Month: January 2003

Hey! Looks like Lileks got two day’s worth of work out of my letter to him a week or so ago. You know, the “this” vs. “next” saturday thing? Read part two on the Backfence.

James, if you’re reading this: You’re welcome.

I was gone almost all day today. Got SO many errands done, you’d all be proud. I filed the abatement paperwork at city hall (ya, sure, my little cape with no garage is worth more than the colonial with the two car garage next door. Both homes are the same age, she has a slightly larger lot, and slightly more square footage. All other things being equal, no way in hell is a house without a garage worth more than one with.

While we were there I also paid the water bill. The water department office is across the hall from Mayor Mazzarella’s office. Last time I was there with Junior he said he wanted to meet the mayor, but the Mayor wasn’t in. Today, when we came out of the water department office I spotted him sitting in his own waiting area, so I walked the three steps to say hello. I told him Junior wanted to meet him and he went to shake Junior’s hand, and asked his name. Well, this is not a shy child by any means but he totally froze, didn’t say his name, and then leapt behind me. He would NOT come out until after we left, and then he acted like nothing happened. I’ve never seen him be that shy before. Ever. At least the mayor and his two admins were tickled about it.

Oh, so the Merry Maids in the title. When I finally got home there was a message from the photographer at the Sentinel. They want a picture of me for the article. Oh dear Lord, how can we take this and somehow hide the fact that people actually live in this house? There is crap on every surface. I’ve got a birthday party until noon and then photog gets here at 2. That’s two hours to take everything I own and put it in cardboard boxes and hide them somewhere. The clutter won’t look scholarly. It will look like a pig sty.

Okay everyone, slide over and make room for our company from thyroid.about.com! I had another article in Mary’s newsletter this week: I’m a New Me™. For those of you who ended up here from there, welcome! I’m not a doctor or any kind of health professional. I cannot answer medical questions. Well, I can, but the answers could harm or kill you, if you catch my drift.

Okay, off to do errands. I won’t post an official list but it involves the bank, CVS (ya, the same one from earlier) and buying a birthday present to take to a b-day party tomorrow.

I just wanted to share something I saw on another blog. When I go in to Boston (into?) I park at Alewife.

For a couple of years now I get hits every day for people looking for a Fireplace Screensaver. I started to feel bad about that (I don’t have one…I WANTED one) so every once in a while I search around to see if anyone’s posted a new one that I can send people to. Here is the 2003 link:

http://home.t-online.de/home/stefan.riediger/scrnsav.htm#Fireplace I can’t vouch for the quality, or if the file is even virus three. Download sensibly.