Fun with Plumbing

Years ago we had a problem with water leaking next to the tub. It ran through the floor and ate a big hole in the sub floor before pooling up in the cellar. That lead to us having the whole bathroom remodeled.

It kinda didn’t fix the problem. I’ve seen water coming into the cellar a couple of times. There’s some damaged wall board next to the tub. I don’t think it’s a leak, I think it’s just a shower curtain issue. If we are super careful and close it tightly and make sure nothing gets out then there’s no water in the cellar. If we’re lax in our shower curtain workflow then we get some water. Not much, but enough.

We had a plumber in this morning to take a look. He suggested having a contractor come in and try to tighten things up so no water drips out. He added a little calk along the edge of the tub but that will more likely just move any water away from the wall board a little. I think we just need to be extra careful with the shower curtain. We’ll keep an eye on things.

In the meantime, here is a picture of Robin the kitty looking all introspective. She’s pondering the meaning of life here, clearly.

77/365
77/365

Finders Keepers

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?

Daily writing prompt

Let’s see now… there is only one thing that fits the spirit of this question fully that comes to mind. When I was a kid I had a paper route. One day while walking up Nelson Ave in Tewksbury I found a cassette tape on the ground. It was a C120 which you didn’t see too often. That means the tape was 60 minutes long on each side. You didn’t see them because in order to fit that much tape into the cassette they had to make the tape extra thin. Too thin, as it turned out. They used to wear out quickly and break easily. Anyway, I took this cassette home with me and gave it a spin. It had AC/DC’s Back in Black album on one side and Motley Crue’s Shout at the Devil on the other. The Crue record didn’t do anything for me, but Back in Black absolutely lived up to the hype. I kept that tape just as it was and played the shit out of the AC/DC side.

I just Googled the release dates of those two records. Back in Black came out in 1980 and Shout at the Devil came out in 1983. That means at the time I was at least 12 years old. That’s about what I remembered. The Crue record must have been very new when it was dubbed onto the tape.

That’s probably the most interesting thing I’ve ever found and kept. I can think of two more things that I found and bought. Both were at used record stores near Harvard Square. First, I found a cassette for sale that had a bootleg of a Big Dipper show that was originally broadcast by MIT’s radio station, WMBR. The station simulcast a show that they played on campus for some reason. That was awesome, but the bonus that made it extra memorable was a few demos that were tacked onto the end. Two members of Big Dipper had previously been members of The Volcano Suns. They never released anything officially, but this demo was definitely that Volcano Suns line up. It even include a song that Big Dipper would record themselves a few years later. It was like finding a little piece of gold.

At a different used record store near Harvard Square I found a copy of The Blake Babies’ self released first record, Nicely Nicely. At that point the record had never been reissued anywhere, so it was the real deal. I had to pay too much for it, but the price I paid was still less than what you pay for an album on vinyl today. I still have it. It’s upstairs in the living room with the rest of my vinyl collection.

So there you have it. One thing I found and kept and two things I found and bought. Nothing really interesting, but they were the first things that popped into my head when I read the prompt so there you go.

The Evening Commute Blues

I still have an hour and 20 minutes to go before I can head home from the office. Unfortunately I saw a news report that states one of the highways I sometimes take home is closed in both directions.

Shit.

Tanker truck carrying ‘several thousand gallons of fuel’ overturns on Route 3 north of Boston

That means that everyone heading in my direction is going to have one major highway option taken away from them, which means that we’re all going to take the same route, which means that the already brutal evening traffic is going to be 100% worse than normal.

Oh goody gumdrops. I could go North for 40 miles or so, but maybe today would be faster to go South and circumnavigate the globe. Just call me Ferdinand Friggin’ Magellan.

If You Always Skip it, Why is it In Your Routine?

What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?

Daily writing prompt

Dumb question alert.

If you always try to skip one step in your regular routine, why is it part of your routine? If you always try to skip it, why not just delete it from your to-do list and have done with it? Are you a child who doesn’t get to set their own routine? If that’s the case then the question might make some sense, but if you’re an adult? If you are an adult and there is something in your routine that you actually try to skip, just don’t keep it in your routine. Simple.

Did A.I. come up with this question?

There are a lot of things I’d like to skip. I’d like to not have to exercise every day. I’d like to just roll out of bed and be lazy. I can’t though because if I do my recently redesigned innards will fall apart and I’ll destroy what healthiness I have right now. Same with my daily vitamins and tracking my food and drink and all that fun stuff. If I skip one of those daily routine steps then I get sick and I really don’t wan to get sick. That’s literally why these things are part of the routine, dig? Otherwise they wouldn’t be in the routine. That’s why I don’t try to skip any of those things.

I mean.. duh, right? I’m not taking crazy pills or anything, am I?

Grocery Fail and the Clock at Night

I went grocery shopping for some turkey day supplies today. The jar of mini onions leaked all over the place, the bowl of diced watermelon leaked all over the place, and one of the packages of pudding wasn’t sugar free. Motherpussbucket.

At least I got two bad night time pictures of the down town clock. One coming and one going.

I was left pretty annoyed by the whole trip. Stupid leaky groceries.

My Guitar is Home!

I went to the guitar shop at lunch. I made excellent time despite a road closure somewhere in Andover, MA.

I played my newly refretted guitar with its new bridge and its new nut and my first impression is that it still feels pretty good. The frets are a lot higher than I’m used to on this guitar, but not too different than a couple of other guitars. The action is a little higher than it used to be, I think, but it’s still super low the way I like it. It felt good. First impression, again, is that I am really happy.

I took my guitar home!

What do you think, beautiful, eh?

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Dig that new bridge!
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Dig that new nut!
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Dig those new frets!
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Dig those new frets again!

He did mention that a couple of the inlays on the neck popped out while he was removing the old frets. That happens. He fixed them. That’s good. I didn’t see anything and I couldn’t feel any difference during my quick inspection. All in all… happy. Can’t wait to get the band back together so I can play this babie at practice and wind up the volume and let it loose. Anyone know anyone who lives near Haverhill, MA who can sing and wants to join a dad-rock cover band?