August 29, 2007
Dear Everyone:
Two nights ago we had an almost total lunar eclipse. Today we’re having a heat wave. Not that I’m equating the two, but still, the sooner I get those double-paned windows installed the cooler it will be inside in the summer. And warmer in winter, I’m told.
I actually did have a “meeting” with a guy from a company that wants to replace the windows in my townhouse. I had received several phone messages from their office and decided it wouldn’t hurt to get a bid. I had spoken with a couple of neighbors in the past and knew what they had paid to their respective vendors, so that counts as getting “at least two-three bids”.
One vendor had charged “around $5000.00”; another, more recently, had charged “$4700.00”. So when this vendor said, “$3798.00” I figured, “such a deal!” That was before sales tax. But even with 8.25% added on, it was still $4111.33 and thus, constitutes the low bid.
This was based on a very quick rough measurement of the overall size of four windows (living room, kitchen, bath, bedroom.) He didn’t even measure the window in the second bedroom because he knew from experience that it would be the same size as the one he’d already done.
The next step is to make a much more detailed measurement, about every 3/16th of an inch (if I heard correctly). That was supposed to happen last Thursday, but the “window guy” called me at work to say that he was ill and couldn’t make it and would reschedule the following week. As of today, that hasn’t happened. I have a call into him and am waiting for a call back.
In the meantime, movies!
“Jeannie” and I saw two movies recently.
The Bourne Ultimatum is the third in a series of movies “based” on the novels of Robert Ludlum. And, for the third time, little more than the title and certain characters’ names have survived the “adaptation” phase. Matt Damon, who is finally beginning to show his age, portrays Jason Bourne, a man with no memory of who he once was, but who can outfox the best of government agents, has incredibly quick reflexes and the ability to turn anything, including a hand towel, into a weapon when needed.
When Bourne reads an article in a British newspaper that makes a reference to him, he seeks out the journalist, to the detriment of the journalist. Those pesky government agents. They’ll kill anyone who threatens whatever it is they’re hiding, even if the people they kill know nothing about it.
To watch this movie will require a strong stomach. Not because of the violence but because the director is much too fond of using a hand-held camera. Used effectively, this can give the audience the sensation of actually being involved in the many action sequences. Used too much, it just makes the audience seasick.
The other picture was
Becoming
Jane, starring
Anne Hathaway
as a young Jane
Austen. It bears about
as much relation to the real Jane Austen as
Hans
Christian Andersen bore to the
Danish
fairy tale writer (as played by
Danny Kaye.)
The sets and costumes reflect the
Regency Period in
Hathaway, who was born in
Enter Mr. Tom Lefroy, played by James McAvoy. He is a recently graduated lawyer living on the largesse of his wealthy uncle. Uncle is displeased with his nephew and sends him off to stay with other relatives in the (shudder) country. As a Londoner, he has scant patience with simple country folk, a fact he makes little effort to conceal. In other words, he’s got Mr. Darcy written all over him.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where this is going, but why not settle back and enjoy the ride?
Love, as always,
Pete
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