The Upgrading of the Windsor

Thursday, 28 June 2012

 So, I found two pennies on the floor of the cafeteria at my job today. This gives me a grand total of $13.25 that I’ve found so far this year. Even though the year is not even halfway done yet, I’m already within striking distance of last year’s total ($13.68). It’s pretty exciting.

In fact, this month alone I’ve already found more than $2.00. This marks the second month this year in which I’ve found over two dollars (the other was January). And in March and April I found over $1.00. 

Last year, there was only one month in which I found over $2.00. Coincidentally, that was also June. I just barely cracked the two-buck mark that month, hauling in a grand total of $2.03.

I have no answer for why I’ve been doing so much better this year. In fact, I would have predicted that last year would have been better since, for most of that year, I lived in an apartment, and I was always finding money in the laundry room and in the hallways.

Maybe it’s inflation.

Friday, 29 June 2012

 This evening, in lieu of reading together, Owen and I stayed up late and watched Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.

Here’s a funny thing: Jimmy Neutron is a movie I’ve wanted to see for, oh, about a decade now. It was released in 2001 and, along with Shrek and Monsters, Inc., it was the first film to be nominated for the Academy Award’s new catergory: Best Animated Feature.

It didn’t win that year. Shrek won. I’d seen both Shrek and Monsters, Inc., but I hadn’t seen Jimmy Neutron. Through 2002, I looked for it at the video store, to no avail. When Jennifer and I both joined Netflix, I searched for it there, but couldn’t find it. I even considered buying it on Amazon, but never took the plunge. I guess I didn’t want to own a movie that I didn’t even know if I’d like. So, for years, it just sat in the “Saved” section of my queue.

Anyway, I noticed that recently it’s become available for instant watching. So, tonight, Owen and I hunkered down with a bowl of pop-corn (thanks to Jennifer) and watched the flick. Judging from his laughter, Owen loved it. I thought it was terrible. Not worth the wait at all. It’s hard to see how this was even nominated for Best Animated Feature.

Oh well, at least it was fun to watch it with Owen.

Saturday, 30 June 2012

Here’s a photo of the stairs leading from the Windsor (that’s the lowest landing on our house) to the basement:

Pretty ugly, even for a basement! Each stair is painted green, the same color green as pea soup, which is nasty by any standards. Then there are these quasi-metal edge pieces that serve to rip into your toes as you ascend or descend the stairs. The middle section of each step is covered with a snot-colored linoleum that has lost any sort of plasticity and (as you can see in the top step) is ripped and cracked in many places.

So, about three weeks ago, I tore off the linoleum and edge pieces. Then the steps looked like this:

I think it’s a testament to the nastiness of the original photo that this picture actually represents an improvement on the appearance!

So then I peeled away what little linoleum was still glued down (the black pieces you see on the lower stair) and hammered down all nails that were trying to escape. Then I carpeted the steps:

If you’re my co-worker, you’re probably looking at this picture right now and thinking, “Hey, that carpet looks an awful lot like the carpet in many of our conference rooms, particularly that one room where they recently ripped out the carpet and are going to install that new simulation lab you’re working on.”

Yes. You’re right.