March 18, 1999
Dear Everyone:
Many thanks to everyone for the birthday cards,
phone calls and emails. I am
officially one year older than I was on Monday.
And I have lots of presents (many of which I bought myself).
With help from a couple of co-workers, I managed to
get the new computer home last Friday.
Right now, it’s still sitting, in three large boxes, in a corner
of the dining room. But,
since the only thing I use the dining room for is dumping mail and
draping freshly dried laundry, it’s not significantly in anyone’s way
until I’m ready for the next phase.
The Next Phase is getting a new computer cart.
There are two reasons why I can’t just use the old cart.
Reason Number One:
The old cart still contains the old computer.
And “Jeannie” is going to need something to hold the old computer
when we get it set up at her place.
Reason Number Two:
The old cart was designed for a flat, desktop-type component.
The new computer is what’s called a “mini-tower”.
It’s designed to stand up straight.
It’s kind of like how
hot dogs and
hot dog buns
always came in different numbers.
Usually you had either two more buns than dogs, or two more dogs
than buns.
Now, when you get a new computer, you need a cart
(or desk) designed with it in mind.
I found a very nice one last weekend.
(Assembly required.)
It is currently in 155 pieces scattered (logically, of course) all over
the living room and dining room.
Since I do use the living room quite a lot, this cannot last
long.
Technically, the only tools I need to assemble the
cart are two kinds of
screwdriver and a
hammer. However, when I
went to the combination linen closet and tool shed, I realized that I
had left all of my really good screwdrivers at “Jeannie’s” place, along
with the drill, in case she needed them in her redecorating project(s).
I could wait until the next time I get to her place, or she could
bring them down this weekend.
Or this could be a good time to invest in some new screwdrivers.
The thing of it is, all of this needs to be out of
the way by this Saturday, when the new
treadmill arrives.
(More new toys!) I am
much looking forward to being able to come home and do some gentle
exercising in the evenings.
Now to the important stuff:
Movies.
A number of movies have been recently released,
some with surprisingly favorable reviews.
However, “Jeannie” decided on one that’s been out for a while, on
the grounds that it might not be around much longer.
(Her turn to pick, my turn to pay.)
In
Message in a Bottle,
Kevin Costner
is finally back where he belongs, in weekend wear.
He plays a boat wright, a sad
widower with the
interesting habit of typing letters to his late wife and sending them
out to sea in bottles. One
of these bottles is discovered by a young divorcee on vacation.
Since she works as a researcher for a
Chicago
newspaper, she has
the resources to trace the letter back to its origins.
This turns out to be an island off the coast of the
Carolinas.
Here, she finds the letter-writer, and they begin tiptoeing
around will-we-or-won’t-we.
He lost his wife, she lost her husband, and each is unsure if they want
to get involved with someone new.
Guess what happens.
This is a great movie for sweaters.
Ditto for designer bed linens (“Jeannie” kept leaning over and
whispering, "I have that one”).
Unusual climate, though.
In one scene, everyone is in shorts; in the next, snow is falling
in Chicago.
Unfortunately, what starts out as a charming,
intelligent love story suddenly falls apart shortly before the ending,
leaving you with a kind of “Huh?”
Probably wouldn’t hurt to wait for it to come out on video.
Two hankies.
Love, as always,
Pete
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