Good morning. Hello. How are you? #919
Ranting about courts, a whole lot of chores, gardening, Tesla reservations cancelling finally, RIP Rick Froberg
Good morning! Long time! How you been? Nice holiday? I do hope so. Issue #919. That’s the area code I live in. Not that I have a 919 number, of course. I still have a 617 number. Boston4Life, etc. etc.
Man it has been so long since I’ve written. Five days? What a vacation, what a vacation. ‘Twas just lovely. So many chores. Vacations rule. Every day, I only did things I wanted to be doing. Sure, sometimes I did less of one than I wanted, or they were slightly out of order, but I was always just… doing something I enjoyed. That is a gift. And, of course, something you gotta work for, because unlike the old days I was not, you know, wanting to be at some party or show in some foreign city or be drunk or be at the White House or some CAA party with a bunch of models or something like that. What I enjoy doing, and what I am able to do have been nicely aligned. Lovely.
Rick Froberg died and that is very sad. I did not know Rick Froberg’s name but I knew two of his bands — Drive like Jehu and Hot Snakes — very well indeed, loved them both to the moon. They had a profound influence on me. I only got to see each band once (and another of his bands, Obits, twice), thought there was more time, deeply regret it. He was 55. It was “natural causes.” My friend theorizes it was because he was a lifelong smoker so I will… you know, not panic when one of my idols die at approximately my ages, which happens more and more. Sail on, Rick Froberg, god, what a musician.
In France, they have been protesting cop violence, a cop shot a black kid, surprise, surprise, because he ran some lights. Definitely deserve to be shot for that.
And let’s take a moment to diss the Supreme Court. I just want to say that pretty much through the life of GMHHAY I have been ranting and raving about the Supreme Court and the utterly illegitimate installation of two “justices” — Brett and Amy Covid Bash. And now we have no Roe and no affirmative action and also don’t get me started on Anthony Kennedy’s crooked deal. The court is utterly corrupt, they intend to do nothing about it and there is no option but to pack it. If you still have doubts about court packing, let me recommend Ellie Mystal’s book, Allow me to Retort. Very conniving.
Also this is one of those historical quirks where a thing happened once in the past — in this case the switch in time that saved nine — where we stupidly took the wrong lessons from the past and thought it was some ironclad rule where in fact it was a historical quirk and there was absolutely no guarantee it would happen that way again. People got waaaay too convinced that exactly what happened could not happen, because the last time we were in this mess it magically fixed itself. Democrats were ridiculously sanguine about the court for a generation and look where it got them. Can we stop yet? Biden’s doing great re-filling the lower levels of the judiciary but his blind spot about the Supreme Court is a bummer. If we win majorities again, this better not freakin continue.
And don’t get me started on the utterly batshit decisions lower-level Trump appointees are making, like this week’s bonkers decision that employees of the Federal Government can’t, you know, talk to people, because free speech. This really happened.
All right. Anyway. Let’s move on to more pleasant topics. Chores! Speaking of topics I have ranted on and on about, I just wanted to give you an update that though I do not talk about hangers anymore, my hangers are awesome, it was the best thing I ever did to put those wire cutters in the closet and trim all my (coated) wire hangers to exactly the right hook length. It really does make life better. I just wanted to let you know that that whole saga turned out just great.
So. Things I did this weekend. I did a podcast, first one in three months. If you are a fan of my podcast and my dulcet tones, this is for you. It is very exciting, if not very scattered. Could not really follow my usual format since there was just too much to cover and it’s definitely somewhat rambling, but to those of you who have urged me to make a mother episode, here you are.
Other weekend tasks: two Walmart trips, two trips to the recycling collection center, a trip to Lowe’s hardware (those bastards really need to take some method of phone-based payment it is really getting to be a problem), a trip to Lowe’s foods. I donated about ten pairs of perfectly good, almost-new shoes to the PTA thrift. That was a nice load off my back, er, feet. I read Katy Perry’s entire Wikipedia page. I came in first again in the Diamond League in DuoLingo (You were write, Matt. Signing up for your league late Monday is the way to go — I won with less than 3,000 points). I concluded a long saga — months long — and finally obtained a Rubbermaid Brute trash can that can sit on the Rubbermaid Brute trash can caddy that I had (the bottom needs to have a round indentation to lock into the caddy). The Ace Hardware near me lied and said they had one in stock and when I got there they said “you shouldn’t trust our inventory online you should call us first.” Helpful. I got a new phone case that is MagSafe compatible but also has a ring for me because I’m obsessed with rings on my phones and it isn’t quite right because the ring expands at the wrong angle but it’s very close to perfect.
