With all the wrinkles sorted out of the pay situation, I got my second paycheck, and today I went to Menards and bought $75 worth of home improvement supplies without worrying about the expenditure interfering with my ability to pay the necessary bills.
The bathroom is nearly complete.
New shower curtain rod, though I'm not overly pleased with it; it works, but it's an extending type so there's a ---____ step in it over which you must manually ease the hangers for the shower curtain. Naturally, it's right in the middle of the travel, too.
None of the shower curtain rods I saw were any better. The selection was limited entirely to telescoping designs with various tensioning mechanisms. My first choice had a decorative flare on each end; the gripping pad was maybe a 1.5 inch disk, with an entirely uncovered metal flange around it that looked like it would gouge whatever surface it was applied to. My second choice doesn't have that, at least.
Moved on to find a new heat register for the bathroom, and I had four choices:
1) White painted. Chintzy-looking.All made by the same manufacturer; absolutely no other options for floor registers of this kind. I picked wood, reasoning that it would be the best fit. It's pretty close in color to the existing woodwork.
2) Brushed metal. Silvery, wouldn't match anything.
3) Oiled bronze. Too dark; also wouldn't match anything.
4) Wood.
Got an LED shop light to hang over my desk in the basement, and a tube of construction adhesive for a couple fiddlybits in the bathroom.
Remaining to do in bathroom: install register and the rest of the trim (two pieces) one of which will need trimming to fit. Touch up the paint. Caulk along the tub surround where it meets the walls. Clean--then it's done.
The toilet tank leaked a little bit--literally one or two drops an hour--but that seems to have stopped now. For a while I thought I'd have to take it back off and tighten the bolts a bit more, but perhaps not. I'll keep an eye on it.
Once the bathroom is done, it's time to hit the whole-house filter head on and complete that job. I've got an afternoon's worth of pressure testing and leak elimination to do; once it can go a few hours under pressure with no leaks anywhere it's good to go live. Actually hooking it into the water supply will take another afternoon.
Well, one step at a time.
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I cannot decide whether I like this or not. I am so used to Illinois being a shithole and the Democrat machine finding new ways to screw us that I can't accept a unanimous vote from them as being beneficial, but at the same time this sounds reasonable.
The idea is to consolidate school districts in the name of saving money. The Illinois Association of School Boards opposes it, saying that it moves away from local control of the schools. But the linked article says that local school districts support an average of 2,400 students.
My instinct is to say that, because the entire Democrat-run legislature was unanimous in its support for the thing, with no dissenting votes, it has to be a bad thing. I don't trust politicians any further than I can piss a battleship and I especially don't trust Illinois politicians.
At the same time, the Fungal Vale has an upcoming municipal election, and there's a "proposition" on the ballot:
Shall the [Fungal Vale] School board be required to prove through voter referendum that any fundamental restructuring of the school district is the best plan for children and families, inclding any plan which would close schools within our neighborhoods?I hadn't even thought about it until I saw a whole bunch of election signs exhorting people to vote "yes" on the thing.
On the one hand, you elect the board of trustees (locally) so that they can represent you and the community at large to do what's right for the local schools. If closing a school is the best thing to do, they shouldn't have to pass a referendum to do it. Besides, making the decision pass a referendum first gives them leverage to raise taxes: "Because you won't let us close School Z, we need more money...."
On the other hand, it makes the situation more responsive to the peoples' wishes. They can't just up and decide to close a school. "Fundamental restructuring" also includes plans which would open new schools--and this crowd of turkeys has demonstrated that they don't get rid of old school buildings, but repurpose them. What used to be a high school is now a "sixth grade center". The junior high I went to is an administrative building. They want to build a new grammar school on the east side of town; what will happen to the one a few blocks from the bunker? For sure they won't tear it down and sell the land.
On the gripping hand, the only effect this has on me is in what I pay for property taxes. But that's enough for me to have an interest in this, believe me; my property taxes are far too high as it is and I have no desire to give these shitheads leave to increase them. They have the fiscal discipline that's typical of politicians, who are worse than drunken sailors--because drunken sailors stop spending when they run out of money. These assholes spent $60 million building a new, modern high school, and didn't have any money left over with which to equip it. Brand-new building, but not enough desks for it; they needed pianos and chairs and-and-and, because they didn't budget anything for furnishing the thing--and so they came begging to the electorate for more money.
April 2 is election day, so I don't have much time to figure all this out. My instinct is to vote "no" on this shit, though, solely because the politicians are for it.
But what do I find while trying to determine who to vote for? Oh boy:
The advisory referendum question on the April 2 ballot stems from a controversial restructuring proposal that would have closed schools in Park Forest and University Park, although a final decision on moving ahead with the closures has not been made.Yeah, and THIS:
The initiative also would have the district expanding or building new learning centers in [the Fungal Vale].
District residents argued that such a large and costly plan should be put to voters, and the question asks whether the school board should "be required to prove through voter referendum that any fundamental restructuring of the school district is the best plan for children and families, including any plan which would close schools within our neighborhood?"
Any restructuring would mean the district issuing new debt to pay for it, but the district says the new bonds would be structured in a way as not to require approval from district voters through a referendum question.No, but it wouldn't DECREASE it, either.
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The district maintains that the issuance of new debt, and restructuring of current debt, wouldn't increase the bond and interest portion of the property tax bill.
And in light of this information, I now intend to vote "yes" on that thing. Fuckers.