Monday, April 28, 2008

Mental notes.

So.. while doing the Canton house there were many things I ran into that I didn't expect. One of them involved installing a black floor in the bathroom.



A couple of weeks ago Alpha contractor walked up to me and said "you are going to have to caulk around that toilet".

Me - Okay.

Him - Since the floor is black, you're going to need to find some black caulk.

Me - Do they even sell black caulk?

Him - Yeah.. but don't ask anyone in the store for it.

Me - Why? Ooooh.

Well.. I put that project off for a while, and now its time to make sure the inspectors don't flag that toilet for not being caulked. I tried to buy it from Amazon, but they don't have any quick shipping. And I obviously need it this week.

This morning Alpha contractor asked me if I'd found any yet. To which I had to tell him no, and ask politely if he could pick some up.

I don't know why adding the word black makes this whole thing funny. I could go anywhere and ask for caulk. But add the word black to it, and it makes everyone laugh.

Recap.

Brokers tour is Thursday. This is where all the agents come to see your place. I've learned you bribe them with food to get them there. Mr S. and I had a big discussion about this, because I couldn't believe it was that simple. He said that if you offer someone 5 bucks to come to your house, they probably won't come. But offer them food costing 5 bucks - most people will show up.

Today I got my final inspection on the kitchen. Which always sends me in knots for a few days. I've never had a problem on any of my inspections, but all the contractors poke me with stories of what "might" happen. When the inspector showed up, I went into a panic. He had a hard-ass vibe, and he was one I hadn't met. He made sure all my fire alarms were in, and complained that we should have called for a framing inspection for the electricity. Even though everything was "like for like". But, the kitchen passed. Which is all that matters.

Mr S. got into my head this weekend that the house was loosing its curb appeal. So, I tried to fix that problem today. Which turns out was a good thing. My agent friend was over later in the day, and she said she'd already been getting calls on the place. I know it doesn't mean anything yet, but since my "coming soon" sign has only been up a few days I was happy it has been getting attention. I'm not even in the MLS yet.

Pictures.. very... very soon.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

No one could have seen this coming.



From Gizmodo.

"LawnBott, the $2,750 robot which announced itself as your loyal automated lawn mower—capable of cutting 33,000 square feet of grass in a single charge—has revealed its true face: it wants to cut humans to pieces. Actually, just stupid humans, but the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Kyodo America have decided to "recall them immediately."

Apparently, one of the owners lifted the mower from the ground while it was still on and "suffered minor lacerations from the moving blade."


It is amazing it took this long for someone to get injured from one of the Kyoto America Lawnbots. I blogged about this machine way back in Oct. 06. Here.

Where I said " As you can see, it also has a fairly obvious safety vulnerability. More concerning is an image on this site which shows you how far off the ground this machine gets when it is doing steep terrain."

I hope this doesn't halt the progression of robotic lawnmowers. After four years our Friendly Robotics machine "Mow" as we like to call him - is starting to show signs of robotic stress and age. We were thinking we were going to need to replace him soon. It sucks to have so few options. Especially since Friendly Robotics has struggled since it's inception. Mow has been more reliable than any of the iRobot machines I've owned have been. I hope some company comes in to fill the void.

Friday, April 25, 2008

A kindred spirit.

Today, I started getting back to the normal things in life. Like shopping. Which you all know I despise. Normally, I'm in such a rush - I immediately want to beat people in stores.. but for some reason today I was just a little zoned out.

Anyway.. there was this woman in the line behind me. I could hear and feel she was freaking out. She was figiting, and sighing. Which kind of brought a smile to my face. That is normally what I do.

Finally after a couple of minutes I turned around and said to her "you are doing what I normally do".

She replied " seething"?

I starting laughing and said "YES"!. Then apologised for laughing. But you have to understand - I meet so few people who hate shopping as much as I do. Especially women.

We chatted a bit about how busy she was, and that normally she was yelling for checkers to be added. Which made me in such awe of this woman. I normally just stare laser beams into peoples heads. I hate to be impolite. But this woman was unapologetic for her behaviour.

It was about this time another checker opened up an isle, and gestured her over. She looked at me and almost did a little jump. I swear to you, it was like she won the lottery. Which made me laugh.

As I was passing her walking out, I called back "you got so freakin lucky"!

She replied " I know - Have a good day"!

It is probably a pretty boring story, but I really enjoyed the interaction. Mainly because it made me feel normal. Mostly I feel like all other women love to shop, and I'm some freak who doesn't.

