Friday, August 27, 2010

Another Disruptive Weekend

Last weekend was not fun. When we got back into the house after the fumigation, I discovered I had forgotten to remove the plant from the office (the one houseplant we have, since both cats love to chew on anything green). Boy, is it dead. It's amazing there's any chlorophyll remaining at all.

It took Monday and most of Tuesday just to come down from the disruption of the weekend move-out for the bug killers, and on Wednesday I found myself sitting down and making extensive lists in preparation for this weekend and next week: the installation of the slate and bamboo flooring on the main floor of the house (I've only been harping about this for months).

The biggest chore was a thorough cleaning of the patio, which had turned into an ecosystem of its own over the winter, spring and summer (yes, it's been that long since it had a really good cleaning).

Luckily, the plants had already been removed to the walkway outside, so we were one step ahead. I moved everything else to one half of the patio and gave the other half a good sweeping. Then I gave it another good sweeping. After a third meager pass, it became clear that Mother Earth had become one with the concrete. If I was to provide an acceptable surface to receive adhesion of slate tile, I would have to take the hose to it in a big way.

With the "flat" setting nothing much happened except the dust got muddy; no movement, no removal. On the "jet" setting, I got quite good results, but it only cleaned about two square inches at a time. So I started at the back of the patio, making tiny circles, blasting the muddy water toward the edge of the slab. It was quite easy to tell how effective it was being, because the concrete changed colors once it was truly clean.

For a 10-foot-by-12-foot area, this technique took about four hours. After this, disassembling the fountain and cleaning the gook out of it was a relatively simple, though repulsive task (especially digging the rocks out of the algae-sludge). But now the patio is all prepped for the tile guy, who shows up at 9 a.m. tomorrow (Saturday).

And, today, the bamboo flooring was delivered. It seems that the material has to sit around for three days where it's going to be installed, so as to adapt to the temperature and humidity of the room before becoming one with its environment. As you can see, we now have 18 boxes of planks (23.8 linear feet per box), stair noses, quarter-rounds to trim out around the kitchen cabinets, and transitions for the few doors involved.

So, where last week we were bagging foodstuffs, this week we are clearing areas, finding room elsewhere in the house for things that will need to disappear for the flooring magic to happen. Luckily, the slate will be finished by the time the bamboo starts to go in, so we can take advantage of outdoor space for the less particular items in the living room.

So, slate on Saturday-Sunday-Monday, and bamboo on Tuesday (and I'm assuming Wednesday and Thursday, at least). But, by God, by this time next week, we will have slick new surfaces underfoot.

Last night, while I was going over the to-do list with Steve, he stopped me and put his hand on my forearm: "After this, let's take a rest for a while," he said with pleading eyes.

Oh, yes; I totally agree. I think we'll take at least a couple weeks off before we start thinking about ripping up the kitchen counters, opening the walls for rewiring electrical upgrades, installing a backsplash and such. And I haven't even mentioned pulling the counter and mirror out of the downstairs bath and replacing the sink and flooring in there.

You can tell I'm really into this fluffing the nest stuff: I took "before" pictures today, just so I could remind Steve what an improvement this will have been (and so I can show it off here in another blog entry in the very near future).

May your floors never squeak and your water features run clear.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Nazi Bunker Weekend

Boy, did we have fun or what???!!!

I really like being exiled from our home while a great big fun-looking circus tent is wrapped around it and poisonous gases are pumped in to kill every living thing inside. Entomologically speaking, it is a fun-filled Final Solution. And if I ever have to go through it again, I will burn the house down first.

What made it even more fun was the place we got to stay for four days: The Vagabond Inn here in Pasadena. Not only that, but we got the best room: I call it the Nazi Bunker, because it has NO WINDOWS AT ALL! ("Zo, Eva, do you vant ze pill or ze bullet in der head?")

