Yep, those are them

For some reason I can't seem to comment on my own blog. It's annoying.

But yes, I was talking about those utterly adorable little parasols you & Tom gave me. They're adorable. :)

Parasol salt shakers: Mended!

I collected them today. They are charming as ever, and now they work! (Still need polishing.) I'm so glad the pawnshop moved in downstairs and brought their repair dude with them.


Today's earrings: bears, stumps

Bedtime reading: Soon I Will Be Invincible, Austin Grossman

Further adventures

Filed my first police report tonight. The process was made more entertaining by the child of the people ahead of me in line. He was most cute; younger than, but otherwise not unlike, my nephew. I should go visit my nephew. And send him books.

I spent the last week intermittently handing out keys. There were two impromptu parties at my place, at which I passed around keys and drinks and said things like "I am the Keymaster!" and my neighbors gave no hint that they had seen either Ghostbusters or Say Anything. One of my neighbors surprised me by having a spare set cut for me. I was very touched.

Brunch last weekend with T&S. I've agreed to take receipt of a gatefold table and rather a lot of geneological materials. (*anticipatory cackle*)

Did the requested shopping for the Wandering Albatross. Must ship tomorrow.


Today's earrings: bulls, flowers

The Recent Adventures of Misadventure Girl

All times approximate.

Thursday, 7/28, 8:30am: An alarm in my apartment building went off. The fire department was summoned, the fire doors shut, and the blinky strobe lights went off, but there was no audible alarm. I was on my way to work, but ran into a lobbyful of firefighters instead. The firefighters did their sweeps and concluded there was no fire. I called the management company. Extended phone tag ensued. While waiting around with Constant Neighbor for the Property Manager Dude to show up, we discovered that the front door would not close on its own. It would fall to about two inches shy of closed, and hang there. It could be pulled shut, though. So Constant Neighbor and I spent the morning in the lobby, making sure the door got closed behind everyone who went in and out. I called work and told them I was taking a floating holiday. While we were there, a tech for the internet company came in. We asked how it was going, and he said that it'd be about three more weeks. ????? Property Manager Dude had been telling us that he'd been promised a Monday, 8/1 go date.

1pm: Property Manager Dude showed up. (His assistant had been telling me all morning that Property Manager Dude "was in a meeting" and would be getting right back to me. Property Manager Dude told me he'd been at a doctor's appointment. And I'm, like, it would have killed the assistant to give me a realistic ETA? I'd have been so much less pissed.) The plumber/handyman and the alarm company tech showed up right after him. They started trying to figure out what had triggered the alarm while I trailed after them trying to keep out of the way. I finally got to go up on the roof, and it really is nice up there, except for all the ductwork underfoot. The upshot was that something had caused a fluctuation in the water pressure upstream of the fire pump... but there was no way to know what. Might have been something in the building, might have been construction or repairs somewhere upstream in the city water pipes. They weren't even 100% sure it wasn't a short that just looked like a water pressure fluctuation. We agreed to schedule a fire drill with full testing of the alarm system at everyone's earliest convenience. The alarm guy turned off the alarm. The front door started closing properly. Constant Neighbor and I put a bug in Property Manager Dude's ear about the internet company's ETA. We all went our separate ways around 3pm.


Friday, 7/29, afternoon: Property Manager Dude emailed the board a flyer about the upcoming fire drill and asked that someone post it in the lobby. I volunteered.

7pm: I got home after my standard wine & pizza with b2. I went down to the basement to get the key to the bulletin board, and found that the lockboxes that held the keys were gone. They had been bolted to the wall in the basement. We'd pulled keys out of them the day before. And now, they were just plain gone. I was a shade bewildered - three glasses of wine - but I was pretty sure I was looking at the right spot, from the holes in the wall where the bolts used to be. I went upstairs and left a voicemail for Property Manager Dude.


Saturday, 7/30, morning: I went down to the basement and looked around some more. The exterior handle to one of the storage areas had been knocked off the door. Just the handle part; the door was still closed, and not easily openable. I left a voicemail for Property Manager Dude. Then I went to meet b2 and we saw Cowboys and Aliens. (Exactly - and I do mean exactly - what you're expecting. Cowboys, aliens, horses, stuff explodes. We recommend the matinee seating.)


Monday, 8/1, 2:30pm: Property Manager Dude called me back about the missing lock boxes. Turns out there was an outside door key in there. Oh, dear. The boxes themselves have four-digit combination locks. Only 10,000 combinations to try. They're a bit sticky, but still, all it takes to open them is time and perseverance. I email the rest of the board to tell tham that re-keying the outside doors is now on the agenda for Tuesday's board meeting.


