April 22, 2006

Today, Earl and I had planned on cleaning out the Jeep and getting ready for our trip out west next week, but our house decided to let us know that it wanted a little bit of attention.

Shortly after lunch, Earl was catching up on e-mail and I was working on web development stuff. We were just getting ready to head to the gym when we heard water. A lot of water. Spraying all over the place. Somewhere downstairs.

The washing machine had stopped running about 10 minutes prior to the new sound but the dishwasher was still chugging along doing it’s thing.

We both ran downstairs and found the hot water supply hose to the kitchen sink had broken. Hot water was spraying all over the kitchen. The tide was coming in, quick. I ran downstairs and turned off all the water in the house, since I couldn’t grab the hot water shut off valve under the sink without getting burned.

Earl thanked me by trying to flush a toilet.

We did what any sensible home owner would do. Instead of taking a half hour to replace the broken hose and getting on with our day, we went shopping at Home Depot.

Long story short, the new stainless steel faucet on the kitchen sink is beautiful, the new garbage disposer will help in a fabulous way with the clean-up after meals and the new Jenn-Air dishwasher arrives on Wednesday.

Quite frankly I was happy to throw out that old kitchen faucet the previous owners had put in when they built the house; it was quite stylish but the water came out in a trickle and it was entirely too pretty for my tastes.

I’m happy to say that we’ve both learned a lot in the past decade as we were able to work together as a well oiled team and we got the job done in about five hours. There was no swearing, no glaring and no launching of tools at the other member of the party. It was done calmly and rationally.

When the house speaks, we listen.

Earl and I met up with my sister last night for dinner and just a fun night out on the town. Our destination was my beloved Syracuse.

We went to The Bull and Bear Pub for dinner. It was our first time there. The food was great, the beer was great and the conversation was even better.

We then went for a walk and looked at that apartment building that Earl and I had discovered in January to see how the renovations were progressing. It’s not open yet, but it looks like there’s been progress, including a quaint little market at street level that looks like it belongs in a big city. I guess it fits reasonably well in Syracuse.

After our little walk we went back over to Hanover Square and tried out a martini bar called World Lounge and Martini Bar. I have to admit that was my first time in a ‘martini bar’. I went fu-fu and opted for a “chocolate martini”. Creamy.

I ended up having three.

I don’t know how Darrin, Darrin, Samantha, Endora and Larry and Louise Tate did it night after night and sometimes for lunch. I now have more respect for them.

I’m not a huge drinker. I like a beer or two during the week, but my martini experience has been limited to a sake martini at P F Changs about a year ago and one other “regular” martini at a chain restaurant that tasted more like it was unleaded. When I drink beer, I wake up after one, buzz after two and slur after three. When it comes to alcohol I’m a lightweight. I know my limits and I respect them and they respect me.

These three chocolate martinis were clever. They tasted like dessert, went down like chocolate milk and then snuck up from behind, hitting me with a buzz like no other. I was hit so hard by these drinks that I let Earl drive the Acura! Now that’s just plain fscked up. (just kidding).

So I downed the three martinis, Jenn had two of the same and Earl was drinking key-lime martinis. They both stayed relatively grounded while I crawled under the coffee table back at Jenn’s for a nap. Earl ended up driving home and I slept the entire ride and for about a half hours afterward because he couldn’t get me out of the car. That could be heresay though because I don’t remember anything after getting in the car and explaining to him how much I love the car and the fact that I love him and the two are about neck and neck so he better be careful.

I woke up 8 1/2 hours later. I feel very rested and without a hangover. I hope that doesn’t sneak up on me like the buzz did.