EriqX / Journal 2008

12-MAY-2008 - More of the Same

There is never quite any way to sum up the events of an entire month in a short space, without dragging on and on, or making the endless tedium of the events seem as boring as they actually are.

It's safe enough to summarize that I've been hanging around with the usual people, doing mostly the usual things. Which is primarily town-hopping between Madison and Milwaukee, watching Battlestar Galactica, and eating out more than I should.

I've been attempting to enjoy the attempted weather shift we're experiencing. It's clearly trying to get warmer, although failing. On occasion there will be a moderately warm day seemingly thrown in amongst a week or so of dreary endlessness. It's always welcome though nearly always short-lived.

I've managed to sneak in a handful of motorcycle rides even with the weather trying to keep me down. I'm a fair-weather rider though, so as I could just as easily bundle up and make the haul I'd much rather turn on the heat and wait for nature to make up her mind.

Another plus to the occasional nice day is my tireless desire to work in or on the yard. I've planted a number of flowers already, and built a new flower box along the backside of the garage. I've picked up some trellises which I'll be attaching to the back wall of the garage. I'm planning on growing some hops, which are a climbing plant incidentally. If I'm lucky Mike and I will be able to brew a batch of beer this season that actually contains some home-grown hops. Mike also helped me tear out a fence in the back yard this past weekend, although there is a bit of touching-up to do. Once it's all through with I'll have gained a little extra yard space.

I've recently taken up running again. It's not something I've ever stuck with for too long, and it's never been something I've done outside of just warming up for a workout. But I've been managing to keep it up at least 3-4 days a week, for the last few weeks. I've signed up for a 5K on the 20th of this month, and hope to be ready for it by then. I guess we'll see.

01-APR-2008 - Bringing Down the House

This past weekend Mike and Jess, Gary and Megan, Mo, Sylvia, and Gannon converged on the house. Most of them went to Ikea and Mitsuwa down in Shaumburg for the better part of Sunday. Mike and I stayed behind and tore down a wall in my basement. This particular wall was old and showed its age. It was used to separate the workout room from a small but useful storage area. While I do find storage useful and important, I tend to feel that it justifies my having things. Things that I don't need, and thus are stowed away for lengthy stays in places that serve no other purpose than for storing those things. Therefore when the wall was down, and my intention to rebuild it in a prettier form was paused while Mike suggested I just leave the area open, I quickly scrapped my plans to rebuild it. We traveled to Home Depot where I purchased some carpeting to cover the newly expanded area. We put all the equipment back, tidied up, and I must say the result is impressive. I still need to paint the walls, and perhaps panel or drywall them, but the current improvement is welcome as it is. I'm extremely pleased with how far it came in short time and little money.

Something of an additional plus to this project was the realization that the wall in the front room that separates it from the butterfly room, is not load-bearing. The wall we removed was directly below it, and there were no supports or beams or useful construction elements of any kind that would indicate it is. Obviously I'll get this checked out by someone more knowledgeable before I do any more destruction. But it's a happy discovery because I intend to knock out that upstairs wall as well, adding a significant amount of space to my current front room. That project will wait a short while, but not too long. I expect it to be work intensive, but also affordable. It's mostly destruction again, the only materials needed will be paint and some more wood flooring, a little putty and touch-up items.

It's raining a lot lately. And I'm taking it as a sign of spring. I'm looking forward to my bike being rideable again. I'm still waiting on a number of things to be shipped back to me. But I know it will be soon. After a long and depressive battle with winter, I can at least tell that the end is near.

29-MAR-2008 - Winter Projects Continued

From a spending standpoint, I'm nearing a close on the great bike project of 2008. Everything I want or need to do to the bike, with exception to the chin spoiler, is purchased or awaiting delivery. As soon as the painted parts come back, and a few other modifications from different sources arrive via UPS, all I have to do is put it all together. I'm very excited and I expect that I'll be very pleased with the final results.

Last weekend I stayed in Madison with Mike while Jessica and Mo were at Jodi's bachelorette party. Mike changed out his spark plugs on his Yamaha, and I successfully installed my new clutch cable. We hit up Granite City for some tasty food and beer, and wrapped up with a viewing of 3:10 to Yuma.

