Mark’s Notes On The Go

So, I’m relaxing in front of the TV trying to read 1776, cats by my feet when I hear… something in the litter box.. huh? Count cats… 1.. 2… that’s it… what’s in the litter box? Leo, my six month old apparently hits the same conclusion seconds before I do. We both race into the kitchen, just as…

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!

Okay, so I scream like a girl when there are woodland creatures in my house! A chipmunk comes flying out of the box with Leo behind him. I grab Bear and toss him into a carrier. I wanted to do the same to Leo, but he was having no part of it. So, I chased him upstairs into my room and shut the door.

Back downstairs, I open both the front and back doors and proceed to chase my little frightened guest from pillar to post for a half hour before he vanishes…. I hoped he’d taken advantage of the open door. Couldn’t find him and decided somewhat uneasily he was gone. But it was that feeling from any good horror movie when the body of the monster/killer/whatever isn’t seen. I let Bear out and open the bedroom back up… I settle back down with my book pondering how Mr. Chipmunk got in and guessing as my 15 minute search had revealed nothing- so he came in either when I was carrying the garbage out earlier or perhaps had even come in through the shed I left open earlier (it backs up to the kitchen wall).

Both cats are near me… Bear looks anxious… Leo suddenly streaks into the kitchen and flushes Mr. Chipmunk out of hiding….

Get Ready… yes…

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bear also gets scared. Either of me screaming or the chipmunk, not sure which. He goes and hides under the table. The next hour is blur of me and Leo flushing the chipmunk out of a series of places, under furniture, etc. Just imagine a small black cat chasing a smaller creature while a grown man runs behind with a wire waste basket… My intention was to catch the chipmunk, but I kept catching Leo. Finally, Leo sent him in my direction and I got the litter basket over the poor thing. He battered around inside trying to come up with a way out… I fended off Leo trying to imagine the next part of the trick of getting him out…

You think I planned that far????

Finally, I just started slowly scooting basket and chipmunk across the floor until we got near the door. The threshold is too high to do the scoot game so I open the door as best I can such that there are no obvious options save that one. I tip the basket back and Mr. Chipmunk goes sailing out the door…

SLAMMMMMMMMMM!

Leo fussed about his lost prize for the next half hour. It took Bear that long to come out. He was so scared that the Chipmunk was at one point HIDING behind him and Bear didn’t so much as twitch or consider going after him. Definitely an indoor kitty…

I’ve once again checked under cabinets, dishwasher, etc. If he didn’t come in the door, the only way in is through the gap to the pipes of the dishwasher, which lead out into the shed where the furnace and hot water heater is. There’s no openings to the outside world there, so he either came in the back door earlier, or the shed door yesterday.

Mental note - be more observant and scream less…

So, I came home last Sunday and made a quick pit stop in my rarely used downstairs bathroom. It’s pretty strictly for guests as I can’t fathom the reason for me to dirty up more than one bathroom solo.

So, I run in, use it and flush, and I feel a splash of water on my leg… huh? I start looking and see nothing… Then I flush again while at eye level and see it, a bit of water seeping between the tank and the bowl. The gasket is doubtless 20 years old… No problem for me. I can replace it.

But if I’m going to tear the toilet half apart… shouldn’t I take it all down and FINALLY put in that tile floor I’ve wanted in that half bath for a couple of years now? I’ve never really liked that the wall to wall from the living room flows in there. So, I decide that I’ll do the whole thing this weekend… right…

I had dinner Friday after work and then ran to Home Depot and found the tile I wanted, 2 by 2 inch square tiles, almond colored. Okay, I hadn’t precisely planned that, but I knew I wanted small tiles and I liked the almond better than stark white.

I got half the tiles set Friday night but just ran out of steam to keep cutting tiles. So, I went to bed at 2am…

Saturday, slept late and the had to go to work for a bit. Picked up comics on the way back and also got two more sheets of tiles - I needed one more and I figured some extra would be good if I or a future owner was to break some tiles. Saturday night I partially grouted it. Sunday morning I finished that task. Then had to go back to the office a bit more this weekend. Came home and installed the new quarter round around the perimeter of the room.

