Tuesday 20070515 - Radio Paradise; Redoing the bedding; Lowe's - Trip 1; Petrol; Lunch and April 30, 2007 issue of "The New Yorker" - Downsizing; Lunch and April 30, 2007 issue of "The New Yorker" - Peter Morgan; Lowe's - Trip 2; WalMart; Dollar Tree; Trip Home; Home again, home again; Outside; Nap; Monday's journal; "Veronica Mars" - "Invisible Children"
(Web work - (Wed) 20070516-2120 / (Tue) 20070515 / (Tue) 20070515)

For the first time in ages, I'm listening to Radio Paradise. One of the superb examples of Freeform (radio format).

RadioParadise is a GREAT place to hear new stuff and unknown selections from more established artists. For example, Elton John's "Sixty Years On" was just on. Totally unfamiliar to me. RP lead me to a much deeper appreciation of Radiohead, Porcupine Tree and Sigur Ros.

But, oh gawd, you have to have a shot of bourbon at hand if you read the comments. My biggest bitch is that every time a Dylan song is played, someone says, "Like the song, but he has such a terrible voice."

Jesus Fucking Christ. Dylan is THE iconic figure of rock!!!. Put some cotton in your ears and go listen to Britney Spears or watch "American Idol." Dolts!

My little heart was all atwitter with expectations I prepared to put on the new bed set I bought Monday. My first find was that the bed skirt has to go on the bottom mattress or box springs. Which means the top item has to be removed. In my case, the top mattress lacks handles, so it can only be moved by brute force. I grabbed on side and threw it against the wall. Certainly not graceful, but it worked.

Find #2 was that if the bed frame and the bottom unit are more than six-inches tall, the skirt will not reach all the way to floor. No choice but to put up with that I suppose. Then you have to restore the top item. A few severe jerks and pulls, and it was back in place.

No problem with the fitted sheet. No problem with the flat sheet, except it seemed a littler large. In the past, I had a thermal blanket and a spread. The thermal blanket was originally on a queen-sized bed (no giggling, please), so I would even it with the floor on one side and let it sprawl several feet, literally, on the other side. But with no spread, it would be very obvious. So I folded the blanket and spread, but then could not find a place in the closet for them. So I threw out two ancient blankets last used by Civil War Soldiers, and made a note to buy a full-size thermal blanket. The old comforter also went into the trash.

I also tossed the skirt and comforter from mother's bed. Plus a batch of old pillow cases.

The pillows were also queen-sized, so I was fearful of not having a fit. But there was no problem. I left the pillow shams for another day.

Certainly gives the bed a new, almost baroque, look.

(I noticed in checking back through the entries that I'd left out the phone call from the Lowe's rep on Monday afternoon. Otherewise, the following really makes no sense. Info has now been added to Monday's entry.)

I wanted to try and take care of the door business at Lowe's before lunch to have it off hand. I knew roughly the total cost, and it was over $500. And anytime I have to write a check for more than that amount I have a panic attack. So I took a xanax in preparation. However, the person I needed would not be in until noon. Off to lunch, I drove.

The petrol indicator was hovering near the empty setting, so I knew that was a necessity. 9.66 gallons at $2.809 per. Soon it will be $3 again

(Out - Tuesday - 20070515 - 1113: $27.15 - Orchard)

Read an article on "The Financial Page" about workforce cuts. Couple of quotes:

"It's possible that these companies would have done even worse had they not downsized, but for the average company the effects of layoffs on the bottom line appears to be negligible."

"The average C.E.O.'s tenure today is just six years, long enough to see the benefits of downsizing (like a lower payroll) but not long enough to suffer costs that may appear in the long term."

"The problem is that too many companies today define workers solely in terms of how much they cost, rather than how much value they create."

Also read article on Peter Morgan who was the screenwriter for "The Queen" and co-writer on "Last King of Scotland." His play "Frost/Nixon" is currently on Broadway. In 1977, David Frost, in an attempt to bolster his flagging career coaxed Nixon into six hours of interviews. Nixon did it as a chance to reë nter the public arena plus $600K and 20% of the profits.