More on the real estate market.

I don't know what to make of this email my husband got from one of the guys he works with - but I found it really interesting considering my last post.

"I've kind of got my head a little buried in the local sillycon valley real estate market now that I'm in escrow on a new place and just noticed that my first house just sold. It was brought on the market on March 25th for 1.3M and closed escrow just 10 days later for 1.48M. Craziness, but that is why we acted so quickly.

From what I hear there are three markets here in the valley. The under 1M market, which is pretty dead. Nothing moving and lots of inventory.

The 1-2.5M market which is quite strong and super hot in certain parts like Palo Alto, Cupertino, Los Altos, Sunnyvale, Monte Sereno, etc.

And finally the above 2.5M which isn't as bad as the under 1M market, but still a little slow.

The other crazy thing is rates. I got a quote on rates 2 weeks ago at 5.5% and that same program is now 6.5%. Luckily my broker locked me after it moved up to 5.75%."

Thursday, April 24, 2008

How banks continue to depress the real estate market.

Maybe there is a good reason for this. I just can't see what it is right now.

Today my agent friend said that banks are continuing to change the rules for buyers.

This is the latest thing. The properties that are bank owned will not let you bid more more than the asking price for a house. For example - my friend told me about a bank owned property. I'd seen it come through the MLS, and it seemed pretty cheap. Let us say the bank is asking a hundred dollars for it. Because you don't really want to know how much houses cost in California.

Anyway - my friend said this house has 15 offers on it. But the bank will not let you bid more than a hundred bucks for the property. Say if you bid ten thousand over the asking price - you have to put that money up in cash. I guess potentially under this scheme, you could wind up paying more than 20% down if the house has that many bids. But, I'm not sure how many buyers are going to put up with that shit.

So I asked her "if the house has 15 bids, and they can't bid more than the asking price, how do they pick the person that gets to buy the house"? She said she wasn't sure. It just started happening last week. Perhaps credit score.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

What is a person to do?

The Canton house should be on brokers tour on Thursday. A week from tomorrow. This meant I needed to get someone to come in and get it all tidy. Basically, get rid of all the construction dust. Normally that is something I would do - but not this time.

Yesterday, on the block right next to the Canton house I noticed that one of the houses had a big sign in the front yard that read "Need work - will do housework and yard work".

I figured times are hard right now, and this person just lives a block over. What harm can be done? So today, I went by to jot down the number they had listed on the sign. It turns out the gal was in the front yard. So I asked her if she could come over and give me a quote for cleaning the house. She popped in my truck and over to the house I drove.

It was in that one block in talking to her that I realised she was a tweaker. She didn't seem like a bad person or weird. But she was that really rough looking, twitchy tweeker type. She was actually really nice. She brought me into her house so we could exchange numbers. And I actually wound up booking her for next week. But, at the time I thought.. if there is anything tweekers can do well. It's probably cleaning.

Then I started having second thoughts. After I dropped her off I whipped back to the house and asked Alpha contractor if he thought tweekers were trustworthy. To which he replied " I knew that girl was a tweeker the minute I saw her". This actually really surprised me. I couldn't really get him to give me a straight answer about the whole thing.

A little while later in the day, I finally said to Alpha contractor " I don't think I'm going to be able to hire that girl - and I don't know what to do. I can't tell her the reason is I think she's a tweeker". I'm just a little afraid she's going to rob me blind. If she had seemed like a previous tweeker, I could probably get past that. But she was a little twitchy for my comfort. Meaning I think she's an active tweeker.

Anyway.. Alpha contractor tells me "well... just tell her you already got someone to do it". Which was also surprising. He had just made a big stink about fibbing two days ago when we were talking about something else. Plus, don't forget. He is super religious! So I said " what are you talking about Alpha contractor - didn't you just have a cow about fibbing two days ago"? He just ignored me like he does, and said " tell her you have someone to do it. Tell her I'm doing it".

He isn't doing shit like that. Its a complete lie.

I still don't know what to do about this girl. I have trust issues, but I also think most people are generally good people. And.. I'd like my super religious contractor to stick to one set of rules so I'm not constantly confused. I still think he just makes shit up as he goes along. It's bothersome.

Monday, April 21, 2008

The rundown.

Okay - so I'm not quite done. So, I thought I'd show you how the window I'd fought so hard for turned out.



If you haven't been keeping up - see the before picture here.

