Office cleanup, ‘Catch and Release’, Gold Café, ‘The Closer’, ‘Shooter’s Delight’
(posted from home)
(This post covers 11-17 June)
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Sunday, 17 June –
Today I drove Mocha Joe to my little brother’s house, both to put a few break-in miles on for the transmission checkup next week and also to possibly pick up the fishing boat. We decided to go see Mom at the assisted-living facility but on the way we’d stop at an indoor shooting range nearby to check it out. I had seen some good comments about the range on a shooting web site but didn’t know how current they are. My brother had heard it had closed so it was possibly a fool’s errand to ride out there—but we had nothing better to do anyway. As it turned out, though, the shop had changed hands and re-opened quite a while ago. We chatted with the counter-guy, Glen (or Glenn, I’m not sure). He’s a former Borough police officer, knows his stuff, and is a friendly, straightforward guy. After chatting for a half-hour or so we asked to see the range and then decided we’d go ahead and shoot for a half-hour. This place is perfect— good prices, friendly and attentive staff guy, lots of open lanes, plus excellent attention to safety and health concerns. These folks could give lessons to my fancy local range, particularly in the friendly-service arena.
After a nice visit with Mom we returned to an excellent Father’s Day cookout for my brother and my about-to-be-a-Dad nephew. Back home Labashi thought the name of the shooting range – ‘Shooter’s Delight’ -- quite hilarious.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘The Closer’.
--------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 16 June –
Today I treated the van top. The fiberglass polish does indeed take off oxidation as it’s supposed to. It’s not just a wipe-on, wipe-off process though and takes considerable effort. This will take at least two applications, though. The underlying fiberglass is definitely shinier but it doesn’t look waxed. I’ll have to read up on compatibility with waxes but overall I’m happy with the results and it should cut way down on the oxidation being carried down over the windows and paint.
That evening we watched three more episodes of ‘The Closer’. On the one hand it’s getting a bit repetitive but the writers have introduced some longer-term storylines that lend some twists and turns.
--------------------------------------------------
Friday, 15 June –
This morning I carefully washed Mocha Joe (several times) in preparation for treating the fiberglass top. I bought some Starbrite Marine Fiberglass Polish which supposedly removes the chalking (oxidation) from boats. I don’t mind the flat-white look of the white roof but rain carries the white oxidation powder down over the mocha-colored paint and the blackened windows. That evening I took the van for a drive to put a few miles on the new transmission to be sure it’s working correctly. I drove through Columbia and Mountville via SR462 and in circling back to US30 via Centerville Road I came upon the Gold Café, a coffee shop (just down the street from ‘That Fish Place’ for those of you familiar with this area). There I ran into a first. The Gold Café is a combination coffee shop and (of all things) a bank. I thought it was just a coffee shop in an upscale building (it looked something like a Panera Bread Company building) and walked through the doors expecting to see the normal coffee counter and seating. I did indeed see the familiar coffee counter with espresso maker, Torani bottles, etc. But to the left I could see not one but two ATM machines at the back wall. And there were no tables, though I did see comfortable-looking couches and easy-chairs. Several young, well-dressed people were cluttered together to my left and as I entered they looked up expectantly and asked if they could help. I thought it odd to have what looked like a maitre’d station in a coffee shop and said I just wanted a coffee to go. One said she’d be happy to help and guided me toward the coffee counter as she went around behind it. As I ordered their version of a frappuccino, she asked if I realized this was a bank. I thought she meant this was a coffee shop in what had once been a bank but she said, no, it’s currently a bank! Now the layout made sense. I asked her what her job title is and jokingly asked if the word ‘barista’ is in it. She floored me when she said her job title is ‘financial barista’. For some reason she didn’t take me seriously when I said “In that case, I’d like a $100,000 loan to go with my frappuccino”. As I walked out with my coffee, I saw a young well-dressed couple waiting nervously, apparently about to meet about a loan application. Or maybe they were just anxious about whether their coffee would be right! Here’s a link to what I’m talking about: http://www.goldcafes.com/about.html. I LOVE this kind of stuff! How does it get any better than ‘financial barista’?
--------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 14 June –
This morning we picked up Mocha Joe with his new $1800 transmission rebuild. That was about the cost of Cherry Larry’s rebuild almost ten years ago and that cost didn’t include the extra cost of 20 quarts of $8.50-a-quart synthetic ATF this one has. Also, this rebuild has a two-year warranty where the other was a one-year.
