There’s lots of stuff going on lately, though no individual thing more important or cool than any other. Just random stuff.

Went to see Hostage, starring Bruce Willis. I thought it was pretty good. A little formulaic, but fun all the same, and entertaining, which is why I pay the money to see a movie anyway. It was out of focus just enough that it bugged me and made me feel like my glasses were weak, but I told the theater folk and they didn’t do anything about it. It makes me want to get a job as a projectionist just to show them what “focus” means. This is the second movie I’ve sat through out of focus recently (Sahara was the other) and it’s not just me who notices.

Noticed that my local Albertson’s supermarket carries Bawls, which pretty much made my week. I didn’t succumb to ordering it online because the shipping kills you off (drinks are heavy). But I could never find it around here. Went into the store looking for something to eat late-night and happened to walk by the drink case where I saw my Happy Beverage. Mmmmmmm. Love it. They even have sugar free now, for those on diets. I haven’t tried that yet. I may have to check it out and see.

Went out to dinner with Jenn’s family last night for her dad’s birthday. We ate at Marie Callender’s. Now, Jenn and I are trying to eat better (and, lately, much less, since the fat content of our bodies has sort of escaped our personal comprehension) so eating at a place where everything is loaded in cheese sauce is probably not the most conducive to losing weight. We ended up finding some shrimp-laden pasta that we each only ate half of and will finish the rest for dinner. I guess if you gotta eat a bowl of lard, it’s best not to eat it all at one sitting.

After we left there, Jenn’s mom gave us a nice Easter basket full of chocolate bars. I appreciate the intent, but exactly what we didn’t need for Jenn’s self-proclaimed lack of willpower was a big bowl full of chocolate. Not sure what I’m going to do about that yet.

Since I haven’t sprung for the hard dance pad yet, we went out and bought one of those plastic mats that people put in offices to roll their chairs around on so we can set our soft dance pad on it and maybe get a little better response from it. I’ve been playing a little more (gotta get your exercise) and steps that I know I got don’t get counted because the mat slides around. I’m hoping this will help me out.

The TV repair folks just called. They’ll be at my place between 11 and 12 today to pick up the TV. I’m stoked! It’s been a long time coming. I hope they’re bringing lots of guys; that TV is heavy.

Okay, so they were supposed to be here between 11:00a and noon to get the TV, and I’ve been here since 11:30a waiting, but they’ve changed to 1:30p - 2:30p because their first appointment of the day (scheduled before me, around 10:30a or so, I’d wager) “is really hard to find.” Oh, and they’ve reserved the right to amend that new window, too.

This is their last ditch attempt to make me give up on my TV ever being fixed, isn’t it?

I worked from home for a while today because my Sunsetter awning was being delivered. That came in a 19-foot-long, one-foot-diameter tube. One tube. It barely fits in the garage. That’s going to be awkward to set up.

While I was home, I decided to call a plumber to fix this toilet I’ve got downstairs. You flush it, and it continues to trickle for several minutes after it finishes filling. I stared at it for probably an hour and was about ready to tear it apart when I decided just to call someone. Ended up calling Bob’s Reedville Plumbing - a same-day service outfit.

The guy showed up and about three seconds later says, “Oh, it’s siphoning.” Siphoning? Yeah, there’s this tube thing that has to end somewhere above the water line in the back of the tank or it’ll continue running. Mine ended below the water line, so water was being siphoned out of the back of the tank into the drain.

I would never have figured that out.

The fix? Move the tube up a quarter inch.

Expensive lesson, though - cost me $121.50 (that’s with 10% off) to learn it. The plumber felt bad charging me because he didn’t do much. But it’s fixed now. Plus, again, I’d never have figured that out.

If you need a plumber in the Hillsboro, OR area - check out Bob’s Reedville Plumbing. Fast and friendly service, there within a couple of hours of your call, and they guarantee they’ll fix any problem in the same day.

The weekend was pretty good (of course, it’s Tuesday and I’m just now getting to write about it… tells you how the week is going so far).

Saturday we went out with Stu and Tiff to the local fun center and played laser tag, some video games, and my personal favorite - skee-ball.

Sunday was the last hockey game of the season, so it was nice to see the Winter Hawks pull that one off. 36 home games per season, and I’m hockeyed out. I’ll be ready to go for next season, but for now… I’m valuing the free time I’m suddenly provided.

I’ve been playing some more Katamari Damacy and I’m really getting into it. I was going to order the soundtrack because it’s really crazy (yet addictive) Japanese pop sort of music, but it’s like $30 everywhere. Thanks, but it’s not worth $30 for the novelty. Instead, I found a guy who’s got it for download and picked it up there. Love it. I’m listening right now.

I’m still working on my pMachine to dasBlog conversion utility. I’m trying to make it reasonably general-purpose, but I’m not sure how successful that will be. When I’m done, I’ll probably stick it up here for “use at your own risk” usage. I was trying to make the code all nice and documented and everything… but for a utility I’m only using once, I may not go that far.