Typical Saturday Night

Carlos and I get along really well, and always have. We have never had a fight in the six plus years we've been dating.

I feel the main reason is because we are very similar - first children with younger sisters very close in age to us, Catholic upbringing, parents still married, and on and on.

In addition though, we celebrate the differences, instead of having them come between us.

Last night was a typical Saturday night for us. We sat around my house, watching TV, reading. After a night out Friday night at Vincent's going away party, it was a welcome rest for both of us. How we approached the night highlights our differences.

I had DVR'ed a two and a half hour Led Zeppelin concert from VH1 Classic and wanted to watch it with Carlos. He is always very patient with me when I go into my Music School mode: "Did you know that this Led Zeppelin song is a remake of an old blues song by Sonny Boy Williamson? Let me play it for you.", "Did you know that this song is from the first Zeppelin album that was released after Rober Plant's son Karac died? Let me show you a picture of him.", "The live version of this song has to be between 1975 and 1977. The album came out in 1975. Zeppelin never played the song in concert after 1977. They were superstitious in that they thought the song may have been a bad omen after Karac's death." (Click the links for the answers.)

Meanwhile, Carlos was reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin.

Viva la difference!

To close, here is a Zeppelin cover band doing a great cover of a great song from Physical Grafitti.

Photos From Paris

I took almost 800 pictures while in France. Here are some of the pictures I took while Carlos and Debbie were in Paris with me.(They were with me for 9 days. I was in France a total of 22 days.)

Back From France

I have returned from France, with many tales to tell. I spent 8 days in Paris, 9 days in Beaugency (about 40 km from Orleans), three days in south central France, and a bit over three total days travelling.

I am very tired and glad to be home.

In the coming days and weeks, I'll post all the details. To start, here is the very first picture (of 797) that I took. This is the view from our first hotel room in Paris.

My Job

Work-wise, I am the head of a university duplicating, printing, and graphics department. I work my ass off at my job. It's a tough job, but I really enjoy it.

Last week, I was helping my boss with some graphic work. My Assistant Manager overheard a compliment thrown my way by him. She sent this email to him later that afternoon:

I wish to relay my observations regarding Marshall's value to this dept. I overheard your comment about Marshall's speedy typing when you were in his office this afternoon. He works at that pace all day long every day.

As I gain experience in this dept. I am trying to lighten the load for him, but I feel that I have barely made a dent. After 9 months of training, Marshall is still teaching me the details of running this office. There appears to be no limit to the intricacies of form production/inventory, copy machine contracts/service and duplicating/printing.

Marshall is a fantastic teacher, an understanding boss, a superb coordinator, the king of multi-tasking and therefore, more efficient than anyone I have ever met. As a bonus, he is always cheerful and positive. I think he is probably irreplaceable, so let's hope that nothing entices him to stay in France while he's on vacation in October.

Thanks for 'listening'.

I didn't know anything about it until my boss forwarded the email to me with this comment: "Marshall, this is between you and I. Read below. I forwarded it to [his boss] and [his boss's boss]. I must say I have to agree with everything Karen said. You do an excellent job."

What a kind thing to do! That really made my day.

The Golden Light of Victory

I happened upon the TV show "Ninja Warrior" on the channel G4. The show, imported from Japan, is a reality competition of top (mostly Japanese) athletes trying to complete obstacle courses.

It's a fantastic show!

There are four stages of competition. One hundred start the first stage. In two of the four tournaments I have seen so far, NO ONE has made it to the fourth stage. The show just ends with no winner. Imagine a United States show like "Survivor" doing that.

My favorite competitors right now are Shingo Yamamoto and action star Kane Kosugi.

Here is Shingo trying to conquer the final stage.



Here is one of the few YouTube videos of Kane competing that I could find.

Connecting The Dots

Even in this age of mostly shitty music, I am always trying to find good new music to listen to. Here is the story of how I recently discovered one song.

In February 2007, Rolling Stone magazine featured Panic! At The Disco on their cover. (Yes, the “!” is part of their name.) Six months later, that magazine made it to the top of my To Read pile. After reading the article about the band, I downloaded some of their songs from LimeWire. I narrowed down my favorites and played those for Carlos – “Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off”, “Disconnect The Dots”, “The Only Different Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage”, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”, and “I Constantly Thank God For Esteban”. The length of their song titles is a bit annoying, but the actual songs are quite melodic.

He and I both agreed that “Disconnect The Dots” was our favorite of the bunch, though Carlos did like the time signature changes in that last (“Esteban”) one.

