So I managed to finish several of the tasks that I failed to do earlier this week. I scheduled a time for the Bookshelf Measuring Man to come, and for the Painting Man to come. After some thoughtful consideration of what it is reasonable to expect MHH to do, and what would be not so reasonable, we (I) decided to hire somebody to paint the living room, hall, and kitchen, and the ceilings throughout; MHH is going to do the bedroom walls, which means no molding to deal with and it's not such a huge deal if it's not totally perfect (don't tell him I said that). One of us will do the bathrooms later on--it's not so vital to do those before moving in. MHH is willing to do the whole apartment in the name of economy, but he hasn't ever painted before and I suspect he doesn't fully get what a huge job that would be. So he gets the brownie points for offering. And this way, if he and the Painting Man are in there are the same time, he can get helpful advice from the pro (yes, I asked the Painting Man if this was okay, and he said it was.)

Tomorrow (Shabbos) MHH and the rebbe of the shtiebel he davens at are going to do something I asked them to do, which is formally change the name of a friend of mine who is sick. So if I called you in the past week and asked you to daven for somebody, the name I gave you is now preceded by Rachmana Sarah, with an i on the end of her original first name. Daven hard, please.

Changing the name of someone who is sick, by the way, is a pretty ancient idea. The thought, more or less, is that perhaps it is a way of faking out the Angel of Death. "I'm sorry, whom did you say you were looking for? Yudel ben who? No, sorry, nobody by that name here. Can't help you, I'm afraid. Oh, no, wait. Actually, I think he moved. You can try looking in... where was it again? Mongolia. Yeah, go look there. Have a nice day."

I hope it works.