I’m not really good when it comes to taking long weekends off; I’ve established that on this blog before. I function well with an extended period away if I just get away and have a heavier disconnect from the work arena. Of course, three days isn’t exactly an extended period, so it’s not like I could really get away this past weekend. For once though, I actually felt rested enough over this Thanksgiving. I think as long as I keep busy my mind simply has less chance to get restless and resort to work to keep stimulated. I was able to keep busy with Sunday’s long run as well as several trips over to see the parents. By the time today rolled around, I actually felt somewhat unfulfilled. I didn’t have enough time to get chores and errands done. It’s really too bad.

Anyway, early this morning I kind of had an opportunity to extend my time off. I was stuck figuring out whether I should return to work or actually stick behind. See, about a month ago I had placed an order for plantation shutters to be put on by bedroom window. I had enough of the orange glowing bed sheet. They came in and took my window’s measurements. This past Friday, they finally called in to tell me that the shutters were ready and that they wanted to come in and install it this afternoon. I was excited to get them up so I just agreed to the timing. When today rolled around I was trying to figure out whether to work from home or just call it a discretionary day. Ultimately, if I was in a coding phase at work I’d be good to go. However, at the moment I’m in a requirements review phase for a project that requires a good amount of research. I acknowledged that there was little incentive to do that kind of work at home on my own so I told my project manager that it’d be a discretionary day. That was that.

To keep busy I’ve been tidying up all around the place and finished all of my laundry. I kind of wish though I took the time to head out to the grocery store; I’m actually low on fresh fruits and vegetables. The installer came by at about 1 p.m. As he was installing the shutters he remarked on the crookedness of the window frame. It’s interesting that he mentioned that, because the sheer size of the window made it hard to notice. He actually made some adjustments to straighten it all out. The results are just great. The window looks quite awesome.

Besides looking great, the biggest improvement is most definitely the fact that I can now sleep in darkness. Sure, I’ve been able to sleep through that orange glow, but it doesn’t mean that I should have to. Also, the guy said that they act as a sound damper. I’ve read that a couple of people in this building are having trouble dealing with the noise, but I’ve been fine. I mean, if you hear the contrast between the noise when the doors are open compared to when they’re closed, it’s like night and day. Besides…we all agreed to buy units close to a road with a fair bit of traffic: to expect silence is unreasonable. Anyway…I’m interested to see what kind of effect the shutters have, if any.

Once again, the place is steps further on the way to feeling complete.

Jesus, man. I bought some vertical blinds earlier today. As soon as I got back home from my run that was pretty much the first thing I started work on. I started drilling the brackets into the walls and in about 20 minutes the blinds were up and looking…well…as good as can be expected. When I added the valance, I noticed that it was a little bit droopy. Upon closer look, I realized that the brackets were starting to come out of the walls. The screws just weren’t strong enough.

God, how stupid of me! It’s a lesson that I’ve really only learned recently, but regardless it’s important enough for me to just know. Drywall alone cannot hold a screw in place when the screw bears a heavy load. That’s a recipe for disaster! If the screw needs to hold weight, it needs an anchor in the wall. The anchors tend to reinforce the screw, preventing it from slipping out easily.

So, with the brackets slipping out I decided to take it all down. I started undoing the nuts holding the bar up. After taking down two of three, the bar started tipping. My arms got a good workout trying to hold the bar up while I tried to get the third one down. The screw for the third bracket actually broke in half. Just great, eh?

Anyway, I’ve drilled some bigger holes in the wall and put in some anchors. I need to hammer them in, but since it’s late I’m going to wait until morning. What’s another night without blinds, right? Thing is, my living room is now a complete disaster zone. No matter, I guess; it shouldn’t last long this way. I kind of lament that every time I try to be handy something goes awry. I know that this type of thing is something that really only comes with practice, but it still irks the heck out of me. Argh!