Most of the weekend was consumed with lighting purchases. And bunny spa. They all needed their nails trimmed.

The bi-polar weather makes it so they don't know what kind of fur to grow. One day it's freezing (almost) which sends out the message "grow a thicker coat". The next day its 90 degree's. Fur is bad. Mmmkay? Ditch the fur. Sucks for bunny owners.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Your Saturday morning reading.

About 4:30, after I'd been working at the house all day - Mr S. informed me that one of the Indy films we wanted to see was playing tonight. And... it was the only showing. Fuck!

So I showered, and off we went.

I knew by being able to find a parking spot immediately - this film was not going to be packed.

We get into the theater. They don't even check our tickets. We walk right in. Oooh.. that's a bad sign I think. We find some seats. We are the only ones in the row.

Just before the film starts a group of five people sit right next to us. I immediately look at Mr. S and ask him "what the fuck"? "They couldn't find any other seats, than right beside us"? He leans over and whispers "do you want to move over a seat so we can have a buffer"? You bet I do!

The lights dim. The movie starts, and I see the guy sitting one seat away gesturing to people in the isle on the right. Mind you... we are about eight seats on the left side of the theatre. The new people make us move so they can join their friends. The whole group moved down to fill up the empty buffer space we'd made.

At this point I'm irritated. There are six rows of seats in front of us, and I see a grand total of 4 people sitting them. I look to the row in back of me, and it's completely empty. There was obviously no way to get to their friends besides making us to move. The place was packed after all. By the time the film started there are probably 40 people in the theater total. I'm not exaggerating.

We wind up moving over to an isolated row of seats to get away from these people.

The movie however was actually enjoyable. I would give you a clip, but somehow in this age of technology the film site doesn't have one. It was called Broke Sky. You should click the link, and read the story line.

It was a little Fargo-ish.

It is unfortunate they haven't done a better job of marketing it. Because, it wasn't bad. Even though there were no gay coyboys eating pudding.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

About last night.

Okay.. these are the rules. I am going to edit any post in which you use full names of these people. If you even know who they are. They were very nice - but the event was a total waste of time. I don't want a bunch of extra traffic because of what I'm going to say.

This is the time of year my burb - tries to transform itself into a small mountain film town. Some years are better than others. Last year had a couple of people I found interesting. This year was almost a total bust. The event was horribly run. Early on, we found it hard to buy tickets for the event because their website sucked so hard. I was super tired but got myself together to go to the pre-show. Once there, I was a little un-nerved by the sheer amount of bimbo's.

Which even now, I can't believe I'm saying. I have a really high threshold for bimbos. It isn't something I think normally bothers me. I mean.. I watch Rock of Love for christ sakes.

At any rate.. I didn't see anyone mildly famous. Only bimbos - so, I wanted to cut that place. We walked over to where the event was going to be. Found our seats, and start taking some test shots. I was immediately told by one of the ushers I couldn't take photos. Which annoyed me. That's the only reason I go to these things. Mr S. and I spent the next 15 minutes trying to figure out how to take some shots on the stealth. I turn the sound off on the camera. I also turn the flash and preview LCD off. Then we set to trying to figure out how to mask the shutter sound. Take shots while people are laughing maybe?

It was at this point they started playing one of the films. One I actually wanted to see. It was about that time they transferred from B&W tv to color television. The transfer took place before I was born - but I remember black and white tv's. It seemed like an interesting premise. At the time.

By the end of the film if I'd had something to bang my head against - I would have. It could have benefited from some very substantial editing. It was a documentary. But, all the actors said pretty much the same thing. Not even repackaged. Here's a consolidation. The world is going to hell. TV used to be a family event. These old shows were really good. The new shows suck.

At the end there was a question and answer segment where this guy went on an anti technology rant.



I was wanting to kill myself. The other people waiting to ask questions wanted to kill him. He was talking for a long time. So I started to tune out. Until he used the word "ethnics" to describe people. Which shocked me. This isn't the mid-West. It's Silicon Valley. Well, not quite the Valley. But pretty close.

Anyway - these are the shots I got.










Hanging on.

I know this is shocking. But today sucked. The house is going to fight me every single bit of the way.

I got to the house this morning, and found out that Alpha contractor had broken up with his wife. Again. Do I really need to say anything more past this point?

You know - one breakup I can be sympathetic about. But FUCK.. two breakups, I just can't get all worked up about. Have a mental breakdown on your own time.

