General Thoughts

My Man Cave

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So instead of jacking up our house and putting a basement underneath ($25,000 for an empty shell of a basement), we’re going to just build a shed for me to use as an office. The question, is whether or not to build said shed, or to get a “pre-cut” kit. The former might be cheaper, and easier to customize. The latter, however, I might be able to actually construct.

We’re thinking of buying this. It should make an awesome office space. I’m not sure exactly how to go about making a foundation, or if that is even required. I’m also not sure if a pre-cut shed requires a building permit or not. I have to find such things out pretty soon though. 🙂

Wish me luck, and send any advice my way. Please!

When Do You Have a Community?

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I watched a great video today, and it reminded me of the UCF. If you don’t know what the UCF is, well, don’t worry, we’re just a group of people that are online friends. We’re a community if you will. In fact, the idea that online friends care enough to remind me about taking my blood pressure medicine is amazing. Thank you, you’re all awesome. Check out Gary Vaynerchuk’s take on online communities. (The video isn’t embeddable, so you have to click through to his site)

Tux Drying His Face

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Whenever Tux gets a bath, he rubs his face on the carpet. The video really doesn’t do it justice, but it’s hilarious to watch. 🙂

(Plus, Michelle is under the weather, and wanted to be entertained. Here ya go.)

The Story of Trunkboy

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My oldest, and most widely used online name is “trunkboy”. As a big fancy grown-up, I realize this name is odd at best. It’s one of those things, however, that is so deeply ingrained into my past, that ditching the name just seems wrong. Plus, it’s the account I use on gmail for everything, so it would be very inconvenient to separate myself from it. Here’s the scoop:

In 1993, I graduated from high school. I was a pretty brainy kid, and got a couple scholarships for college. One of those scholarships was for $1,000 cash that was supposedly above and beyond my needs for tuition, room, and board. As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, it was NOT above and beyond, and I had to turn the money in on day 1. My spending money for the entire year was gone, and I did not have a job (why would I need a job? I had $1,000!!!!)

The college year started, and as most college kids, I was expected to pitch in for the Saturday night beer pizza. Since I had NO money, I usually ended up mooching from my friends, and was jokingly called “Trunkboy”, because of an episode of Cheers. See, the other thing that happened in 1993 was the 11th season of Cheers. In this episode, Frasier gets shoved into the trunk of the car to get into the drive-in theater for free. They call him trunk boy. And that nickname stuck. (I didn’t fight it, because I much preferred if over “Cheap Freeloading Jerkface That Needs to Get a Job”)

So there you have it. 15 years later, I’m still Trunkboy, and although it seems silly, it reminds me of a unique time in my life. 🙂

A Double Poopy Day

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Today stinks. Really and truly. First, when dropping the kids off to school, this happened to the gas stations in town:

Then, the reason I didnt’ stay at work after taking the kids, is because our toilets won’t flush. No mere plunger will do the trick, either. Our septic tank is full. At least, that’s my hope. Getting it pumped out is the cheap fix. Why it filled up when my soil is sandier than the beach is the larger worry. I’m going to try forgetting about that though. It turns out the tank is full, because when I finally got close to the the lid with a shovel, I was met by the foulest geyser you can imagine. I think I shall call it “Olde Crapful” (Yes, I added an “e” to the word old, because indeed whatever died down there has been rotting since that was the proper spelling…)

The poop pumping guy comes in about an hour. Then, I’m going to shower. Hard. 🙂