on saturday, the awesome had a birthday party. at the party, i met a girl who has a VERY firm handshake… i nearly fell over from the pain. probably she just got a weird angle or something, because that’s just not normal. i was rubbing my hand throughout the rest of the evening and trying not to shake people’s hands. yesterday, i could barely work by the end of the day because my hand hurt so much when using the mouse and typing. no, it doesn’t hurt in my wrist; it hurts when my pinky is extended in any direction.
today i’m wearing one of my boxing wraps on my right hand to try to prevent myself from moving my pinky. it’s hard to type and i’ve moved the mouse to my left hand, which is awkward… even though i changed its settings to mirror the normal. anyway… if it doesn’t go away with care in the next couple of days, i’ll have to go see my doctor. never fun.
—-
housing: last week a major torrent of water was streaming into our living room from a leak in the front of the house. i called a repairman recommended by my boss’s husband (who is very picky), but his earliest availability was this week. he came this morning. it turns out that a small gutter that runs through the front inside of our house is so old that it’s worn through. it will need to be fully replaced, as the metal is worn through in many places. however, it can’t be replaced without access to scaffolding. we will eventually be having scaffolding anyway to do the windows, but we have no idea when, because of long other story. in the meantime, he patched what he could. he won’t charge yet, because he’s not sure his patching job will hold up.
he pointed out that if THAT gutter was worn through and needed replacing, probably the ones that lead into it (also inside the front side of the house) are at that point as well. this becomes a major project. next week he will come back with the appropriate person to evaluate and make a bid for the work.
also, he had a look at the roof work done by kees and was highly critical. noted some potential problem areas we should keep an eye on, but said they should hold for a while, and that they can be changed pretty easily later when we actually need to.
—–
now i should get back to work. much to do. prepping the big MIPtv insanity.
Spidertangle 
Sounds like one helluva handshake!
no doubt. ridiculous. i can’t imagine how … i wonder if something was already wrong with my hand.
Jeez! I had a gutter replaced too. Just be sure you sort out with the contractor exactly what he’ll do for the job. The guy who comes out to look at the roof may not be the guy who does the work. I had higher expectations than what was delivered, which was just a plain old gutter. However, it’s held up well and I can probably close up the hole in my bedroom (directly under said gutter).
dude. thanks for the tip!
Is it typical there to have the gutter inside the walls of the house rather than on the outside? Seems so odd…I wonder what the original reason was. In any case, it sounds like a horrid situation. Water damage really has a tendency for spreading. Good luck!
has something to do with the beautiful “typical amsterdam” facades on the houses, but yep – apparently it’s pretty normal. damn it.
thanks for the well-wishing!!! we need it!
take care of that hand! I had to use my left hand with the mouse for about a week due to carpal-tunnel like feelings in my right arm, and I remember how much that sucked. it makes being at work, sitting at a desk, painful. UGH! Now I’m using a small wacom tablet instead of a standard mouse and it made a world of difference.
Comment! Fucking Fuck contractors! Blah!
(oh, and I love you)
(oh, and sorry about the hand)
(oh, and let’s ride motorcycles this weekend)