Small Thoughts for Small Minds

At the Holiday Inn in Mount Pleasant, SC, they posted an interesting variation on the typical fire safety warning:

If you happen to get too close to the "fire emergency", and are smoldering, be sure to do so only in the designated smoking area…

If you know me at all, you know that I build a big playground in our back yard.

Here’s a little reminder…

I’ve been working on this since August 2005. (Yeah, I’m slow…)

Last week we got a letter from the "developer" of the subdivision in which we live. Kel and I knew that the land was part of that subdivision, but our house is on the highway, not on the subdivision roads. Our house is not built to the same designs and standards as the rest. (The only wooden house, not brick like the rest.) We both remember being told that we were not subject to the restrictive covenants of the subdivision.

Yeah, I know. "Ignorance of the law is no excuse."

The restrictions, etc., were included with the contract, so we had no excuse.

One line states, "…garden houses and detached garages will be authorized and such satellite structures shall be in keeping with the architecture of the principal residence and will be further subject to the approval of the Owner-Developer, their heirs, and assigns."

Another line states, "All house plans and exterior elements for all residences shall be subject to the approval of the Owner-Developer…"

The letter we received stated that they had received complaints and that the addition of the "satellite structure" was not submitted for approval and approval was not issued. They then made it clear that we had to "correct the violation".

First, is a swingset/playground a satellite structure? It certainly isn’t anything like a "garden house or detached garage". Also, several of our neighbors have swingset/playground units:

Okay, the one I built is more than a wee bit larger, but shares many common elements - swings, slide, roof. The two shown above are about 10 or 11 feet tall at the peak of the roof. Mine is about 18 feet tall.

A matter of scale, but not substantiatively different…

Second, the male half of the Owner-Developer couple mows part of our neighbors yard (including the hill side behind the playground, in front of the evergreens). He’s seen every step I’ve taken during the past 18 months. He’s had every opportunity to object. Certainly before I spent over $2000 and hundreds of hours. While I didn’t have explicit approval, it certainly (and practically) seems that I had implicit approval.

Kel and I were extremely upset. (As were the kids, of course!)

I’ve since had several conversations with the female half of the couple and she’s come around to accepting it if I paint it the same color as the house (which was the original plan - except I was going to make it look like blocks of rock) and if I replace the blue roof with roofing tiles like those on the house. I may plant a few trees to block the view a bit as well…

Jeez.

It took all of my self control to talk politely to this lady. Thank goodness I was able to stay calm. Otherwise, I’d probably be hiring a lawyer about now…

Whoever put the toilet paper holder to the side and behind the toilet deserves to be shot. Think about it - from where you are sitting, the TP is about 12" behind your back!

This is from the Holiday Inn in Long Beach, CA.

You have to completely twist around to get the damned toilet paper… As if my poor back needs any additional "challenges"… 

To compound the problem, the perforations in the cheap toilet paper were next to useless. As such, you need two hands to separate the sheets, requiring you to twist around even further. Grrr….

The Yahoo! Mail spam filter does a pretty good job, so I rarely see the actual contents of the spam I get. This one slipped through:

From: Citibank

Subject: Its time to get back in constraint

Dont be a fool and spare your hard earned dough, by compassionate it away to your area shop

We have supplies for the following

1antiDepresants 2antiInflamatory 3arthritis 4asprin 5bloodPressure 6Gout
7heartBurn 8migraine 9mentalDisorders 10muscleRelaxers 11sleepAids
12influenceLoss 13anxity 14bloodThineer 15diabetes 16digestion 17mensHealth
18womensHealth 19motionsickness 20ulcer & more.

Sports News

He was wounded trying to catch a pass from quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.
The pass was broken up by linebacker Leroy Hill and Stevens fell to the ground
with the force of his influence arrival on his knees.
He hobbled off the domain and was study by guide while deskbound on a cart.
He was far ahead occupied back to the hold room on the cart.

Wow! That’s convincing! The "Sports News" really makes me want to by prescription drugs from some unknown source on the internet! I’ve got to stop compassionate it away now! I’m glad Citibank is looking out for me, even though I don’t have any accounts with them! I am so back in constraint!!

McDonald’s has a campaign going for their "snack wrap" talking about the importance of a mid-afternoon snack.

Yeah.

Sure, American’s are, for the most part, not getting enough to eat.

No, most of us aren’t overweight from eating massive portions of nutrient-deficient junk for lunch.

Yep, we need to visit McDonald’s between lunch and quitting time or we’ll make poor personal or social decisions.

Okay….

Last weekend, Kel’s parents had the TV on CNN all day long, following the Israeli/Hizbollah conflict.

Several times during the day I heard the talking head say something like, "Has Iraq become the Forgotten War?"

Umm, what? Forgotten by who, exactly? The administration? No, they just committed more troops to Iraq.

Perhaps forgotten by, just maybe, some unspecified 24 hour new channel…

Folks, it’s not news that your own damned network has the attention span of a two-year old…

"Next on CNN: Does anyone know where I left my pants?"

Watching TV tonight and I hear "100% breast meat boneless wings".

Umm….

Okay….