Last night I was up late destroying my computer (the fast one I have around just so I can play around destroying it). And today, I just got back from work. I can’t say I was working hard the whole time, but it was release day and we all had to be there in case we had to fix something. Sorta like how you want firemen sitting around playing cards or whatever just in case you need them. (Not comparing my work to firefighting, but you get the idea.)

Anyway tomorrow (today, in reality) we get the new door put in. I went to Sears yesterday and the fancy washer/dryer is coming on Friday. You better believe I’m going to wash something big, like my comforter, and I’m going to sit in front of the thing to watch it go around and around and around. Yeah, my Fridays are exciting like that.

I spent several hours today moving the electrical wiring around and bought a lock for the new door that is scheduled to go in on Tuesday. The wiring certainly isn’t up to modern standards, but I figure it’s good enough for now. I bled on it enough that it should be OK.

I figured it was time to reschedule the delivery so I called Sears and found out that they didn’t just cancel the delivery, but they actually cancelled the order and credited my Sears MasterCard account. So now I have to go back and buy the washer and dryer AGAIN.

I was just putting songs into the thingy for my iPod mini and it’s past my bedtime.I got tired of listening to NPR shows from last week, all chopped up because the RadioShark software is kind of ass, so I’m filling up the mini with non-full-albums.

I’ll be all set and you know that “Oh, Sherrie” is on the new mini!

Silver, the gayest of the colors, too! (OK, so I really have no sense as to which color would be gayest, and I’m not using gay as in “bad” but gay as in stylish and expensive and perhaps a little bit, hmmm, festive?) She gave me the one she finally got from Free iPods. We already bought her one for Xmas, since we were so tired of listening to her kvetch about signing up for her free iPod (we includes Carolyn and Megan and my ma and pa). Come to think of it, I don’t think my ma and pa paid me back for their share of Mariko’s iPod mini…

I decided I wanted a second iPod to take to the gym that was filled with things I’d actually listen to, not every CD I own. Yay. Time for experiments. I was having a hard time fitting the programs from my RadioShark into the other iPod, too.

Speaking of mini, the Mac mini doesn’t come with much. No keyboard, no mouse. RAM is really expensive unless you buy it off the internet and void the warranty by installing it yourself. If you google for opening the mini, you’ll find a video that shows how you can do it with a putty knife! And it looks like and official Apple video! Oh, well, with all the extras I want, a mini is going to be closer to $1000 than the $500 list price. I guess I’ll just hold off for a while.

Well, because I want all geeky computer things. The new mini “only” has a G4 rather than a G5 chip, but the faster one is also ONE THOUSAND MILLION Hertz faster than my regular desktop Mac. Not that it means all that much, but geez. And then I could use it with my current display and I could play DVDs and I’d get iLife and I’d have Marble Blast for my mom, and etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.

Oh, well. I should make do with the computer I have unless, of course, this new Mac has a headphone plug… (ooh, it does).

Hell, I don’t have a girlfriend. I can afford a new computer. Then again, I should probably pay off my credit card that has the TWO THOUSAND DOLLAR washer/dryer on it.

The weekend it was about 30°F. This morning it was a little warmer, like 39°F. On the way home, however, it was in the FIFTIES. I had to stop on the way and take off my fleece and long sleeve shirt. It was 54°F when I got home and it’s still going up. I was able to walk to the gym in shorts. It was crowded today, but it probably wasn’t New Years Resolutions kicking in. It’s always crowded on Mondays and even though it was full when I got there, it was almost empty when I left.

In any case, the weather is almost tropical compared to the last couple of days, so I should take advantage of it. Maybe I’ll have a barbecue. Or, maybe I’ll just EAT some barbecue. MMMMMM.

One problem is all the dust I’m creating. I can’t go too long without trying to cough up a lung.

Of course, I made a larger hole than I needed to, but someone had to do it. Me or the guy who is coming to replace the door.

I have to move the light switches and the electrical box over to the right hand side away from the door frame so it doesn’t interfere with the new door frame. I also think I need to buy a mallet to hit the chisel with, since my rubber mallet is falling apart. Oh, the joys of construction.

We had freezing rain today, and for those of you who live in flat places, it’s a lot worse here where it’s hilly. It was really quiet out because no one with any sense was driving. There were pictures on the news of a nice red Miata sliding down a suburban street (hah, I hate the suburbs) but also of buses with tire chains that were also sliding. And, guess what, fully loaded fire engines with chains that were sliding. It was a bad time to be outside.

So I spent the day making a big hole in the wall where near the electrical work needs to be done. I was busy cutting a nice hole in the lath and plaster until I BROKE THE BLADE OF MY SABER SAW. Of course, I wasn’t about to go out in the ice storm to buy a new blade, so I just watched football. Sawing in an old wall is incredibly dusty and nasty, and as an added bonus we had cellulose insulation which is even dustier.

Well, at least I had something to do so I didn’t go stir crazy.

