I lately have fielded more than a few inquiries regarding my recent move. One might think of that issue as "relatively painless", as I was in essence going just next door. However, the process took a solid two months and is, as any discriminating homeowner will know, an evolving, on-going affair. That said, I am well-settled in the new space and quite comfy, so that my answer to the above-referenced inquiries is that I am adjusting quite well in my new man cave, thanks very much. It occurred to me, too, that I have posted few pix of the new place, so if I can figure out a way to....ah, yes, there it is....(keyboard sounds and random snorts of satisfaction)....... Okay, you should now be able to find a photo album in the right-hand sidebar, labeled 2011 Renovation, where I have put for your perusal a few pictures of my new digs. Here's the place from the street:
These photos are really quite lame, as my faithful old HP750 finally bit the dust, and I guess I'll have to go out and buy one of those credit-card sized digital cameras. I've got a mind to duct-tape it to my old Nikon FM SLR, to at least make it feel like a real camera. Anyway, pardon the pictures, taken with my iPhone. I'll replace them whenever I get some higher-res photos.
One of the compelling reasons for doing this is to convince folks that I am fine. Going back to those questions from concerned friends and family, from clients and co-workers; I do appreciate the sentiment, but I feel in truth that I have nothing that could justify allowing myself the dubious luxury of wallowing in self-pity.
The other excuse for bringing up the relocation/renovation project is that it makes a perfect segue into another story: that of a website that I actually got paid to beta-test several months ago. It wasn't so much the site I was paid to evaluate, as it was the whole process of posting and participating on the site, and it ultimately paid several hundred bucks, which was worth the effort. Anyway, when they quit paying me, I lost interest (funny how that works), and forgot about it until I got some feedback about one of my posted projects- one of six home fix-up affairs I initially posted on the website. I noticed their name/address had changed, so I felt it appropriate here to give them another shout-out, as well as updating their info on the right-hand sidebar (close to the bottom, if not at it). Their new name is hometalk.com , and I like their new format enough to look into once again posting there, and to recommend checking them out, if you are a fix-it type person and are internet-savvy at all.
For those of you who find yourselves with time to spend watching television and/or films, I wish to file a review. Years ago, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Ken Follett's wonderful novel of medieval England, Pillars of the Earth. The story has since been serialized and produced for tv, reduced somewhat in scope, but still broad enough to flesh out eight hour-long episodes. This must have happened during the period several years ago when I put myself on a tv-free regimen, as I was surprised when it turned up on the shelves at my local Blockbuster. Normally I don't bother to compare films to the books from which they are derived- the two media are so different that, for me, at least, there's no comparing. I have seen movies that I enjoyed more than their cinematic counterpart, and vice versa. Pillars of the Earth, the series, is well worth watching. I am venturing this opinion despite the fact that I am only half-way through it. (Critics put waaaay too much stock in endings, I think, happy or otherwise, where all loose ends are tied up and all live happily ever after- not so much like real life.) So there, for what it's worth, is my opinion and recommendation.
