This collection of entries is from March 2005.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
End of Day 4
*cough* Can't... talk... *hack* ... Guys are STILL HERE... *cough* *cough* ... they're all done laying, and sanding... *wheeze* ... can't breathe... ***COUGH*** ... guys are putting the finish sealer on... *holy crap* ... They started before 8am... *cough* ... more later...
Update: Well, it's over an hour later and you can barely smell anything. The floor is friggin' gorgeous. The kitchen was obviously done last and it's all done! All of the appliances are back - the dishwasher, however, has lots of screws missing and Carol's pissed. I guess they come back tomorrow and do one more sanding and one more coat and then the trim goes up. Does that mean they're done tomorrow?
posted at 06:50 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
End of Day 3
Came home tonight to find... no one. All of the workers had cleared out. The floor is completely laid in the family room and the living room/dining room. Th underlayment is done in the kitchen. The doors that were removed yesterday are now planed and re-hung. There's a heavy gage extension cord hard-wired into the electrical box in the garage, and there's a sander parked in the corner of the family room.
Things are getting closer.
All hell broke loose outside. It's 73 degrees, winds up to 40 mph, rain, thunderstorm warnings, tornado warnings, hail. It didn't last long right in our neighborhood, but it sure was bad while it lasted. All of this with our cars parked outside, since the garage was full of our first floor possessions.
We went out to get something to eat, the sun broke out and produced this wonderful rainbow, the best I have seen in years. The sky was black, but the colors were vibrant. Even saw a faint double arc.
posted at 05:54 PM | Link | Mundane | 1 comment § |
There goes the couch!
Just happened to look at the webcam that looks out in front of our house (the WeatherCam on the sidebar), and - low-and-behold - there was the garbage truck in front of our house with the couch from the family room sticking out of the top of it.
YES! IT'S GONE!
On the next refresh of the camera - and all of the carpeting and padding was gone. Now I feel like a normal citizen again instead of a white trash trailer park kind of a guy.
posted at 11:10 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Beginning of Day 3
When we got home after work yesterday, we had mixed emotions about what we found inside our house. On the upside, the floors are really coming along nicely. What I like is how much variation there is from board to board with color and clarity.
Now, the downside. Our brand new dishwasher, just installed last week, is partially ripped-out, with Ziggy wanting the whole thing removed. (We called Ted later and he'll be in this morning and tell them what to do to get around this.) The bottom few shelves of the pantry are now on a kitchen counter - no one told us to empty the pantry, so we didn't. The stove is in the middle of the family room, the refrigerator is in the middle of the kitchen. The powder room door is off its hinges, as well as the utility room, not to mention the pantry door as well.
We had a painter come over last night and give us a quote - way the hell above what I had wanted to hear, but I really like the guy and his approach and what he's going to do. We'll have to see how this goes. I'd like to use him, but things are a bit tight right now after the flooring.
Indy & Chip are getting a little better, but Indy is starting to flip out a bit, insisting on, um, "dominating" poor Chip.
It's still weird living out of the bedroom.
Oh, forgot one thing... we went to La-Z-Boy last night looking for couches. Found one we like - that's of course more expensive than I had wanted it to be.
posted at 07:01 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Beginning of Day 2Well, it was another quiet night in the half-empty house. Living out of the bedroom is like a little mini-vacation (no, that's not right. There's nothing restful about this. Maybe a mini-adventure). The "kids" (or "kidlettes" as I call them - our bunnies Indy & Chip) are handling the whole affair in different ways. Chip doesn't seem to care too much - he's young, adventurous and inquisitive. Indy is the old lady and she doesn't like change. She wants to go "home" and even though her cage is in the bedroom with us, "home" to her is downstairs where the cage used to be.
Everything is just feeling a little too cozy. Actually it's feeling a little too tight as we're just on top of each other upstairs. Hopefully this will last just the week.
The "kidlettes" were not as quiet as the night before - I think they were just in a state of shock the first night. When the sky started to loose its darkness, they started getting a bit more active and I can hear them eating.
