Online again after network outages-Charmnet got walloped by the train accident and has been down up until about 3:30 or so. The BreakAway connection is slow at work- so it’s actually easier to go home and use the Internet. Sad.

The basement is done, and damn, it’s good. I’m very happy with it, even though I’m aghast at having my bank account drained $1600 in two days. I need to go back on starvation rations for a few months and make the shortfall back up- I want to be back where I was pre-layoff in about 3 months (yeah, right.) I need to pay off the Texas trip pretty quick too- I’d like to have the credit card back down to $1,000 or so in a month or two. Then, I think we work on either getting the second mortgage paid off or we look at that Scout in Wisconsin.

I was afraid the lights wouldn’t provide enough indirect lighting to the corners, but there’s a light over the new laundry area (up against the back wall under the window), over the central part of the basement, in the ‘hallway’, and over the workbench. Plus, just having a light over the damn stairs is awesome- no more tripping and falling. I have to pull up the treads and kickplates to replace them now, though- the light makes all the gouges really stand out. And it’s great to have it double-switched so I can turn it off downstairs or upstairs (these are things that are standard in all new houses, but I don’t take them for granted…!) I can’t WAIT to start drywalling.

Today I lowered the boom on Renie-I told her I didn’t think Howard was the right guy for her, and she seems to be taking it quite well. She’s pretty chill about it now; we’ll see what happens when the rubber meets the road next week, when she has a ‘talk’ with him.