Done this week (20170716Su - 22Sa)
It's been a stressful week. The worst thing to happen, of course, was Jordin Kare's death on Wednesday. Friday we went down to Seattle both to check on the apartment, and to look for a kitten at Cat City. There were some wonderful ones, but they were all on hold. We went on a wild cat chase up to Lynnwood, only to find that the kitten we'd wanted to meet had been adopted while we were on the road.
The second pod was unloaded yesterday, mostly using hired muscle. It filled an appalling amount of space in the garage (I set up the plastic shelves down the center, and there are piles (mostly of book boxes) next to it. So there's that.) I had a bit of a meltdown this morning upacking mostly kitchen stuff, including the Peter Rabbit plate that I'd had as a kid, and realizing that we didn't have nearly enough room for even the reduced amount of stuff we brought, and concerned about money, and, and, and,... The usual stuff that happens when the brain weasels go out to play with the black dog.
We currently have two boxes of stuff to give away, one for my daughter who has just gotten engaged, and a largeish pile for G.
However, despite the stress, our first full week here has mostly been pretty good. Colleen's new caregiver, G", is working out quite well. (Glenn is G; our previous housekeeper, Giselle, was G'. This one is named Gina, so, ... After her I'm switching to subscripts.) Molly, our Chevy Bolt, is finally getting fully charged every day or two. (I am somewhat amused by the fact that she sends me a text when she's done charging. Molly is not amused by being mistaken for a wallboard anchor.)
Our beds are here, but we're waiting until after the new floor is in (Tuesday) to set them up, since moving them would involve taking them apart and setting them up again -- not worth it.
Our cats are at least not fighting; we're still keeping them separate until we can (hopefully) re-introduce them. We've bought a couple of Feliway pheromone diffusers - one for the main area of the house, and one for the room we plan to use for the re-introduction.
I have also replaced the ionization fire detector nearest the kitchen with a photoelectric one. Ionization detectors are sensitive to open flames, and we have a gas stove. Bad combination.
Notes & links:
0716Su * Up 5:10; W=201; : woken up by a very insistent Ticia -- it was, apparently, time to feed the cat. She ate about a third of a can, so that was probably what she wanted. * played around with formatting on [!!], but it didn't improve appearance on mobile, so fixing it will require CSS. * Put Nova up on the laundry-room shelf. It appears to be working. Is. added it to the WAP's DNS by simply giving it a static lease. * raspberry pancakes for brunch -> make a little thicker and multiply by 1.5 or 2 if kids present. @ AmazonSmile: Coffee Computers and Song: Steve Savitzky: MP3 Downloads (CDBaby) Need to figure out how to be a direct supplier. Almost had that set up some time ago, then got busy/depressed and didn't follow through. There are 3-4 ways to do it. * (x Fell's Naptha Soap), hamper, more lysol spray (MBath & laundry), maple syrup, loperamide, 1ga ziplok bags, small command pads, tart cherry Noosa (subst. Tillamook) yogurt, side-entry outlet extenders, triple strength cranberry tablets, pantsu, dried California (not Turkish) apricots, Fig Newtons. Also, gin (New Amsterdam, which is cheap and ok), a 3-way LED bulb (from a previous list), cat litter scoop, band-aids 0717Mo * up 5:45; W=200.4; ~ 8:40 be prepared to get kids (9:15 ferry) if necessary. -> not needed * 15min: dishes, puttering. * 15min: add link to "how to.do it" to DW profile. Should add links, too. ~ 9ish get Colleen up : Managed to break the handle off my French press. Can either epoxy it back on or get a new one. * 2:30 Colleen UNW - Gina (G'? G", now that G' isn't working for us?) driving * took futons, beanbag, etc. back to R+T's with Naomi. * add G" to our car insurance. -* need to call back with date of birth. * move bed from the MBR to the room over the garage. Heavy mattress. & more hassles with mychevrolet.com. " Connection Center Team would be able to assist you with all Website and Mobile App related questions and concerns. You can contact them directly at 1-877-558-8352, 7 days a week between 7AM - 10PM EST. " Sure. * Schedule propane safety check appointment -> 0727Th 8:30 * renew AAA membership; add N, upgrade to Premier, set up auto renewal on AX ~ attempted to call for housekeeper references. Voice mail. Twice. : G" recommends Harbor Plumbing * down 00:10 0718Tu * up 5:50; W=201.4; shower, ... breakfast, dishes, dinner % Every time I step out of the house I'm amazed at how quiet it is. Inside, there