I found their album on Amazon, but didn’t see our favorite song listed.

On further research, I figured out that Panic! At The Disco didn’t actually sing that song. A band called Satanic Panic In The Attic did. The LimeWire member who uploaded the song had misnamed it.

That was the end of the story until I was preparing this blog entry. Looking for the song’s video on YouTube, I found out that the band’s name is NOT Satanic Panic In The Attic. That is the name of the album. The band’s name is Of Montreal.

They are from Athens, Georgia – home to REM and The B-52’s. Satanic Panic In The Attic is their sixth album, released in 2004. Carlos and I sampled most of the songs from the album and they’re all really good. I recommend buying this one. (It’s on my Amazon Wish List if you’re looking for something to buy me for my birthday.)

And that is the story of how Carlos and I got turned on to “Disconnect The Dots” by Of Montreal.



Lagniappe: Panic! At The Disco’s "Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off".

The Past Comes Back

Tonight, my friend (of 20+ years from high school) Peggy was in town from Seattle with her husband Brendan. She wanted to come home to celebrate her 40th birthday.

After a small party at her parent’s house, they were scheduled to go to Rivershack, a local bar. Carlos and I headed over there about an hour after they arrived. He and I didn’t immediately see Peggy, but did see Karen (another 20+ year from high school friend) and talked with her. As Carlos kept talking, I went to the bar to get us drinks. In front of me was someone that looked really similar to Teddy Geiger but a bit older. For those who have never heard of him, see the picture on the left. I thought he was cute and I told Carlos so. He remarked that he had noticed the same guy a bit earlier and thought the same thing.

Time passed and we finally ran into Peggy. She told us that her son, Dustin, from her first marriage, who she had when she was 19 and I haven’t seen since he was 5 – and who is now 21 - was in the bar.

I think you can guess the end of the story.

Pet Names

Posted today from my friend Don in one of our Yahoo groups: I made an addition to my family today. I adopted an adorable solid white shorthaired kitten who has one blue eye and one gold eye. I need a cool name for him.

My reply: Well, the only pet I've ever owned was a cat in college. My roommate found him at the edge of a road and a sidewalk. We named him in the honor of the location. His official name was Pedestrian Crossing, but everyone always called him Ped for short.

If I ever get another cat, I'll name him Ped II.

Baby Octopus Salad

Earlier this week, I had lunch at Little Toyko, a local Japanese restaurant. I love sushi.

I tried something new this time - Baby Octopus Salad. I don't know what I was expecting, but it looked exactly like it sounds - and the picture to the left.

Eating the tentacles was okay. I couldn't eat more than one head though. Ugh! I don't think I'll be getting that again.

Tourist In Your Own Town - 2007

Carlos and I have been planning a small vacation for us. We finally went on it this past weekend.

We had decided to be Tourists In Our Own Town. The deal was that he would take care of the hotel reservations and I would take care of planning everything else.

Friday, we headed downtown to the Hilton Hotel, right outside of the French Quarter. The normal check in time is 3 pm, but Carlos called ahead and found out that we could check into our room at noon. We did.

I built our weekend around food so our first scheduled stop was to be Acme Oyster House. We were hungry, but wanted to wait for the lunch rush to be over so we decided to stop at the Riverwalk Shopping Center for a quick bite to eat. Carlos and I both had taco salads at Margarita Del Rio.

Good thing the salads were filling. There was a really long line once we arrived at Acme. We decided to move on to our next destination – The Hermann-Grima House. Picture of the home's dining room attached.

He and I both love museums and home tours, though I like to read the plaques more than he does.

After the tour, we meandered through the Quarter, down to the Satchmo Summer Fest which we found out didn’t open until Saturday.

Being the flexible guys we are (Carlos actually commended me on my flexibility!), we went to The Presbytere instead. We had gone to The Cabildo, the museum on the other side of St. Louis Cathedral about six months ago.

For dinner, we were going to return to Acme Oyster House, but the line was still too long. I asked a “local” where the best oysters besides Acme were. He told us Drago’s was the place to go. We started with a dozen charbroiled oysters. For entrees, Carlos had the Catch of the Day (trout). I had the duck. Both were terrific. We couldn’t eat there every night – or every month. The meal came to a bit over $80.

Here’s a pre-Katrina review of Drago's Metairie location. I didn’t see anything about their new (downtown) location.

