February 20, 2002
Dear Everyone:
With a three-day weekend, you’d think “Jeannie” and I would have found time for a movie, but such was not the case. So don’t bother skipping ahead for a review.
Saturday, we spent much time working in tandem on two computers at once: “Jeannie’s” and a machine belonging to her friend. Both machines have the same specialized reporting software on them, and “Jeannie’s” friend needed to get certain configurations set up. Why re-invent the wheel when “Jeannie’s” PC already had the configurations in place? We just went into the same screen on both machines and re-configured the friend’s until it looked like “Jeannie’s”.
That, plus lunch, took a pretty big bite out of Saturday.
On Sunday, since Monday was a holiday, I put off everything but the garbage. The garbage had to go out Sunday night, unless I wanted to get up early enough on Monday to beat the garbage trucks (there are two of them). To my mind, one of the major selling points to a holiday is sleeping in, ergo the garbage had to go out Sunday evening.
This was when I discovered that the garbage can had apparently not been emptied the week before. The bag of garbage was still sitting at the bottom of the can. I hadn’t noticed when I pulled it in last week, probably because it was dark when I got home.
Luckily, I don’t usually generate more than half-a-can’s worth of garbage in a week, so the second bag fit on top of the first bag. I rolled the can out to the edge of my carport and locked the 20-foot chain around the carport support.
It occurred to me that the garbage truck driver may have balked at picking up a can so obviously chained up, so I moved the chain from the can’s handle to a bar across the back near the base of the can.
I also spent most of Sunday watching a Stephen King miniseries that I had taped a few weeks ago. Watching a six-hour series takes the better part of five hours. If you missed it, you didn’t miss much. Except for Julian Sands who’s always good.
On Monday, I decided to keep the one promise I had made to myself for this weekend. I did my taxes. That’s right, a full seven-and-a-half weeks before they’re due and my taxes are all done. Took almost an entire day, with A&E’s Murder She Wrote Marathon playing in the background and with timeouts for laundry, but they’re done. Filed electronically and already accepted by both Federal and State. Refunds to be deposited directly into my checking account.
Which means I can certainly order that new PC for home, just as soon as my new credit card arrives. The old one expires at the end of this month, so I have to wait for the new one because the unique verification number on the back of the card changes when a new card is issued. I found this out when my original order got caught on the old card / new card “cusp”.
In the meantime, my garbage did get picked up, possibly because I stood pointedly in the window watching as the driver emptied the cans along the parking lot.
And that was when I noticed that the roof of the carport across from mine appears to be sprouting tiny oak trees. I must remember to bring this up at tonight’s homeowners’ association board meeting. It can’t be good for the roof.
Love, as always,
Pete
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