I hung up a new hook in the bedroom so I could hang up clothes that I am keeping handy and not in the laundry. Emma did this first, hooks in the bedroom. People don’t seem to do this. I think the idea is you’re supposed to go to the closet to leave all your “in between” clothes, but that is annoying and in any case the closet doesn’t have any free space for a large array of random clothes. So hooks in the bedroom. Fuck it. So useful. Props to Emma for this life-changing innovation.
I listened to about 20 pieces of vinyl, catching up on the backlog, so boy you guys are gonna have a lot of nice colored vinyl photos in the coming weeks.
Over at the new house I did a ton of chores, so many chores. I got the drone working and flying — man, those things are magical — and took the overhead photos I need to do a plan/plot of the excavation for placing the greenhouse.
The plumbers came and removed the two 40-gallon hot water heaters in the attic and replaced them with a single tankless hot waster heater in the crawlspace, making the first concrete step toward finishing the attic into a studio. They also installed a utility sink in my workshop in the garage and that has already been fantastic and life-improving.
Don the wacky electrician came and started doing the electrical on the main floor I need: a bunch more outlets in the garage, two exterior outlets, a 220 outlet, new lights in the garage and an outlet in the master closet for baby monitors. He’s not done though because we decided we should get a permit so he’s doing that today.
I took down the central vacuum because we’re not gonna use it. Spackled and painted the wall behind it. That gave me a lot more room.
I finally got my monitor situation worked out for the office at the other house and it’s not as awesome as my main setup here but it’s pretty solid. I got the internet and my computer onto UPSs at the new house, because it gets power flickers at the drop of a hat and it takes 5 minutes for the generator to kick in. It seems to have helped with the internet but not with my computer not sure what’s up with that.
Did a bunch of gardening: potted up some catnip. Bought some 10 foot rebar and used it as poles to trellis grapes and put a second grape plant in the ground over at the new house. These two grape plants are still decimated by that deer that got in, but I’m hoping they’ll recover. If not this year, then next year after a good trim, last least. Fingers crossed. I harvested a bunch more cucumbers, trellised the tomatoes more which are just going insane. If the squirrels don’t get them all (they will) I’ll have like a hundred tomatoes. Beans are good, peppers are good, beets utterly failed, carrots sprouted. Apple and Pear trees are doing great. Strawberries are bouncing back from their deer attack. I need to find a trellis solution for the luffas at the new house. New cucumbers for summer have not sprouted yet it is mysterious. Probably shoulda used a variety of seeds instead of one pack. Some of my seeds are getting old.
I bemoaned, once again, the sorry state of American electric wood chippers. It’s just ridiculous. I spent a good three months trying to convince Forest Master to ship me their European electric chipper but they just won’t ship it to America no matter what. I keep telling them it’s not their problem it won’t work with American electricity, I have a plan. But they won’t do it. So now I’m thinking that I need someone to take shipment of this thing — as well as a UK Jackery — and ship them to me. Which will cost an inordinate amount. That or I go into business making high-end American electric chippers. I’m sure the market is vast. But god, this whole thing sucks. I have need of wood chipping! I don’t like gas! Somebody help!
Oh, and I finally got around to cancelling both my Tesla reservations: one for the model 3 from years ago and one ill-advised reservation for the Cybertruck. When the form asked me why I was cancelling, I wrote “Elon Musk is a right-wing lunatic and I bought a union-made EV instead.” To their credit, the money hit my account within 24 hours. Good riddance.
I had two wonderful Jane bed times and then last night’s which was desolate and cranky and unkind — she told me outright she wanted to be unkind all night. We did dance party but man, never have I seen such a depressing dance party. Her heart was just not in it. Here’s hoping sleep did her good. She had a great holiday otherwise, though. Three days at the pool down the street at our friend’s house. I stopped by yesterday after all my chores for a nice dip as well. It was lovely. A good two, three hours of relaxation over this holiday. The perfect amount. And then we made Taco Tuesday. Mexican food, the perfect food for the Fourth of July.
Moody and quiet for you today, mostly new, a few oldies to round it out because it’s getting late and I gotta get my girl soon my god waking up at 6:30 sucks after a long weekend of waking up at 8 AM I can’t believe I wake up 90 minutes early every day just to write these words what the hell is wrong with me.
Until tomorrow, friend.