We were heading off to sleep when Michael called. He and Spaces were catching a movie at 9:55 pm. I was so tired that I slept through most of it. Carlos hated the ending. It was nice to see Spaces and Michael though.

End of Day One.

Once Carlos posts his version of our weekend, I’ll have a link here.

Winn-Dixie Sucks!

I got into a small "discussion" with a Winn-Dixie cashier today. I decided to complain via their web site. After filling out the store information, this is what I wrote:

The above Winn-Dixie location is the most convenient grocery store to my house. Even though almost every time I have to deal with a surly casher, I have been going there for over 15 years.

After today, I am done with your store and your company. The cashier working Register 7 at 5:15 pm today (8/6/07) saw that there were two of us in line. Apparently that didn't dissuade her from turning off her light and immediately announcing that she was closed. Because there was only ONE OTHER line open, besides the two 5-10 items or less lines, there was no place for us two customers to go.

This is just not acceptable. I am tired of being treated like an inconvenience instead of a customer at your stores. I hope you fire this cashier and seriously rethink your hiring and training practices.

You have lost another customer to Wal-Mart.

Thanks for your time.

I hope that bitch gets fired!

It's The Little Things

It’s the little things in my relationship with Carlos that makes it special.

Tonight, The Simpsons had an episode parodying the TV show 24. Carlos loves 24 so I called him to tell him. His phone was busy. Once I left him a message, I found out why: He knows that I love The Simpsons and was calling me to remind me that it was on.

Love you, Baby.

Top Ten Favorite Male Stars of All Time

NOTE: Be sure to view the update to this post here.

My Yahoo group dedicated to Male Stars Shirtless
Join Us!

Maybe he starred in one of my favorite movies growing up (#9 and #6) or played a character that I could really relate to (#10, #8, #6, and #2), and I’ve followed his career ever since.

Maybe I love his acting (all of them, but especially #8, #7, #5, and #1).

Maybe his personal life fascinates me (#9, #5, #4, and #3).

Maybe I just think he’s one of the cutest actors around (uh, all of them).

Here are my Top Ten Favorite Male Actors of All Time.

One is dead (# 5).

One is currently over 65 (# 4).

One is only 22 (#7).

One was born on my birthday - March 31 (#6).

Two have virtually left acting (#9 and #4).

Two are gay (#9 and #4). Coincidence for above?

#10
Peter Facinelli

Current Age: 34
My Favorite Movie of His: The Price of Love
Best Movie To See His Body: Foxfire


#9

Steve Antin
Current Age: 48
My Favorite Movies of His: Inside Monkey Zetterland
and It’s My Party
Best Movie To See His Body: The Last American Virgin


#8

Ethan Embry
Current Age: 28
My Favorite Movies of His: Empire Records
That Thing You Do
Can’t Hardly Wait which also stars #10!
Celeste in the City
Best Movies To See His Body: The TV show “Freakylinks”
and the movie White Squall


#7

Kevin Zegers
Current Age: 22
My Favorite Movie of His: Time Share
(I’d also list Wrong Turn because I like the movie, but he’s killed off in the first 30 minutes. Oh, SPOILER.)
Best Movie To See His Body: Transamerica


#6

William McNamara
Current Age: 42
My Favorite Movie of His: Doing Time on Maple Drive
Best Movie To See His Body: Chasers


#5

River Phoenix
Age at Death: 23
My Favorite Movie of His: Stand By Me
Best Movie To See His Body: My Own Private Idaho


#4

Tommy Kirk
Current Age: 66
My Favorite Movie of His: Swiss Family Robinson
Best Movies To See His Body: Village of the Giants
Bon Voyage!


#3

Ryan Phillippe
Current Age: 33
My Favorite Movie of His: White Squall
Best Movies To See His Body:
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Cruel Intentions
54


#2

Stephane Rideau
Current Age: 31
My Favorite Movie of His: Les Roseaux Sauvages (English Title: Wild Reeds)
Best Movies To See His Body:
Presque Rien (English Title: Come Undone)
Sitcom


#1

James Duval
Current Age: 35
My Favorite Movies of His: Donnie Darko
Totally F***ed Up
Go
Comic Book Villains
Best Movies To See His Body: May
Nowhere
The Doom Generation

Vivaldi, Dude

A very impressive interpretation of my favorite Vivaldi piece.

No Smoking

As I type this, I have been Smoke Free for 33 days.

I tried my first cigarette on a summer camp overnight camping trip in 1980. I was 13.

