Daily Doings at the Line of Death Bar & Grill

So, it's been nearly 2 years since The Ex and I split up. I'm in no hurry to get back into a relationship. But there are a few women in my life that I wouldn't mind dating. And I'm not quite sure how I should approach them with the topic. If I invited them out to dinner, I think they'd accept.

It's not like high school or college anymore, where I was just too strange for the young women around me.

Any advice?

...over the "old standard" wooden pencils. First of all, wooden pencils require a pencil sharpener. Second, if the lead isn't properly centered within the pencil, it makes it easier to break the point off to the side, which often happened to me.

When did I first discover mechanical pencils? I think I was 7, going through my dad's desk drawer. I found a number of pens and pencils, including mechanical pencils. It wasn't until junior high when I really got into mechanical pencils. My first was a gray Scripto with .046" (1.1mm) lead that we sold at the school bookstore. I think I used it for the mechanical drawing unit of industrial arts class. I liked how clean the lines were, and how it wrote. I kept using Scriptos until college, when I discovered real mechanical drafting pencils like the Pentel Graphlet. I tried the 0.5mm lead (and pencil), but I'm a heavy-handed writer, so I kept breaking the lead. I tried the 0.7mm lead and loved it because I didn't break the lead when I wrote. I also tried and loved the 0.9mm lead.

Over the years, I've come across mechanical pencils that I adored -- the one from Skilcraft with the spring-loaded lead (I could press down on the top and the lead would give a little), the Uniball pencil which matched their Roller Micro pens, and the Sanford Logo II (which had similar action to the Skilcraft pencil). Right now my pencil of choice is the Pentel Sharp, either in 0.7mm or 0.9mm varieties, mostly because it's currently available, and therefore replaceable should I lose one. The only way I think I could get a Skilcraft pencil is through the federal government, since they were a preferred vendor to them.

As for lead strength, I use HB strength since it's the most commonly available. It's comprarable to a #2 pencil.

Do you have any favorite pencils?

I'm not sure what frequency they're testing on, but it's apparently beyond my range. Or it's beyond the range of my headphones.

Created by Train Horns

A few weeks ago, I cleaned the downstairs bathroom. Today, I started cleaning the upstairs bathroom, splitting out the stuff into "Likely to use", "Not likely to use" and "R's Stuff" piles (as I did with the downstairs bathroom). R's stuff is going back to R. The stuff I'm likely to use I'll keep. The stuff I'm not likely to use will get sorted out again, into "Keep" and "Don't Keep" piles.

My question is: What can I do with the stuff I'm not likely to use? I don't want to throw them out; that would be wasteful. Would a local homeless shelter be willing to take them, even though some of the bottles have been opened? Are there any other places that would take these personal care items?

This exercise has shown me how much I packrat and overbuy and hoard. I think I have enough toiletries to outfit a small army, or to last me af few years.

Shout-outs: Happy birthday quadrivium and bastardcat!

While watching the Daytona 500 on Sunday, I saw something during one of the commercial breaks that just blew me away: a new trailer for the upcoming Watchmen movie. It used the "Pruit Igoe" music from one of my other all-time favorite movies, Koyaanisqatsi. And it fits!

I am so looking forward to seeing this movie.

Shout-outs: Happy birthday gleepy! Long time no post! (hint hint)

I first heard about it from my boss this morning, since she knew I was from Buffalo.

I immediately checked out the article on usatoday.com, and WKBW-TV's website (which has a running ticker of updates). I grew up in nearby Tonawanda, so I knew exactly where Clarence Center is, even if I rarely drove through the town. My aunt's family owns a print shop that's about 2 blocks away from the crash site.

The plane was a Bombardier Q400, a turboprop jet that was used for regional flights. This one was coming in to Buffalo from Newark NJ. The current theory, from what I heard, is that excessive ice accumulated on the wings during the landing approach, causing the plane to drop altitude in a hurry.

I grieve for the passengers, the crew, and the man who was killed inside his own home when the plane hit.

( Medical TMI -- read at your own risk. )

I've heard about neti pots and sinus irrigation, and wanted to try one. When I was at a Walgreens in Buffalo last week, I saw one for about $15, and picked it up. It's a NeilMed Nasaflo neti pot. About an hour ago, I tried it out. I poured a cup of water from the Brita pitcher into the pot, then put it in the microwave for 30 seconds to get it lukewarm. I added a packet of the Sinus Rinse (salt and a little baking soda), shook it up, and began irrigating both my sinuses. It felt a little funny, like I was getting water up my nose, but it didn't sting or burn. I repeated the process so I could use as much of the saline solution as I could. Right now, my nose feels a lot better -- it's neither congested nor runny. I'll try this every evening this week.

How many of you out there have also used/tried neti pots? Does it work for you?

...to spread the love.


Get your own valentinr

In the morning, after giving up on accessing my work email from home, I spent some time building a spreadsheet containing my monthly budget and bills. I also dosed up on vitamin C.

Then, at around 11:00, I had some "survival food" for lunch -- Spam and ramen noodles. I watched the noon news, then suited up to dig out the driveway. After about an hour and a half of shoveling, the driveway was complete. (But my car, in the street, was still snowbound.) I then went inside to change into some dry clothing. I worked up quite a sweat while shoveling snow. I worry that when I sweat when it's cold out, I'll get sick.

( How I spent the afternoon and evening. )

...if I wanted to spend 2 hours in the cold. It took about that long to get home from work today.

There was gridlock downtown, and especially around the Conseco Fieldhouse, where some event was going on this evening. The roads I take home are major streets, and they looked like they hadn't been plowed. Meridian St. was plowed, but traffic was very slow. I was craving chili, so I stopped at a Wendy's along the way. I didn't dare go faster than 15 mph; I felt my car slarting to slip-slide away when I did. And when I got home, I couldn't get up the small hill in my driveway. So I'm parked in the street, and I hope no one sideswipes my car tonight, It's a side street that doesn't get plowed.

I don't remember the roads of Buffalo ever being this bad, except for the blizzards of '77 and '85, when the entire city was under a driving ban.

I wish I could sleep in and/or work from home tomorrow. But I don't believe either is an option.