Stressed Out

I’m stressed. I don’t get stressed very often, but it’s happening right now. I tend to get stressed when I’m concerned about money and home projects/repairs, and those two are often related. We had a leak in our kitchen a few years ago any time there was a heavy rain and thought it was fixed. As you can see, it was not.

While the leak is now fixed and we confirmed that there is no mold, we now need to remove part of the ceiling, put up drywall, and repaint the ceiling. And by we, I mean someone that we pay to do this.

We also had a separate leak coming from our dishwasher. It turned out that the gasket needed replaced. We got it repaired a week or two ago, but the guy didn’t seem to do a good job attaching the new gasket. We opened the dishwasher yesterday to this.

The guy came back today and fixed it, but I have little confidence in him.

What else?

* The washing machine seems to be off balance thanks to an apparent broken leg.

* The Moose just left for 3 weeks to an overnight summer camp, and while I think he’s going to have a fantastic time, he doesn’t know anyone, and this is a brand-new experience for him. I worry a little about him.

* I’m starting a new project at work and constantly questioning myself about if I’m doing everything correctly.

* I received my retirement statement in the mail. Although I’m not going to retire for many years, my account lost a lot of money over the last six months. Like A LOT, A LOT.

* I haven’t watched this season’s Better Call Saul yet this season, but I saved the episodes on my DVR. I finally sat down to watch the first episode, and it was gone. Episodes 2 and 3 aren’t there either. It turns out that my DVR was set to keep only 10 Better Call Saul episodes. I guess I figured that I would always watch them immediately, though that clearly didn’t happen this season. I have episodes 4-10, but the first three episodes were replaced with some 2-minute “Stories from Set” specials and a Talking Saul show. Now, it seems like the only way to see the first three episodes is to buy them on Google Play, YouTube, or Amazon Prime. We have Prime but still must pay for them. Why pay for Prime if we can’t get these episodes?

* We just got a new kitchen faucet and had to get that installed.

* The lease on our minivan is up in several months, and I don’t want to deal with car shopping again.

* I received our county car tax bill in the mail. Ugh!

While some of these things are first world problems, many are not. I have no skills whatsoever in doing home repairs, so any project costs much more money than it probably should since we’re paying for labor in addition to the equipment and materials. Now would be the perfect time to make some money from this blog! Meanwhile, can I just go away to a summer camp for a few weeks and not have any responsibilities? (This might be the theme of Grown Ups, but I never saw the movie.)

First World Problem

My wife and I celebrated our anniversary by getting an extremely rare night away from the kids. We stayed at a very nice hotel, and when they saw it was our anniversary, the front desk staff said they would send something to our room. When we left for dinner nothing had arrived, so we didn’t think much of it. We ate dinner and dessert and came back to the room a few hours later to see a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket and a box of chocolate-covered strawberries. Since we were stuffed from eating too much at the restaurant, we decided to take the strawberries back home with us.

Unfortunately, there was no refrigerator in the room except for the minibar. Not really caring about the products inside, we took out four non-alcoholic drinks and put the box of strawberries inside. The next morning, the bill arrived under our door, and we got charged $12.72 for two bottles of Pellegrino. First, $6.36 for a regular-sized bottle of water?!?! Second, I would struggle to drink a bottle of Pellegrino if you GAVE me $6.36 to drink it. Like Ted Lasso (a show that I finally just started watching), I just don't like sparkling water. (This video is not suitable for work.)

Apparently, there are sensors in the frig, so while the box of strawberries covered two sensors, the other two were exposed. Therefore, it noted the two missing bottles and added it to our bill. Fortunately, after we returned all of the cans and bottles to their original place, the front desk staff removed this from the bill and even comped us for a can of ginger ale that my wife did drink. 

I'm just glad that they don't have sensors for the two pens that I took home from the room. They are great pens, and I probably would have been charged $8.41 each for them!

Random Ramblings

There are several different items that I want to share, and it seemed to make sense to put them all into one post.

* Matchbox restaurants (primarily in the DC area) hosted a pizza competition where people created their own salads. Just making sure that you're paying attention! The Matchbox chefs chose the top four entries and worked with the winners to bring their pizzas to life. All four creations are on the menu throughout October, and the top-selling pizza will stay on the menu for the rest of the year. I mention this not because Matchbox is a sponsor of Sean's Ramblings (which would be fantastic) but because one of the finalists is Ben, the son of a friend who I've known since fourth grade. You'll also notice from the video below that three of the finalists are adults. Even though Ben is likely taller than the other finalists (seriously, Ben towers over me), he's the only finalist not old enough to vote. Ben's creation is the 3.6.9 with zesty tomato sauce, certified angus beef, pickles, mozz, onion straws, and pecorino. According to his dad, it’s a Slider Pizza, basically a deconstructed cheeseburger with onion straws on top like they do. And it’s called the “3-6-9” like how they list their regular sliders on the menu.

So if you go to Matchbox before the end of October, please order Ben's 3.6.9.


* Chesapeake, Virginia takes trick-or-treating really seriously. So serious that this law is on the books:

(a) If any person over the age of 14 years shall engage in the activity commonly known as "trick or treat" or any other activity of similar character or nature under any name whatsoever, he or she shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor. Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting any parent, guardian, or other responsible person, having lawfully in his or her custody a child 14 years old or younger, from accompanying said child.

(b) If any person shall engage in the activity commonly known as "trick or treat" or any other activity of similar character or nature under any name whatsoever after 8:00 p.m., he or she shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.

Apparently, a lot of people aren't happy with the fact that this misdemeanor exists in which kids could get fined and/or receive jail time (up to 6 months if over 14). Therefore, the City of Chesapeake had to provide this statement:

Chesapeake Police staff will focus on making sure the evening is safe for everyone, not actively seeking out violations of the time or age limits. For example, a 15 year old safely trick or treating with a younger sibling is not going to have any issues. (Sean's Note: That's not what the law says!) That same child taking pumpkins from porches and smashing them in the street more likely will. (Sean's note: Smashing Pumpkins is destruction of property - and a band - and has nothing to do with the law.) The City’s trick-or-treat ordinance was updated in 2019 when City Council voted to remove the (never before used) penalty of jail time and to raise the age limit to 14, making it one of the least restrictive ordinances in all of Hampton Roads.

Oh, in that case, maybe they should just cancel trick-or-treating in all of Hampton Roads!

* To a different police department in Virginia, the Fairfax County Police Department has a blog where they post official news and information. On Monday, they shared this item:

GRAND LARCENY/FOOT PURSUIT: 6699 Springfield Mall (JC Penney), 10/19/19, 8:53 p.m. A man and a women walked into the JC Penney’s store and stole merchandise. After a short foot pursuit through the shopping center, officers located the two and arrested them without further incident. Alfonce Powell, 27, of Maryland, was charged with grand larceny and failure to appear in court, and Shardaisha Slater, 25, of Maryland, was charged with grand larceny.

What really stood out from the article is Powell's mugshot. He looks so happy and photogenic!

* I have a friend who appeared in one of (if not the) opening scene of the incredible 2007 movie Michael Clayton. Based on some of the checks he's still receiving from the film, he's close to retiring...or buying lunch.

* Yahoo published an article titled "5 Influencers Share How Much They Get Paid Per #Ad Post." Yes there's a hashtag in the title. Anyway, I figure that I'm only about 975 followers away from being an influencer! And yes, I'm definitely willing to be a model for any interested clothing brand/company.

* Finally, one of the best things on the internet is The First World Problems of HGB & MAB series on The Steel Trap. I'm featured in three different entries in the latest post.