are fans and appliances going almost all the time. Outside,... I'm going to love it here * ordered new French press (different kind; the old one got poor reviews for durability, and so did the newer version) and outlet extenders. : PSE does not appear to have a reduced rate for households with electric vehicles. * cleanup on nova -- there were some uncommitted changes and a few other problems. -> web/* up to date. There are some problems remaining in users/ : g and j swapped rooms temporarily because Cricket. This puts our permakitten in her own space most of the time; she'll get the run of this house on weekends. This coming weekend is the only one where we won't be in our own room; the pod comes this Friday and the floor next Tuesday. So a week from tonight, probably, we'll sleep in our own room. Maybe the next day, depending on how hard it turns out to be to set up the beds @ Shaka, When the Walls Fell - The Atlantic Interesting. (cellio) * Walk. Basically just around the property, and down Skyline to Natilus. Nautilus being the first cross street. Phone claims I was walking for 33 minutes, which sounds about right. Pretty warm; I should go out in the morning. @ caught up on Assigned Male to the point where it moved to tumblr. & Nice conversation with g about math, logic, and programming. I think I now have a pretty decent sense for where she is -- pre-algebra, but interested in more advanced stuff. "Hour of Code" uses block programming; she's interested in learning to use text. j is probably further along because he's been in a STEM school. * called J's references again. Need to leave voice mail next time, because I'm not connecting. * 7:30 mac and cheese for dinner : The ceiling light closest to me just went out. It's presumably the one that's been behaving intermittently all week. Needs to be replaced. * take garbage out to curb. -> added a yard trash bag of mostly cardboard. * down ~midnight 0719We * up 5:50ish; W=201; @ Frances Gabe, Creator of the Only Self-Cleaning Home, Dies at 101 (amaebi) * Started trying to mount grab bars. Need drill bits. Don't want to wait for pod2 & out to hardware store (Country Store/True Value) with N, who enjoys hardware shopping @ The slow birth of distributed software collaboration | ESR # agreed with N to stay off of Quora for the rest of the month. It's a time sink. & more hassles with mychevrolet.com. (continued from 0717) -> they are attempting to merge onstar and GM. The website will continue to not work for the next month or more. * shower curtain rod, fans, drill bits (could swear I bought some,... probably in pod2) wireless doorbell. * put up grab bar for the shower. Somewhat arduous. I'm sure I bought a set of drill and screwdriver bits at the same time I got the drill, but I can't find it. -> No, those were purchased for the 18V drill before we left RE. The 12V drill was purchased for use with a paint mixer. : Drapes! G" with a little help from me putting them back up. Would be better if they were loose enough to slide on the rod, but they'll do. : Colleen played CC+S for G". : G" out doing the shopping -- C didn't feel up to it due to semicolon. C also doesn't have enough in her account, so lent G" my debit card. * olive oil, powdered sugar (crepes), butter (with and without salt), eggs, milk (with and without lactose), cottage cheese, grated cheddar, juice, pasta (shells or spirals), lactaid, vidalias, capers, matzoh meal, matzoh, garlic, celery? * called (electrician) Terry about charger outlet. * Matzoh ball soup. Colleen and G" made the first batch of balls and the broth; I added water to the broth, cooked the first batch of balls, and made the second. @ Jordin Kare died today :( MKKare on Twitter Impromptu memorial circle with me, Naomi, and Colleen. N sang "Fire In the Sky" - her first time singing it, and me faking the chords passably; I sang "The Designer" and "The Engineer", then "Waverider", and the first verse and chorus of "Kantrowitz 1972" N had never heard those. For some reason I don't seem to have a rip of Fire In the Sky. Tape? Probably. @ Jordin Kare:Fire In The Sky (1991) | LyricWikia | FANDOM powered by Wikia * Adding \makesongtitle to everything in steve/Lyrics is, as expected, a one-liner: for f in *.flk ; do sed -i -e '0,/^$/ {s/^$/\\makesongtitle\n/}' $f; done The actual command included a grep...