Short term memory problems

I just cut my inbox size in half! Terribly exciting. Granted, this still means I have over 100 messages. In one of five e-mail accounts I have. But the biggest one has been sliced.

I've also updated three of the four blogs I maintain today. Another positive. ;)

Decided to change poems. That first one was too much. OK, so I'm typing from memory here... the punctuation might not be accurate...

FIRST FIG
Edna St. Vincent Millay

My candle burns at both ends
It will not last the night
But ah, my foes and oh, my friends
It gives a lovely light.

So one down, anyway. Think I'm going to go for a longer one next:

Do not go gentle into that good night
old age something something raving something
Rage, rage against something...

Aw, heck.

Doggie paddling

Spent much of this evening creating a "to-do" list. You know you have too much when... Anyway, it does fit on one page. In 8 point font, 'tis true, but it is on one page. So at least there's a direction to my frantic splashing as I go down for the third time.

I did get gas for $2.83 this afternoon, though, so that was a mighty big plus.

Duty

Am attempting to blog more often as one of the things on The List. Every Sunday, minimum. We'll see how that goes. ;)

Just spent entirely too long doing something the long way as the departmental budget won't allow for the most efficient method.*sigh* So I spend quality time at home, slaving away. But, I have a job. I have a job. No mean feat in this current economy.

Oh, but wait. I'm sorry. I'm whining again. I'll just stop that right now and I'm sure the economy will clear right up.

It's drizzling a little. I love that sound. So peaceful.

This is a test, this is only a test

Just trying to see what happens if I type now and try to post later...

Went to the game tonight (Tues). Awesome! Won 9-3, much fun had by all. Crowd was a tad obnoxious towards the opposing team due to the rivalry, so that was fun. Idiot kid jumped on the field. Bet THAT'S going to be a fun phone call home to his parents...

ETA: Yes, it does work! Imagine that... ;)

What can Brown do for you?

Oof. Why oh why did I volunteer to help my father at work? I ended up driving all over creation, making 6 deliveries for a total of 1000 pounds of lugging crap, not exaggerating. I'm not in pain; just freakin' exhausted. And dirty. And smelly. And hot. I have a whole new appreciation for folks who do this for a living. There's a lot to be said for an office job.

I don't ordinarily get like this, but I'm so proud of Justin (not Jason!) Morneau I can't even stand it. What a guy. 'Bout time he gets a little more credit. He's so unassuming, folks forget about him. But some of us know.

This time of year there's about a million little summer events and festivals. Summer's so short in the Midwest, we have to be outside when we have the chance. Went to yet another one recently. Love the things, really. You're outside, they're generally free, and as we landed free parking as well things turned out rather well. Concert was pretty good; food was overpriced. Some darn fine musicians.

Quote of the day from Twins manager Ron Gardenhire - I just love the last sentence: "We don't strike out. ... We're pretty good at putting the ball in play, shortening your swing, and understanding all of that. I think that probably bodes well for getting some hits. We chop balls, bloop balls. Put it in play and run like hell."

More blah blah blah

There's an article in today's paper about the local schools and their test results under No Child Left Behind, that boil on the face of education in the United States. I was interested to see that in the paper's rather unscientific poll, results are running about two to one against testing as a reliable way to judge a school. Now if only the idiots that are running things in this country would get a clue before everything really goes to hell...

I just get so pissed at these people who seem to think the schools stink and it's all the fault of the schools when they don't bother to look in their own backyard. It's not the teachers who should be raising your child, it's you. If you value education, chances are your child will too. If you are interested in their education, they will be too. If you see to it they do their homework, if you keep on them about their test scores, if you go to their games and concerts and events, if you show your child you care about them, it will show in their learning and how they are as human beings. If you buy them stuff and hope that makes up for it, that will show as well. You reap what you sow, people. Get with it.

In the "you learn something new every day" category, I just found out there exists a professional women's tackle football league with 39 teams and 7 more in the 2009 expansion. No kidding.
National Women's Football Association
You go, girls.

Went to the dentist today and of course they had forgotten to write my appointment down and so there was no record of it. Good thing I had today off anyway; I was able to take it philosophically. The person who made the mistake wasn't in at the time but - serious points for her - called me later to apologize. Service like that is rare these days, and very much appreciated.

