Well, well, well... Hello, Stranger. TMI to follow. You have been warned. But it's coded. ;) I am being visited by a 'calendar' event, which hasn't happened since December. To be honest, I thought maybe I was finally done with that. But looks like I was just on haitus for five months. It's not officially recognized as menopause until you've been without that special blessing for a year. So the count shall begin again (in 5 to 7 days? hehe). Wheeeee Hey, if I had to do this again, I'm glad it's now instead of the week I'll be in NM.

I dunno why I'm telling about this in a blog, but hey, there it is. At the moment, I have no one to bitch to IRL, so I'm venting here.

Oooo! Spouse went to the house lot today. The builders have cut the driveway, staked the footprint and run the water line! We're on our way! Also, I have plane tickets for a trip there to see the progress myself and hopefully to pick out all the options. Will be there for my birthday! Will be nice to be with Spouse for that.

house model front and back
So far, I've only done the exterior.

I am insane. This is, of course, old news to most of you. *grin* My current insanity is being expressed by modeling the house we're trying to build in NM. I've already made a 3D floor plan out of card stock paper, but now I'm mocking up elevations in full-color detail. Working on a 1' to 1/4" scale, so the thing is about 14" square. I'll pretend it's my way of applying positive energy toward getting the real build done. Yes, that's the ticket.

All garbed up at the Castle ren faire in Muskogee, OK
Sunday, May 14 2006

Today's Topic: English as a butchered language.

I'll cover that in a minute, but first... I seem to be on a series of rants lately. Maybe it's my aggravating physical condition? Maybe it's the stress of the sell/buy/move? Probably both. Whatever. It's not my favorite mode. I'm trying not to get mired in it, and yet, it wants out. And so...

nuclear
realtor
Two examples of butchered spoken English.

Nuclear is NOT new-cue-ler. Just because powerful people like George Dubya can't pronounce it properly, doesn't change the correct pronunciation. See the word? NUCLEAR... NEW-CLEE-ERR... not NUCULAR, dumbass.

Realtor is another botched word. No, it's not easy to say properly, which may explain why people don't try. I'm disappointed that Merriam-Webster actually lists the incorrect pronunciation as an alternative. That's total crap. It's not realator, it's realtor. RE-AL-TOR. Same is true of realty vs realaty. There ain't no fuckin' A after the L, so stop saying it.

And here's the other thing, butchered English in print. I see a growing cancer in written text, ie newsprint, online, and on TV. You know the new habit of popping up crap on the bottom of the screen to say what's Next or what's on Tomorrow? I think it's the USA channel, or another primary cable network, which consistently shows what's on Tommorrow. No. That is just plain wrong. This is a basic English word and that is WRONG. One M, two Rs. Period. Go back to elementary school, dipwads.

There are more subtle but equally aggravating offenses, like choosing the wrong homonyms. Granted, spellcheck doesn't catch those, but if you're profiting from prose you should damned well know the words and their usage.

It has to be laziness. The folks involved in these endeavors have surely completed at least a rudimentary education. So, they're just too lazy to use it? For shame.

You are in your car. It's a bit old and persnickety. You turn the key and the engine is reluctant. You're trying to will the thing to turn over and you're fairly sure it'll happen, but it just makes that choked groaning and sputtering sound while trying to get up the gumption to actually kick in.

This is my experience with the house in NM so far. I/we are doing all the right stuff at the right time, but the build hasn't started yet. I'm growing more leary of the builders with each incident. We ask for info and get half-assed answers, slowly. Meetings and deadlines are set but blown off without communication.

We are assured by the realty people that these builders are good. They've worked with them before. We are assured that once the thing gets started, we'll be happy with the progress and results. It's just that they've grown so much recently they're having a little bit of trouble managing this front end of the business.

I hope the realty people are right because we really want the lot and floor plan and the building philosophy that goes along with these guys. However, my skeptical self reminds me that the realty company has a vested interest in the deal hanging together because they get a commission out of it.

In the meantime, I'm sitting in the car, turning the key, rocking, and half praying, half cussing --- COME ON! LET'S GO DAMMIT!

Of course, I am virtually devoid of patience, so it could me mostly me?

Finally over an initial hurdle on the house buying end. After a rather jerky start, we now have a contract to buy the 5+ acre lot and get a specific floor plan built on it. On with sorting (aka fighting with the builder) over the details! The builder is now surveying the lot to propose house placement. We've been told they can complete construction within 120 days. This could be a real adventure, but the weather there helps. There are very very few rainy days to impede progress.