I've spent way too much of today listening to hammering. The powers-that-be in mamagement have decided we need shutters on our windows, and the hammering was the maintenance people putting nails into the bricks so the damned things could be hung.

They don't look bad, but they don't really add anything to the look of the building, either. The p-t-b decided to "frame" each apartment, and since each apartment has two windows, we have two shutters per apartment---one on the side of each window that's further from the front door.

They're not real shutters, of course. Nope, they're molded plastic, and are solid. I touched one, and was reminded of the tops of those rubber storage containers. I suspect if it snows this coming winter, more than one of them will be used for sledding by the children in the complex.

Mamagement also decided recently to repaint the front doors. This was needed, since the doors hadn't been painted in several years and we've had bad weather. The doors had been painted gray. A few days before the actual repainting, someone came around to caulk any door panel seams in need. The caulk was white, and made for some weird stripes before the painter showed up. The doors are now teal, which looks quite nice.

Of course, the shutters don't match the paint. That would be too much to ask. The shutters are black. And the brick is red, if you wondered.

This is apparently what they've decided to do with the amount of my rent increase this year!

Another subject: pronouns. Folks, when you want to use the reflexive ones, please use them correctly. Get a grammar book for the rules, but please don't use "myself" incorrectly. Just because it's a bigger word than "me" doesn't make it a better word. Trust me!

On a happier note: I'm close to launching my business website. I'll give you the URL when it goes live. These entries will still be here, so don't worry about changing bookmarks---but it would be appreciated if you'd bookmark the new one, too.

And I do appreciate that you're reading these entries. In case you're counting, this is the seventieth one.