Check this out!

Do you like the new look of

the paper? It's pretty sleek, huh?

It's like going to a fancy

salon and telling the stylist, "Go crazy! I want to look like a new

person." It is a rebirth, a renaissance! A rejuvenation for everyone

on staff. Though we still write the stories the same way, it feels like

we are working for an entirely different publication.

It is a popular idea these

days, this makeover process. Just look at some of the more popular programs

on television these days: "Trading Spaces," "Queer Eye

for the Straight Guy," "Monster House," "Ground Wars,"

and the list goes on and on and on.

People want to change things

and shake things up. Thomas Jefferson once recommended a revolution every

few years and, by remaking something, whether that is your kitchen, your

backyard, or your newspaper, you are a revolutionary of sorts.

I had nothing to do with it,

though. Our crack team of the redesign spent countless hours in meetings

and workshops trying to get the new look of the paper just right. All

I had to do was nod my head and give my opinion on a few things.

What is interesting, though,

is that the redesign comes right after Sabine and I played "Trading

Spaces" with our guest room. I was a little more involved in that

process and I've got the paint in my sneakers to prove it.

I guess it was last year, when

I was hallucinating while trying to mow my gargantuan lawn, that I realized

I was not as prepared for the work related to homeownership as I needed

to be. I was a fairly passive observer in the chores around my house growing

up. Sure, I took out the trash now and then and cleaned my bedroom less

regularly, but I never really learned those little home maintenance tasks

that keep the value of a home up. Mowing the lawn wasn't an issue

because we had an in-ground swimming pool, and painting wasn't an

issue either because I lived in the basement, which had wood paneling.

I always felt that when the

time came to do things, I could just read the directions and do it. This

theory hasn't worked all that well.

We cracked open the paint cans

Saturday afternoon and got to work. My first job was to cut in from the

trim. This is done so that you can get the spots that you can't reach

with the paint roller. I did this but still dripped on to the trim in

places. "No big deal, we'll paint over it tomorrow when we do

the trim," said I, now master painter extraordinaire. Of course,

I then found out the next day that the green paint bled through the trim.

Next was the part I thought

I couldn't possibly screw up, using the roller. I painted, learning

very quickly that painting was very hard and tiring, only to find that

there were patches where, because I painted them over and over, trying

to darken the area, were now light and patchy. Now, I was getting frustrated.

Would there ever be a project where I didn't feel like a complete

moron?

Luckily, the problem was fixed

it out. While I stunk up the previous two tasks, I had now found my calling

- evening out. On Sunday, I found my second calling, painting the

trim. I was good at painting the trim around the ceiling and floor, if

I do say so myself. In fact, when we paint the next room, I will be the

evening out and painting the trim master.

The newly painted room looks

great and it makes our upstairs look like a new place. I know it isn't

new, just like this issue of The Citizen still has everything our readers

look for every week, but it does please the eye and it makes the boss

happy. What else can you ask for?

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