|| to skip the one I'd already done; it won't be needed anywhere else. * Down 11:30ish 0720Th Apollo 11 landing anniversary, * Up 7:31; W=201; @ Jordin Kare:Fire In The Sky (1991) | LyricWikia | FANDOM powered by Wikia * 1:30ish Pod arrived. Staying out of the way. * Second pod arrived. The contents weren't lashed down; the beds have toppled and have stuff behind them; we'll wait for the guys coming Saturday to unpack. # Between pod - which took over two hours - and cleanup, there's no way I'm getting down to Seattle today. The pod is in front of the garage door - it remains to be seen whether we can get Molly close enough to charge without an extension cord. * New coffee press arrived. The filter doesn't seem to be as good as what's in the old one; we'l see tomorrow morning whether it's acceptable. Also, the smoke detector; I'm not sure I'm up for installing that today. * Installed second grab bar in the MBR. The one in the hall bathroom probably ought to wait until I track down a stud finder. % feeling very wrung out. Aftermath of the earlier cleanup overload, possibly with something from around Jordin's death. Feels as though I switched something off, but I have no idea what. Emotions? Energy? % Am I ok? N asked earlier and I really didn't know. Still don't. & Looked for a Bolt key fob online; failed. Tried chat and griped in the surveys. % 4:45 sleepy. & order take-out from China City. They deliver in Oak Harbor, but not Freeland. -> not bad. Better than the places we were ordering from in West Seattle. Somewhat limited menu. % better now that I've had dinner. A little subdued compared to what I remember as normal, but I'm not all that good at comparison. % One problem I can see is that I'm feeling overwhelmed by all the paperwork I've allowed to pile up. Really needs to get done. * checked comcast - amount due 7/24 is $0, so that's taken care of. * down 11ish 0721Fr * up 6:00; W=201; dishes : The Mira stainless steel French press works very well. Seems to be easy to clean, and being all metal is dishwasher safe as well (although the lid has a hole for the shaft, so water would get in. It would drain, but probably isn't worth trying. Take it apart and wash the other pieces. Won't have to be done often, because stainless steel * 15min: go through the "file/shred" pile. Get rid of a few things. Find more to put on the "pay/toss" pile. There are still more things in and on the file box. * go down to apartment with N, kids. * Cat City (walk from apartment) -> promising kittens, all taken, plus a trip up to Lynnwood for another who was adopted while we were on the road up. Grumph. Nice talk with N on the way back, though. We had Ivar's and brought C back an order of scallops and chips. * cookies at TJ's. % to top off the afternoon, one of my crowns popped off while eating a sour patch kid. No pain, but it'll need work next week. @ Amanda McBroom "The Rose" Joan Baez - The Rose @ Joan Baez - Sings with Dylan * down 11:30ish 0722Sa * up 6ish; W-200.0; shower @ How SoundCloud's broken business model drove artists away - The Verge * installed new smoke alarm (photoelectric, not ionization). Did *not* wire it up to the others. They changed the base slightly, so had to replace the ring as well as the alarm unit. :P Checked, and the one I replaced was, indeed, an ion detector. idiots! * phones: Switched back to the S5mini and did a factory reset on the G5. Signal was still registered, so there's that. Now I have to decide whether to get an AT&T G5, a V10, V20, S6, or something else I haven't researched. -> no, Signal needs to be re-registered. % I seem to be very fragile this morning. Upset over getting distracted and forgetting that I was making English muffins for Colleen, slowdown over resetting phone. Ugh. : Stupid inkjet printer is out of yellow and won't even get to config screen. idiots. -> Sound Business Center in Freeland carries cartridges . return phone - only return eligible for the next week * Second pod emptied. 3:30 -> we now have the Kitchenaid mixer, the laser printer, the microphone stands, etc. -> we also have the rest of my tools! ... didn't see my drill or its charger; thought those were in either the rolling toolbox or the bucket. -> we have an appalling quantity of Christmas stuff. We should keep the best and donate the rest, if my kids don't want it. -> Colleen's sewing machine set up on card table in corner. @ 23 Shipping Container Home Owners Speak Out: “What I Wish I’d Known Before Building My Shipping Container Home” @ 10 Prefab Shipping Container Homes From $24k | Off Grid World * 15min: MBR closet: unpack hangers; stack boxes of bottom sheets * 15min: (several rounds) going through kitchen stuff * got lp up long enough to print the return label for the G5 phone. Had to use the USB cable; setting up a laptop as a print server would have taken more work. % Spent some pleasant time in N's big chair, or rather sitting crosswise in it, with Ticia next to me lying against the chair back. Reading The Backyard Goat 0720-23 @ Whidbey Island Area Fair -> We'll go Sunday
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