Category: To Occupy my Time

What is With This “Welcome In”?

This has been bugging me for several years, but it took a Miss Manners column to make a post about it.

I sometimes find Miss Manners’s answers to be crotchety and a bit mean, but this was right on.

Why add the preposition? The word is already complete. Merriam-Webster says that in this context welcome is an interjection that is “used to express a greeting to a guest or newcomer upon arrival.”

See? One word. Done!

And “in” to what? If one is trying to say “Welcome to my store,” or “Welcome to the store,” the word “in” is not used. Do they mean “inside” like “inside the building,” or “inside the door”?

I’m certainly not engaging with people who say this and badgering them as to if they are even thinking what they are saying. It is one of those things I could let go of, but so far, it continues to rankle.

I’m hoping it goes the way the overuse of air quotes did in the 90s.

Come to think of it, air quotes would be perfect for this: “Welcome [air quotes] in [close air quotes]”.

The Movie Quiz December 2024

I’ve missed the last few movie quizzes, but was back again for December. Greg and Renee joined the fun, and we held up the bottom third of the bracket like we usually do. We’re Battleship Cinematic Universe .

While many of the teams are regulars, some of the regulars tweaked their names to include a holiday theme. We didn’t think of that, but we’re ready for next year.

Cinema Toast Crunch was sitting in front of us. It was amazing to see how few questions they missed.

I wonder if team Very Good knew ahead of time how bad they would be?

The last round was anagrams, and that was Not Good. Hopefully they won’t be back for a while.

Is That the TriMet Christmas Sweater?

In late November, the TriMet Riders Club email advertised TriMet’s Ugly Christmas Sweater.

“That’s not ugly,” I thought to myself, “That’s a thing of beauty.” Soon after, I ordered.

Then, time passed. I wondered if I actually had ordered the sweater because I received no email. But then! A delivery notification saying the sweater had been shipped from Portland and would be delivered on Saturday, December 9, by 9 p.m. Wonderful! Deliveries are usually earlier than that, so it might be here in time for Heidi and Kevin’s Christmas Party.

But no. The time came to depart for the party, and no sweater was to be seen. It also hadn’t been delivered by the time we got home.

The tracking went dead for a few days, until one morning when I was told it was out for delivery! In Indianapolis, Indiana. A city that is not Portland.

Over the next week and change it would also travel to Detroit, Seattle, and then back to Portland. It arrived on Friday, December 20. I didn’t get to wear it to square dancing, work (when people were there) or out and about, but I did get to wear it to the Snow Ball Chorale and Christmas.

Here I am at the Snow Ball Chorale, Low Bar Chorale’s Winter Concert.

I posted this photo on Instagram, and someone commented, “Is that the TriMet Christmas sweater???” So clearly it was worth the wait.

The Snow Ball Chorale was also not a smooth landing. I invited people, most couldn’t go, but friend Kelly said she could go and bought a ticket. Then I let a few days go by, and when I went to get my ticket, it was sold out! I volunteered to buy Kelly’s ticket off her, because I didn’t mind going alone. Instead, she gave it to me.

Terrible organizer fail. I had a good time, though. And I liked wearing my sweater.

Kenton Station Restoration Finished

We now have the answer to the question asked in September: What will the tree/tree well restoration project look like when finished?

Apparently, the tree wells are going with some asphalt-like material with drains.

And the trees are little and new.

It’s not the prettiest solution. I believe before there were metal grates around the trees, but I guess it gets the job done.

There is nothing to protect the trees from being carved up, but I guess you can’t do anything about that.

Orange Door Projects Completed

When I finished painting the front door, I wasn’t really finished with the job, because I needed to put up the new address numbers. And, more than two months later, here I am finding the time to do it (thank you 9/80 day, and Matt out of town)

When I bought the numbers from Modern House Numbers, I paid an extra $6.00 to get both a vertical and horizontal layout, as I wasn’t sure which way the numbers would fit best. They are much bigger than the numbers that came with the house. Good call, because vertical won out.

Here, I tape the template.

And here, the numbers are installed. Not pictured: a trip to the hardware store to buy epoxy and a specific size drill bit; me slicing open my finger trying to open the epoxy; and me making the holes a bit bigger because the specific drill bit size I was instructed to by was slightly too small.

Aren’t they pretty?

And here you can see the old numbers and new ones together.

Three days later, someone was dropping a package on the back porch as we ask, and said, “Is this 8004?” and I wondered how he had possibly missed both address numbers.

I also put up the new circular mirror, which is not actually new, but new to the Orange Door. I still think those mirrors are too high overall, but the circular mirror nicely covers the hole where the guitar hanger was.

Someday we will repaint this room and I will lower those mirrors.