A Rocket Scientist Faces Uncertainty...
I 'm sitting here this morning trying to decide what to sell and how much to ask if I sell any given item in my upcoming "Carport Sale" of semi-unwanted "Stuff" we don't want to pay to move.
Any Ideas?
I have a bunch of realy weird musical crap...specifically a old Holton trumpet, a Chinese Flugelhorn, and a box full of Horner and Lee Oscar Harmonicas and finally a real Austrailia Didgeridoo made from an Eucalyptus tree which has been naturally hollowed out by termites.
Historically I like musical instruments where you hit a string between frets (the guitar) or push a piston (the trumpet) or blow in a hole (the Harmonica) instead of those weird things like the viola and violin or even the Trombone with it's slide where you have to somehow memorize and hit the place on the dang thing in orde to get a note which is in tune EACH AND EVERY TIME.
I'm definitely going to keep the Harmonicas, but the Trumpet and Flugelhorn are up for bids along with my antique Remington Noiseless Portable Typewriter.
Then there is the carpet shampoo machine and almost the entire living room except for my framed photos and drawings and now at 8 AM I guess we will have a bunch of strangers wandering around looking at our "STUFF."
Just for your assurance, I'll try to avoid killing any members of the "GENERAL PUBLIC" and continue on with our progression to Tulsa.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
We're Having A Carport Sale...
As If I Already Didn't Have Enough Stuff To Do...
So last night we took the neighbors--Danny and Sheila--out to dinner to thank them for their good company in the past 4-1/2 years and for the stuff they are going to do for us in the future like keeping the homeless "occupy Knoxville" crowd from moving into our vacant house before we can rent the place later this winter.
Earlier I drove around West Knox picking up some last minute things at Lowe's and Home Depot before cutting the FINAL BOARDS and hanging the NEW DART BOARD down in the Wee Pub.
That's right Ladies and Gentlemen...all that's left to do in my basement besides moving everything onto a truck on it's way to Tulsa, Oklahoma is a little paint and stain.
It's really sort of sad because I put so much attention and effort into the design and details and I'll hardly have more than a couple of nights to enjoy the finished room before I leave the state pretty much forever.
Now I have to go back down in the basement and crack open some paint cans and swab some paint on a few things, and push some stuff around toward the Carport door in anticipation of having a "yard sale" in my carport from 8 AM to 2 PM today. We have a whole bunch of stuff we don't want to pay to move again, and it's either going to sell on Saturday else go to Goodwill/Habitat for Humanity on Monday.
That said...Regards Y'all...hope you have a LOVELY weekend..
I probably won't but I'll try my best any way.
So last night we took the neighbors--Danny and Sheila--out to dinner to thank them for their good company in the past 4-1/2 years and for the stuff they are going to do for us in the future like keeping the homeless "occupy Knoxville" crowd from moving into our vacant house before we can rent the place later this winter.
Earlier I drove around West Knox picking up some last minute things at Lowe's and Home Depot before cutting the FINAL BOARDS and hanging the NEW DART BOARD down in the Wee Pub.
That's right Ladies and Gentlemen...all that's left to do in my basement besides moving everything onto a truck on it's way to Tulsa, Oklahoma is a little paint and stain.
It's really sort of sad because I put so much attention and effort into the design and details and I'll hardly have more than a couple of nights to enjoy the finished room before I leave the state pretty much forever.
Now I have to go back down in the basement and crack open some paint cans and swab some paint on a few things, and push some stuff around toward the Carport door in anticipation of having a "yard sale" in my carport from 8 AM to 2 PM today. We have a whole bunch of stuff we don't want to pay to move again, and it's either going to sell on Saturday else go to Goodwill/Habitat for Humanity on Monday.
That said...Regards Y'all...hope you have a LOVELY weekend..
I probably won't but I'll try my best any way.
Friday, October 28, 2011
The "Wee Pub"
A Big Giant Room In A Little Package
Well, 2 AM this morning finds me back in my soon to be former basement making sawdust and slapping paint on everything that doesn't already have paint or stain on it's surface.
In an uncharacteristic moment I actually got Kilz primer on the front of my t-shirt...something I rarely do...but working at the pace I'm having to work at accidents will happen I guess.