The following day was easter brunch with the family. Easter this year seemed somewhat depressing, most likely because it came in March, and we had yet another snow storm two days before. It was just starting to look like spring was coming for real this time, when nature dropped another one on us. I have to admit that as much as I already hate winter, and cold in general, I've never in as long as I can remember taken such a seasonal beating. I'm cold, depressed, and uncomfortable. And all I want is it to be over. It doesn't help that I know people in warmer places like Paul in Baton Rouge, or Jill in Spokane and Dawn in San Jose. It doesn't help that I work with Texans, and talk to them every single day, with updates on the mid-70 degree weather they are enjoying. It's near-torture that I'm so involved with the motorcycle right now, cause all I really want to do with it is ride the damn thing. I know the end is near, but it's been a longer, harder wait than usual, and I don't think I'm up for another Wisconsin winter if this is what they're going to be like going forward.

If there is a flip-side to any of this frigid downtime, I am getting a number of things done on the house. Mostly in the basement. It's not glamorous, but things need to get done, and I know I won't be down there working on them when it's finally 80 degrees outside. I picked up a treadmill, and gave it a home in my workout room. I've begun insulating all of the ductwork, which I understand makes a noticeable improvement in energy costs during the winter. The work bench project is on hold, but only because I need to tear out and rebuild a wall first. Once I redo that, the work bench will finally see its day. I need to install some new electrical outlets, and light fixtures while I'm at it. I'm taking it all a little bit each day, cause I've noticed when I try to charge down there and get crazy progress done, it never happens. At this rate I'll slowly but surely see it through.

11-MAR-2008 - Puppies and Powersports

This past Sunday Mike and I cleared a bit of space in his garage, unpacked the tools, and went to town on our motorcycles. Mike successfully added a helmet lock under his seat, removed his unwanted rear license plate/turn signal assembly, and re-wired his front headlights, so they are both on instead of just one. I successfully dismantled my bike, leaving only it's non-paintable parts behind. As for the paintable parts, the gas tank is in my garage. I'm trying to allow the few remaining drops of fuel left in it, that we couldn't seem to get out, evaporate away. The rest is tucked neatly in a box in the basement. Two very small, but needed plastic pieces are currently in the mail to me, and will be here soon. I'm currently waiting for word back from a friend, who's brother-in-law is a painter interested in doing some side work. Once that is all arranged I'll pass the tank and the plastics along, and eagerly await their return as freshly painted like-new components. I have a number of other modifications I want to make this year, including the integrated rear turn signals, the passenger foot peg rear turn signals, a front dual-headlight mod, and the addition of a chin spoiler. Unfortunately the cost at this point and after the paint job will have reached what I consider a comfortable limit, for what is already a perfectly rideable bike. The other mods may find their way into the mix over the course of summer, or possibly wait until the next riding season. As much as I'd like to see my bike "finished" for this season, I will be taking the last few details more slowly.

Today is my last day as a dog-sitter. Midnight had a fun weekend when I introduced her to Gannon, and she and he proceeded to play and pounce while Mike and I tended to our bike business. She has been a bit trying at times, but overall a playful and good puppy. Sandy should be on her way from the airport to pick her up in a few hours.

I'm going to spend the rest of my non-puppy week putting in some extra OT at work, in hopes that I can navigate some financial obligations. Between the bike, and possibly moving the Japan trip up (more on that later), things are leaning towards tight again. Tight, but never impossible of course. I just have to buckle down and commit to whatever it is that I need to get accomplished. There is always seemingly something looming that demands a better-than-average helping of cash. This bothers me to no end, and probably lends itself greatly to my general dissatisfaction with life's uneven happenings. I'm trying to remind myself not to get wrapped up in the American curse of plentitude. But naturally, I do anyway.

01-MAR-2008 - Things are Good

It feels as though there isn't much going on. Although, I'm pretty certain that's only because there is nothing to complain about.

I'm getting settled in to all the tiny perks of my newfound employment. Obviously nothing major has changed. But it feels like something has.

I got my tax returns back, and I've carefully distributed the monies into various, carefully thought out sections of need and want in my life.

I finally, finally got my car fixed after crashing it into a slab of curb over a year ago. The remaining $1200 that was required to fix it was reduced to $250 thanks to a mechanic friend, and a lucky find for some needed parts.

