Friday Leftovers

Friday Night Leftovers
(combined from several Fridays)

 

Older

• I pulled some late nights working on a project for my dad’s 75th. The beginning of the week was rough during the days and I look at the situation and sigh. When I say “late night” it was nothing past 1 am. That used to be nothing, I’m really starting to feel my age.
• Side note, I can stay up to 1 am socially and have no problem. Add the stress of meeting a deadline and I’m drained. No more grad schools for me.
• I just booked my last free weekend of the summer. I’m touring New England this month - northern Mass, Maine, Connecticut and Vermont. I couldn’t squeeze in New Hampshire and am worried I might have missed blueberry season in Maine. And I just used up the last of my frozen blueberries from last year’s picking.
• My car’s check engine light came on and I brought it in last week. While I was there they fixed the other light that’s been on forever - low tire pressure. The light was on not because of the tires but because the sensors on the tires - the batteries were dead. Driving my car with no lights on the dashboard is a breath of fresh air. It’s like it’s a new and improved car!
• I’ve started setting small goals at work that will improve my state of mind. First up was email management. I hunkered down in my free time and cleared out the 800+ emails in the inbox that accumulated. I’m down to 50 and my goal is to keep it at that number. I feel like a weight has been lifted. No more remembering in the middle of the night that I didn’t respond to someone. Baby steps.

 

Newer

• Finally paid my first mortgage payment. It’s starting to feel real, that I really own my place now. It was so long in the making it’s still not fully sunk in.
• Note to self, new place + pinterest = danger. I’ve been perusing the site for ideas - decorating, remodeling, painting. Many hours have been spent.
• While in Vermont I got some blueberry picking in. Not as big a haul since the berries got baked on the bushes after the recent heat waves. Still, I feel better knowing that I’ve got berries in the freezer again.
• Besides bringing back berries, I brought back my brother who has been staying with me. Total of three weeks. Wednesday this week marked the half way point and I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised how it’s gone. We usually get along great but then again, we haven’t spent more than a week together in a long time. To keep it real, Nick “tortures” me by not always cleaning up, and I “torture” him by watching Big Brother. It took him awhile to realize the show is on three times a week! We’ve found ways to coexist - I clean up and he goes reads a book when the show is on.
• Nick and I made special buttons/pins to acknowledge my cousin in his third Oliver production, down in CT. And his first professional production. I’m pretty sure I’m maxed out on Oliver now. My pin read “Tyler Glorious Tyler”, Nick’s was “Consider Yourself… Tylered” and we realized that the pin we made Tyler’s mom was inadequate, it should have read “Oliver’s Mom!” She was very proud.
• My car light came back on - tire pressure issues again. That lasted all of a week or two.
• Current inbox email count - 19! I’m doing good. It’s taken a lot of diligence, but the peace of mind is worth the extra work. I missed a day this week and was over 200, but buckled down.
• Due to having a house guest, I’ve been a bit better with chores and cooking and cranking on the to-do lists. I’ve got an ambitious list of tasks for Saturday before heading over to visit my god-son and his sister.
• Big task accomplished this week - financials are almost all in order. I rolled over my old 401Ks, paid off some loans, including my student loan (yay!), and adjusted the budget for the new expenses associated with going from renting to owning. It feels good, especially since I had been holding off on all this stuff until the house stuff cleared.

Crazy Travel

Normally I don’t like to write about my travel until afterwards. You know, in case the burglars are checking out my blog and making plans to break into my place while I’m away. But I feel compelled to share what’s ahead of me the next several weeks.

Week 1: DC

Week 2: Princeton, NYC

Week 3: DC, NJ

Week 4: week off from traveling

Week 5: NJ

Week 6: DC

Week 7: NY

Some of the trips are just popping down for the day, others are back to back. There’s trains and planes and rental cars. By the end, I’ll have a new appreciation for home sweet home!

Subway upgrades

This week there are new signs on the subway stations that now tell you how many minutes until the next train arrives.

Also this week the amount of people on the subway platforms quadrupled.

Conclusion - I'd rather not know when the next train arrives and instead have less people to fight against to get on the subway. Already gave up boarding the first train that arrived. Crazy crowds - wish they put the money to running more trains. And summer's not over yet - after labor day the crowds will be back.

Music Discovery

You gotta love NPR! I was looking up something I heard last month that I wanted to reference and stumbled upon “The All Songs 24/7 Music Channel”. Every now and then at work I have a chunk of time I’m cranking on work and want to listen to music. My music collection is limited and my work blocks many of the streaming music sites. Often I end up streaming NPR/PRI shows - mostly PHC and TAL (that would be Prairie Home Companion and This American Life for those of you non-die-hards). The All Songs 24/7 is great since I already have a predilection for their music selection. Thought I’d share- enjoy!

What's changed?

Notice anything different in the picture? I took it last Thursday on my way home. Home being the operative word since I had just closed on my place - finally! Crazy how long it all took and thank goodness I wasn't moving.

It was strange walking up the sidewalk, like always, somewhat anti-climatic after handing over all that money. Actually I wired it the day before so all I did was right a check for about $50. The whole process was surreal.