That afternoon I also changed Mocha Joe’s engine oil to give him a fresh sump of Mobil 1 extra-mileage synthetic and I did a general inspection of the tires, suspension, and engine components in preparation for our next trip. That evening we watched an episode of ‘The Closer’, then ‘Pirate Master’. The latter is pretty silly but we’re hoping Mark Burnett will give us some interesting surprises. But so far— so-so.
--------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 13 June -
The drudgery of office cleanup continues today. I bought ten more storage boxes. This will at least allow those who clean out the house after we’re gone to throw things away 60-quarts at a time and in an organized manner!
We watched three episodes of The Closer. Not bad. I like Kyra’s character and most of what the writers are doing with it. The effects for body damage look a little too unrealistic but at least they don’t dwell on them overly long.
---------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 12 June -
This morning I made a run into town for storage containers for my office clean-out project. I was surprised to see how expensive the plastic wing-boxes have gotten (over $10 each!) but then found some very nice 60-quart lidded boxes on sale at Wal-Mart for $6. Back home I cleared out all the family history items from the office and now have them stored together, semi-organized and out of the way in our basement storage area. I also stowed all the camping gear and motorcycle gear and supplies and can see the floor! That evening we watched ‘Catch and Release’ with Jennifer Garner. I had passed this one by several times but then saw the two-thumbs-up recommendation and thought we’d give it a try. Good movie! I see today that RottenTomatoes pans it with ratings in the twenties and that surprises me—it’s surely worthy of a 60+ rating. It has some rough edges but is not nearly so predictable as one would expect from the storyline.
----------------------------------------------------
Monday, 11 June –
Today I started on a long-dreaded job—cleaning out my ‘office’. This space has always been cluttered to some degree but took on a new, ultimate level of clutter when I brought home boxes and boxes of ‘important’ junk I had accumulated over the years of my working life. I also have boxes and bags of family photos and mementos (including my grandfather’s beaver top-hat and my great-grandparents’ kerosene dining-room lamp) which I inherited after my father’s death in 2003.
That afternoon I rode the Concours down to Rocky Ridge for a jog and on the way home I picked up a new tv series on DVD for us: The Closer, Season Two with Kyra Sedgwick. We’ve not seen Season One of this series but what the heck, we’ll catch up. I had seen this one on the shelves and had passed it by but last week I saw Kyra on ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio’ and was intrigued about the discussion about her role in the series.
----------------------------------------------------------
(posted from home)
(This post covers 11-17 June)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 17 June –
Today I drove Mocha Joe to my little brother’s house, both to put a few break-in miles on for the transmission checkup next week and also to possibly pick up the fishing boat. We decided to go see Mom at the assisted-living facility but on the way we’d stop at an indoor shooting range nearby to check it out. I had seen some good comments about the range on a shooting web site but didn’t know how current they are. My brother had heard it had closed so it was possibly a fool’s errand to ride out there—but we had nothing better to do anyway. As it turned out, though, the shop had changed hands and re-opened quite a while ago. We chatted with the counter-guy, Glen (or Glenn, I’m not sure). He’s a former Borough police officer, knows his stuff, and is a friendly, straightforward guy. After chatting for a half-hour or so we asked to see the range and then decided we’d go ahead and shoot for a half-hour. This place is perfect— good prices, friendly and attentive staff guy, lots of open lanes, plus excellent attention to safety and health concerns. These folks could give lessons to my fancy local range, particularly in the friendly-service arena.
After a nice visit with Mom we returned to an excellent Father’s Day cookout for my brother and my about-to-be-a-Dad nephew. Back home Labashi thought the name of the shooting range – ‘Shooter’s Delight’ -- quite hilarious.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘The Closer’.
--------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 16 June –
Today I treated the van top. The fiberglass polish does indeed take off oxidation as it’s supposed to. It’s not just a wipe-on, wipe-off process though and takes considerable effort. This will take at least two applications, though. The underlying fiberglass is definitely shinier but it doesn’t look waxed. I’ll have to read up on compatibility with waxes but overall I’m happy with the results and it should cut way down on the oxidation being carried down over the windows and paint.
That evening we watched three more episodes of ‘The Closer’. On the one hand it’s getting a bit repetitive but the writers have introduced some longer-term storylines that lend some twists and turns.
