Adventures in bathroom fixes

One phone call to my Dad for moral support (to see if he thought I could do it) as well as some safety first on how to check if something's *hot*... (preferrably the right way, not the 'just touch both wires with a screw driver while holding the plastic handle - and if it sparks it's hot' kind of way)

Also, I had colour coded the wires with tape so I could plug the fan I took out back in the right way, but I wasn't sure if there was a way to tell with the new one I was getting, which way it should go... Also I wanted to check if they had mickey-moused it by just twisting the wires together - Apparently not, as that's totally standard as long as they have those caps on, and since it's a/c it really doesn't matter which way you wire the fan in... which was good for me because they clipped the plug and wired it into two black wires.

Note from common sense: If you use these comments for home or bathroom reno's of any kind you're an idiot, I'm not a professional, and this is not an advice column.

One replacement upgrade kit later, that was much too large... partly because I guessed the worn off model number wrong, partly because I got excited about 50% stronger and 25% quieter! ...and partly because there's no perspective for how big something is online... *sigh* Oh well it will probably fit the downstairs bathroom :p

Once I had the boring replacement unit I still had to unscrew and flip the nuts around that hold the damn motor together, and swap on the old fan blade because the new one wouldn't fit through the hole... no upgraded fan experience for me :(

It sure is nice to hear the white noise of my bathroom fan again this morning though... for something I don't usually notice, I sure missed you ;)

"Day"-ja vu

That feeling that you've already been here today...

Oh wait, we have.

We literally went everywhere twice yesterday... except garage saling first thing in the morning...

We drove all the way out to Pomona to move the Ninja's cousin into his new place for school, drove all the way back picked up some stuff from Home Depot and then got the phone call to meet up for dinner at Gen Korean BBQ... back near Pomona...

Got cleaned up and organized, and on our way out there the plans changed... to Gen Korean BBQ near where we had just passed on the freeway, we exited, saw this Stop Korean BBQ place and researched it on the way back to the other one...

The other one had just opened and was crazy packed, so we changed plans and looped *back* around to Stop Korean BBQ via the freeway... which was less busy, and was able to seat our party of 8 when everyone got there *phew*

That's not all though... here's the kicker:

After dinner, we were going to play pool but the pool hall was a little more upscale than our collective skill set... so we ended up going home and playing at Scratch... which is in the same complex as the Home Depot

I'm not sure how it happened but it felt like something out of an episode of circus-circus

:p

Labour day weekend, how appropriate

562 trips to Home Depot and the project we started last weekend has an end in sight... of course that's what we thought yesterday... and the day before that.

Before we discovered that we needed just one more floor tile and they wanted to sell us the entire case... before a nice guy said this case is already open, its garbage to me (you can have that one)... and we hastily exited the store whispering "Start the car! Start the car!!!" Before we cut one wrong...

and as a desperate last measure cut it in half with mad exacto knife skills and made an overlap to fit ;)

Which was just before it turned 11 and was too late to nail in the base boards for fear of waking the neighbors... So here we are again, 12 hours later caulking the baseboards because they "mostly fit" and the end is still in sight...

The list is getting smaller, but each item has sub items you don't even know about until you get there... *fingers crossed* the end is drawing near, I can feel it!

Lady luck

I've come to the conclusion that lady luck smiles on different people in different ways... some people are lucky with parking and some with cards...

But me? well I'm just lucky. 

Not in any predictable way of course (because that might be useful), but I consider it the very best kind of luck.  I'm lucky when I need it, and sometimes when I don't think I need it or deserve it, like good karma.

Sometimes I win raffles, I get this tingly feeling literally just before it happens, like I just know it's going to happen, and then it does! Sometimes I have good shopping days, where I find everything I'm looking for, and it's even in my size! I've even had days where I'm able to find things someone else is looking for... in *their* size!

I think one of my favorites, was my Dad picking out a girl at a ski swap saying "You look about the same height as my daughter, go pick out a pair of ski boots" and she found me a $275 pair of boots (that still had the price tag on the bottom) which Dad picked up for ~$20... Which I then proceeded to wear for the next 18 years, until they were so completely and utterly packed out they hurt my son's and my feets. I never got to thank her, but I wish I could because they were wonderful! 

Recently I've been contemplating buying a wet suit so I can surf in the "winter" (who am I kidding, I'm acclimated and wussy now), but the trouble is that each brand fits a little bit differently.  I'd been looking at the swap meet because I don't need a new one, but was really struggling with sizing, some looked good in the top but then the legs were for someone with treetrunk thighs and the crotch came down to my knees :/ others were a good length, but were designed with Peter Pan in mind and there was no way they were going to fit over my boobs... 