Tuesday, 8/2, 6:30pm: Scheduled HOA board meeting. Property Manager Dude announced that he had successfully bullied the internet company into getting their act together, and we were now ready to go in the building. He gave setup instructions. We discussed various and sundry other business. I brought up the missing lockboxes. We decided to re-key only the exterior doors, for now. The meeting broke up.

9pm: Constant Neighbor appeared at my door. He'd skipped the meeting, but someone who had been there had filled him in about the missing lockboxes and imminent rekeying. He was not pleased. I gave him booze. He wandered off.

10pm: Constant Neighbor knocked on my door to tell me that another alarm had gone off. Back down to the lobby to meet the firefighters, many of them the same as last time. This time the source was a "manual pull" inside the Subway restaurant. Which we can't get into. I called the management company emergency line, and they sent out the same plumber/handyman as before. He played around with the alarm system for a while, and the upshot was that until we could get in to the Subway so that the "manual pull" could be physically touched by a firefighter's magic hands, the alarm could not be shut off. Silenced, but not shut off. It turns out we don't have emergency numbers for the commercial tenants, and neither does the management company. Maybe the alarm company could do something? Maybe, but by now it was 11pm. There weren't any techs there at customer service who could try something remotely, and no way to know how long it would take to get a tech to show up in person. Constant Neighbor, who'd been alternately being helpful and throwing tantrums, suggested paying the bouncer at the bar down the block to stay the night in the lobby. Sounded good to me, but the bouncer had already had other plans. I called the emergency line at the management company and asked if she could get us a security guard for the night. She said, "probably," and went off to make some calls. Turns out it's harder than you'd think to pull a security guard out of thin air at midnight.


Wenesday, 8/3, 1am: I gave up on finding a security guard, made signs for the stairs and elevator, took Muffin's Aerobed down to the lobby, and settled in for the night.

2am: Constant Neighbor stopped fluttering around trying to make me more comfortable and went off to his own bed. I tried to sleep.

4am: Recycling Guy came in to collect our recycling. And that made it worthwhile to me that I'd stayed down there. The guy seemed pleasant enough, but I really doubt he would have made sure the door closed behind him if I hadn't been there.

6:30am: The first of my neighbors came through on his way to work.

7am: My next-door-neighbor L came through on his way to work. He called up to his partner M (who's one of my fellow board members) and told him that I was camped out in the lobby. M came down and relieved me. I briefed him, then folded up the air bed and went to take a shower.

8:22am: A firefighter entered the now-open Subway and laid his magic hands on the "manual pull." The alarm shut off. I went to work.


Thursday 8/4: My neighbor M volunteered to pass out the new keys today. The locks will be changed tomorrow. The trouble is, not all of our neighbors are at home to get the new keys. So, how to get them into the right hands without locking anyone out? It's a puzzle.

Went to church

St. Boniface. Pretty little church. They opened with "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," and after the end of the service, the organist played the "Hallelujah Chorus." Sadly, no one but me stuck around to sing, and I tend to get lost in the more involved sections without a leader to follow. But i still got to sing along, which is much of the point.

I do need to stop going to Catholic churches, though. The order of service just feels off to me. Protestant4evah, I guess.

M brought K/S/D back, and we went for Indian food. The camping trip was most eventful.


Today's earrings: dragonflies, other dragonflies

Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Collected rug from the cleaners

The dude at the cleaners really wanted me to have them mend it as well. Which, yeah, it could use mending, but no, I can't afford it.

Re-arranged all the rugs for good measure.


Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Deposited CA tax refund

Called the rug cleaner: ready for pickup tomorrow



Today's earrings: pineapples, peas

Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Checked the mortgage early repayment calculator

Figured out how much I should be chipping off the principal each month to get it paid off before I hit 65, and it's a doable number under current conditions.
=> There are no penalties for early repayment; I checked that before I signed the contract.
Got CA tax refund. :)


Today's earrings: sand dollars, trees

Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Played legos with Tiger

Plus, Seder @ M's. Turns out my earrings were thematically appropriate.


Today's earrings: frogs, dragonflies

Bedtiem reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Made up the windowseat as a bed for Tiger

Cute child is cute.


Today's earrings: rockets, other rockets

Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Closed eTrade account

This is the third try. Let's hope it took this time.


Today's earrings: lizards, rocks

Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis


This is post #900

Tidied everything away

So the stuff is all put away, but some of it I'm going to have to pull out again for final decision making. *sigh*

There was more gossip.


Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Re-arranged the left side of the closet

Also, pulled out the linens and pillows and ran the comforters through the wash.