I'm closing off the area under the new staircase with a plain blank wall, abandoning the idea of building a cozy little booth for two people in that area with a private flat screen TV.
Things will definitely be wrapped up by Sunday in time to put away the tools and construction debris in anticipation of the packing crew coming in Monday morning.
I just hope I get time to have a drink and toss a few darts at least once in my creation before heading back to Tulsa.
Regards Y'all...
Well, 2 AM this morning finds me back in my soon to be former basement making sawdust and slapping paint on everything that doesn't already have paint or stain on it's surface.
In an uncharacteristic moment I actually got Kilz primer on the front of my t-shirt...something I rarely do...but working at the pace I'm having to work at accidents will happen I guess.
I'm closing off the area under the new staircase with a plain blank wall, abandoning the idea of building a cozy little booth for two people in that area with a private flat screen TV.
Things will definitely be wrapped up by Sunday in time to put away the tools and construction debris in anticipation of the packing crew coming in Monday morning.
I just hope I get time to have a drink and toss a few darts at least once in my creation before heading back to Tulsa.
Regards Y'all...
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Changing Home Utility Services
Lord...Give Me The Strength To Not Get In The Car And Go Kill A "Customer Service" Idiot
I've spent a couple of hours over the past few days fiddling around on various monopoly utility service websites trying to get the power and gas and cable TV turned on out in Tulsa next week.
I finally gave up and resorted to getting on the telephone today, since I had to call the City of Tulsa any way for trash and water service. Only the government would have a website telling you what they can do for you but making you call them to sign up.
The other feckless utilities are all having some problem because the previous resident of our house--the builder and developer of the sub division--just moved out and their computers haven't caught up with the process.
So any way...I just got off of the phone with Cox Communications for the third time in five minutes and I'm not feeling any better about them than I do about Comcast for Cable and Internet service.
Either I can't speak clearly else the "customer service" representative can't hear and understand my Alabama/Georgia/Florida/Tennessee Southern Redneck Accent--or AGFTSR Accent for short...
So now it's time to call the Electric company and the Gas Company and finally the Government, so you will excuse me while my eyeballs roll further back into their sockets and my ever greying, ever balding head starts spinning at a speed approaching orbital rotational velocity.
AhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHH...
I've spent a couple of hours over the past few days fiddling around on various monopoly utility service websites trying to get the power and gas and cable TV turned on out in Tulsa next week.
I finally gave up and resorted to getting on the telephone today, since I had to call the City of Tulsa any way for trash and water service. Only the government would have a website telling you what they can do for you but making you call them to sign up.
The other feckless utilities are all having some problem because the previous resident of our house--the builder and developer of the sub division--just moved out and their computers haven't caught up with the process.
So any way...I just got off of the phone with Cox Communications for the third time in five minutes and I'm not feeling any better about them than I do about Comcast for Cable and Internet service.
Either I can't speak clearly else the "customer service" representative can't hear and understand my Alabama/Georgia/Florida/Tennessee Southern Redneck Accent--or AGFTSR Accent for short...
So now it's time to call the Electric company and the Gas Company and finally the Government, so you will excuse me while my eyeballs roll further back into their sockets and my ever greying, ever balding head starts spinning at a speed approaching orbital rotational velocity.
AhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHH...
Finally Back In Knoxtown
Up To My Eyeballs In Things Needing Done...
Well, I finally made it back to the Turbo Pup Compound on the Banks of the Mighty Tennessee River about 10:30 last night...and hour and one half later than scheduled.
I have to confess that if I hadn't REALLY needed to get my butt home in order to maximize today's efforts I would possibly have asked to step off of that particular airliner when the pilot told all of us sitting in the back what was going on.
It seems that APU (auxiliary power unit...basically a little jet engine hooked to a generator located in the tail of the fuselage which they use on the ground for basic electrical power) was not working after they landed LATE and as a result they had to keep one of the main engines running to supply electricity on the ground.
So then when they refueled the planes tanks for our flight they failed to consider the jet fuel quantity needed to idle the one main engine on the ground for thirty or forty five minutes while we boarded and fumbled around getting into our seats.
(The airlines have stopped flying around with full fuel tanks in order to save money in fuel economy hauling around unnecessary weight...they calculate the actual fuel required and a reasonable reserve quantity and that's all they load on board.)
