blah, blah, daily life

We have got almost everything done that we can do for getting the loan and getting the condo. Monday I have to bug the insurance people, but other than that its come down to waiting for paperwork to arrive and checks to arrive. I have begun the pitching and packing process. Yesterday I filled the recycling bin with papers. Today I'm going to try to get into the closet and begin a pitch fest there. I've got five more boxes to fill (we're going slow on getting boxes because otherwise the apartment will collapse under the weight of boxes of books).

Thursday was layoff day at work. The whole first part of the week was weird with everyone on pins and needles. The end of the week was weird with survivor guilt and giddiness. Not that there is any lack of work as far as the stuff I do. I've got a ton of work and I feel like a mouse running just inches in front of a steamroller.

I need to get all my around the house stuff done early today so that I can do things for work this afternoon. I'll be glad when some of the projects are done and I can enjoy a weekend.

Next weekend I think I need to go for a walk somewhere away from the city. I keep telling myself that. Perhaps if I make an appointment with littleredhead then I'll actually get out and do it. There has to be someplace upcoast that isn't entirely mud.

I have been stressed lately and have not been dealing with it well. I need to blow of steam.

reading (I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This)

I finished Bob Newhart's "I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This" early in the week. I had read bits and pieces of it over the course of the last two years because it was on the bookshelf in the bathroom. (All truly civilized people have a bookshelf in their bathroom.) It's a fun, non-linear collection of recollections. Bob jumps here and there, generally starting with his early life and working forward to the current state of his life. But it's that kind of random walk that keeps it from being a biography. The bio bits and the general order keep it from being just a series of funny stories. I found the presentation to be a good combination, suited to Bob's storytelling style.

I wasn't a huge Newhart fan when I was a kid. "The Bob Newhart Show" was a bit to slow for me as a young child and "Newhart" began its run just as I was turning away from TV for the first time. So I can't claim that I've always been a fan. However, Newhart's style then suits my style of humor now. I love his understated delivery and his implied punchline.

26. Bob Newhart "I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This"

reading (Clementine)

I finished "Clementine" yesterday. It was a fun book with good illustration. I could go into my who internal debate about whether the Clementine character is pitched younger than her stated years, but I don't know jack about kids, so I leave it to more knowledgeable opinions. I found the slightly (or others might say majorly) Aspergers way Clementine thinks to be realistic, endearing, and familiar, but that's probably just me.

This is a quick fun read. Might be a good midpoint between the easy books and the hard books in the reading development cycle. It's not earthshaking or classic, but it's fun and easy.

27. Sara Pennypacker "Clementine"