So this last weekend we had gone to the swap meet with a list, the top item being a surf board bag... and we hadn't found it anywhere (so I bought a punching bag instead)... and then the Ninja found me the leather jacket I've been looking for for ages, and *then* while I was buying a churro because I was starving...

 

she found the surfboard guy we'd missed earlier! He said he didn't usually sell board bags, but since she was so charming and we'd come to the swap meet looking for just that and he *happened* to have an extra one he'd make an exception and sell it to me, and then I spotted this wetsuit over in the corner...

I liked it, and it looked like the most likely to fit candidate so far, but I was still wary about buying it without trying it on... and then he said I can give you a deal on the board bag and the wetsuit together, and tell you what, I'm here every Sunday... if the suit doesn't fit you can exchange it until you find something that works for you. 

*mentally SOLD*

At which point I had to ask the Ninja how much cash she had... *grins* I think we literally walked away from that swap meet with $4 left... in her pocket ;)

Oh, and the wetsuit? Fits like a glove *grins*

How convenient?!

The recipe called for two yolks, and I thought I was going to need two eggs.  Luckily I cracked this one first!

It isn't a wedding until...

Recently before a wedding I found myself with two of my roommates' cousins helping with a few of the last minute things that needed to be done.

With half an hour till "go time" we beat a hasty retreat to get ready.  The plan from that morning was to change at one of the other cousin's hotel rooms which was only two blocks away allowing us to walk from and to the wedding and not have to worry about parking in downtown Boston.

We got there only to discover that the magnetic strip had de-magnitized itself since the morning hand-off...

Great.

E! went down to the front desk to try to get it set it up again... He was escorted back by the host who said something along the lines of "I need you to identify a couple of articles in the room so I know you've been in there before" *totally routine*

*bites lip* well the thing is, we haven't been in there before... and we all knew that none of us were in a position to guess anything other than "uhhhh twin's stuff?"

While all this was going on we had called the room owners who were already at the wedding and kept them on the phone with us, and they quickly described a couple key items to identify (my favorite being "in the luggage closest to the door, if you open it up you'll find a burgundy dress shirt, and multiple star wars t-shirts") They also gave us the names and the address on the account...

He stopped, looking concerned and said "We don't normally do this over the phone, usually it's in person, excuse me for a moment I need to consult with security"

"Of course, no problem" we replied... He retreated down the hall a ways but we could still overhear snippets of his conversation including "This could be a set up" 

Awesome. So we're either about to get escorted out of the building... or possibly arrested...

What felt like 10 minutes later he returned, listened to the few items we'd been given to use as identification and unlocked the room saying "Give me a couple minutes to check this out" I'm pretty sure we were all trying to remain nonchalant and not make him any more nervous than he already was...

My favorite part of the whole ordeal happened, after he took a few steps inside the door and radioed back "Yep, I'm still alive"

Dude! We're standing here with dress shoes and clothes because we need to get ready for a wedding, not because we're trying to break into a room on the 10th floor with your help. Security already knows about this, and has probably positioned themselves appropriately... or at least hit 'record' on their closed circuit camera feed *sigh*  

Less than a minute later, he had confirmed everything to his satisfaction, let us into the room and everything resumed as normal.

Everythin except that we had significantly less time to get ready.

I took the fastest shower I've ever taken in my  life! (faster even than a cold water shower - TC's Mom would be proud) The rest is a blur of E! speed-ironing his clothes and Mr. Beauuuutiful standing in the bathroom in his underwear and dress shirt watching a You-tube video on how to tie a bow tie.  By the fourth or fifth iteration I was ready enough to help him find the elusive hole he was missing and we were on our way!

I put my pretty shoes on in the elevator, and we walked into the wedding half an hour late, which it turned out, was just *after* the bride had walked down the aisle, so all in all we really hadn't missed that much after all ;)

How do you feel?

Well enough to hit a home run, and run all the way around the bases! *grins*

It figures, that the time I'm trying to take it easy while recovering from being sick is the time that I launch it past the outfielders...

But the way that it felt and sounded when I hit that ball... was so perfectly wonderful, that I'm not complaining. In fact as much as it will frustrate me, it's totally worth every second of being exhausted today ;)

Happy Birthday Mama!

My best friend's grandmother is turning 100 this year, or at least they think she is, record-keeping being what it was in the Philippines back in her day, well that and while visiting relatives she found out she was actually four years older than she thought she was...

They put a call out for videos and pictures of everyone "Doing something cool and wishing Mama a happy birthday" This is our submission:

To elaborate a little, we probably waited in line for over two hours, as due to the limited time left to submit we only had one shot at this!

Luckily we were placed in front, and as we waited for the final checks they ran through the plan again.  Ok, it's going to turn right, right, right, right, and then left... So basically when it changes direction, you need to lean as far forward as you can and smile because that's where it takes the picture.

