A Girl's Gotta Have Priorities

Yesterday, in exchange for beer (shoot, beer is *expensive! I think I've spent more at the liquor store this month than I have in the past ten years!), my neighbour and his son helped me move the last of my stuff.

Today mom helped me with the final cleaning, and then I turned in all of the keys except the building key I had to get back from my dad.

When I got back to the house, dad was there, and so then I could get that last key from him (turned in!), and pester him into talking to Shaw so that I could use the PVR my brother left me. (The registered owner had to call and do the transfer, so that they know it's not stolen.) An *hour* (and a second phone handset) later (what the heck were they *doing* over there?!?), and I now have a hooked-up TV and PVR. :)

I even shifted a few of the boxes, and so now can see the TV from the couch:

Of course, being summer, there's nothing on to watch... but if there was, I could watch it now.

Hmmm... I wonder where I put those taped shows I didn't have time to watch last month? (That would require hooking up the VCR too, but I'm pretty sure I know where all the pieces for that are.)

Moving Games

I've been playing moving games. Like "where in the kitchen should I put the crockpot", or "are there any storage places that the largest mixing bowl will fit"? Or "what box do you suppose has my sun hat" or "what box has my jacket"?

The obstacle course is also entertaining. See that rubbermaid tote with the white lid behind the green backpack?

Yeah, that one at the far side of Mount Boxes. Well, there was another rubbermaid tote under it that had something I needed... and so I got to arrange a parting of the boxes.

I'm currently sharing my dining room with a miniature rain forest.

There's a bit more to do at the apartment (one more evening of packing, one evening of moving, and then the final cleaning), and then I can get back to business here.

Can you guess what I'm doing this long weekend? :P

The end is in sight!

Not much left at the apartment... I'll sure be glad when that is done!

Moving

FYI for friends who keep in touch via my blog: I'll be moving by the end of June... if you need my new mailing address, send me an e-mail.

Caulking

I hate gross caulk. The stuff in my tub was gross. Plus it was not adhering in places. It looked like the mold was coming through from the back for the most part, and the places that weren't adhering definitely had mold on the backside of the caulk.

So, I bought supplies, fetched my caulking gun from my mom's, and ripped out the old caulk. (Yes, I probably *could* have asked my caretaker to do it... but then it wouldn't be done on a schedule convenient to *me*, and I wasn't confident he'd do a decent job, given the muck-up of the previous caulking.)

For some reason, there was large quantities of *sand* behind the tub surround:

(In this spot it was clean sand, in other places it was black and muddy.)

After cleaning out what I could, I made a paste of borax, packed it in everywhere, and let it dry. Then I washed it off, and let everything dry again.

I had bought some tub surround adhesive to reattach the loose portions of the surround, and rigged a method to get the adhesive behind the surround:

Unfortunately, squishing adhesive behind the surround appeared to have *no* effect. (I suspect whatever backing board *might* have been there once was now the sand I had swept out.)

The caulking gun also had problems when I tried to apply the adhesive:

I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but the handle goes all wavy back by the pin... basically it crumpled. (WTF?!? This is the first time *I* used my caulking gun! Did I break it? Or did it get messed up when my uncles borrowed it this past summer? It certainly worked fine for the first pull, it was the second that it ceased to work.) Well, since I still had the whole tub to caulk, and I want to have a shower tomorrow, I found a way to fix it: vice grips and various devices to "unmash" it, then a piece of wood to reinforce the handle:



We can't forget the duct tape, to hold everything in place. Much better!

Another disaster when I took down my clothes-drying (aka shower curtain) rod from over the centre of the tub:

Yup, it stuck to the wall. On one side, the rubber piece is still stuck to the wall, on this side the wall stuck to the rubber. Curses. I'll have to patch that, or my caretaker will have a fit. (I wish my landlord had given me some of the leftover paint like I had asked!)

Since the adhesive wasn't doing squat, I ignored it's curing time. I braced the sides of the surround as best I could, and caulked everything:

It is definitely *not* my best caulking job... but it was hard to work around the braces. :(

This is not too bad:

(There hadn't been *anything* there before.) Yes, I left the bottom open so that any water that did get in there would come out below. I had planned to do stuff to the handle area, but my patience gave out... I'm just going to hope that the caretaker used the correct gaskets and plumbers putty properly. (I did tighten the loose screws as best I could... there wasn't much clearance with the handle.)

I also did the spot behind the kitchen sink faucet:

All that was back there before was plumbers putty, and it was getting mildewy from splashed water.

