Good morning. Hello. How are you? #1006
Jane school angst, grading for the greenhouse, solar roof planning, another entry in the New York Tech Cinematic Universe arrives, an amazing photo essay that Steve told me about
Good morning! Hello! How are you? Happy Friday. Happy Olivia Rodrigo Guts release day. Man. I gots a busy Friday. I wonder how busy my Fridays would be if I didn’t try and keep my schedule entirely clear to do actual work. Lol. Yeah right.
Learned yesterday that there is one L in “diligence.” I cannot tell you how long I have been misspelling that word. Well, I suppose I can. Fifty-one years. Who knew.
Jane did not want to go to school today. She said it’s boring. Well, it’s not boring but it’s boring. Recess is interesting because she can break a rule and then learn about the new rule, she likes that. She said that, and I quote, “School is too time consuming.” Five years old. Got that one nailed. What could I do but let out a giant belly laugh. We got her to go, and we did it on time. And she remembered our conversation from yesterday and told Emma she loved her and gave her a hug when she left. We got her out the door at the expense of going to the bathroom, brushing her teeth, washing her face and hands after breakfast and taking her cough medicine. Sacrifices. But she got out.
We told her that if she came home, after school, and for ten days straight she said that she did not enjoy school that day, she could stop going. Even she acknowledged that wasn’t going to happen. “I like it when I get there,” she said in the car.
I am growing to enjoy our morning car convesations.
Emma is still not handling it super well but she is getting better and I suspect that if she didn’t have to do an entire five days of solo child care next week she might actually be getting into a good place but I have screwed that up, yay me. Husbanding. But what can I say, Peter Gabriel does not come to America very often.
(I have other, more important reasons for going, that Emma agrees must be attended to, but I like putting all the blame on myself what can I say I am Gen X not that, fun fact, generations are real).
Bedtime was fun, though. Jane was in a pretty terrible state after school yesterday — excited to finally have some agency again and saying no to everything. When I got “home” from work Emma was pretty sick of it. Was my night for bedtime and I pretty quickly realized this was not going to be a night where she could play with LEGO all night and I could ignore her. ACTION PARENTING. Half hour “bed party” where she just jumped and screamed and played dumb games (though interestingly, during bed party she was way more amenable to answering questions about school) and then a half hour of “dancing” which was mostly the new game “meatball” where we run back and forth until she screams “meatball!” and then attacks me. That is a great game I am a big fan. But boy, that was some exhausting parenting.
Anyway, whole morning was also screwed up because last night pool partner Ricardo informed me that the elusive grading guy would be here, at the new house, where I am now, between 8 and 8:30 this morning. Grading as in land grating, excavating, not like a grating personality. He seems fine, if taciturn in that Southern macho way. And Ricardo could not be here and I needed to be so I could tell the guy where I wanted to put the excess dirt and plant material. But I had a hunch he would not be here between 8 and 8:30 so I went and did the recycling center and Walmart anyway. I was here at 8:35. He was not.
Also I forgot to buy Jane’s lego treat so I’ma gonna have to go back. Crap. Well. That’s okay, ever since I quit the grocery delivery I have to go to the grocery store all the time, and I need to go to the Lowe’s Foods anyway this morning. Not that I have time. Woo! Work!
But it’ll be exciting to get that grading done. The wall material is ordered, the greenhouse is here, we might actually get this thing assembled soon. That would be amazing.
Continuing on the home improvement journey the dude from the solar roof company came by yesterday, in the middle of our weekly unboarding call because these home improvement vendors really don’t seem to grasp people have jobs, but whatever. We worked out a plan for how the wires will run from the roof panels, down the inside of the roof, in the bays all the way down to the floor, and then follow the HVAC ducts over to the northeast corner and out to the electrical junction box. That is exciting.
Oh! And the HVAC people came back because they studiously igored the oven duct in the middle of the attic when they did the HVAC job. So we sat there trying to figure out how to run it in the floor to the ceiling or wall and it is basically impossible. Man. This shit is complex. Basically you gotta a) look up in the vent manual the maximum vent run it can handle, then meause, then add five feet for every bend in the vent, and then calculate the total and see if its under code. Also a vent cannot be within three feet of a window. Also it can’t skip joist bays because there are HVAC ducts next to it and steel on the other side. Also there are only certain places it can penetrate the roof because of the solar panels. Also i gotta figure this out before the roof gets repaired.
Well. We figured it out. It is impossible. But he told me about something I did not know about, a recirculating, filtering stove hood, that just filters the air and pushes it back into the room. This stove barely gets used. Great. Sold. Anyone ever use one of these recirculating oven hoods? I have mild anxiety about it because someday we’ll sell the house and what if someone is like “we love this house but the stove hood doesn’t vent” lol. I mean. Whatever. Do you love this house because of its awesome finished attic? Well then.
Neurotic!
Exciting news in the NYTCU (New York Tech Cinematic Universe) — there is a new book about Glossier. They were a little late to the party and a bit aloof but I had some dealings with them and know a fair amount of inside baseball and, also, NYTCU, I mean, you still watch Ant Man if you follow the MCU (though not, I have decided, Secret Wars). So I bought it. And I am going to read it. And I will give you a full report.
One step closer to the Gilt Groupe book.
Finally, I am not usually a “link” guy, espeially at the end of a GMHHAY. House style dictates such non-Jane frivolity is supposed to be at the beginning of an issue but we’ve already cheated by bringing Jane discussions to the top. Nonetheless, I would like to call your attention to this fabulous, so-spot-on-it-feels-like-it-cannot-be-real photo series by James Mollison entitled “The Disciples,” wherein Mollison takes photo portraits of fans outside the venue of various musical concerts. It is so freakin good. I can’t get over it. I don’t want to ruin it for you but the Oasis one, especially, is just amazing. Thank you to Steve Bryant for alerting me to this amazing series.
Psych playlist! Freak out! Friday! Ow! Man that new Follakazoid is so good. Everyone’s all like “greatest psych band in decades” and I had their past EP with Jason Pierce and thought it was okay but nothing amazing but, yeah, people weren’t kidding. So freakin’ good.
Have a lovely weekend of chores!
We one of the recirculating vent hoods over our 6-burner gas cooktop, and have used it for 17 years without any problems. Just clean the removable filters regularly and its no big deal. You aren’t actually “venting” anything outside. On the infrequent occasion where I burn something, we open a window and it blows the smoke out and the hood filters the air. I wouldn’t hesitate to use one again.
That insulation photo could be the start of a 4AD album cover. It's beautiful!