Our latest “adventure” with our new house: a flooded basement. That’s a bit of an overstatement -- it wasn't flooded flooded, but water definitely was getting in from outside and getting our carpet wet. I noticed it about 11:30 pm Thursday evening, and there is no worse time to discover something like that than right before bed. I was up for another hour and a half trying to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it, before I finally decided to cut my losses and try to sleep, which of course I couldn’t do, because the carpet in my basement was all wet and I didn’t know why. I maybe got three hours of shut-eye in.
Then the next morning, all I wanted to do was resolve things, but I had to get the kids fed and clothed and drive them to school, which now takes well over an hour, because we have to drive across town in heavy traffic. Then I had to deal with some stuff for work, so it was nearly noon by the time I got back to our soggy floor. In the light of day, I quickly diagnosed the issue and made a video to send to S. She probably didn’t really want a video, but it was the best way to convey my message of “I’ve been working on it and I figure it out.” If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth millions of words.
Given that we had a problem, a clogged storm drain was probably the best-case scenario. I was worried that it was a broken pipe or some other internal leak or, even worse, something under the carpet. Since it was outside we didn’t have to pull up the floor or break any walls or anything like that. We just had to pay a plumber $400 to snake our storm drain. I thought about trying to do it myself. I’ve gotten pretty good at unclogging drains using a plunger and a baking soda and vinegar mixture, but I figured it best to go with the professionals for this one. I’d hate to realize during our next heavy rainfall that I didn’t do the job right and be outside with a bucket running up and down the stairwell trying bail things out.
I made a couple of notable actor connections watching it. I don't watch a ton of movies, some I'm not the guy who knows everybody who's been in everything. But I love trivia, and I pay attention to the cast of the movies I do see, so I really enjoy filling in the gaps in my mental movie network: Oh, that's Actress X who was in Movie Y with Actor Z... that's who that is! In Trainspotting 2, I realized the actress who played Diane, Renton's (underage) love interest, is Kelly Macdonald from Boardwalk Empire and No Country for Old Men. But the one that really blew my mind is that Tommy, a character who dies of AIDS in the first movie, is played by Kevin McKidd! The Grey's Anatomy actor who a friendly bloke at an Australia gym said I look "exactly like." His appearance is starkly different in Trainspotting and Grey's Anatomy, so it's not that weird I never made the connection before. I guess it's fitting, because of all the Trainspotting characters, the one I most identified with was Tommy. He kinda had his shit together and frowned on his mates for using hard drugs. But then in a moment of pain, Renton gives him a shot of heroin and he gets hooked and contracts HIV from a dirty needle.
And on that note, I should probably go. I'd like to do the dishes before S gets home. She went to a Bell Biv Devoe/Bobby Brown concert (seriously), and I can't imagine a bunch of middle-aged women are going to be raging on a workday. But who knows?
Until next time...
Then the next morning, all I wanted to do was resolve things, but I had to get the kids fed and clothed and drive them to school, which now takes well over an hour, because we have to drive across town in heavy traffic. Then I had to deal with some stuff for work, so it was nearly noon by the time I got back to our soggy floor. In the light of day, I quickly diagnosed the issue and made a video to send to S. She probably didn’t really want a video, but it was the best way to convey my message of “I’ve been working on it and I figure it out.” If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth millions of words.
Given that we had a problem, a clogged storm drain was probably the best-case scenario. I was worried that it was a broken pipe or some other internal leak or, even worse, something under the carpet. Since it was outside we didn’t have to pull up the floor or break any walls or anything like that. We just had to pay a plumber $400 to snake our storm drain. I thought about trying to do it myself. I’ve gotten pretty good at unclogging drains using a plunger and a baking soda and vinegar mixture, but I figured it best to go with the professionals for this one. I’d hate to realize during our next heavy rainfall that I didn’t do the job right and be outside with a bucket running up and down the stairwell trying bail things out.
So, it's fixed now, but our carpet is still kinda wet. I've been running two space heaters pointed at the damp area for nearly two days straight (our electricity bill is probably gonna be through the roof). It's definitely helping but carpet just takes forever to dry because there's no air flow from the bottom. We might have to invest in a dehumidifier. Also, we're gonna need some sort of air freshener in there, because it's getting that nasty mildewy smell. I actually hate the smell of most air fresheners. That ersatz Glade odor gives me a headache; I'd almost always rather smell the smell of whatever it's covering up than smell the smell of an air freshener. But something is going to have to be done. Maybe I'll burn some incense or a scented candle or something like that.
