Saturday, June 26th, 1976

HUSTLER's new issue was out already but I managed to pass it--as well as anything similar--by completely today.

Walden's has their ten buck DC books for only six each!

Speaking of six bucks, I got Dad six bucks worth of instant lottery tickets and he won two back!

I watched the very first ROAD movie and then went with Dad up to the hardware store to get lights. I had a tough time getting three of 'em in outside at SS. Someone had broken the glass out of one there up front early this morning.

NOTES: I really hated having to change the lights at the Social Security office. They were really high and our ladder wasn't so I had to reach very precariously to get them. In fact, for the outside floodlights in the back, I found it just easier to climb up on the side of our wooden back porch and angle myself to get to the light while holding on tight. I would then toss the old bulb to the grass below and pull the new one out single-handedly from where I had squeezed it sideways in my pocket. As far as the lights inside, as the energy crisis grew, we would later be instructed to remove two of the fluorescent bulbs from every single indoor lighting fixture in order to save energy. Now this was a good sized office building with more than 100 lighting fixtures!! YIKES!

The GOOGLEMAPS picture above shows the now long abandoned Social Security office and just how close it was to my apartment. It may look small on the front side but if you look you can get an idea of how far back it goes. It then spreads out sideways, too. Right where the little "A" is in the pic was our apartment. In the background of this much more recent shot, you can also see what is derisively called the "Sharkfin" Building, an ultra-modern offices/condo glass tower whose top floor penthouse is said to be owned by none other than George Clooney.

Note the early mention of "Walden's," as in Waldenbooks...the store that would forever change my life six and a half years later. I have no idea what DC books I was talking about here, mind you.