What a gorgeous day today - it was in the 40's but felt warm. It's supposed to get to 70 today - the first time this year.
Too bad it's a week early for opening day. I hope it stays warm enough next week. I hate to start our season at Comiskey (oh, crap... I mean U.S. Cellular Field) in the cold like we usually do.
posted at 09:19 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Monday, March 28, 2005
Plywood
I pulled up in front of the house. later than normal, to see a pile of carpeting and padding at the curb (next to the sleeper sofa we dragged out there yesterday), the front door of the house wide open, a table saw on the front lawn and van in the driveway. Obviously the workers were still working. I found out that workers was actually worker. Ziggy was packing up. I went in the house - the plywood underlayment was down in the family room, partially down in the living room, and the flooring was still piled-up on the last remnant of carpeting in the dining room. All of the baseboard was pulled-up. In the family room there was a black covering over the underlayment and some boards were actually dry-fit in an area (I have no idea why). Ziggy & Carol picked-up the marble fireplace hearth and put it in the utility room. It may have had adhesive on the back, but it looked like it dried-up long ago. Ziggy thought that trying to put some kind of angled-cut around the hearth would look bad, so he wanted to take-up the hearth to build up the underlayment. We'll see how this all goes.
It took a while for Ziggy to clean-up and put everything in its place. When he left, we dragged a few things around the garage and got an extension ladder out to put up plastic to seal-off the second floor from the first.
posted at 06:09 PM | Link | Mundane § |
First NightEaster was fun at Jane's house, but Carol & I are just really tired and left early. Our life has turned into living in our bedroom as if it was a hotel room. Yesterday for lunch we had Subway and we just sat on the bed and ate it.
Overnight, the bunnies were quiet - save the ruckus when we turned the lights off. I never heard them move around or eat. I think they were just confused with their surroundings.
We let them out this morning to run around the bedroom for a little while to get some exercise. We'll do the same tonight.
We have to figure out where to go for dinner, since we don't have a first floor to cook and clean in.
Sometime around 9am my broadband connection went down - I'll have to check it out when I get home.
posted at 10:21 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Empty!
Happy Easter everybody! Well, "The Kids" (Indy & Chip - our bunnies) are not so happily upstairs in our bedroom. The entire first floor is empty of furniture, window coverings, paintings and pictures. We've been in the house over 20 years and it's never been this empty since before we moved-in. It's a very odd feeling walking around and seeing... nothing. The place is dirty, though. It's amazing what the walls look like behind the couches. Speaking of couches, we drug a sleeper sofa to the curb - never to darken our house again. Somebody just came and took the mattress (we had taken it off the couch and it was still wrapped in plastic like the first day we bought it). We're buying a new couch for the family room to replace it.
All of our belongings are in the garage. I hooked-up the TiVo again, so it'll do what it needs to do for the next week or so.
Later today, we're celebrating Easter at my cousin Jane's - as long as I can find the directions to her house!
posted at 11:36 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Easter Bunnies
I am re-posting an entry that I have posted every year at this time ( 2004, 2003, and 2002) - please indulge me.
I know I don't get a lot of traffic here at this Blog, but, please, take a moment to read this and help out this cause.
Carol and I have a pet rabbit named Indy and another that's only been with us 7 months, Chip. (They have there own WebCam over on the Right-hand side of the page, if you want to visit). We love Indy and Chip, and have loved the rabbits that have been part of our life over the past 20 years. They're different, but fun - and very loving. I think that's the one thing that has surprised me the most over the years - how affectionate they can really be. This past year, we've experienced what it's like to have two rabbits together, and even that seems special.
Every year, at Easter time, people think about buying a rabbit for their kids. Bunnies really are great, but they have special needs and care and are not like dogs & cats. There are many rabbits that are abandoned each year after Easter when the kids lose interest or when they become a burden to the owners.
If you have a website, please visit the House Rabbit Society's Easter Page and get a banner to put on your page until after Easter (March 27 for those that don't know) to help raise awareness of the problem. There are also PDF's to print up and post in your cubicle of wherever if you'd like to do that to help spread the word (as well as a damn sad poem that just rips at our heartstrings).
