Monday List of Ups and Downs

With the "GOD" inching closer to completion (just need some pavers, and couple of plants and a few more bags of mulch to put that to bed), and with the backyard fence project 80% complete (just need to build a gate and take down the old chain link monster), my mind has been moving away from projects and more towards "other shit I have time to think about."

Specifically, my thoughts are disturbingly divided into two basic categories: stuff that makes me happy, and stuff that bums me out. Here's my quick TV Guide rip-off list of each. It's amazing where your mind goes while digging in the dirt. Or, hanging fence/sweeping up a patio area that is starting to look like, well, a patio area...

Up:

• Andy Carroll and NUFC-- 6-0! Howray the Lads!

• DC 311--So what if it took a handful of calls from me and my neighbors? They finally got out here last Thursday and cleaned up the alley real nice--we're mattress free! I never thought I'd see the day--the Velogirl and I stood silently at the back fence, tears in our eyes, as they cleared the last of the debree--it was like watching the Nazis leave Paris.

• Commonwealth--no, not Virginia, the Columbia Heights British pub. On Sundays, they do a roast dinner, with potatoes and green beans and your choice of beef or lamb. Yeah, it was awesome. I love me a plate of triangle goodness: veggie, starch, protein. And the roast beef comes highly recommended by your's truly.

• A Decent Hammer--I could not locate my nice framing hammer for the fence project this weekend, so I had to put up a fence using my backup one that is about as light as a butter knife. It took me 2600 swings to drive a 3 1/2 inch nail about a 1/2 inch. So, yeah. Get yourself a nice heavy framing hammer and never let it out of your site.
  

Down:

• Consistent Volume Levels during "Mad Men"--I have to crank up the sound to hear the dialogue on my favorite Sunday night show. When I have that volume bar at around 70, it sounds like a quiet conversation. Then, when the commercials come on, the sound is amplified about 500 times, and I have to mute the channel before my eardrums explode. Listen, I'm not a sound engineer. But, levels are pretty much, like, sound 101. Can't they keep it at the same line level for an entire hour? Why does this happen every Sunday, and is it just me? Am I doing something wrong? ARGGH!

• Urban Wildlife--I don't like the fact that I have to talk rat prevention with my neighbors. Eww. Go away rats. Go back to Norwegia.