Hints and Guesses

• A pair of wisdom teeth. My, what big teeth I had!
• Bridal magazines
• A pack of cards
• An S seal, with sealing wax
• Miscellaneous office supplies
• A receipt for a wedding dress
• A roll of undeveloped film. USE BY JUN 97. Will it be any good?
• An unopened tin of violet pastilles
• A small box of violet incense
• A Sacajawea dollar. And a penny.
• The title to my car

• Two and a half bento boxes. The half went in the trash, but I’m keeping the other two for work. When I get it.
• One 6-cup muffin pan
• One electric kettle
• Two pastry tips

• One mouse-eaten leather backpack
• One unharmed but still kind of gross leather backpack
• Random camping supplies
• Ski gloves (now living with the ski suit that no longer fits me. But maybe someday it will again.)
• Eyes Wide Shut ticket stub
• $4.60
• Several old organizer purses (the best kind)
• A family photo with wife #3
• An engagement photo with husband #1. I am thin. I look good. I keep the picture.

Once or twice a year, about this time, I make Peach and Blueberry Shortcakes.  Our oven isn’t working, so I’m headed over to a friend’s house to do most of the work. I might take a picture, but nothing I can write can communicate how absolutely wonderful these are. You’ll have to try them for yourself.

• Morning pages—check
• Hour-long walk—check
• Shower—check
• Had an interview at a staffing agency today.
• Blogging—check
• Eating well—did pretty well, except for some rather excellent carrot cake (yes, I had another piece. Thank goodness it’s all gone now.).
• Limited email and feed reading—check

• Morning pages—check
• Hour-long walk—check
• Shower—check
• The #1 job I wanted to apply for is no longer available. Good thing I’ve started on plan B. Have an interview at another staffing agency tomorrow.
• Blogging—check
• Eating well—did pretty well, except for some rather excellent carrot cake
• Limited email and feed reading—check

Being the only otherwise-unoccupied competent family person, today I was designated to be the companion for the eight-year-old younger brother of my two stepsons (and no matter how awkwardly constructed this sentence is, I have no intention of rewriting it). He’s a great kid, or it would have been a bother.

He watched television while I worked around the house all morning. Then we went to the lake, where I thought I might write the morning pages, but this eight-year-old has more confidence in his swimming skills than I do, so we swam together. He got tired of swimming, so we went to the playground. He finally got tired of the playground and wanted to walk to the end of the pier, so we did. We sat for a while at the end of the pier where he pretended to fish with some fishing line he found.

We wrapped up the day at Kilwin’s (because it was his last day of freedom before school begins tomorrow, and if you’re going to eat ice cream it might as well be the good stuff).

“Is there anything else you’d like to do today before you go back to school tomorrow?” I asked.

“Finish this ice cream,” he said.

And so we did.

• I wrote morning pages.
• I walked for an hour.
• I took a shower.
• I applied for one job and worked on the cover letter for another.
• Here I am, blogging about it. You should be grateful that I don’t have cats.
• I ate pretty well. Could probably have eaten less.
• I kept to my limited email and feed reader schedule.
• I beat my sister at Scrabble a couple of times. The last one was a come-from-behind nail biter.

Being jobless isn’t half bad, except for the no-money-coming-in part. Tomorrow will be three weeks since the first time I ever got fired, and I still don’t have a job.

There’s no doubt that any one of you looking at all I’ve accomplished over the last three weeks wouldn’t wait to roll your eyes before kicking me in the butt. I’d kick my butt too, if I were you. Since I am not, I have decided to create some ambition for myself this week, and I’m going to tell you all about it so that you can ask me about it later.

Here goes:

• Write morning pages. Every morning. First thing in the morning.
• Walk. One hour. Every morning after morning pages.
• Take a shower. Pretend I’m going to work.
• Look for that one job. The timing for the one I’d like isn’t working out, but I’ve made contact. Apply for those other jobs that aren’t exactly the one I’d like but will do for now.
• Blog about what I’ve done. Here. Every day.
• Eat well. Some. Not a lot. My body tells me it would like to keep all incoming calories. It can have them, but it will be getting fewer of them.
• Stay on my current limited email and feed reader schedule. Once every four hours. Five minutes with new feeds.

