9 minutes ago
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Blast from the past
Recently I found a receipt from Stop and Shop from 2006. It made me smile as I looked it over. It was from July 2nd. We bought 6 packages of rolls and a whole crap load of things for a cookout. It's funny, kind of, to see that we still buy a lot of the same brands, even though we're 1,500 miles away from Stop and Shop.
Friday, September 03, 2010
Fear the wrath of our pool
I have learned so much during my time in Florida. Coming from the northeast, I had no idea that there is such a wide variety of wildlife out there. And it all lives in my yard. People in Florida don't believe in signalling a turn, nor do they believe in posted speed laws. But I digress.
One of my latest lessons has been around our pool. We had a pool guy for a time and it was great. He took care of the chemicals and somehow the pool was always spotless, despite him only working on the pool once a week. It was brilliant. Once the economy turned sour, however, we decided that we needed to cut our expenses back a bit. One of the things we chopped was the pool guy. When I was a kid, I took care of the pool at our condo complex. I thought I did a pretty good job and the town of Mashpee only closed it down once or twice. Oops.
Our pool in Florida (and any newer pools, I'd imagine), are very different than the 1980s-model pool we had in Mashpee. We have all kinds of fancy equipment on the side of our house, complete with a device that blinks green AND red. It can't seem to make up its mind what color it wants to be. I took some time and figured out the workings of the pool. I thought we were in good shape. The only thing I failed to remember is that I can be lazy. And in Florida you can't be lazy and have a pool.
I had the process down pretty well. On the weekend I would get the supplies from the pool store, clean the pool, and do all the little things you need to do to keep the thing running. That worked out well. But then the lazy kicked in. I would skip a week here and there. In the summer you really have to be anal about your pool, otherwise it will turn green. Recently, I pushed the envelope a little too far. I let it go for two weeks. Oops.
During the second week of neglect, I noticed that the pool was starting to take on a cloudy look and wasn't the normal blue color. As the week went on, I saw the pool turn completely green and totally unappealing.
That weekend I knew I was going to have to spend some time getting this pool back in order if we were ever going to swim in it again. I got into the pool and literally scrubbed the sides and bottom with a brush, all the while ingesting some things that probably aren't so good for my body. Once I was done with that, I had to do the chemicals and then make sure that the water color and clarity started to head in the right direction. It did, and we can once again swim in the pool, but I don't even want to count the hours I spent fixing my mistake. I fought the pool and the pool won.
One of my latest lessons has been around our pool. We had a pool guy for a time and it was great. He took care of the chemicals and somehow the pool was always spotless, despite him only working on the pool once a week. It was brilliant. Once the economy turned sour, however, we decided that we needed to cut our expenses back a bit. One of the things we chopped was the pool guy. When I was a kid, I took care of the pool at our condo complex. I thought I did a pretty good job and the town of Mashpee only closed it down once or twice. Oops.
Our pool in Florida (and any newer pools, I'd imagine), are very different than the 1980s-model pool we had in Mashpee. We have all kinds of fancy equipment on the side of our house, complete with a device that blinks green AND red. It can't seem to make up its mind what color it wants to be. I took some time and figured out the workings of the pool. I thought we were in good shape. The only thing I failed to remember is that I can be lazy. And in Florida you can't be lazy and have a pool.
I had the process down pretty well. On the weekend I would get the supplies from the pool store, clean the pool, and do all the little things you need to do to keep the thing running. That worked out well. But then the lazy kicked in. I would skip a week here and there. In the summer you really have to be anal about your pool, otherwise it will turn green. Recently, I pushed the envelope a little too far. I let it go for two weeks. Oops.
During the second week of neglect, I noticed that the pool was starting to take on a cloudy look and wasn't the normal blue color. As the week went on, I saw the pool turn completely green and totally unappealing.
That weekend I knew I was going to have to spend some time getting this pool back in order if we were ever going to swim in it again. I got into the pool and literally scrubbed the sides and bottom with a brush, all the while ingesting some things that probably aren't so good for my body. Once I was done with that, I had to do the chemicals and then make sure that the water color and clarity started to head in the right direction. It did, and we can once again swim in the pool, but I don't even want to count the hours I spent fixing my mistake. I fought the pool and the pool won.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
I am so lazy sometimes...
Wow, it has been too long since I last posted. I wish I could say it was because I was so busy with other things that I had nary a moment to sit down. But that's the not the case. It's simply being lazy. I just haven't felt like writing lately. Sometimes I have a million ideas coming to me and I can hardly get them down. Other times its like the Sahara - hot, dry, and no ideas for miles. Hopefully I am coming out of the funk. I would like to get back to posting more regularly. It's a personal goal for me. This blog is where I keep my collection of thoughts.
On another note, I have been watching John Stewart on The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report. My friend Beth is a big fan of these guys and she frequently posts blurbs from them on her Facebook page. For some reason, I hadn't really paid much attention to them, and recently I decided to watch an episode of John Stewart's show online. I loved it! I positively ate it up. I watched all the online episodes I could find. When I ran out, I turned to Stephen Colbert (I pronounce his name "COL-BERT", just because). To me he is almost FUNNIER than John Stewart, but I don't want to rank them. Their shows are the kind of liberal news that I can really get into. Oh, and the way they both make fun of Glen Beck just tickles me.
On another note, I have been watching John Stewart on The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report. My friend Beth is a big fan of these guys and she frequently posts blurbs from them on her Facebook page. For some reason, I hadn't really paid much attention to them, and recently I decided to watch an episode of John Stewart's show online. I loved it! I positively ate it up. I watched all the online episodes I could find. When I ran out, I turned to Stephen Colbert (I pronounce his name "COL-BERT", just because). To me he is almost FUNNIER than John Stewart, but I don't want to rank them. Their shows are the kind of liberal news that I can really get into. Oh, and the way they both make fun of Glen Beck just tickles me.
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