Anyway... aside from all these things popping up seemingly daily, settling in to the new house is going pretty well. S likes to take the lead on most things, and I don't, so that has been working out pretty well. Every now and then I have to argue for something she doesn't want though. Usually that's because she will want to get rid of something that I use regularly. For example, she hates the DVD player. Now, it's true that DVD players are mostly outmoded, but I have a stack of workout/yoga DVDs that I use a couple times a month, so why get rid of it? She said that it's because it looks bad and takes up space. But our "entertainment system" is currently a TV on a pair of boxes and a single folding chair in an otherwise empty room, and it's going to stay that way for a while, because it's all we can afford, so that's not a very persuasive argument.
It's the same way with this bookcase we have. It's a fine-looking, sturdy bookcase that does an admirable job holding books, which is good, because we have a fair number of books. But S doesn't like it for some reason, and so she's always purposing we get rid of it. And then we I ask her where we would put our books, she says we should get rid of them too. But I like having books (although I did actually give away a bunch before we moved -- textbooks mainly), and so I like having a bookcase to store my books. So, the bookcase is staying. I usually get my way when I put my foot down on something, likely because I don't do it too often. Pick your battles, see.
In other news, they finally made Trainspotting 2 available for rental (for like two years, I couldn't find it on any streaming service), so I watched it. Feckin' loo'd it, ah did. I mean, it doesn't even compare to the first one, but it was really good as far as sequels go. It's a quintessential "enjoy it for what it is" movies. It was based on the novel Porno, Irvine Welsh's follow-up novel to Trainspotting, and it continues the story arc with the same characters 20 years later. Since I'm only a few years younger than the characters in the story (though not the actors themselves -- Robert Carlyle is in his late 50s), it hits home. Well, the part about aging and growing apart/reconnecting with friends from your 20s hits home anyway. I definitely don't identify with the part about substance abuse and addiction. That has never been my bag, thankfully.
In other news, they finally made Trainspotting 2 available for rental (for like two years, I couldn't find it on any streaming service), so I watched it. Feckin' loo'd it, ah did. I mean, it doesn't even compare to the first one, but it was really good as far as sequels go. It's a quintessential "enjoy it for what it is" movies. It was based on the novel Porno, Irvine Welsh's follow-up novel to Trainspotting, and it continues the story arc with the same characters 20 years later. Since I'm only a few years younger than the characters in the story (though not the actors themselves -- Robert Carlyle is in his late 50s), it hits home. Well, the part about aging and growing apart/reconnecting with friends from your 20s hits home anyway. I definitely don't identify with the part about substance abuse and addiction. That has never been my bag, thankfully.
I made a couple of notable actor connections watching it. I don't watch a ton of movies, some I'm not the guy who knows everybody who's been in everything. But I love trivia, and I pay attention to the cast of the movies I do see, so I really enjoy filling in the gaps in my mental movie network: Oh, that's Actress X who was in Movie Y with Actor Z... that's who that is! In Trainspotting 2, I realized the actress who played Diane, Renton's (underage) love interest, is Kelly Macdonald from Boardwalk Empire and No Country for Old Men. But the one that really blew my mind is that Tommy, a character who dies of AIDS in the first movie, is played by Kevin McKidd! The Grey's Anatomy actor who a friendly bloke at an Australia gym said I look "exactly like." His appearance is starkly different in Trainspotting and Grey's Anatomy, so it's not that weird I never made the connection before. I guess it's fitting, because of all the Trainspotting characters, the one I most identified with was Tommy. He kinda had his shit together and frowned on his mates for using hard drugs. But then in a moment of pain, Renton gives him a shot of heroin and he gets hooked and contracts HIV from a dirty needle.
And on that note, I should probably go. I'd like to do the dishes before S gets home. She went to a Bell Biv Devoe/Bobby Brown concert (seriously), and I can't imagine a bunch of middle-aged women are going to be raging on a workday. But who knows?
Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment