2005? Bah! Pooh! Get Out, You!

Friends,

Since everybody on Jah’s everlovin’ earth is making a list, I thought I’d make one for myself. Some good things, some bad, some you’ll have to decide for yourselves. Okay, you’ll have to decide all of them for yourselves since I can’t seem to make up my mind about them one way or the other. To wit:

The Damp Dog Lodge: I’ve made only the slightest progress on repairs and upgrades over the last few months. The last big push was to accommodate the throngs visiting over the Fourth of July weekend and we all know how that went.

Since then I’ve done virtually nothing but small fixes and tweaks. New doors are coming though, so I’ll be able to further segment the living spaces to manage the heating of the joint. That’s going to be a big deal in the next couple of months I figure, so they can’t come soon enough.

The Tenants: Yep. The acquaintance of the neighbor of my Dad is working on a house nearby the Lodge, so I’m affording him and his crew a place to stay. For a price. People tell me that the price isn’t nearly high enough, but what the hell. It’s more like a favor, and besides, he might be able to help me repair this mess (correctly, this time). He’s asked his HVAC guy, for instance, to stop by here and rewire my forced air unit (central heat, to the rest of us) to keep it from shutting off at the most inopportune times (like when it’s cold outside). Enlightened self-interest on his part? Maybe, but I’ll take it.

The Workplace: Not digging that scene, man. The choices that have been laid out before me are abundant and abundantly bad. Full time here, full time there. Take it or leave it. I’d like to stake out a middle ground (don’t you always? i mean, crap! mister wishy-washy for the love of pete! – ed Thanks for showing up to the party. BTW, who’s Pete? – bob). For the new year I think my new plan is one that everybody should find acceptable. Ready? I call it “I.T. Staff At Large,” going where I’m needed and during slow times working on projects from my home. I get paid a flat rate (you may recall something I wrote a long time ago about how flat-raters rule and why. This is the same kind of deal.) It’s ideal for me but I don’t know if the middle management can wrap their heads around it, fully embrace the concept, and give it a big kiss on the forehead. I suspect not, but it wouldn’t be the first time I didn’t get what I wanted, would it?

Les Voitures: This year my Dad gave me a car. Gave. No strings. No kidding. The Mighty Dakota may not be much to look at, but it gets pretty good gas mileage, hauls stuff, is pretty fun to drive, and hasn’t let me down once. Free, people. How magnanimous is that?

The Grand Livingroom is what it is. It runs, it has all-wheel drive and comfy seats, it has plenty of torque to get up the Hill. What it doesn’t have after all this driving is a continuous and uninterrupted paint job. The sway on the corners is fairly disconcerting too, but hey, all wheel drive! Snow? Anybody? Hello?

The Mighty Jeepster however, is another matter. I think it’s pretty clear that the timing chain on the 258 c.i. straight six wants out when I hear its terrible graunch at idle. Out of the the cover. Out of the engine compartment. Just plain out. That’ll be fun to fix, no?

Yes!

More end of the year business tomorrow (the real tomorrow, not the 48 hour tomorrow, like yesterday). Maybe we’ll even cover the redesign of this site and the bobtherieau.com mothership. We can only hope.

Your best pal ever (not kidding),

bob