I rose at 5 a.m. today. My to-do list had things to do upon it. The first thing I wished to do was to buy a file drawer. Since my father's passing last month, I have a new set of family matters to which to attend, the telling of which is too prosaic to detail.
I went to the website for the office supply store nearest our home. The website proclaimed that the item I sought would cost $ 240. That seemed high to me, so I searched used furniture store websites, with some success. Finally, I checked eBay to see if any local vendors were selling used file cabinets on a "pick up today" basis. I found such a seller, whose listing was for $ 100 or best offer. I offered $ 85, and soon found myself on the telephone arranging to pick up the cabinet between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. The cabinet was located in Garland, not too far from my second office in Garland.
The local office supply store wanted a prince's ransom for a hand truck [what I imprecisely call a "dolly"], but the Home Depot nearby offered a very capable one for a very low price. I was getting both hand truck and the used cabinet for 1/2 the cost of a new cabinet. Had I had the fullness of patience, I would have scanned for estate sales and perhaps found one for yet a smaller fraction of the price. But I was content with what I found.
My computer room had been evolving into, sadly, more of a storage space for my hobby things and less a work space. One might find play-dough, dulcimers, can-jos, a student microscope, various mail art received, and various computer gear in the space, but not enough gravitas and no frozen grapes. I set about straightening things up considerably. Now it is a bit less untidy, and a good bit more work-space-like. It still needs work, though. I also spent some early morning time on installing further software onto the new computer. I was pleased to be able to configure the system to nearly how I like to use it. I also played Joy Division's "She's Lost Control" on my can-jo. It's important to be able to do things like that on Saturday morning a few hours after dawn.
I participate actively in the ccMixter.org community, but in recent months, for various possibly understandable reasons, I have been distracted. This morning, though, I listened to new music there, and
left some reviews. I also got a tweet from my twitter friend the musician Wolfgang Merz. I then went to Bandcamp.com to buy his new drones collection. I watched 15 minutes of a DVD about national reserves in the southern Great Plains.
A kindly sales clerk at Home Depot guided me hand-truck-ward, and I soon was driving to Garland. I arrived at an industrial area near Miller and Jupiter Roads. Garland has lots of zones in which little useful businesses work in unassuming quarters doing practical things. My seller was a plumbing supply company in the process of closing.
I chose a vintage Shaw Walker legal size cabinet. Shaw-Walker was a Michigan-based pioneer of sorts in the office supply field, dating to 1903. I read on the internet that its slogan was once "Built like a skyscraper". I like to own things with a bit of history, particularly if they are from a now-by-gone era.
My nostalgia, too, is often built like a skyscraper.
The helpful fellows at the plumbing store helped me load penta-flex files into the cabinet, and to load it into my car. My brother, 13 months my junior, agreed on very short notice to meet me at my house to help me unload it. My brother is the math graduate who is in all ways analytically superior and better with his hands than I am. With his help, getting this heavy cabinet upstairs and re-assembling it was the work of moments.
I took him to lunch at Dickey's BBQ, where I ate BBQ turkey and hear him tell me interesting stories of what he has been up to recently. Then we went back to my house, sorted through a few official papers,
and he headed off.
I took Beatrice for a walk, because the day was 66 degrees F. and the sun was out. She loved her walk, though, contrary to her usual custom, she raised a dissenting note if I paused to photograph a mockingbird. Beatrice must be ~14 years old now, but she walks with a canter like an Arabian on parade.
I then drove to Towne Lake Park to get some exercise and watch for birds. A tufted titmouse allowed me to take many photographs.
When I got home, I began to sort things into the cabinets. The foldering-and-re-foldering went well. I have a bit left to do tomorrow, but I am on my way. I also took two paid bills to the post office mailbox.
When my wife returned home from a day she enjoyed buying new glasses frames, we headed for a sandwich, a frozen yogurt, and a movie. We saw "Frozen". We liked this cute movie. Like "Beauty and the Beast", it offers a bit of promise that Disney can learn new tricks. It is possible that the glimmers of a less-rescue-prone princess will someday evolve into fully-realized less-gender-pigeon-holed comic characters. The animation, as well, was grand.
Today I only watched about one minute of professional football and that minute was one minute too many.
I was really pleased with how much I got done today.
