PipesSometimes things work out. Sometimes not. This is a truism of our lives, to be sure, but in this case I have to say the universe must've been paying attention to Old Mo.
It seems that I had set my mind to doing some home improvement right about the time one of my bathroom pipes had decided that it had come to the end of its useful life. The end result was some 20 hours spent knee deep in fiberglass insulation, plumbing fixtures, copper tubing, and Sawzalls. Long about 2 AM Monday morning, I had finally gotten the state of affairs together enough to be able to turn the house water back on. As I climbed into bed - as I found a few hours later as I was getting ready for work, I spent the night sleeping encased in the wonderful insulating quality of fiberglass - I thanked my wife for not having killed me for destroying the house and having had to cut through the shower to gain access to the tub pipes. The wonderful new water feature in my kitchen below the bathroom wasn't as warmly received as I had hoped it would be.
As it happens, though, a claim on the homeowners insurance has led to the kitchen wall and ceiling being cut open and dehumidified. Honest to God, I can see the bathroom through the ceiling/subflooring exposed in the kitchen. So, there it is. I am officially an idiot. Plumbing is not for slow witted, dull writers and folks who are generally poorly conditioned to working with their hands.
How is it, then, that the universe could've been looking out for me? Well, it seems that the kitchen will now receive the professional paint job it should've had when we remodeled the place some 18 months back, and the late 1980's color-motif in the master bathroom will have to be gutted out and will be replaced with something a little more contemporary and a little less " Florida Marlins." I hope. So, it was almost like New Years' at the Mo Compound what with the promise of better things to come and all.
We had our guy in today to give us a quote on repairing the kitchen ceiling and walls...and replacing the cabinets that he had put up some 18 months ago. I figure he'll give us a quote for a new tub and plumbing and a new shower as well. ... and what the hell, throw in a new vanity. Everything including the bathroom sink. But the week of Mo hasn't quite ended - while driving Mrs. Mo's Jeep today, it seems I clipped a mailbox and ripped off her antenna and gouged the side of the truck. So, things COULD be worse...I mean over the last week including today, I've just bought myself about $1000 of deductable, but at least I'm insured. Right? Good Thing My Daily Luck was 99%It's good to know that although we grow older - 40 years old last month - our eternal essence doesn't change. Mo remains Mo.
I'm feeling good about myself and my life. I've got growing motivation - actively going about my life, doing some things around the house that needed doing. Redid the small bathroom just off the kitchen. Did a fine job, if I do say so myself. Fixed the crappy shower fixtures with nice new shiny chrome. Just all around good vibes, you know?
So, I decide that I'm going to redo the big bathroom upstairs. Change out the crappy old brass jets on the whirlpool tub, repaint the place. All that. I had my Saturday all planned out.
Read all of Good Thing My Daily Luck was 99% Super Bowl XLIV - Colts. Saints.And we're mere moments away from the most anticipated - most hyped - single day sporting events in our culture. The Super Bowl. Nothing captures the American consciousness like the NFL Championship game. Parties. Commercials. All-hang-out football. Football for the uninitiated. Football for the most ardent fan.
Football at its most pure.
Tonight the Colts and the Saints battle for the right to call themselves champion. And this year there will be a true champion. Its the first time in over twenty years the top teams in each conference face each other.
The Colts literally gave away a perfect season in the name of playoff preparation. The Saints at 13-0 were still battling for the top seed with the Vikings. Peyton Manning - son of the face of the New Orleans Saints - faces his home town team in the only professional uniform he's ever worn. Drew Brees, cast off from the Chargers when Phillip Rivers became their choice to head the franchise, leads the once moribund Saints to their first Super Bowl and with him and his team, the hopes of a devastated city.
This should be an epic, offensive battle. Enjoy. Super Bowl XLIV: Colts vs. SaintsThe Super Bowl is played every year in a neutral site chosen several years in advance. There has never been a Super Bowl played in which one of the participants called that site their home stadium. This year, the game will be played in Miami's Sun Life Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins. The game has been billed as being in "South Florida" given the name of the stadium has been somewhat in flux and without a clear long term sponsor: Land Shark Lager had an 8-month naming deal which expired on January 5. The facility opened in 1987 and has gone by the names Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium and Land Shark Stadium.