Indy thanks you, Chip thanks you, and Carol & I thank you.
posted at 05:43 AM | Link | Bunnies | 1 comment § |
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Getting emptierWell, I successfully swung the cable modem into the garage and got the wireless router up and running, so I'll be able to keep my Internet connectivity throughout all of the action inside the house. We started breaking down some of the family room. Indy & Chip's BunnyCam is officially DOWN. I feel bad about that - tomorrow is easter and the live BunnyCam won't be active. Sorry, folks.
My allergies are just terrible as the bunny fur is flying all over the family room as I'm tearing apart th support computers and electronics for the room. I just can't get it all done today.
Tomorrow will be our last stretch before Monday's big start.
posted at 09:18 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Friday, March 25, 2005
We got wood!
Our wood for the flooring was delivered this afternoon, all piled-up in bundles in the dining room. We've been letting Indy & Chip run all over the first floor now that there's nothing they can get into trouble with. The living room & dining room are empty except for the flooring. All we have left is the room we really live in - the family room. That's what we'll tackle over the weekend.
posted at 08:05 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Good Friday
During most of my career, I have been off work on Good Friday because of a company holiday. This year - I am back at work. I always thought that - as a company - getting Good Friday off was odd. It's a Christian religious holiday, and while I happen to be Catholic, the idea of getting off work for a religious holiday not because I'm Christian and "entitled" to it, I feel that in the real world out there where we show tolerance for all religions (and even those people that don't have any religious beliefs), that this just isn't right. I believe it should be taken as a "personal" day off or one of those additional days that you can take each year.
Anyway...
It's snowing like hell outside. The commute was easy - nobody is on the roads because they have the day off.
The living room at home is empty. The wood will be delivered this morning and stacked-up there to get acclimated. All we have to clean out is the family room, and other than all of the electronics (including the BunnyCam host machine which will have to go down - on Easter, no less), it should be smooth.
The big issue for me is internet connectivity - I may try to move the cable modem someplace else, but I'm not sure if it'll work from that location. If it doesn't, then I'm S.O.L for internet access until the entire project is completed.
posted at 09:23 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Time passingOK, what the hell is going on with the space/time continuum in my immediate area?
I've been busy and working diligently in my cube. Normally, if I'm busy and productive, time flies.
I'm busy. I'm productive.
The hands on the clock are barely moving. There are hours left in my working day and it feels like its never ending. It's actually a little disorienting - I'm used to time flying and this slow progression of time just doesn't make sense.
Or is it the meds?
posted at 01:45 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Still getting worseWoke up with a gross brownish sludge in moth, coating my tongue and teeth. GROSS. Despite some bad coughing jags last evening, I made it through the night quite quietly. Still feel like crap, though.
posted at 08:37 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
NoisyAs this cold or whatever it is (allergies from all the crap we've kicked-up in the house?) is starting to take hold with a vengeance. Eyes - dry, lungs - moist. I wheeze sometimes when I breathe. I swear my eyelids are making scraping noises when I blink, my eyes are so dry. Didn't make it through the day - I cut out of work early and hit the Walgreen's on the way home for some meds. Got home, took said meds and took a nap on the couch before Carol got home.
Unfortunately, we had one piece of furniture to move on our schedule for today - the buffet. Heavy as hell. It was pick-it-up-move-five-steps-put-it-down. It took forever, but it's in the garage.
posted at 06:39 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Things to do, and you're sickWhile surfing I checked-in at my own website and saw in the thumbnails on the side that the delivery truck from Abt was in the driveway in full view of my WeatherCam. Carol took the afternoon off to accept the delivery. I called and sure enough, we now possess a nice Maytag dishwasher and our old 20-year old... something... was no where to be seen. Carol vacuumed the living room while she was waiting - we've almost cleaned out the room, but we're going to finish up tomorrow. I really feel like I'm coming down with something - really achy, tired, eyes and nose are burning. Everything that's left is heavy and big and takes a bit of work and attentiveness so nothing gets broke/marred.
