Mikey D

Item: ‘Get lighting mess sorted out’.
We decided on a light fixture for our dining room. It’s a hanging “pendant” light that is over our dining table. We had the installer come yesterday, and they put it up for us and did some electrical work (the switch we wanted to use controlled an electrical socket, and they had to switch some wiring around). Happily, we now have light! And all together, the job and light cost us about $250, which is really good, considering I budgeted about $500 originally. We’ve also decided to leave the kitchen lighting alone right now. It’s got a track lighting system that I hate, but it works and I can stand it for the time being, so I don’t see a pressing need to go and drop more money replacing it right now. That leaves the upstairs bedroom, the closets, and the basement that will require some lighting options before I earn this check mark.

Item: ‘Buy a Red Wings hoodie like the one that you see in ‘Hung’.’
Basically I want a simple red hoodie with a Red Wings logo, preferably with a little used/vintage look. It can’t be bulky or anything, just something light and simple. I have checked EBay each day for the past week and have not come across anything worth purchasing.

Item: ‘Write to Grace more’.
Our three-year anniversary is today, so I was able to write a lovely card for Grace. On my way with this one, although I think getting the check mark will be hard since Grace has to approve it. Something tells me I’m going to have to write a whole hell of a lot to earn it.

Item: ‘Play the Mega-Millions lottery each time the jackpot is over 100 million because you should take more chances and this is as good a place as any to start.’
Well, we played it! And lost. No regrets, though. Nobody won, so we’ll be playing again on Sunday for $252 million. Grace and I decided we’d take the lump sum amount (as Grace says, “Our money is worth more now than in the future.”), pay off our debts (except for our home, for tax purposes), and then take care of our family and friends. We finally agreed that each of our family members would receive one million dollars, and but we were unsure on how much to give friends. I say we only give close friends money, and I say we make it a few hundred thousand. Is it right to give friends the same amount as a family member? I say no, but it could be debatable.

Item: ‘Put WD40 on hinges in master bedroom.’
We bought a new bottle. I feel defeated. I still kept the old bottle, though. I am hoping to someday get it to work again (did you know WD40 has no expiration date…it’s good forever, and I have perfectly good WD40 in that can!). I shall wait for technology to catch up and come up with a way to open a can without it exploding in my face. That day is coming soon, right? Anyway, the new can works great and had a fancy spray nozzle and got those hinges to stop squeaking in seconds. Check mark!

Item: ‘Take more pictures/video of Chloe while she still does cute things.’
I need to work on the video part, but I’ve started on the pictures. I love my baby Chloe. She literally follows me everywhere in the house just to be near me. She even sleeps on my head at night. My baby girl…we have a very strange/unhealthy human-cat relationship.

Item: ‘Figure out how to stop the buzzing sound that comes from your new computer tower.’
The problem is that the tower is vibrating against the stand I have it on. The logical thing to do is just to take it off the stand, but then why did I get the desk with the computer stand attachment? I refuse to let it go to waste or put it to another use. For now I have placed a large dictionary on top of my tower, and the vibrations and buzzing sound have stopped. As for a long term fix, that is yet to come.

Item: ‘Get rid of old computer tower.’
Took it down to Best Buy today and turned it into their recycling people (minus the hard drive, of course). Grace also remembered she had an old laptop in a box in the basement, so we took the hard drive out of that one too and recycled it with mine. Did you know Geek Squad would charge you $19.95 to remove the hard drive for you before you recycled it? That’s just ridiculous! It’s a fucking one minute job. I tell you, NEVER take it to that place. Find someone local to fix your computer and save yourself the money.

Item: ‘Buy a new ink cartridge for your printer because you are going on 4+ months with the message that blinks, “ink extremely low”.’
Since I was at Best Buy, I figured to take care of this one. Ink carton purchased and installed. I even used a 10% coupon to save myself some money. When Grace went to the post office yesterday I tagged along and grabbed a couple change of address packets the post office has available. Did you know those always carry a Best Buy and Lowes coupon? Saving 10% at either of those places is a big deal because you’re usually spending at least 50+ dollars each time you go. Anyway, ink cartridge bought with a lovely 10% discount.

Item: ‘Buy a carbon-monoxide detector and new smoke alarms because the ones you have currently look scary old.’
Grace didn’t think our smoke detectors were that old. I disagree because they were yellowish, which is the sign of an old smoke detector I think. Anyway, I tested them all (which, come to think of it, I should have done when we first moved in) and they were all in working order. I suppose if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But I did want a carbon-monoxide detector for peace of mind. At Home Depot I found a two in one smoke detector and carbon-monoxide detector, which was great because it killed two birds with one stone. So I bought that yesterday and threw it up near our bedroom. Now carbon-monoxide will not kill us…hopefully.

~Mikey D