Lottery hit, ‘Atonement’, Detroit trip, 'Temptress Moon'
(posted from Southfield Public Library, Southfield, MI)
(This post covers 1-7 April, 2008)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 7 April-
I spent the day on more fix-it chores. I replaced the flapper valve on a leaky toilet, re-mounted the mailbox which had gotten clobbered by the snowplow, made some adjustments to the swing-up garage door, and spent a few hours cleaning old cardboard boxes out of the attic and hauling them to the recycling center.
That evening one of Labashi’s brothers who lives nearby brought his family to visit and we had a pizza party. We all enjoyed talking with the 14-year-old daughter about school. Yeah, I used the old “When we went to school we had to walk five miles each way through knee-high snow and it was uphill both ways” line on her and explained what ‘duck and cover’ means. She just rolled her eyes.
After our company left the rest of the family watched TV while I check email and played on the web via Mom’s 44.5 kbps dialup connection. We all kind of faded around 2130.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 6 April-
Today I had some free time and drove to Target Sports in Royal Oak for some range time. They had a class going on and the store was very crowded so it looked like I might not be able to get a lane at first. I finally did get a lane for a half-hour session and it went well today. The kid in the lane next to me was shooting a 30-30 rifle and the shock waves from his shots intruded on my concentration a bit but I guess that’s part of the game—learn to keep that concentration.
Afterwards I stopped at the nearby Borders book store and ran onto an interesting book about “clay sports”, i.e., trap, skeet, and sporting clays. I’d like to try some shotgunning this summer. I’ve not used my shotgun in something like 35 years and it’s time to clean out the cobwebs!
That evening we watched ‘Temptress Moon’, a 1996 Chinese story about the modernization of China in 1910-1920. I see Ebert panned it and I have to agree. The photography is stunning but the scenes are a little too much like tableaus strung together. The story is muddled a bit and we are easily left behind.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 5 April-
Labashi and her Mom ran some errands this morning in preparation for Dad’s discharge around lunch time. He was very glad to be home but quite tired so disappeared for a nap. I did some miscellaneous little fix-it chores, replacing a door sweep and repairing electrical and mounting problems with several light fixtures, then replacing the bulbs with rough-service bulbs (I suspect vibration caused the problems). Later in the afternoon I walked to the local Starbucks for a re-charge.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 4 April-
Today was a driving day. It’s about a ten-hour drive to Labashi’s parents’ home outside Detroit. We had light rain much of the way but it was an easy drive—mostly smooth roads and light traffic. I was happy to see ol’ Mocha Joe getting over 17 miles per gallon without the roof-top gear and fishing boat. I believe the best I had with those in place was about 13.5 mpg and the worst--- in a day-long headwind as I drove down I-95—was 10.5 mpg. As we passed the Rutter’s near our house this morning I saw they had jumped the price from $3.25 to $3.39 overnight and I was wishing I had gone ahead and filled up Joe’s 35-gallon tank last night. We skipped that station hoping we’d find someone who hadn’t jacked up the price yet and were lucky enough to find the Hess station an exit up was still at $3.24. As we drove out the turnpike we saw gas in the mid-to-high 3.30s but at our turn toward Toledo we found it at $3.22.
We arrived about 1800 and knew Labashi’s sister would be bringing her Mom home shortly so we prepared the table and got the pasta sauce simmering for their arrival. The five of us spent the evening around the table catching up.
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Thursday, 3 April-
This morning we received a call telling us that both Labashi’s parents were at the hospital for treatment and one or both might be admitted. After making a few calls and getting an updated status later in the day, we decided we would go out there tomorrow. Both parents had been admitted and though their conditions were not life-threatening, we felt we’d be able to help get things back to normal more quickly once they were discharged. We spent the rest of the day readying the van (I still had a lot of gear in it and the kayak and Thule box still on the roof rack), packing, and clearing our schedules for the next week.
We had another movie to watch but decided I’d just return it and get it another time; the timing for watching it and returning it late that night were just getting too close.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 2 April-
Today I installed a new smoke alarm in the basement. Our old one’s batteries would fade quickly in the colder basement so this one is a 110-volt model. I connected in to a non-switched end-of-run receptacle box I could get to with a relatively easy cable run. It took me about an hour for the installation once I figured out how I wanted to do it and cleared it with the boss.
That afternoon I walked the four miles along the creek. The bluebirds are still around but we also have some new ducks, apparently just stopping for a few days on their migration.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 1 April-
We hit the lottery today for 5.6 million. That ought to come in handy. We’re kind of in a daze about it so thought it best to just live life as we normally would and then ease our way into a life of leisure.
I spent the morning updating the blog and the afternoon installing a new recessed light in our lower foyer. I wasn’t looking forward to the installation; it appeared to be a tricky cable run. However, I was able to partially remove a panel in our downstairs pantry which gave me access to the switched receptacle I needed and from there it was pretty easy. A pro probably would do it in an hour but it took me three. The light looks great and makes a big difference.
That evening we watched ‘Atonement’. I agree with the critic who says of it: “Nothing ruins a pretty good movie more than calling it great. And with Atonement, even ‘pretty good’ feels like a stretch.” RottenTomatoes gives it an 82 and I suppose that’s all right if you are a fan of romantic movies but I’d flunk it on gratuitous use of foul language solely for its shock value.