I spent a lot of the day on the phone. There was news. And gossip. Juicy, juicy gossip.


Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Yeah, I'm going to have to do two things tomorrow.

Sometimes I miss LA. Just for the dry brown air. Maybe I'll take the train down there sometime, breathe the air, get over the nostalagia...


Today's earrings: mice, pumpkin coaches

Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Dropped off the hangers; rec'd angry mobs

The world is good.


Today's earrings: mermaids, manatees

Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Shifted the dry-cleaning pile to a less conspicuous spot

To do:
- take hangers back to the dry cleaner
- send silver to be mended
- go through left-hand side of the closet
- wash linens (Sunday)
- shelve everything (Monday)
- entertain guests (Tuesday)
- go through basement storage
- get blender & toaster steam-cleaned
- get luggage? <-- not sure I actually need it
- find somewhere else to stash the games


Today's earrings: wyverns, brooms

Bedtime reading: Passage, Connie Willis

Re-arranged the stuff under the bathroom sink

Wasn't really anything to clean out under there, so I just shifted things around.


Today's earrings: flies, amber teardrops

Bedtime reading: Blackout, Connie Willis

Re-arranged dishes & bakeware

Now the the stuff I'm actually using is in front. Seems obvious, yes?


Today's earrings: monkeys, spaceships

Bedtime reading: Blackout, Connie Willis

Pulled the bags out from behind the refrigerator

Consolidated the bags & put them back. I have fewer plastic bags than I thought.


Bedtime reading: Hundred Dollar Baby, Robert B. Parker

Dropped off rug at the cleaners

Thanks, M!

I also put my dresser-top back together, and considered easels for the mirror.


Bedtime reading: Hundred Dollar Baby, Robert B. Parker

Paid property tax

The line at city hall was shorter than I expected. Later I picked up the linens from the dry cleaner, as intact as they ever were.


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: Hundred Dollar Baby, Robert B. Parker

Sorted gift bags, gift boxes, wrapping paper, earrings

Re-setting the dressertop will have to wait until after I've collected the linen from the dry cleaner. (Cross your fingers it comes back intact.)


Today's earrings: moose, wood rounds

Bedtime reading: Hundred Dollar Baby, Robert B. Parker

Dropped off linens at the dry cleaners

Also pulled everything out from under the bed & dresser.

At some point I'm going to need to sort out all the stuff that's now sitting in the living room.


Bedtime reading: School Days, Robert B. Parker

Finished excavating the top drawers

Found a bunch of stuff I forgot I had. Not sure what to do with a lot of it. Like, what does one do with a large quantity of tiny ziplocks, besides take them to a street fair and return them to the earring vendors? What about the old (cheap) watches? I hate pitching out finished goods, but they're not worth the trouble of replacing their batteries, and no one else is going to want them.

What to do, what to do?


Today's earrings: frogs, lily pads

Bedtime reading: School Days, Robert B. Parker

I knew there was a reason I was putting off the earrings

I moved the earrings off the dresser top and into the living room for sorting, and then I thought, "oh, hey, while I've got the space, I should look in the top drawers." Lots of writing implements & misc small office supplies in the left-hand drawer, which have been shifted to under my keyboard. I haven't even started with the right-hand drawer. I guess that'll be tomorrow's project.

Also, at right around 11:30pm, something exploded outside. Moments later, what appeared to be the entire complement of Fire Station 8 rolled past my place, going southwest, sirens blazing. I've been flipping stations looking for news for an hour; all sources equally oblivious. Thanks, local news.


Today's earrings: flowers, other flowers

Bedtime reading: School Days, Robert B. Parker

Re-arranged tchotchkes

It's turtles all the way down again. :)


Bedtime reading: School Days, Robert B. Parker

Got a new shower curtain

It's a world map, and reasonably accurate. What I didn't know until I got it home was that they used a bad font. Accented vowels are rendered as different vowels with different accents in the wrong case, and sometimes the Euro symbol. South America reads very strangely.

Also got a new set of caster-coasters to replace the too-small set I got last time.

Most important, the cleaning dude has cleaned my apartment and re-arranged my little pottery chickens to be more symbolically protective.


Bedtime reading: The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, Sharyn McCrumb

Called cleaning service

They'll be here tomorrow morning.

I also set up a livejournal account so I can stop boring you all with my Supernatural obsession. :)


Today's earrings: amethysts

Bedtime reading: The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, Sharyn McCrumb

Assembled towel rack

It was marvelously simple.