Side note: darn hard to do anything with the computer when the cat is using the "enter" key for a pillow.

History Detectives season premiere is tonight, which makes me pretty close to the happiest clam in existence. This just may be my favorite TV show, period.

Nothingness, really

More proof that people have no clue - I now know everything about the spat a neighbor of mine is having with her boyfriend, as does everyone else on the block. Don't have your phone conversations on the deck in a courtyard at 10 p.m., honey. And many of us would appreciate it if you'd stop dropping the f-bomb every other word.

I'm not so fond of sports in general, but the recent US Open was astounding. Wow. Occasionally, I get a glimpse of why people obsess over these things... Baseball, however, is an exception. Am heading to a game tomorrow and apparently the tickets are to the point I'd be bringing my glove if I had any idea where it was. Can't wait for the dog. Yummers.

Today was a tad entertaining. After work met a friend for coffee that I rarely get to see and then went to M's for dinner, so that was cool. M and I have decided we need to be on a diet kick, so that'll be a blast, I'm sure. Hate that crap. But.

Work today and tomorrow will be joyous - putting a bunch of data together for the Board. I spent much of today crunching numbers, which sure as heck ain't my favorite. Interesting, the data. But the number crunching part sucks. But again, it's a job. I can pay rent and buy cat food.

Flooding is bad for many of my friends. We've been lucky - nothing here. My former apartment is underwater at least a little bit - can't quite tell from the photos. My decision to move is looking better and better...

Nothing to say, really, just figured I should update. Best hit the sack. Morning has come a little too early these past few.

Not much new

Not much new; it's nice outside for a change but I gather it's supposed to rain again this afternoon. Rain, rain, rain. But we haven't had problems with flooding as opposed to a fair amount of the surrounding terrain, so I need to just shut up.

Glad it's nice so far as it's Trench today and it sucks when Trench weather isn't up to snuff. There's likely to be Wii later tonight as well, which is always good for a laugh or two.

Spent a fair bit of time at work this past week, mainly doing training and going over test results. Not terribly exciting, but I got paid, which is always good. My colleagues were entertaining, which is also a plus. Learned a fair bit in a technology training session and got some ideas about some stuff I can do for an organization that I'm a board member of, so that was worthwhile. That and our trainer was terribly entertaining.

M and I got pedicures this past week, which was a good time. We had them done at a cosmology school, which makes the price a bit more within reach. We meandered around the mall for a while as well. Nice sale at Bath and Body Works.

Heading to a ball game on Tuesday, which will be fun although I'm sure they'll lose. Been that kind of season. Haven't hung out with that group of friends in a while, though, so it will be a good time. Headed on a road trip a few days later to visit a college roommate. Going to be a total girl thing, which will be a good time.

Best get moving so I'm not too late to Trench...

Scattershot

Serious hail today - about the size of a 50 cent piece. Stripped the leaves off the trees. Quite a sight. And a sound. Wow.

Today's terribly amusing website: http://www.readatwork.com/. It has reading material like Dickinson's poetry and Twain's short stories set up in such a way to look like powerpoint presentations, so it's harder for you to get caught if you choose to spend your time on the job doing something more productive than actual work. Entertaining, at least.

Going to spend much of tomorrow at work. Bah.

Now to sleep; perchance to dream...

More stupid work talk, etc.

Meetings all day today and the only thing I got out of it was sympathy. No solid word yet. Am pretty disgusted with the lack thereof, to tell the truth. Rather startling thing that came out at a staff meeting was that once they figure out what jobs are still left, they will be posted externally. WTF? This means we need to apply for our own jobs?!?!? We were told we'd be automatically given a position if one was available. Lovely. Just lovely. I am definitely starting to feel screwed over, and I can't say as I like it.

Been thinking more on how I can economize and what I need to live on. I hate this. I've been out of college how long now? How much hard work? How much job experience? I shouldn't have to think like this.

I'm not normally this cynical and depressing, I swear.

