Pool Party and Shed
Jun. 22nd, 2008 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebYesterday I went to a summer solstice pool party which ran concurrently at one point with a dramatic thunderstorm with very heavy rains. It hasn't rained more than a little sprinkle in weeks.
It was a huge party where I really knew only about half the people (even though I have met most of them before at previous parties). In the middle when it was at its hugest, I wasn't feeling that my social skills were quite up to it. But I did get to talk to a lot of old friends and I did find several new people I quite enjoyed talking to. Some of whom I still remember now! There was the gal who also plays on LiveJournal and will probably be looking for me. (Hi!) There's the guy who plays ultimate frisbee who moved here three years ago. And there's another gal who's a regular and who looked familiar who I probably will actually remember this time.
I don't think I've enjoyed talking to as many new people in one day as much in a long time.
I also enjoyed watching the cat slink under the chaise lounge at the start of the big storm. And the delicious cheeseburger fresh off the grill, the famous rum cake, the famous artichoke dip, and the exotic hibiscus sorbet. Actually, I wasn't wild about the sorbet (I'm not a big fan of sorbet), but it was fun to taste it, and I actually liked it better than the tangerine sorbet, which tasted much stronger.
There were many good quotes, some of which I (sort of) remember.
"Be careful with that cheese. It's very strong."
"Oh, that's Robin. He'll be fine with it."
"No, you don't want any of this cake. It tastes like styrofoam."
"But you've had four pieces."
"I'm sacrificing myself for you all."
"I guess one way to make it rain is to throw a pool party."
"That sounds more fun than washing your car."
"Indians got upset when they learned that certain fast-food fries weren't vegetarian; they were sprinkling beef flavor on them. Cows are sacred."
"A little sprinkle of God in every bite."
I also learned a bit more about Wiifit (although not how to spell it). And lolcats and people who can always find an excuse to access the internet on their cell phone.
Thanks, chikuru and raaga123! Another lovely party!
**
Before the party, I helped build a temporary storage shed in my backyard with Robin and another friend. Robin already had the floor completed, which involved piecing together a "floor kit" (a metal framework), leveling it, and then cutting plywood into sizes and shapes that could be attached to the framework, painting it to keep it waterproof and easy to clean, and then attaching it.
So yesterday we added the walls and the roof beams and the triangular end pieces that hold the roof up. This is from a kit for a metal storage shed, which sounds all very solid and sturdy. But it's clear that engineers have calculated the maximum flimsiness each piece can have still work together as a structure. The pieces are so thin that you can cut your hands on the edges if you're not careful. So we generally had two glove-wearing people to handle the metal pieces and one non-glove-wearing person to handle the screws, nuts, and bolts.
I was surprised that after about only an hour I got tired in this odd way. I was breathing slightly harder than normal, and I was feeling a little light-headed. This was barely exercise at all--just moving very lightweight pieces around and reading instructions. I did squat many, many times getting screws from the container on the floor and handing them up to people--so that counts as real exercise. Still, am I that sadly out of shape?
Robin said no, it's heat stroke. I know it wasn't heat stroke because I was still sweating. But maybe it was that less serious one: heat exhaustion. I did feel kind of exhausted. We drank lots of cold liquids and I never felt that bad again (and it was a very mild tiredness to begin with) throughout the rest of the project. Although I did want to take a small rest during the part of the party where it was at it's hugest.
Although our shed is not yet watertight, because it has no roof at all and no doors, and although the instructions specifically say not to stop the project between the time when you start putting up the walls and the time when you add the roof, and even though I've heard of these sheds being blown over a fence during a windstorm before being properly attached to the ground, and even though there was a violent thunderstorm, it seems to be doing just fine. So that's good.
The point of the temporary shed is to have a place to put things to get them out of the way so we can see what we've got and figure out what to keep and what to get rid of and then organize everything so we can find it all again. It could also come in handy for interior painting. Just move all the furniture and stuff from the room you are painting into the shed, then paint the room at your leisure while all your other rooms are still usable instead of full of the stuff from the room you're painting.
The original plan was to rent a storage unit, but a big one runs $200 per month--it wouldn't take many months to cost more than a shed, which is a lot more convenient and which ideally we can sell when we finish.
Of course I have to keep reminding Robin that the shed is temporary. His supposed friend told me not to worry. If it ends up not being temporary, I could just make him sleep in it.
However, I might end up having trouble with it being temporary, too. I've already come up with the idea of using it while painting rooms. Also while re-doing the floors. And maybe if we have it, we won't feel the need to tear down our other tiny shed and build a big garage/work shed instead. Yes, the danger escalates.
**
In computer news, my back up worked great except for the part where all my documents from A to T are not there. Some of my favorite documents start with U and W, but a lot of them don't. We're going to get someone to see if they can find a better back-up, but meanwhile, this stinks. I just love, love, love computers, except when I hate them.
I can't really hate this new one, though. The clicking is so quiet. It's so pretty. I still have to get used to the touch pad. There's some thing where if you leave your finger in one place to long it does weird things like jump elsewhere in your document or going back to a different web page. So there's still a little learning curve going on.
