Friday - 20080208-2115 - Rain - Krasnaya Rain; Morning and Computer Downloads; Lunch and Autism; Lowe's - Yea, verily I return; WalMart; Home and Backyard Cleaning and Carport Cleaning; Nap?; Removing the Stucco; More Fucking Computer Downloads; Right Arm

Rain - Krasnaya Rain Larger Image

A vintage photo in that it's been in my rain folder for some time. The original title is "krasnaya-5-rain-at-night.jpg," but no other info. A Google for Krasnaya brings up many, many references one of which happens to be Red Square in Moscow. And the large plaza makes that a distinct possibility.

I've had trouble with the Automatic Updates feature of my security suite. Suddenly, the computer would get slower and slower, and it would be because it was downloading an update. So I changed that feature to alert me that an update is available. This brings up an indicator in the taskbar that you have control over.

OK. That worked well until I got a recent notice for Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Service Pack 1 (KB110806). It took forever to download, and once finished the icon was still present. So I inadvertently hit the icon again, and again it downloaded. So now I decided to turn off Automatic Updates period. I'll do my own checking.

When I turned on the computer this morning, I got a message saying that it was waiting to be installed. So apparently that was the problem. It would download, but not install. After the install, the icon vanished.

I thought that had solved the problem, but then immediately, I got a message saying that Foxfire was downloading version 2.0.0.12. By the time this was finished, I was ready for lunch.

At lunch I noticed that server for my table was wearing an Autism pin. (A photo of the pin is available at Autism Outlet Store.) Autism is one of my interest, so she and I briefly chatted, and she indicated she has a 4-year-old who was diagnosed but does not suffer from the classical symptoms.

I mentioned that I'd read a book written by someone with autism. But I could not remember the name or the author. (The book is "Animals In Translation" by Dr. Temple Grandin. Astonishing and fascinating.)

To Lowe's I went -- to look at paint samples. For months, I'd collected them, but I guess once I'd made my idiotic decision, I threw them out, because I can not find them.

I discovered that someone puts out a textured paint that is flat and does not give a stucco appearance. Some how, I'd just missed it. As I was standing there, a woman walked up to look at the granite paint samples, and I asked if she had used any. She said she had and that it looked terrible. In fact, she was trying to figure our a replacement. She also mentioned a wall paper she had just discovered. You tear the wall paper into strips, dip into water and apply it to the wall. We went back to the wall paper section, and she showed me a sample. It was a complete surprise to me. It gives the wall a look of mixed wood-pattern stripes, almost like the bark of a birch tree.

I them made a comment about working room by room on my house, and it turned it she works for a company called "Re-bath" that comes in and updates old baths. So I'm really glad to know about that.

I vaguely remember having some paint samples that offered a primary color and three complimentary colors. Turns out it was by Martha Stewart. A very clever and practical idea. Picking a color is one thing, but picking complimentary colors is about 50 times more difficult.

Standard supplies, nothing exotic.

I spent at least an hour in the backyard picking up the usual debris. I also was faced with dealing with three large limbs. I cut off as many of the smaller limbs as I could, then dragged (It's "dragged" not "drug.") them to the patio to be cut into sections with the reciprocal saw. The first blade was terrible, so I had to stop and replace it with a new one.

With all the windy and rainy weather, one of the plastic blinds that hangs on the outside of the carport had come apart. Each day, I'd find a slat on the carport or in the yard. So I sat down with yard clippers and scissors and sliced it into pieces that would go in the garbage.

I came in with my right arm feeling very sore. I tried to take a nap, but the sandman was elsewhere.

I read the instructions for the sander I bought Wednesday, and started work on the stucco. But it didn't do very much. Since I know little about sanders, I bet I need a stronger version. I'll need to do some research.

Next, I tried the heat gun and a putty knife. That works fine, but it is slow. And I was fearful of catching the wall on fire. But I managed to get about a one-foot horizontal stripe stripped.

Just as I started my computer, up popped a message saying that the computer was downloading Adobe Reader 8.1.2. Oh great! Just what I wanted. Well, that only took 30 minutes.

I'm sure I've done far too much with my right arm today, for it is sore, tender and slightly painful.

(In Friday - 2008-0208-2115 / Out - 2008-0208-2300) This entry was written in a single setting.

Pax! Erin go braugh! Je accuse...