My feet are resting on lush, luxurious carpet. A extraordinarily rewarding feeling considering they have been resting on particle board for the past 10 weeks. Now I can finally move some stuff in from the garage and actually settle in. I have my queen sized BED to sleep in instead of a twin mattress thrown on the floor. I had forgotten how nice it was to sleep with your feet NOT hanging off the end of the mattress. So you will excuse me for sleeping in today.

The upstairs is all finished, and the downstairs should be done later this week. Just in time for company if anyone happens to be planning a visit…

I’ve got a giant roll of carpet sitting in my garage. Now I just need to figure out some way to get in into the house…

Installer is planning on being here tomorrow. But events have been conspiring against me, so it has already been postponed a couple times.

I’m desperately crossing my fingers, as I can’t wait to actually move into my house.

The previous owners of my house had left an unopened ceiling fan in the closet of the one bedroom that didn’t already have one installed. So yesterday, I decided to take advantage of the freebie and open it up. Installation was no problem, went up like a charm and fired right up. Fan running, light working, everything was fine. About five minutes later, I checked on it and the fan blades were running very slowly and there was a bad smell brewing. Diagnosis? The fan motor was dead. Since I didn’t buy the fan and hadn’t seen the brand at the local home center, I was kind of up a creek as far as taking it back or exchanging. So I was off to Lowe’s to buy a new one.

The really annoying thing was the loss of productivity. Having to install it, diagnose the problem, remove it, and go purchase a replacement knocked about two or three hours out of my day. I was mildly perturbed by the whole situation to say the least.

Roman Polanski has got some big, brass ones.

He is currently testifying in a civil lawsuit against Vanity Fair for libel. He claims he was in a “state of shock” when he read the article, which alleges that he is a womanizer and that he attempted to seduce a woman on the way to his newly murdered wife’s funeral. He testified: “I think it was particularly hurtful, because it dishonors my memory of Sharon. It’s all lies. That’s not the way I behave. Still I had some honor. Still I have it now.”

Yes Roman, you still have your honor. You’ve got piles of it. For example, I think it is really honorable that you drugged a 13 year old girl. And then had sex with her. Very honorable. It was then really honorable of you to plead guilty to having sex with that 13 year old girl, then flee the U.S. to France, who is harboring you at this very moment. And it is especially honorable of you to be testifying in your court case VIA A VIDEO LINK so that you don’t actually have to appear in the U.K., where you would possibly be extradited back to the U.S. for prosecution.

Nice.

Low-tac (not too sticky) bumper stickers that you can leave on cars to let their owners know what others (me) think of their parking abilities.

I’m going to have to buy the 100 pack just to keep up with my boss and his daily crimes against parking spaces.

Perhaps you remember the “terlit” repairmen from earlier entries here and here. Well, to my surprise and yours, this fix didn’t seem to hold up very well. It actually failed after a month or so. And after many many attempts to get the landlords to fix it, the not-so-handymen are back.

It all starts with them entering the front door and immediately bellowing out “HEY!” in an attempt to alert us as to their presence and immediately barging toward the back of our office. Because you know, a polite introduction is out of the question. Then they pull the toilet off, scratch their heads some more, then leave for about an hour. Now they are back. I’m scared to go see what they are doing back there. Lots of clanging and bad noises. I’m sure everything will turn out as good or better than the last time though…

*UPDATE* – 1:38pm
They finished. Interestingly enough, they decided to actually attempt to FIX the problem this time around, instead of just patching it up. Not saying that it will work any better in reality, but in theory they actually did the correct fix this time around.

The really sad thing about this entire escapade, is that I’ve been watching so much Ask This Old House, reading so much about home repairs, and performing many of those repairs, that I actually knew the correct procedure for fixing the problem. Sigh. I remember when my free time was actually free.

Beginning with Sandra Day O’Conner, the Justices are starting to step down, and our fine President is about to reshape the Supreme Court. I would think that he would be chomping at the bit to do so, but it seems that he is stinging a little bit from the Iraq backlash he is withstanding now, along with the drop in his approval rating, because he is already preparing a campaign for acceptance of his nominee. How is he doing that?

Fred Thompson.

You have got to be kidding. The future of Law and Order in this country is in the hands of an actor from Law and Order. A hammy actor. An actor whose idea of acting is scowling toward the camera. Oh, and I guess he is a former senator too. A hammy senator. A senator who got elected because the population of Rhea County, Meigs County and the like thought “that thar Hunt fer Red Octobr movie shur was good. Pinko commie bastards getting what that deserve, YEE HAW!”

Yes, I know of his political and legal background, which might actually makes him a qualified choice to help guide the selection process. But we all know that qualifications are the last thing that matter in D.C. most of the time. The thing I take exception to is George W. Bush exploiting Thompson’s celebrity in order to make whatever choice he makes more palatable to the general public that watches the 437 hours a week that Law and Order is on the TV. Scary thing is, it will probably work too.

Tired. So tired. Must find coffee.

Is the world really so apathetic that the most ambitious goal organizers could come up with was motivating people to sign a petition? Wow, way to change the world Geldof.

And for the record, I didn’t sign it either.

All of the guys who write the baseball blogs I normally read are also consumed by their love for poker. So I know more about it than I’d really care to. Anyway…Jennifer Tilly (who looks better and better the older she gets I must say) won the World Series of Poker Ladies Event and has been getting lots of press for it.

That is nice and all, but while looking at the other results, I was floored by this revelation:

Yes ladies and gentlemen, that is Gene Kaplan. Better known to me as Mr. Kotter. Who finished in second place I might add. I love it! Just for the sheer absurdity of it, here is a portion from the random notes section of the article I read: Gabe Kaplan is a proud graduate of P.S. 161 in New York City. He’s lists his occupation as a marine biologist and thoroughly enjoys armadillo races. His nickname is “Pookie” and he collects a modest residual paycheck for his days on Welcome Back, Kotter.

Only in Vegas…