A Partial Triumph

As a long time fan of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, I am familiar with the concept of the reality distortion field. The uncanny ability that S.Jobs has to make merely incremental improvements seem profound, is legend among Mac cultists.

I believe that our home exists within a similar field for our friends, who have been so genuinely happy for us that they have been able to overlook the fact that most of the front of it was covered in white paint, some more of it covered in blue. We believe that the paint was so unsightly, that the fact of it contributed directly to our actually being able to purchase the house.

With plans shaping up for our garden out front, and March closing in fast, we knew that we'd have to remove the paint before we put anything in the soil. So, we hit craigslist and cross-referenced the UC Berkeley Parents Network and found someone to remove the paint.

When we told friends that we had someone coming by to remove the paint, most of them indicated that they hadn't noticed the paint. One repeated the peculiar locution that she just thought that we had bought a house. I've always associated this sort of seemingly judgement-free observation with a certain midwest-flavored practicality. Compare then with Kewler Truong, of KB Jet Care, who during the three visits it took him to make serious headway against the paint, expressed profound incredulity that anyone would do such a thing.

We still have a ways to go. There are a few patches of brick that are still more white than not. The paint removal will also necessitate some mortar restoral. I found one chunk of mortar more than twenty feet away from the house. So far, the neighbors have been blessedly mum, though the owner of a gold Volvo hasn't parked in front of our house for a few days.