Starting tomorrow I'm dog-sitting a baby german shepherd for about a week and a half. I've never really been a confirmed dog person, but I've always been an animal person. And I'm looking forward to the experience of what it would be like to have something bigger than a cat roaming the house for a bit.

I took my sister to the Milwaukee Auto Show last night. As expected, it was enjoyable as a general outing, and it's always good to spend time with the fam. Unfortunately the cars themselves, save for just a few restored classics, were nothing different than going to a dealership. Nothing special in the slightest. It was still fun to poke and prod at the 2008 Subaru WRX, which after much consideration I've become certain will be my next vehicle. And now that my current Subaru is back in perfect running order, I can enjoy the final year of my current lease until the time comes to change-up.

Last weekend Ian, Hannah and myself hosted the Simpsons season 4 marathon here at the house. It was a bit lengthy, but an excellent day and evening to be sure. Many custom and awesome snacks were constructed specially for the event. And Mike and I discovered that Skittlebrau, in actuality, is not a good idea. Many thanks go out to everyone who showed up (some in costume) and made it a great time.

Tonight we are going out to Video Games Live, which is basically classic video game music played by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. I'm certain some dinner or bar-hopping, and a bit of loafin' will be added on to the evening.

I got the left-side fairing for my motorcycle in the mail yesterday. I needed to order one to replace the current one before the painting begins, because the old one is missing a chunk out of it. The previous owner obviously put the bike down at some point. Now that it's in, and I've had the bike fully tuned up just prior to putting it away this winter, and I'm close to getting it apart and painted, I'm getting reinvigorated a bit for this coming riding season. I know I'll enjoy tackling this project soon, but it's all just tedious distraction until I can finally ride again, which is unfortunately up to the weather. All in time.

14-FEB-2008 - Coffee Smells Like High School

Today Ian advised me that the toaster oven, while attempting to perform its services on a bagel earlier in the day, started a small fire. This fire was more or less a small flame that "poofed" out the side of the oven, and was quickly extinguished by Ian simply blowing on it. Intrigued by the potential for creating a small electrical fire myself, I plugged the toaster oven back in when I got home, fed it a tasty yet frozen vegetarian corn dog, and spun up the timer. That lasted only a few seconds. The result of my experiment was a small but scary-sounding series of blue sparks that circulated the side and back of the oven momentarily, until I turned it back off. I then proceeded to re-unplug it. Needless to say I did not recently enjoy a thoroughly toasted corn dog, but rather a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which was consumed in its raw form. I recognize that toaster ovens are by no means expensive, as far as the average goes. And certainly not at the high-end of household appliances. I do however remain disappointed by todays events. I bought that toaster oven just over a year ago, a little after I bought the house. As far as I'm concerned, unless you're buying toilet paper, anything you buy in this day and age should last you more than a year. Anything. A toaster oven is not exactly high tech. It's a dial, a door, and a heating coil. And it has a little light on it! It shouldn't break. It's not under stress, it's not operating in extreme conditions. It's not operating all day, everyday. It's not abused by small children. Planned obsolescence is a fucking joke, and now its delaying me a grease-free grilled cheese. The day-to-day annoyances of the modern world should be bigger than simple machines failing us before their time. This is the 21st bloody century! My first iPod was dropped, kicked, bent, scratched, sat on and knocked in to various stationary objects. And guess what? It kept on ticking, perfectly, every day, always. Right up until the day some fuck-tard stole it. I know a guy who crashed his Subaru into not one, but two walls, and rolled it once. Hammered out the dents, kept driving. Hundreds of thousands of miles later, still driving. This is what I'm talking about. This is the kind of dedication to quality we must demand from the world's toaster oven manufacturers. Cars and mp3 players are vastly more complicated products than toaster ovens. This is what our technology is capable of, yet we refuse to support it because we've come to expect less from everything, with few exceptions. And they're getting away with it. One shoddy product at a time, tiny little annoying things that shouldn't happen are happening. Again and again. And it's so normal to us all that we're just going to keep on expecting and tolerating it.

