Friday, December 17, 2004
For Sale
Hey! Does anyone want to buy my Prelude? I'm pretty sure we're asking too much money for it. I feel so out of place on AutoTrader because everyone else knows all the sell-your-car lingo...you know, pw's and cc and obo's and stuff. And I'm just some schmo who things his car is worth very much more than it actually is. Sigh. I swear I saw similar Preludes online for somewhere in that price range, but I guess not. Oh well...you are supposed to ask for more than you expect to get, right? We'll see. Seriously, though...if anyone wants to buy my car let me know.
So yeah, after writing yesterday morning I putzed around Dad's house for a few more hours, playing some more with his home automation. I figured out how to write programs, and I had all sorts of weird things happening. Open the garage door, the dining room lights dim. Close the front door when the kitchen windows were both open, the master bathroom lights go out. And if the phone rings, every light in the house goes to as bright as it gets. It was awesome. It sounds dumb, but I'm still convinced I (or anyone) could write some useful programs. I created a "night mode" that, with the touch of a button, turned off all the lights except for the hall and stairs, which dimmed to almost nothing. So see? Useful.
Dad and I went to Stir Fresh - that Mongolian grill by the RB library - for dinner. This is one of those places I have missed at Cal Poly, although I have heard rumors of a similar restaurant somewhere in SLO. But until I find it, I'm going to enjoy my Stir Fresh. So there.
From there I went to the BHMS/RBHS joint Christmas concert. I was quite impressed by both the middle school and the high school, although the music they played was quite predictable. (After all, it is a Christmas concert.) RBHS had to stop and start over in "Russian Christmas Music" thanks to the chime player's inability to count for three measures...this is the second year running that they've fallen apart at the Christmas concert (if you'll recall "The Eighth Candle" incident). The concert was, nevertheless, superb, as you would expect from Rancho Bernardo. I'm certainly in the Christmas spirit.
After the concert I had dinner with Stacie, Jenna, and Natalie at the Poway Denny's. (Actually, they had dinner, I had an oreo blender blaster.) I returned home by about 11 and stayed up late watching the finale of "The Apprentice" which Mom had recorded for me. I have mixed feelings on the turnout of it...but I'm sure that not many people reading this blog are overly interested in those. So, I'll just skip ahead to telling you all that I went to bed.
I got up at 8 this morning to get ready for Joanna to pick me up at 9. We headed over to the high school for a day chock full of musical delight. First we met Mrs. Todd and sat with her class to watch the first assembly (which the performing arts department puts on every year at this time, featuring the band, the orchestra, and choirs). The Christm...excuse me...holiday assembly is very much more enjoyable when you don't have to sit through it twice. Funny how that works out, huh? Following that exposition of musical talent, we sat through Mrs. Todd's intro. to business class, which happened to be watching The Santa Clause. (Mrs. Todd made the class writing some stuff about advertising down so that if anyone asked she could say that her class learned something that day.) Her class was off to fourth period in no time flat, and we chatted with her for a good twenty minutes (because, frankly, Mrs. Todd is awesome) until Joanna and I went over to the Carmel Mountain Costco for lunch. Upon return to the high school we found Carp's classroom and sat in there for 5th and 6th period, listening to his AP gov classes perform their political Christmas carols. Most of them were pretty amusing, but by the end of the day I was pretty darned sick of "I hate Bush, I like Kerry" (or vice versa) sung to the tune of "Frosty the Snowman." Joanna, Stacie, Tiffany Wells, and my rendition of "Feliz Navidad" still takes the cake, I have to say.
Joanna dropped me off at home after sticking around Carp's classroom to talk with Jenna for a few minutes. I decided it was high time to do something constructive, so I detailed my car. I spent about two hours scrubbing and vacuuming and windexing, and my Prelude is now cleaner than I have ever seen it. It was a pain in the butt, but maybe I can squeeze a couple more bucks out of the sale (if the sale ever happens). After pulling back into the garage, I was still in the mood to get stuff done, so I fixed all of the Christmas lights that had been displaced by the wind in the last couple of days. Woot.
I had breakfast...for dinner. I do enjoy my breakfast foods...
Lauren came over a little before 8, and - after playing with Tessie for a good half an hour - we drove over to Blockbuster to rent Mean Girls and also to Starbucks to pick up a caramel apple cider and a peppermint hot chocolate. We returned home, watched the movie, and Lauren went home. It was more exciting than I'm making it sound but there really isn't much more detail than that to get into.
And now I'm finishing off this entry. Hooray! I think I shall now go to bed, as I got up earlier than I would have liked to this morning. Good night.
Cheers,
Josh
mood: slightly worried about my used car sale
music: none
location: my room, Mom's house
Family Guy Quote-of-the-Day
[Peter is trying to buy a coffin.]
Peter: "I'll take it, but I won't pay a cent over $60."