Now my apartment smells like curing silicone caulk. I've closed the bathroom door now, but I should have closed it earlier. Of course, the smell is just going to come pouring out when I open the door the next time I need to use the washroom. (The question is, can I get away with not using it tonight? I don't think so... perhaps I'll use my respirator for that.) I think I'll crack the window open in my bedroom as well... too bad it wasn't warmer out! (The forecast low tonight is -14 C.) At least it's not as cold as it sometimes is at this time of year!

Sounds like a recipe for disaster...

...sounds like drunk guys (drunk enough to be singing) doing free weights in the apartment below me. Somehow I don't think that's a good idea...

Home From The Chiro

Crunching better today, but still not 100% yet. Two more appointments scheduled for next week.

Spotted on the way home:

Yeppers. Although I used Transit's trip planner to find a bus schedule that would get me there 10 minutes early, or on time if the 2 minute transfer time was insufficient... I arrived 10 minutes late. Thanks, traffic. :P

(I like that the businesses at the corner near my place like to put up fun sayings on their boards!)

I got this great old hoe at an estate/yard sale not far from my place:

Old tools are the best... they're actually built to handle the Red River gumbo we have around here! Even better, when I asked how much, the guy said $1! I tested it in the front garden before coming up, and it uprooted a bunch of weed seedlings like a charm! (Once I have a place of my own, I really should have my own tools.)

I have no clue what the hole on the blade is for. It looks original, rather than added later. Perhaps for hanging?

Ow.

Gardening hurts. (It's not just me, right?)

Today I filched a bunch of mom's compost

(well, I asked first, so I guess it's not filching)....

...and turned this:




...into this:




That last bit didn't get any compost or peat moss dug in... I ran out... both of the "magic soil" (what my landlord brought when I asked for peat moss, but beggars can't be choosers) and of "get up and go" (it "got up and left").

Notes:

The area with the orange annuals also needs the soil amended, plus the dirt in front of the other shrub.

The shrub on the right is also smaller. (The caretaker came out while I was gardening, and complained again that it was bigger than it used to be... so I dug up parts of it.)

The bare spot will get plants once the soil is amended.

The crowd of day lilies will also be dealt with later. I'm "storing" them there until I have their final spots ready for them.

Poll

Suppose you were a burglar, and saw a light on in a room that you know is a storage/laundry room for an apartment block. Would you think:
(a) the door might be unlocked, this is a good time to break in, or
(b) there might be someone in the laundry room, this is a bad time to break in?

What would a burglar do?
	break in
	come back another time
pollcode.com free polls

Note: The lock has been replaced with one that locks automatically, but the burglar won't know that until the next time (s)he tries to break in.

How Appropriate

A few minutes ago, I cleaned the toilet. Then I came in my office to cross it off The List. When I sat down at the computer, I noticed I had some e-mails to respond to. One was on Ravelry. So I checked the forums while I was there. A friend of mine had posted the following video link:

Age-Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

It was funny. So I posted a response, saying that I must have early-onset... but I was combatting it this break using my List. Then I remembered that I had come in the office in order to cross something off The List. Uh... whoops! I guess The List can't fix everything! ;)

Dreaded To-Do List

I have about a month of unpaid leave between terms right now. I have a *long* to-do list. I keep getting pulled in different directions with all the things that need doing, so I thought I'd make a list of all the things that need doing, and break it down into manageable chunks.

Off the top of my head, and in no particular order, here's what I put on the list so far:

• apply for jobs
  
• call dentist
  
• call scope
  
• gardening (inside & out):
  
  • dad's weeds
    
  • dig in soil, (& transplant)
    
  • plant spruce seeds
    
  • transplant vft, amaryllis, (others?)
    
  • dispose of dead plants
    
  • remove stumps
    
  • transplant peonies
    
  • NW garden
    
  • SE garden
    
  • SW garden
    
  • plant crocus bulbs
• format hard drive
  
• art:
  
  • prepare canvases
    
  • paint cat
    
  • prepare demo
    
  • hang art
    
  • frame block print
    
  • frame loon
    
  • finish silk painting
    
  • call to arrange silk painting class details
    
  • order silk painting class supplies
    
  • print cards
    
  • print magnets
    
  • renew membership
• clean apartment
  
  • clutter:
    
    • couch
      
    • coffee table
      
    • chair
      
    • desk (office)
      
    • desk (hall)
      
