October 11, 2000
Dear Everyone:
It would appear that summer is over here in the
greater
Bay Area. While
appearances can be deceiving, we have had the threat of rain, and
occasionally actual rain, over the past three days.
Consequently, I have been practicing wearing real shoes.
My feet are not too happy about this.
As far as my feet are concerned, shoes are foreign objects.
Much like the celebrated
Huckleberry Finn,
I’m the “first to go barefoot in the spring and the last to be shod for
winter” (or words to that effect).
So I wore (terribly expensive) “sneakers” Monday and Tuesday and actual “casual” shoes today. I also need to get used to wearing shoes again because I’m going to a conference the week after next and, although the dress code has been listed as “business casual”, I’m sure that shoes would be considered “required”.
“Jeannie” and I tried shopping for new sneakers, as
well as “business casual” clothes last weekend, but only got as far as
lunch and then two freebies at the cosmetics counter before it was time
to take her home. I’ll give
it another try before we leave for the conference.
In the meantime, I’m trying to get a
halogen bulb for
one of the living room lamps.
The existing bulb hasn’t gone out yet.
Unlike standard bulbs, a halogen bulb doesn’t just “pop” and go
completely out all at once.
Instead, it steadily gets dimmer until you either replace it or it
actually does die a natural death.
The problem lies in the fact that you generally
only replace the bulb about once every few years, so you don’t remember
exactly what the bulb looks like, unless you take it out of the lamp,
thus risking that it won’t work when you put it back in.
But I had saved the box that the previous bulb had come in, so I
knew exactly what I needed:
Type J, 118 mm, 120 volts, 300 watts.
Unfortunately, none of the current manufacturers
will tell you what the “type” is, nor the length, nor the voltage.
They will tell you the wattage.
So I did what anyone would do.
I guessed. And I
guessed wrong. Now I need to
return the wrong bulb and (hopefully) get the right one.
I also need to get a small
tape measure to
keep in my purse and a new filter for the air conditioner / furnace.
I need a new tape measure because I used the one I
had when the
Phone Booth was delivered to “Jeannie’s” place.
This is how I knew that the Phone Booth wouldn’t fit through the
garage door. Unfortunately,
I made the mistake of putting the tape measure down for a moment; and
you know what happens when you put something down at “Jeannie’s” place:
It disappears.
Countless objects have vanished the moment you took your eyes off them
in “Jeannie’s” place. She
must have some portal to another dimension floating around in there.
As for the new filter, I should have done that last
weekend, or even the weekend before that.
Things you should replace or do on the first weekend of each
quarter:
Filter for the air conditioner / furnace (replace
or clean if it’s the reusable type)
Turn the mattress on each bed (end over end one
time, side over side the next)
New
baking soda in
the refrigerator and freezer
New toothbrush
New
mascara and eye shadow (it doesn’t matter if you haven’t used them
up; after 3 months, chuck ‘em)
Anything else that should be done every three
months
Not that I always get to these things on time.
I think I missed the quarterly mattress-turn completely last
time. But it’s the thought
that counts.
“Jeannie”, for once, is looking ahead and already
has her Halloween
pumpkin.
Seems she waited until the last minute last year and lost out.
Other than that, things appear to be relatively
crisis-free for now. But,
like I said, appearances can be deceiving.
Love, as always,
Pete
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