(no subject)

A man was in a terrible accident, and his "manhood" was mangled and torn from his body. His doctor assured him that modern medicine could give him back his penis, but that his insurance wouldn't cover the surgery since it was considered cosmetic.

The doctor said the cost would be $3,500 for small, $6,500 for medium and $14,000 for large. The man was sure he would want a medium or large, but the doctor urged him to talk it over with his wife before he made any decision.

The man called his wife on the phone and explained their options. The doctor came back into the room and found the man looking dejected. "Well, what have the two of you decided?" asked the doctor.

The man answered, "She'd rather remodel the kitchen."

bathroom progress report

Originally I'd wanted to get two coats of yellow on today, but I forgot about the extra time required to paint the vanity. These walls used to be a darker, more intense yellow, but when it started peeling we opted for a lighter shade that also matched the shower curtain better.

Since the old paint was oil-based, I scraped the walls and primed them last week before applying the first coat of latex yellow today:

Tomorrow morning I'll roll out the second coat of yellow and then do the final white touch-ups on the tiles that had started peeling. My Stats lecture and tutorial will span the whole afternoon tomorrow, but the bathroom will be painted, re-assembled and cleaned by the end of the day Thursday. Friday I expect I'll do the housecleaning and also try to get in some writing time.

Since my work site is also the only bathroom in the house, I've taken care to keep the disruption of service to a minimum, as it were. I try to be conscientious of that no matter where I'm working in the house, actually. For this project, each night I reattach the light fixture to the wall, I replace the towel racks and towels, I replace the toothbrushes and I sweep or vacuum out the room. If I spill debris on the upstairs hallway carpet, I'll vacuum it before everyone comes home at the end of the day.

The tao, to be true, must be applied to all action. Zen housework, zen projects, zen business, zen writing.