So THEN guess what?
They had to call the fuel truck back (apparently from the other side of the Tulsa metropolitan area) to "top off the tanks" after we had boarded the hot airplane (because the Air Conditioner also didn't work without the APU.)
Then the comedy continued.
You see, in the refueling process they had to shut down the one running main engine as a safety precaution, and then because of the dead APU they also had to call over a "compressor cart" which is basically a truck with a giant air compressor and a tank which they use to spin up the gas turbine engines to starting speed in absence of electricity on board...again the aforementioned APU being the culprit.
That exercise caused another ten or fifteen minute delay in our departure.
After an hour and fifteen minute delay, you can understand my trepidation over continuing my journey on a multi-million dollar device designed to fly through the air at 400 miles per hour, 25,000 feet above the surface of our planet, when it was having so much trouble just doing it's job SITTING AT ZERO MILES PER HOUR ON THE GROUND.
But I stayed on board, managed to avoid the wrath of the TSA officials and getting my picture on TV and published on the Drudge Report, and here I sit this morning in the disarray of my partially packed office in my home of which the contents are supposed to be residing in Tulsa, Oklahoma next week.
Time to update my "to do" list and get busy back in the Wee Pub.
Y'all have a LOVELY day...if you will.
(I just want to get through the next seven days without losing my mind...)
Well, I finally made it back to the Turbo Pup Compound on the Banks of the Mighty Tennessee River about 10:30 last night...and hour and one half later than scheduled.
I have to confess that if I hadn't REALLY needed to get my butt home in order to maximize today's efforts I would possibly have asked to step off of that particular airliner when the pilot told all of us sitting in the back what was going on.
It seems that APU (auxiliary power unit...basically a little jet engine hooked to a generator located in the tail of the fuselage which they use on the ground for basic electrical power) was not working after they landed LATE and as a result they had to keep one of the main engines running to supply electricity on the ground.
So then when they refueled the planes tanks for our flight they failed to consider the jet fuel quantity needed to idle the one main engine on the ground for thirty or forty five minutes while we boarded and fumbled around getting into our seats.
(The airlines have stopped flying around with full fuel tanks in order to save money in fuel economy hauling around unnecessary weight...they calculate the actual fuel required and a reasonable reserve quantity and that's all they load on board.)
So THEN guess what?
They had to call the fuel truck back (apparently from the other side of the Tulsa metropolitan area) to "top off the tanks" after we had boarded the hot airplane (because the Air Conditioner also didn't work without the APU.)
Then the comedy continued.
You see, in the refueling process they had to shut down the one running main engine as a safety precaution, and then because of the dead APU they also had to call over a "compressor cart" which is basically a truck with a giant air compressor and a tank which they use to spin up the gas turbine engines to starting speed in absence of electricity on board...again the aforementioned APU being the culprit.
That exercise caused another ten or fifteen minute delay in our departure.
After an hour and fifteen minute delay, you can understand my trepidation over continuing my journey on a multi-million dollar device designed to fly through the air at 400 miles per hour, 25,000 feet above the surface of our planet, when it was having so much trouble just doing it's job SITTING AT ZERO MILES PER HOUR ON THE GROUND.
But I stayed on board, managed to avoid the wrath of the TSA officials and getting my picture on TV and published on the Drudge Report, and here I sit this morning in the disarray of my partially packed office in my home of which the contents are supposed to be residing in Tulsa, Oklahoma next week.
Time to update my "to do" list and get busy back in the Wee Pub.
Y'all have a LOVELY day...if you will.
(I just want to get through the next seven days without losing my mind...)
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
What The Heck Happened To Me?
The Reflection In The Mirror Is A Total Stranger
First I cut off my pony tail and buzzed the rest of my head down to 1/8" hair, and now I'm showing up in an office building in of all places TULSA, OKLAHOMA at 7:45 five days a week working my butt off on the computer.
All I want to know IS...
"who's idea was all of this insanity any way?"
(Let me know if you have any clues...)
First I cut off my pony tail and buzzed the rest of my head down to 1/8" hair, and now I'm showing up in an office building in of all places TULSA, OKLAHOMA at 7:45 five days a week working my butt off on the computer.
All I want to know IS...
"who's idea was all of this insanity any way?"
(Let me know if you have any clues...)
