So it’s been a week of rain, off and on, here in L.A., which for us has meant constant monitoring of the leak situation in our office. When it was the garage, no one cared that water got in, but now that it’s the office, a leak is not a good thing, so I’ve been trying my best (garbage bag and duct tape, towels and fans, CD spindle tops as stilts to elevate the boxes nearby, and so on) to keep the water under control. We seem to be doing fine, but I’ll need to plug the leak before the next big storm. I’ve been spending the sunny days of the past few weekends in the shed, finishing the walls, cleaning the place up, and figuring out what else I need to do before I call it done. It needs a little electrical work, and a few coats of paint inside, but then it should be much more usable that it was when we bought the house. Now I understand why my dad spent all those afternoons in the garage, working on his projects; it’s a lot of fun, and takes up a lot of time. I’m glad I’m starting on the inside of a building no one else will probably ever see, as my work is, well, improving, let’s say.
The rain had something to do with causing the power to go out at the movie theater where we were watching Invictus on Saturday afternoon, so we didn’t get to see the last two reels. Luckily, it’s a true story, right, so I can just Wikipedia the ending? The power was still out by the time Nine was supposed to start, so we didn’t see that either, but went home and bought a package of Vienna Fingers to honor Carol Reed’s Vienna-set classic The Third Man, one of three Criterion Blu-ray DVDs I bought a few months ago. The film was terrific, of course, and we ate almost all of the cookies. Not good.
I’ve been taking a few days off running to try to kick the month-long cold/bronchitis/whatever I’ve had, which has given me a little time to switch this site and all my other websites off the unreliable and problematic web host I’d been using for the past six years, and onto a much better, cheaper one. Hopefully no one will see any difference, but things are much better on this end.
Last night, we went to see Aimee Mann’s Christmas Show at Largo, a variety show which featured her and her band performing Christmas songs, the comedy of Paul F. Tompkins and Patton Oswalt, and music by Michael Penn, Nellie McKay, and Creed Bratton from The Office and his Brattonettes. Throw in some magic, Aimee performing a nice set of her own songs, and then the topper: a special appearance by Rich Sommer, Harry Crane from Mad Men, as the incoming New Year’s Baby, in a giant diaper and “2010” sash, singing a duet on “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” with Aimee, until Paul F. Tompkins, as the Hebrew Year 5770, joined in. They ended with everyone on stage singing “Christmas Time Is Here” – perfect. It was a great night, two hours of terrific entertainment.
It’s hard to believe it’s already the last full week before we go away for Christmas vacation. We’ve got a busy week at work here, then our holiday party on Friday, then three days the next week and we’re off to Boston until 2010.
