State of the Union :: the Little Black Book (a Tag Team) Edition

Built By jb bartkowiak for Building Moxie & Published October 1, 2010.
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jb:

So . . . I am in the habit of carrying around a little black book. It measures at 3×5; I jot down ideas and todos as they come to me. Here are a few entries from the last week:

“Dore Inquiry” — A meeting with an old pal. We discussed a quote he had received on a hardwood floor install (and some work around his laundry room). $13k seemed a little high; we’ll see if he wants me to do a formal review of the proposal.

“Stacie’s 40^th b-day party (with directions)” — Probably one of the better parties I have been to in the last ten years. The Zelenkas are pondscapers that live near Fredrick, MD. People came in from *all* over the place, and the backyard looked awesome filled with kids, bouncy things, pulled pork, bands and libations.

“A Idea (A stands for article) Why are some contractors so bad with callbacks?” — Inspired by Madame Sunday >> here and pitched to Chris Wright (as a possible contribution) >> here. I’ll probably write it eventually. *See if LThayer has research.*

“Cognac: Hine/Kelt” — Dad’s 65^th b-day is coming up. And both it seems may be out of my price range.

“Internet & Age” — A note inspired by last week’s #letsblogoff topic – It became clear to me (after people posted) that there is an age thing” with this social media stuff.  And maybe along the isolation/connection line.  Folks say under the age of say 35 seem to have a more defined separation between their internet selves and RL.  (I jotted down notes, too, surrounding next week’s topic, but have decided to forgo. My thoughts here are generally unimportant.)

I have more but b – go!

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b:

Funny you should say go because this has been my word lately.

My black book is large notebook size and lives in a binder. In it, I also keep notes and lists and bits of information that I want to remember. It is a book I used for a while and then moved away from. Now it is back because the binder makes it easier to carry and have on hand.

This week my book had three days set aside to work on my own house. My in-laws are coming to America for the first time next Wednesday and I forced myself to make my place a priority. My, usually neglected, own house is like a cloud that soaks up work instead of water. Installing a new stove has become a much needed kitchen remodel.

The last time I remodeled the kitchen I was newly married and had fewer responsibilities. My wife was finishing out college in Vilnius, Lithuania and I set out to make a workable kitchen in anticipation of her arrival. We have lived with the bottle neck of a storage challenged nightmare I created for 9 years.

jb – go!

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jb:

OK – also in my book:

“yous” — The northern equivalent of y’all. MD is south of the Mason Dixon line and the later *is* much more appealing.

“kirsty mccoll in these shoes” — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjvaqVAFuLI Sidebar: Jessica Hoop.

” . . . my kind . . . maybe my. . . (Nick Cave)” — Some song lyrics. I am infamous for coming up with cool shit on the guitar but never finishing.  AND lyrics (as you can see) have NEVER been my strong suit (ironic because I like to write).

“wheat” — My wife stopped eating wheat and gluten (which helps with my (non) beer consumption). She tells me it can be mixed into wallpaper paste.

“40-45sf (54-36)” — Roughly the area of our kitchen backsplash. Tile for which we are going to have to pick in hurry at a tile surplus house this weekend – kids in tow.

b – go!

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b:

I made all sorts of bad decisions about our new American kitchen back in 2001. The first was to draw inspiration from our Lithuanian kitchen. To explain briefly, my wife and I had met and married here (in Ocean City, Maryland) and then lived together there ( in Vilnius, Lithuania) in an apartment we had rented for the remainder of her time in college.

That kitchen was small because things there are smaller, I reasoned that small was good (I guess because I had had a good time there) and purchased a 24 inch stove. I built the that stove into a unit that consisted of a home made audio cabinet converted to a kitchen cubbard, a large dead space for electric and an old pine table top I sanded down, polyurethaned and pressed into service as the the counter top.

I used what I had around and a romantic sense of what was forthcoming to guide my design choices. As I mentioned the kitchen was a terrible failure but living with those choices have given some great insights into our families needs.

About 3 weeks ago our 24 inch stove’s oven would not turn off. We eventually go it to shut down but it made the new appliance a priority. This time we chose a more realistic 36 inch stove. Making room for it snowballed into a full blown kitchen remodel. The word “go” has literally propelled me from my chair after late night breaks to get back to it. Eyes closing, I utter it to myself to make myself move…

Fractured Movie Quote: “You are going to need a bigger boat book.”

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Photo Credit: Party photos courtesy of friend Dawn Kearney.