The grout needs to set a bit more before I replace the toilet (which is looking oh so swank in the dining room). I also need to clean the tiles and seal the grout. Oh, and I want to repaint the trim… And I start looking at the ceiling… I repainted the wall in this small bath when I moved in 5 years ago. It was a dark burgundy color (like the rest of the downstairs) that made it feel quite cave like. I had left over yellow paint from the kitchen, and that was the amount of thought that went into what color it was painted. Anything was better than the dark color it was. But as I started painting the ceiling tonight, which I had skipped those many year ago and it showed at this point, I decided the yellow was also a bit strong in such a small space. So, at 11pm tonight, I wrapped up with what I had left of the white paint from the upstairs guest bath… I’ll have to run pick some up tomorrow. It was just as well that I ran out as it was getting late!

Oh, I also replaced the sink faucet and stopper in there. So, you see what I mean by one thing leading to another with my projects around the house.

When I’m done, the bathroom will have a completely new coat of paint, brand new tile floor and all new hardware on the vanity..

When that completion date is anybody’s guess, but if the week doesn’t afford me that time, next weekend must.

So, I haven’t posted anything new in awhile. But other than the usual internal chaos, nothing new to report anyway.

Fighting some allergy or something. If it’s a cold, it’s very atypical as I don’t feel congested, feverish. I’m just sneezing and coughing A LOT. The cough is a dry wheeze and nothing is ever coming from it… I was home over the weekend and by Sunday everything had cleared. Within hours of being back, it resumed. But it’s worse at work than at the house. My allergy theory seems to be validated, but maybe I’m just allergic to the place. I ended up leaving work early today. Crashed out and read awhile and did laundry (last load in dryer now).

Friday night saw Serenity. Loved the thing, damnit… I say damnit because the box office numbers are not good… Unless it gets unbelievable word of mouth, the franchise is probably dead. It’s a bit too much like history repeating. Just a few years ago, I was watching the TV series it’s based on die… And right on the heels of that, my grandmother passed.. It was a dark time all around… It was also more or less the end of my regular TV viewing. I haven’t made an incredible effort these days to actually sit down to watch a show - so much so that I often question the continued cable expense… So, here’s my plea, if you haven’t seen Serenity and you’re a fan of quality sci fi, go see it! If you have seen it, go again - I shall!

Ah, and the continuing internal struggle. I have to say it dominates much of my waking life. Work has had me both bored and stressed out of late. I look for satisfaction with my life and find it lacking. I’m tired of the 9 to 5 sitting at a desk deal. I’m tired of shipping project after project. And I bizarrely find myself almost becoming a technophobe. On one hand, I comprehend what I need to about the new system we’re using, but on the other, I find myself wanting to shoot people as they spout out the neverending spew of new jargon.

Yet after getting a promotion and THREE raises this year, I’m hard-pressed of late to seriously consider going elsewhere.. Maybe I’m short-changing myself, but I find it hard to believe I could easily get a similar situation salary-wise elsewhere. And would it matter? I suspect to continue or exceed my current salary, it would be a job based on my current experience - so same job more or less somewhere else… And the point would be?

I think in a bizarre way, this is leading to a general feeling of self-defeat. I’ve more or less convinced myself that I need to stay where I am and finish paying off the student loan as fast as reasonably possible. The only exception, and I’m at a loss how this would work out, would be if I could find a job that either involves travel or is overseas. In that scenario, if I could pay my way and continue to erode the student loan, I suspect I’d drop it all and go… I don’t see it happening, but I guess you never know when opportunity might knock.

And in some sort of strange feedback loop, this indecision has affected travel plans. For a good few weeks now I’ve toyed with the idea of Italy for New Year’s. Each weekend, I convince myself that it’s better to hold off on travel for the spring and use that money towards the aforementioned student loan. And then, as soon as the work week commences, I once again find myself searching airfares. Today, I yo-yo’d between Italy and Scotland (Highlands this time). Ultimately, one less trip in the year ahead WOULD make a dent in the debt… even as cheaply as I travel, airfare alone is a dent… So, will the sensible side or the side seeking something else in the world win out?