Hippo, birdie, two ewes...

... to jilara and julesong!!!! Have a wonderful birthday -- you have the longest day of the year to enjoy it in!!

Done yesterday (20090620)

( raw notes )

Yesterday was a good day. Relaxed, contented, even happy much of the time. A lot better than "ok". It had very little to do with anything I actually did, as far as I can tell, and more to do with bad things not happening, a long walk, and a talk with a friend. I'll take it.

I even figured out, by observation, why my bluetooth headset keeps disconnecting from my phone -- it turns out to be shielding from my hand when I'm holding the headset. It also helps to have the headset on the same side of my body as the phone. It seems to be most comfortable in my left ear, so the best place for the phone is my shirt pocket.

We went to dinner at Arya. The YD, when asked, requested the Elephant Bar, but the two local instances were maxed out and Colleen and I were hungry. Arya worked.

For my Father's Day dinner tonight I asked for something I didn't have to cook or use a credit card for.

When we came home for a bathroom break (and to drop off the YD) before going for a drive, Colleen walked (with the walker) from the car to the back bedroom and back. It's about 75ft each way.

But the best part was the walk. It took me a long while -- half an hour or so -- to work myself up to leaving the last verse and chorus of "The Mary Ellen Carter" on cflute's voicemail, but I was rewarded a little while later with a good, long talk. Win.

Madness

Went to OSH, my favorite hardware store (even after being bought out by Sears a couple of years ago), in search of I knew not what. Drawn by the eldritch call of gadget lust.

Power squids now come in green!

I bought three.

Hardware wars

In order to get the grab bars installed on the back bathroom's toilet, one must first remove the toilet seat. Which was installed at least a decade ago. With steel bolts. Can you say corrosion? Right. Not really a good time to discover that the household's supply of WD-40 ran out several years ago.

I won this round. The final battle was fought with vice grips and a 12" pipe wrench. I need a new pair of bolts.

Father's day

I'm sitting in the living room next to Colleen, but I'm oddly lonely and melancholy. My 40th college reunion was this weekend -- there was no way I could possibly have gone. One of my kids is nearly a thousand miles away, as are some of my closest friends.

And my Dad died a decade ago. This is one of the days in the year when I miss him most keenly.