Jun
30
it’s never that easy
Filed under house at 11:58 am | Leave a Comment
Though I didn’t dare say it out loud, I knew it sounded too easy to be true. 
The author forgot to include the parts about becoming one with the toilet while trying to reach said bolts, the vice grips, the hacksaw, and the 2 inevitable trips to the home improvement store of my choice.
When it comes to me and home improvement, things are never that easy. I’m happy to say we were victorious with this battle, however. The wall is now freshly painted behind the toilet.
Update: You can now classify the post above as a premature declaration of victory. In the euphoria following the removal of the tank, I couldn’t fathom what could go wrong in the reassembly process. Add to the list another trip to the home improvement store, returning a new gasket for a different new one, and spending a good long while pleading with the tank to refill itself after reassembly.
Jun
25
changing seasons
Filed under sports, soccer, tv at 9:31 pm | 5 Comments
Another season of TV shows has passed without too much fanfare, while the NHL and the NBA have crowned their champions for another year.
While my favorite teams had good seasons by most measures, they once again disappointed all of us spoiled Detroit fans that have come to expect nothing but winning it all. (Then again, isn’t that the point of professional sports?)
The soccer season is now in full swing. Unfortunately, most televised games are on ESPN2, a station we don’t currently get. As such, the games I usually end up being able to watch are on Univision. (My lack of Spanish knowledge is only one of the things that makes watching that station amusing.) Sunday’s USA vs. Mexico match for the CONCACAF Gold Cup was such a game. At the conclusion of USA’s come-from-behind victory, a Univision reporter did a brief interview with Landon Donovan, the captain of the US team. To my amazement, the entire interview was done in Spanish, and from what I could tell, he didn’t miss a beat, responding in fluent Spanish. Impressive. Then again, he did grow up in MexiCalifornia. I have no doubt knowing Spanish comes in handy in many of their international games …
As for TV, both 24 and Lost wrapped up with barely memorable finales, though the seasons were certainly enjoyable. We were sad to say good-bye to King of Queens. While it lasted longer than most sitcoms, it never tried to take itself too seriously. Thanks for the laughs, Doug and Carrie.
With the summer lull having begun, we’ve once again renewed our Netflix membership. This is the third summer where we’ve used the membership to fill the gap. Hopefully the year-round Netflixers don’t view us seasonal members as lesser folk. I don’t think we’re alone in using the subscription only during the summer. While we enjoy catching up on some movies here and there, we seem to use the membership mostly for watching TV shows. It so nice being able to burn through a season without the time off between episodes or commercials (not that we watch those with current shows anymore, either). Previous summers have been used to start watching Alias and 24. We’ll see what this summer brings.
Jun
14
like it was yesterday
Filed under family at 8:22 pm | 2 Comments
It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year. Happy Birthday, big guy!