On the recent plus side of life's list, I did my taxes the other day, and since this is the first time I've done them after having the house under my belt for the entire year - and not just part of it - I am being rewarded. The typical challenge as usual is not doing anything stupid with the pending electronic deposits I'm looking forward to. I want to save some, pay off some, and put some away for a decent vacation this year. Now that I actually have vacation time to burn. As many times as I randomly come across a fortunate financial windfall, I never seem to make a big dent in my situation with it, but rather just add to one pile slightly, or take away from another slightly. It's tedious and frustrating at best, and mostly serves as a reminder to me that I'm lousy with finances, even though I'm much much better than I once was.

I spent some of this past weekend in catch-up mode. I went out to see Tom's rock show at Stonefly with Becky, and mostly felt good that I was not only finally spending some quality social time with Becky again, but also that I was finally doing something social and interesting in my own neighborhood. I've lived here for a year and a half, and when I first moved back I had fantasies of restarting my east-side/riverwest social networking, yet here I am. I have 10 cafes, coffee shops, good bars/breweries, or some other useful commercial establishment, all within walking distance of my front door. Yet here I sat for a year, painting walls and gardening. I'm glad I put so much time and effort into the house, but I've been missing the outside world for too long now. I caught up with Laurel the next morning, we had coffee and breakfast at the new Alterra (also down the street), and it was excellent. I've known Laurel for 20 years and it had been awhile since we had caught up. Once again, good to get out. Saturday night was Rock Bottom with Mike and Mo. And the Thursday before was Chad's 80's-themed art show. All around, an eventful, packed weekend.

I'd like to start focusing on the motorcycle a little more, as the window for painting it is nearing. If I can combine a new paint job with just a few new accessories and trim items, I'll have a gorgeous new bike to debut this summer. Living in a state where my yearly riding time is severely limited has proven to be extremely tasking. I'm trying to endure the off-time by toying with the bike and coming up with some alteration ideas. But it's all really just distraction. This snow needs to go away. I don't want time to fly, but I do want spring and summer back. Winter has its moments, but as far as I'm concerned they're all over for this year.

07-FEB-2008 - The End of an Era

Let's start with the one thing I always bitch about. This will be the last time, because there is nothing left to bitch about anymore. I signed that piece of paper today. I'd like to say the event has made me happy. But in all honesty, I've been perfectly happy and/or content with life all week long. Graduating from my long-suffered temporary status certainly does help keep my outlook overall positive, and I intend to keep it that way. But generally speaking my tranquility is in full effect, regardless.

Yesterday 17" of snow dropped out of the death-cold sky and buried Milwaukee. I found the event personally anti-climactic, but it did have great effect on everything else, including businesses, the airport, and peoples ability to drive in general. If I was 15 years younger I would be king of a medium-sized snow fortress at this time, with an inflated sense of accomplishment. Since I'm an adult I only have my real house to enjoy and play in, and by play in I mean drink hot cocoa and maintain this website while fellow motorists are creating pile-ups just outside. I'd like to fantasize that I may have a snow-mobile someday, but I honestly don't see the point. I expect it would be dangerously fun. But I have a motorcycle for that, and I like to fill winter with projects.

Unless of course I'm loafing and skiing. This past weekend was host to a spectacular cabin trip, perhaps the best yet. The introduction of alcohol to the humble game of Scrabble resulted in a new, bastardized, yet still somehow tedious version of Scrabble. Perhaps it is that Scrabble itself is so non-entertaining, that not even alcohol can save it. Drinking itself, however, is always good fun with good company. Cooking up tasty meals to extend the alcohols life and prolong its inevitable effect is also time well spent when you are miles from anything itself even remotely outside of civilization. On Saturday we went out to B's Country Cafe, which has become a regular stop for us in the U.P. We patronized Norway Mountain ski resort afterward, only to find they closed much earlier than expected, or rational. That slight disappointment aside, the skiing itself was excellent. Mike and I tried a few of the more difficult runs before "last call", but not as many as we would have liked. The girls had a good time as well, and I'm happy to say I did not suffer any personal injury, which was the highlight of last years trip. Sunday at the cabin was ultra-relaxed, with video games, reading, and my I-dare-you-to-make-a-better-breakfast-burrito breakfast burritos.

