Blog readers may have gained the totally false impression that the Curmudgeonly Professor just sits around all day twiddling his thumbs and casting hexes and spells on those who desperately need hexed and spelled. Not so. Much of his efforts go into remaining up to date. For instance, my wife just replaced the calendar hanging on my wall with a brand new 2010 calendar. Since June, I have been looking at the page for August 2009 and have remained puzzled as to why the days didn't look like they should for the months since May 2010. Now that problem is solved.
Next thing, I just replaced the battery in my wall clock in my den. When my son takes a nap in the recliner in my den, he always takes the battery out becasuse the tick-tick-tocking drives him nuts. The last nap he took in this recliner was about 3 years ago, so you can see I have remained puzzled about the time for many moons.
My first Seiko watch I bought over 30 years ago, used for 25 years ago, and gave to my youngest son, on whose wrist it is currently functioning. My new Seiko watch, which I intended to use in a working condition for the remainder of my mortal probation, quit working after about 5 years. Maybe it just needs a new battery. My old one never needed a battery, never was cleaned or repaired, and just kept going forever. I am extremely hacked. I have been learning to get along without a watch for several weeks now as I contemplate possibly going and asking someone about a battery. What concerns me is that the battery may cost half as much as the watch originally cost, and that will really tick me off. Meanwhile, as explained above, I have a new battery in my den wall clock and I yell at my wife periodically to ask her what time it is, which she enjoys because it gives us another topic of togetherness. Thus, I have learned to make do without a watch for the first time in 200 years and may never replace the battery. Or maybe I should spend the same amount on a new Timex. Or a sundial. Whatever.
Meanwhile, I have an agenda for updating other stuff. I am trying to find my book club return forms so I don't get another couple of book shipments I don't want. I don't know why these book clubs just keep my membership current as I typically return most of the book shipments. I have, in good moral conscience, occasionally resigned them after years of egregious behavior as an irresponsible member. But then I get deluged with passionate entreaties about how much they miss me as a member and how much they want me back and they will be happy to send me umpteen free books if I will just sign up and join again. Don't they ever learn?
Moreover, I am late paying magazine subscriptions. I used to take a ton of magazines. Now I just take Newsweek, Time, Atlantic, BusinessWeek/Bloomberg, and the New Yorker. I take the New Yorker mostly to read the cartoons but do read some stuff now and then. I really do need to sort out the late bills and pay them. I do have some concerns about the future of magazines. Newsweek, especially, seems to have drastically altered its format, and Howard Feinman announced last night that he is moving to Huffington Post, having long been a pillar on the Newsweek staff.
Other than that, I am pretty much up-to-date. I just need to start sorting some thousands of books as my wife keeps reminding me that my kids will have a tough time getting rid of all of them. I am not particularly worried about that, as I figure I will be getting even with them anyway and they need to become more literate, besides.
