Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

In no particular order, per usual...

• I wonder if I'm ever going to have the brain power to put together an essay again, instead of just posting these little bullets of randomness. Sigh.
• See what I mean about sunsets?
  

  How could you miss something so phenomenal as this because you were too busy watching the news? Particularly when this view is right outside your door? You can make time for this. Really and truly you can.

  And if you can't, well, you're a flaming idiot.

  The husband's shop just obtained a new large scale plotter/printer. We're thinking that one would look cool on the wall. And the fact that the shop now has a new printer has nothing to do with it.

• Have I mentioned I returned home to a brand spankin' new bathroom?
  

  For this, we paid no rent for the month of October. The husband actually lived here while there was no plumbing. Don't ask how he managed. You really don't want to know.

  Of course, since this is the Cake Eater Pad, there are a few problems remaining to be fixed. The contractor, who gave the husband headaches galore, did a shitty job with the caulking and silicone. There are holes in the caulking in the tub, where he missed, and they're worse than what was there before, so that's saying something. They pulled out the window frame and when they replaced it, they didn't bother to putty up the nail holes, so there are a bunch of pockmarks where there shouldn't be. The grout line between the tub and the new tile floor looks like it was put in place by a two-year-old with limited Play-Doh experience. The door frame, which now holds the old door in a pocket frame, is completely unfinished. The paint job is pretty crappy. Have I mentioned that there are holes cut into the ceiling for a new light fixture and for the HVAC vent---but that there's no light fixture or vent in place? I could go on, but you get the gist. There are lots of little things---and some biggies---that need attention, in other words. But the thing that pisses me off the most is that, somehow, the bathroom is bigger now. Why does this piss me off? You wouldn't think it would, particularly if you'd been in the previous hidey-hole bathroom. But it does. Because we actually have less storage now than we did before.

  Sigh.

  See, the contractor was supposed to start the day after I left for Florida, the fourth of October. He didn't actually start until the 9th. The demo went fine, like it usually does in any similar situation, because everyone loves deconstructionism, but then the guy started running into problems. And then he kicked off early that Friday to go pheasant hunting. The thing was supposed to be done last Tuesday. It wasn't actually done until this past Friday, the 19th. And, according to an email we got yesterday from the landlord, he went waaaay over budget. Hence we don't have the storage cabinet above the toilet that we were promised. Nor have the towel racks/hooks been installed. See that bit at the end of the shower? Well, that's supposed to be cut out and shelves are supposed to be installed. We kind of figured that that would have happened before they put the drywall in and painted it over, but nooooooo. Yeah. Quality is, apparently, job one with this dude. And the poor landlord is tapped out, so it's not going to get done before December, when he visits again and can do it himself.

  In the meantime, I have a box of assorted shit from one of the old cabinets that's still sitting on the floor in the bedroom. I had to clear the linen closet out yesterday to make room for all the other assorted shit that was still lying around. That vanity is pretty neat until you realize that it holds less than our old medicine cabinet did---but I had to shove all of our daily necessities under there, nonetheless, because that's the only place I could put them.

  Sigh. Why this shit always happens to us, I don't really know. We're a magnet for construction related problems. If we ever have our own house and we need to rehab it, I've decided I'm going to get the whole project insured by Lloyd's of London, so I'll at least make some coin on all of these delays/fuck-ups. Because they're gonna happen---might as well be prepared.

• In hair news, I should probably tell you that I have some now.

  All that fuzz morphed into something more. I have real, honest to goodness hair, and enough of it that, when I wake up in the morning, bits of it stick out! I never thought I'd be excited to say that I have bed head, but I am.

  I don't know if/when this stuff will fall out, but, according to the literature I received from the oncologist's office, it should, any time now. Then I should get in my regular hair, which will probably be curlier than it was before and completely unmanageable. We'll just have to see what happens.

  Right now I'm content to have my scalp hidden, like everyone else. Even if I look like a guy.

  While we're on the subject of hair, or the lack of, I must give a ringing endorsement to the Nioxin people, makers of the baldie starter kit. The oncologist's office recommended this product during chemo class, and it works fantastically to keep the scalp clean and itch-free. Don, hair guy extraordinaire, calls it a, "facial for your scalp." It works wonderfully and it has the Cake Eater Seal of Approval.

• How about those Red Sox, eh?

  It was actually kind of a boring game last night, and it became spectacularly embarrassing during the bottom of the fifth, but I'm glad they won nonetheless. If for no other reason than I get to rub my sister's nose in it. This particular sister lives outside of Denver and her family is big into baseball. She sent out a particularly obnoxious email, which went something like, HOW ABOUT THOSE ROCKIES!!!!!!! in the title line of the email, when they won the NLCS. There wasn't anything in the actual email. For this sin, she shall pay.

  The only question is, do I taunt her now or do I wait?

• I flew home on Northworst.

  I had to connect through Memphis. They parked the first plane at the end of the B Concourse. My connecting flight to Minneapolis was located at the end of the A Concourse. When I landed in Minneapolis, we parked at the end of the A Concourse, which of course, is an extension of the already uber-long C Concourse. It took me almost twenty minutes to get to baggage claim. I HATE it when this happens. Pisses me off and it isn't inclined to make me grant Northworst any charitable opinions.

  Furthermore, there was some weirdness in Memphis. I stopped into a shop and the chick behind the counter treated me like a regular. Confused with all the familiarity, I wondered why. My confusion must have been apparent, because she said, "I remember you from last time."

  They must not get too many people with scarves on their head.

That should do you for a time, kids.