boyo. what did i do today? well, i got up and ate some breakfast. wheat chex, i think it was. i like them wheat chex because they don't float up when you put in the milk the way cheerios do - and then they don't wander all around and off onto the floor while yr trying to get to the table.

next, i read the papers a little because this republican convention is in progress and it's nice to see so many happy faces in the paper and to read such good news for america. everything will be great and ok pretty soon. by golly.

then i stumbled carefully up to my room with an ocean of folger's instant coffee sloshing around in my "moment of crisis / moment of hope" old carmelite mug. and i logged on to check the mail - of which there was a bunch, though very little for me in particular. but i enjoy reading the serious ruminations of all these teachers - and i get a laugh out of their antics (like, today they're playing with their new secret names. name of first pet + street you lived on as a kid = yr new name. mine is Cat Stratford, pleased to meet you.) these listservs serve as a kind of virtual community that is even more virtually virtual if yr a lurker - as i usually am. i still haven't got the knack of fitting in, of being myself.

but one message came to me from rick who listed his favorite movies, and you can see them now at the usual place. rick likes guy movies with a certain satirical bent, it seems.

then i started thinking about upcoming classes and set to putting together some course description info for students. i need these by the day after tomorrow because we have a department tech workshop in the computer lab wherein gloria is going to help us set up our site on the intranet. which in my case will be a duplication - something to set up and never attend to, i suspect. so i did that course thinking for a while and boy it was hard work making some of them decisions. but i did it. and then i decided to play a little, so i put together a tiny powerpoint show. and then i checked the mail again. so the morning goes and the afternoon goes, too.

i spent some time looking for vocabulary development sites and i didn't find too much for that. but there are some neat language sites like Dave Wilton's Etymology Page and Dillon's Online Vocabulary Tests (which - surprise - i aced).

yesterday i sent out some invites for a list i'm moderating. and today i got one reply - sort of. yesterday we went out to eat at The Rockland Cafe. the night before we hit Rick's American Grille. so tonight i sat at home and opened a can of tuna and crunched some toast and had a wild time. i don't like going out to eat too often. and dominic is of the same persuasion, but what are you going to do when yr a guy without culinary talent and it's the cook's week off? you hit the road or you pull out the can opener.

the other day jose came by to remove the dead crabapple tree outside our dining room windows. i hear it was originally with the property some 40 years ago. it managed one last pretty burst of blooms this spring and then just died. jose is an artist with a chainsaw. made short work of it. now we've got a wide open garden spot where only ugly pine bark mulch and even uglier roseplants grow. we need a meeting to discuss our options, i suppose.

so after dinner i came up here and decided that since it is now august i should do something about it. and this is it. so here i sit typing and thinking how i should have read something out of a book today because the clock is ticking and the calendar flipping.