This is a test — I’m going to keep my journal in Word just for the hell of it this month. I don’t know whether this is a wise thing or not — I’ve been keeping it in Word Perfect for such a long time and I’ve always been such a staunch opponent of Word. Of course, I do everything else in Word because of work, so I’m more accustomed to Word at this point than to WordPerfect. Perhaps I’ll end up converting this at some point. One thing that WordPerfect has over Word at this level is the ability to change keyboards. Of course I’m sure you can do it in Word as well, so . . .

Today was our first day at the new office in Medford. I can say one thing about it — corporate. It’s certainly not as homey as the office in Arlington, though the commute is about the same. And of course there’s all the cubicles. I don’t know if I’m so anti-cube as others, but it’s a drastic change from the other office. At the same time, I was in that little private office for such a long time that I really wasn’t part of the outer gang.

One thing that really struck me today was the hierarchy that has suddenly appeared. Well, not “suddenly appeared” — it’s always been there, it just wasn’t visible. Until today. For example, Adam now has a private office with very nice furniture and such — of course, it doesn’t have any windows whatsoever, and I guess that’s the trade. At any rate, what became obvious right away was that I am rather far down the rung, so to speak. As is Rob for that matter. I’m about as far down as you can get, I guess. I don’t really care — and I really expected nothing less — but it was startling to realize that suddenly today. A little disturbing as well. I’m just accustomed to seeing everyone around at the same time, and now it’s certainly not the case.

On the other hand, it’s interesting how much things have changed since I first arrived a few months ago. I remember Bob running around, Celina at Beth’s desk (I think?) and such — pastries and lots of empty space.

(The Word experiment lasted only a few minutes — I’ll just continue keeping it in WordPerfect for the foreseeable future.)

Today was a day of hierarchy — as I rode the 86 home, some police officers roared down the road and began directing traffic (though they didn’t block things off until we’d passed) so that, at some point, some person we’ve decided is important could pass through without waiting. Why shouldn’t they have to wait in traffic like the rest of us? “People will assassinate them!” Chhavi responded, and I suppose she has a point there — it is certainly a possibility. Still, it’s a little annoying that we’re sitting there waiting while this joker roars by without any interference.

One last thing about today’s adventures: just after I got on the bus (the 86) at Sullivan Station, someone else boarded — the woman with curly hair and a semi-flat, long nose that gets on across from the Harvard Stadium every day. I’d noticed that she doesn’t get off at the Harvard stop, but I’d no idea how far she went. Now I guess I know. Funny thing is, I seem to see her all the time. She was at Stop ‘n’ Shop a few weeks ago — she was with a bunch of folks, whom I assumed to be her roommates (though I could very well be wrong. So now I’m wondering if I see her again whether I should now talk to her. She’s drawn my gaze several times and I’d really like to see what kind of a person she is — in a way, part of it is simply that I’d like to know what kind of voice she has. Anyway, I think I’ll strike up a conversation if she’s waiting at the same time tomorrow — or any other day, I guess.

Another interesting happening today — I talked to Jill (the absolutely stunning sales woman) for a few minutes and actually felt as if she wasn’t just tolerating me. I often feel that she’s merely gritting her teeth and enduring any short conversation we might have. Today, however, was a different story. We had a very pleasant — albeit very shallow — chat. Of course I’m not really looking for more than that, but it was certainly a nice change.

God, this is like something I would have written in high school — perhaps about Christy Anderson. chaut. I guess it just shows that we don’t ever really outgrow certain things — insecurities remain no matter what.

My weekly, pathetic journal entry. The end of the month and I’m at the top of page seven. I should be flogged — after the journal I kept in Poland, I feel so guilty about writing so very little. “Guilty” is perhaps the wrong word — I don’t know what the right word is, but I don’t like “guilty.” It’s just a little odd — I feel sad I guess that my life isn’t so filled with activity and interactions as it used to be. I’ve been keeping an extensive journal up to this point because I was in college, then in Poland — lots of interaction with lots of people. Now, few people at work.