I'm having an issue with painters again. I need all the mouldings and baseboards painted. I swear they must be on speed dial with Alpha contractors wife, because much like women and their menstrual cycles syncing up - I seem to have problems with these people all that the same time.

Today I found out the way to get realtor's to come see your house apparently is to offer them food. Yep... that's the big secret. My agent friend was talking about catering some event. When I asked her what all that was about. She told me it was an open house. She said some realtor's just look through realtor day listings and only go to view the houses that list food being there. I'm not shitting you.

Tomorrow is granite day. I'm starting out with low expectations.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

That's a few hours of my life I'm never getting back.

Today was the start of the Indy film fest.. and, while I have a bunch to say about it - I might not get around to it until tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned for rant-y-ness.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

When its static-y - it's super static-y.

Today was a duffer. I think I'm still on track for being done-ish at the end of the week. But I'm going to have to do double time tomorrow to make up for what I didn't get done today.

The big issue today was this pane of glass. Apparently Alpha contractor and I have some big issues about doors. From the day he started - he's wanted me to rip this window area out when I replaced the door.



I am not exaggerating. We've probably had like 50 discussions about it. He thought I should just get a door with a new "light"(window). I've been fighting him tooth and nail.

The funny thing is when we first bought the house I hated this window. But, as we tore stuff out - it grew on me. As each week passed I was more and more resistant to rip it out. It is kitchy and Miami retro in a way. And ultimately.. I would guess its a pretty expensive pane of glass. I seems a shame to rip it out. I also feel a little nostalgic about it. It is one of the few original items from the house.

The problem has been that Alpha contractor wanted a pre-hung door. Not just because it's easier, but the weather stripping is modern. And it would just be a bunch of work to get a non pre-hung door to fit in the space. So maybe it is because its easier.

With time running out. I had to go shopping with him today to find a door. So, most of today involved:

Him - They don't have any doors that are the right size. You should rip that window out.

Me - what if we did "this" - or "that".

Him - well.... the problem with that is...

Finding doors sucks ass. Most doors have one of those moon windows. And of the ones I did find attractive, 80% of those are made of steel. Which brought on a whole other set of static from him.

Him - Snarkolepsy. Steel doors suck. If they get dinged, there isn't anything you can do to fix them, and they look like crap. If you bought a house with a steel doors you'd be pissed.

Which actually is true. But annoying.

As a side note: Alpha contractor exemplifies all the things I hate in shoppers. He walks slow. I had to turn my pace down by 2/3ds. He leaves his cart in the middle of the isles. If I didn't know him, I'd want to beat the crap out of him.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Today's gems.

Today started out in the usual way.

Technology strike. It took me two hours to copy all my documents for my taxes, and still didn't get them in the mail today. Technology never seems to want to work when you are in a hurry.

I get to the Canton house I injure myself by hitting my finger with a mallet. Causing a big giant blood blister. The the past week I haven't been able to do anything without injuring myself. I'm just exhausted. So, I'm pretty crack whored out. Bruises. Injuries. You get the idea.

I'm still laying down bamboo flooring. I got Alpha contractor to fix the fireplace issue. So I was finally able to get the hole in the floor sealed. Now I can proceed in finishing it.

I'm in the middle of working on it, and I hear "SNARKOLPESY! - Your floor isn't straight. You've started drifting".

Me - WHAT?

Him - Come down here and look. You aren't straight any more. I told you - you needed to measure every 3 lengths.

This of course causes a work stoppage while I plead my usual case. Which usually involves something like:

Me - Alpha Contractor my floor is straight. I agree it doesn't look like it from this direction, but it does from the other direction. I think your eye is just being bothered by a visual illusion.

Him - No. It's not straight. Let me show you.

At this point he gets our his nails and string, and I start measuring with the tape measure.

Me - Look - Alpha contractor. I think I'm only 2/16ths off. Over 20 feet, that isn't too bad.

Him - You like that number - do you?

Me - What does that mean? I don't care anything about that number. It is how far off I think I am. Most people aren't going to perceive 2/16ths of an inch.

When he gets his string line all set up I say "look! That is really close. Probably 2/16ths".

He grumbles.

(I've decided he has the demeanor of Trace Atkins from the Celebrity Apprentice.)

Me - So are you going to admit, I'm not off track?

Him - is that what you need?

Me - Well - yeah.

Oh, then get this. My realtor friend was over today. While I was having Alpha contractor help me put a bigger stake on my new tree (today, the wind has whipped up and started causing problems) he says the following to me.

