The "Tying Up The Loose Ends" Friday Random Ten

Yesterday, as I drove to class for the last day of the semester, I passed the place on Montrose Avenue where they were putting the finishing touches, finally, on a huge sinkhole that made the national news and made my commute to school a pain in the ass a couple of months ago.

As I passed it, it occurred to me that a bunch of loose ends are being tied up. First and foremost was the end of a semester that was a lot of work, but also really enjoyable. I've gotten nearly my first year back in school under my belt. I was really nervous about it all, but have realized that I can handle it.

There are some things around the house that are finally being finished up. My landlord embarked upon a huge renovation a year ago. A couple of parts of it dragged on. He had Bosch tankless water heaters installed. The idea was great-- it would save us money on our gas bill, which is huge. Unfortunately, the water heaters never worked right, particularly when running the shower. We were only able to get about five minutes of hot water when running the shower. After running around and around with the Bosch company (after seeing what he went through with their lack of customer support, I'll never buy one of their products), he had them removed and had regular water heaters installed. After months of short or cold showers, it's been a delight to take a normal shower.

Another project that turned into a nightmare was the backyard. The backyard was supposed to be redone last fall, but the contractor fell through. After a winter and spring of dealing with muck and mire, and more contractor problems, they're finally finishing up tomorrow. We look forward to sitting around the firepit in the backyard with the kids soon.

Kim and I had been planning to put some shelves up in our kitchen for a while. She finally got a chance to go get the shelves and I finally got a chance to put them up. They've been a big help in organizing things. They also helped fill a wall that was empty. This evening, I was working on the last thing that'll be added to that wall-- an lcd television. I miss having the History Channel on in the background while I'm cooking. I ran around to a few stores to compare prices, and came home and checked some prices online.

In the next couple of weeks, before summer school starts, I've also got to tackle the basement.

Here's the "Tying Up the Loose Ends" Friday Random Ten.


1. My Life Is Good- Randy Newman
2. No More- The Blind Boys of Alabama
3. Coconut Water- Robert Mitchum
4. Angry Words- Willy Porter
5. Feeling That Way/Anyway That You Want Me- Journey
6. Positively 4th Street- Lucinda Williams
7. Pretty Vacant- Sex Pistols
8. Darkness Darkness- Youngbloods
9. Tobacco Road- The Nashville Teens
10. On The Road Again- Bob Dylan

Notes:
1. Randy Newman's ruminations on wealth, the wealthy and Bruce Springsteen.
2. A work friend of mine lent me this album and said I'd like it. He was right.
3. Yes, that Robert Mitchum. The album is great.
4. The best "getting over an old lover" song ever. I love the part about the coffee maker she'd given him finally breaking down.
5. Okay, so I like some Journey songs. Sue me.
6. A great cover of a really angry Dylan song.
7. Heard the Sex Pistols on Sirius today as well ("Holiday in the Sun"). I realized one, how political they were, and secondly, how good they sound thirty years later.
8. Ironically, the other great song from this album is "Sunlight."
9. They weren't from Nashville (from England) nor teens (in their twenties), singing about a place they'd never been, but it's one of the greatest singles ever.
10. A lot of people forget how damned funny Dylan is. This is one of the funniest.