We got the "official" notification tonight - the floor starts getting laid Monday morning, and Ted is going to deliver the wood on Friday (again, Carol is off work - I'm not - so she'll be home to help him).
posted at 06:09 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Monday, March 21, 2005
Hacking up a lungThe dust and god-knows-what that has been kicked-up in our house since we've started emptying it has been terrible. It's not effecting anyone except me. The sneezing isn't too bad, it's the sinuses that are filling and closing that I don't dig. Add to that my lungs filling up. Nothing upsets me more than to have crap in my lungs, just sitting in there, making that moist, wheezing sound when I breathe. We're nowhere near finished - and then comes all of the airborne sawdust once the floor starts to get laid... and then the finishes afterward... I feel like I should move out, but that's too damn expensive.
posted at 06:22 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Sunday, March 20, 2005
What's going on there?
Saw this on our way to my mom's house tonight.
One block on Narragansett. 4 bungalows. All For Sale, all represented by the same Realtor.
Normally, I would think that something else would be going in the place of the homes, but not if each house is actually up for sale separately.
Wonder what's going on?
posted at 09:32 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Spring CleaningSpring has finally arrived - so we're cleaning. Not because of that, because of the new floors that will be coming sometime soon. We're moving the cars out of the garage for the next couple of weeks as we move the entire contents of our first floor into the garage. Today, we started with the living room.
There is nothing worse than two short, overweight, unfit people trying to get a sleeper-sofa through the front door of the house - while the "sleeper" part of the sofa decides to open-up. Crap, that was hard to maneuver. Wound up twisting a knee and ankle trying to put a curio cabinet on top of other furniture in the garage when I really couldn't reach it.
The living room, now empty, looks gross. It's dirtier than I had expected, with cobwebs on the wall behind where the couch was, not to mention the hundred or so dead bodies of insects that are strewn along a wall. They're those little... I don't know what you call them. They're like little armadillo's that roll up into a ball. But they're insects. And they're dead. And there's lots of them. *blech*
Yet to do - the dinning room side of the room - the table, the TV, and God help us - the buffet. We took everything out of it and can barely move it away from the wall. This is going to be fun.
Long way to go yet, though. The family room will be last, as we're still living in there. There's the "kids" (our bunnies "Indy" and "Chip") who will move upstairs and live in our bedroom for a while. Then there's all the damn electronics that I have to disconnect (and reconnect in the garage - specifically our TiVo! We've got to make sure things get recorded!).
And we still don't know when the whole thing is going to start...
posted at 02:49 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Wolves 3 - Griffins 4
read more of this entry »
Nah, not going to happen tonight. The place is packed - 15,342 - and the fans are into it, but something's wrong with the boys. They got outplayed at a time when they didn't need a bad showing.
Four unanswered goals. I think that just about summarizes it. Oh, and we outshot them 45-27. Not our night.
The St. Patrick's Jersey auction ended tonight - looks like all of the jerseys went for about $1,100 to $1,800 each - with a few over that. How can a "normal, everyday average fan" supposed to partake in this?
(Boxscore - Gamesheet) « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 10:42 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Abt
We're getting closer and closer to the day - whenever that is - that we'll be getting our brand new hardwood floors installed. Since the kitchen is involved, this is going to be our last opportunity to get rid of our dishwasher. It's original to the house, so it's just over 20 years old and the thing is so loud you can't have a normal conversation or listed to the TV at normal levels. If the floor went in while the dishwasher was still inside the cabinetry, it would be hell to try and get it out.
We drove out to Abt to look at their selection, bought one on sale, and it'll be there on Tuesday, installed, with the old one hauled away. I love that place. We had to wander around a while, just seeing what was new (I never really looked through their new location).
posted at 02:24 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Friday, March 18, 2005
GigabitSo much for the dead switch. I went out to CompUSA tonight and picked-up 2 5-Port Gigabit switches and go them hooked up in my den/office and in my "new" area in the second bedroom (I picked-up some shelving - you know, the "bread rack" stuff that seems pretty popular for quick computer "racking"), so I've got everything up and running again, and I can start using some faster speeds as I start replacing NICs and introducing new hardware. Of course, I'll only see that locally among the machines since I have a crappy cable modem broadband internet access.
posted at 09:49 PM | Link | Computing § |
Dead HubWoke up this morning to find that none of my machines had connectivity. Then I realized that down in the system tray, there was a help balloon saying "Network Cable Unplugged". (I always display the network connection icon).
