So we finally got the right parts for the upstairs toilet - it took three tries because the toilet is ANCIENT - it has a built in overflow valve and the hole where the flapper goes isn't flush with the bottom of the tank - there's a little ceramic ring that prevents most modern fittings from working.  What we ended up with was a system where you basically adhere the flapper assembly to that ceramic ring with some fun gray putty (and we all know I AM the queen of gray putty, so I got to do that part) and pray that it creates a good seal.  We replaced the float as well, because the original one had gotten damaged when we removed it.

So we got everything in, got a good seal on the new flapper and on Korky (because we know how Korky works...) and set the tank to fill again.  All was ducky.  Then we flushed.

There wasn't a flood, thankfully, but there was clearly water.  Turns out that the gasket between the tank and the bowl was bad, but it took a visit from the plumber to figure that out. 

Was it bad before we messed with things?  Possibly - we had wondered if there had been a slow leak somewhere that was the REAL source of the occasional water that we've had in the study.  Also possible that we damaged it in removing and replacing the tank.

I figure we learned something about plumbing, and the total cost (assuming our time is free) was about the same as it would have been had we just called Joe to replace the flapper in the first place.

Walk into the store, find the working photo printing machine.  Hear employee yell, "Hey!  Stop!  AMY GET UP HERE!" and look up to see her dashing towards the door where a young punk is trying to pry the doors open faster so he can make off with a case of cigarettes.  Jot down the plate number being hollered in the door by another customer.  Use your cell to call 911 when the store's phone refuses to connect to an outside line, hand your phone to the employee.  Finish up your printing & shopping by which time the police have arrived.

Have employee inform you that the manager said she can give you the employee discount - they had tried to tell me "bill your minutes to the store" and I was like "pshaw, I never use them all anyway".

I don't think there was ever any real chance of this being something that ended violently - I think he came in to buy some smokes, didn't see anyone behind the counter, and took the opportunity.  But man, TRex had a lot of questions!

• 13:11 cleaning up the study for selena and erin... let the two weeks of houseguests begin! #

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Given our recent success replacing the float valve in the downstairs toilet, the upstairs toilet decided to give us a slightly bigger challenge - the flapper assembly broke and replacing that is actually much more complex - involves removing the tank and everything!  So, given that the Korky system served us so well last time (and we know how to put at least the float part together now), I picked up a complete set of Korky toilet guts the other day.  One size fits most.

You can guess where this is going.

One size don't fit us.  So tomorrow morning TRex and I will head off to Lowe's to return the Korky bits that didn't work and to get ones that will fit our toilet tank.  Maybe if I'm feeling REALLY industrious I'll try to put the thing together solo while she rests tomorrow.  (More likely I'll clean up the study so that baronessmartha and mittenydoom have someplace to sleep Friday night.)

When we got home from the lake last night, there was a grocery bag with a GIANT zucchini hanging on our back door.  I already had one in the fridge that I'd been intending to broil last week and didn't get around to it.  So now I have two big green squashes to deal with.

This morning as I was planning the grocery list, TRex requested egg pie (crustless quiche) with zucchini and mushrooms so that will take care of some of that.  I was already planning to do a variant on a recipe I've done a couple of times that involves pasta with lemon juice, squash, and basil.  Then I got to the grocery store today and discovered that they also had very nice-looking eggplants on sale, and basil plants 2 for $4 (aka, one for about what I would have paid for the appropriate quantities of basil leaves).

And so, I present... Summertime Pasta.  Stupid easy, extra-tasty, and even TRex gobbled it up.  (Though, it must be said - my kid does NOT have average preschooler taste in food.  She also specifically requested bulgur wheat for lunch.)
( recipe back here )

TRex and samueljl and relentlesstoil's daughter, merrily jumping on the bed.  We had a fabulous weekend chillaxin' in central NY.

from helwen:


More.  Definitely more.

Geico knocked $150 off of our deductible because we allowed them to paint one panel that was just barely dinged rather than replacing it.  In the end they had to replace 2 of the gold panels and the door skin.

Hallelujah, because I was SO SICK of driving The Tank.

Gotta say, though, $45 for a week's rental car is quite cheap.  But 16 MPG was PAINFUL.  That just ain't right.

I mentioned this over in chargirlgenius' journal and there was interest in seeing the recipe, so here goes. This is modified from a recipe I got from the WW site years ago.

( recipe )

because after seeing Dr. Horrible links all over the place for days and days I finally watched it.

ZOMG!

*love*

If you were like me and going, "bah, just another silly meme that everybody's all about" DO NOT LISTEN TO THAT LITTLE VOICE!  You go and you watch and you love and you watch again.

And then, if you're me, you fire up "Once More With Feeling" because there is no other option BUT to do that.

• 11:43 three! three is the number of research participants I have! mwahahahahaha! #
• 13:08 first pass at invitations done #
• 13:16 can this girl's grocery-hauler carry 4 cases of soda? film at 11... #
• 16:26 answer: yes, but steering becomes something of a challenge #
• 20:23 drywalling with fresh compound is much easier than with old stuff... #

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Annoyance #1:  Textbook publishers whose only interest is making a buck. 
I ordered my textbooks a couple of weeks ago - I had checked to see if there was a new edition available, and there's one scheduled to be available in 2009.  So I put in my order for the "current" edition.  Except... no, only the 2009 edition is available.  The previous edition was published in 2007.  SOCIOLOGY DOESN'T CHANGE THAT FAST, PEOPLE!  I am convinced that this two-year life cycle for textbooks is purely to cut out on the used book market.  And it pisses me off.

