What is it with peeps who don't vote but complain endlessly about the person voted into office?  Just think, Bush won by all of three, JUST THREE!, electoral votes in 2000!  I'm not sure why it bugs me so much, but I wish they would just register to vote!  It's so easy these days too.  (www.declareyourself.com)

And in these politically correct days, I'd like to propose canning Columbus Day as a Federal Holiday and in its stead, require all employers to give election day off to any employee who votes on that day!  Anyone who doesn't vote should still have to go to work.  Between primary elections, school board elections, etc. that can add up

Saw another two Murnau films at the Film Forum last night in a double feature: Nosferatu and The Last Laugh.  I can see why they are classics.  And props to the pianist for playing so well through both of the films.  Of the three films I saw, I think the Last Laugh was most emotionally touching for me.  Although, if I was married, then Sunrise might have been more my speed.  Nosferatu just reminded me of my childhood when my brothers used to pretend to be the boogey man and scare me all the time.  I have them to thank for the years of sleepless nights filled with childhood nightmares.

Took the Amercian Red Cross Intro to Disaster Response Training course this morning.  Still don't know what sort of volunteer work I think I would like to focus on.  But certainly in terms of time commitment this one seems best.

hmmm...never was good at keeping a diary...

Finally finished putting back the pavers in the walkway... did a decent job but not a great one.  And finished reseeding the lawn.

Went to the beach on Monday.  What a great day for the beach!!!

Spoke to one of the guys from work who volunteered to help FEMA down in FL.  He was so disillusioned.  All they did was go around the ritzy neighborhoods noting what little damage there was and handing out little cards with FEMA's phone number on it with encouragement to call if people needed anything.  And the FEMA person in charge was an apparent d**kh**d who really didn't know what he was doing and only wanted the volunteers to go out and canvass.  Sounded like it was more canvassing for the politicians than actually addressing needs in areas that suffered actual damage.  I'm glad I didn't go down.

Still stuck in limbo with regard to dealing with the Deutsche Bank deconstruction at Ground Zero....sigh.

Went to see Sunrise: A Song for Two Humans.  It's a B&W movie from 1927 that one four Oscars.  (1927 was the first year Oscars were given out.)  The movie appeared so amateurish and hokey at first, but when you realize it was made in 1927, long before CGI and other special effects, you realize the genius behind the production. 

Then once you realize that, you can get into the story which is a great parable about temptation, love and forgiveness.  Another movie that I would highly recommend.

Had dinner at Home Restaurant on Cornelia St.  Fabulous as always.  I love their string French Fries too!  http://yellowpages.superpages.com/reviews.jsp?N=home&T=new+york&S=NY&R=N&STYPE=S&CP=Food+%26+Dining%5ERestaurants&LID=0002100057&display=1&SRC=&review=zagat

Monday I started to patch up the walkway that was dug up when they replaced the septic line.  Well, smarty pants that I am, I figured I could eyeball it and get everything installed right.  Boy was I wrong.  After 3 hours of hard labor moving about 1,000 lbs of rocks, sand and pavers, I was off by almost half an inch. That's not a huge amount over a length of 50 feet, but the mismatched pavers are in the middle of the walkway rather than at the end so that the break in the paver joint line is very visible. 

So now I have to redo another portion of the walkway, but after the waterpark and roofing job, my poor aching back is protesting vehemently and demanding that I not do any hard labor for a few days.  This time, though, I'll remember to put up some stakes and string to keep everything straight!