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So after month long exercise of match over match, the world cup semi-finals have come down to the top 4 teams that pretty much everybody had their bets on from the beginning. For all the talk around how south asia dominates cricket, its simply not true, except of course India. The Indian in me would like to see India win the world cup, but honestly my heart wants a New Zealand <> South Africa final. Either of the two countries deserves a world cup they’ve been chasing for such a long time, but my gut says we will see a India <> Australia final, like a repeat of 2003, except this time India will get its revenge.

The morning show is consistent in the sense that characters always begin and the end show in the exact same state as before – grumpy, sad, lost and generally dour state of life. I mean it was an enjoyable season that probably tackled more than it should have but ultimately nothing much happens in the end.

I dont mind lawn mowing, i dont mind snow shoveling but I absolutely absolutely detest fall leaf removal. Its worse that my house is nestled amongst trees so I am sucking up and signed up for yearly leaf removal with a landscaping company (after last year’s nightmare!). I am so glad I did – the way these guys have cleaned it all up is well worth it for me, especially for a task that I do not get any joy doing. Fuck fall leaves!

Our kitchen renovation drama would be fit for a reality TV series. We take one step ahead and two steps back next day; one day we are exuberant that we are going to see the finish line soon to come crashing down with a thud next day. So yeah, our countertops got installed last night, with appropriate gas permits coming by as well so naturally we are excited.

Except, when I and wife are admiring the kitchen island last night we realize something … is off. After a few minutes we realize to our utter horror that the base cabinets on which the kitchen island sits are not alined with the wall cabinet line. The result is a skewed line where on one end of wall cabinets we have less clearance space between the island & cabinets than on the other side. The difference is almost 2 inches and when viewed in context it really shows bad. This is not something we’d have realized it until the counter top was put in to give that visual context, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it.

I pinged our contractor last night and he immediately responded he’d be here this morning. Mind you these guys do kitchens all the time so I am willing to give them benefit of doubt that this was a genuine goofup of some sorts, but the fact is there is significant undoing and redoing of work that needs to happen. The kitchen island now needs to come off (which has been glued already, ugh!), then the cabinets need to be detached from the holding board below, then the board itself will need to be decoupled from the hardwood below. Once readjusted, all of this will have to be repeated in reverse, and we’ll need to replace all the hardwood near that area coz its all been screwed into.

So yeah, we just set ourselves back couple of days. Oh joy!

Relief! Democrats win Virginia senate and maybe even win the house as well, or if not tie. Hope this string of results continues and it’s not a tie but democrats take house too. Youngkin can rest easy with his abortion plan that will never get to his desk.

I wonder if we will ever be able to have a system secure enough that we could all vote from our smartphones. Would require some super human level of security, plus trust in the government system to pull this off.

Feeling oddly giddy about seeing the countertops getting installed. I think this is the point where we start feeling the finish line is getting clearer and clearer!

Yesterday was a bad day mentally. I woke up feeling really annoyed and angry about the whole renovation and its progress, and then it went downhill the entire day. I was on the edge, annoyed, frustrated and angry pretty much the entire day. A good venting session with the wife also did not help, nor did an impromptu drink with a buddy. Today morning I decided right when I got out of bed that I was not going to let negativity set the tone for the day, and it will begin on a positive note no matter what. And it has worked wonders today! I must try doing this every day.

Done with voting. I know technically because we live in a safe “D” district, we should be fine, but I take absolutely nothing for granted now. Also, you can clearly make out the republican voters at the polling place. While old and white are definitely an indicator, the clearest one is however how grumpy & angry they look. And yeah refusing to smile back or engage with you when you as a brown person smile at them heh. Even the older white democrats you see at polling booths are usually look happier and smile, but not the republicans. Such a sad sad sad life these people really live.

Anyway, I voted all blue down the ballot. I didnt research any specific candidate or their positions – I just took the pamphlet that democrats were handing outside with their recommendations, shook hands with our senate candidate and proceeded to vote. I dont care who the local democrat office recommended, but all I know is whoever they recommended is going to be better than the bunch of useless diseased raccoons the other side would’ve picked.

Like I thought based on county inspector’s face last friday, he failed the inspection for our range hood exhaust. The issue is that because the hood is 600cfm, he wants an additional air intake line drawn in from outside to compensate for the air draw via the hood! His contention is that in case of an emergency that could be dangerous (though 600cfm is hardly, cough, umm, dangerous considering we have so many windows now). That said, I appreciate the county inspectors being tough and thorough coz it keeps our contractor on his toes. Failing an inspection hurts him more than anyone else coz he has to get this right without which permits won’t arrive, and I wont pay him until its certified by county! Sometimes, the government *does* work for us.