TGIF

Thank goodness it's the weekend! It's been one of those weeks where you feel like you're swimming against the current and aren't getting anywhere.... and the name of the game at my work is "make progress!" My to-do list ballooned to somewhere in the range of 75 outstanding things I need to do... most of them by September 1st! I'll be working this weekend.....

I went to see Katy Perry during the week - yes, I did take some time off of catching up to those tasks to see this - and man that was a fun show! I pegged Katy as just going to be a minor distraction from the week's events and something to break up the monotony of summer - but she darn well entertained me and Kelly, and it got all my senses involved - hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and feeling!

Katy Perry was pumping out something called "Smell-o-Vision" which made the entire show smell like cotton candy.... very sugary, you could almost taste it. Of course, it didn't help that the entire time there were hawkers who were clamoring up and down the aisles selling pink cotton candy on light-up sticks. Once the cotton candy was eaten, you could wave the light stick during the show - way to go getting those young 'uns hooked on raves at an early age!

This weekend, my good buddies Val and Vic will be in town to enjoy the sights and sounds of KC - go Victory for getting a new job away from the 4th largest city in America (and the smelliest, or so I've heard). Reading all the doom and gloom about jobs in America makes me happy that there's still hope for upward mobility these days. Now if only my job will ease up and let me accomplish some serious business!

Coincidentally, this coming week is Kelly's 28th birthday - if you're reading this, Kel, happy early birthday! We need to celebrate soon!

House electric switch replacement

I love my house that I've lived in for the past 5 years. I moved here from St. Louis, MO, or rather a suburb of St. Louis, back in 2006 when my job said I had to move to Kansas City... or else! Well, it being that I voluntarily applied for and got the promotion, I picked up my belongings and found this excellent location right across the street from a great elementary school.

My thinking was, well, when I have kids, I'd love to be able to watch them get to school safely right from my front door.... then I realized, oh, yeah, I normally have to get to work a bit earlier than when the kids get to school....

First things first when I moved in - change the locks. Seriously, I've heard stories of people who trusted their friends and others with their keys, then sell their house - and then those nefarious people with copies of the keys from the old owners just one day stroll up to your house, unlock the door, and pilfer your home without breaking a sweat. I like to make it just a little bit harder than that on 'em.

The next thing I did was get rid of the wallpaper in most of the rooms in the house - there were layers upon layers of new wallpaper thrown over the old, and I swear the rooms were much bigger once I trimmed the fat off the walls! Throw up a fresh coat of paint, and the house was looking practically new!

Here's my present struggle. So I like to see when I'm walking around my house, and thus I use the light switches liberally. Well, so liberally I've worn a number of them out. I like living dangerously, so I've taken the task of replacing them myself. It's not hard.... unless you live in a house where the electrician really messed things up. Grrrrrrr.

Apparently the electrician who wired the house switches:

1) Let the house guys blast white paint all over wires and caps in the switch boxes. You're supposed to be able to tell wires apart by color. Red is live, black is negative, copper or green is ground. I seriously cannot tell the differences between the wires because they're painted all white!

2) Double and triple connects power together under one cap. That increases the chances of short circuiting house wiring and starting a fire. Yay, go him!

3) Did not use the ground wiring at all. ANYWHERE. He's tucked the copper ground wire in the back of the boxes, still painted dead white, and left me to try to fish it out behind all the triple-connected wires that take up all the room in the conduit box!

*sigh*

Two light switches down, taking about an hour longer than I wanted to. Maybe I should warn someone before I do it, just in case, y'know?

;-)

Back to blogging again

So, I just completed a 90 day exercise plan where my focus was to ensure I stayed in shape throughout the summer. Man, that was tough! My schedule has been adding more and more work responsibilities so I'm losing free time that can be used to work out and make my 90 day goal. In fact, I didn't get 90 exercises in 90 days - I had 4 days of overtime where I doubled up most days, cramming in two exercise routines or even simply stretching for an hour to meet the goal.

Thing is, I had plenty of motivation to finish that plan - on July 31st, I ran through the Kansas City Warrior Dash, which was a hellacious 5 kilometer race with a dozen obstacles in the course. Having done the exercise (but little running practice) allowed me to finish in about 46 minutes and 30 seconds - frankly, that was a lot better time than I thought I would get! The day was an absolute scorcher, even at 9:30 in the morning, and even with plenty of the course running through water and mud.

What was my true motivation? Well, I had been looking forward to an excuse to snack again at The Melting Pot! I kid you not, that place is fabulous for happy hour and their gluten free options for cheese and chocolate fondue are to die for. I figured I worked off the calories for that meal in advance, so time to dig in! Happy hour from 4-7pm most days is a good deal for two people, $5 per person per kind of cheese or chocolate bowl... definitely worth the trip to the plaza for!

Happy Saturday! Am getting ready to head off to Rosedale Park for some disc golfing - been a while since I've heaved a frisbee into the trap, so time to brush off the cobwebs and roll some rounders!