Joseph and I played phone tag all weekend. In one of his messages he indicated that an hourly rate scared him, but that he would like to get started right away. I emailed him a formal proposal with total expected cost and time frame, and am waiting to hear back. Someone called about the car this a.m. – they are coming by at three to check it out. I am going up to Schnucks to pay off the electric bill so they don’t turn off the lights.

Walking to the Loop and back is just about right for me, we went for an hour today, but I think Sebastian is starting to slow up. I might need to do more walks for shorter distances. I need to accept that he is getting to be an older dog. He was born in December of 1993. He’ll be eleven soon.

My friend Mark Rice, a musicologist from Truman, will be staying here Wednesday night on his way to a conference. Mark recently converted to Buddhism and raises rare snakes for fun and profit. We are going out to dinner at Saleem’s I think, and then he’s going to show the documentary that he made at the RNC. He went to the RNC as a liberal observer and shot three hours of film, which has been boiled down to this one-hour documentary. He thinks it’s his best work since he’s been at Truman so interested parties can convene at circle K around nine p.m. on Wednesday for a screening.