Ok, I got it, I can do that.

We were whizzing through the ride, turning, turning, turning always to the right... the new things they've added for the 60th makeover are amazing and totally capture my imagination, I really do feel like I'm blasting through space!

All of a sudden there's a commotion in front of me, as the Ninja unfurls the banner.  What's this?! We haven't turned yet I think, as her cousin yells "It isn't tiiiime yeeeeet!!!"

It sounded like an angry tarp on the highway beating itself to death, as she tried to stretch it across to her cousin... *pause for blinding insight* she realized there were two things we didn't take into account: the wind factor and that in order to do this she wouldn't be hanging on to anything... *unpause* She caught air on the next right turn where it then acted as a drag chute and pulled her all the way to the left, I thought for a moment I was going to have to grab her leg on the way by!

Somehow she manged to miraculously get it back under control without ripping it in half, her cousin meanwhile was dealing with an ear malfunction, I was laughing uncontrollably... and that's about where this picture was taken ;)

Happy Birthday Mama!

The Engineer's daughter

We were driving along when I saw this billboard and blurted out "They're all turned the wrong way!"

my friend: "What?'

me: "The faucets, they're all open"

her: "How do you know?"

me: "Because of the type of valve they are, those are usually closed when they're perpendicular to the pipe..." 

I trailed off, as I realized just how nerdy the words coming out of my mouth were... smiled and said "My Dad would be so proud of me" I need to send this to him.

And how do you catch a princess?

Why by angling for them of course!

California Surf #2

If someone were keeping score last weekend it would have read something like this;

Waves : 20, rocks : 2.5 and Sam: 1

But that 1 point was totally worth the 2.5 holes I have in the bottom of my left foot, and made it oh so much sweeter when I was finally able to pop up and surf towards shore with a modicum control. It was amazing and incredible and everything I remembered surfing to be from the last time I tried it *grins*  I can't wait to do it again :)

It was ridiculous how many people were out surfing and attempting to surf last weekend, and yet they were friendly and well mannered. 

Of the other times I don't count that I sort of popped up, my favorites include the first when I rode in standing way too far back on my board, awkwardly, like a penguin... and couldn't move to fix myself or do anything other than think about how ridiculous I looked.  The next I was up, and suddenly headed towards a Dad and his kid, I thought I might be able to lean around them until I saw the look of concern and fear in his eyes... I jumped ship with enough room that my board wouldn't bite them, even at the end of it's leash.  I think my favorite of the day though, was losing my balance on the way up and fighting it the whole way... and doing a cannonball butt first, if it were a cartoon my hands and feet would be getting dragged away from where they were trying desperately to maintain their surfing position.

The most pathetical moment of the day was paddling so hard to catch a wave, and then not having enough energy to pop up, and just riding it in on my stomach. *pleh* I obviously need to do more push-ups or something...

Dog Barf... Achievement Unlocked!

After a year of living here, I finally managed to catch dog barf on a scrap piece of paper, rather than with the carpet. My previous attempt at "the football carry" to the bathroom was unsuccessful, and nowhere near the desired outcome. 

I'm sorry blank piece of paper, you may not have been scrap before... but you were the closest one, and I'm willing to sacrifice you for the cleanliness of the carpet.

Dude!

I bought a cheap "foamy" surfboard!!!

The cutest thing was our neighbor literally jumped out of a moving car when his wife said "Oh look Sammy got a surfboard". He was *so* excited for me, and said the best thing about them is that when you get dumped you don't have to cover your head and face like with the old wooden surfboards... he got 15 stitches from one once! 

I'm so super stoked you have no idea! 

Almost embarassing beach story... because everyone has one

I was trying to bodysurf this wave in to shore when I got "Maytagged" (like the washing machine) about half way through I realized the lower half of my bathing suit was making a break for it!!!

I immediately abandoned all pretenses of swimming and caught it down around my knees, with the wave in control I was immediately bouncing along on my head, with my knees and feet flailing around out of the water, while I pulled my suit back into place... 

Sputtering sea water I surfaced cautiously, double checking my suit placement before walking out of the water... acting as though nothing had happened...  judging by the people and their dogs carrying on as though I hadn't just exposed myself to the world... nothing had happened.

Huh. I guess it is true, nobody really cares what you're doing...

I literally brought half of the beach home with me in my bathing suit *sigh*

Darth Paw

Lookout!

Dog with a light sabre!

Thoughts on getting older

It was weird, as I waded through the legal jargon spelling out the representative agreement, and the documents giving my brother power of attorney should something happen to one or both of our parents... I realized it didn't feel personal.  It was like the documents I was signing were for someone else, I mean *my* parent's are "Mom" and "Dad"... who are these people?