But I'm a proud home owner now! Still letting it all sink in but have already made a list of decorating ideas (painting and other low cost items to personalize the space even more). And I rearranged several rooms.

And the great news is that I think when all is said and done it might cost me less to own than rent and that doesn't take into account the equity being built. I'll really know next year after I do my taxes and take the credit. Thank you to all those out there who supported me through this process, even if it was just commiserating how long it all was taking!

Mr. Mouse

I’m sitting cross-legged on my couch at 1 am in the morning – on a work night. Granted the 90% humidity and me being stubborn about putting AC in isn’t helping right now, but the big reason is because of a stupid mouse. I get pulled out of my night sleep by this squeaking. It’s a few squeaks here and then a few more. Sounds like that toy mouse I got the boys awhile back that was a mouse with a battery operated squeak in it. Only it drove me nuts at night so I grabbed it and stuffed it in a drawer. And recently I found it again – or rather Winston did and it finally made its way into the trash. Which means this isn’t that toy mouse making those noises. I jump up and slap on the lights to find Walter following closely his big brother into the living room. And the squeaks continue. As I turn on my lights I notice Winston has something in his mouth. I say his name sternly a few times and down goes the toy mouse in his mouth. Except when it gets dropped on the floor it’s flipping like a gold fish. How the hell do I have a squeaking gold fish in my house? And then it flips and runs a bit before Winston grabs it again. Crap, I saw enough (and heard enough) that it’s a mouse – in agony of being a toy to this big monster of a cat.

I flip on my porch lights, I guess thinking, if I can’t grab the mouse, I’d at least move Winston with the mouse in his mouth into the stairwell – closer to the outside. At which point Winston drops him again, to get a better grip or who knows what and I see my chance. I grab they boy by the scruff and his neck. And a split second later grab his brother by the scruff of his neck too as he sees his chance to move in on this awesome new toy. I instinctively throw them into my bedroom a few feet away and close the glass door.
They’re now looking out the door as I hold it shut (it doesn’t stay latched properly) watching in agony as their mother botches the whole thing and the mouse runs a way. I hear a last squeak here and there around the corner while I hold the bedroom door. A moment later I let go and step back into the living room – barefoot, to see what I can do about helping the little guy outside. And he’s gone. No sign of him. It’s like I imagined the whole thing. I bravely get down on my hands and knees to see if I can see the little guy hunkered in some corner. Nope, he’s gone.

How the hell do I have a mouse? I live on the second floor. This is ridiculous. And a moment later, as I’m scanning the living room, and my glance rests on the large pile of boxes in the corner, do I finally realize what happened. The mouse is from Vermont. I brought the boxes back from my dad’s last week. The boxes were in the basement. The basement I helped clean out and organize – the extra family furniture and boxes of old family silver and stuff. I brought these boxes home to take inventory and pack up properly and then return. And apparently the “and stuff” includes a mouse. I then I realize it might be plural – mice. We did find some mice droppings in amongst the furniture. Crap.

So now, I’m stuck with a mouse in the house. On the second floor. In a fairly small house. With two cats who think he’s a toy. And will play with him until he keels over in terror. I’ve gone through this before – with these very same cats. I had mice when I owned my place in Michigan. I managed to rescue each one and release them outside. This time, I now get to go back to bed knowing there’s a mouse scampering around. He’s already adjusting things for me. Since I was up I took a leak and may I saw it’s a little challenging with your feet up in the air – he could’ve run into the bathroom when I wasn’t looking and was hiding in the dark corner behind the toilet, my mind thought and my feet reacted.

Actually, I’m fine with the mouse in the house. It’s more what the boys will do to him while I’m gone – play within him, which keep in mind is play for them and torture for the little guy. They’re domestic indoor only cats. They don’t hunt the mouse and snap its little neck immediately upon catching him. Plus that last thing I want to pick up after my boys, and I’ve picked a lot of gross stuff up after them, is a disemboweled little mouse.

Well, I stayed up for a little while now, hoping I might see the guy scamper across the room and I can snag him and close this chapter. But no luck. I’m kept company at the moment by the boys lounging on the floor after doing a sweep of the house and not finding him. So to sleep, with one eye open, and waiting for what’s next. I just hope he doesn’t get into my pantry of food, crawl off into the wall or some other hard place to reach and die, and then rot and stink up my place. And please, please, please let there only be one mouse that was in the boxes and that there aren’t any more in my house, or for that matter, my car where they were for hours – even overnight since I loaded up my car as we went along, cleaning out the basement.

Daily Life

This one I didn't think I would be able to document! Trying to quickly and stealthily pull out a big iPad to take a picture is... well, not easy.

Where I grew up we had squirrels. You saw them so often you didn't see them anymore. Here I see squirrels, not as many, but they're still around. But added to them are... rabbits! I've seen them in the neighboring park on and off for years. But this year... they're in my front yard! My neighbors asked if I'd seen the baby rabbits. For days I kept an eye out each morning and evening. And then finally I saw him. He was just on my sidewalk this cute little thing that could fit in the palm of my hand.

Now every evening I slowly walk up my front yard and look. Most times I can't se him but at least once a week - there he is.