To be more precise, this weekend was probably the closest I've ever come to insanity or a nervous breakdown or whatever you might want to call it. It was that final stressor in a year full of shitty stressors: it was the dump that gave the camel permanent hemorrhoids; an experience that scars for life. Perhaps I'm being a little oversensitive, but it sure feels that way to me right now.

It really started the Saturday before, when the air conditioning went on the fritz. (Fritz: get the Nazi tie-in there?) So on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, while I was bagging up all the open food in the house and prepping everything for the impending gassing (another WWII tie-in), I was working in 90-something degree temperatures and surviving by sitting in front of fans and constantly hydrating. On Tuesday, the air conditioning guy came and told me the compressor motor was burned out. He ordered a new one and said he could get it installed on Friday. Since the house would be deadly by that point, we scheduled for Tuesday morning, when I knew everything would be fine.

All was packed and ready by Thursday afternoon, when Steve got home from work, so we schlepped all the plants from the patio onto the sidewalk inside the security gate, caught and bagged the seven fish in the aquarium, got the cats into their carriers (they just love being in those things, just can't stop yowling once they get in them), and headed for the Vagabond Inn (falda-frickin'-ree, falda-frickin'-rah).

Checked in, got the cats out of their carriers, got the fish into the holding aquarium we had. The stress levels of this small move were already through the roof for both of us, and the cats and fish were all freaking out over this ungodly disruption of their existence.

This is when we realized they had put us in the wrong room. Six weeks earlier, we had reserved a smoking room with a king-size bed with the two cats added at a small charge. We were now in a non-smoking room with two double beds (the small ones) and no windows at all.

Well, that's not true: there was one tiny window in the oversized bathroom (that, an iron with an ironing board and a serv-yur-self minisafe made this an executive suite). The window was about the size and position of those in old Alcatraz movies, and out of it was a view of one of the seedier sections of Colorado Boulevard and the Spy Shop across the street: "covert surveillance for the common man.")

Steve called down to the desk and was told we could move to another room on the third floor that was the same but a smoking room. We looked a one another and contemplated the stress of cramming the cats back in their carriers, rebagging the fish (who were already puffing like long-distance runners, a sure sign of stress), repacking what was already unpacked and moving everything to another floor.

Stress, stress, everything was stress. Steve and I could read the other's face: the move wasn't worth it, for us or the animals. So we decided to stay in the bunker to which we were assigned and forfeit the $250 no-smoking deposit which might be applied to our bill.

I rationalized it by saying that, even with the blood money, our stay was still cheaper than boarding the cats (our original plan). I came up with a couple more rationale like that in my mind, which was starting actively to crack at this point.

We turned on the television (high-def with cable!) and the signal barely came in. After some fiddling, Steve found the cable wasn't fully seated, and he fixed it. He had a picture!

We ordered in a pizza and, after flushing three fish who had expired by that time, we hunkered down for the evening.

On Friday, Steve went off to work and I was left with the animals. Three of the remaining four fish had died during the night, so flushing them was my joyful first task upon rising. The cats were still freaking out and jumpy as hell, so I decided simply to stay in the room with them until Steve got home from work.

Even with a television for distraction, it is odd the effect of being in an enclosed area with no window. The only source of "fresh" air was the air-conditioning unit in the wall, which made a sound quite similar to an idling 747 jet engine and, as it was hot outside, this machine was running for most of the day. During the brief periods when it was not churning air, my ears would ring quite loudly in the silence.

Steve came back from work and I was overjoyed to see him.

At this point, the rest of the weekend becomes kind of a blur. I know we went to dinner at our favorite fish place; I recall going into a furniture store and finding some nesting end tables that were perfect for the house remodel; and we had Saturday breakfast at our usual place, which happens to be across the street from the Vagabond (a couple doors down from the spy store, right next to the box store). I also recall that we went back to the furniture store and purchased the nesting table set, and we packed up on Sunday evening to be ready for our return home. I also recall that I got about three hours sleep Saturday night and none at all Sunday.