Today's earrings: leaves, other leaves

Bedtime reading: Breakup, Dana Stabenow

Sorted coins into jars

I'm wondering whether to keep accumulating coins. There have been times when I've been glad that I had a bunch of nickels sequestered in a jar, you know? It feels like dumping the change in the bank might be tempting fate. But if I keep keeping change, I'm going to need more or larger jars. I think that's one decision I'll postpone for another season.

I also considered the possibility of curating the card collection.


Today's earrings: rockets, other rockets

Bedtime reading: Breakup, Dana Stabenow

Tidied my dresser-top

Next step: re-sort the earrings.


Today's earrings: balloons, men

Bedtime reading: Breakup, Dana Stabenow

Moved the coffeemaker

It's now under the glasses & cups. The stuff I shifted to make room is now next to the refrigerator or up in a cabinet. Another area to be revisited...


Today's earrings: tulips, turtles

Bedtime reading: Breakup, Dana Stabenow

Made a first pass at the storage container collection

I have way more jars and little plastic tubs than I need or use... but I do hate to throw away an airtight container. I'm going to have to consider carefully and go back to that.

Today's earrings: wheels, zodiacs

Bedtime reading: The Android's Dream, John Scalzi

Got an estimate for the rug cleaning

I'll drop it off next Friday.


Today's earrings: penguins, chickens

Bedtime reading: The Android's Dream , John Scalzi

Made a first pass at the bathroom counter

Shoved a few things under the sink, put the tall things in a little pitcher, and the other stuff in a flat bowl. I'll revisit in a week or two.


Today's earrings: mermaids, manatees

Bedtime reading: The Android's Dream, John Scalzi

Sorted the "misc." boxes

All computer stuff is in one box. Writing paper, envelopes, stamps and stickers are in another. Writing implements, note paper, paper clips, and the hole punch and ruler are in the box under the keyboard. Binder clips are in the drawer with the batteries, and everything vaguely toylike is in the toy box. Except the posable emu. The posable emu is still on the ouija board.


Today's earrings: brass triangles

Bedtime reading: The Android's Dream, John Scalzi

Became president of the HOA

Wasn't actually planning on that, but I'm going to count it anyway.


Today's earrings: bees, typewriter keys

Bedtime reading: The Android's Dream, John Scalzi

Ordered a towel rack

Also, looked up maid services on Craigslist.


Today's earrings: eyes, saws

Bedtime reading: The Android's Dream, John Scalzi

Mailed taxes

So, ok, the taxes got spread out over three or four days, but they're DONE, and three weeks early, too.

I made myself salmon chowder to celebrate. :)


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: The Android's Dream, John Scalzi

Got lampshade and mousepad

The lampshade isn't exactly as I'd envisioned it, but now that I've got it attached to the lamp, I think it works pretty well. My living room is suffused with a pleasant glow.


Today's earrings: fish, Lake Tahoes

Bedtime reading: The Android's Dream, John Scalzi

Filed the files

To do: sort out stationery & office supplies, which are currently haphazardly divided between two of the black boxes and the former silverware chest that holds up my keyboard.

Also reversed the cushions in their shams.


Bedtime reading: The Android's Dream, John Scalzi

Made copies, stuffed & stamped envelopes

Ready to mail.


Today's earrings: frogs, lily pads

Bedtime reading: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

Completed tax returns

This itemizing thing isn't nearly as complicated as I was led to believe. Kind of like transubstantiation.


Today's earrings: owls, brown glass beads

Bedtime reading: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

Got a new MUNI map

to replace the one I gave away to the HR lady when she was visiting, plus a spare.


Today's earrings: pigs, citrine drops

Bedtime reading: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

Printed out a 1040, et alia, and brought them home

...but didn't feel equal to actually filling in the forms. So I cleared the miscellaneous paper off the bar. Then I thought about the miscellaneous silver tchotchkes I've got scattered about, and considered curio cases. So far I hate them all.

Today's earrings: coffee cups, chickens

Bedtime reading: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

Started taxes

I meant to get them done, but then realized I didn't have the actual tax forms. I did a dry run anyway. I need to call the IRS and find out whether they meant to send me a CP03A form or what.

Since Plan A didn't happen, I went ahead and shelved the loose books & CDs (except the Gold Digger Atlas, which I am leaving on the coffee table).


Today's earrings: compasses

Bedtiem reading: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

Reset the clocks

Bedtime reading: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

Put the light fixture in storage; got casters

The caster are the wrong size. I'll have to go get more.

