bluegargantua

Hey there,

Take a moment to go into the bathroom today and listen. Just listen. Is there a soft, hissing noise coming from the toilet? Even though you haven't flushed in quite some time? A sound that's been so subtle, you might not have really noticed it? Has your water bill been creeping up quarter after quarter without any appreciable increase in your personal water use?

If so, then open up the tank and look inside. You may have a faulty flapper valve. Replacing this valve is fast and easy. Replacements can be found in any hardware store for a few bucks and no tools are needed.

This has been a public service message from The Water Conservation League, the Town of Maynard, Massachusetts, and Tom's wallet.

later
Tom

Come scoop my driveway!

Cripes. It took me 3.5 hours to clear my driveway out today.

Once more, Thorn the Unencumbered by the Lessons of the Past demanded to go outside. About 10 minutes later I saw her leaping like a dolphin through the drifts of snow (sinking down below sight on each landing). Soon she was at the door expressing the winter of her discontent -- someday she'll catch on. Ash -- who is pretty much better suited to the outdoors in every way watched impassively from the window.

After that, I ordered way too much Chinese food -- Red Ginger, a new place in Stow Shaw's Plaza. It was a little underwhelming but I was super hungry and they're a brand-new place staffed by the people who could make it in so I'm willing to give them another go. The crab rangoon was reminiscent of Peking Wok so that compels a return visit.

Now I'm in a food coma and I'm going to listen to an episode of Painting with Bob Ross and drift off to sleep.

Maybe in my world, there's a happy little mountain where all the snow goes and I live in the happy little cabin in the happy little woods...
Tom

Hi,

So I bailed for all I was worth (and in the cramped basement, I'm not worth much), but I didn't make a dent in the water.

This morning it's almost entirely gone. Just a puddle or two here and there for me to shop-vac out.

Which is good because no one had any utility pumps and no one was answering my calls. Now I just have to dry out a bit, sweep up, and trash the water damaged crap we don't need.

So...yay?

Yes. Yay.
Tom

Hey,

Flood - major - non-tradeable:

If the primary victim has units on a flood plain, a maximum of 17 unit points are lost from the flood plain. Secondary victims on same flood plain lose 10 unit points. Cities on black city sites are safe. If not on any flood plains one coastal city is eliminated. Mitigated by Engineering.

Yeah so since apparently we're playing old school and there aren't enough civ advances for everyone (i.e. all the utility pumps in the state are sold out), I'm left with a small shop vac to try and get the water out (or at least down).

non-gamer speak: My basement has flooded. My understanding is that this house hasn't suffered from flooding in decades. So...hooray for me. Luckily we don't have too much down there and more of it is in plastic tubs/waterproof, but still. Not how I wanted to spend my day.

later
Tom

Hi,

So, today the house phone rings. We have a land line for...some reason. But we do. It's for emergencies and we never get any calls on it except from telemarketers (who quickly hang up when I mention I'm on the do-not-call list) and automated messages from the town.

The town likes to call up its citizens and let them know when street repairs will be going on, when the flu clinics are taking place, etc. This morning I got one of the longest, and most interesting calls I think I've ever received from an automatic phone call.

It was the chief of police and he had a little story. Seems like there's this family in town, the Smiths we'll call them. Last year, Mr. Smith was in a terrible accident and although he survived, he is now confined to a wheelchair. The problem is that Mr. Smith's house has no capacity for wheelchair-bound people and he hasn't been able to live with his family for months now.

So he did what every red-blooded American would do in such a situation and applied to be on ABC's Extreme Makeovers to try and get his house renovated and be on TV.

Well, with a story like his, and the support of local townspeople, he was a can't-miss shoe-in and this morning the ABC crew arrived to surprise him and let him know he was selected and that they'd be doing his house.

The chief of police related this little narrative to me for two reasons: 1.) a couple of streets will be blocked off while they're filming the renovations 2.) on the 29th, the last day of the makeover, when the Smith's return to their new home, the city of Maynard is basically having a pep rally for them and we're invited.

I hope the snowstorm doesn't disrupt their plans too badly.

I live in a weird town...
Tom

No, seriously.

A few weeks ago I came home and Annie said "I heard a doorbell this afternoon so I went to the door. No one was there. Then I remembered that we don't actually have a doorbell at our house. Not on the front or back door -- I checked. It was weird though, I could've sworn I heard it".

"Huh, auditory hallucination", I said.

"Guess so".

I thought nothing more about it.

This morning. The doorbell rang. So I went to the front door. No one was there. Of course not. We don't have a doorbell.

Totally creepy. I *knew* I wasn't hearing anything. So I informed Annie that our non-existent doorbell rang and went on with my day.

This evening, as I'm coming down from our room. The doorbell rings. This time, I'm not dumb enough to answer the door but my perplexity is immense.

Tonight, Annie and I are sitting at the table trying to figure out where the doorbell noise could possibly be coming from. Maybe one of the fire/CO alarms telling us to check batteries or that it's still functional? A toy/gadget still packed away in boxes?

Annie searches the hallway. "Hey, what's this?" she asks.

There, on the wall of our hallway, on the stairs going up is a nondescript white plastic box with a speaker grill. After several minutes we pry it loose from the mounting.

It's a doorbell chime. But we have no doorbell. Nor are there any connecting wires.

Then we get it. At some point the house did have doorbells -- wireless doorbells and this is the receiver unit. The doorbell sends out a frequency and the chimes would sound. We don't have those wireless doorbells anymore but someone else in our neighborhood does! Their doorbell is pushed, our chimes pick up the signal, and like Pavlov's dogs, we answer the door for a treat that isn't there.

We were very relieved when we figured this out. Then we replaced the chimes back into their bracket so that we might continue to be summoned by our spectral doorbell ringer.

"And they would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!"
Tom

Hi,

The closing is slated for June 7th.

And then the moving
Tom

...went really well. The guy said it was in fabulous condition. K. liked it too.

So onward we go
Tom

...yet.

They accepted the offer. So long as the home inspector doesn't cry and my carefully built financial fascade holds up to the bank's scrutiny, we're buying a house.

It's in Maynard. Within spitting distance of Clock Tower Place.

More details as they emerge.

They're going to revoke my "Not-a-Grownup" card any second now...
Tom