crankypants’ Neighborhood

Just watched the plumber stop at the stop sign, look directly at my house, and keep driving. Happened to catch him parking a block away (there's space in front of my house). The receptionist is a ditz - when I made the appt, she returned the call to my cell phone and said my office had said "no one by that name is here" - but I knew she had never taken my last name. Still, I'm the only person at the office with my first name - but our receptionists are ditzy too.

So did she give this guy the wrong address or did he screw it up? It's been 10 min, why hasn't anyone figured there's a prob and called me?

Anyhoo... this is the house foundation "before". At this rate, might be "after" too. There was no subfloor - just linoleum onto the foundation, with padding/carpet over that. All the really dark areas at the left, and near the toilet base, is rotted wood. The screw, holding the toilet into the rotted wood, is completely rusted.

update 10 min later: The guy finally found my place but the receptionist had only told him "leak" not REPLACE THE FLOOR - so not only was he totally unprepared, but he has more jobs lined up for today. He clearly wanted out of the job (made a big deal about my toilet being out of commission all day - well, duh!) but I didn't bite. I was hoping to just replace the couple really bad boards - he says they all need to go. Whatev. He's due back this afternoon - after the other jobs and getting supplies. We'll see if he actually shows up (won't surprise me if the other jobs suddenly end up taking all day). He's supposed to call me with an estimate - just so I know. Turns out the receptionist also gave him my office number instead of my cell. She's really lucky she doesn't work with me.

A cool little meme seen on Redzilla and Val's blogs. Mind if I play along?

1. What is a physical feature you admire in both men and women, that you find yourself noticing or comparing when out and about?

I love a nose with character and charm, on both men and women. I love graceful arms and hands. A man with shirt sleeves rolled up to just below the elbow, exposing toned forearms with small wrists, fine-boned, expressive, thin-skinned hands and just the right amount of arm air (not a gorilla, but not a waxed freak), is a total turnon. I prefer pianist's hands to string-players' hands. I've dated professional violists and violinists; their left-hand fingertips get all flattened and calloused.On women, I really dislike the ultra-chiselled, stringy, overly muscular arms that seem to be the rage in Hollywood (e.g. Madonna and Jennifer Aniston). I like slender, feminine arms.  I think Kzinti answered this question with "good posture", which I also find extremely attractive. Perhaps because I'm brown, I'm also fascinated with pale, creamy skin. I love those British and Dutch men with the rose-and-white complexions, and pink knuckles.

2. Who is someone we've heard of who possesses this admirable feature?

Mr. BrownA has a great nose, lovely hands and a beautiful fair complexion. My concert pianist ex had marvellous hands, of course. All the dancers I know have amazing posture.

3. If you could "safely" explore an addictive or otherwise unhealthful or unsafe vice, which one would you choose and why?

I have a profound aversion to excess of any kind. I admire discipline, and indulging in too much of anything--booze, drugs, food, sex, gambling-- is anathema. That being said, when I was on percocet for my horse-fall injuries back in November, the effect was interesting. It isn't so much that the pain completely disappears, but you just didn't give a shit. Plus I slept like a baby. So I would have to say painkillers.

4. In which TV show currently airing would you like to be a regular character? Describe the character a bit.

I'd like to be on Rome. I think I'd be an exotic, wealthy young widow from "the east", educated and well-travelled. Part of Roman society but, as a foreigner, exempt from its restrictions. I'd be a patroness of the arts--but I'd be secretly spying for Rome's enemies. Perhaps a romantic entanglement with Vorenus would be in the cards.

5. If you could be a member of the opposite sex for a day, what you would try out?

I'd love to know what it's like to be really strong--guy strong. Like, to have enough upper body strength to do stunts like chin-ups and one-armed push ups, and lift heavy shit.

At an internet cafe, MomH is waiting for me so I have to keep this short.

Poland = cheap, good beer.

Finally.

There's a couple on our tour not too much older than I so I have some beer hall buddies. We went to a famous one in Prague (U Flecku) for the 14% home brew. That must be in metric percents, because I had four and didn't get more than a slight buzz. And I KNOW I'm not that much of a drinker. Plus, I could stand upright the next day. Which is a good thing, but there's some false advertising going on.

Krakow is great. I wish we had more time here. So far it's my favorite place on the trip. It hasn't been overrun and turned into a Euro-Disney full of tourist schlock. Yet.

I feel a little guilty because MomH and I went shopping instead of the optional excursion to Auschwitz. I didn't think I could handle it anymore and MomH didn't want to go for the same reason. I've done Dachau and we went to a Holocost museum in Budapest that was powerful, so I think we're good.

But we did almost go on Crazy Mike's Communism Tour. If we had more time, we would have signed up to take a Trabant and check out the nearby suburb built just for the workers of the Lenin Works steel plant. That would have been cool. Instead, we sat out on the main square, listened to strolling musicians, watched the beautiful horse-drawn carriages go by and people watch.

And I had a great, cheap beer.

