A long, rough day

What can you possibly say?

Days like today just shouldn't happen. Ever.

Cool clips: My Humps parody

Although I rather loathe the Black Eyed Peas' "My Humps" song, Alanis Morrisette's parody of it is pretty darned funny.

Spring cleaning my life

It's been an expensive weekend, but in a good way, I suppose. I spent most of yesterday afternoon shopping -- one of my semiannual clothes shopping experiences. I asked a fashion-savvy friend to accompany me and got a bunch of new shirts, pants, shoes, etc. I also donated a bunch of clothes I don't wear often or that I really never should have been wearing. Those familiar with my wardrobe will be happy to know that the pleated shorts are gone, and as soon as my shoes arrive on Tuesday, I'll stop wearing gym shoes every day. (Incidentally, Endless.com is a pretty good deal for buying shoes. They have a huge variety of shoes you can check out, some pretty good sale prices, free overnight shipping and free return shipping. So if something doesn't fit, you just send it back and they send you a different size -- all for free!)

I did not just get excited about shoes, though. Let's be clear about that.

Anyhow, I got some nice shirts and a jacket for when I want to look extra spiffy. Who knows? It could be the start of a whole new fashionable me.

Today, I bought a new washer and dryer, which will arrive on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to having an energy-efficient set and being able to dry a load of clothes in less than 2 hours.

I also finally did my taxes tonight, not that I was procrastinating or anything.

So it was an expensive weekend, but a productive one. On Wednesday, I head to Miami for a few days for a copy editors convention. I suspect my fun is more likely to come from cracking grammar jokes than from hitting the clubs, but I'll let you know when I get back.

Cool clips: Free hugs

An inspirational video seems only appropriate for Easter ...



Incidentally, this really did become a big campaign. You can read more here.

A very weird day

The strangeness began when I was making lunch before work and suddenly something big and buzzy was flying around my head. I swatted at it to get it to go away before stepping back and realizing there was a yellow jacket in my kitchen. So I grabbed a fly swatter and gave it a choice: It could either get on to the fly swatter and I could carry it outside and it could fly away, or I could smack it to death. Fortunately, it was an obliging insect and crawled onto the fly swatter, I took it outside and we amicably parted ways.

Five minutes later, I was walking out the door when I discovered a dead duckling on my doorstep. It was all cute and furry. And dead. Luckily it didn't look like it had been mauled or anything, it just looked like it had sort of keeled over there. But I knew I had to do something about that because it would for sure freak The Roommate out. She already thinks the waterfowl in the area are out to get her. I feared this would be seen as a "Godfather"-type move: "See? If this is what we'll do to one of our own, think of what we'll do to you ..."

So I got the small snow shovel I keep in the trunk of my car and picked up the dead duck. It seemed unceremonious to toss him in the garbage can and I don't have a lot of foliage in the front yard, but I managed to hide him under the leaves of the one small plant that is there. Of course, a friend later pointed out that it will begin to reek as it decomposes and probably attract all manner of creatures I do not want to attract, so tomorrow morning before The Roommate awakens, I will give it a burial at sea in the pond behind my house. It seems only fitting for a webbed creature.

So then I get to work and discover that our bathrooms now come with Muzak. I walked into the restroom and stopped, thinking somehow I had taken a wrong turn into an Olive Garden. Exactly who was clamoring for elevator music while they peed that we went to the trouble -- and cost -- of installing this system? (While two of the four urinals are out of order, incidentally.)

It baffles my mind.

A moving story

I know I've been neglecting my blog readers the past couple of months, and I apologize for that. Work has been crazy busy, but I'll try to do better. Let's start by rewinding a month to when I made the big move from apartment to townhouse.

Because we were going to move both me and my roommate, I rented the biggest U-Haul -- the 26-footer -- to make sure we'd have enough room for all of our stuff. Now, I know 26 feet sounds big, but the diagram on the Web site should really have a little person or something to show relative size. Because the morning of moving day, after I filled out all the paperwork and got the keys, I walked outside to find I had rented a big rig. It ran on diesel, had a cab I had to climb up into and a huge, horizontal wheel like you see on a bus.

For those of you who don't know, I normally drive a small, two-door Saturn.

I was in a little over my head.

I got to Roommate's apartment without incident and managed to park it on the street because they had saved a sizable spot, thankfully. About a dozen of us loaded everything up quickly and we headed to my apartment. I backed the big rig up and would have run into the neighbor's car, were it not for Roommate's boyfriend, who warned me with inches to spare.
Whew.

The rest of the move went without incident, both the loading and unloading. We finished in about four hours overall. Then I went to take the U-Haul back, feeling confident in my ability to handle the monster I had rented (although rightly so, as we just barely fit everything in it).

Of cousre, hubris is always my downfall.

I pulled into the U-Haul parking lot and considered just pulling into the diagonal spot next to another large U-Haul truck. But it was parked facing the opposite way, and so I thought, well I'll just pull around and park it facing the same direction -- piece of cake.

It would be my fatal mistake.

Trying to make the turn and park next to the other truck, I got stuck on the back corner of the other U-Haul. The only way to get out of it was to keep going and scrape the entire side of my U-Haul against the back corner of the other U-Haul. It was the most painful few minutes of my life. Especially when I saw the guy who had rented me the U-Haul behind me, no doubt wondering what the hell I was doing.

I immediately hopped out and apologized profusely.

"You can't make a turn that sharp in something that big!" he said -- advice that would have been immensely helpful had it been given a few minutes prior.

He got into the U-Haul to straighten it out so he could inspect the damage better. It was scraped along the side and a side reflector was busted.

Luckily, karma was on my side and he graciously told me not to worry about it. It had been pretty scratched up when I rented it, but he was still far nicer than he should have been.

That was pretty much the only traumatic experience of the move. It took me awhile to get anything unpacked because I was hardly home. My room is still largely in shambles, and I haven't had a chance to hang pictures or do much in the way of decorating, but it's getting there. I'll let you know when I get it finished.

There have been some minor home-repair projects since I've moved in. I built a couple of shelves for a kitchen cabinet to make better use of the space. This involved buying a jigsaw and cutting wood, which made me feel very manly. And I still have all my fingers -- certainly a plus. I may end up buying some new appliances, too -- a fridge, washer and dryer. But we'll see.

Overall, I'm still a big fan of the place. Once I finish unpacking and take care of some things here and there, it'll really feel like home.