Yesterday, there weren’t many people at the gym. Thursdays usually arent’t crowded, but there’s usually a bunch of people. It almost seemed empty. It made me wonder what sorts of resolutions people were making.

For the guy who suggested a Sawzall: it won’t work well on lath and plaster. Trust me, I know. Cutting a hole in lath and plaster is a pain, and the Sawzall is more likely to crumble a large section as it beats against the wall. I have experience with both, but the last time I used a Sawzall I was 70 feet up a tower cutting an antenna off of a mast. The antenna was probably over a hundred pounds and it banged the tower on the way down. I think we could have been safer about taking it down. Anyway, Jason gave me some specific tips about how he uses a saber saw on lath and plaster (larger foot = less banging on the plaster).

So not only did Jason give me advice on how to cut lath and plaster, he was also giving me dating advice. He kind of told me that a cute pharmacist is probably out of my league, since she sees lots of guys and gets plenty of attention from non-geeks. Oh, well. At least we get a “downtown discount” at the pharmacy since we work downtown.

Today someone was wearing a perfume that smelled like Pez. No, actually, I think it smell like Smarties. And it was kind of nice.

So, besides my bazillionaire boss (who is related to a famous ex-president) most people think I got an incredible deal on getting my door frame fixed. My contractor friend Jason told me that there was nothing I could do but get the door replaced, and that the TWO THOUSAND DOLLAR washer/dryer set were the way to go. He wouldn’t let me consider any other option, and even gave me pointers on how to cut a proper hole in the wall to move the light switch.

So, that just leaves my sister as the only one who is against the fancy washer and dryer. She was mad at me because she thought I’d gone and bought them on my own volition. She forgot that my mother specifically told her to look at washers and dryers while she was up here visiting. She forgot, because she was too busy buying yarn and hanging out with her friends. What an idiot. Er, I mean, how rude of her.

Funny, since Stage One didn’t have anything to do with the washer, dryer, or the laundry room. Stage One involved having Mike from Doorworks come over and fix the front door. He also got the info to give me a bid on the laundry room door. I’m going to bust out some of the lath and plaster to get to the electrical wiring, but also because I want to hit things with a hammer. Maybe I’ll even buy a new hammer.

The only bad part about taking all this time on the washer project is that I’ve been working from home and taking the bus to and from work. No exercise and I’m back to being a lump. Oh, well, I’ll just go to the gym tomorrow and miss Joey.

So I’ve only watched two episodes of Alias and I think it’s hilarious! It’s like the A-Team but updated 20 years. It’s really corny, but instead of being out in the California sunshine, they’re on weirdly decorated sets. Why didn’t anyone tell me it was so funny?

Actually, I called a friend and he said I should be glad that I don’t have a Korean sister. He’s got it real bad, not only is she a Korean sister, but she’s also a doctor. Not only is she a doctor, but she’s a radiologist.

Anyway, it looks like the two thousand dollar washer/dryer set is going to be more like a three thousand dollar washer/dryer set. When the guys came to deliver it, it wouldn’t fit in our door and they had to take it back. I measured the space to see if it would fit but I forgot to measure the door. Our door is only 28″ wide, they needed at least 29″ of clearance, and a normal narrow outside door is 32″ nowadays.

There are several options here:

1. Get a new door put in, at a cost of at least $1000 more.
2. Have a whole new laundry room built which really needs to be done but it would start with a new foundation and that’s probably around $40,000.
3. Dig stairs into the basement including cutting a hole into the foundation and pouring lots of concrete. That can’t be cheap.
4. Get a cheaper washer/dryer for about $600, which means it would be about $1400 less.
5. Don’t do anything since the old washer and dryer haven’t completely broken yet.

Talking to my friends, the first option was the only one that made sense. However, my sister seems to think that my parents need a new cheap washer, not all this stuff. I pointed out that if we were being cheap, we could just keep the old set. The only person who has trouble with the current washer and dryer is her, since she turned all the whites pink once, and put holes in her clothes. No one else has that kind of trouble. She got mad and hung up on me.

I know, I don’t do much of the laundry lately, but I’ve never dyed the clothes or put holes in them either. I even had to use cheap Japanese washing machines where there’s a wash tub and a spinner tub. There was also no agitator and the clothes all spun into one big ball. My only big problem is that guy landry is easy, and chick laundry is impossible. The most delicate thing in guy laundry is probably the underwear, and that could be made of denim or burlap for all we care. Anything else that is unwashable goes to the dry cleaner.

Anyway, my mom wants the fancy washer, so we need to put in a bigger door. The only downside is that the door leads to a small addition that probably should be torn down and rebuild. Plus getting things into the laundry room doesn’t mean they can go anywhere else since the door from the laundry room to the rest of the house is an even smaller 24″ wide.

In any case, my sister has spent more money on a just a turntable and cassette deck in the past (and I’ve spent more on my ham radio crap) so I don’t know why she’s so against buying a decent washer. This is the first time she’s ever hung up on me. Maybe she wants a larger inheritance. Who knows?