This time of year always makes me think of the Sundays, and I’ve had this song going through my head all day. Bonus: another song with a much better video.
The dash on my Scout came to me painted the same disgusting shade of purple the rest of the truck is. I’m stuck with it for the time being, until I pay someone to rewire the whole truck (that’s not a challenge I currently feel up to). Because I’m stuck with the dash, I’m stuck with the glove box door, which appears to be different than my old Scout and both of the spare dashboards I own. The difference is in the lock mechanism and its strikeplate. Most Scouts I’m familiar with came with a Chevrolet-sourced lock mechanism (IH raided parts bins from Chrysler, Chevrolet, and AMC liberally) that looks like this:
Mine came with a much earlier pushbutton design that looks like this (minus the keys):
The problem is that these are made out of cheap cast pot metal and break down over time. Mine is barely functional and never worked properly when I got the truck. I’d love to be able to use the glove box for stuff, but currently it’s empty and rattling.
Ordinarily I’d just swap it out for the Chrysler lock barrel, of which I have three in my parts bins. I did in fact try this, but it turns out the striker plate bolted to the dashboard isn’t compatible with the Chrysler lock. So I’m stuck with the old-style pushbutton, which I’m finding is hard to source for an affordable price. This site, specializing in Willys trucks, wants $5,000 for this part. This eBay site wants $44. This site doesn’t have a price listed.
I can’t find a non-keyed version of this lock anywhere, but I do see a Jeep lock button that looks similar in operation, averaging around $30:
Depending on its size and diameter, I might be able to make this work, but I’d have to take a $30 chance on it. Or maybe I’ll wait until I see a CJ in the junkyard and try to nab one for cheap.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
Today the UPS man left me my prescription for next week’s festivities and a large insulated box Karean sent with a chicken pot pie, which Finn and I promptly ate for dinner. NOM NOM NOM. I also had a friend stop by after dinner with a growler of the Belgian Dubbel we brewed a couple of weeks ago, and we stood around the kitchen and drank beer and caught up, and that was really great. Renie sent me a lovely gray hat just in time for all of my hair to fall out (or me to shave it off, whichever comes first) that is warm and comfortable. A couple of days ago another friends’ mom stopped by to drop off some soup, a book for Finn, and a copy of People Magazine from 1989 which is some of the most hilarious reading I’ve done all year.
This situation sucks, and I don’t want to do this, but everyone we know has been amazing, truly supportive, and I often don’t feel like I deserve it. But I am thankful and humbled and can’t imagine how we could do this by ourselves.
Gary Younge, a writer and reporter based in the UK, interviews Richard Spencer about racism and slavery, and totally skewers him and all of his asinine beliefs. This is a teaching moment about how to deal with trolls, racists, and bigots. This is better than the video of him getting punched.
Lathering up shampoo in the shower this evening, I brought my hands down to find them covered in hair.
On the plus side of things, it looks like the Democrats won both New Jersey and Virginia. Get out the gerry and start mandering, guys.
I dislike sitting still. I’ve got about 1/2 hour of quietly watching TV in me before I feel the need to be doing something, even if it’s mindless activity. I’ve written before about how modern TV sucks; we spend $200/mo. for a pile of cable channels filled with sewage. What I’d like to be doing involves being outside, physical labor, dangerous chemicals, and the chance of bodily injury; because I have no immune system I’m reduced to white-collar busywork, MY FAVORITE. I suppose this is why I’m sick and tired of radiation and chemo treatment: I’m bored out of my mind. I’ve reorganized digital photos and music and about four times now; I’ve cleaned my desk and organized folders and filed files. There are only so many files I can refile. The other problem is that I’m caught in between feeling just good enough to tackle something brain-intensive or wanting to lay down and nap on the couch.
I have been playing my way through an ancient copy of Half Life on a wheezy XBOX I got at a yard sale years ago, and all it’s done is made me lust after a modern gaming console that much more. In its day it was amazing stuff but now it’s like playing through a pea soup filter because everything is so low-resolution, and most games made in 2004 used a limited selection of grey and brown for every texture. At some point I will splurge for a new console, but it’s not been a priority. Maybe now that I’m looking at a couple months of chemo and recovery and surgery and more chemo, I can rationalize this a little easier. (Side note: What overpaid marketing genius came up with the name Xbox One X? Was the domain name for Xbox Two unavailable? What a bunch of tools.)
