Get Thee Behind Me, Hazelnut Truffle!
Sep. 19th, 2022 09:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_cameraMy big accomplishment this weekend was replacing the telescoping handle on the muy-expensive luggage I bought last spring.
The handle broke right in the middle of Grand Central Station on my way to Edinburgh:
This necessitated all sorts of creative MacGyvering, and I suppose I could have gone on MacGyvering forever since maintenance and upkeep are so very much Not My Thing.
But the muy-expensive luggage came with a lifetime warranty, so I emailed the manufacturers hopefully—
—and they sent me a new telescoping handle.
WTF?
They sent it with the most cursory instructions. They don’t have any helpful YouTube instructions. “We’re working on them,” the cheery little customer service rep assured me when I called him in a panic.
So, basically, I (who hate all things mechanical) had to stare at the damn thing for an hour and then figure out—on my own—how to take apart the damn assemblage, take the old handle out, put the new handle in, and then put it all back together again.
Did I feel a sense of accomplishment?
I did not.
I felt pissed off at the muy-expensive luggage manufacturer.
I also have seven screws left over although the new telescoping handle feels sturdy enough.
Shortly, I will load it up with 50 pounds of bricks and take it for a stroll around the backcountry roads to make sure the damn thing is up to the rigors of international travel.
###
Other than that, I watched more movies, did an excessive amount of garden weeding—excessive because at this time of year, who cares, right?—and went for numerous tromps because fall temperatures are so comfortable for tromping, and the Hudson Valley is so beautiful in the fall:
I seem to be going through one of my periodic anorexic spells.
These typically happen when I give up eating sugar because sugar is actually the only thing I get excited about eating. If I could stay healthy on hazelnut truffles, coffee ice cream, crème brûlée, and French toast drenched in real maple syrup, I would.
But I can’t.
And as one ages, weight has significantly more impact on health. Diabetes, blood pressure, joints—I’m always amazed by how much less effort it takes to walk up a hill when I weigh 160 lbs., not 170.
Sugar withdrawal lasts about a week for me.
And during that week, I go crazy dreaming about M&Ms, cherry pies, and Coca-Cola—which is stuff I don’t normally crave.
But after that, I don’t.
In fact, I almost stop wanting to eat anything.
I’ll probably go back onto sugar in mid-October when I am scheduled to visit Aimee in Vermont. She is such a fabulous cook.
###
What else?
Starting the next Remunerative Project.
It promises to be as big a slog as the last.
The handle broke right in the middle of Grand Central Station on my way to Edinburgh:
This necessitated all sorts of creative MacGyvering, and I suppose I could have gone on MacGyvering forever since maintenance and upkeep are so very much Not My Thing.
But the muy-expensive luggage came with a lifetime warranty, so I emailed the manufacturers hopefully—
—and they sent me a new telescoping handle.
WTF?
They sent it with the most cursory instructions. They don’t have any helpful YouTube instructions. “We’re working on them,” the cheery little customer service rep assured me when I called him in a panic.
So, basically, I (who hate all things mechanical) had to stare at the damn thing for an hour and then figure out—on my own—how to take apart the damn assemblage, take the old handle out, put the new handle in, and then put it all back together again.
Did I feel a sense of accomplishment?
I did not.
I felt pissed off at the muy-expensive luggage manufacturer.
I also have seven screws left over although the new telescoping handle feels sturdy enough.
Shortly, I will load it up with 50 pounds of bricks and take it for a stroll around the backcountry roads to make sure the damn thing is up to the rigors of international travel.
###
Other than that, I watched more movies, did an excessive amount of garden weeding—excessive because at this time of year, who cares, right?—and went for numerous tromps because fall temperatures are so comfortable for tromping, and the Hudson Valley is so beautiful in the fall:
I seem to be going through one of my periodic anorexic spells.
These typically happen when I give up eating sugar because sugar is actually the only thing I get excited about eating. If I could stay healthy on hazelnut truffles, coffee ice cream, crème brûlée, and French toast drenched in real maple syrup, I would.
But I can’t.
And as one ages, weight has significantly more impact on health. Diabetes, blood pressure, joints—I’m always amazed by how much less effort it takes to walk up a hill when I weigh 160 lbs., not 170.
Sugar withdrawal lasts about a week for me.
And during that week, I go crazy dreaming about M&Ms, cherry pies, and Coca-Cola—which is stuff I don’t normally crave.
But after that, I don’t.
In fact, I almost stop wanting to eat anything.
I’ll probably go back onto sugar in mid-October when I am scheduled to visit Aimee in Vermont. She is such a fabulous cook.
###
What else?
Starting the next Remunerative Project.
It promises to be as big a slog as the last.
no subject
Date: 2022-09-19 07:33 pm (UTC)Out of idle curiosity, how big is your community garden plot? Your individual one, I mean.
no subject
Date: 2022-09-19 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-19 09:41 pm (UTC)288 total square feet, whether in one chunk or two, is still a fair bit of area if you're growing food for a small household. I know you can do quite a lot with that much space.
In your photos, it seems your plot/s is or are rather isolated? Are your garden-neighbors' plots visible from the vantage point of yours?
no subject
Date: 2022-09-20 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-20 05:55 pm (UTC)How cool!
no subject
Date: 2022-09-21 03:08 pm (UTC)But one of the other gardeners does.
no subject
Date: 2022-09-21 03:18 pm (UTC)I think it was that you said that one of your plots (and I quote), "...is quite near our beehives," and it was "our" from which I took the cue that these must be yours and a friend's or yours and your partner's or yours and a family member's.
Still very cool, and it's great that you added plants for the pollinators!
no subject
Date: 2022-09-19 10:39 pm (UTC)(But I AM impressed that you managed to attach the handle. You're super resourceful!)
no subject
Date: 2022-09-19 11:35 pm (UTC)Ha, ha, ha. 😀 Try "to break within three months.
Yah. The company did not handle this at all well. I am going to write them a very negative review. Although the luggage itself is s nice piece.
I really had no choice but to be resourceful. There wasn't anyone I could get to do the fix for me, and I wasn't about to buy new luggage. 😀
no subject
Date: 2022-09-20 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-09-20 01:30 pm (UTC)Yes, they really should have.