When I got to the section dictating the resolution of conflicts I knew that "these people" were one and the same with my parents.  I could see the dissolution of the legal mumbo jumbo into a striking clarity with the statement:

 " ...and any conflicts shall be resolved by coin toss"

Waitaminute... whaaaaat?!?

There they are, those are definitely my parents you're talking about. *smirk* I can just imagine the consternation of the person drafting this document... the mental grinding of gears as they stumble through it while reading it this time, and every time after *satisfied grin*. It doesn't fit the standard, and I like to think of it as a very Canadian, passive aggressive way of throwing a wrench in the works *sticks out tongue*

As Dad said chuckling when we talked about it later... I know you guys are smart kids, and I trust you to make decisions in our best interest. If there's a conflict it's probably because you're both right, and there's no point in agonizing over it.

It echoed this sentiment, something he used to say all the time ...

"Do something! Even if it's wrong..."

It hearkens back to the oldest form of decision making, let whatever gods may be decide the outcome of my fate.

Patience isn't always a virtue

Someone said something along these lines the other day, and before asking if they meant "infinitely" I thought about it... and realized that it described certain situations perfectly:

"There are some people in our lives that we are intimately patient with."

 

Monkey see, monkey do

A friend of mine recently re-laced his ball glove with paracord, which didn't seem like a bad idea... and when I got to thinking, I realized that it meant I could pick from any number of the brilliant colours that paracord now comes in *grins*

Of course having thought that, it didn't take long for the pocket of my glove to blow out... so after limping through an afternoon of catch using a shoelace, I picked up some pretty green paracord and embarked on my own re-lacing journey...

You know that moment, when you reach a natural breaking point in something you're working on? That moment where you should stop and call it done, but you're feeling overly confident with your recent progress so you keep going. Like the longer you keep at it the faster you're going to get... that is until you hit that plateau...

Yeap, definitely should have stopped at re-lacing the pocket and the sides...

I've learned a few things though, be ye so foolish; 

You should undo the lacing around the bottom of the palm first rather than last... as it would have opened up waaaay more options for fishing the other lacing pieces through.  I've learned that although handy, forceps, needle-nose pliers, zip ties and masking tape in any of the combinations you can think of... are not the appropriate tools for the job.  Also the tensile strength of a paperclip is not up to the task of fishing doubled over paracord through a leather hole with pliers...

Paracord does not like to be tied the way nice rope likes to be tied, nor does it melt and shrink up neatly the way anything with the appropriate amount of nylon in it does... but a couple tubes of electrical shrink wrap and a hot glue gun later, I fixed it's little red green wagon. Ha!

So here you go, it may not last long... but I think it looks pretty!

Riding bikes, always better with a friend!

Fast forward a few weeks from our nocturnal laps, and we went from the relative safety of an empty complex loop... to the bustling narrow albeit paved, bike path that overlooks Huntington Beach!

I would like to say that you did an amazing job successfully navigating through wandering pedestrians, other bikers who weren't paying attention, untrained dogs on leashes, more pedestrians, and a hill larger than anything we have at home...

There might have been some white knuckle moments, and perhaps even one or two moments of panic but you did it dude! You didn't run into anything, or even frighten anyone... you didn't crash, or add any battle scars to your bike or your body. As far as I'm concerned that's a pretty good scale to measure against, and classify it as a successful ride.

You're tired and out of breath but we rode a whole lot further than anything we've ever done before, so that's exactly as it should be.  Tomorrow, and possibly even the next few days you may be sore in places you didn't even know had muscles, but the secret is that's what means you're still alive.

It will get easier, and it will come to be more enjoyable. I promise.  When it doesn't take every ounce of concentration to ride, you'll be able to appreciate the places that we're riding and the beautiful views there are to see.

What I'm trying to say, is In the end it will be worth it.

Eating leftovers. So much easier with a microwave

I'm the first person to go "Really? $70 to install that for me? I bet we could probably do it..."

Long ago, my father tried ever so hard to teach me that your time is worth something.  So while you might be *able* to do something (like changing the oil in your car). You should assume that your time is worth at least $30/hr and if it takes you any longer than that (plus parts) then it's actually totally worth the $40 - $50 they charge at the drive through oil change places which only take ~15 mins ...also sometimes there are some really cute guys working there ;)

So while my brother and I are both extremely cheap in this regard (we must be related) and will err on the side of "doing it ourselves" I think it's good to have that sober second look.

Someone who points out that the new microwave weighs in at 69lbs, and that the old one is probably heavier.

Someone who says with a dubious look on their face... "Yeah we probably *could* do it... but we would have to move the stove"

And as I sit here watching two big strong men manhandle the old microwave almost literally out of the wall, I'm satisfied that it probably would have taken us much longer, and there would have been a whole lot more heartache involved.

Soooo hot-pockets for dinner?