Journal of a Sabbatical

November 30, 2000

press dent

Today's Reading: The Story of the Stone (a.k.a. Dream of the Red Chamber): Volume 4 by Cao Xueqin, Autumn from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake

Dream of the Red Chamber - greatly abridged

Academic Research and Info Center for Dream of the Red Chamber - even includes a list of all the dishes (and there a great many) served at the banquets described

If it snowed this morning it was over before I got up. Nothing accumulated. It was raining when I left the house.

The surreal TV at Perfecto's was showing Joe Leiberman above the stock ticker talking about something that probably had to do with the election. That is if what we elect is the "press dent". I never tire of the mistakes of voice recognition on that surreal TV. Press dent. If you press it, it leaves a dent?

My mission for the day was to convince a repair place to take more than a perfunctory look at my vacuum cleaner to find out what it spews dust all over itself. The bottom half of the tube, where it joins to the beater brush is covered with fine white dust. The vacuum cleaner has become merely a tool to redistribute dust. I took it to an Oreck dealer once before and they charged me plenty to recondition it, and when I got it home it still spewed dust. So, today, I tried a different Oreck dealer. This guy saw right away that something is clearly wrong - this is a step up over the previous place. He says he'll have a look at it and should know what's up with it by Saturday.

Such an exciting life I lead.