Today marks exactly ten years since the downfall of Lord Voldemort. That's just about the coolest thing in the universe. Yay for The Boy Who Lived.

Tonight went to a theatrical production, a company of six teen actors that wrote most of the play themselves in collaboration with a teaching artist. I was extremely impressed. For junior high kids, they were well spoken, funny, moved well, were self possessed, and just generally kicked some serious butt.

Friend of mine and I were chatting about this lovely economy and she said that the budget that she and her husband have for gas is higher than their student loan payments. Oh yeah, no, we're not in a recession.

HEY! ATTENTION ALL THOSE IN CHARGE OF THESE THINGS!


THIS IS NOT GOOD!

And how on earth do you think a federal gas tax vacation will help? That'll save what, 18.4 cents per gallon? Current average is $3.48 in my area. So now I'm paying what, $3.30 at best, assuming prices don't go up even more? Ooooo..... Dude, news flash here: Cub coupons will pick that up for you.

My car has a 16.5 gallon tank. I fill up about 3 times a month. Let's do a little math, shall we?

• 16.5 gallons x $3.48 per = $57.42 per fill up x 3 fill ups = $172.26 per month

(Jayzus. Shouldn't have done that math. The truth hurts. Yeowch.)

• 16.5 gallons x $3.30 per = $54.45 per fill up x 3 fill ups = $163.35 per month

That makes for a grand total saved of...
(drum roll, please)

• $8.91

Now, I'm simplifying the math a tad as I don't go down to empty before I fill, so I actually spend a little less on gas. And $8.91 is $8.91. But really. It's like the tax rebate. What am I going to spend it on? Bills, of course. I'm not stupid.

How is that going to stimulate the economy?

ETA: Nice article in the Minnpost about it.

Conspicuous Consumerism

I have way too many CDs.

Well, really I don't. But I do. But I don't.

I generally feel my CD collection is pitiful. Just pitiful. I have no Nepalese music in the stacks, for instance. Buddhist monks and Catholic monks chanting (2 separate disks, natch), folk music from Uganda, the Wisconsin Badger Marching Band, and the Minnesota Orchestra's recent recording of Beethoven 1, but nothing from Nepal. This may seem silly to most folks but it came back to haunt me at work today when I got caught a bit flat footed knowing nothing about music from Nepal. Long story.

(http://www.ccoder-usa.org/, if you must know)

Anyway, that was fairly fresh in my mind when in a fit of work avoidance this evening I decided to put my CDs in some semblance of order. Hence the "too many CDs!" "not enough CDs!" plaint. In the too many category: What a storage nightmare. Not enough shelf space so things are jammed in every which way and I can't see what I have. I ran across at least two CDs that I'd totally forgotten I own. They're sorted loosely by category, but with lack of space I can't do much more than that. ABC order might be even too anal for me, but I'm getting to that point.

But yet. No music from Nepal. One lousy CD from Australia. One! Only one CD of Japanese music as well, and it's orchestral - no folk music. I still don't own U2 Joshua Tree or Beatles Sergeant Pepper, which is a travesty. I mean, really.

CD thoughts remind me of a stand partner from long ago. Professional ensemble, but this was a young kid with much to learn. Much. OK, middle of rehearsal, swear to God:

"I have 200 CDs."

Really? Wow. Amazing. Now:

KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT DURING REHEARSAL, FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU, TWELVE?!?

He was annoying in many ways, but I really coulda smacked him after that one.

Freakin' phone was out much of yesterday which also meant no internet; drat you Qwest.

Random thing that has nothing to do with the previous (two) rant(s): My loud upstairs neighbors reached a new low today. Beautiful out there this evening (i.e. up above 60) so I opened my patio door to let in sun and air and let the cats smell smells and see sights.

Problem is, the neighbors thought the same way. They sent their two elephants disguised as small children out to their deck just above mine to go play. Lovely.

SQUEEEE! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM SQUEEEEEEEEE! BOOM BOOM SQUEEEEEEEE!

Oh. My. God. Cats were looking at me like the world was going to come crashing in on us at any time and I was fairly certain they were right. The "BOOM BOOM BOOM" noise was familiar to me as that's the soundtrack to my life on a regular basis - I think they may be interior designers as they're continually doing something that sounds like moving furniture - but the "SQUEEEE!" is usually more muffled.

