kreeeeeaaaaaaaack

I cut down a tree that was leaning against our garage. It was kind of a hassle, but not too bad.

[instrumental]

We have moved and gotten (most of the way) settled into our house. It's an older house with its share of issues to deal with, but I don't think we could have found anything better for us (short of just designing it ourselves). We still have a decent list of things to do...
Now:
Finish installing gutters (we have about 50 ft or so left to hang...out of just over 200).
Finish rain barrels (trash cans that I cut holes and added plumbing bits to, just need to install mosquito nets over the openings to limit that issue).
Get rid of rats in the attic (we thought this wouldn't be an issue as all evidence of rats was fairly old, but shortly after we moved in, we started hearing things =\)
Get preventative termite treatment (expensive, but dealing with termites later is substantially more expensive).

Later:
Install an exhaust fan in the bathrooms (I should be able to do this, probably in the winter when the attic is more reasonable)
Install more insulation in the attic (again, when the attic is more reasonable)
Install new windows (I probably won't be doing this on my own, but I think it might be within my capabilities...might have a few of the tougher ones done so I can watch, then decide if I can do it or not...new windows that can open [current ones are stuck due to paint + foundation shifts] will also be much better for the electricity use as well as reduce the amount of noise).
Close off the exterior door in the bedroom and replace with a wall (we don't use the door, so why have it? Also it lets in a fair amount of noise)
Install a new water heater (tankless? This is something we just know will be done eventually...not really planning it)
Install new A/C (probably wait until this one goes out or we can comfortably afford it one winter)
Insulate the crawl space? I've read that this is fairly easy (I'm very comfortable under there as it is, and it will make the house more comfortable in the winter)
Build a workbench/organize the garage.

The house backs up to Mopac and the train tracks that run along it, but the noise really doesn't bother us too much...after the first couple of nights, at least. The noise actually reminds me of when my family used to go to the beach -- I would fall asleep in the living room and my grandmother would open the sliding door the next morning and I would wake up to the sound of the waves.

It's kind of neat, though. I feel like Erin and I are just much more established and maybe a bit more "grown up" now. Which brings me to another point...I'm not sure that Erin and I will ever get married. Some of the reason, I guess, is just "fairness" issues -- if we can't enjoy this benefit or that right because we are unmarried, then it is probably that gay folks in the same situation can't enjoy those same benefits or rights. Additionally, I think we both see marriage as a bit of an outdated concept.

I think I had more steam for this entry before I started, but I got distracted during my lunch and kind of forgot about it...

Take away, take away, take away this ball and chain

Less than a month until closing on the house and moving and all. I'm kind of excited, kind of worried, and mostly numb. I've felt kind of numb a lot lately. I hope it's not a permanent thing.

Erin and I went skating yesterday. We tried to go to the elementary school near the house we're buying, but it was mostly rough asphalt and no real concrete to skate on, so we decided to go to the ditch that Kerstan and I used to skate a lot. I had a lot of fun. Pumping on the transitions and going up the side of the ditch is really fun, but pretty exhausting. Erin also learned to kind of ride the transition (really slowly and very shallow, but it was something). We went to the creek to swim after that, but there hasn't been much rain so water flow was pretty low and the height of the water was kind of low as well (about a a foot and a half lower in many places).

I've been reading a lot about building classical stringed instruments -- violins and cellos and the like. It looks like a lot of fun. I might build a violin as a practice for top carving before I try an archtop guitar. I wish I knew how to play violin so that I could accurately assess whether or not the end result is very good =\

They set a fire in the woods and watched the fucker burn

House stuff is moving along nicely. There were some jitters early on (What if it's not big enough? What if a missile hits it? What if we just decide we hate it? etc. etc. etc.) but I think those are mostly because I'm dropping all of my non-401K savings on down payment. It's scary, I guess, because it's like a money-reboot. I've been thinking a lot about how nice it will be that it's our house and we can do whatever we want with it (Erin is more excited about this, though, I think). We already have a kind of extensive list...

1) Gutters -- this house has no gutters. We would also like to install a rain barrel of some sort to collect the rain water and use for watering the yard/whatever.
2) Closets -- we want to install some sort of modular closet system. I think we're leaning toward elfa because, despite the cost, they have tons of reconfigurable things we could use if we wanted to "remodel" it.
3) Closet doors -- the closets have hinged doors that don't really fit in their tracks very well. Besides taking up floor space with door swing space, I think they just kind of look bad. We're going to put some IKEA Kvartal sliding panels up instead.

I have really slowed my running down (I still try to go once a week or so) just because I don't want to turn into a skeleton. I'm down to the low 150s in terms of weight and I'm afraid I might be a bit bony. I still stuff myself about once a week (or more) but my body has just turned into a furnace, I guess. I haven't been skating or swimming since my last post (got cold/rainy again). Erin is busy and Kerstan will be out of town this weekend, so I won't be doing much there this weekend either.

Cause I'm a man, not a boy, and there are things you can't avoid, you have to face them when you're not prepared to face them

I feel like I'm getting much older all of a sudden.