    • dresser
      
    • drawers
      
    • kitchen table
      
    • front hall
      
    • spinning area
  • bathroom floor
    
  • kitchen floor
    
  • old air conditioner
    
  • ac filters
    
  • fan from basement
    
  • oil (finish?) lr end tables
    
  • deal with boxes
    
  • mail
    
  • dust
    
  • mop
    
  • toilet
• format hard drive
  
• install lion
  
• sew pattern magnets
  
• sew pyjama bottoms
  
• sew t-shirts (pyjama tops)
  
• sew printer dust cover
  
• make stitch markers
  
• finish desk & move it into office
  
• 2140:
  
  • prepare assignments
    
  • prepare midterm
    
  • prepare final
• medical paperwork
  
• scan & send instructions

Scary, huh? Some of the things are fairly quick, it's the length of the list that gets to me. (It doesn't even include regular stuff like laundry, dishes, etc! Or fun stuff!)

For tomorrow, I've chosen the following:

• dad's weeds
  
• dig in soil, (& transplant?)
  
• Laundry
  
• format hard drive
  
• water plants
  
• trash & recycling
  
  
• office desk clutter
  
• scan & send instructions

Tomorrow isn't supposed to be too hot, and isn't calling for rain until later, so is a good day to do at least a little gardening. Laundry needs doing, and the plants are looking wilty again. I bought a new back-up drive today, and so I should check to make sure it's working, and get regular back-ups going again. (The last two items are only if I have time, although setting up the back-up drive will be easier if my desk has less clutter on it.)

I'm tempted to start the drive right now, but, as it's nearly 4 am, I *really* need to get to bed. Good night!

Monday's list so far has the phone calls and applying for jobs.

Apartment Gardening

1. Looks like my landlord took me literally when I said the stepping stones "don't need to be pretty". I meant it, but I didn't really expect to get leftovers from some other project. Not that being leftover is a problem, but they're a bit on the small size. The fact that there is four, rather than three, might compensate enough. I guess I'll find out when the caretaker goes to prune the shrubs again. (These are to go behind and beside the shrubs so that the caretaker isn't compacting the whole garden when he's pruning the shrubs.)

2. I just noticed in the photo... looks like my landlord bought potting soil rather than peat moss. It'll probably work too, but won't go as far as peat moss would. (I need to work in some (non-clay) organic matter into the soil so that it is looser, and doesn't clump and crack as much.) I suppose potting soil will be easier to dig in than fluffy, dry peat moss.

*Screech* *Pop*, *Screech* *Pop*!

Subtitle: Why you should obey the speed limit, and keep sufficient distance (2-3 seconds) between you and the car in front of you.

Three-car pile-up on my street:

(I suspect someone ahead of them was turning left onto the side street... which happens often, but people don't expect for some reason.)

How handy! There was an undercover cop car sitting there:

(Guy in the middle is a cop, in case it's hard to see the details.)

Whoa, *three* cops! They must have been getting ready to do a safety check, rather than a speed trap:

Also handy: the truck that started leaking fluid all over the street also happened to be towing a trailer of sand (some of which spilled on impact). Plus he had a shovel! Cop was clever enough to use sand to absorb fluid. I'm not sure why he didn't put some more under the front of the truck so that the continuing leak didn't get into the sewer system... unless the sand is to prevent the street from getting slippery? I always thought it was for environmental reasons.

Additional tip: if you're towing a trailer of sand, allow for even more distance in front of you, because the additional weight will take more time to stop.

Update: Truck guy shovelled more sand to absorb stuff under truck. He's waiting for a tow (driving while fluids leaking out probably a recipe for damage to engine), and everyone else has left.

Evolution of CFLs

The package on the left I bought around three years ago (the two bulbs are dead ones that I need to dispose of properly), the package on the right I bought last weekend.

The package on the left claims the bulbs last seven years (8000 hours). Of the package of four, I've had to replace two, and one just went in a month or two ago. It's not doing well on it's seven year claim. The new bulbs claim to last nine years (10000 hours). So... do you think they'll actually last nine years (as claimed), five years (two more than the old bulbs), four years (20% more), or three years (exactly the same)?

The old lightbulbs have 850 lumens flux, the new ones have 800. (It's daytime right now, so I haven't turned them on for a light output test... I'm not sure how I'd do that without equipment anyway.) They both use 13W.

The old bulbs are "Daylight Extra... Colour temperature is 3500K. Does not comply with ANSI specification C78.376-2001 for Daylight colour temperature (6500K)." New bulbs actually do claim to be 6500K, and are a noticeably different colour than the old ones when I flicked them on briefly to check. (Old one is yellow-white, new one is blue-white.)