Sure enough - I lost my switch. It just sat there and flashed every LED it had on its face plate.
Guess I'm I doing some shopping after work today.
posted at 08:24 AM | Link | Computing § |
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Elevator Peeves
I have a pretty extensive list of My Pet Peeves when it comes to driving.
I've been working at a new position since December, and it's the first time in a long time where I had to take an elevator to get to the floor that I work on. In this case, I'm on the 10th floor which - for all intents and purposes - is the top floor of the building.
So every morning, it's in at the ground floor, out at the top floor. If I want my morning ice for my Thermos products (thanks to my lovin' wife, Carol), it's in a the top floor, out in the basement where the "cafeteria" is located (I use the term loosely).
read more of this entry »
So, basically, my elevator travels are bottom-to-top or top-to-bottom. That's it.
Well, now that I've been riding elevators more frequently, there are a few things that I find annoying.
The first thing is - there's just no way in hell I can figure out which elevator car is going to go up first from the lobby. Oh, sure, there's lights indicating that. You would think they would mean something. I've heard the "ding" of the bell, I've seen a light go on, I've seen people step in to the indicated elevator, and the damn thing just sits there. Other cars open, other people step in and they go up. I don't get it.
The other thing that grates me - that I can't do a damn thing about - are those people who stop my wonderful non-stop commute by getting on at an intermediate floor and get off a few floors later. Jeez, I want a "Special Request" button for Express Service only to keep these carpetbaggers off my car. How dare they interrupt my commute! Don't they know I need my morning donut!!! Bastards!
Oh! Oh! OH! OH! What's worse? Someone that gets on and goes down one floor and gets off! You lazy bastard! Take the friggin' stairs!
There...
...I can breathe now.
Carry on. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 02:33 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Wolves 3 - Roadrunners 2 (Shootout)
read more of this entry »
the Wolves had on their green St. Patrick's Day jerseys - that are sure to be the annual hot item in the silent auction as usual after Saturday's game. It was really frustrating to watch tonight. Edmonton's goaltender - Mike Morrison - was all over the damn place. Anytime a shot was taken, he'd commit early, go down early, get drawn out, get drawn to the side - and we had NOBODY camped-out in front to get it past him. Unbelievable - you should have SEEN the holes we saw! it just led to another see-saw night that made us look like we were struggling. Hell, we tied the game with 21 seconds to play!
(Boxscore - Gamesheet) « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 10:40 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
I'm your vehicle, babe. I'll take you anywhere you want to go...Soothsayer Caesar!
CAESAR Ha! who calls?
CASCA Bid every noise be still: peace yet again!
CAESAR Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry 'Caesar!' Speak; Caesar is turn'd to hear.
Soothsayer Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR What man is that?
BRUTUS A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
CAESAR Set him before me; let me see his face.
CASSIUS Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar.
CAESAR What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.
Soothsayer Beware the ides of March.
CAESAR He is a dreamer; let us leave him: pass.
Julius Caesar Act I Scene II
posted at 08:13 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Monday, March 14, 2005
WoodHad somebody at the house tonight giving us an estimate on hardwood floors. Actually, it's kind of odd, but he's done my sister Diane's place. And he was back there today starting their next job - Diane's second floor. So, after he pulled-up the carpet there, he drove out to meet Carol and I to talk about hardwood flooring for the family room (YEA!) and the kitchen and the living room/dining room. This is going to be a huge project... it should be interesting...
posted at 06:55 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Getting closer...Watched baseball over the weekend. Watched baseball. Comcast is broadcasting 20 pre-season games! No one's done that around here before... and it just gets you cranked-up for next month when the season actually starts... Oh, and the Sox beat the Cubs this afternoon, and things feel better than I thought...
posted at 04:51 PM | Link | White Sox § |
Happy Pi Day!It's 3/14 1:59! You know, 3.14159 ???? Right? C'mon! It's π?
