Downness, Home Repairs, and New Computers – Thoughts from December 18, 2024

As usual, I haven’t been writing my Thoughts papers recently and I’ve been feeling down recently. Part of my “downness” stems from a document from our mobile home park detailing what is wrong with the outside of our house. The main and most difficult parts have to do with how run-down the paint is on the outside of the house and repairing several sections of it and our shed. The shed is not a repair job; it’s a need for a new shed. I’ve started what I can by clearing out the shed and trimming our large tree away from the house. The main thing stressing us out is that they are going to reassess the house again on December 30.

I can work on the house only on my days off. Apparently, I’m going to have to use my four days off for Christmas to do what I can. I don’t plan on doing anything on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, so that’s just the normal two days to do things. We’ve already spent about $800 on supplies, and we haven’t bought the shed yet. The shed will probably be twice that much. We’ve only had two days of repairing and painting so far. The hardest part is going to be replacing some of the heavy panels. It’s an impossible time of year to get help to come over to help me. For these kinds of things, I work best alone.

My coworkers were shocked when I told them we had less than a month to do the repairs. I’ve told myself that they are just going to reevaluate the house on December 30. They said nothing about consequences of not completing the suggestions. The notes about what was needed were handwritten and pictures were circled. It’s not a legally binding document. I don’t think that’s what it was meant to be. We will do what we can and see what else we need to do when it’s reinspected. The hardest part for me is getting up early enough to avoid sunset at about 5:00 pm. This is difficult for me because I usually get to work at 4:00 pm and work until about midnight. I’ve done this most of my almost 20 years working at the happy place where I work.

In happier news, I got a new computer. Fully embracing the nerdiness of it, I got a Microsoft Surface Pro. It’s the eleventh generation of the Surface Pro. The computer I was replacing was a fifth-generation Surface Pro. I used that computer well beyond the recommended replacement date. The main thing that forced me to get a new computer was Windows 11. My old Surface Pro could not run Windows 11. The official end date for Windows 10 is October 14, 2025. I don’t need much of an excuse to get a new computer, but that’s a pretty good one. Getting a new computer is never easy because of setting up new programs and transferring files from the old computer to the new one. Years ago, this process was laborious and long. These days, it’s almost automatic. It’s always fun to see how much faster the new computer is. It warms my nerdy heart.