The histories of the two teams could not be more different, yet the franchises are entwined in one important way: Archie Manning, father of Colts Quarterback Peyton Manning, is the Saints' all time passing leader with 21,734 yards. Manning raised his family in the New Orleans area, and Peyton grew up in Louisiana.
Read all of Super Bowl XLIV: Colts vs. Saints Lessons from a Simple CutSo, no sooner have I started to write again, I'm incapacitated. Yes, the tools of the author came unavailable to me - it seems that while I suffered no nerve damage in my recent encounter with a creative way to hurt myself and as such this is good, I did sever a tendon. Sooo, I went under the knife, got my hand carved up - which certainly looked a lot worse than the original cut - and had my hand bandaged up and was out of typing commission for a while.
2009 NFL Postseason BeginsThe NFL playoffs have arrived - and it is to my great thanks that my team is among the 12 still alive. It's been an interesting year in the NFL - unlike many other years, so few teams have seemed to step forth as contenders. This year focus has seemingly been on the Colts, Saints, and Vikings; flying under the radar have been the Chargers, Packers, Eagles and Cowboys. Then, there's everyone else. The Broncos jetted out to 6-0 - no one expected that, but certainly most people figured they'd be able to put together 4 more wins of the 10-remaining games. They couldn't. The Cardinals won their relatively weak division at 10-6, meanwhile the Packers finish in second at 11-5. The Patriots win their division in Week 16 with 10 wins and finish the season at 10-6 after losing the last game of the season, and still have the #3 seed in the AFC playoffs; last year they were 11-5 and out of the playoffs. The reigning Super Bowl champions are out of the playoffs all together.
Read all of 2009 NFL Postseason Begins Getting the FingerIt's been a while since I updated you on any sort of self injurious behavior or happenings. It seems that I've been relatively free of those creative ways to hurt myself as of late. That said, however, I have recently found a much different way to hurt myself. You see, I have to be creative in things I do to myself. Read all of Getting the Finger Happy New YearI'm having a hard time reconciling the idea that it's not just new years', but a new DECADE. Ten years since the turn of the 1900's to the 2000's. One of my earliest elementary school memories is my first grade teacher asking us where we thought we would be in the year 2000 and it seemed so far away - after all, I'd be on the cusp of being almost 30...a long ride to go when you're 7. It's funny, no one ever talked about where they might be in 2010. Read all of Happy New Year No One Likes A QuitterNo one likes a quitter and I think most people want to earn what they get. That's why people like "The Donald" Trump get under our skin - people who haven't earned what they have bother us. I think the only thing that bothers us more than that guy who hasn't earned what they've got is the quitter. We like sports, we like the competition, we like the fact that sport is a meritocracy. You earn what you win. Except when you don't; except when the other guy quits. Read all of No One Likes A Quitter Sunday @ 1 or "Boxing Helena Day"Boxing Day. I can never get the term out without thinking Boxing Helena. So, I hope everyone had a wonderful Boxing Helena Day...a dream sequence or two the day after Christmas is never a bad thing, particularly when that day happens to be a Saturday.
If I'm a Titans fan, I'm probably wishing the Chargers game was a dream sequence. A dream, not unlike having your limbs cut-off. 42-17? Yipes. The Chargers clinched a first round bye in the playoffs, not bad for a team that everyone had written off 6-games into the season when the Broncos were tearing it up. Now it's Denver looking for a wild card. And this is why they play the games, kids. All I know is that I would feel better about facing the Colts in the playoffs than the Chargers right now. Read all of Sunday @ 1 or "Boxing Helena Day" Happy HolidaysIt seems like every year I'll post a note that begins with the phrase 'I can't believe how quickly the year has flown by." I was reminded yesterday that every year I post a holiday note to the district news, which leads me to only one conclusion - every year flies by quickly. The time we have together is elusive and fleeting.
My hope for everyone this holiday season is that you have the opportunity to hold those who are close to you dear and that you cherish that time together. Be thankful for those you have in your life and those whom you have had in your life. Life is a journey through the time which passes so quickly. Make the most of it.
I wish you a wonderful holiday season and certainly a wonderful new year - a new year that ushers in a new decade. Enjoy responsibly and rest. Remember those who are less fortunate and remember those who face personal challenges and know that your support gives them great strength. Most of all, take the time to reflect on those in your own life who have influenced you and whom you influence.
