Why I LOVE Russian movies

Watched half of Stalker last night. It's pretty long. Enjoying it a lot.

I had to take pics of my favorite lines in the movie so far:

In case you can't read the above, it says "Don't stick your nose in someone's underwear if you don't understand it." In this scene a scientist has gone through the zone by himself to retrieve a backpack with his underwear. Normally you need a stalker to get you through the zone because bad things can happen to you because the zone is supposedly inhabited by aliens. The stalker had just finished admonishing the scientist about his backpack full of underwear, and this was the scientist's response.

And the response to the above, by the stalker, was "What is there to understand? Binomial theorem?" Ha ha! Math joke! And I love B Pascal, who documented binomial theorem!!! Though, of course, there's historical proof that an Indian and Persian discovered it first. Oh well. It's Pascal's triangle now.

I'll drink to that. This is a writer who sneaks into the zone with the stalker so he can write about it. The zone is segregated from the rest of Russia and they shoot people who enter it. Only a stalker knows how to sneak in.

It's on netflix. Check this movie out if you like sci-fi that isn't violent and stupid.

broken bottle bathroom, done!

Note: I did not empty the bottles seen in this counter top.

My weird faucet and counter top (recycled granite, beer bottles, and wine bottles - saving the environment one drink at a time) look great! I do have some painting to do...that pepto-bismal grey color is where the mirror used to be.

Christine found those crystal knobs and the Vetrazzo slab. She's going to help me redo my upstairs bathroom too! 

never take a $200 southwest flight

Got the the airport this morning thinking I would be in california by noon...

...and then I realized I had accidentally booked a flight that had a stop, in L.A (wondered why the flight was so cheap). On the way to L.A. some fuckwit sat in the second row with his two screaming infants. Oh, and he tried to entertain them by playing a video turned up loud enough for me to hear it crystal clear in the fifth row. Heard of head phones you rude asspipe?

Parents, please. Everyone knows kids go in the back of the plane. People who sit up front have status and don't want to listen to your screaming kids as part of their flying experience. On top of which, it takes you FOREVER to get off the plane and instead of letting people who know how to travel get off the plane before you collect your blankie and toys and screaming children you can't control you'd rather block the aisle for 5 minutes.

Ech.

And then, as the flight was taking off for Oakland (I moved to bulk head seating when we landed in LA), there was a woman sitting opposite me, also in bulk head. She got upset about having to put her purse in the overhead (are you fucking kidding me), then got upset that the woman sitting directly behind her, who had obviously had a stroke or something, was burping loudly (she had been brought on the plane in a wheel chair - bulk head bitch wanted the steward to move her back further on the plane and they were like "um, no, because we'd have to carry her" - I would also note stroke lady was in the seat before bulk head bitch sat down in front of her).

Next, a huge guy (as in super tall and not fat, just big) got on the plane and sat down next to bulk head bitch (he barely fit in bulk head, there was no way he would fit in a regular seat). Bulk head bitch started complaining about him sitting next to her because she didn't want to sit next to anyone (uh, you do realize this isn't your private plane???). She threw such a fit that the steward offered to reseat her in row 6. She didn't want to sit in row 6. Then she got off the plane and said southwest would have to put her on a different flight. Then she got back on the plane and decided the tall guy would have to sit next to me (I was in the window seat and another large woman, who was also brought in on a wheel chair, was in the aisle seat).

So he sat next to me and we couldn't put the arm rest down between our seats. Luckily he was nice enough so I didn't mind that he was smushing me into the side of the plane. And bulk head bitch said "Let me give you a drink ticket" to the tall guy because he had been such a bitch but he refused to take it. I was thinking "hey, I'll take it" but she didn't offer it to me.

Turns out tall guy is a lobbyist. I was like "how about lobbying for a law that prevents assholes from buying plane tickets? we could determine the assholes by letting other passengers rate them." He said he'd look into it.

back splash drama

On top of having to leave for the airport at 930 this morning (yes, I did just fly back to Denver last night - at least I got 12 hours at home before traveling again) I had to pick my back splash and get that done today.

I had picked two tiles and only received one sample. So this morning I was like fuck it, that's the sample that came, I guess that's the tile.

Of course, I had no idea how much it cost or what the availability was...

It was $600 over budget. Shocker.

And then I found out there are only 50 square feet of that tile left in the entire US. I was like are you fucking kidding me????? I had to order it this morning (I needed 40 sq ft) and of course the tile company is charging a fuck load of money to ship it.

But do I care? No. I just want my kitchen to be done.

Side note: how come everything I picked, from appliances (refrigerator and hood extension), to counter top, to back splash, is being discontinued????

I picked a back splash. I think.

This sample came while I was in Virginia. I like it because it's what I initially was looking for. It's also recycled glass and quartz (good for the environment). Finally, the collection is called Shutter and the color is gunmetal. Kind of like my life style...

But I have to wait to hear back from my designer Christine to see if she likes it.

The back splash in situ

It goes with the cabinets.

The whole tile.

In other news, I left my coat in my dad's car last night. And it was 29 degrees F when I got home. But that's Colorado cold, which means I was fine in my sweatshirt.

And, I'm writing again. I am writing a story about the croco-diamond going to school with the daughter of a friend of mine. Still have to add the prologue to that book so I can start shopping it around.

we've got a book for that

Over the course of my week at my parents' house I mentioned I am trying to learn more about the civil war and the making of the hydrogen bomb (I used to know a lot about that but have forgotten over the years). And my friend Cam gave me the other two Stieg Larsson books but I didn't have the first one in the series, which I mentioned to my mom.

And I said that I had to find some tile samples for my back splash because I have to pick a back splash by, like, yesterday.

Which is how I ended up with a suitcase that's 2 pounds overweight (tile samples weigh a lot):

Straws, a cute hat, and pink lululemon socks...what more does a girl need for travel? Oh yeah, max freeze, which I LOVE more than my last 3 boyfriends.

So I had to shove all my books in my backpack, which now weighs more than my suitcase:

Dark Sun, Chancellorsville 1863, Book of 5 Ring, Portrait of a Lady, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Enterprise Architecture Strategies - fuck off, I DO own a kindle, and a tablet. I like real books.

Hopefully I'll get through airport security before my spine is destroyed...should have taken my dad up on his offer to fedex the books to me. Why did I let that woman at Colorado Luggage talk me into such a big backpack?

Oh yeah, because I can fit 6 bottles of wine in it.