Wednesday, 19 October 2011
At work this morning, my Galilean thermometer changed temperature for the first time since I acquired it 6 months ago. Specifically, the center bulb dropped from the top of the tube to the bottom. Evidently, this represents a rise in temperature from 72 to 76 degrees. I guess the folks in the facilities department must have turned on the heat today.
I also decided to write to the folks at Lowe’s discussing my poor experience at their Maple Grove location (See Here). The stupid comment box on their website only allowed for a certain number of words, so I had to truncate and re-truncate the text until it fit. Even then, I had to leave out the final paragraphs of my comments.
Anyway, today I received a message from their customer service department. They are sending me a $25 gift card.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Today I watched the latest Community episode, “Remedial Chaos Theory.” The episode presents the same five minutes of the characters’ lives replay seven times with slight changes.
I could see this coming. As soon as the pizza arrives, the character Jeff proposes a roll of the die to determine who should go downstairs to get it. Abed then notes that by doing this, Jeff is creating several alternate universes. We then see the die tossed above the actors’ heads, pass through some kind of portal, and land back on the table. This scene is repeated six more times and, each time, a different scenario plays out in which a different character retrieves the pizza in each ‘universe.’
Theoretically, Abed is correct that the die toss results in several parallel outcomes, but the implication here seems to be that it is only during moments of pure change that this happens. Instead, every action in every microsecond from every character (not merely the one playing with a chance cube) results in an alternate timeline.
But let’s not get bogged down in the minutiae. This episode, which hearkens back to one of my favorite Star Trek episodes (“Cause and Effect,” also featuring a game of chance), is my favorite Community episode in quite a while.
Friday, 21 October 2011
Tonight Owen is sleeping in his bedroom for the first time. It took us longer to get his room ready than we had hoped (we hoped to have it ready by the time we moved in), but now it’s all painted and his bed is set up.
Besides painting, we also had to remove large, heavy, built-in shelves from his room. Those shelves are now sitting in the garage awaiting their fate. Jennifer replaced the bulb on the ceiling fan, cleaned and painted the blades, and affixed glow-in-the-dark astronomy-themed stickers to the blades. She also cleaned the molding. I replaced a broken outlet. Yesterday we carried in his furniture.
I also finished installing the rest of the downstairs’ bathroom’s ceiling fan. The previous homeowner had the wherewithal to install a fan, but didn’t bother connecting the tube to an outside vent. So, basically, turning on the fan just meant blowing the air all over the basement, which, I suppose, is a great way to spread the mold. For the steep, steep price of $15, I was able to purchase everything I needed to connect the fan to another tube that then led to an outside vent. A small garden snake watched me as I worked. I think he (she?) likes the warmth afforded by the dryer vent as I’ve seen her (him?) hanging out by that part of our house on a few occasions now. I’m thinking of naming him ‘James.
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Today was a very full day.
The electrician wrapped up work in our garage while, at the same time, a woman stopped by to purchase the statue of St. Anthony that the previous home owner left with the house.
Later, we all attended a Halloween party at a local community center. Owen wore his Jedi costume, and Isla wore her duck costume. I next had a conference call regarding the book I am co-editing. In the evening, we all went to Sea Life at the Mall of America. Owen has wanted to visit this attraction for months and he saved up his own money. My sister and her husband met us there. Afterward, we all dined at TGI Friday’s.
Here’s an interesting thing about today: as of today, our new house is no longer where I’ve lived for the shortest amount of time. In February and March of 1990, I lived with my grandparents for 42 days. And, since today is the 42nd day of living in our new house, I have now lived here longer than I lived with my grandparents. It’s still one of five places I lived for less than a year, but it’s gaining ground quickly.
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