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Monday
March 23, 2009

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sometimes i feel
i am growing
stupider by the
second. other
times it might
take a minute.
i don't think
listening to npr
all day is helping.
i spend my workdays
focused on eighths
and sixteenths of
inches, making marks
with a mechanical
pencil, trimming
Chinese laminate
plywood with a
precision German
circular saw which
rides a rigid guide.
i'm cutting and
hanging panels in
some snazzy new
construction. if all
goes well, i get one
sized, cut, and hung
in about an hour.

but that's not the
stupid part. the
stupid part is i have
been leaving the dust
exhaust uncovered,
filling the air with
wood, glue, and polymer
"fines"--microscopic
particulates which
hang in the air who
knows how long and
insinuate themselves
into every crease and
pore of cloth and skin.
i used to just hold my breath,
 but now i've been wearing a
paper mask most of the time
--but i still blow sawdust
out my nose and there's
a rattle in my lungs. well,
i'm resolved to put a bag
over the exhaust (for some
reason the saw does not
come equipped with one).
pretty smart, huh? is it
better to learn too late
than never at all?