Earlier today I was adding to my list of T Shirts I would make, given the ability. I like T Shirts that just have a giant unexplained logo in a single color, or one or two big words, such as:

• A SHIRT
• FOD
• NO FUN
• PANTS
• sorry, broke

Also: several "Wingdings" would make good shirts, like the Bomb(M), the Computer disks (= + > <), and the Emotionless Face (K).

At Barnes and Noble today, I looked over house-buying books while Helen read five zillion cover letters in preparation for writing her own. Cover letter-writing, it seems, is especially hectic for senior level editors, as the person who reviews the resume will almost certainly be an editorial supervisor, especially unforgiving of any perceived flaws. Like submitting code samples is for me, I guess. I wonder if they make you write or edit something right on the spot, like Brett's interviewer at Real did. (He basically said, here's a whiteboard, write binsort in whatever language. Then, "do you think you can make any optimizations?")

House buying is a hazardous ritual fraught with stress. I decided I should know about it way in advance of any potential house buying on my part. Looking over the chart of my potential house buying power makes it look like I can afford some kind of huge mansion. Then I read a little further and see that the figures are for a 30 year mortgage. THIRTY YEAR MORTGAGE. In thirty years, chances are I'll be in the market for a single, subterranean bedroom with no exits (or a little metal can). To buy that kind of house, it would be best if I saved up 48 thousand dollars. This is enough money to buy nearly a hundred thousand bismarks. You would think the financial scale involved would have some sort of intrinsic grown-upness, but talking about that much money just brings me back to youthful days poring over a sears catalog near christmas, looking at things I thought I would never be able to afford. In that mindset, $3,000 televisions were small potatos. If I have to think 30 years ahead, I have to consider that I might be a very different person by then. I could have a family! Or a different job! Or be paralyzed from the neck down! There's something infinite about the considerations that go into house buying. I have to look at the schools and churches in the area? Yeah, heck, what if I get all religious in my middle ages? Fortunately, there's no hurry. I'm not sure why I feel hurried. There's this pressure from my peers to have everything all now, the car, the spouse, the house, the yacht, cabbage patch kids, a bread maker, airtight containers of pasta, a fire poker set for my gas fireplace, pets, a yard, african masks, portraits of stuff, potted plants, exercise equipment, consumer electronics, propeller beanies, and a couple other things. I got to remember to take it easy and do things I like.

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