an intersection, think which way a basketball would roll and go that direction.” I found my way out with no problem at all. I guess that’s why the area is called Oak “Hill”.

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Just in case...09:11 AM CST (Link)
My dad called me this morning to say that he loved me. It's not unusual for my dad to call, but when he calls in the morning, it's to tell me something catastrophic has happened, such as the WTC disaster. (He knows I don't turn on the television while getting ready for work.)

I asked, "Have we started bombing yet?"

"No," he replied. "But just in case something happens, I want you to know that I love you."

I realize that the chances are slim that something major will happen in Austin and even slimmer that anything will happen in his little, rural North Texas town. But you just never know. So, before I left for work this morning, I told my partner, Mel, "I want you to know that I love you. Just in case."

My advice to you today is, since we can't prevent the inevitable war, make sure the people you love know that you love them. Call or email someone you love right now. Tell them you love them. Just in case.

Sunday, March 16, 2003

Accomplished11:00 PM CST (Link)
Following up on our Spring Break agenda, here's what Mel and I accomplished, individually and together:
- took the cats to the vet for a checkup
- went to the tax assessor-collector to remove lien on Honda's title (it's paid for! yay!)
- Honda to the dealer for a checkup/oil change
- set up a wireless network for a friend
- picked out and purchased paint for the kitchen
- various errands to buy various painting supplies
- cleaned and primed the kitchen cabinets (a three-day job, total, with two coats of primer)
- replaced the light fixture on the back porch (finally installed the motion-sensitive light my brother gave us for Christmas a couple of years ago. It works great.)
- caulked the fixtures in both bathrooms
- ScumBusted both bathtubs (get a ScumBuster! Awesome!)
- mulched the front flowerbed
- mulched the butterfly garden
- created an herb garden
- planted a rose bush on Zebbie's grave
- mowed the lawn (back and front) for the first time this year
- raked leaves
- cleaned house
- laundry. lots of laundry.
- ordered new garage doors (to be installed this Friday)
- got an estimate from a carpenter to fix a hole our eaves near the chimney
- climbed into the attic to investigate funny noises (will call an exterminator after hole in eaves is fixed)
- put boxes of stuff for Goodwill in car (haven't dropped them off yet)
We were so tired by Friday that all we've done Saturday and Sunday is nap. We need a Spring Break to recover from Spring Break!

Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Spring "Break"?11:50 PM CST (Link)
Sometimes during Spring Break, Mel and I travel. Sometimes we stay home. Either way, we usually end up needing another vacation to recover from the week’s events. This year is no different.

We had planned to go to London during Spring Break, but considering the current political climate, we decided to stay home. Oh yeah, we decided to paint the kitchen, too.

Really, there was nothing really wrong with the kitchen as it was, except it was very white. Well, off-white, but monochromatic nonetheless, with dark-stained, 20-year-old, cheap, builder-installed original cabinets – crappy wood veneer over crappy pressboard.

We’ve been talking about painting the kitchen for a couple of months. Enough talk, we said. It’s time to break out the paintbrushes and start stroking. Well, Monday was Vet Day and Supply Buy Day. Off to the vet first for the cats’ annual exam and then to the local home improvement superstore to pick out the paint. More than $200 later, we have primer, wall paint (two shades of purple*), cabinet paint (saturated shades of red, blue, yellow, orange, green, blue, and teal*), and assorted but necessary painting supplies.

Tuesday was Errand Day, so we didn’t get started painting until that afternoon. We got first coats of primer on the upper cabinets. That’s it. We were worn out and could barely move that evening.

Today we stayed home and painted all day. All the cabinets now have two coats of primer. Here’s what I learned:

a. I have muscles in places I never knew muscles existed.
b. When you plan a painting job, multiply the amount of surfaces you want to paint by four and the time to paint them by 8.
c. Clean off your counters before painting the cabinets. Many of our small appliances, dishes, and utensils are now decorated with really neat white flecks of primer.
d. Little foam brushes with wooden handles work better than the little foam brushes with plastic handles for getting in little nooks and crannies.
e. Those new Ziploc (or Glad) cheap disposable covered containers make excellent paint buckets for small quanties of paint. You don’t have to pour the paint back in the can when you quit for the evening. Just slap the lid on it and go.
f. Storing your brushes in Ziploc bags eliminates the need to clean them out overnight. They stay moist and flexible and are ready to go when you are the next day. In fact, I think the brushes are the most flexible things in the house at the moment. Neither Mel nor I can move.

The plan is to paint more tomorrow and Friday, but then actually rest all weekend to get ready for work. Our usual mode of operation, however, is to keep on working until we either fall out from exhaustion or have to go to work. We’ll see what happens.

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* We’re going from absolutely no color to a color overload. We don’t really know exactly what we’re going to do to the cabinets, but we’re hoping inspiration hits us over the head real soon now.

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