Countertop removal

Tomorrow, our laminate-over-particleboard original countertops are being replaced by nice, pale-green Corian stone countertops. The Corian installers are very particular about their work--they are installer, they don't remove old countertop. So, it was up to my dad and I to remove the old stuff--the medium-long piece over the breakfast bar, the short piece by the fridge, and the long, L-shaped piece with the sink in the middle, as well as the backpieces (glued to the wall.) Mom cleared off the countertops, and then..

Breakfast bar was fairly easy. Remove the drawers, remove the screws--square-bit, mind you--from the underside, remove the countertop, pull the backplate from the wall. Short piece was easy to remove; backplate didn't want to move. Got a small hammer. No go. (When all else fails, user a bigger hammer.) Did so, piece came off. :)

( Floor jack, dead space, mystery attachments, and archeological experiences )

Man, talk about drama..

First, sebatical posts an article, partly lj-cut, about a horrible incident involving the death of a baby.

Then, another user begs him to hide it entirely because she just can't take reading it. He doesn't honor this request, because a) it's his journal, b) it's a public news article, c) if she doesn't want to read it, she doesn't have to list him on her friends page, etc.

Later, he makes another post [friends-only] asking if he should "stir shit up"--entirely unrelated to the news article issue. She whines* about drama and stress, I reply* on the insignificance of LJ drama, and discover her interesting* criteria for friending people--which, incidentally, has resulted in the removal of sebatical from her friends list.

( * Relayed commentary )

Finally, this exchange takes place in the user's journal, which is pretty damn melodramatic for someone who ostensibly avoids drama. (That's the most entertaining link, incidentally.)


And, ah, it's 2:15 and I get up for work around 6. Guess I should go to bed!

(no subject)

~3 hours sleep, no breakfast (no counters or sink, not to mention no time), and in to work at 7am. At that point, Jenn (Specialty Lead) was cleaning up a small flood--one of the hose fittings in a pump assembly had popped off, spraying a shower into the pump room, and flowing out the door. (This is the third time she's had to clean up a morning flood, apparently, none her fault.) Met the new birds--a gorgeous Catalina macaw and a Jenday conure--and had breakfast of donut/apple/candy, provided to the staff by the Store Director. Got off at 1, spent an hour and a half shopping for a warm leather jacket for Christina's bday, without spending a lot of money.. Salvation Army, SERVE, WalMart, KMart, Burlington Coat Factory--minimal luck, nothing purchased. Picked up C, hung out for a while, had coffee at Bad Ass (she a Hawaiian Sunrise (chocolate/orange), I an Apple Pie (apple/cinnamon)), and dropped her off at work. Despite not being on the clock, helped one woman visit the new macaw and conure, and while waiting in line helped another woman with her fish tank problems--she'd added ~15-20 fish, and ammonia and nitrites skyrocketed. Classic problem, simple fixes--but she'd been terribly misinformed by Petco, who told her there was nothing she could do and her fish would die. :P

Home, catching up on LJ--my friends list has been inordinately entertaining for the last day or so--and now Thai for dinner, which just arrived. New counters look nice, though the deeper sink has required my dad to modify the drainage pipes to lower the junction--sawing through the wall, cutting pipes, reassembling, all sorts of fun.

However, in poor medical news, Shauna apparently has some sort of fluid buildup in her hip, MRI results pending; and, my uncle--recent quintuple-bypass and heart-valve-replacement surgery patient--had a heart attack and is back in critical care. :(

Sunny Weather East Coast tour!

I quite like this band, originally from Trumansburg, NY.. roots rock, reggae, and zydeco, very lively show, great music. Check the list below, see if they're coming to your area!

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Greetings, Friends of Sunny Weather,
We are coming to your town, and we can't wait to see you all livin' on the dance floor.

( Coming to: FL, GA, NC, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, WV, 1/17-2/23 )