Yesterday, we got ourselves a new furnace. So far, so good. We will see – I always expect something new might have a defect. For example, we bought a new thermostat to go with our new furnace. But our furnace installers told us that our new thermostat (the one their firm had suggested) wasn’t working properly and we should return it. They gave us another model which they said was just as good. OK, fine with me, I guess. We had bought the first one on Amazon, and returns are easy.

But, always a glitch. The thermostat has lithium batteries and Amazon gave us a couple of things to put on the outside of the return container with “Hazard!” markings. OK, not a problem. But then I saw in the small print that if the lithium batteries are damaged, I shouldn’t return it, but instead call Customer Service. That’s what I will do today, because I don’t have any idea why the thermostat didn’t work.

But you remember (ha ha) that I said that I hadn’t started falling apart at 80 yet, but our house had at 40. Our next problem is our dishwasher. When you start it, a sign lights up that says, in effect, “Drain me!”. “Big deal”, you say, “that sounds easy”. Except that the manual instructions make it look just about as easy as building a nuclear bomb, and the YouTube video on how to drain a Miele dishwasher is over ten minutes long. Sometime today or tomorrow, I will do it. I’ll put on a wet suit and dive right in.

“White Lotus” – what’ so great about it? We dutifully watched the first year, and have started the second year. Except for the extraordinary beauty of Sicily, I can’t find anything to recommend it. (You don’t have to respond – I know you love it) I was hoping that the presence of F. Murray Abraham, who is 83, would mean that the second year of the show would have some relevance to an 80 year old. But no. I liked Abraham better when he was the evil string puller Dar Adal in Homeland, to tell the truth.

But I’ve been watching another short series, with the odd title “Man on Pause”, from Turkey, which I have been enjoying. I must say that Edie finds it worthless. I agree with her wholeheartedly, but its worthlessness doesn’t seem to bother me. And some of the scenery of the southwest Turkey does rival Sicily, for sure.

Finally, during our deep freeze, we actually went to see an afternoon film – “The Fabelmans”. What did you think? I thought that Gabriel LaBelle was a great Sammy, and Michelle Williams a great Mrs. Fabelman (although I couldn’t stand the character). I found it interesting as a biopic, but a little too long and draggy at times. I loved the train wreck, and learned a little about how to make a movie 50 or so years ago.

OK, that’s all for today. Busy day ahead. A fair amount of phone and email work for the Funeral Practices Committee and the Haberman Institute. Lunch at a too-expensive restaurants with some folks who have become Zoom friends, but I have never met in person. And this evening introducing Prof. Adam Mendelsohn of the University of Capetown (of all places) talking about Jewish participation in the American Civil War (of all things) at B’nai Israel in Rockville (also streaming and being filmed by C-Span) for Haberman.