The workbench has been on hold just recently, but only for lack of time. I'm looking forward to getting back to it, as I am again re-fueled on the house-front. While up at the cabin the idea to forgo my intention to transform the current butterfly room into an asian tea room was re-presented. The substitute plan would be to knock out those walls entirely, and nearly double the size of the front room. I had considered that in the past, but for whatever reason never wanted to carry through with it. At this point I am leaning heavily toward that option, as it would greatly enhance the usefulness of the front room, especially for group events which I try to host often. Also because the space in my house is so sectioned that having one big great room would be refreshing. I also don't envision utilizing the tea room all that much, even thou I love the idea. It would also be cheaper to knock out the wall and slap some pergo down in its place. In any case I'm considering my options. I have more of them open to me these days than I'm used to.

31-JAN-2008 - It Grows Back, In Some Form

Kopps is this local Milwaukee-area custard / burger stand. Unlike many local-to-wherever custard places that people local to them always say have "the best fucking custard ever", Kopps, unlike the rest, actually is the best fucking custard ever. I don't care who you are, where you're from, or how good you think your place's custard is. The custard from my local custard stand is superior to the custard from your local custard stand. Kopps wins. This past "Monday Magic" flavor was called "Roll of the Dice". In short, it was peanut-butter custard, with cookie dough chunks and fudge throughout. I exchanged hard-earned money for a quart of this heavenly sludge, transported it safely back to my kitchen where I proceeded to slather it in actual peanut butter, in addition to some healthy squirts of Reese's peanut butter ice cream topping. The peanut butter extravaganza that followed caused a temporary but significant spike in my serotonin level, that had only recently worn off yesterday.

That euphoric adventure served as a pleasant distraction from otherwise not-so-pleasant reality. While I will admit to harboring a small arsenal of taboo and/or unhealthy habits, including self-mutilation and other forms of intentional self-inflicted pain, all of which I like to refer to as "practice", I will always be happy inside. I will always acknowledge the advantage of choosing elaborate ice-cream concoctions over crack cocaine. I will always choose to break myself assaulting my punching bag instead of choosing to break someone else. I will gladly put my fist through a wall before I put it through your face. It's peaceful violence. And it takes so much out of me that when I'm done I have nothing left to be angry at. No matter how ugly the universe is going to get, I'll be too busy finding out who I am to bother lending a hand.

Back in my cubicle world, the endurance required for me to carry out my daily duties while simultaneously waiting for a piece of paper to show up for me to sign, all the while distracting myself mentally from thinking about it, has taken its toll on me. I have peanut butter gut-rot, for one. For another, my knuckles are raw and the skin that once covered them has grown back in uneven, chapped flakes. I may bleed just enough to ruin a once perfectly good undershirt. All of this is more than enough to face tomorrow. I am alive, but not hired yet. Not in any official capacity, at least.

I've spent a lot of this winter staying distracted. I'm in the middle of a lengthy house project that will take me some time to complete, but will hopefully leave me with a satisfactory work bench and project area in the basement. I feel that I need this because I can then utilize more time on future projects, all of which are certain to provide me with further distractions from everything else. I've also been helping Becky research and shop for a new car. So far she is leaning heavily toward the Subaru Impreza, which aside from the fact that I own one, intend to buy another one myself, and nearly everyone I know drives a Subaru, I can honestly say it sold itself. If you're going to buy a car, it may as well be safe, reliable, fun, and nearly indestructible.

The most pleasant of all my spent time belongs to Sylph, a cat that I adopted on New Year's Eve. Sigma died before I bought this house, and as a result of my uncharacteristic attachment to him, my prolonged sentimentality, and the above average sadness I felt when he died, I ignored the option to fill that void for nearly two years now. I miss him even now, but I'm very happy I decided it was time to add one to the family again. Sylph is intensely playful, and seems to consistently remain happy. She's good at keeping me in better spirits.

Tomorrow is Friday, and if all goes according to plan I should be skiing by Saturday, hopefully in between old-school video games and beer. I have one more day of work to challenge me between then and now, and if I'm lucky I'll just get through it in one piece. If I'm luckier I may even see that piece of paper. It's unlikely though. If I do see it my next agenda items will be to find that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, and then get abducted by UFOs. Just for the sake of getting things that are more likely to happen crossed off that list of bullshit. When I don't see it I can always come back to the punching bag.