February, 2005


17
Feb 05

“To the Best of My Ability”, James McPherson ed.



This is a fun book with mini-biographies of all 43 American presidents — with pictures, quotes, and historical context, plus the full text of each of their inaugural speeches. A really good overview. It’s published by DK, which is one of my favorite publishers — all of their books are particularly well produced, have beautiful graphics, and are just cool to read. One of the things that I was struck by when reading this is how much the office of hte presidency changes over time — during some periods it’s incredibly meaningful and creates major change in our society — at others, it’s almost invisible. Really nicely put together book — I’d recommend you borrow it from me if you’re interested.


16
Feb 05

My To Do List

This probably gives a not-so-flattering insight into my character, but I don’t know what I’d do without my “To Do” List. Really, since I’ve been off, it’s been pretty much the organizing principle for my life — every day I work to get a few things done on the list, and I re-do the list each weekend — so it gives me a sense of what I get done day-to-day, week-to-week. I think when I’m off, I’d have a tendency to float a little bit and just lose track of days or weeks — this helps a lot.

As an aside, I sort of thought that my list would always have about the same number of items on it, regardless of whether I was working or not — what I’m finding is that I really am whittling it down — I’m finishing things faster than I put new ones on. Surprised me.


16
Feb 05

New Windows

Well, the new windows are all pretty much in, painted & operational, and we’re super-happy with them. Makes a big difference in how things look, plus tremendously cuts down on noise & heat loss. We really couldn’t be happier. All that’s left is that I need to paint the outside of the house next weekend…


16
Feb 05

And the last in our


And the last in our series of before & after pictures…this is our living room “before shot”…

And here’s what it looks like now — big change — it really helps the room a lot. Also notice the nice flowers that have blossomed since the last shot. 🙂 Posted by Hello


16
Feb 05

This is the same old


This is the same old door we had there before, but updated with shiny white paint. Makes the room look a lot better. Through the door you can see our almost-completed patio… Posted by Hello