Friday Fill-Ins #87

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1. When I’m sick I’m a bear. (I don’t get sick very often, and when I do, I just want to be in bed.)

2. When I take a walk, I think about the architecture of the buildings around me.

3. Money can’t buy happiness but it can sure help making sure the rent is paid.

4. Cotton makes me comfortable and leather makes me wonder who’s clothes I’m wearing, ’cause I don’t own any leather.

5. The strangest person/character I’ve had lewd thoughts about was actually so forgettable, I can’t really think of any.

6. My favorite color these days is purple because it’s been my favorite color all my life.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to an evening home with the kids, tomorrow my plans include two (!) gigs and Sunday, I want to just relax!

I’ve Put In a Bid

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I placed an absentee bid on that painting. Why? I’ll tell you. Last year, at this same guy’s auction, I found a French dry sink with a marble top that I really liked. Susan’s been keen on dry sinks for some time. Since we don’t have a big enough bathroom for a hamper, we put dirty clothes in a basket at the top of the stairs. I’d rather we had some piece of furniture that would hide the clothes, but haven’t yet found a piece the right size and quality. The dry sink would’ve worked just fine. The estimate was $500 – $800: too rich for my wallet. The selling price? $172. Now that’s in my budget. With that little bit of experience, I decided I’d put a sort-of “low ball” offer on the painting. I’m thinking of it this way: if it sells for an amount equal to (or less than) my offer, and I didn’t put a bid in, I’d be kicking myself in the pants. Now, I feel covered. If I win it, I win it for a price that I would consider a good deal, possibly even a bargain (depending on where it ends). If it goes over that, well, then it just wasn’t meant to be.

Weekend Wrap Up

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My weekend started rather early. I left the office at noon on Friday. My Friday night gig started at 4pm, and I needed time to get my drums out of my car, and get them into Quick’s van. (We all car-pooled down to save gas.) The Jazz gig went until 7pm, and the crowd seemed to appreciate us. Hans, the German drummer who sat in last time we played this venue, was there again, as well as some other “regulars” I remembered from the last time we played there. After the gig, we stopped at Moody’s for supper. Hot turkey sandwich for me! Unfortunately for Susan, the cream puffs were sold out, so I wasn’t able to snag her one.

Saturday morning came along, and I whipped up some blueberry pancakes for everyone. Then we took a walk downtown; the boys and I went to Pirate Days, and Julia and Susan did some shopping on Main Street. In the afternoon, I took a nap before my gig. Here’s where things get funky. I was supposed to play Saturday night in Bar Harbor. (For those of you in Canada or California, Bar Harbor is 2 or 3 hours away, depending on traffic.) Blind Albert wasn’t able to make it, so he found a substitute. I figured “Hey, maybe I should get a sub too!” It was ok with the bass player, so I made arrangements to have the drummer who played Friday night at that club play Saturday too. So instead of playing in Bar Harbor, I played right here in Rockland, and I was all done at 8pm. I went to the grocery store to secure some flowers. As I pulled in the driveway, I shut the car off, and coasted in. I figured I really surprise Susan. Well, what a surprise it was, since she’d already gone to bed! Rather than just walk into the bedroom, possibly inciting a heart attack, I called softly from the bottom of the stairs. She was, of course, happy to see me, and mentioned that she thought perhaps I had something up my sleeve. Apparently, I’d been acting a little strange.

On Sunday morning, I made breakfast for everyone again: sausage, eggs, toast. Then off to church. We had lunch at Mom’s as usual. In the afternoon, I took a quick 1/2 hour nap or so, and hung out with Susan a little. Then back to church in the evening, and to Subaway to purchase a sandwich for Susan and Julia afterwards. Then off to bed, after a little Olympic volleyball action.

Initial Thoughts on Word Press

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Amy (as in Amy and her Bad Groove) commented recently, asking about how I like my new installation of Word Press. Well, here’s the good news: It’s very easy to use. It’s not unlike Blogger in its ease of use. The control panels are easy to use, and things like adding to your blog roll, doing simple text editing (like italics and whatnot), etc. are easy to do. The downside? I don’t like not being in control. With my old Greymatter installation, my templates were all designed by me. This template, which I downloaded off the Internet somewhere, has only limited edit-ability. And, I’m noticing it doesn’t render properly in all browsers. I also don’t like how the link order of my blog roll is randomized. I’d prefer them to be in an order I set, not whatever Word Press decides. I think what I may end up doing is finding a simple Word Press theme, and then hacking it to do what I want. For the next few weeks, though, I think I’ll just stick it out with this theme.