Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Random Tuesday Thoughts: Late Edition

Our basement remodel is wearing on us. Seriously, for all the work we are having contractors do, it seems like Mrs. LIAYF and I have also been going nearly non stop for the past 3 months with very little down time. It's getting late here, and I should be downstairs doing more painting right now, but can't bring myself to do it tonight so I am writing this post instead.
-
We bought a new laptop recently and the default browser search engine is Bing. Sorry Microsoft, but if this is what you are banking on to get market share from Google you may want to go back to the drawing board.

I have been eating popcorn rather than ice cream in the evening recently to try to cut back on my amount of sugar intake. Now if I could only eliminate my afternoon Mocha, I might actually start feeling better. Baby steps self. Baby steps.

Speaking of afternoon coffee, I took the Starbucks Via taste test the other day. I couldn't believe how easy it was to identify the instant. I killed. No, it's not Folgers, Sanka, or Kava, but come on, it's still instant for crying out loud.

Back to painting. Because I just can't get enough of the subject. I painted for 12 hours on Saturday. Let me rephrase that: I primed new drywall for 12 hours. One roller pass and all the primer would be sucked right off the roller. My hand was like a hideous claw by the time I was done. I really should have taken the drywall contractors advice and rented a sprayer. Instead, I was all "I can paint a room in a couple of hours and save the 60 bucks" stupid. Yes, stupid.

Lukas and Venus are finally reunited on a daily basis now that he is in the toddler room and she is back from Summer vacation. He better watch out though as she may just be the jealous type. I dropped our son off at the daycare the other morning and the mother of another little girl in his room was telling me how her daughter talked about Lukas all weekend long. It was at that point that Venus pushed her way in the middle of them and gave Lukas a long welcome embrace. I smell trouble.
-

(Gooooooooooaaaaaaaaallllllllll)

Courtesy of Mrs. LIAYF I have been taking Lukas to Daddy and me Soccer the past two Saturday mornings. It's only 30 minutes long, but a good format to introduce him to organized sports, which I expect he will be participating in for the next 30 to 40 years. For the record, he is probably the youngest of the 15 or so kids there but he took right to it. He even got to kick the ball in the goal to end the practice. It was a lot of fun.

And Finally, courtesy of my being old and apparently hard to buy for, I find myself in possession of some Barnes and Noble gift certificates (which I appreciate). I have never read a graphic novel, but would like to get one. Anyone have a recommendation of a good one? Just one caveat: I am not into Super Hero stories.

Thanks in advance.

19 comments:

Captain Dumbass said...

I hear ya on the painting. I am so glad all of mine is done.

Dan said...

Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson is absolutely fantastic - providing that you're vouchers cover it as it's a big book.

Buy it James. Buy it now.

SciFi Dad said...

Don't know if you'd consider Watchmen superhero or not (only one of the characters is something other than a normal person... it's more or less a story about crime fighting vigilantes). Maybe watch the movie first and see?

ericdbolton said...

Google Chrome has a ninja skin available. Found it this morning.

I would personally go and save 60 bucks as well.. That's just me. Had the option to pay someone to fix my breaks last month. They could have done it in less time, but I saved probably close to 200 bucks doing it myself.

Only thing I refuse to do myself anymore is Move.

Mrs. M said...

Painting can be so annoying, but the final result almost always makes it worth the work. Good luck with the sugar, it's hard. I can't keep ice cream in my house, that is the only way I can avoid it. Unless it's vanilla. That is boring enough that I can just say no! Happy Wednesday!!

Anonymous said...

I despise painting, I did the hardwoods and tiling during our renovation just so I could afford to pay someone else to do that.

Martin said...

I am, quite literally, just about to put some paint samples up...

FilmFather said...

Re graphic novels: I read Grant Morrison's WE3 last year after hearing it was going to be made into a movie. (My half-assed pitch: It's like The Plague Dogs meets Robocop.) You'll finish it in a day or two, but man is it powerful...and it puts the "graphic" in graphic novel.

Despite the heaviness of the story, I'm not too proud to say I got misty at least once while reading it.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/We3/Grant-Morrison/e/9781401204952/?itm=1&USRI=we3

Lady Mama said...

Jesse loves the Bone graphic novel books. He's tried to convince me to read them... I will one day.

As for the basement... your stories bring back horrid memories of our reno last year. What a nightmare. In the end we hired people to finish everything off - cost a ton (must pay that off some time in the next fifty years) but what a relief to get it done.

And yes, the instant coffee at Sbucks - bleargh. After being persuaded "it's NOT instant coffee", I tried some. No thanks.

WILLIAM said...

Renovations (begats) suck.

You are not into superhero stories but you want to get a graphic novel. That is a tough one.

Ron said...

You and I share some similarities:

1) Popcorn for ice cream (but I going back to my mint-chocolate cookie because I have no willpower)

2) The Starbucks challenges wasn't very challenging (instant coffee in Seattle? Isn't there an ordinance against that?)

3) Bing is a joke.

4) I HATE painting. Bad experience as a child.

Gotta love Random Tuesdays.

Geezees Custom Canvas Art said...

I hate painting!

Playstead said...

I've made it a rule to go to bed hungry every night after all the BBQ's and cocktails in the sun from Summer. Seems to be working better than tons of meat and wine.

Jamie K said...

Do you have a paint roller extension pole... it really makes painting a lot easier?
http://www.hardwarestore.com/pop-print/larger-image.aspx?prodNo=8053

If I Could Escape . . . said...

Have you read the Man and Boy series by Tony Parsons? It's a great read and pays homage to Star Wars -- the main character's son is obsessed. Here's a link to the amazon review:
http://www.amazon.com/Man-Boy-Novel-Tony-Parsons/dp/0743225082

If you don't like the sound of that then you could always get caught up in the whole Twilight craze? =)

A Free Man said...

Re: Bing. I know. It is junk. The first thing I did with my work computer was change the default search. At home, of course, I use a Mac. So, you know, insert smug comment here.

Irrational Dad said...

I clicked over here from AFM's blog. I'm immediately introduced with a Star Wars reference. Don't mind me, I'm just going to make myself at home over here.

Regarding Bing.... the very fact that you mention that tells me that you're using Internet Explorer. I implore you to download Firefox (with the Adblock Plus extension) or Google Chrome. It'll change your internet browsing life.

Knatolee said...

I heard the female author of several graphic novels being interviewed on CBC, and they sounded good, but do you THINK I can remember her name? NO! However, here's a link to the CBC Canada Reads list of the top ten graphic novels. It's a start:

http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/2009/06/top_10_graphic_novels_1.html

Knatolee said...

PS Firefox rocks. I gave up Explorer years ago when they stopped updating it for Mac.