======== end of post ============
(posted from Southfield Public Library, Southfield, MI)
(This post covers 1-7 April, 2008)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 7 April-
I spent the day on more fix-it chores. I replaced the flapper valve on a leaky toilet, re-mounted the mailbox which had gotten clobbered by the snowplow, made some adjustments to the swing-up garage door, and spent a few hours cleaning old cardboard boxes out of the attic and hauling them to the recycling center.
That evening one of Labashi’s brothers who lives nearby brought his family to visit and we had a pizza party. We all enjoyed talking with the 14-year-old daughter about school. Yeah, I used the old “When we went to school we had to walk five miles each way through knee-high snow and it was uphill both ways” line on her and explained what ‘duck and cover’ means. She just rolled her eyes.
After our company left the rest of the family watched TV while I check email and played on the web via Mom’s 44.5 kbps dialup connection. We all kind of faded around 2130.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 6 April-
Today I had some free time and drove to Target Sports in Royal Oak for some range time. They had a class going on and the store was very crowded so it looked like I might not be able to get a lane at first. I finally did get a lane for a half-hour session and it went well today. The kid in the lane next to me was shooting a 30-30 rifle and the shock waves from his shots intruded on my concentration a bit but I guess that’s part of the game—learn to keep that concentration.
Afterwards I stopped at the nearby Borders book store and ran onto an interesting book about “clay sports”, i.e., trap, skeet, and sporting clays. I’d like to try some shotgunning this summer. I’ve not used my shotgun in something like 35 years and it’s time to clean out the cobwebs!
That evening we watched ‘Temptress Moon’, a 1996 Chinese story about the modernization of China in 1910-1920. I see Ebert panned it and I have to agree. The photography is stunning but the scenes are a little too much like tableaus strung together. The story is muddled a bit and we are easily left behind.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 5 April-
Labashi and her Mom ran some errands this morning in preparation for Dad’s discharge around lunch time. He was very glad to be home but quite tired so disappeared for a nap. I did some miscellaneous little fix-it chores, replacing a door sweep and repairing electrical and mounting problems with several light fixtures, then replacing the bulbs with rough-service bulbs (I suspect vibration caused the problems). Later in the afternoon I walked to the local Starbucks for a re-charge.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 4 April-
Today was a driving day. It’s about a ten-hour drive to Labashi’s parents’ home outside Detroit. We had light rain much of the way but it was an easy drive—mostly smooth roads and light traffic. I was happy to see ol’ Mocha Joe getting over 17 miles per gallon without the roof-top gear and fishing boat. I believe the best I had with those in place was about 13.5 mpg and the worst--- in a day-long headwind as I drove down I-95—was 10.5 mpg. As we passed the Rutter’s near our house this morning I saw they had jumped the price from $3.25 to $3.39 overnight and I was wishing I had gone ahead and filled up Joe’s 35-gallon tank last night. We skipped that station hoping we’d find someone who hadn’t jacked up the price yet and were lucky enough to find the Hess station an exit up was still at $3.24. As we drove out the turnpike we saw gas in the mid-to-high 3.30s but at our turn toward Toledo we found it at $3.22.
We arrived about 1800 and knew Labashi’s sister would be bringing her Mom home shortly so we prepared the table and got the pasta sauce simmering for their arrival. The five of us spent the evening around the table catching up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 3 April-
This morning we received a call telling us that both Labashi’s parents were at the hospital for treatment and one or both might be admitted. After making a few calls and getting an updated status later in the day, we decided we would go out there tomorrow. Both parents had been admitted and though their conditions were not life-threatening, we felt we’d be able to help get things back to normal more quickly once they were discharged. We spent the rest of the day readying the van (I still had a lot of gear in it and the kayak and Thule box still on the roof rack), packing, and clearing our schedules for the next week.
We had another movie to watch but decided I’d just return it and get it another time; the timing for watching it and returning it late that night were just getting too close.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 2 April-
Today I installed a new smoke alarm in the basement. Our old one’s batteries would fade quickly in the colder basement so this one is a 110-volt model. I connected in to a non-switched end-of-run receptacle box I could get to with a relatively easy cable run. It took me about an hour for the installation once I figured out how I wanted to do it and cleared it with the boss.
That afternoon I walked the four miles along the creek. The bluebirds are still around but we also have some new ducks, apparently just stopping for a few days on their migration.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 1 April-
We hit the lottery today for 5.6 million. That ought to come in handy. We’re kind of in a daze about it so thought it best to just live life as we normally would and then ease our way into a life of leisure.
I spent the morning updating the blog and the afternoon installing a new recessed light in our lower foyer. I wasn’t looking forward to the installation; it appeared to be a tricky cable run. However, I was able to partially remove a panel in our downstairs pantry which gave me access to the switched receptacle I needed and from there it was pretty easy. A pro probably would do it in an hour but it took me three. The light looks great and makes a big difference.
That evening we watched ‘Atonement’. I agree with the critic who says of it: “Nothing ruins a pretty good movie more than calling it great. And with Atonement, even ‘pretty good’ feels like a stretch.” RottenTomatoes gives it an 82 and I suppose that’s all right if you are a fan of romantic movies but I’d flunk it on gratuitous use of foul language solely for its shock value.
======== end of post ============
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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