Weekend in Review.

I’m in the process of furniture shopping. I’ve been disappointed in everything I’ve looked at so far – either the furniture is designed for giants and terribly uncomfortable, or the fabrics available are hideous (and totally inappropriate for a household with black and white kitties). The Professor says he’s happy to let me pick, since I’m paying, but he’s been applying pressure for black furniture (he likes a modern look). I’ve mentioned that black will show white cat hairs from our cats exceptionally well, as well as every piece of lint that comes in contact with the fabric, but I can tell he thinks I’m exaggerating about how shabby black can quickly get. I’m leaning toward a forest green myself, but nothing I like seems to come in that color. Well, there’s no rush I guess.

The Professor did find himself a new entertainment cabinet for his new television (which, even at only 24 inches is far too large for the old cabinet). The new cabinet he got will require totally rearraging the living room though. I know it’s necessary, and I feel like a petulant child for saying this, but the apartment is feeling less and less like mine.

I do wish he’d figured out what we were doing with the old television and its cabinet before he’d purchased the new stuff. When I asked where we’d put the old television and cabinet, he said he’d find a place for it in the spare bedroom, where a small set of drawers is now. When I reminded him that that small set of drawers had all my photographs stored in it from the last twenty years, he said we’d find another place to store them. *sigh* I liked having them there. He’s right, though. The router for the computer is currently on top of that little cabinet, and it’s become a favorite place for the Warrior Princess to sleep. If we move the old TV cabinet there, we can store the router inside of it, away from WP.

Tonight I get to move the turtle tank and my bookcases. For once, staying at work looks like more fun. Well, copping an attitude isn’t going to help any.

OK, enough moping. In other news, the Professor and I did manage to see the original “Time Machine” movie at a Saturday matinee. It was fun, but it really drove home how much movie making has changed since 1960. The plot was fun, but fluffy, the “special effects” were cheesy (but I’m sure they were state of the art when the movie was released), the romance (such as it was) was chaste and oh-so-proper. The plot was only generally H.G. Wells (although I expect the new “Time Machine” coming out shortly to be even less H.G. Wellian!).

Since the movie has been out for 42 years now, I hardly think it’s a plot spoiler to mention that at the end Our Hero returns to the future to help rebuild society. The movie has him returning with three unidentified books, and we are left with the question “What three books would YOU select if you were going to try and rebuild a civilization from scratch? The Professor and I had fun discussing that for quite a while after the movie. Since my ultimate judgement of how good a movie is relies on how much conversation it is able to stimulate, I’d have to say that in spite of its antiquarian look, “Time Machine” was well worth seeing on the big screen again. Let’s just hope the new version is half as good.

As for which three books I’d take … it’s easier to say what I wouldn’t take. I don’t think I’d take any literature, art books, or sociology books. Let a new civilization develop all that on it’s own, along it’s own lines. I’d lean towards:

– A good medical book, that includes basic emergency care, anatomy and physiology information, and hopefully some herbology regarding medicinal plants. (I wonder if such a book exists).

– A multi-science book with information on math, chemistry and physics. I know several of these exist, especially with an emphasis on engineering.

– A generic “How did they do it” book that gives overviews on how the ancients made paper, wove fabrics, made dyes, smelted ore, that sort of thing. I believe David McCauly wrote something along those lines several decades ago, though there are probably better books along the same lines on the market now.

What three books would you bring?