Him - Your friend needs to get a pedicure.

Me- WHAT?

Him - You need to give her some tough love and tell her not to go without shoes.

What am I going to say to this? It was just funny.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Interesting? Maybe.

It has been a hugely tiring day. It started out needing to find more tax documentation. From the pile of paperwork I haven't been able to do for 5 months. I'm still making copies of stuff right this minute. I'm hoping to get things done tonight, so I can push out the Canton house this week.

I don't want to have to deal with the tax issue while dealing with the house. I'm bitter..but not as bitter as I was last week. I'm getting a refund! I overpaid my taxes. I normally refuse to do that, but I was going to get a penalty this year if I wasn't in a certain rage.

Then for some reason it was all of a sudden summer. Like 90 degree summer. This not only sent my allergies into a major tailspin, but caused me to have to do a bunch of yard work.

Anyway - that's just me complaining.

This is the interesting thing. I don't know what it is. Mr S. actually took the pictures as I had bougainvillea thorns pressed into my body, so they didn't poke into my seat.





I'm normally not into this stuff. But I'd never seen anything like it. Which is the part I like.

It was so warm, bikers were everywhere.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

It is going to be just like the old blog.

Bunnies.



Random graffiti.



People pissing me off by driving slow. In the fast lane.



And mocking peoples bumper stickers.



This one only amused me because this person has to have giant balls. In San Fransisco there was so much commotion about the torch - they had to change the route. Then have a secret torch ceremony.

How many think this will be the last year for running the torch? And - how much does it cost to fly it around the world? It's a little like saying " I shit on your carbon footprint".

Friday, April 11, 2008

I'm going to have to get all "caddyshack".

Last summer when I had the roof replaced on the house I live in - I tried to get my roofer to replace this eave vent. It had this hole when we moved into the house.



Since we'd lived here for a year already and no animals had been getting in, the hole was just unsightly. Anyway.. every house in my town apparently was built with non standard parts, and we couldn't find a vent screen that fit. So, that project went on the back burner. You know.. because I'm sitting around eating bon bons and crap.

Fast forward to about a month ago. About dawn, I'd gotten woken up to some scratching noises. At first Mr S. thought I might have finally fallen off the ledge. After a few mornings he finally heard the scratching too. For days we tried to diagnose the scratching as birds or rats. Then the problem went away. Whew - the hole went back on the back burner.

Till this morning. This time - louder. Way louder. It even woke up Mr S.

Which is a big deal. He can sleep through anything. We finally figure out it is a bird. Who is absconding with the new insulation I had put into the roof. It's one thing to wake me up.. but insulation is freaking expensive! I know he's not stealing much. But, let the little fucker get a job.

Anyway today - we set out to try and patch the hole. Of course - our 18 foot ladder doesn't work. The hole is right above a window. The ladder reaches 3/4's of the way to the hole, and not wanting to break the window. We didn't feel comfortable resting the ladder on it.

Our next solution was to put some wire on a pole and just poke it into the offending area. Which pretty much sucks as a solution.



But now I have to either rent a taller ladder. Or something. All I know, is I didn't want to do that today. I hope my wire patch works. I'm pretty skeptical. If there is anything I know from spending so much time with animals that only have two brain cells. It is they can outsmart a PHD. Which I'm not. But, I'm telling you they can. They have all day to prove to you what a dumb ass you are.

I swear there is some conspiracy to make sure I never get any rest. That whole thing actually took several hours to come up with. Why is everything a freaking puzzle at my place?

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Canton house.

By all intensive purposes - the crapshack will be finished the end of next week. So, since I haven't come up with any funnier name - I'm just going to start calling the place by the road it lives on. It's not a crapshack anymore. It's house a house that looks like someone loved it.. and a house any new family should be happy to live in. I'll have pictures soon.

Alpha contractor and I have been getting along pretty good. It helps he's only been over at the house a couple of days a week. He has other work, and there just isn't enough stuff to keep him there. It will be oddly strange to be rid of him. For all the bitching I did about him.. I guess I grew to like him. I think he thinks I'm okay too. I mean - he lets me use his tools. I guess in a guy way, that says I'm okay.

I also wound up taking a picture of the alpha contractor truck. So you can tell when a contractor thinks he's the biggest dog on the block.



Mind you - the garage is a two car garage, and the back of that white car to the right of the photo is a standard sized minivan. Yeah - he thinks he's bad ass.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Still not over it.

