Time Warp

My contractor forwarded to me the other day a clip out of that Mind Freak show. It involved pounding a chicken into an egg into a lemon into...well, you get the idea. The bottom line is that no one can reconcile how it is possible that these items could fit inside one another, let alone emerge unscathed.


I have been living in a sort of mind freak these last few weeks, but with nowhere to really direct my frustration other than inwards. I had good reason to believe that my architectural plans - complete with mechanical, electrical, and HVAC drawings - would be ready for submission to the town two weeks ago. Today I watched as our optimistic projection of Tuesday, 11/20 evaporated; when the smoke had cleared, I found myself staring at next Monday (the 26th) as plan submission date. The main culprit here: turkey.

No one is sure whether the Town of Normal will open its doors for business on Friday; however, Jeff (contractor) and I agreed that if they do, it is highly unlikely that much business will get done, as the whole rest of the world is in Operation Shutdown mode.

So what caused the initial two-week delay? Scroll down a few posts to the one entitled "Hood Trauma". Since my HVAC sub-contractor had not originally been consulted (my fault) when I took my equipment list to vendors for pricing, Bob the HVAC sub-contractor only got involved in specifying a code-compliant hood - which I have subsequently decided to purchase from him so that no further issues/delays arise - late last week.

Thus, I find myself very much in that state of exasperation very similar to that experienced by someone putting the finishing touches on a puzzle, only find near the moment of ultimate triumph that a single piece is missing. That piece will eventually be found, but the agony lies in the uncertainty. It could be on the floor, or it could be lodged in Fido's digestive tract.

Thankfully (I think), I have yet to hit a Fido-sized snag; however, time keeps slipping through my hands and I cringe every time I imagine the worst case scenario of not being open when ISU re-awakens after winter break on January 10.

In some years, getting past the Thanksgiving holiday would relieve me of the trauma associated with the loss of an entire week in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, a look ahead finds Christmas and New Years falling on Tuesdays this year - great for the working man (consecutive four-day weekends), but HORRIBLE for a guy itching to sling calzones in January.

Anyways, in other blunders, I'm heading back to Lincoln today (Wednesday) to pick up all the stuff I forgot to buy when I had that nice big Budget truck because I had to hurry back while my friends could help me unload my swag. I'll be playing Stuff the Saturn while people who don't trip over their own shoelaces every two seconds are chasing down turkeys.

Also on the agenda: requisition paint supplies for Saturday (while praying that the 44-degree high and partly cloudy forecast holds), find willing accomplices to join me in this ritual a** freezing, and finally create job applications and Now Hiring flyers and take care of other mundane paperwork I've managed to put off to date.

Despite all of the above, I'll still enjoy this Black Wednesday (the day before Thanksgiving when everyone drinks) more than I did last year, when I worked 13 hours at Steak n Shake Evanston because we weren't allowed to close until 2 AM and didn't manage to leave until the sun was coming up after 6 (it's one of only two days in the entire year when that store actually closes; thus, nobody has a clue how to do it). Memories like that remind me why it was so easy to jump off a cliff and go into business for myself...