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the new door

i hate it

I hate the new door. It's metal. The old shade doesn't fit it and the door replacers weren't allowed to rehang the shade or the valance so the door looks naked and institutional. The door replacer said it would void the warranty if he drilled holes in it for the valance.

at least it comes with a deadbolt

It took them all afternoon yesterday to install it. I was worried I was going to have to call a locksmith to come after hours, but it turns out the condo association cleverly got the kind of doors with a deadbolt instead of the crummy doorknob lock this time. So, at least I don't have to install my own deadbolt this time. I don't have the right saw blade for that.

Oh, did I mention the reason for the door replacement? Lead paint. They had to take down the whole door frame and lintel and whatever. All of it. And it looks like they exacerbated the gap between the back steps and the foundation so once winter comes and water drips down there and freezes I'm screwed - it's new back porch time...

the new layout

told ya i'm not good at this

So, like, yesterday afternoon while they were replacing the door I redesigned the journal page. I got the idea because Kate asked why I put the previous/next stuff on the bottom of the page. I guess it just seemed logical to me. Then I started thinking about putting it in the left margin but it didn't look right with the way I had the header so I changed the header. I don't know yet whether I like it.

a consistent look?

Now, do I go back and redo all the previous journal entries in the new format for a consistent look? I just re-did December thru May to clean up the typos now that I have a spell checker (btw, the spell checker says spell checker is two words, and I continue to be amazed at the words it fails to recognize - yesterday's bizarre omission: raptor).

I'm not even sure I like the new look, so I'd better wait awhile before I back fit it to the rest of the journal.

Oh, and furthermore, I just noticed that I made the Free Paul Watson links different sizes in different journal entries, which I sorta don't get because I made it part of the template. I must've changed it in my sleep like I did with my long distance carrier. BTW, I changed back to MCI without giving Minimum Rate Pricing much of a chance because I didn't like their attitude and MCI called and offered to switch me back and give me a lower rate plus 5000 frequent flier miles on my American Airlines account. I also moved the phone away from my bed so I don't answer it in my sleep anymore.

what i did today

sleeping

I slept late again. I actually woke up about 5:00 AM and then went back to sleep not to see consciousness again until almost 11:00. This would be great if it made me any less tired, but it hasn't.

coffee

As I limped from my parking spot across from the "Giant Burgers, 18 Different Beers" sign toward Starbucks, I heard hurried footsteps closing in on me and I swerved out of the way just in time to avoid being trampled by a woman on her way to a yoga class. She was loaded down with props - pillows, sticky mat, etc.- and rushing like crazy - all on her way to relax.

At Starbucks, after dodging the yogini, I had coffee with Tom and Julie. We talked about history, books, electronic rights to articles, living in Spain, living in Japan... Anne joined us to talk about Japan and loan Tom Pico Iyer's The Lady and the Monk..

When I got back to my car, my meter had just expired but I lucked out and didn't get a ticket.

web browsing

I looked up Julie's article about women wage earners, and sure enough Women's History hadn't listed any of her sources. I'd think the online version of the magazine would have an easier time with sources and footnotes than the paper copy 'cause they can use hypertext. Isn't that what it's for? So not only is Julie worried about her work turning up in some student's term paper unattributed, but also about fellow historians getting the idea she didn't do proper citations of their work.

wasting time

I tried to take a nap without success, then finally showered and changed and puttered around doing nothing and feeling guilty about it. This is the first day I've had all to myself this week and I didn't write a damn word.

I curled up on the bed with Wilbur and Earth Warrior, a book about, who else, Paul Watson. I read about 10 pages and decided to work on my web pages some more. Fooled around and got nothing done.

Finally, I went into Cambridge early so I could browse at Wordsworth before my meeting. I bought a copy of the John and Mildred Teal classic Life and Death of a Salt Marsh, which I've been wanting to read for some time.

Journal Index

the red sox suck

slumping

The Red Sox have lost 9 out of their last 10 and are on a long road trip so have sort of slipped out of my daily awareness. I was so hoping they'd help boost my mood.

pitching

The Sox staff ERA is something like 5.16. Yikes! They'll never win anything like that.

Greenie leaves Japan

Former Red Sox left fielder Mike Greenwell had signed with the Hanshin Tigers to get away from the bizarre Red Sox management. He just broke his foot soon after coming back from a back injury and so announced he is leaving Japan and baseball.

I always liked Greenie.

What kind of a second career does one have after major league baseball?

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