"Morgan, by dramatizing the making of the interviews, traps a fascinating larger point about the media and democracy. He demonstrates that everything that rises in America converges on television, where it is necessarily theatricalized and trivialized."

(In - Tuesday - 20070515 - 1114: $7.51 - Cash)

Back to Lowe's I went. The clerk I needed was now there. We went though what need to be done: remove door, remover old outer door, replace threshold, install new door (old door slot was 78-inches high; new is 80-inches), add deadbolt and knob; reinforce jam; double check door I'd chosen.

By now the xanax had kicked in, so I was able to deal with this in a rational fashion.

Total cost of installation and removal of old doors: $404. Cost of new door: $268. At least, they disallowed the normal $50 charge.

(Out - Tuesday - 20070515 - 1251:$719.04 - Check Insurance Money Market Fund)

I still needed to pick up the full-size thermal blanket. I headed east to the Flowood WalMart on Lakeland, smaller than the one in Pearl. But a little easier to reach considering where I was.

Very small selection. But there's nothing wrong with a simple white blanket.

Since I'm always running out of towels, I picked up two inexpensive brown ones. (Note that choice of a hue in the brown/red end of the spectrum.)

(Out - Tuesday - 20070515 - 1316: $24.93 - Bank Debit Card)

Dollar Tree is next to WalMart, so I'd thought check for the boxes I bought before. Nope. But I did buy two packages of small wicker balls that I can use in the basket of boxes to help with the arrangement. Plus they have a certain appeal of their own.

(Out - Tuesday - 20070515 - 1324: $2.14 - Cash)

At this spot on Lakeland, I could retreat through all the traffic of Dogwood Festival, Lakeland Festival and Lakeland Common, Lowe's, CVS, and the new micro Holiday Inn, or I could meander a back way that skirts a number of very expensive housing developments and the side of the airport property.

There are a couple of ways to get to the road, I took the first left which I rarely do. Almost immediately I was a mucho costly development with a giant houses. The entrance consists of three 20-foot arches, two large metal gates, two gigantic terracotta-looking non-functioning fountains, and about a 100-feet of wooden fence on either side. I sure this artifice must have cost in the hundreds of thousands.

This is a very odd road because for one mile there will be pricey, pricey houses, but the next mile will have very modest homes, and the next mile will have houses that are almost shack-like. And it does twist and turn. And I never understood which city I'm in at any point.

After all that it was great to be home. I placed the wicker balls in the basket of boxes. Slip the blanket and the pillow shams into the closet to keep Tiger, Tiger from spraying them.

I decided to forgo the pleasures of the outside world.

For the last couple of days, I'd been taking Levacet for headaches, so that along with the xanax, was making me feel like a candidate for "28 Weeks Later." A good nap felt like a good option. Which I did. But I was up at 0500, just in time for a sandwich.

From 0530 on for several hours, I worked on Monday's journal. Just as I finished I noticed an error that extended back into April, but the best I could do was to clean up the listings for May.

"VM" was about a Hearst student who had written a book about being a boy soldier in Uganda. Mention was made of an organization called Invisible Children.

Africa has suffered so much. And so many Americans are oblivious to it. No doubt, because of the innate systematic racism of the culture.

This is one of the issues in which thousands are dying, but Americans are too busy complaining about the "gay agenda." I guess during the Holocaust, the primary focus was divorce and liquor.

(Alas, according to "Supernatural Gets Third Season, Veronica Mars Cancelled". A terrible loss! I guess "VM" was too intelligent for the fucking stupid American audience who are cerebrally challenged by "American Idol" or re-runs of "Matlock.")

Smart Market (Mail South) Advertisement Package (junk); solicitation from Howard Wilson Mazda Used Cars (junk)

(Out - Wednesday - 20070517 - 0100)