The old bulbs came in an excessively large clam-shell package made from non-renewable petrochemicals, with no recycling symbol. The new ones come in more compact, recyclable cardboard.

Regular lightbulbs are being phased out all over, in favour of CFLs. I have two concerns about that:

1. What do you use for your porch light? CFLs turn off when the temperature drops too low. (Not a problem in NC, but does happen regularly in Winnipeg.)

2. Many CFL packages still say not to use the bulbs in enclosed fixtures, or in a sideways or upside-down position. What are you supposed to do for overhead lighting if you don't want a chandelier? (As is the case in my apartment? Is that why they don't last as long as they should? Or take so long to come to full brightness? ...Although I have those same problems with the tri-light in the living room, and it's upright and unenclosed.)

Even ignoring the concerns migraine sufferers have, they still have some issues to resolve.

Update: If I had to make a guess, I'd say the new bulb is brighter. It certainly comes on faster. The blueish light is going to take some getting used to, though.

My Mother's Poppies

My mother's poppies put on a stunning show again this year. Too bad they don't last longer. (Hmmm... should I or shouldn't I plant some in the apartment garden?)

Apartment Step Conclusion

You may recall the ridiculous thing the concrete people put in as a front and back step:

It was big enough that you wanted to stand on it to unlock the door, but small enough that you pretty much had to get off in order to open the door. I asked the landlord if he would ask the concrete people to fix it, and they did.

First they sent someone by with a sledge hammer to remove the old step, but the sledge hammer wasn't proving effective. Then they sent someone with another tool I'm not sure about, and, although it appeared to be doing a better job, was still too slow.


So, one day, a few weeks back, they sent out the big guns:


Uh, perhaps I'll use the other door...


Yep, that worked:


Later that night:

(Is it legal to barricade the main door like this?)

Hmmm... I suspect the caretaker will be peeved about what they did with the extra concrete:


Getting inside required a little skill and balance:


(Hmmm... Flickr seems to be having some issues today...)

Seen Out And About

(More catch-up blogging.)

I should look up what this plant is:

It would make a great addition to the apartment garden. (It might be creeping baby's breath...)

Graffiti:

I like the doily and the "virtual Rielity", but the rest is just plain vandalism.

This car reminds me of an apartment building in Barcelona that Gaudi designed.

Lily

Yesterday I got my laundry and grocery shopping done, but not my dishes. (I'm about to do them now, though.)

I treated myself to a lily from the grocery store yesterday. I plan to enjoy it inside while it blooms (I picked the one with the most closed blooms) and then plant it in the garden so that it blooms for years to come. (My building's caretaker commented that he loved the lilies in my mother's garden. One of the ones she has is like this one, that was also once from the grocery store.)

I think I'd also like to paint a series of macro shots from my lily for the next art show. (I'd actually have something for sale that people could afford! ...If I don't want something to sell, I price it high.)

Kitchen Stuff

Not only do I buy whatever wine is cheapest, but apparently I don't pay attention to kind (beyond colour) too:

When the old bottle didn't have quite enough (the bump at the bottom fooled me), I mixed wines in my pasta dish. My fancy cooking only pretends to be pretentious. ;)

Speaking of my pasta dish, this is my garlic scapes and scallop pasta:

When it came time to cook the pasta, I realized I didn't know exactly how I was going to use the scapes. Do I put it in early, so the flavour infuses the sauce, or later, so that it stays bright green? After looking online for a bit, I decided on earlier. I think I should have gone for later. The scapes "mellowed" so much there was hardly any garlic taste. :( The pasta wasn't bad, it just wasn't as good as usual. (And I don't blame the wine.)

Yesterday I finally conquered my backlog of dishes, including the "tupperware". All clean:

Then I made lasagna. *sigh* (Thankfully before yet another set of veggies expired, but it does produce a lot of dirty dishes.) In addition to having a nice lasagna dinner last night, I have seven more single-servings in the freezer. :) I keep thinking I should do this with several dishes... but then I remember that my freezer is extremely limited in size. :P

It was late last night by the time I finished my lasagna, so I didn't do dishes then. I hope to get them done today (along with laundry, and maybe even grocery shopping), and then *really* be all caught up! :)

And That's The Kind Of Day It's Been

Today was oppressively hot and humid.

I started off the day with a dentist appointment. (Just a bi-yearly cleaning.)

Approaching the dentist's office, I realized that it was going to be a hot ride to the university, made more uncomfortable by the fact that I wouldn't be allowed to drink anything until a half hour after my fluoride treatment. (My dentist is the type that still gives them to adults. Some friends say their dentists say it's unnecessary and/or pointless, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.)