Almost makes me wish for cold weather again... but not quite...

Update for D...

...who is likely the only person who reads this.

*grin*

Let's see... what's new around here? Just my typical social butterfly weekend: Am going out to dinner tonight to some new place with an old friend. That'll be fun. Tomorrow am heading to B&Cs new place for dinner and cards, not that I know where they live. Best get on that. Need to do some hard core cleaning as might have something for work at my house Monday night. Cat peed on my sweatshirt again, so I'm thinking the litter needs to be on the list.

Have big stuff for work next weekend and need to make sure I'm ready for that as well... it's one of those projects where I'm sure I've forgotten something and that's what's making me crazy - that I can't recall what I've forgotten.

Speaking of work, it's been a bit rough lately. A HUGE reduction in force is coming. My building alone is losing somewhere around 29%. I'm quite likely to be on that list. Can't say as I'm so pumped about that. Rumors are flying - got a call last night from a colleague who was pretty irate that she was told her job would be changing. Used quite colorful language. One hopes she'll be OK. One hopes we'll all be OK. But it's not going to happen. Best case scenario: I'll still be there and my job will change. Much more likely: do you want fries with that?

There's not a ton that can be done about it. We don't have as much money coming in, costs have to be cut. That's simple economics. What pisses me off is that my department seems to be getting hit the hardest. Hard to tell how much of that is perception and how much is The Truth. It's also a bit rough that I work my butt off, am good at my job, am well liked, my bosses want to keep me, but I am likely to get cut anyway. Seniority hurts sometimes.

Have been thinking on how to make economies myself. Smaller apartment, no garage, cut out internet, no home phone and just keep the cell. But I don't want to do any of that. Shop more at Goodwill and consignment, which I tend to do anyway. Car is almost paid for, which is nice. Had a haircut today - which costs and arm and two legs, every 6-8 weeks. My cosmetologist said to let her know, and she and I can talk about how we can make things cheaper. I promised her I'd never fall in with evil companions and go to Great Clips. She laughed and said she'd hunt me down if I did.

Funny how a tiny little thing like that can make me feel better.

Anyway. That's depressing. What else...

Changed my computer wallpaper to a picture of my cats. Can't "p" again. Need to replace this keyboard but am too cheap, especially now. They're changing the carpeting in the hallways of my apartment building so my whole apartment smells like glue. The cats are going to get high pretty soon, unless they are already - L is already attempting to modify my post with her attention to the mouse and the keyboard. Already deleted several sentences; yay for the inventor of "undo." Designed a card for the selling crafts stuff thing I've been toying with. Dunno how serious I am about any of this but it's an exercise. Don't like the look of them but not sure what's bugging me. They look amateurish. paper is decent; maybe it's how they're cut. Idunno.

Went to the big jugglefest last weekend and got closer to learning to juggle. That's just about the best people watching on earth. Anything that includes combat juggling and unicycle hockey is bound to be good. I even got up on a unicycle myself and with C's help managed to get at least a half turn of the wheel before I fell off. Good times. And J didn't knock himself in a particularly sensitive place so hard he fell over and curled into a fetal position, like what happened last time I went. Life is good.

Enough babbling for now, doncha think? I'd best pet the cat and distract her before things really get out of hand...

Linkage a-go-go

This has got to be about one of the funniest darn websites I've seen in a long time: Garfield Minus Garfield. It takes standard Garfield comic strips and removes the title character, making for these odd existential comments on modern life. I truthfully haven't had much use for Garfield for years now, although I really liked the strip at first, but these lend a whole new meaning; make the strip entertaining again.

Ran into the site through a new favorite: MinnPost. MinnPost is a new online only newspaper that conveniently hired many of the castoffs of the local papers, the ones more-or-less forced into retirement to save money, the ones who are smart, knowledgeable, really can write. There's a fair amount of thought in the articles, which is what I like. Besides having Uncle Al, whom I have loved for years, the paper can claim John Camp, more commonly known as novelist John Sanford. Camp wrote a series of pieces from Iraq, which are quite good.