I'm still in a funk.

But, I'm getting mildy excited about the months events. The indy film fest. Where I go and pretend to be a photographer. And try to pick out the mildly famous people. Here and here.

This year we decided to actually get a film pass, as the films were less "indy" than we expected last year. They were actually watchable.

I just ordered weekend passes for Maker Faire. Eeek. Okay.. now I'm a little excited.

There are some robot shows coming up. The only thing that could make the summer better is some new exciting technology. But for now, I'll have to take all the suggestions I got for backups, and make a trip to Fry's. Thanks Dave and Warrior Knitter.

Wow.. its been a million years since I've been to the Fry's playground. Makes me all weepy eyed. I miss technology. And the factory air that comes with them.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Memed.



I've never seen the credits of any game get so much attention. I hated listening to the computerised voice for months.. but the ending credits are freaking catchy. And apparently remixable. 80's style.



Where I've been.

Life has dealt some pretty funky hands... to miss Drew Berrymore. Reference Here.

I like to sing that when I get into a funky mood. And that is where I've been. I'm so not funny - just funky. So I usually don't have anything interesting to say.

I believe it started around Saturday, when we were doing taxes. I haven't been able to do any filing the whole time we've had the crapshack, so it was just really rough. I'm sure you all are having your own tax hating moments. So I'll shut the fuck up about it. Just say'in.

Then my granite isn't suppose to be in for a week and a half. Which has let me basically kind of fuck off. I'm almost 2/3rds done with the floor, and I would have just pushed through the funky. But I have this opening in the living room for which I'm trying to figure out how to fix this.



What you are looking at is the bottom of the fireplace. In which the old dead owners took a sledgehammer to the cinder block base to put in gas. I would have gone and pissed on their grave, but I think they did it because they needed to get their hand up inside.

So - I could get the floor completed, but then my guy has to crawl under the house. This way, he can just drop from the living room. See how nice I am?

Yesterday I just laid in the sun trying to get rid of my funky. No luck. Today, it was Seattle weather. Which also didn't get rid of my funky. I'm just funky.

I hope it clears tomorrow.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Temporary entertainment.

I'm not much into cats - but this has got to be the cutest cat ever.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

What I'm still doing.

I really thought I would have had this floor done by this week. But I still have 18 boxes to go. That may or may not be halfway - depending on overage. Getting things to be straight is a major hassle. I'd show you - but then it would screw up some of the final reveal. For now I'll show you what I worked on today. The entry way.



This is the only old picture I have of the entry way. But, it is taken looking the other direction. From the front door - you couldn't get a shot of the kitchen, because there was a closet there. We ripped it out. Which is why that light is not symmetrical. Now that I look at the area in a photo - it sort of bothers me.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Old stereotypes do die hard.

When I was younger - it would often piss me off when I was basically ignored in an electronics store. Yet my boyfriend of the moment would get help immediately.

This was before chicks were into electronics. And no - not before the beginning of time. Like 10 years ago. I knew it was because I was a girl. And girls wouldn't buy that kind of stuff - so it didn't occur to the guys working those departments to ask if I needed help.

So today - I went into OSH to get some obscure screw. The only person working that section was an older woman. I'd guess her to be in her 60's. Immediately I went "aw fuck". I was sure I was going to get the old "I don't know". But I asked my question anyway - because my OSH has a woman working the electrical department who rocks. I worship the ground she walks on. No matter what obscure electrical problem I'm having - this woman knows how to fix it. I'm sure she's worked in the electrical field, because she is that good.

Anyway, back to today. I ask this older woman the question about my particular need for a stainless steel possibly metric screw. I tell her my contractor wanted it screwed into "some thing" to test it. Oh yes. I did say something so vague. I'm a wingin' it type of gal. I'm very good at eyeballing stuff. So, I don't know exactly what kind of contraption tests these things. But the older woman at OSH did. And - she found my obscure screw.

Which made me really laugh inside - because I had totally stereotyped her in my mind. Just like those guys in the electronics stores used to. It wasn't that she was a woman - it was because she was so old. She looked better suited for a quilting store. I was sure she was going to send me to the pink hammer section of the store. But she didn't.

I gushed to her about how helpful she was, and how I thought it rocked so hard a chick was working the screw department. There's gotta be a joke there somewhere.But it escapes me because I'm still working that damn floor at the crapshack. Next house. Carpet. You people make sure I remember. Okay?