I have been smoking regularly since I was 15. Until February 26, 2007 at 1:00 pm (the exact time I quit smoking), I hadn’t gone more than 12 hours without smoking a cigarette for the last 25 years.

I have tried to quit before, but always went back. I really think I have quit this time. To all my fellow smokers from an ex-smoker, I wanted to pass on all the techniques I am using.

Warning: My pointers are working for me. I can’t guarantee they will work for you too. At least two of them are the opposite of what the Quit Smoking books tell you to do.

#1 -
Zyban is a wonder drug.
About six months ago, I had a physical. I told my physician that I really wanted to quit smoking. He prescribed Zyban. It does not contain nicotine, but does greatly decrease nicotine withdrawal. The instructions say to start taking it a week before you plan on quitting smoking. That way, the drug will build up in your system.

I didn’t read the instructions so I started taking it the day I quit smoking. It seems to have worked just as well – at least with me. I didn’t have ANY physical nicotine withdrawals! Amazing.

Psychological withdrawals are another subject.

#2
Stick with your regular routine – and add more stuff to it.
I am very set in my daily routine. (My friend Gina has said that I would be very easy to assassinate. You can pick any time of any day and know exactly where I am day-to-day, week-to-week.)

A major part of my routine used to be smoking. On weekdays, I would have my first cigarette of the day right after I got up in the morning at 6:35 am. My second would be after I had dressed for work, but before I had brushed my teeth – at 7:10 am. My third of the day would be around 11:00 am, when I took a break at work. My fourth would be at 5:10 p.m., when I had gotten home from work and settled in a bit. And so on.

Since I have quit smoking, I have an extra 15 minutes in the morning to fill – and with an activity that wouldn’t remind me of smoking. I have found myself taking very long morning showers.

In the evenings, I fill my time - and my mind - with anything that will keep me busy. So far, I have cleaned out all of my closets and every kitchen cabinet. I also find myself not going directly home after work so I won’t be reminded of that after-work cigarette.

#3
Quit drinking alcohol.
For so many years, I would pop open a beer and light a cigarette. Damn, a cigarette tastes so much better with a beer – and vise versa. On days I wouldn’t drink beer I might have four cigarettes. On my drinking days, I could easily have three times that.

The past times I have tried to quit smoking, alcohol has always been the catalyst for my starting again. This time I realize that I cannot have ANY alcohol – at least for the first two weeks.

And I definitely can’t go to a bar for at least the first month. Being around beer AND smokers would be really hard.

I am now beginning week four so I have been drinking a bit of beer – but always quit (usually after two and a half beers) when I get the urge to smoke.

#4
Chew lots of gum.
And brush your teeth a lot. Every time I get a craving for a cigarette, I pop a Dentyne Ice Arctic Chill – the best gum ever – into my mouth. It gives my mouth something to do and I eventually lose the urge for a cigarette in my mouth. The first week, I was chewing around 15 pieces of gum a day.

When I am home and thinking about smoking, I brush my teeth. The first week I must have brushed my teeth five times per day. Now – in week four – I am down to my regular twice daily.

#5
Quit on the spot. Don’t work up to it.
Every past time I had tried to quit, I had set a definite quit date. This time, I said to myself that I would quit “after Mardi Gras, after Steve’s bachelor party, and after these two packs of cigarettes are gone”. On February 26 at 1:00 pm, I smoked a cigarette. When I was done I looked in my pack and realized that I was out of cigarettes. I said, “Well, I guess that’s it. I’m now a non-smoker.”

And 33 day later, I still am.

More on this subject in my next post.

A Year of Music

I love making mixed CD’s, usually with some kind of theme. The planning stage sometimes takes days or weeks.

Here is the track listing for the mixed CD that I am working on tonight. I came up with the idea when Carlos and I were discussing movie titles with names of the months in them.

* - I own this song. (All the other ones I’m still looking for.)

Song Title - Group
*January – Pilot
February – Jesus Jones
*March – Jackopierce
April – Deep Purple
May – Colin Newman
June – The Church
July – The Innocence Mission
August – Love
*September – Earth, Wind & Fire
*September – Jackopierce
*October – U2
November – Duncan Sheik
*December – Collective Soul
*Bonus Track: December, 1963 (Oh, What A Night) – Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons

How Many of Me?

I went to this web site, entered my first and last names, and had it tell me how many people with my exact same name exist in the United States. Here are the results:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I guess they have to be wrong. I'm sitting here typing this.

