this year the Three Wise Men in my life are von, julian and yeen teck; two of them are considerably closer to me (philly, new york) than the other one, and all of them have some intention of coming up to cambridge sometime before december. one of them, whoever it is comes first, is under a geas to help me mount a long sheet mirror on the wall of my room. von says that i can do this myself with a hammer and nail and some 3m tape, but i submit that when outfitting my toolbox last year the one thing he had not bought me was a hammer. also, i remember quite distinctly that the last time i wanted glass shelves at garden street he vetoed them on the grounds that any shelf i put up would come crashing down and leave me porcupined with glass shards, so his present recommendation that i grapple with mirror and hammer reeks of villainy.