Living Small

Making Progress

Over the weekend, David made it through the wall. We can now see from the kitchen into the dining room and through the dining room window, and we can see from the dining room into the kitchen and through the kitchen window. It does make the house feel quite a bit larger. The next step will be to clean up and finish off the hole, but we are not exactly sure how to proceed, since it now appears that the wall might be structural, which makes us wary of cutting through the studs. Perhaps we should have thought of that sooner...

Seeing Into the Wall

This is what my kitchen looked like when I got home from work today. Yesterday there was a wall; the day before that there were shelves. This is all part of a kitchen remodeling scheme David has been plotting for a while now, which involves busting out a window between the kitchen and dining room. He is doing all the work himself, which I totally admire, but neither of us is quite sure exactly how to proceed. The other day, David said that he wanted to cut a shallow and precise hole in the first layer of wall to see what was behind it. When I suggested he use a steak knife, he responded that he had already tried that. Today he tried something a bit more powerful (I don't know what, exactly, because I wasn't here) and it worked -- one layer of wal gone. I didn't even know that walls had layers. I thought it was just a solid thing (made from "wall material," of course) that separated two rooms. Instead it is two series of horizontal pieces of wood attached to vertical beams, with plaster slathered over them and space (for pipes, wiring, etc.) in between. Who would have guessed?

Plea For Help

To follow up from yesterday's post as succinctly as possible, I'll just say that my iPhone software update didn't go quite according to plan. Actually, the phrase "total disaster" might be a better description. Four hours after starting the process, I had successfully downloaded the new software, but had also lost every ounce of data stored on my phone. Fortunately, I had just backed up my photos, but I lost all my contacts. Readers familiar with the iPhone will tell me that they should still be on the exchange server that I sync to for my email and calendar. This is true -- I SHOULD have synced my contacts. I had a good reason not to, which I won't get into here. Suffice it to say that I have lost the address and phone number of everyone I am close to, including my parents and best friends. If you are reading this, that probably means you. So help me out and email your contact info to eklanche at umich dot edu. I'll send you a holiday card!

Updating, Or At Least Trying To

I'm finally downloading the new software for my iPhone -- iPhone 3.0.  I say "finally" even though the new software has been out less than a week because David downloaded it the moment it came out and my friend Elizabeth had it even before the official release because her husband is an iPhone developer.  So even downloading the new software on day six makes me a relatively late adopter in the iPhone world.  I've been quite geeked about the idea of being able to search the phone and copy/paste, but not quite geeked enough to actually go to the trouble of taking my laptop to a cafe, which is the only way to do it since my pirated wireless connection at home is not nearly up to the task.  In fact, I haven't even synced my phone in months because it doesn't seem worth it when I can't download podcasts.  And then today, when I did plug it in to sync, I had about fifty million podcasts that I had subscribed to ages ago (in iPhone time, that is) and had never been able to download because my internet connection wasn't fast (or reliable) enough.  Not that I ever even listen to my podcasts!  I have this great toy that does so much and makes my life way easier, yet I just don't seem to have the time (or attention perhaps?) to figure out all its fantastic capabilities.  I barely even have any music on it because I seem to not have configured iTunes correctly.  Now I'm realizing that the download will take about an hour, and I only gave myself twenty minutes -- woe is me!

Made Fresh Daily

Driving home from a party late last night, David and I realized we were hungry. Though we like to think of Ann Arbor as a mini metropolis, the only place still open after eleven pm is Kroger, so we headed over there to see if they still had any prepared food, knowing that we could get by on cereal and ice cream, if necessary. As we approached, we were heartened to see a large sign in front of the entrance, reading "Sushi--made fresh daily." If the sushi gets made freshly every day, anything remaining after eleven should be on deep discount, so we made our way to the sushi counter, hoping that something would be left. Not only was something left, but the sushi display was full, and everything was dated June 21. We looked at our watches--still June 20. It was THE NEXT DAY'S SUSHI! Sadly, it wasn't discounted, but it certainly was fresh. By the next day, though...who knows? Perhaps the sign should read "made fresh daily (and sold the next day)."

Getting Wet

Today is one of those nasty Michigan summer days where it is both thunderstorming and hot and humid. When David and I woke up this morning, it didn't look like June at all -- it was dark enough to be mid-winter. I'm dreading the walk to work this morning because I know that, by the time I get there, I will be wet in the outside from the rain (despite using my umbrella) and sweaty on the inside from the humidity. Days like this make me nostalgic for Santa Monica's June gloom.

Record Linkage

Yesterday David and I received two letters from our insurance company. The first informed us that we could save money on our auto insurance if we purchased homeowners insurance from them; the second informed us that we could save money on our homeowners insurance by purchasing auto insurance from them. Perhaps we should write to the insurance company to inform them that they could save money on their mailings by linking the records of their auto division to those of their homeowners division.

Doing It All (or, Remembering To Do It At All)

Lately I have been wondering how people keep track if all the things they need to do. Most days, I come home from work and just sit on the couch until it's time to make dinner, not because I'm exhausted from the day's work or because I'm engrossed in a fascinating book, but because I can't think of what else to do. It isn't that I don't have anything to do -- on any given evening I could be blocking a recently-completed knitting project, answering any number of emails languishing in my inbox, blogging, cleaning the floor, or going for a run. And it isn't that I don't WANT to be doing any of these things (well, I really don't want to clean the floor); I just don't THINK to do them. It isn't until the next day when I get to work that I think of the personal emails I could gave written the previous evening, or when I get dressed that I think if I had only blocked that sweater, I could be wearing it. But when I get home from work, none of these activities spring to mind. All of this may come as a surprise to some readers, as I generally come off as being much more organized than I actually am. I have tried to-do lists and am quite good at making them, but it never occurs to me to actually read them, and writing "read to-do list" on my to-do list is just beyond pointless. So what is the answer? How does David come home every night knowing exactly which gardening projects he is going to work on? How do the rest of you remember all the things you need to do?

Paralyzed

No, the title of this post does not refer to David, who is feeling much better and has now been back at work for three days. It was how I felt today while shopping at Shaman Drum bookstore. Every year, my father-in-law gives me a rather large gift card at what is easily the best bookstore in Ann Arbor. When I was in grad school, it was quite easy to spend the whole thing quickly, as my professors ordered all the course books through Shaman Drum. But in the last few years my book needs have diminished and I no longer walk down State Street every day. I only finished spending last year's gift card after I had received the one for this year. When I went off to Seattle, I removed everything specific to Ann Arbor from my wallet, so I have been unable to indulge any book buying impulses that might have come along over the last few months. And then last weekend I heard from my friend Ken that Shaman Drum will be closing at the end of the month. I realized that it was now or never on the gift card. So I put it back into my wallet and made the trek to State Street after work. When I got there, however, I was completely at a loss. I knew that I could have anything in the store, not just on sale (35% off everything in the store) but also for free, and I had no idea what I wanted. Granted, about half the store' a regular inventory was already gone, so things that might have otherwise just jumped off the shelf and into my hands didn't have the chance to do so. It wasn't that I didn't want anything, just that I didn't want anything in particular, and it was hard to narrow down a whole bookstore to three books with no selection criteria. After nearly an hour of browsing, I did have my three books, but when I went to the counter to pay, I learned that I still had $35 on my card. I guess that means I'll be doing this all over again!