I then put my boyfriend Carlos's full name in. Here are his results.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 807 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I am so glad I ended up with the one (out of 807) I ended up with!

Favorite Paradoxes

You know you’re a geek when…
You name a blog entry Favorite Paradoxes

The Birthday Paradox

I love probability. (I was even a math major for a while in college.) One example of explaining probability theory in real life is the Birthday Paradox: Given a group of 23 (or more) randomly chosen people, the probability is more than 50% that at least two of them will have the same birthday. For 60 or more people, the probability is greater than 99%.

I've tried it out at a few parties I've attended over the years, and it has always held true. Try it the next time you’re with a large group of people.


The Grandfather Paradox

I've always been fascinated with time travel. The Grandfather Paradox states: Suppose you traveled back in time and killed your biological grandfather before he met your grandmother. As a result, one of your parents (and by extension, you) would never have been conceived. But this would imply you could not have traveled back in time after all, which in turn implies your grandfather would still be alive and you would have been conceived, allowing you to travel back in time and kill your grandfather.

There are theories on how to get around this paradox – such as the creation of a parallel universe by your actions or the laws of nature forbidding the action – but I’ll have to tackle those in another entry.

I’ll leave you with this link to a web site called Temporal Anomalies in Time Travel Movies that discusses most of the popular time travel movies. I've spent hours there! I think my favorite entry at that site is the one that discusses the 1986 Disney movie Flight of the Navigator.

Tommy Shaw at Mardi Gras

Here in New Orleans, Mardi Gras is in full swing. (Mardi Gras Day is this coming Tuesday. We've had parades almost every night for the past week or so.)

Last night, Carlos and I saw Endymion, one of the largest parades. Three musical acts rode in the parade: Taylor Hicks from American Idol, the members of Journey (of whom I took some very dark, out of focus pictures) and the members of Styx. I managed to get a couple of decent pictures of Tommy Shaw on the Styx float. I didn't recognize anyone else on the float so I concentrated on getting a good shot of him. Plus, I've always thought he was hot. He still looks good for 53 years old. (Trivia: He is from Montgomery, Alabama.)

While the Styx float was passing us, the speakers were blasting "Fooling Yourself (Angry Young Man)", probably my favorite Styx song. It was a great moment for me, but I can image Tommy Shaw couldn't have been too happy having to listen to their songs over and over for the duration of the four hour parade.

And The Nominees Are...

Carlos and I are trying to see as many Oscar-nominated movies and actors before The Big Night. (Oscar night is like the Superbowl for us Gays.)

About a month ago, we saw The Queen. Admittedly, he dragged me to the movie, but I really enjoyed it.

Tonight, we saw The Departed. Oh. My. God. It is such a great movie. It’s probably the best movie I’ve seen in a year.

If you haven’t seen it, go!


If Forest Whitaker hadn't been nominated for Best Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio would win. Maybe he still will.

Of the Best Picture nominees, that only leaves Babel, Letters from Iwo Jima, and Little Miss Sunshine.

Stay tuned.

Plumbing Wars - Part II

Here’s a follow up to the below post.

I asked my sister Christine for recommendations of plumbers she has used in the past. She gave me three, including Jesus Is Lord Plumbing.

I really wanted to call them. I figured religious people have to be honest, right? But I called plumbers on January 15 – the holiday celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday so they were closed.

The plumber I did call came this morning. (I’ve been turning off the water at the source since Sunday afternoon. It’s really a pain in the ass to go out to my front lawn in boxers, a t-shirt and a robe at 6:00 in the morning to turn a valve.)

He had to knock part of the tile surrounding the bathtub to get to the leak. See the picture.

I did watch him as he worked to see if I could have done what he was doing. After he started blowtorching the pipes, I realized that I had made the right decision in calling a professional.

Here’s the email exchange my sister and I had today about this.

CHRISTINE: Hope your pipes are no longer leaky…
ME: I now have a big hole in my bathtub wall. They had to knock out the tile to get to the pipes.
ME TO PLUMBER: “So, are you going to replace those tiles?”
PLUMBER: “Oh, no. We don’t do that.”
CHRISTINE: You have got to be kidding. That is so mf’d up!! There must be another way. At least you don’t have a leak. I guess that’s the bright spot.
ME: That was the first thing I asked – if there was another way. Apparently, the leak was very far back and they had to replace pipes that could only be gotten to through the wall. I could have gone the way that I do whenever I buy a car – feeling like a sucker. But I just made my peace with it early on and trusted them.
CHRISTINE: I spend a lot of my life feeling like a sucker, too. They say we inherit the earth, but I’m not so sure that “they” are right! Glad you made peace. In a way, it’s a good feeling to know you now have new pipes. You could live in that house another 100 years before you have to do that again.