My beard hair is slowly beginning to fall out. This is alarming.
Taken with a manual Nikon 1.4 lens
I’ve been getting cards from friends and family ever since this process started, and I’ve kept them together in a stack so that I can write back and thank everyone for their love and support.
I shot the photo above with the f/1.4 Nikon lens I bought a couple of years ago, and as much as I want to love it I’m going to just retire it. Pretty much everything I’ve shot with it looks fuzzy, foggy and out of focus. I’ve got an f/2 manual lens I got with an old Nikkormat camera that shoots cleaner, clearer, and sharper stuff more reliably, and honestly I think I’m over the razor-thin depth of field thing now in favor of better composed photos. I’m leaving the manual lens on Jen’s D90 from now on, as I’ve traded her my D7000 in the hopes she’ll like it more.
Mario came in today at about 10 and got a ton of work done on the bathroom. When last we left, we were still discussing what to do with the attic stairs, the opening to the closet, the lighting situation, and whether or not to keep the door between the two rooms intact. My neighbor Eric the electrician stopped over to discuss the changes in floorplan we’ve made and how they would affect the wiring he and I installed five years ago. Along the way we discussed some updates to the overall plan and made a strategy for the next couple of weeks.
old windows and wall structure before Mario chopped it out
The biggest change we’ve made is to reorient the closet from a small 3′ wide single to a cavernous 7′ wide double. This affects the doorway we put in between the two sections and how we’ll heat the whole room as well as the lighting and switches. The new closet comes at the price of two windows, but they’re on the back corner of the house and nobody will miss them, especially when we’re enjoying our nice hot shower. We also heeded some advice and will put in an electric wall heater on a programmable thermostat, which will heat a 200 sq. ft. room as needed and then maintain a reasonable temperature for the rest of the day. We’re installing radiant floor heat but what we were told is that this won’t heat the room, just make the tile feel nice.
looking at the closet, new back windows installed with stairs removed and floor stringers in place
Mario chopped the stairs off today and started leveling the floor in the back half which makes the whole space feel cavernous. He finished framing around the back windows, studded out all the walls, and hung drywall along the back of the closet. Can I just say, holy shit we have a BIG-PEOPLE CLOSET. After 30 years, countless apartments and two houses, a closet to put our shit in that isn’t the size of a cereal box. With lights inside! We were so excited we went out to Lowe’s and looked at light fixtures and cabinets to start thinking ahead to what we want.
The new windows are lovely. We notice an immediate difference in the amount of sound transmitted between the bedroom and the bathroom–it’s much quieter with the new windows. I’m going to have Will the window guy come back out in the spring and give me numbers for the rest of the old windows on the first floor so that we can start saving our pennies.
Radiation day 18 is over with. Yesterday we applauded as a man rang a big round bell in the waiting area; it was his last day of treatment. We’ve made waiting room friends with the other folks whose appointments bookend ours; there are people with all kinds of cancer who have told us about their situations.
My appetite has been strong even if my stomach hasn’t. I’ve varied between having little to no nausea since chemo started, but my guts are pissed from all the abuse they’re suffering during treatment. This means things are happening at a more frequent pace and the suffering is rolling downhill. Let’s just say I’m taking great care when I sit down. We talked to a nurse after treatment and she gave us some good advice that seems to be working. Meanwhile the Neulasta I’m on to up my blood cell count made my upper back and sternum ache in time with my heartbeat; it felt like someone was standing on my chest all day yesterday.
Yesterday Jen was out running errands and brought me back a burrito from Qdoba with chips and guac for lunch, which was the most awesome tasting burrito I’ve ever had even though it was mediocre.
I’ve been keeping Stranger Things on a slow drip all week so I can savor the awesome; I just finished episode 5 this evening. So far I like how they’ve extended out the series, what they did with the characters, and where they’re going with the storyline.
The “cumulative” part of chemo caught up with me, and knocked me on my back on Wednesday. I went to radiation, came home, ate some food, and by 11AM I was in bed and spent the rest of the day sleeping. My stomach was fluttery so I took my pill and ate when I could but I wasn’t up for anything other than streaming some movies or listening to podcasts with my eyes closed. It got to the point where my body ached from laying down so long. I’m hoping today will be better.