patrickrhett

First, you click this link and choose 5 or 6 of the mostly nice words that you think describe me. Then, you click this link and choose 5 or 6 of the mostly bad words that describe me. Then we can all look at what a deluded freak I am when my choices for myself are totally different from everone else’s. IT’S FUN!

Also, I promise not to get upset by anything you choose, we all have our bad traits, and I accept that. Like when I hunt the people who have wronged me for sport and use their carcasses for food. That’s a trait that some may see as negative, and I’m working on it.

Also, I totally stole this from H. E. Ferrari over at The Blue Parrot. He did it first.

1. How to disassemble and replace all the moving parts in a toilet tank.
2. How to caulk a window pane into a window frame.
3. There is a type of pipe known as Orangeburg. It is a bituminized fiber pipe.
4. Bituminized = impregnated with, or covered with bitumen.
5. Bitumen = a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons obtained naturally or as a residue from petroleum distillation.
6. Fiber = In this case, cellulose fiber. Wood. Paper.
7. Orangeburg, after many years, is prone to soften and deform with age, allowing infiltration and root intrusion.
8. My house is 48 years old. For Orangeburg, this qualifies as “many years”.
9. Plumbers make way more money than I do.

We spent our first night in the house Saturday the 29th. We have a complete bedroom, about 75% of a bathroom, 50% of a kitchen and 25% of a living room. All of our textiles are moved, and we’ve done about 8 loads of laundry without using a single quarter. We have no TV and no computer (I’m making this post from work). The computer, along with it’s life giving internet service, will come over this Thursday. The television will be coming over too, but we are going to try and live without any cable. No HBO, no DVR, no basic with local channels, nothing. We are allowing ourselves DVDs and downloaded shows from iTunes, but our DVD player seems to have stopped wortking last week. So far I haven’t really missed it, but I’ve been busy around the house. Once we’re all moved and settled we’ll see how it goes.

*Date approximate*
23. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Also known as “Chavez: Inside the Coup”, which is not near as catchy a name if you ask me. There’s no picture or Amazon link because it’s not currently available commercially, which is a shame.

The filmakers had been shooting a documentary about Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, for months when they found themselves in the middle of a coup. The film shows the takeover of the media and ensuing disinformation next to shots of what was really going on in the streets. Most disturbing, it shows how quick the US was to try and legitimize the coup and thus be rid of Chavez. About Chavez…

Chavez is all “power to the people”, going so far as to make one of his first acts a mass printing of the country’s constitution, along with a literacy campaign to teach the illiterate poor to read it so they can know what their rights are. The nationalized petroleum industry had been plundered for years by the elite before he moved to use the money for social programs. Things like this make the liberal in me swoon like a schoolgirl in love, but I had to remind myself (ok, really it was The Lovely Wife who had to remind me) that rhetoric, especially rhetoric you really want to believe in, should always be viewed with a critical eye, and this movie does seem to be pretty one-sided in it’s praise.

Watch the film, if you can find it, then do some research on your own. If it doesn’t necessarily make you a Chavez supporter, it’ll at least make you view our own administration a little more critically.

I’ve been crazy busy getting the new house ready for occupancy, so I haven’t been posting much here recently. I have, however, added a couple of destinations in the “Travel” folder and added a “Home” folder over in the gallery. Now at least you can see the house that I will eventually move into.

*Date approximate*
22. Veronica Mars, Season 1

If a 2 hour movie deserves a place in this list, then so does a 22 episode TV series on DVD with a 935 minute viewing time that we devoured in less than a week. I’ve decided I actually much prefer to watch television this way, as there are no commercials, and your ability to find out what happens next is only limited by your ability to stay awake.

We watched this a couple of months ago, and I don’t even remember what got us started. I had seen one or two episodes on TV and don’t really remember being all that impressed, but, for whatever reason (I’m sure The Lovely Wife will remind me) we bought the first season. The show improves dramatically when you watch all the episodes in order. By the middle of the season there are so many different story arcs in play that if you just happened to stumble upon the show, you’d have no idea what was going on half the time. Highly recommended, especially if you’re a Whedon-ite who’s seen all the Buffy and Firefly three times and you’re looking for another show featuring a strong young female lead with superpowers. Ok, she doesn’t really have superpowers. But she’s crafty.

21. The Corporation

Based on the fact that you are reading this, you are probably in the top 5% of the wealthiest people on the planet. Does that make you feel good or bad?

20. The Village

As I recall, people kinda panned this one. I saw most of the twist coming from a mile away, but it was a perfectly acceptable rainy afternoon flick. Joaquin was, as usual, excellent, and, while I was all set to not like Bryce Dallas Howard, she was really good.

In the three days since my last post we:

I’m sure there’s something I’m forgetting, but you get the idea. A couple more weeks at this level of activity and I think we’ll be almost ready to move in.

It is done. Let the remodeling begin.