That being said, lots of stuff could be written about how things are going at work. First, Friday was our last day in Arlington — tomorrow I take the 86 all the way to Sullivan, then take the Orange Line to Wellington Station. I’ve no idea how long that will take, but it sounds like a slightly easier commute in a way. But I have fewer choices coming home — I must take the 86, so I’ll have to keep track of the time better since it leaves so infrequently at night. Anyway, that’s not the truly interesting event-of-the-week. More significantly — things on the religion course have been shaken up quite a bit. Val, Adam, Kali, Rob, and I had a meeting on Tuesday about the future of the religion course. Adam had finally read the proposed demo chapters and come to the conclusion that we need to write the theme chapters last. And, to a large degree, I now agree. In fact, I’ve proposed — or will — that we finish up the Judaism chapters and market it as A Thematic Introduction to Rabbinic Judaism and clean up the Christianity chapters to be marked as An Introduction to the Life of Jesus as Presented in the Gospels or some similar nonsense and then start all over and write a true introduction to world religions. We can follow the thematic outline/idea set forth at the beginning, but at any rate, I don’t think we’re going to be doing ourselves any good by continuing this project as it stands.

Another decision I’ve made — I’m going to do everything in my power to be working full time with on the tech side within a year. I’m going to talk to Peter tomorrow to see if he’s still willing and desiring such a thing, and if he’d be willing to pay for me to take an intro to Java course. Then I’ll have to talk to Rob, Kali, and Val about this and see if I can get the cliché wheels in motion. The whole religion project is getting to be a nasty mess and I want less and less to do with it. I’ve been working with the Visual Basic editor in Word and Excel and thoroughly enjoying it — I think that’s what I want to do. It might get my personal writing back on track if I’m not spending all day reading and writing about religion as it stands.

Instead, I stayed inside all day and developed pictures — about 25 total. It amazes me how much time is required just for a few pictures. I think I’m getting faster and faster, but it’s growing to be a bit of a pain in the ass. I’d love to have a little room like the shoe/coat room in the LW apartment where I could leave it all set up — including the chemcials, covered in plastic wrap or something — and then I could just go in and develop three or four pictures here and there and it wouldn’t be so damn time consuming. But I would also probably spend more money doing it that way (by developing more pictures, of course) , so maybe this is for the best.

No letters this week. A bit of a disappointment, but nothing major. I have consolation in the fact that I’ll be leaving for Poland in only a few weeks now. In two months and a week, in fact, I’ll be arriving in Lipnica. And in two months, a week, and a few hours, I’ll be walking in to urek again for the first time in over a year, seeing tons of people I haven’t seen in ages. Well, not “ages” — that makes it sound like it’s been a matter of years as opposed to a single year. Of course for me, in many ways, it has been more than a year.

Things at DLG are fine. I did a shitload of hours this week, but I guess that’s good. I finished reading all the theme and Christianity chapters we’ve received thus far. We’re still waiting on the “Casting Jesus” chapter from Harvey Cox, but I’ve no idea when that will arrive. Some of the last chapters Whit wrote, though, were absolutely awful. The chapter on sacrifice was so poorly organized with so many content questions that it was all I could do to make my way through it. The introductory chapters for both “courses” had about 700 words in common — he plagiarized himself, basically. Does he deserve the $10,000 for getting it in before 15 April? I’ve no idea. I’m inclined to say he deserves some of it — maybe $5,000, but Rob thinks that Bob will want it to be an all-or-nothing deal. Who knows.

The point is, I’ve done everything I can do now and I’m just waiting for a content developer to go back and deal with all the issues I have. I think some of the chapters are just going to have to be re-written. That bit on Durkheim is completely inadequate — in fact, it’s not even accurate. So frustrating. And the sacrifice chapter — a waste. The chapter on the resurrection and appearances — a waste. He spends most of his time in that chapter talking about what Jesus is like in the Gospel of John. Three pages on the resurrection, then six on some nonsense.

Jim M. (editor for Western Civ I) said that Val told him about a conversation he (Val) and with someone from Houghton Mifflin about writing textbooks. When they get the text from the author, they look at it and if it’s not acceptable, the send it back and tell the prof to re-write. If it’s still unacceptable, they send it back again — and they don’t pay until they’re happy with the product. Not a bad approach. Would it work for us? Who knows.