Archive for August, 2009

Pine nuts?

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

I just tried my best to make some delicious empinadas. The only problem is that I totally messed up the dough and had to put it back in the fridge to return it to a workable state and wait another hour before baking. The dough turned out okay at best so I thought it was going to turn out alright. I stuffed those little dough pockets with meat and spices and put them in the oven and got anxious for the delicious forthcoming meal. As soon as I closed the oven I stared at the bag of pine nuts which I had gone out of my way to purchase this afternoon sitting unopened on the counter rather than stuffed in with the rest of the filling. Oh well. Another day, another fail.

Tour de Fail

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

To avoid the moving chaos of yesterday (see the previous two posts), I decided it would be best to just get as far from the house as I could possibly be. I made a run (nearly) for the border to the big outlet mall near Kenosha to buy things with money that I don’t have. The plan was to stop at a Goodwill store on the way there to get rid of the trunk full of clothes from my roommates and myself as well as the two crappy tvs and computer monitor. I would then drive down I-94 to the mall, shop for a few hours, and drive back home, stopping at a Famous Dave’s for delicious BBQ on the way back.

We were pretty confused

Not surprisingly, the failing started early. I decided to stop at the Goodwill marked as point I on the map but it was amazingly difficult to find. Circling and failing I finally had to call my roommate to guide me there but when I arrived I found it was just the Goodwill corporate offices, not a store which accepts donations. Awesome. I called my roommate again to guide me to another location and he gave me directions to the second spot marked on the map, you know, the one where Google Maps doesn’t claim there is a Goodwill. I got there but then found out they don’t accept tvs and monitors so the rest of the day was spent with a 19″ CRT monitor slamming into my back every time I stopped.

Thrice the failure

The shopping actually went well. I found a pretty nice knife set for pretty cheap, found some good clothes and generally enjoyed myself. I was really looking forward to some food on the way back though I had neglected to lookup the exact location. Eyes peeled the entire hour-long drive back home, I managed to not see either of the two Famous Dave’s I drove immediately past according to the map. I did see way more Arby’s than could ever be necessary, however.

Yet another lesson in the frivolity of trying.

Carry me home, put me to bed

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

So, as a few other recent posts have mentioned I decided not to move out of the apartment this year despite getting a pretty raw deal from the landlord. One big plus to not moving was of course… NOT MOVING. Not packing boxes, not dealing with boxes in my living room for weeks, not hauling stuff down stairs, not cleaning every corner of the house, and not spending weeks stressed out.

Well, due to two roommates moving out and one of them being vacation right up until moving day I actually did more work to stay in the same damn spot than I ever have in moving myself. Honestly, packing and moving my stuff takes me a matter of 8 hours but I estimate I spent an average of 2 hours per night for the last two weeks packing, hauling, and cleaning.

So hurray for not moving, I’m out a ton of money and I got 3 weeks of terrible living conditions and extra labor for my troubles.

The Housing Crisis

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

I used to love my apartment. Four of us were renting the 2nd floor and converted attic of a nice big house on the East Side of Milwaukee. We had a gorgeous kitchen, dining room, bathroom, living room, and 3 decent bedrooms on the 2nd floor and an ok full bathroom, 4th bedroom, music room, and giant loft/living room/bar/kitchenette upstairs. The only other person who lived with us was the landlord’s old, sweet mother who lived on the first floor.

We of course decided to live here for the 3rd year in a row but one roommate was moving out. This turned out to be ok because the landlord said he wanted to renovate the third floor anyway. Well, then the landlord, who failed at becoming a lawyer in California, said he needed to move back to Wisconsin and would stay on the third floor for a bit until he found a job. Now that has turned into him and his entire overweight family moving back into house and now living above us. He also is taking away a parking spot, and making us pay for a disproportionate amount of water and utilities. Additionally, as there are only 3 of us now, the cable is going to be a bit higher due their being one less contributor. Oh, and rent also comes out to be about an extra $10/month.

So basically, I am now living in exactly half as much house and paying about an additional $100-$150 per month. Today is the first day of the new lease and I’m already thinking about leaving.