Ira

I'm still painting the house. This job has taken every bit of my weekends, and now that the winter is just around the corner, I'm in a mad rush to get it done.

Let me just explain to you how much time this takes. I go about it in sections. So lets say I'm working on a 14' x 14' section of wall and a window. I first scrape which takes about 5 hours. I then must sand, wash and caulk it. That takes another 4 hours. Once dry, I can prime it: 5 hours. Then it's time for the final two coats of paint: 5 hours. That's just for a small section of wall!

Needless to say, I've had a lot of time to myself. I've listened to enough NPR to make a Tea Partier praise Buddha.

The best thing I've found to pass the time didn't come until halfway through the project. My favorite radio program by far is This American Life with Ira Glass. I've never heard a bad episode. Fortunately, they have a smartphone app that allows you to listen to any of the past 500 episodes. So as the hours pass along with a scraper or brush in my hand, they pass with just me and my best bud, Ira. Ira has me laughing under the Gable. Ira has made me cry along the gutter.

Last weekend I spent about 20 hours painting and hanging with Ira. It was great.

Sunday night, I laid my bald head down and fell fast asleep. No joke, this was my dream:

"This American Life is brought to you by our contributers. I'm Ira Glass. Every week we bring you a theme and stories on this theme. This week, Aaron is dreaming and he's having me narrate his dream. He'll later think this is funny and even consider emailing me about it. He'll settle for just blogging..."

Like every dream involving beautiful celebrities, it didn't last long enough.

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Do yourself a favor an listen to this 16 minute act by Michael Ian Black on the Father's Day episode of This American Life.