Have a wonderful holiday season Guilty Pleasures 6-Pack Everybody's got 'em. Those guilty pleasures in which you engage when no one is watching...or when you THINK no one is watching. Here's a 6-pack of "guilty pleasure" songs in which I find particular gratification when they come on the radio...or when I - you know - pop them in the CD player...because...well, because I carry them around with me in the car, ok? Read all of Guilty Pleasures 6-Pack Welcome to the TribeIt's been a very long time since I've sat down and connected here at morrisseyweb. I don't know why, perhaps it was the inability to make the commitment to sit down and write. 2009 has been an interesting ride for me. There have been times that all I have wanted to do is climb inside some dark corner of my mind and other times that all I have wanted to do is get out and express myself.
So, in trying to strengthen some habits of mind, I decided to repost an edited version of this posting I had up earlier this week at yougabsports. Read all of Welcome to the Tribe 365.25365.25 days. The celestial year. So much happens in that time and yet the longer we live, the shorter those days seem to become. Life becomes so routinized that Monday blurs into Friday, the last of the month crashes into the first. On the one hand, routine helps us organize our lives; on the other it seems to sap ones energy and drains our power - particularly for those of us who consider ourselves introverts. In any one moment during the course of those 365 days, the direction of our lives can change. Even if we really do expect that moment to occur, and even if we really think we're ready for it. Read all of 365.25 There's a Story if You're Willing to ListenEvery dent, every ding tells a story. I grew up watching the Boston Red Sox on television, and by the time I was 14 years old, I finally had the opportunity to see them play in Fenway Park for the first time. My friend's dad ran a grocery chain and had tickets from the Coke distributor - my very first game was witnessed two rows back from the visitor's dugout on the third base line. Those seats are now worth some $85+ dollars. Back in 1984, not so much. Read all of There's a Story if You're Willing to Listen The Type Indicator: INTROVERTI've been called a night owl and I suppose that's not too terribly far off. I would prefer to stay up all night doing something instead of getting up early to do the same thing. It's not an anti-social thing, I have just always preferred to sit down and do whatever. There is really something about having that time to myself, without looking at a clock knowing that I have X amount of time until I have to do something. Read all of The Type Indicator: INTROVERT The Return of MoI knew it was too good to last. I've successfully taken down something to the order of 12 trees over the last few months without incident. I still have some logs and such rolling around the yard, but it doesn't look like a lumber camp any more. The end of my street does look like a brush dump, but at some point either the USDA will show up with some chippers or I'll just rent one and have at it. I do believe all who know me are astounded by my lack of injury - playing with 18" and 20" chain saws, 8# mauls, machetes, and log splitters and the one injury I have to report is that I pinched my leg a little in the splitter. Read all of The Return of Mo The Big GameMy friends, I entered wholesale combat this weekend and I learned a valuable lesson. I would survive not at all on the field of battle. Fearless though I may have been, I learned that in the theatre of battle, I would be counted among the casualties. I had yet to fire a shot, peered out from behind my cover and promptly took a shot to the eye. I was dead and I never saw it coming. Yes, friend, I took a paintball shot to the face and I knew I was with the big boys. Read all of The Big Game Bring It OnI'm not an erudite man. Quite frankly I'm not so sure that I know what that word means, but it has that air of superiority about it that tells that whatever it is, I'm not. I think of myself as being quite average in most ways; as for the ways in which I'm not average, I'm pretty sure the aggregate works out to be ABOUT average. Maybe less. Who knows. Read all of Bring It On Everybody IS Free to Wear SunscreenI've been having a little difficulty getting ideas for things to write lately, and when I do it's just hard to get the motivation to do it. Nothing a little MAOI couldn't take care of...if only I had the foresight to, you know, get some. Anyway, in an attempt to write my way out of some doldrums, I decided tonight was the night and I was gonna write something. Damnit. Damned if I could think of anything.
Well, that's not all together true. Read all of Everybody IS Free to Wear Sunscreen |
Sometimes, pipes just burst or a discharge hose erupts. People have even been known to deliberately cap off their pipes because it's no longer desirable for those pipes to continue to operate. And sometimes accidents can simply break your pipes. Some like to simply relax with their pipes. My weekend was something of a memorable one - in a negative sort of way - but I like to think of the entire experience as the universe looking down favorably upon your somewhat slow witted and dullard scribe.