Ah, Krakow.

As we know, a king's schedule is always full.  Here's a look at what King Ping will be doing today.

1. Choose a napspot for the day.  The couch looks good.
   
2. Warm up said napspot.
   

   Warming up the napspot
3. Find the comfiest nap position.
   

   Comfy now
4. Nap nap nap.
   

   Time to nap all day

   1 comment
5. Nap some more.
   
6. Din-dins
   

   Din-dins

My brain is quiet today, so I don't really have much to post about.  Instead, I thought I'd snag Val's meme for today and play along.  (Although some of her answers were good enough, I don't think I can top them.)

What is a physical feature you admire in both men and women, that you find yourself noticing or comparing when out and about?

Hands.  I love people's hands.  Consider that for the most part, I don't like to be touched.  I don't like to shake hands, but I love to look at them.  When evaluating whether someone's attractive I almost always start with the hands, and I have on several occasions turned down dates with guys who didn't have good hands.  Spatula Finger Guy: no offense.  You were really nice and you were cute, but the thought of you ever touching me with your freaky spatula fingers was creepifying.  Same for you, girl with the impossibly short end joint on your thumbs.

Who is someone we've heard of who possesses this admirable feature?

Hubbicula and Spucko both have lovely hands.  Guitar players.

 

If you could "safely" explore an addictive or otherwise unhealthful or unsafe vice, which one would you choose and why?

Well, I've pretty much already covered this territory, as I think I've tried every drug except Ecstasy and it doesn't really attract me.  So I'm gonna have to think outside the box.  Let's go with sex.  I'd join a swinger's club or something.  (In Tampa we conveniently lived just across the alley from one, but we never checked it out.)  Or maybe I'd just start speeding a lot, since I never do that.  Be one of those people who drive 100 mph on the highway.

In which TV show currently airing would you like to be a regular character? Describe the character a bit.

Since Lost is the only show I watch, I suppose I'd have to be a regular character on Lost.  Knowing my luck I'd just be a red shirt, get blown up or buried alive or something.  The best I could hope for is that I'd be a hot enough chick to get killed.  Probably my Lost boyfriend would kill me.  Well, that sounds a lot weirder than I expected.

If you could be a member of the opposite sex for a day, what you would try out?

Val pretty much covered this one: I'd spend a lot of the day just enjoying peeing while standing up.  (Although I like the idea of getting a raise for a day.)  Of course, I once had a dream in which I was Hubbicula and I think it reveals a lot about how I see men.  Or at least how I see Hubbicula.  In my dream, the first thing I did was shave off my facial hair.  Then I put on one of Hubbicula's many fabulous tailored three-piece suits.  Then I went out to a bar and started hitting on lesbians.  Yup, that sounds like a good day.

I'll stop looking into reduction surgery now that I know. Bummer..I was hoping they could help me out with the perk factor while they were at it.

I switched purses last night. I only do that once or twice a year because I tend to fall in love with a purse and keep it until I fall in love with the next one. Well, I fell in love with the next one last winter but had to wait until it was warm to switch over. You can see why...

I was tagged by Jak with some good questions, via Emily Sears.

1. What is a physical feature you admire in both men and women, that you find yourself noticing or comparing when out and about?

Heads.  I love heads.  I love hair, I love no hair, I love eyes and glasses. I love cheekbones.  I love noses and lips and dimples of all kinds.  I just cannot help but love people's heads.

2. Who is someone we've heard of who possesses this admirable feature?

Most people I know have heads, so it's tough to narrow it down.

3. If you could "safely" explore an addictive or otherwise unhealthful or unsafe vice, which one would you choose and why?

Heroin.  It's a deep mystery to me.  I've seen it destroy many artists that I've loved and I wonder what it is that draws people to it.  Although, I guess my curiosity stems from the addictive nature, and if I could explore it without the addictive properties it might defeat the purpose.  I have no desire to ever actually use any sort of hard drugs, but again, it's influence in art and it's destruction of life is interesting to me.

4. In which TV show currently airing would you like to be a regular character? Describe the character a bit.

It would have to be the Simpsons.  I only watch one television show right now that's NOT animated and that's My Name is Earl.  I'm afraid I'd have to take a survey to be on set with Jason Lee.  So yeah, back to the Simpson's.  To become a regular character I'd have to be in one episode as say, I don't know, Comic Book Guy's Internet girlfriend.  After that, I'd be a background character whenever the town needs a mob.  I'd be happy with that.

5. If you could be a member of the opposite sex for a day, what you would try out?

I would probably just drink gallons of water so I could pee standing up all day.  Or maybe I would just work all day and make 23% more than my female counterparts.

If you feel like playing, tag it with "playgroup".

What do you do when you get a crush on someone?
Submitted by Desi.

I usually let them up after a while so they can breathe.

Floppy floofiness
Hiding little curled toesies
It's not a mermat

Hoorah!  http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9272332

Unfortunately, for the rest of us in the bible belt, there isn't much hope...