today weather should've been yesterday's weather, just the most perfect day, 75 degrees, blue skies, white clouds. unfortunately i wasn't able to enjoy it because i was stuck at home the entire day waiting for the appraiser to come take a look at my house for the mortgage company i'm trying to secure a refinance from. 
i cleaned up a little bit, washed my bedsheets, folded the pile of clean clothes on my bed, and moved the jasmine bush from the kitchen into the backyard deck (it looked kind of withered, i'm hoping the heat wave later in the week will put some life back into the plant and maybe being out some flowers). rob house kept me company for a few hours in the early afternoon, he came over to get his new used powerbook fixed, 
we wiped the drive and installed a fresh 9.1 along with some programs. "what do you do all day, just watch tv?" rob asked. "yeah, pretty much," i replied, "today's actually the first day of my vacation, since i don't have to paint anymore." after rob left, i made an appointment to check out an used g4 desktop ($580) for sale nearby in cambridge via craig's list. speaking of which, apple introduced their new g5 machines today. the new box design reminds me of a large cheese grater with its perforated metal face. the question that begs to be asked is this: who really needs machines this fast?
the appraiser didn't show up until almost 5pm, the best part of the day already over (i couldn't even go out for a monday afternoon run). i watched him take photos of my street with a digital camera outside the house. he came in, did a 30 second walk-through, and was pretty much done. i asked him if he wanted to know about the cable/ethernet access in every room, the new replacement windows, the hours of paint stripping, but he said those things didn't really matter. he asked a few questions, two of them being if i had a trash disposal or a stovetop hood (i had neither, but i do have a dishwasher and an in-unit washer/dryer). he was surprised that i had two bedrooms, and said he loved houses with colors, since most of the places he sees are white walls. he went outside and took a photo of the house from the backyard. i jokingly asked if he wanted me to be in the photo, and he said that there are actually laws that say people can't be in these appraisal photos because it could sway the results (white neighborhood, black neighborhood, etc.). after a quick pass through the basement, he was all done and left.
i briefly instant messaged amy at work, who told me the good news that she passed her teacher's exam and would now be able to quit her current job and become a science teacher in one of the local school districts. i feel i had a small part to play in all this because i helped renata write a recommendation letter for amy when she was first applying for the position.
by the time of the evening news, i was already making dinner in the form of corn chowder from a can, lazy food. i watched the red sox game on television and nearly fell asleep, the blinds closed but summer daylight still shining through the windows.