My sister, 13 months younger than I am, has always acted like an older sister and looks out for me. Thank you, Christine!

Plumbing Wars

Timeline -

About Six Months Ago: A small drip from my bathtub faucet begins.


About Three Months Ago: The small drip becomes a larger drip. I make a mental note to call a plumber.


About Two Months Ago: The larger drip becomes an even larger drip. I write myself a note to ask my cousin’s husband, a plumber, to come by and fix my problem.


About One Month Ago: Having lost the original note and procrastinated enough, I write myself a larger note. The larger drip is now a small flow.


One Week Ago: I see my cousin’s husband at a wedding, and ask him if he would look at my bathtub faucet. He says to call him next week.


Thursday, January 11, 2007: I decide to tackle the problem myself instead of calling a professional. I Google “bathtub faucet leak” and come up with some good websites.


Saturday, January 13, 2007
11:00 am – I go to Home Depot with my printed out instructions and look for tools. I buy $35.00 worth of tools.

Noon – I can’t complete Step One of the “easy to follow” instructions that I had printed out because I have no idea where the water shut off valve for the house is. After turning every potential knob in the house, I call my sister, the former owner of my house.

12:10 pm – Christine tells me that the water shut off valve is under a grate in the front lawn. She says that she has a special tool that will turn the valve off.

12:15 pm – I drive the half block to my sister’s house to pick up the tool. She tells me that the valve is very hard to turn.

12:20 pm – I discover she is right.

12:22 pm – I give up and take a break to smoke a cigarette.

12:25 pm – I think that loosening the valve will help. I don’t have anything that will potentially work except maybe vinegar. After putting on some gloves and pouring vinegar on the valve, I try again.

12:26 pm – The valve turns! The water is now shut off.

12:58 pm – After struggling with Step Two, I realize that all I have to do is turn the bathtub knobs for them to come off. I put the $35.00 worth of tools aside, unused.

1:27 pm – Figuring out that I need more tools for Step Three that I don’t have, Carlos and I go to the local hardware store.

1:40 pm – I put the $28.02 receipt in my pocket as we head back to my house.

1:47 pm – I realize that I didn’t buy one tool that I need to tackle Step Three. I decide that Step Three can be skipped, hoping that the problem can be fixed by changing out the O-rings – Step Two.

1:54 pm – Carlos gets into bed to take a nap, having watched me curse at the bathtub problem for long enough.

2:03 pm – I return to the local hardware store with a sample of the O-rings I need, buying four new ones.

2:10 pm – The O rings don’t seem to fit correctly so I force them in, breaking one of them. Since I need two for the hot water faucet and two for the cold, I don’t have any extras. I use one of the old O-rings. I reassemble the faucets.

2:28 pm – I turn the water to the house back on, hoping I have fixed the leak. Carlos monitors the bathtub.

2:29 pm – Carlos’s face reveals all: The leak is worse than before I started this project. I close the bathroom door so I don’t get more aggravated about the now heavily flowing water and call my cousin. She says that her husband is off fishing, but will call me in an hour.

11:00 pm – My cousin’s husband never calls. I go to sleep.


Sunday, January 14, 2007
12:30 pm – I go back to Home Depot, returning the $35.00 worth of unused tools. I buy an entire pack of O-rings.

1:15 pm – I undo all that I did yesterday.

1:30 pm – The instructions say that I need plumber’s grease. I didn’t see that at Home Depot so decide to use either olive oil or Pam. Testing both, Pam seems to work the best at lubricating the O-rings.

2:00 pm – I reassemble everything and hope for the best. I turn the water to the house back on.

2:02 pm – The water is flowing as much as earlier this morning, if not more. I call my sister to ask her which plumber she uses. I write myself a note to call the plumber in the morning.

2:03 pm – I cross off my personal To Do list the following: install new gutters, patch roof, paint house, and fix leak in front of house. Next time, I’ll call a professional first!

Mauled Lang Syne

Thank you Julie for caputuring this moment in my life - and for the title of this blog post.



That is me (left) and Ron singing in the New Year. Turn your speakers waaaaaaaay up!

Onion Head Hat

Here's a cool video for one of my favorite songs:


The song is called Comfort Eagle, by the band Cake.

And here's a live version...