We left the motel on Monday morning to get back to the house by 8 a.m., since the gas company said they would be there between 8 a.m. and noon. The cats seemed not to mind getting back in their carriers (well, not too much), and the one surviving fish was still hanging on.

We were in our driveway at home by 7:30 a.m. To make a long story short, the fumigation people didn't arrive until 10:30 and the gas company didn't arrived until 1 p.m. And, don't forget, the air conditioner was still broken. But it was so-so-so-so nice to be back in our home. Oh, Auntie Em, there's no place like home.

The air-conditioning guy showed up at 7:45 this morning to install the compressor fan, and blessed cool air is issuing forth on this day when the temperature promises to hit 103 degrees Fahrenheit. I figure with the week I wasn't using it, I can run it 24 hours a day for at least three days without affecting the electric bill or our carbon footprint.

EPILOGUE
So that was Nazi Bunker Weekend. I plan to spend today getting my focus back and returning to the things I was doing before this lovely life experience descended upon us.

And what is the moral of the story of Nazi Bunker Weekend? What enduring life truth or morsel of universal insight do we glean from this tale?

As I see it, there are two pieces of wisdom I came away from this hellish experience with that I would like to share with you, and they are:

1) You can never have enough Xanax, and
2) It doesn't work if you don't take it.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Freneh-Freaking-Ehticks

The week is upon us. The fumigation will commence at 8 a.m. this Friday.

On Thursday, I have orientation for the program at the Foothill Employment and Training Center at 2 p.m., and then Steve and I get to move all the plants off the patio, put the cats in their carriers (a feat in itself), bag up the fish, move the cat food and fish food and cat litter box (and litter) and hospital aquarium (a 5-gallon aquarium to hold the fish from the 28-gallon aquarium) and ourselves and lug this all over to the Vagabond Motel for three days of exile while they fumigate the condo complex.

On Wednesday, Vahan will call to schedule the flooring installation (most likely the week after). Also, I will be bagging up all the open foodstuffs in the house that we won't be consuming by Thursday afternoon.

Tuesday is absent of any immediate demands, but I'm sure something will come up.

On Monday I am taking the Alpha version of the Pearce Plastics website over to their offices, along with a long list of things that they have to write for the various pages (it has ended up being 136 pages, all tolled).

I found a listing today for a graphic design job at Cal Tech (home of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, for those of you who don't know Pasadena), so I spent about an hour today applying for the position online. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping I can at least get myself into the door. The application window closes on August 17, so I should know fairly soon whether or not they want to interview me. I sure hope so. It's right here in town and the pay would be what I've been hoping for.

I'm assuming that Vahan will want to start the flooring on Tuesday after we reenter the house after the fumigation; after all, the sooner they get the floors installed, the sooner he gets the second half of the payment. This will mean that we get to move all the living organisms back into the house, then move all the breakables and small furniture out of the main floor for the flooring people; also, prepping the patio, since they will be putting slate down there, as well.

And more possible good news (I'm being sarcastic): it was fairly warm here today (about 90), and when we went to turn on the air conditioner, the compressor did not kick in. Luckily, it was late afternoon, so we just opened up the house. Steve tried it later and said the compressor turned on, but there is still the possibility that the air conditioning will need servicing: the last time this happened (about two years ago), the bill was $1300.

Now, really, how much more fun can we stand?

I'm tired and wanting to go to bed now. Just thought you'd like to know the skinny on the last day or two, and our prospects for the next week or so.

But, hey, once the tent is off the the flooring is in, things might just seem downright boring around here. That is, of course, unless I actually land a job sometime soon.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Ebb and Flow

No, these are not our next-door neighbors; they are the inevitable motion of life: Ebb and Flow. If they were neighbors, I'd bet they'd live in a mobile home.

The date for the condo fumigation has been set as August 20, so there is no turning back on that one. Cats, fish and ourselves will go to a local motel for the duration while the plants will have to risk it on the outer edge of the complex's sidewalk. Even though they'll be behind a locked gate, I'm just hoping no one will walk off with any of them.