Also, It's Albert Einstein's birthday! Cool!
E to the x, dy, dx,
E to the x, dx.
Secant, tangent, cosine, sine,
3.14159.
Square root, cube root, log base e,
Cheers for math at MIT.
posted at 01:59 AM | Link | Odd § |
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Wolves 1 - Moose 0posted at 10:53 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Eight cents overnight!?!
WHAT THE HELL????? GAS PRICES BY MY GAS STATION WENT UP 8 CENTS OVERNIGHT!!!!!
posted at 11:54 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Friday, March 11, 2005
Fishy Elvisposted at 07:53 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Thursday, March 10, 2005
10 days until spring?
I just got out of my cubicle and caught a glimpse of the outside world through a window in an outside office - what outside world? It's a white-out outside, ands it's supposed to continue to snow all day. Oh, and wind, too. Lots. And it's supposed to pick-up during the day. Great. It's times like this that I feel blessed having a commute that's only 4.8 miles!
posted at 10:03 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
11 days until Spring...... and not only that, my life had started again during my "blogging hiatus". Yes, baseball spring training had started last week. I have a small radio that I take to the hockey and baseball games that I keep in my backpack, so I'm lucky to hear a game being broadcast over ESPN 1000 (even though the interference from all of the damn electronics around here - depending on where you sit/stand - isn't all that bad). What's even better, though I haven't seen one yet, is that Comcast Sports is actually broadcasting 20 pre-season games. I can't wait to sit down and watch.
And you know what came in the mail yesterday? Yes! Our Season Tickets. We were shocked to find out that our seats moved! Our ticket rep moved us up 2 rows from 16 to 14, and we're still in seats 1 & 2. Up side: closer to the field. Down side: we've moved away from Victor! Damn!
We got our Stadium Club passes a week ago - we are splitting the cost this year with our pals Janie & Gary. We'll finally have a place to go (again) when the weather turns crappy at the beginning of the season.
It's too bad that I'm not feeling all that good about the team this year, and so far this spring isn't helping matters.
posted at 12:18 PM | Link | White Sox § |
More boring stuff about my MovableType conversionI know it's boring to all of you out there, but somehow I feel the need to let others know how my website transfer and MovableType upgrade has been going.
Well, I think I got the comments just about figured out. If you use TypeKey, you can go ahead and comment - if you don't, the comments will be moderated.
Now the exciting thing for me is to see that the new MT-Blacklist is just chugging away, doing its work to keep the spam off my comments. I mean, look what it's done in a day:
And the whole new comment moderation system in MovableType 3.15 is just a breeze to handle all this stuff.
I'm happy. Now I can just sit back... and think of more mundane crap to blog about...
posted at 10:06 AM | Link | Blogging § |
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Still commentless, but closerWell, nothing to talk about. I'm busy at the office, so all of my out-of-the-office time is being spent piecing together the blog. Right now, to focus is comments. I just can't get them up all the way. Found out it's because I didn't uninstall the old MT-Blacklist. So, right now, the comments are still moderated (I'm hoping to be able to drop that soon), or, If you have a TypeKey account, you are free to comment!
posted at 09:02 PM | Link | Blogging § |
Monday, March 07, 2005
Hello from A Small Orange!
I'm Back!
After my forced absence, I have picked-up my toys and moved to a new host. So, I bring you My Mundane Mid-Life live from A Small Orange!
Did everything make it over? Well, I think so. Comments may still be a bit wonky (looks like they're going to be Moderated for a while, so if you don't see your comments right away, you'll know why), but at least I've upgraded successfully to MovableType 3.15! Hey, I'm just happy some of this publishes! More some other time, I'm just hoping I've got everything up and running that I wanted to!
posted at 10:19 PM | Link | Blogging § |
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