Jen and I found ourselves on the couch after a long Sunday of housework and baby-wrangling in front of a show called Holmes on Homes, which is a fascinating HGTV program about a guy who travels around Canada fixing home renovation projects gone wrong. It’s fascinating because of the absolute horror shows they uncover and the lengths they have to go to to make things right, which usually involves several weeks, multiple crews of contractors, and lots of money. On the episode we watched last night, he actually told the homeowners they’d gotten about $150K of work to fix all the problems in their house (a total basement gutting, termite infestation, construction of a new cinderblock wall, and complete plumbing overhaul), which was refreshing and surprising; usually these things are just completed, they do the reveal, homeowners smile and hug, roll credits. While the program is, by design, made to feature the Worst Case Scenario, I like it because the guy is genuinely interested in fixing the problems he finds.
But as I get older, I’m less interested in the rest of the standard HGTV lineup:
- Shows about Manhattan/Los Angeles real estate sales, featuring breathtaking penthouse suites and modern vaulted beachfront palaces
- Shows about “famous” stylists dressing up the houses mentioned above for rich entitled clients
- Shows about annoying stylists with no taste redoing rooms for people with no taste on a budget of $500
- This Old House, which has always catered to people who live in Massachusetts and have no qualms about hiring a building crane to move a 150-year-old oak tree in order to improve their view of the lake while they add a half-million carriage house to the back of their estate
- Shows about rich, entitled real estate agents
- Shows about asshole house flippers and their irritating wives, husbands, and assistants who treat their workers like shit
- Shows about couples who swap renovation projects on their neighbors’ houses
What I’d like to see is a show that deals with normal people in normal houses who have a $5000 project and need some creative ideas on how to get it done. But that probably wouldn’t get any ratings. Instead, I’ll just watch another episode of Hoarders and feel superior while I sip my hot chocolate.
As if I needed another reason to dump my current cell carrier: AT&T to Buy T-Mobile, Becomes No. 1 U.S. Wireless Company. I doubt, if this deal actually passes regulatory scrutiny, that it will make anything better for AT&T subscribers.
USA Shopping Malls, Summer 1990. Pure nostalgia.
I was all ready to take advantage of the beautiful weather and drive the Scout into work today, but I literally was stalled by wonky battery cables. The PO’s homemade cables have been less than dependable over the last two years, and this morning no amount of love, money, or cleaning would get them to provide enough charge to start. I actually took the time to remove the terminal from the end of the wire and try to brush off as much of the crud as I could, but there was no joy in Mudville. So tonight I’m going to stop at the parts store and see if I can get new terminals and some heatshrink tubing to fit the cable I’ve got. I need to get her on the road for my birthday tomorrow.
Plans to take advantage of the 70° weather tomorrow to polyurethane the floor in the den are also on hold; I still have to clear out the area under the radiator and sand that as smooth as the rest of the floor.
Linda sent these two links along this morning, and they are exactly what I needed to laugh and forget my troubles this morning: What your Favorite Classic Rock Band Says About You, and What your Favorite Classic Rock Band Says About You, Part 2. For the record, I carry two flashlights with me, and use them at least once a day.
Speaking of Rush, they’re playing at the First Mariner Arena here in Baltimore in April. Tickets for anywhere below the troposphere start at $150, plus whatever bullshit handling fee Ticketmaster decides to tack on. So that won’t be happening. I’d rather pay that money to take Finn to the circus.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
Yesterday, I found a sad-looking Thinkpad laying in our driveway. No explanation, no clues as to origin, wearing a tire track over the front of the casing. All the keys are gone, the screen is obviously cracked, and the port side is busted open, but overall it withstood a serious beating.
It dates to 2006, so it would still be a useful laptop if it worked, but it won’t boot up (not surprising). I’m going to crack the case and pull the hard drive to see if there’s anything on it that’s worthwhile.
Update: The entire hard drive was filled with homemade latino rap tracks, each named something unique like “Slow Shit”, “Gangsta Shit”, “Smooth Shit”, and “Playa Shit”. I erased it and now it’s a 60GB backup drive. The rest of the laptop will get recycled at Best Buy.
From Metafilter: Pure awesome. A 5-year-old kid wrote a letter to PBS asking for a superhero show. Within a few hours, PBS responded. (Finn loves Super Why! and asks for it by name).
This makes me long for the days when things were simpler and people actually said what they thought: Epic 1974 Letter From Cleveland Browns to a Fan. Read and be entertained.