It was a huge party where I really knew only about half the people (even though I have met most of them before at previous parties). In the middle when it was at its hugest, I wasn't feeling that my social skills were quite up to it. But I did get to talk to a lot of old friends and I did find several new people I quite enjoyed talking to. Some of whom I still remember now! There was the gal who also plays on LiveJournal and will probably be looking for me. (Hi!) There's the guy who plays ultimate frisbee who moved here three years ago. And there's another gal who's a regular and who looked familiar who I probably will actually remember this time.
I don't think I've enjoyed talking to as many new people in one day as much in a long time.
I also enjoyed watching the cat slink under the chaise lounge at the start of the big storm. And the delicious cheeseburger fresh off the grill, the famous rum cake, the famous artichoke dip, and the exotic hibiscus sorbet. Actually, I wasn't wild about the sorbet (I'm not a big fan of sorbet), but it was fun to taste it, and I actually liked it better than the tangerine sorbet, which tasted much stronger.
There were many good quotes, some of which I (sort of) remember.
"Be careful with that cheese. It's very strong."
"Oh, that's Robin. He'll be fine with it."
"No, you don't want any of this cake. It tastes like styrofoam."
"But you've had four pieces."
"I'm sacrificing myself for you all."
"I guess one way to make it rain is to throw a pool party."
"That sounds more fun than washing your car."
"Indians got upset when they learned that certain fast-food fries weren't vegetarian; they were sprinkling beef flavor on them. Cows are sacred."
"A little sprinkle of God in every bite."
I also learned a bit more about Wiifit (although not how to spell it). And lolcats and people who can always find an excuse to access the internet on their cell phone.
Thanks, chikuru and raaga123! Another lovely party!
**
Before the party, I helped build a temporary storage shed in my backyard with Robin and another friend. Robin already had the floor completed, which involved piecing together a "floor kit" (a metal framework), leveling it, and then cutting plywood into sizes and shapes that could be attached to the framework, painting it to keep it waterproof and easy to clean, and then attaching it.
So yesterday we added the walls and the roof beams and the triangular end pieces that hold the roof up. This is from a kit for a metal storage shed, which sounds all very solid and sturdy. But it's clear that engineers have calculated the maximum flimsiness each piece can have still work together as a structure. The pieces are so thin that you can cut your hands on the edges if you're not careful. So we generally had two glove-wearing people to handle the metal pieces and one non-glove-wearing person to handle the screws, nuts, and bolts.
I was surprised that after about only an hour I got tired in this odd way. I was breathing slightly harder than normal, and I was feeling a little light-headed. This was barely exercise at all--just moving very lightweight pieces around and reading instructions. I did squat many, many times getting screws from the container on the floor and handing them up to people--so that counts as real exercise. Still, am I that sadly out of shape?
Robin said no, it's heat stroke. I know it wasn't heat stroke because I was still sweating. But maybe it was that less serious one: heat exhaustion. I did feel kind of exhausted. We drank lots of cold liquids and I never felt that bad again (and it was a very mild tiredness to begin with) throughout the rest of the project. Although I did want to take a small rest during the part of the party where it was at it's hugest.
Although our shed is not yet watertight, because it has no roof at all and no doors, and although the instructions specifically say not to stop the project between the time when you start putting up the walls and the time when you add the roof, and even though I've heard of these sheds being blown over a fence during a windstorm before being properly attached to the ground, and even though there was a violent thunderstorm, it seems to be doing just fine. So that's good.
The point of the temporary shed is to have a place to put things to get them out of the way so we can see what we've got and figure out what to keep and what to get rid of and then organize everything so we can find it all again. It could also come in handy for interior painting. Just move all the furniture and stuff from the room you are painting into the shed, then paint the room at your leisure while all your other rooms are still usable instead of full of the stuff from the room you're painting.
The original plan was to rent a storage unit, but a big one runs $200 per month--it wouldn't take many months to cost more than a shed, which is a lot more convenient and which ideally we can sell when we finish.
Of course I have to keep reminding Robin that the shed is temporary. His supposed friend told me not to worry. If it ends up not being temporary, I could just make him sleep in it.
However, I might end up having trouble with it being temporary, too. I've already come up with the idea of using it while painting rooms. Also while re-doing the floors. And maybe if we have it, we won't feel the need to tear down our other tiny shed and build a big garage/work shed instead. Yes, the danger escalates.
**
In computer news, my back up worked great except for the part where all my documents from A to T are not there. Some of my favorite documents start with U and W, but a lot of them don't. We're going to get someone to see if they can find a better back-up, but meanwhile, this stinks. I just love, love, love computers, except when I hate them.
I can't really hate this new one, though. The clicking is so quiet. It's so pretty. I still have to get used to the touch pad. There's some thing where if you leave your finger in one place to long it does weird things like jump elsewhere in your document or going back to a different web page. So there's still a little learning curve going on.
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no subject
on 2008-06-23 12:28 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2008-06-23 07:15 pm (UTC)