Also, visited the Borders in the mall and found a copy of 12 Angry Men for CC. After I got it home, I realized that it was still encased in a plastic exoskeleton. It seemed easier to cut it loose than take it back for professional extraction. Discovering that the clerk who didn't remove the anti-theft device also didn't key in the right SKU, such that the receipt is apparently for "Little Lessons of Love," whatever the hell that is, clinched the decision. The amateur cutting-loose process was, sadly, detrimental to the packaging. So CC will be getting a copy of 12 Angry Men that gives every evidence of having been stolen, but wasn't.
*sigh*


Bedtime reading: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

Got all the random crap off the floor

In other news today, bad earthquake off Japan, with tsunami.


Today's earrings: mice, pumpkin coaches

Bedtime reading: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

Collected dry cleaning; emptied dishwasher

So that's two things, really.

In other news, a teenager jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge today and walked away. The surfers who fished him out gave him a good tongue-lashing, though.


Today's earrings: scarabs

Bedtime reading: The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan

Dropped off dry cleaning

Today's earrings: monkeys, wrenches

Bedtime reading: The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

Supernatural speculation

I keep meaning to write this down, but I've really got nowhere else to post it:

I think at the end of this season we find out that Heaven is really the Matrix, but powered by human souls instead of human bodies. "The power of heaven" is generated by the souls of all those dead people, eternally alone in their perfect little worlds. (And that's why the dead are kept isolated in Heaven. So the ones like Ash don't get together and maybe decide to put all that power to other uses.) Lucifer's power, and the powers we've seen from the demons over the seasons, comes from the radiant energy of the souls who've sold themselves into Hell. That's why Balthazar bought that kid's soul: he was trying to build himself a captive energy base so he could take himself off the Heaven grid.

I'm not 100% sure about Purgatory, but I think it's where third-case souls go. People whose souls aren't clean enough for heaven to take, but on whom Hell doesn't have a colorable claim. People like Mary Winchester, who contracted with a demon, but didn't actually sell her soul. Or John Winchester, who sold his soul, but climbed back out of the pit. Also angry spirits, who refused to be conducted to Heaven by the Reapers, but weren't contracted to Hell. The Mother of Monsters has been using the scant soul-power at her disposal to make - you guessed it - monsters. The monsters go around turning humans into more monsters (vampires, skinwalkers, etc.) whose souls eventually end up in Purgatory. Now that the Pseudopocalypse has been and gone, and neither Heaven nor Hell won, the Mother of Monsters is making a bid to take control of Earth, so she can divert all souls to Purgatory and have everything her own way from here on out.

It's a theory.


Today's earrings: flies, trout

Bedtime reading: The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

For Lent

My current plan is to clean, tidy, find a permanent place for, get, replace, or otherwise deal with one task a day. The to-do list includes getting a lamp shade and a mouse pad, doing my taxes, getting the rugs cleaned, picking a shelf on which to stow the fry pans and stowing them, clearing out the excess wire hangers, shifting the tchotchkes off the windowsill... If I run out of ideas, I'll start re-cataloging the library.

Today's earrings: frogs, trees

Bedtime reading: The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

Down memory lane

French toast brunch at M's.

Back to my alma mater, and OMG BUILDINGS. THEY HAVE BUILT SO MANY BUILDINGS.
Like, they've put a new bookstore in the bookstore parking lot. The bookstore is now admin stuff, and bookstore parking is down in the Hahn lot. The Wells Fargo ATM is right where I left it, though.
Quarry: still the quarry
Picnic lunch overlooking the East Field & attendant View. Still a hell of a view. Many squirrels.
L was much impressed by the view from the bridges over the ravines.
The balconies have gone from the top floors at Porter: what's up with that?
SCAdians with vorpal swords doing battle at the IUD. (The view there has College 8 in it.)
Three deer hanging out pathside near what used to be the bus stop.
"Center of the universe" in front of the theater: still echo-y.
What they built as a student union is now an "Academic Resources Center." M said it would be better as a faculty club, and I think she's right. I seem to recall that's what they first wanted to put there... but I may be confabulating. Nice view, so we ate some cheese there.
Fairy ring of redwoods off the path from the library to Hahn.
We took a last turn around campus, and it turns out for L, organic garden = shiny object. So we climbed into the experimental organic garden above Stevenson. There we met a pair of cats named Buster and Posey. Buster followed us halfway to the car.
Dinner at Alice's Restaurant.

I did a lot of fulminating about the BUILDINGS, OMG SO MANY BUILDINGS.


Today's earrings: Flies, amber

Bedtime reading: All Clear, Connie Willis

Blood in my eye

This showed up mid-afternoon. Google tells me that I probably sneezed too hard and it'll go away in a week or two.

I hope Google is right.

Today's earrings: amethysts

Bedtime reading: Old Man's War, John Scalzi