Saturday morning update

Ok, I’ve got a long list of tasks for the day: insulate/weatherstrip doors and windows (it got down to 30 last night, and our house has holes!), pull more tacks from the wood floors so we can at least walk to the bathroom barefoot, install a hot water heater jacket (cost about $18; should pay back within the year), meet with Nikos (a potential contractor), and so forth.

When we moved in, there were a number of tools including a Milwaukee cordless drill. I needed a charger, couldn’t find one at Home Depot, called the manufacturer, and bought one over the phone. In hindsight, the $70 was probably too much, considering it was an old drill, the old battery might not even hold a charge, and new drills seem to be around $200. Oh well, I was just too busy to thoroughly research the issue. Worst case: Milwaukee is a reputable brand, and I’ll have to buy lots of other cool power tools to get my money’s worth from the charger. Hey, that’s not a bad option. My old drill is 12 volt. I guess the new ones are 18 volt, but one commentator criticized those as being too heavy for most people.

Halloween was quiet, but I arrived home late–just in time to see the last of the gangs of kids. Or maybe they were just gangs (here in DC, it’s sometimes hard to tell). Our house was all dark, so I don’t any thinking child would’ve climbed the steps to knock; calories spent would’ve outweighed calories gained in candy.

Emily and I have decided we need a new toilet. Google “how to buy a new toilet” and you’ll find more scoop on poop than you ever thought imaginable. Check out this site, for example.