Yes, I'm navigationally challenged

Hi all, I have a post all ready to put up here about some of my escapades over the weekend. It's sitting on my desktop on my PC at home, so I'll be sure to get it up here ASAP.

Other than what you'll be getting in a later posting, here are some things that went down over the weekend. I made it from my house to my sister's school without getting lost even once. It was a MIRACLE! Thank you Jesus! I did get lost later on that night in crazy traffic (you'll read about that later) and then for a short while on my drive back to the good ole Berkshires. The last one I blame entirely on Google maps and the State of New York. Apparently, there are no rules about naming multiple streets the same thing or putting the route number on the sign as opposed to the name of the street. A few extra turns and curses got me back on track. Bastards!

Of course as I was driving around lost, my contacts were fuzzing up something fierce so it was impossible to focus on either the road signs or my map/directions. I was heated.

The rest of the drive went well. I was transporting an entertainment center in the Soob (I still need a name for my car, and no, "Mom-mobile" is not acceptable), and found that it outperformed the truck in its transporting duties. Yes, the truck would have been easier to get the entertainment center into and out of, but I would have had to strap it down, cover it, pull over every 30 minutes to reattach the tarp, etc. So far I have only needed the truck for one thing that the Soob couldn't do, and that was helping someone move, so I'm grateful for that inadequacy. The only complaint about the drive was that the knobs kept vibrating loose on the doors/drawers of the entertainment center. Twice I had to look for one that had come all the way off, rolled around for a while and fallen off somewhere in the back. Oh, and once I had four bottles of hot sauce and three cans of tuna fall out of the door at a rest stop. Nothing broke, but I yelled a lot (this was shortly after I got back on track after being lost for 1/2 hour, so I was still a little tense).

Last night was fairly boring. I unpacked the groceries I got from my sister and made a nice pile of things that are up-for-grabs. I'm going to give Snicky the first cut at the leftovers since she has been nice enough to volunteer to house my sister's cats for the next few months.

Which brings me to my next point... I felt really bad calling her to ask about sitting for the cats. I had been badmouthing the cats for some time now, but when I actually got out there and spent some time with those kitties, I realized they're actually good cats. Sure, the female (Patti) hisses at me from time to time, she's still a sweetheart. She kept forgetting that she didn't like me and would snuggle up on the couch with me (until she remembered that I'm a bad person, and she'd hop down). And Ricky, the male is eggstra cute. He's a lot like my Vinny- chill and malleable - but also much less needy (Vin is SOOOO needy).

Enough about cats.

While I was out at my sister's abode, I put myself to work. The bathroom faucet was missing the cold handle. Since she couldn't find the replacement handles, she had bought a whole new faucet. I figured instead of assing out and only swapping the new handles I'd replace the whole faucet - "It should be pretty easy". Of course it wasn't as easy as I would have liked, but it didn't require additional trips to Home Depot so I consider it a complete success. Plus, the new faucet works/looks so much better that the old one. Score one for the good guys. Oh, and she has some nice photos of me working under the sink, complete with plumber's crack. I'll try to get the PC pic up sometime once she has it available to share.

My next project was to replace the smoke detectors. She has the fancy hard-wired kind that is hooked into the power panel. Oooh lah laaahh. Apparently during The Great Broiling Fiasco of Ought-Five the smoke detectors met their final demise. In the months following the Fiasco, they remained in service, emitting a low cricket-like sound, but offered no protection whatsoever. A quick repacement by yours truly and she is free to burn any and all pork chops she chooses, with all the bells and whistles. No Plumber's Crack during this project, just Electrician's Glute (and no photos).

So I'm back at work today and I'd much rather be home doing anything else. It's not terrible, I just have other things I'd rather be doing. Plus, since JD gave his notice everyone thinks I've got one foot out the door. If this screws me out of a raise this year, I'll be pissed!

P.S. I got my tax refund from Uncle Sam, so if anyone sees Steve "The Home" Depot, let him know that the money is on its way.

Over and Out,
Old Coot

P.S. I found some pictures of Old Coot related paraphernalia. Blogspot isn't cooperating, so I'll have to try and post them another time.