19 May 2000

Listening to: Joe Ely's Letter to Laredo, a damn song and fine album.

Reading:  Leo Strauss, the Straussians, and the American Regime.

Thinking:  There are some really nice, bright people who are regulars at the Icehouse, which just goes to prove one should always be open to opportunities, in the form of bright people, jobs, hobbies, or whatever.

The journal got a significant facelift today (I used yesterday's journal entry as a test entry -- the change really took place today).  The overall look is now much more consistent with the rest of the website in terms of layout, colors, font, and overall scheme.  Plus there are a few little touches I've picked up from other journals that I either read regularly (Hanah will note her influence -- you can quit complaining to me about the white on blue now!) or have found in my role as a Zealot on Zeal.  The several hours I put into revamping the design also served as very good therapy for me.  I've needed some time to myself, just to sort my thoughts and do my own things, without interference from or worries of pleasing idiots.

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I got a lovely email from Christy today.  Christy is an old friend that I dated for an altogether brief time when we were in Springfield, MO.  Over the years we've sort of kept up with each other, but not very well, until she came to this area to visit her sister last Fourth of July (small world!) and we had just a wonderful time getting caught up.  Christy is one of my brighter and more successful friends from the Springfield days, having gone off to Cornell Law and then on to a high-powered law firm in Boston.  One could call her Ally McBeal, I suppose, except Christy has her head screwed on straight.  It's always a delight when I hear from her, and unfortunately it's always too rare and too brief! 

Anyway, Christy tells me that she's become a sporadic reader of the journal over the last few weeks, and playfully adds:  "It occured to me recently that you're one
of my favorite columnists."  Thanks, my friend!  But honestly, I'm quite certain that she probably spends much much more time with the local Red Sox beat writers.   Am I right?  :)

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Today, the folks at IP Communications finally began to move things forward on the DSL line.  I chatted with them several times, and they were querying me to try to figure out if I could do some technical things for them so they wouldn't have to send a technician out to diagnose my problem.  So with them giving me instructions on the cordless phone, I went out to the telephone junction box at the back of the complex and shorted some connections so they could run diagnostics.  Unfortunately, still no signal, but the problem seems to be with Southwestern Bell.  So progress is being made on the DSL connection, and honestly I did expect it to take some time, having read reports of difficulties.  However, it was frustrating until I could actually talk to the technical people and move things along.  I suspect less technically oriented (and more patient) people are still waiting with similar problems.  I asked them if they had any job openings for field service techs and they told me yes.  Maybe I should consider it?

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Rain tried to spoil the Icehouse tonight, but it really didn't.  Kiwi went and made a new dog friend (Jackson).  I saw Patches and Bert, a couple of the nicer, brighter people one would ever hope to meet at a bar.  Indeed, Patches was reading a book when I arrived, and immediately started quoting from it.  I like the fact that the Icehouse offers up the unexpected.  Eventually, Samantha and Don and Hallmark and Monica all made it over, and we had quite a fine time.  Hallmark briefed me on work since I've been at home two days (I don't know if I needed to hear it!) and was also quite excited about the Strauss book, which he's also reading.  Don had some interesting comments about KPFT's leftist take on the world.  Samantha and I talked a bit about getting her journal going online.  And of course Jerry was serving up the World's Best Hotdogs. 

Callie and I went off to an excellent dinner at a Tapas Restaurant with Samantha and Don, but we missed the big excitement at the Icehouse unfortunately.  Pete, Callie's sweet brother and pretty much the guy who runs the Icehouse on a daily basis, arranged for basically the whole place -- several hundred people -- to line up for hotdogs all at once.   Turns out he had planned a birthday surprise for Jerry, and the signal was to start singing Happy Birthday when the lights flickered off and on.  So, I understand Jerry nearly had a heart attack when hundreds of people lined up for hotdogs -- and then couldn't have been happier when they started singing Happy Birthday and he got his birthday cake.  Things like this make me happy.  Those who have read my journal entry on the Icehouse know that things like this happen quite a bit at the place.

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Brian Leonard sent me the nicest happy birthday email!  Thanks for remembering, Mr. Leonard!  LSFP!!!!!