I have held off on posting about this but I think now is a good time. Erin and I are trying to buy a house. This is terrifying. We have our eyes set on one and are in the negotiating phase of it. It's an older house (originally built in 1945 but has been updated) but it has a lot of things we really love. It is a really small house (~1250 sq. feet) but has a great livable layout. There is almost no wasted space. 3 bedrooms and 2 bath, living/dining room and a kitchen. The garage is in the back and it's HUGE. PERFECT for a work shop. There is a fenced in side yard with a small doggie door already installed (we would want to install a slightly larger one when we wind up getting a dog). There is tons of concrete in the backyard, so I can actually skate back there a bit and not worry about getting kicked out or anything. It does back up to Mopac, but that is a blessing and a curse, I guess -- we can be a bit louder (which is perfect for me) but the sound might take some getting used to.

There are some issues we need to get addressed and still need to investigate namely:
1) The foundation has been worked on recently, but we're not 100% certain that it was done correctly. There is a warranty on that work, so we will need to discuss with the person who did it and figure some stuff out.
2) The plumbing has some smallish leaks and water pressure to the master bath was miserable during the inspection. We need to have a plumber look at it.
3) Electrical system has some issues. Everything works, but there are some hazards. Outlets that should be grounded aren't, and some issues with the recessed can-lighting.
4) The furnace and water heater have issues with ventilation pipes being too close to combustibles.

We have put in a request that the seller address these issues. If he does, we will be buying the place. Erin and I seem to be going through phases...we're really excited one day, then really worried the next, and repeat. We just don't want to wind up making a really expensive mistake.

Other growing up news:
-Erin and I now share a cell phone plan. I added her to my plan and we ported her number and everything...so it's like we're married.
-Erin is going to be graduating soon. She might not find a job with her degree, so she's planning to get teacher certification over the summer and teach until she finds something.

Resisting growing up:
-I went skating and swimming the past 2 saturdays in a row. My legs look like I pissed off Tonya Harding. I believe the bulge on the side of your ankle (on the inside) is the knob at the end of the tibia (Amber? A little help here?) but my left leg had 2 extras along the inside of my leg and another extra one on the inside of my right leg for a couple days that were actually bigger than the ankle bulge itself =\
-Also rock climbing on this past Saturday. It kicked my ass, despite being a relatively easy climb (I think). I guess it is technically over vertical, so it's not the easiest...but we could fall into the water, so there was no fear of hurt.

I was gonna bring her apples when she was in need

I haven't talked about anything very serious in a long time...maybe I won't finish this post and maybe I won't get out everything I want to, but I think I want to try.

There have been a couple of cases in recent times (one had charges announced just recently, another was a year or two ago) in which "cyber bullying" is blamed for a person's suicide. This is a very complicated sort of situation for me. I've been on many sides of this issue at different times -- I will admit that I've been a bully at times and I've definitely been bullied.

I love the freedom that the internet gives people, but at the same time, I think that it causes a sort of magnification of force. When I was bullied as a kid at school and I would take that home with me to some degree, but at least I had some sort of reprieve. When I became online-aware, I was able to use the internet as a sort of release -- I found it to be a soothing way to connect with people in a way that I was almost totally incapable in meat space. However, the internet was very different back then; I chose who I would connect with. I had to give my information out to other people. Sure, someone could email me or IM me, but I could block or filter those messages and I could just get rid of them fairly easily. No one saw the contact except for me. In this age of facebook and myspace and whatever, there seems to be far more opportunities to just search for someone by name and find their little corner of the web.

I don't think the internet is to blame. I also don't think bullying in and of itself is to blame either. Most opponents of laws to punish those who bully kids to the point of suicide take up one or the other of these points. This is a fairly new phenomenon -- in the past internet communication was more like a phone call and less like a Google search. Bullying has gone on probably as long as people have been around. However, they really only get incredibly dangerous when they are used together.

I think the point I'm trying to make is that I'm confused about what should be done legally about this. Now that I'm a bit older, I can easily see that the bullying was so completely pett -- but back when I was the target/perpetrator, it really mattered. How exactly do you draw the line? There have been 5 year olds sent home from school for making finger guns in class -- zero tolerance almost always seems like overkill, but when you allow things to get tinged with gray, nothing ever seems to get done.

I guess I'm just really bummed that there are people who will never get to grow up and realize that what they were going through will really just not matter at all later. In some ways, I think the bullies in these cases will probably wind up punishing themselves enough. I know that if someone I had bullied wound up killing him/herself, I would probably have just fizzled out. On the other hand, though, people do stupid shit all the time and don't care.

Tiny pies

Erin made some pies like this:
http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/piesbakedintinyjars/
They were tasty. She made apple and peach filling from scratch (my two favorite baked goods flavors). She used a different recipe, but this one illustrates the idea just fine. She only made 4 just in case they sucked, but they turned out great. I can't wait to eat more.

I've been thinking about skating a lot lately. I even dream about it. I really really want to get kickflips down (every time I've gotten them pretty decently down something has happened that stopped me from skating for a couple years). I'd also like to try to learn nose/tailslides and perhaps bluntslides, but those will (hopefully) come later. I'm cleaning up my frontside 180s and should probably try to get backside 180s as well as just general switch skating down a bit better/more comfortably.