Annoyance #2: The office staff at TRex's pedi office.
Love the doctors.  Good thing, too, because the office staff PISS ME OFF.  We were in there yesterday because her reflux has come back.  Dr. S said he'd write a script for some Prevacid for her - which pharmacy should the fax go to?  We told him and went on our merry way.  Stopped to pick up the meds on the way home from dinner last night and lo and behold - the script never ended up there.  I call them this morning, what happened?  "Oh, there's no pharmacy listed in her record, that's why.  What pharmacy is it?"  I tell them, giving them the intersection it's at.  I offer the fax number, which I made sure to get from them last night.  "Oh, we send it electronically, it's not a real fax.  Do you know the address?"  No, I don't.  I'll call them back when I get home with the address.  So I do.  3 hours pass, and I call the pharmacy to check that they have received the script.  No dice.  Call the pedi office back, they apparently have no idea what's going on.  Sit on hold for nearly 10 minutes... one time someone picks up and says "can you hold please" and hangs up before I can answer.  Second time someone (I THINK the guy who I was talking to in the first place) picks up and says "[...] Pediatrics, can I help you?"  I say, "I've been on hold - you were checking on my daughter's prescription."  "Oh, we just re-sent it."  My outside voice says, "OK, thanks!"  My inside voice says, "Gee, thanks for wasting my time sitting on hold rather than just telling me what you were going to do."
Unfortunately, this sort of thing is par for the course with them.  When she had to go to optho when we first moved here they failed to submit the referral SEVERAL times.  Another time, they mis-entered an appointment for one of her Synagis shots and blamed me when I showed up at the "wrong" time.  It's not every time, but whenever something's a little bit out of the ordinary, things seem to fall through the cracks.  Very frustrating.  But, like I said, we all adore the doctors so we put up with the office incompetence.

ETA:  No, RiteAid still doesn't have it.  Calling an alternate RiteAid to see what the hell is up.

• 11:34 informed consent = written #
• 14:01 back to coding... good times, man. #
• 14:27 does the dance of tree guys about to take away a year-old stump! #

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I have now caught the premiere of CBS's new show Flashpoint twice.  More to the point, I have seen portions of it twice and now actually managed to see the whole thing.

This is a pretty good show.  It's Canadian - they don't even try to hide it - they call the police officers "constable" and everything (hell, there's a panorama shot where you go, oh, hello downtown Toronto with your fancy CN tower...).  And it's suspenseful.  I mean, at it's heart it's a cop show and it's going to be about cases and about the relationships on the team and about how being a cop affects the lives of the guys on the team.

But the premiere also about gave me a heart attack at the climactic moment (the first time I saw it) and made me a little queasy in sympathy with the protagonist.  So hey, points for that.

Definitely one to keep an eye on.

We had a very chill weekend... it was quite nice in advance of the madness that is coming.

Saturday was errands in the morning, then a nap for TRex while M and I did various things around the house (like sorting through the giant pile of software CDs in the study and throwing way approximately 2/3 of them, as well as salvaging data from & wiping 8 100 MB zip disks), and then we went to the pool with the P family until it decided to pour on us.  I had mis-remembered T's age - he just turned two, not three...  but my confusion was forgiven as he is nearly as big as TRex and at least as coordinated.  She woke up this morning declaring, "I like T!"  In the evening, M and I cooked some food (he made his special Gen. Tso's Chicken, for which I can post the recipe if anyone wants (and if I haven't previously) and I made pasta sauce in an attempt to use up the fresh oregano we brought back from MD and then I kicked his butt at Bust a Move for a while.

Sunday M & TRex went to donuts, I did some yoga, we lounged around, splashed in some puddles.  We took advantage of having a monstrous vehicle (our rental replacement while the Outback is getting its side panels and door skin replaced) and M went out and bought the extension ladder we've been needing for a while and then he fixed a drainpipe and cleaned out the gutter underneath the neighbor's ancient maple tree.  We spent some time watching the clouds, idly weeding in the gardens (and M cleared out the joint between the curb and the street, which is the most fertile soil in our entire yard, I swear), going for a walk around the block.

It was nice not to be out DOING all day Sunday, even if the DOING is just going to the pool.

This morning M took TRex to school on the bus-and-train and I had breakfast with spanish_rhode and her hubby.  And now I'm back to dissertating.

• 21:17 sewing... so therapeutic. #

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• 14:06 keeping the theme... remember when 100 MB zip disks were AMAZING? #

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• 13:23 @eringoblog have fun tomorrow - I'm sure everything will be lovely! #
• 13:38 coding data... code... code... code... #
• 14:18 189 "paragraphs" left to code #
• 15:44 85 left... #
• 15:57 50 left... #
• 16:04 25 left #
• 16:08 one question coded, uncountably many left... #
• 16:13 college library closes at 4:30? what is up with THAT? #

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Monday: run in the icky sticky humid heat.
Friday: run in the rain that then turns into the icky sticky humid (but not as hot as Monday).

Went to the gym intending to work out on the cardio machines, take it relatively easy.  Got into the locker room, wanted to run.  So I went for about 2 miles which at this point *is* an easy run.  I'm routinely running sub-10-minute miles; don't know if I'll be able to sustain that pace for the full 5k, though.

I think I may have inadvertently become A Runner(tm).