Salesman: "Sir, that casket costs $1000."
Peter: "70 bucks."
Salesman: "Huh?"
Peter: "2000 bucks."
Salesman: "That's twice what it costs--"
Peter: "40 bucks."
Salesman: "What?"
Brian: "He...he doesn't know how to haggle."
So yeah, after writing yesterday morning I putzed around Dad's house for a few more hours, playing some more with his home automation. I figured out how to write programs, and I had all sorts of weird things happening. Open the garage door, the dining room lights dim. Close the front door when the kitchen windows were both open, the master bathroom lights go out. And if the phone rings, every light in the house goes to as bright as it gets. It was awesome. It sounds dumb, but I'm still convinced I (or anyone) could write some useful programs. I created a "night mode" that, with the touch of a button, turned off all the lights except for the hall and stairs, which dimmed to almost nothing. So see? Useful.
Dad and I went to Stir Fresh - that Mongolian grill by the RB library - for dinner. This is one of those places I have missed at Cal Poly, although I have heard rumors of a similar restaurant somewhere in SLO. But until I find it, I'm going to enjoy my Stir Fresh. So there.
From there I went to the BHMS/RBHS joint Christmas concert. I was quite impressed by both the middle school and the high school, although the music they played was quite predictable. (After all, it is a Christmas concert.) RBHS had to stop and start over in "Russian Christmas Music" thanks to the chime player's inability to count for three measures...this is the second year running that they've fallen apart at the Christmas concert (if you'll recall "The Eighth Candle" incident). The concert was, nevertheless, superb, as you would expect from Rancho Bernardo. I'm certainly in the Christmas spirit.
After the concert I had dinner with Stacie, Jenna, and Natalie at the Poway Denny's. (Actually, they had dinner, I had an oreo blender blaster.) I returned home by about 11 and stayed up late watching the finale of "The Apprentice" which Mom had recorded for me. I have mixed feelings on the turnout of it...but I'm sure that not many people reading this blog are overly interested in those. So, I'll just skip ahead to telling you all that I went to bed.
I got up at 8 this morning to get ready for Joanna to pick me up at 9. We headed over to the high school for a day chock full of musical delight. First we met Mrs. Todd and sat with her class to watch the first assembly (which the performing arts department puts on every year at this time, featuring the band, the orchestra, and choirs). The Christm...excuse me...holiday assembly is very much more enjoyable when you don't have to sit through it twice. Funny how that works out, huh? Following that exposition of musical talent, we sat through Mrs. Todd's intro. to business class, which happened to be watching The Santa Clause. (Mrs. Todd made the class writing some stuff about advertising down so that if anyone asked she could say that her class learned something that day.) Her class was off to fourth period in no time flat, and we chatted with her for a good twenty minutes (because, frankly, Mrs. Todd is awesome) until Joanna and I went over to the Carmel Mountain Costco for lunch. Upon return to the high school we found Carp's classroom and sat in there for 5th and 6th period, listening to his AP gov classes perform their political Christmas carols. Most of them were pretty amusing, but by the end of the day I was pretty darned sick of "I hate Bush, I like Kerry" (or vice versa) sung to the tune of "Frosty the Snowman." Joanna, Stacie, Tiffany Wells, and my rendition of "Feliz Navidad" still takes the cake, I have to say.
Joanna dropped me off at home after sticking around Carp's classroom to talk with Jenna for a few minutes. I decided it was high time to do something constructive, so I detailed my car. I spent about two hours scrubbing and vacuuming and windexing, and my Prelude is now cleaner than I have ever seen it. It was a pain in the butt, but maybe I can squeeze a couple more bucks out of the sale (if the sale ever happens). After pulling back into the garage, I was still in the mood to get stuff done, so I fixed all of the Christmas lights that had been displaced by the wind in the last couple of days. Woot.
I had breakfast...for dinner. I do enjoy my breakfast foods...
Lauren came over a little before 8, and - after playing with Tessie for a good half an hour - we drove over to Blockbuster to rent Mean Girls and also to Starbucks to pick up a caramel apple cider and a peppermint hot chocolate. We returned home, watched the movie, and Lauren went home. It was more exciting than I'm making it sound but there really isn't much more detail than that to get into.
And now I'm finishing off this entry. Hooray! I think I shall now go to bed, as I got up earlier than I would have liked to this morning. Good night.
Cheers,
Josh
mood: slightly worried about my used car sale
music: none
location: my room, Mom's house
Family Guy Quote-of-the-Day
[Peter is trying to buy a coffin.]
Peter: "I'll take it, but I won't pay a cent over $60."
Salesman: "Sir, that casket costs $1000."
Peter: "70 bucks."
Salesman: "Huh?"
Peter: "2000 bucks."
Salesman: "That's twice what it costs--"
Peter: "40 bucks."
Salesman: "What?"
Brian: "He...he doesn't know how to haggle."