More of the ebb and flow on the job front: Mike at McGraw-Hill sent me an e-mail letting me know the art director's position was being put on hold until the publication calendar for next year was approved by the head office. I guess they want to make doubly sure they really need the person before they actually hire someone new. This means it could be a few weeks, it could be a few months.

This is not the first time I have had this experience with a corporate entity. The last time it was with Catholic Healthcare West in San Francisco back in 1998, and in that instance, the job simply evaporated over the course of about three months. If it hadn't, I would be living up in the Bay Area, probably unemployed due to staff cutbacks there. In any case, it means I'm still looking for work and there is simply nothing out there.

On the home remodeling front, we went down to National Flooring in Monrovia last weekend and signed the contracts for installing the bamboo and slate in the main floor of our house. Vahan, our customer representative, should be calling tomorrow to schedule the work. I think we should probably wait until after the fumigation. Slate goes in first (in the entry and on the patio), then comes the bamboo. All the work should be done in about a week, total, though I'm not sure whether they will do one right after the other, or whether there will be some time in between.

Also, I have been chosen by the Foothill Employment and Training Center (the local service office for the EDD) as one of the 25 most employable unemployed clients. I'm not quite sure if I should be flattered by that or not. In any case, they have a special orientation and service package for those of us who are fully talented and qualified in our field but who simply haven't gotten employment yet. Unfortunately, the orientation is on the 19th, which is the day we will be preparing to move out for the fumgation, so this should make things fun.

Work continues on the website for Pearce Plastics, and I'm pleased with the results so far, as are the clients. I got cousin Robin Riker's reel page up, but I'm just waiting for the hosting company to redirect her domain name to my directory so putting www.robinriker.com into your browser will direct you there. (Right now, you have to put in www.markmcddesign.com/robinriker to get there).

The weather has been lovely, in the mid-80s for the last few weeks, but it promises to crank up, heatwise, by this weekend into the mid-90s. That's okay, just as long as the humidity stays low.

Nothing much else to report. Life goes on. If I keep plugging away at it, something of note is bound to happen. Hope everyone reading this is doing well.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Really Weird Stuff

Here's some more disturbing Japanese robot fun. Not knowing Japanese, I can't follow the conversation, but just the fetal look of the robot is enough to creep out even the biggest Asimov fan.



Not much going on in my neck of the woods right now, or I'd be leading with something a little more egocentric and exciting.

We bit the bullet and signed for a quote for the floors yesterday. Today, a couple people came out and measured out the floors for the bamboo. Later in the week, someone will be coming by for the quote on the slate in the entry and the patio. In this diagram, they bamboo is in yellow and the slate is in green. We're getting it at a really good price from a guy that Steve used to know through Ethan Allen.

I'm still waiting for McGraw-Hill to call back. I'm assuming that we're waiting on the big honcho lady from the New York office to make her appearance for the final interviews. All I know is that I am having to practice my skills of patience and diversion, waiting to see what happens with this job.

I've been working on the website for Pearce Plastics, and am at a point where I need to show them what I've put together and get some answers about how to display the rest of the site. Also, someone over there is going to have to write copy for all these pages. It's an ongoing process.

We've got fumigation coming up this month. That and the flooring installation is guaranteed to disrupt our daily routine to the point of distraction. Maybe that's a good thing.

I'm waiting for cousin Robin's web domain name to transfer over to my host server (this can take 10 days), so that I can put her reel page online for all the world to see. I shall let all know when it is up and available.

Nothing more to report. I salivate, looking at the iPhone4, but it's going to be a month or so before one can actually walk into the store and purchase one without being on a waiting list, and I refuse to be one of the pressing frenzy eager to be on the cutting edge. Once the maddness has subsided, I shall make the purchase.

Hope this finds everyone well and happy. If not, work on it and ask for help when it gets to be too much. That's what I try to do (though I'm not always successful).