Category: personal

But it will be hot, so I probably won’t do them outdoors. Hot AND humid. It’s summer, in the swamp, so it really shouldn’t surprise anyone. It was well over 100F yesterday and will be today too. Still been cooler this summer than a couple years ago. Doesn’t mean I love the heat or don’t reserve the right to b!tch about it.

Cut my hair and did my other personal grooming then spent the morning doing auction stuff. Almost bought a sea container the day before. Should have. The seller, an ISD, set so many requirements to bid that no one was bidding. I got scared about moving it and basically only threw out an opening bid, so the winner got a 20 ft conex for $130. They usually go for $1200. Several 40ft containers also sold for no money. I can’t know what the other bidder would have bid if I’d stayed in, but it does suck to see one go for that little. And naturally as soon as I lost I figured out where to put it and what it would cost to get it there.

Picked up the kid at 3pm and then switched trucks and did my work at the rent house. Swapped out the attic fan in the 140 degree attic. If it cools it at all that will help cool the house. Clearly traditional construction venting does not do what they think it will if the roof was 150F on the underside. The house has soffit vents and whirlygig* roof vents so it should vent. Doesn’t.

Today I’ll do a couple of pickups, one for me, one for stuff to sell in August, and one for the next Hamfest. I might do some shopping for the BOL window project too. Not sure if I’ll be at home or head up to work at the BOL this weekend. Since I’m not doing all the things people thought I didn’t do anyway, I might as well head up and do something for me. It’s a bit grey since they benefit too, but I didn’t put padlocks on the freezers to keep them from benefiting from my previous efforts to keep the family fed.

The sad thing is I don’t have to padlock what I know they won’t even consider using. They’ll just shop. It really is an XX thing I think. W bought 10 pounds of chicken legs a couple of days ago for some reason, so we had under cooked but burned grilled chicken for dinner… D2 was effusive in her praise and thanked W for making dinner. Twist the knife kid. D1 might be starting to realize something is wrong.

All I can really do is what I do most of the time, just a whole lot less of it. And stacking. I’m still doing that.

nick

*technically a turbine vent

And we start cool, but end up hot. National map has us clearing today and tomorrow, so sunny and all the moisture in the environment will make it humid. Well, even more humid than usual. It was 85F and stifling when I went out last night but a cool breeze snuck in and dropped the temp to the 70sF by midnight. That should be our starting point today.

Did mostly small things around the house yesterday. It’s supposed to be a sort of holiday for dads, so I thought I wouldn’t work too hard. I hung pictures that had been sitting on the floor for at least 6 weeks, and some that had been sitting in my bedroom for a year? maybe more. Picked up and put away stuff, cleaned some pipe stuff and got it ready for sale, moved some stuff in my office… and watched a few auctions play out.

I did win the ebay auction for my replacement suitcase. It should be here in a few days. It feels … weird to be replacing the old one. It was my anchor, and continuity in my life for decades of work travel. Decades of different hotel rooms but the same suitcase and arrangement of clothes and the stuff I needed to be comfortable. Weird to be getting rid of it. Of course the new one is the same as the old, just not beat to h3ll. I guess I’ll learn if that makes it weirder or helps.

I’m most comfortable when surrounded by familiar stuff.

Today I’ve got several auction pickups, and a bunch of office stuff to do. And all the rest of the list, with additional car stuff for D1 scheduled for Tuesday. The list just gets longer.

But I plug away at it. I can grind, even if it’s not as effective as it was. And I can still stack, although the stuff that needs stacking is a lot less than when I started. And that’s a good thing.

nick

Cool and wet to start, maybe clearing up later. Maybe not. The ground is saturated and the ditches around my client’s area were still full yesterday afternoon. I imagine they got even fuller… and the bayous are full too. We really don’t need more rain right now.

I spent yesterday morning getting ready and then on my site visit. No real progress was made but the gear swap should help to narrow down the problem. Having a house full of gear does let them do some cool things, but it takes maintenance.

Then I did my pickup and returned home. Puttered around the house more than working, but did get some small things done.

Today I’m going to have a nice lie in, then eat sugar for breakfast (bacon and bacon waffles are part of the plan.) After that, if I’m not asleep, I’ll see what low effort stuff I can get done. Hopefully it won’t be raining.

Can’t control the weather though, so we’ll see what happens.

My congrats to the other fathers out there. It’s a tough job, but the rewards are great.

Always be working. Stack.

nick

Wet, but hopefully mostly clear. We got some rain yesterday. Some places got a LOT of rain yesterday. And in true Houston fashion, some got none. I’m hoping it moved through, as it was pretty nice last night.

Slept in a bit yesterday, then did some internet and office stuff, before venturing out to do two pickups. Unfortunately they were in opposite directions, so I wasn’t very efficient about it. Still, it’s done. Weird not to have a bunch of pickups.

Today will be more recovery from being out of town, but first I’ll have my monthly meeting. And it will be in a temporary space as no one made any decisions about our choices while I was gone. I’m about to withdraw myself from the process entirely.

This afternoon will probably involve yard work. After I put new carbs on the string trimmers, after getting my mail from the neighbors. There might even be some work on vehicles. Who knows besides The Shadow ™?

Some prepping is likely to happen too, if I’m not careful.

Maybe even some more stacking.

nick

Hot, humid, sunny, some clouds. At least I’m guessing that is today, based on late yesterday’s weather. The weather in the Caribbean was nicer.

So yesterday was a travel day, and that meant mostly a sitting around the airport day. We didn’t want to rush in the morning, but didn’t have a good plan for what to do with the day, so we ended up sitting and reading at the airport. The issue was mainly what to do with our luggage if we wanted to do something. Dragging it around with us was not a real option. And the kids were tired of moving around. Naturally, after being at the airport for hours, our flight was delayed by a leaking hose… Did get home only an hour or two late.

Today will be a start to catching up with all the stuff I missed and put off by not being here. That’ll be super fun times…

Followed by more adjustments to the stacks. Several people mentioned after yesterday’s post that they stopped worrying about it since they had no control over what happens. While it’s true we can’t control the events, we can control our reaction to them and the impact they have on us. THAT is why we prep. And stack.

nick