Things done and undone

I started reading a submission just now and realized that I wasn't awake enough to read it, even though it was really short. But I think half-awake is just barely awake enough for a quick (albeit kinda long) journal entry.

Meant to mention that there's been some accomplishing of long-delayed stuff around here lately. Frex:

  • I finally made it to the bicycle store last week and bought a new helmet, to replace the one that's nearly 15 years old. (Can I just mention how cool bicycles are? I've had this bike since 1991 or so, and in terms of total cost of ownership divided by number of miles traveled, it's by far the cheapest transportation I've owned, and it still works nicely, and I'm riding it to and from work almost every day now. Though I confess that I didn't ride it at all for years; many thanks to Kam for tuning it up and making it ridable again.) Thanks to Naomi B for the nudge to replace the helmet.
  • Kam ran some ethernet cable from the cable modem in my room up through the attic and down again into the guest room, so the guest room now has fast access without needing wireless.
  • Kam also fixed up the pillow she made me many years ago, which I had worn out. And she installed a zipper along one edge, which should make it possible for me to wash it more often.
  • I finally started calling United again about my lost-baggage issue from the WisCon trip. Sadly, no luck so far. I keep being put on hold for tens of minutes and then hung up on. Sigh. But at least I'm trying.
  • Relatedly, I finally contacted the Todd Smith folks to ask whether I can get the juggling beanbags I want (to replace the lost ones) from them. Btw, juggling this afternoon was fun. Someone came and stood watching us for a couple minutes, so I invited him to join us, and he said he didn't know how, and I said come learn. So I taught him the basics, and by twenty minutes later he was doing three balls reasonably well. And then another person came and chatted with one of the jugglers and watched us for a couple minutes, so I invited her to join us, and she said she didn't know how, and I said come learn. And the guy she was talking to told me, "You teach her; you seem to be good at it." So I taught her the basics, and by twenty minutes later she was beginning to get the hang of three balls. I was really pleased. We had a total of six people there, much nicer than the two to three we were getting for a while. I think juggling outdoors helps, as does going a little later so the dinner crowd sees us.
  • I finally dealt with some trash that's been sitting around taking up space.
  • Finally started making my workspace at work more ergonomic.
  • Kam and I looked at exercise machines the other day. I kinda like the idea of having a treadmill or an elliptical machine at home where I wouldn't be quite so embarrassed using it, especially if it has a little shelf or lip where I can put my PowerBook so I can read submissions while using it. They weren't too expensive, they had good places for the computer, one of them even folds up. But I'm not sure I would actually use it, and I'm not sure where I would put it. I'm inclined to put it in the garage, but Kam suggests that I'm less likely to use it there. But I don't really want to clutter the guest room with it, even folded up. Further study indicated.
  • We also looked at air conditioners. I'm put off by the idea of this big bulky box sticking two or three feet out the window, and I have various ill-informed notions about the unenvironmentalism of air conditioners anyway. But it would be really nice to be able to get cool enough to sleep this summer.
  • Finally ordered multiple copies of Sandra Boynton's excellent board book But Not the Hippopotamus (which has possibly my favorite twist ending ever), with intent to hand them out to small children of my acquaintance. I'd better do it quick, though, or they'll all be too old. Ray turns two on Saturday! Time flies.
  • My copy of Mary Anne's book has also arrived, but haven't had a chance to read it yet. But it sure do look purty.
  • Finally started looking into photo scanners, with a hopper so I can automate the process of scanning hundreds of printed photos. Also started looking into the possibility of replacing my hard drive with a bigger one; I'm running right at the edge of the drive being full, and I don't want to get a new computer until the next-generation PowerBooks come out, which could be another year or more. (Turns out, btw, that mine recently reached its third birthday and thus is no longer under warranty.)
  • Finally called the Toyota dealership to find out whether I needed to do anything to get my car registration and license plates. Turns out that David Franklin, the cool salesguy who sold me my car, no longer works there. Alas. Anyway, I then called the DMV, and they said the stuff was sent out to me a couple weeks ago but sometimes it takes three or four weeks to arrive. I'm guessing I misunderstood and he didn't actually mean it went into the mail a couple weeks ago. Also, there was some confusion about my address; the guy seemed to think that I had bought a Plymouth, until I told him that was my street name.
  • Finally saw Metropolis last Friday night, at the Museum of American Heritage in Palo Alto. (Thanks, Kam!) It was surprisingly good, surprisingly modern in some ways, not nearly as heavy-handed as I expected; worth watching. Even if I keep trying to spell that word "surprisingingly." Also, the movie had an ~extremely subtle~ moral that I'm sure no viewer has ever quite caught. (Sarcasm marks there because the moral is stated explicitly at the beginning and end and two or three times in the middle: "There can be no understanding between the hands and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator.") It's not entirely enlightened wrt workers—it does kinda suggest that most of the proles are just plain stupid—but hey, it has possibly the first-ever movie mad scientist in it, complete with artificial hand, and that makes up for a lot.

Sadly, all of that is still just drops in the bucket compared to all the things yet undone: emails I still owe various people, returning phone calls, paying bills, getting/making a graduation/completion certificate for Lola, writing a SWAPA'zine, preparing for this weekend's Chicago trip, cleaning up my room, reading all sorts of unread stuff, making more progress on magazine stuff, moving journal to MT, catching up on LJ, preparing for WorldCon, finding out if it's too late to sign up for NASFiC and WFC. And that's not even thinking about the longer-delayed stuff, like dealing with the books and stuff we took out of Peter's house, and the even more longer delayed stuff like getting my deck fixed up and painted, dealing with my back yard, going through Alex's files, finishing the last Words & Stuff columns. . . . The list of things undone gets ever longer. What was it Tolkien said? "The list grows ever on and on / down from the pen where it began. . . ."

However, I'm now going to check off the most urgent item on that list: get some sleep. ("Tolkien" again, following those above lines: ". . . For now it's getting near to dawn, / and I must sleep now, if I can; / pursuing dreams with weary eyes / until I wake some other day; / with more to do, from bed I'll rise; / I'll list until I'm old and grey.") (Ah, yes, Jed has gotten mighty punchy. Definitely time for bed.)

3 Responses to “Things done and undone”

  1. naomi

    hey, if you want to just try out a used air conditioner, i have *two* of them sitting unused in my garage. they got moved out here when we moved, and thanks to the persistent el cerrito fog (and, uh, my house’s 1930s era wiring) they remain in the boxes they shipped in. they’re the standard hang-out-the-back-of-a-guillotine-window kind; at least one was relatively energy efficient (for 1999, when i bought it).

    yours for as long as you like if you care to pick them up.

    and i am *so* pleased that you got a new helmet. the older my beater bike gets, the more i love it, too.

    reply
  2. Twig

    Wow, great quotes. Thank you.

    reply
  3. Jess

    Portable A/C. Doesn’t stick out of the window, and can be moved from room to room with you if you need it. 🙂 $499 at Home Depot.

    reply

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