None of the stuff they took was a big deal and really, I needed to replace the toilet and sink anyway. Plexiglas was cheap the last time I checked and looking at all the junk they got out of the bathroom really just reminds me that I should have thrown it all away much earlier. I’ve gone through my those drawers before but, like the rest of my dad’s junk, I’ve been putting off going through all the stuff. So tomorrow I go to the plumbing supply to look for toilets and sinks. I bet they’re expensive.

Other than that, I’ve been wondering what’s geekier, the weird bulge you get from keeping your iPhone in your front pocket or the weird belt pouch. It probably doesn’t matter anyway. It was pointed out to me that at my age I’m invisible to single women. Somehow I think age has little to do with it.

So the contractors came to tear out most of the old upstairs bathroom. I didn’t think about it until now, so I hadn’t cleaned out the drawers up there. Instead of leaving the crap in the drawers and just demolishing the cabinets, they unloaded the crap into all the spare cardboard boxes I had that I was using to take books to Powells. That annoys me a little. They also decided to throw away the old fixtures, which could have been reused. The old toilet was sitting at the sidewalk and the old sink is missing. Not only that, but they took the plexiglas we use to keep the wind off of the basement windows and probably other random stuff around the house as well.

All I have to say is what the hell, man. I’m not going to be able to sleep because I’m fairly annoyed at this.

MobileMe has messed up my work calendars, making my iPhone useless for work. There’s no end of annoyance for me tonight.

For the most part, I seem to get sore at the gym and my joints sometimes ache, but to really hurt myself I need to do something that has little to do with actual exercise. Today, for example, I pulled the tendon that goes down my middle finger down my forearm when I was pulling on my gym shoes. The time I hurt my back so bad that I was out for most of a month, I was putting golf clubs into my trunk. While I think the medication I take probably makes me more susceptible to muscle cramps, this is all getting ridiculous.

Other than that my brain is fairly fried and the only thing I can think is that 95°F is too hot for this Oregonian. So, I think I’ll go lie in bed and hope my brain doesn’t melt.

Last week it was cold outside during the day. I think there were days in the 60’s and, in any case, it actually rained. But today it was 91°F. Probably even more here in the city. The workout at the gym included 3 laps around the block and I have a hard time with more than 2 on a good day. The sudden heat and my trying to cough up a lung after being in the basement all weekend (blowing black snot) didn’t help either.

When I left for the gym there was a girl down at the school practicing tennis against the wall. She was wearing shorts and a bikini top. I would have taken a better look, but I figure anyone with that sort of fashion sense is probably very, very young. An exhibitionist wouldn’t be behind the school and anyone closer to my age would probably be wearing long sleeves and sunscreen.

I could always try to embrace my inner dirty old man and break out my trench coat and a bag of candy, but I don’t have the kind of aberrant tenacity to pull that off. First, it’s too hot to wear a trench coat and it only comes out of my closet when I’m wearing my suit and it’s raining like for a funeral. (The suit only comes out for weddings and funerals and weddings are usually during the sunny season.)

And how in the hell would I keep a bag of candy in the house? First, I’d eat some for a sample. Then I’d have to make sure that the sample was representative of the rest of the bag. Then I’d have eaten almost half, so I’d have to eat approximately half of the candy. Then I’d accidentally east some more. Well, now that I was almost 2/3 of the way through the bag, I’d have to get to 2/3. But a 1/3 of a bag of candy is close to 1/4 so I could eat a bit more. And 1/4 bag of candy isn’t worth keeping around so I’d have to finish it all. This theory seems to apply to cookies and cupcakes as well.

So, I think I’ll stick to the ice cream as a vice, if I only had some ice cream.

P.S. I put some pictures of plumbing on yesterday’s post.

The best thing about this weekend is how well my $20 saw held up. I think I got rid of most of the old pipe in the basement, at least all I could get out. My friend the contractor came by to tell me that he thought all the siding might need to come down and I he was surprised at how much pipe I got out.

The most surprising thing to me was the state of the hot water pipes. One by the hot water heater snapped off when I tried to unscrew it, and the pipe to the bathroom sink was almost completely plugged up with rust.

Speaking of the bathroom sink, it decided to start leaking today and I had to replace the drain. So that’s my life right now: plumbing.

(I always just take a picture to take to the plumber’s supply so it’s easier to explain things to the guy at the counter.)

Every weekend I’ve had a house project, though it’s all been about the same thing: fixing the plumbing. Cleaning the basement was about getting space for the plumber to work. Taking books to the used book store is about the same thing. Well, the plumber is finally finished and we’ve been waiting on the contractor who is buried in work. So, instead of waiting for him to tear out all the old galvanized pipe, I decided to do it myself. I covered myself in rusty water and bits of metal for most of the day, after going to the gym of course.

The biggest surprise of the day was how well my $20 reciprocating saw from Harbor Freight worked. I didn’t even have to borrow a real Sawzall. The metal cutting blade that came with it was kind of crap and flew off into never-never land but after I got some name brand blades at the hardware store it worked just fine. The In any case, I got a lot of pipe out of the basement and in the driveway.

That’s my day and I have more work to do tomorrow. I decided I deserved a bacon cheeseburger at Stepping Stone. It was surprisingly good, though the PBR could have been colder.

My evening was capped off by playing Aurora Feint on my iPhone. Hooray, what an exciting life.

I guess they finally came out with a blog client for WordPress that runs on the iPhone. I’m trying it out now.

I just got back from the the gym owners’ house. I had to check out their Wii because it wasn’t powering up. I don’t think anyone with any heart could leave a couple with a 7-year-old and a broken Wii. Fortunately, it just took a little jiggling of the wires and the Wii was up and running. I stuck around while the kid proved how bad I am at Mario Kart and Lego Indy Jones. Just something else to make me feel old.

Update: Blogging on the iPhone sure makes for short sentences. I just went back and read this and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Ah, well, I think I’ll stick to the regular laptop so I don’t wear out my typing finger on the iPhone. Now to decide whether to learn French or Spanish.