That’s all the ambition I can manufacture at the moment. I could add to the list, but then it would all seem impossibly hard.

Bold the ones you have seen.
Put an asterisk after the movie title* if you really liked it.
Cross it out if you saw a film and really disliked it.
Underline the ones you own.

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)*
3. Titanic (1997)*
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)*
9. Die Hard (1988)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)*
11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
12. The Matrix (1999)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)*
16. Boogie Nights (1997)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)*
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)
20. The Lion King (1994)
21. Schindler’s List (1993)
22. Rushmore (1998)*
23. Memento (2001)
24. A Room With a View (1986)*
25. Shrek (2001)
26. Hoop Dreams (1994)
27. Aliens (1986)
28. Wings of Desire (1988)
29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
30. When Harry Met Sally (1989)*
31. Brokeback Mountain (2005)*
32. Fight Club (1999)
33. The Breakfast Club (1985)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. The Incredibles (2004)
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
37. Pretty Woman (1990)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
40. Speed (1994)
41. Dazed and Confused (1993)
42. Clueless (1995)
43. Gladiator (2000)
44. The Player (1992)
45. Rain Man (1988)
46. Children of Men (2006)
47. Men in Black (1997)
48. Scarface (1983)
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
50. The Piano (1993)
51. There Will Be Blood (2007)
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
53. The Truman Show (1998)*
54. Fatal Attraction (1987)
55. Risky Business (1983)
56. The Lives of Others (2006)
57. There’s Something About Mary (1998)*
58. Ghostbusters (1984)
59. L.A. Confidential (1997)*
60. Scream (1996)
61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
63. Big (1988)*
64. No Country For Old Men (2007)
65. Dirty Dancing (1987)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
67. Donnie Brasco (1997)
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999)
70. Broadcast News (1987)
71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Office Space (1999)
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
75. Out of Africa (1985)
76. The Departed (2006)
77. Sid and Nancy (1986)
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
80. Michael Clayton (2007)
81. Moonstruck (1987)
82. Lost in Translation (2003)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
84. Sideways (2004)
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
86. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
87. Swingers (1996)
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
91. Back to the Future (1985)*
92. Menace II Society (1993)
93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001)
96. Far From Heaven (2002)
97. Glory (1989)
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)*
99. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)*

Should I be watching television?

Why I voted for Mitt Romney

Sure hope it doesn’t backfire.

Rob Beschizza in Wired sums up why I don’t have a cell phone.

I’m no Luddite. I can imagine circumstances in which I would gladly pay for a cell phone. But since I turned mine in five years ago, I’ve encountered only a few situations in which I might have wanted one.

A moment ago, it dashed across the living room floor, paused underneath the coffee table, and then fled under the couch.

I am alone with this mouse.

I foresee a trip to the hardware store this afternoon.

I once owned a fine price book program called Price-It!. Price-It! for Palm was created by Blue Robin Technologies (formerly at http://www.bluerobintech.com, and I don’t recommend visiting that address).

Not only was Price-It! a fine price book program, it’s the only price book program I’ve ever found. Price-It! installs both on the Palm and on the desktop, which makes it easy to stand in the store and collect or use data as well as to work with it at home.

Sometime last year I noticed that the link between my handheld version and the desktop version had been broken. Not only that, but the CD onto which I had copied the installation file had gone missing, so re-installation was not an option. I went online to get a new installation file, only to discover that Blue Robin Technologies was out of business and Price-It! was no longer available. Nowhere, nohow.

I’m hoping to get a new Palm later this year, and when the old one goes, so does the only copy of Price-It I own. I would dearly love to get another one, somehow, some way.

Hence this plea: if you have a copy and no longer need it, I’d be happy to take it. Please contact me by e-mail.