by the sweat of the brow...

yesterday afternoon a bunch of us left work at noon to go help out with habitat for humanity. bob the builder took one look at us and promptly divided us into groups by gender. the girls primed and painted, while the guys sanded and spackled (and goofed off, of course)...it was a fun, gratifying and humbling experience. three and a half hours later, we were completely exhausted from our less than half day of 'manual' labor on a house where four families, with annual household incomes of less than $30,000, will be living by the end of the summer. tired and paint-splattered, we crossed over the train tracks and back to work, passing the now familiar sign that says 'trillion dollar mile' on our way...this time with a new sense of irony.