They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot

As if I don't have enough to do, I decided that I finally had my act together enough to put together a blog about historic preservation. A couple of my preservationist buddies in DC have had blogs or websites for awhile, and I've been looking for a way to explore it from my professional perspective as someone who is literally out there on the street, seeing how people treat their old buildings and the misinformation that seems to be prevalent. In some small way, I'm hoping The Hysterical Preservationist might be a place to dispel myths and misconceptions, dissect some of the issues, and clarify a perspective that is so often at odds with the American Way.

If I can keep up with it, that is.

Moving on. Lent is fast approaching, and I'm trying to figure out what self-disciplinary measure I should take this year. In the past I've tried giving up junk food, or I've attempted to be a more positive person. Last year I tried to take some time every evening to read the daily Scripture and pray, because along with the part of me that loves to read books, my spiritual life is spotty at best these days. This tactic worked for a couple of weeks, but I kept falling asleep in the midst of it and finally got so far behind on the readings that I lost motivation to catch up. My church publishes a wonderful little lectionary brochure with the day's lesson and a short meditation written by a mix of ministers and parishioners. It's really cool, especially if you know the person who wrote the thought of the day. I'm going to try the reading/prayer tactic again, but I'm wondering if there is something else to commit to, like daily exercise or something that will help keep me on a good mental-health track.

I also decided whose job I want most: Andy Rooney's! How good does he have it? He gets to go on TV every week, be a total curmudgeon, and snipe about various topics...and he gets paid huge amounts of money for his bitch sessions. Nobody tells him to stop being such a downer or speculates about whether he had a facelift. He probably can set his own taping schedule. I would love to be a professional snarkmonger--which is probably why I blog and send my friends acerbic e-mails. The only thing I wouldn't like about it is when right-wingers create and forward racist hoax e-mails supposedly authored by me.