SBT

So, have they passed the stimulus and doomed us all yet? DOOM! DOOM, I say! Anyway, I haven't been paying attention. I figure it's a done deal, my people won't vote for it, and things will continue much as they have with an extra helping of screw the taxpayer. There's not much I can do either way, so I'm moving on. DOOM! Excuse me. Okay, now I'm moving on.

So, a little light essential reading for y'all here. Apparently, not enough people have read it, or anything like it, so I'm bringing it up again. Maybe it'll stick to a few brains.

In other news, the chandelier for the dining room arrived earlier this week.

Let me pause to insert a minor rant about how I spent a ton of money on a brand new house and can't even get light fixtures that are remotely pleasing or paint colors I want. Because the logistics of maybe having more paint colors than beige, beige, off-white, beige, off-white, and beige are just completely insurmountable, right? As is the possibility of having light fixtures in a finish other than shit brown distressed bronze or cheap bling gold. The customer is always right, within a very small subset of possible values for "right". Note that right also does not overlap with attractive for any of the available subsets.

Of course, the instructions for the chandelier were two quarto pages of small diagrams. Not real helpful, and they actually got lost in the packaging for two days. I went to the hardware store and bought a whole bunch of lamp parts. Apparently, cheap chandeliers from China use a thread that is slightly off from anything used in lamps here in America. Who knew? Eventually, I gave up and creatively reconfigured the hardware in the box to make it work. Instructions might have helped here, but it just wasn't to be. Fortunately, I'm fecking brilliant and can manage without them. We should be hanging the chandy sometime this evening if all goes well. If I've done my job, it should light up and not fall down. J is responsible for final aesthetic arrangement and judgment.

I'll also note that Valentine's Day is tomorrow. Why the death or burial (reports differ) of a matryred priest and giving your person gifts came to be connected, I'll never know with any certainty. Regardless, party it up with your peeps and spread the love, unless medically contraindicated. Nobody wants oozing sores as a present, kids.