--------------------------------------------------
Friday, 15 June –
This morning I carefully washed Mocha Joe (several times) in preparation for treating the fiberglass top. I bought some Starbrite Marine Fiberglass Polish which supposedly removes the chalking (oxidation) from boats. I don’t mind the flat-white look of the white roof but rain carries the white oxidation powder down over the mocha-colored paint and the blackened windows. That evening I took the van for a drive to put a few miles on the new transmission to be sure it’s working correctly. I drove through Columbia and Mountville via SR462 and in circling back to US30 via Centerville Road I came upon the Gold Café, a coffee shop (just down the street from ‘That Fish Place’ for those of you familiar with this area). There I ran into a first. The Gold Café is a combination coffee shop and (of all things) a bank. I thought it was just a coffee shop in an upscale building (it looked something like a Panera Bread Company building) and walked through the doors expecting to see the normal coffee counter and seating. I did indeed see the familiar coffee counter with espresso maker, Torani bottles, etc. But to the left I could see not one but two ATM machines at the back wall. And there were no tables, though I did see comfortable-looking couches and easy-chairs. Several young, well-dressed people were cluttered together to my left and as I entered they looked up expectantly and asked if they could help. I thought it odd to have what looked like a maitre’d station in a coffee shop and said I just wanted a coffee to go. One said she’d be happy to help and guided me toward the coffee counter as she went around behind it. As I ordered their version of a frappuccino, she asked if I realized this was a bank. I thought she meant this was a coffee shop in what had once been a bank but she said, no, it’s currently a bank! Now the layout made sense. I asked her what her job title is and jokingly asked if the word ‘barista’ is in it. She floored me when she said her job title is ‘financial barista’. For some reason she didn’t take me seriously when I said “In that case, I’d like a $100,000 loan to go with my frappuccino”. As I walked out with my coffee, I saw a young well-dressed couple waiting nervously, apparently about to meet about a loan application. Or maybe they were just anxious about whether their coffee would be right! Here’s a link to what I’m talking about: http://www.goldcafes.com/about.html. I LOVE this kind of stuff! How does it get any better than ‘financial barista’?
--------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 14 June –
This morning we picked up Mocha Joe with his new $1800 transmission rebuild. That was about the cost of Cherry Larry’s rebuild almost ten years ago and that cost didn’t include the extra cost of 20 quarts of $8.50-a-quart synthetic ATF this one has. Also, this rebuild has a two-year warranty where the other was a one-year.
That afternoon I also changed Mocha Joe’s engine oil to give him a fresh sump of Mobil 1 extra-mileage synthetic and I did a general inspection of the tires, suspension, and engine components in preparation for our next trip. That evening we watched an episode of ‘The Closer’, then ‘Pirate Master’. The latter is pretty silly but we’re hoping Mark Burnett will give us some interesting surprises. But so far— so-so.
--------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 13 June -
The drudgery of office cleanup continues today. I bought ten more storage boxes. This will at least allow those who clean out the house after we’re gone to throw things away 60-quarts at a time and in an organized manner!
We watched three episodes of The Closer. Not bad. I like Kyra’s character and most of what the writers are doing with it. The effects for body damage look a little too unrealistic but at least they don’t dwell on them overly long.
---------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 12 June -
This morning I made a run into town for storage containers for my office clean-out project. I was surprised to see how expensive the plastic wing-boxes have gotten (over $10 each!) but then found some very nice 60-quart lidded boxes on sale at Wal-Mart for $6. Back home I cleared out all the family history items from the office and now have them stored together, semi-organized and out of the way in our basement storage area. I also stowed all the camping gear and motorcycle gear and supplies and can see the floor! That evening we watched ‘Catch and Release’ with Jennifer Garner. I had passed this one by several times but then saw the two-thumbs-up recommendation and thought we’d give it a try. Good movie! I see today that RottenTomatoes pans it with ratings in the twenties and that surprises me—it’s surely worthy of a 60+ rating. It has some rough edges but is not nearly so predictable as one would expect from the storyline.
----------------------------------------------------
Monday, 11 June –
Today I started on a long-dreaded job—cleaning out my ‘office’. This space has always been cluttered to some degree but took on a new, ultimate level of clutter when I brought home boxes and boxes of ‘important’ junk I had accumulated over the years of my working life. I also have boxes and bags of family photos and mementos (including my grandfather’s beaver top-hat and my great-grandparents’ kerosene dining-room lamp) which I inherited after my father’s death in 2003.
That afternoon I rode the Concours down to Rocky Ridge for a jog and on the way home I picked up a new tv series on DVD for us: The Closer, Season Two with Kyra Sedgwick. We’ve not seen Season One of this series but what the heck, we’ll catch up. I had seen this one on the shelves and had passed it by but last week I saw Kyra on ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio’ and was intrigued about the discussion about her role in the series.
----------------------------------------------------------
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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