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Check me out, I'm all home improvementy
Aug. 11th, 2009 10:13 pm
I finished reading Jhumpa Lahiri's latest book, Unaccustomed Earth, and I think it was her best yet. I'm normally not a big fan of short stories, but she uses the medium well. I had my doubts, starting it, that I would enjoy it as much as I did Interpreter of Maladies, but I ended up liking it more. Much more. She's not overly sentimental about romance -- in fact, quite the opposite -- but even that being the case, the very last story was seriously depressing. The last 1/4 of the book was a trio of interconnected stories, and imho it should have just ended with the first two. Of course, their existence would be meaningless without the third story, but ... still. Every story in the book other than that very last, no matter how sad or melancholy, was still wonderful. Something about the last one just made me go, "But why did it have to go there?"
(Also, it's not fair that JL is ridiculously beautiful on top of being smart, talented, and successful. It's just not.)
===
In kitchen geek news, I finally got myself a stainless steel magnetic knife holder. I've been wanting one ever since I started buying nice knives (turns out that yes, a sharp knife IS the best tool you can have in the kitchen), because it's supposed to be the best way to store them. And if you're going to spend hundreds of dollars on knives, you definitely don't want them to get dinged up or dulled too early. Problem is that magnetic knife holders usually need to be mounted -- firmly set into the wall, which makes sense, since they're holding expensive knives so you don't want them to randomly fall, and so that when you pull them away, the mounting can take the pressure. But it's hard to mount things like that without a drill. Which of course I didn't have.
I mentioned this to my coworker C., who is actually becoming more and more of a friend, and he offered to lend me his drill (and assorted drill knick knacks). So this afternoon I installed the holder, and it is a thing of beauty. And I'm pretty proud of myself for operating a drill for the very first time. Not that it was difficult or anything.
I took pictures, but am too lazy to ready them for viewing just now. Also in case you're wondering, my best knives are Sha Ra Ku Mono, which is imported from Japan solely by one knife shop in Pike Place Market. That is the only place in all of the U.S. that you can buy these knives, which are like, the best knives in the world, as far as I'm concerned. I also have a Global knife and a Henckels knife, both of which I plan to sell on eBay at some point (along with a bunch of other things I keep telling myself I'm going to sell).
===
After almost a decade of not having one, I'm finally going to get myself another passport. When I first moved here I had one, and I hid it somewhere. I've moved twice since that time, and I've never been able to find it. Sigh. But I'm so close to Canada that it seems ridiculous that if anyone were visiting and wanted to go, I wouldn't be able to. Plus at work there have been rumblings in the past about my traveling abroad. So it's just better to have one on hand (my cousin's like, "It's one of the most powerful documents you can possess! What if something happened to the government and you needed to get out of the country quick?" And it's like, "Okay, yeah, good point also..."). And this time, I'm not going to hide it so well that the location is a secret even to me.
===
A WoW friend of mine is going to be in town on Sunday. He's actually driving up later in the week for a wedding on Orcis Island, and is heading back on Sunday. We figure we'll have a late lunch. I'm thinking of making my first sherbet in the ice cream machine, so I've asked him his favorite flavor. That way I can send him on his way with a pint (teehee) and not have to eat it all myself.
(Also, it's not fair that JL is ridiculously beautiful on top of being smart, talented, and successful. It's just not.)
===
In kitchen geek news, I finally got myself a stainless steel magnetic knife holder. I've been wanting one ever since I started buying nice knives (turns out that yes, a sharp knife IS the best tool you can have in the kitchen), because it's supposed to be the best way to store them. And if you're going to spend hundreds of dollars on knives, you definitely don't want them to get dinged up or dulled too early. Problem is that magnetic knife holders usually need to be mounted -- firmly set into the wall, which makes sense, since they're holding expensive knives so you don't want them to randomly fall, and so that when you pull them away, the mounting can take the pressure. But it's hard to mount things like that without a drill. Which of course I didn't have.
I mentioned this to my coworker C., who is actually becoming more and more of a friend, and he offered to lend me his drill (and assorted drill knick knacks). So this afternoon I installed the holder, and it is a thing of beauty. And I'm pretty proud of myself for operating a drill for the very first time. Not that it was difficult or anything.
I took pictures, but am too lazy to ready them for viewing just now. Also in case you're wondering, my best knives are Sha Ra Ku Mono, which is imported from Japan solely by one knife shop in Pike Place Market. That is the only place in all of the U.S. that you can buy these knives, which are like, the best knives in the world, as far as I'm concerned. I also have a Global knife and a Henckels knife, both of which I plan to sell on eBay at some point (along with a bunch of other things I keep telling myself I'm going to sell).
===
After almost a decade of not having one, I'm finally going to get myself another passport. When I first moved here I had one, and I hid it somewhere. I've moved twice since that time, and I've never been able to find it. Sigh. But I'm so close to Canada that it seems ridiculous that if anyone were visiting and wanted to go, I wouldn't be able to. Plus at work there have been rumblings in the past about my traveling abroad. So it's just better to have one on hand (my cousin's like, "It's one of the most powerful documents you can possess! What if something happened to the government and you needed to get out of the country quick?" And it's like, "Okay, yeah, good point also..."). And this time, I'm not going to hide it so well that the location is a secret even to me.
===
A WoW friend of mine is going to be in town on Sunday. He's actually driving up later in the week for a wedding on Orcis Island, and is heading back on Sunday. We figure we'll have a late lunch. I'm thinking of making my first sherbet in the ice cream machine, so I've asked him his favorite flavor. That way I can send him on his way with a pint (teehee) and not have to eat it all myself.