The cleaning went smoothly... well, as smoothly as it ever does. There's an occasional accidental poke with something sharp, and the x-ray thing hurt my gums as always, but my teeth are all holding up to the level of care I've been giving them.

Normally I just get a toothbrush to take home. At the end of this visit, I got a whole goody bag:

Toothbrush (a different brand than usual), plane-friendly-sized toothpaste (the kind I'm using!), and a tiny spool of floss. I flashed back to being a six-year-old coming home from a birthday party.

The party stopped when I got back to the front desk. When the receptionist tried to run my insurance, it said it had been cancelled. WTF!?!??!!!!! I *know* I'm not the only person who gets re-hired every four months... *why* can't the university remember to renew my insurance each time!?!??? Last summer it took something like two *months* after I discovered the problem to get my supplemental health reinstated (I don't *care* if everyone is going on vacations, make sure *someone* is doing the effing job!), and I had this same nonsense the last time I was at the dentist! I was just looking at my pay stubs yesterday, and I was being deducted for the health premiums. I was *peeved*.

I asked the receptionist if there was a phone I could use, so that I could talk to my benefits person, and have her talk to the receptionist so that she knew what to do. My phone call rang then went to voicemail. (Grrr.) It said to press zero if you wanted to be helped right away (gee, that's why I'm *calling*), and so I did. I got put on hold. (Grrr.) Finally she said that my benefits person would talk to me. (She's *there*?!?? Why didn't she pick up the phone?!?!?!!!) Apparently, even though my supplemental health was hooked up properly, the dental coverage was separate, and *wasn't* set up! (The term started at the beginning of May. They had *two* months to get me set up!)

I had the benefits lady talk to the receptionist, the receptionist is going to submit a paper form next week, and she'll contact me if there's still something I owe after that. (I'm only covered 50%, but then there's the supplemental, and it's all just confusing.) *sigh*

On the way from the dentist's office to the bus stop, I found a forgotten Blackberry. I stood there for a minute, wondering how best to get it back to it's owner. (The device was password protected, so my usual technique of looking for an entry labelled "home" or "mom" wasn't going to work.) Luckily, the owner realized she had left it behind, and came rushing back. (She didn't seem that interested in my suggestion that she put contact information on the back of the device. Whatever.)

The first bus to work was air conditioned. Ahhh! There was a longish wait downtown, where I tried to stand in the shade of the lamp post. (I could also have pulled out my umbrella for shade, but it was rather gusty.) The second bus wasn't air conditioned. Luckily by then I was allowed to drink my water. Unfortunately, I realized I had already drunk over half on the way to the dentist, and had very little left. (Plus it was warm by then... much less satisfying.)

I made it to the university by half way through what should have been knitting lunch... but there were no knitters. I guess something came up. (We're a pretty small group.)

Work was slow this afternoon. I remembered some other questions I had for the benefits lady, and so e-mailed her around 4:00. Looks like she stared her weekend early, because she didn't reply. (Did I mention I dislike my benefits lady?)

The first bus home was also air conditioned. Yay! (In fact, I decided to catch a different one than I intended simply because it was air conditioned.)

They hadn't yet closed Osborne for the Canada day preparations by the time we got there, so traffic was better than it might have been.

Reaching the Village, I saw that the farmer's market had started up again for the season. I hopped off the bus and bought some local honey (I've been hoping to run into that guy before my supply ran out again) and some garlic scapes. Mmmm!

When I was done shopping, a bus arrived quickly. However, it was most definitely *not* air conditioned. Although it would have taken me home, I decided to hop off and visit Wolseley Wool, which was having a customer appreciation night. (I had initially intended to go, but had been wavering due to the oppressive heat and humidity, which was worse than earlier. WW isn't very close to bus routes... it's not too far, but not as close as you'd like when Winnipeg gets to either end of its temperature extremes.)

WW had punch with ice! I drank some punch, ate a few nibblies, petted the yarn, and bought some yarn to make gifts. Then I went back out into the horrible heat.

In addition to not being air conditioned, the next (and final) bus was packed like sardines. By the time I was home, I was *drenched*. The cool blast of air that greeted me when I opened my apartment door was heavenly, as was the cool shower.

I love my AC! Looking at the weather website, today's temperature peaked at 34 C (humidex 43 C)... I could tell that it wasn't quite as bad as the worst days in NC, but it was still bleeping hot.

And that is the kind of day it's been.