Whew! Spent Monday through Wednesday in scenic Fargo, ND. Never been there before, outside of the virtual tour afforded by the Coen brothers.

It was odd.

They call it the franchise capital of the world. I did indeed see the most theme restaurants I have ever encountered in one place. And we stayed in the lovely Holiday Inn Fargo.

It was odd, by God!

This particular Holiday Inn boasted a Holidome, a considerable selling point. And what was in the Holidome, you may ask? Why, Shipwreck Island, a fabulous pool/mini water park for the kiddies, with a booze-serving tiki hut nearby for the adults! Here's a pic -- as you can see, it was packed.

Odsbodikins!

And wouldn't you know it -- I forgot my swimsuit! Dangit. Fortunately, there was the "Spirits" lounge. They do not spend money on names in this joint -- they get franchises for cute names, I guess.

What they do spend money on is gambling. The Spirits lounge actually had blackjack tables, with real dealers and real cameras -- like a little slice of an Indian Reservation. Cheap drinks, too!

Unfortunately, I don't gamble. Still, the unreality of the whole situation was worth witnessing.

On Valentine's Day, a card came for me in the mail from Minnesota, hand-addressed. I was a bit worried that I had made the wrong impression with one of my faculty, but upon opening it I discovered that instead of a secret admirer I was being notified by the National Marrow Donor Program that I was a marrow match for a person with leukemia.

Let's just say that that brought me up short.

Hambone and I talked about it for a while. What to do? The card said that I should call a number right away and tell them if I was still interested. A rep had personally written in the card to tell me her extension and to explain that I was a match.

So we did a little looking on the web, trying to find out more. The last time I heard about marrow donation, it involved excruciating pain. I think they used an augur, pliers, and an ice-cream scoop or something. I wasn't really thrilled at that prospect.

Turns out now, though, that it's a better deal. You get an epidural or a spinal, and then they stick a needle in your hip bone and extract marrow that way. Coupla weeks of being sore, and you're back to normal.

So I called and told them I was interested. I answered a coupla questions, and the person on the phone told me that I was going to be contacted in a week or so.

Interestingly, these people had me on file from the time in 1992 when I opted into the program. I was a college kid in 1992, with the most transient lifestyle. My folks still lived in Birmingham! They must have done a lot of digging to find me.

Anyway, more info as I get it myself. Exciting!

Hambone and I have been going back and forth about the trim in our house. As Piers will attest, there's probably a half-inch of solid paint layered over what used to be bee-yootiful trim in this place.

Ordinarily, this wouldn't be such an issue, except that in this case the bonehead who lived here before us did things like paint the trim "congealed blood red" and other ghastly hues. So there have been some places in the joint we simply don't like going.

I took the tack that we should strip all the trim, and we tried a chemical stripper without much luck. We then went to work with a heat gun which does amazing work, except for the fact that it releases noxious paint fumes as it melts all that old paint, requiring a respirator for each of us, and creating a pile of messy paint scraping. Still, it's the way to go.

Except that it's sloooooooooooowwww work, and tedious.

In two months of using the heat gun, I've stripped most of one doorway, and part of one window in the bathroom. We have a boatload of trim.

So Hambone came up with the idea of painting the rest of the trim, so as to make it inoffensive in the meanwhile. After all, it could be a year or more before I make it around to the trim we paint.

And that's what we're doing this weekend -- covering up all the pig's-blood-colored trim with semi-gloss white. It's already making a huge difference in the way the entryway and hall feel.

That is, they feel inviting now, instead of like rooms in the hotel in The Shining.

I'll post before-and-after pics once we have an "after" to post.

Bear with me folks -- working on a few design ideas. All items in progress.