July 30, 2015: More of This

Five weeks ago today, the girls went to a birthday party for a friend where the stepfather - a dude younger than I - was the chaperone. He died a couple of days ago under some strange circumstances. I knew him fairly well, and he was my only friend in the complex. It's been a bad few days at the Casa.

43 thoughts on “July 30, 2015: More of This”

  1. Mags -where were you sitting when you saw the Pirates' pillbox hat the other day? (That was Mags, right?) I... might work with the guy.

  2. The big procedure is tomorrow. All liquid diet today. I'm going to be emaciated by this time tomorrow. I'm already very, very hungry.

      1. Wasn't so bad. I pounded the Gatorade concoction without much trouble and I cleaned out, but I didn't feel sick or anything. The big deal is that I have not had ANY solid food for almost 48 hours. I ate lunch in Bismarck on Wednesday at noon and told my wife to get me some cod that I could cook quickly when I got home at 10PM. She made a big fuss about cooking fish at 10PM, so much so that I didn't do it. Then, the next morning I explained to her, again, that I now couldn't eat solid food until Friday afternoon and that fish was my last chance. She seemed not to understand that she basically extended my fast by 10 hours with her recalcitrance. I had some chicken broth yesterday and a little jell-o, but I'm pushing 48 hours since I chewed anything.

  3. Welp, got rid of the Pacifica today. We're in the process of buying a brand new kia sorrento. This will be my first new car ever, and of course payments are going up. But, dat 200k mile warranty, though.

    1. Awesome - new vehicles are fun.

      Just hit 75k with the Rav4 - wishing I had a 200k warranty.

      1. I think our Subaru's still under warranty at 105k. I wish my Volvo had a 400k warranty...

        With a new one on the way, I'm wondering how long it will be until we have to/are able to make our next car purchase. The Buick we got from Mrs. Hayes' grandfather will last us a while, fortunately, but we'd both like something that's more fuel efficient.

        1. The Pacifita was in pretty tough shape. It was leaking oil, dented, trim falling off, randomly shut off at low idle, etc. This was something of a need, even though I was going to get a couple more years out of it. I had to make the not super great decision to add some of the previous loan into this one. The fact that it's a brand new and dependable Kia with that absurd warranty made it a less scary decision. Plus, I should be able to refinance in 6 months to a year through the credit union and get a better rate.

        2. I too have a Buick from my grandfather I would like to replace, ideally for something with a smaller wheel base.

    1. I haven't finished it yet, but it isn't off to a confidence inspiring start:

      Two years ago, when we were fighting for the eighth spot, we had a feeling that we just were who we were — that we were not going to ever move up much. That started the situation with Kevin.

  4. I love my new job. We bought a great house. They just approved a drug that will help treat my brother's CF. And now I got a free ice cream cone from the gas station.

    Life is really good.

    1. I'm a bit envious. I played hooky and went to trader joes. No free ice cream, though.

      1. Sim envious, too. I played hooky as well to get my teeth cleaned and ended up spending way more money than I thought I would. I did get a couple free samples of beer at the home brew shop when I went to get stuff for Saturday, though.

        1. ... Speaking of, I had a beer tragedy that involved a possible shipment. Next time, brah.

    2. Indeed, pending a test on his liver coming back ok, my brother will be on the new CF drug w/in 2 weeks or so!

  5. Got the following in an envelope in our mailbox earlier this week, and a question for the lawyerians on the site:

    To Whom It May Concern:
    As a disturbed and concerned neighbor, I would like to inform you of what I consider a violation of the zoning laws of the City of Hartford at
    xxxxx address, Hartford CT.
    The owner of the property, Ms.
    xxx, has been utilizing her home and the detached carriage house as a boarding facility, renting out rooms to unrelated boarders. This is in violation of the zoning laws for the West End. These zoning laws stipulate that a "single family" must occupy a home.
    In addition, Ms.
    xxx is using her residential property for commercial use by operating a furniture store and drapery workroom from her interior design business X. Y. Designs. (attached web detritus).
    I would like our neighborhood to remain residential and not change its use to that of a commercial strip. I have enclosed information from the internet regarding the business operated from this address.
    Thank you for your attention to this situation.

    If zoning laws are being broken, is this a matter for the police? Does someone have to take this to (civil or such) court for action?
    And most importantly, were they violating federal law by sticking this envelope into my mailbox without postage?

    1. 1. They can take it up with the city council, who will either choose to enforce or not, or give a variance, or not, etc.
      2. I don't know anything about postal regulations.

      1. 1 right. Your council person / alderman is the person who should be contacted

        2. The postal service is within their rights to return the item postage due or dispose of it if addressee isn't on it. Probably nothing more than a handslap though - technically it's a felony to tamper with someone's box

        1. Is this neighbor being a busybody jerk, or has the alleged offender created an actual nuisance?

          1. Not sure. The fact that it was written / posted anonymously is interesting (fear of reprisal).

            Interestingly, our mayor lives down on the end of our street, we have a police detective two houses down (across the street from the offending address), and the Governor one block up from the offending address. Doesn't this sound like a great plot for a summer movie - Things are going to get hot in Hotford!

            I know code is code, but these houses are so large that a single family couldn't fill the main house and the carriage house - back when they were built, the help (Irish) lived in the carriage house. And the code might say now that no commercial stuff should be going on, but most of the houses on the block were built in 1920 by doctors who practiced out of their homes.

            1. I know things can get dicey for enforcement when local governments try to define families. No idea if that would be relevant in this case or not, but I think it'll probably turn into a case that turns on whether the alleged offending conduct really offends enough people.

                1. Sometimes there are restrictions where renting is permitted, but you can only rent to a single family, not unrelated adults who would be living within the same house.

                  1. I talked with the neighbor adjacent to said property. He said Whatever. If they aren't doing anything wrong I don't care.

                    Haven't seen any low-riders cruising North Beacon, or suspicious looking white Canadian vans (hosers).

                    Now if we could only get rid of that obnoxious ice-cream truck that trolls around Elizabeth Park...

  6. We're getting an actual thunderstorm headed our way. Hopefully, we'll get rain with it because lightning could cause an awful lot of fires otherwise with how dry we are.

    1. It'd be nice it it made it to us, too, as long as there isn't anything damaging enough to wipe out any of the new planting we just put in the back yard. We are in Rancho Cucamonga, which if I remember correctly isn't to far from you, right?

    2. It's been like Mordor around here lately: 100+ with smoke and ash in the air from all the fires.

      1. For every time you've talked about your water-sucking orange tree in the middle of the winter, I take particular joy in letting you know that it's pretty damned nice in Minnesota right now.

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