Sunday, January 28, 2007

Studio M and Style & Co. and Inc. - Oh My!

I amuse sales associates in Macy's.

Diane and I went shopping yesterday because she needed some clothes for her new job. One of the great things about working mostly from home is that it doesn't require a wide wardrobe, and the same pieces work over and over when meeting different clients.

Doesn't work as well at Davis, however, and Diane realized this week that in the six days she's been there, she wore the same cool Benneton jacket four times. So yesterday she had a haircut appointment in Modesto and I went with and we went shopping.

This is where the amusment part comes in. First, it appears not many husbands accompany their wives. Second, the ones that do seem to stand around in impatient huffs or resigned indifference. The ones who go through the rack and bring in different pieces and evaluate the clothes as they're tried on are in very short supply. And the fact that I have good taste -- as least as far as being able to tell what looks good on Annoymous Diane -- doesn't hurt.

So anyway, with two separate rounds of trying on stuff at Macys (interrupted by a trip to Gottchalks, where Realtors shop, apparently) we emerged victorious with several nice business basics, including shoes, that have AD set for a while. They include a Studio M skirt that has black and white stripes going several different directions. It was in the morning hold pile that I thought might not make the cut in the afternoon simply because of price. Then she tried it on again and left me no choice.

To avoid any Ryan Seacrest Awards, I also bought a 1" dial indicator and inside bore gauges because I'm working on my motorcycle again. Not sure it offsets...

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Bigger, Better Benefits

OK, they're not bigger. But, despite what I wrote in a previous post about Diane's benefits not starting for six months, I was wrong. They start(ed) Jan. 10, her hire date. As soon as we sign up (like tomorrow!) we're covered, and it's retroactive to the start date.

So I have $1,400 in medical insurance premium bills on my desk THAT I NO LONGER HAVE TO PAY!

I have to go do my happy dance now...

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Redneck Ice Sculpture

This is a redneck ice sculpture.

Any ideas what it is?

The negative space in the center... oh, wait, this is a redneck ice sculpture.

The hole in the middle was actually it's own piece of ice, but unfortunately I tossed it against a rock to watch it shatter before I thought of taking pictures. This picture is more interesting anyway.

What the photo doesn't give you is any sense of scale. Is that an inch across, or a foot?

Here's some other objects that will help clarify.

I had the oil pan stashed under Gina's car, but she came home and took her car, so the oil pan filled up with rain. The funnel was upside down inside the pan. (And apparently centered quite nicely.)

When it froze, ice poked up out of the top of the funnel, and all the pieces separated like they'd been greased, which seems entirely reasonable.

Yeah, I know. There's damn lots of fun up in the hills. Diane's column this week is about a bunch of Troglodyte high school coaches who want the school board to update the 1970 policy on the appropriate length of hair for high school athletes. Keep it, but update it to allow hair to reach the bottom of a standard shirt collar instead of the top.

Wow.

Friday, January 12, 2007

The Benefits of Benefits

Don't think we've told anybody yet, but Diane got the writing job at U.C. Davis and started on Wednesday. She has an office and everything. She's the part-time writer for the Plant Sciences Department, and will be on campus one to two days a week and working from home as much as possible.

Best of all, she's bringing home full University of California benefits for both of us -- health, dental, vision, disability, retirement, the works. They start in six months. By my conservative estimate, it should save us about $20,000 a year. And she gets paid, too.

Woo-frickin-hoo!

Friday, January 05, 2007

Black Dog, White World



Spanky likes the snow.





Do dogs get brain freezes?


Thursday, January 04, 2007

The Beauty and the Basement

Van Gogh had Starry Starry Night.

Michelangelo had the Sistine Chapel.

Anonymous Diane has the basement Storage Area.

As I mentioned, when we brought up Christmas boxes, I discovered the bottoms of some of them were rotting. I don't want to encourage rot and decay in the foundation area of our home, so I decided the basement needed to be a cardboard-free zone. At least no wood or cardboard in contact with the dirt. A few days after Christmas we bought 14 storage containers, 18-gallons each, and on Jan. 1 we bought six more. (By my math, that's 360 gallons of storage...)

Then I stood back and let the master work.

Diane got ON it. (Yes, she gets into things...) For days our living room was the site of serious sorting. One pickup load went to the dump. Another load is going to the thrift store. And 360 gallons of stuff was packed into labeled bins and stacked in the basement.


I bought pavers to keep some stuff off the ground. A table in the back wears soup-can shoes. My bunker supplies are labeled and handy.

I promised NSO we could play cards down here. I'm not saying we have to, but we could.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Unabashedly '80s!

OK, Frankie may have a point.

Frankie, who has memorized more music than I've ever heard, gives me unrelenting grief for my musical taste (or lack thereof.) And yes, I'm still an '80s guy.

Driving back to the office in Stockton today from lunch, flipping around and come across a song that makes me stop, then turn the radio up. It's got that rich keyboard bubblegum sound and Patty Smyth vocals. "Shooting out the walls of heartache, bang bang, I am the warrior."

The '80s rule.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Worth the Money

Reading Koji's Kitchen's list of lessons learned in 2006 made me think of a few things I learned last year. Fortunately, the only common mistake we made was The Good Shepherd (I only buy bras at Victoria's Secret...) so the list won't be too redundant. Mostly what I'm thinking about are things worth a little extra cost -- especially if you can get them for less.

So, here's This Land's List of Things Worth the Money:

1. Hot tubs. Get a fully insulated one and use the chemicals they sell at Wal Mart. (And that's not because they're cheaper, but because they work great.) There's a cost to running a tub, but we use the thing damn near every day. It's worth it.

2. Shoes that fit. I used to buy sneakers at Big 5, only on sale, and only spend $20. Until I discovered Sketchers. These shoes fit my feet better than any other brand I've ever worn. I still only buy them on sale, but I'll spend the extra for the comfort.

3. Cotton dress shirts. Sometime back in the spring I saw an ad in the New York Times (which is another thing worth the money) for Paul Fredrick's. Special introductory offer for one of their basic white dress shirts for $19.95. I ordered one. Then got another on clearance. I've picked up three others at The Gap, all on clearance, and all 100% cotton. They look so much better than the cotton-poly blend shirts they sell at Mervyns or Gottschalks. The cost here isn't money -- on sale they're just as cheap -- it's ironing. I don't mind.

4. High-speed Internet. No explanation needed.

5. One nice fountain pen. This is an absolute luxury that most people would not include on the list. But I write for a living so it's on mine. I have a Waterman Charleston.




And, for the heck of it, here's a few Things Not Worth the Money.

1. Watches. The New York Times is filled with ads for very nice, very expensive watches. I have one I bought for $8 at Wal Mart and I defy you to tell the difference. At least from a respectable distance...

2. Edward Jones. Maybe it is worth it for some people, but the fee Edward Jones was going to charge to manage our small retirement holdings was excessive. Besides, since I've taken responsibility for it, I find I'm more actively interested and focused on building our retirement savings.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Feel free to add to either list!