Went out tonight with T and S. Idiot me forgot until S called me; thank goodness she did. We're planning on going out once a month. As they're two of my oldest friends, I'm glad we're making the effort.

Darn tired now, though. Daylight savings or something... I just can't get it together...

Jesu, joy of mans' desiring.

Or, to quote a favorite former physics teacher, I'll be dipped in poop.

I just through one thing and the other managed to run into an ex-boyfriend online. It's a bit of a long story involving idle curiosity combined with reading too many books combined with the wonder that is the Internet.

In other words, I managed to discover today that in the 14-15 years since I finally dumped this particular ex-boyfriend, he's gone from working in a dead-end job in a small grocery store in a college town in the Midwest to being a dive instructor in Grand Cayman.

WTF?

If nothing else, this proves how easy it is to find someone online. It's not like I looked that hard, or have that much knowledge about where to look. Google, combined with hits on a message board he posts on, combined with my memory and brain power put things together. A little scary, thinking about it further, about how a stalker could easily find a person if they knew a little bit about them to begin with. Makes me a bit afraid of message boards. And blogging, for that matter.

*waves at all my exes*

It also proves a bit about how, although my friends were too nice to say it to me at the time, I should have ditched him long before I did. He was a decent person and all, but we were never a good match and I was slow to see it. But really. Talk about divergent life paths. And what can happen in a relatively short period of time.

I'm glad for him, truthfully. He was on a path to nowhere in particular, last I knew. Smart, with a bachelor's degree, but down in the dumps because he couldn't get into grad school and couldn't get a decent job in his field with no grad degree. He had no sense of, to use a music term, directed motion. So he was a stockboy. Whose hobby - and passion - was sailing. Hence the connection. Good for him for finding a direction and reinventing himself. Most of my exes, with an exception or two, headed straight for Loserville.

*evil grin*

In other news, the cat is currently licking my leg to the point that my pants have a spot that's soaked. I'm not entirely certain why, and I'm a little afraid of whatever the answer might be. I need to change their litter box at some point today, which is hopefully unrelated. They've been so much trouble lately that it's like I have 10 cats. Constantly underfoot and in my face. I haven't been home much, which I'm thinking is part of it.

However:

I have a week off. This makes me want to sing, rumba, Charleston, and tango. Today, I did little other than to revel in the fact that I don't have to go to work for another nine days. Ten, including today. Mmmm....

The cats have also provided me with a built in excuse for not exercising - like I actually need one. Dug out the resistance bands today and one was promptly stolen such that it could be dragged around the house, a bit like a kitten; although hopefully a kitten would not be dropped, batted around, chewed, and then picked up again for a repeat performance.

I have to do Christmas Eve dinner, plus am bringing the stuff for our particular branch of the fam to Christmas itself. Am also going to a concert tomorrow night. Somewhere. Am not done with my Christmas shopping, my cards, or anything else, really. Might want to get on that.

This is apropos of absolutely nothing, but I found a website today I must share: the T. Herman Zweibel Memorial Foundation. My favorite part, I think, is from The Life and Timeline of T. Herman Zweibel:

1885: Ulysses S. Grant dies and, after an elaborate funeral procession through the streets of New York, is buried in an unmarked grave; today, the exact location of his remains is unknown.

And that, right there, is why I have always loved The Onion; since college when they were headquartered across the street from my dorm. It always gives me some reason to chuckle evilly.

Last night went out with friends and colleagues. Was mostly very fun as got to hang out with some people I hadn't seen in quite a while. Stayed out longer than I meant to as there ended up being some drama towards the end of the evening and I wanted to make sure everyone made it home OK. I finally couldn't take the drama any more and had to leave. Why, oh why, are men so stupid? Blind, really, especially while having had WAY too much to drink. But then, the corollary to that is why are women so stupid that they actually listen to them. *sigh* T and I commented to each other at one point amongst the awkwardness that we were the only two normal people there. Not coincidentally, we were also the only two who were sober.

*double sigh*

Hopefully all will be well. At least eventually.

OK, this is plenty long for one post, and it's taken me all day, and I'm tired. Off to bed.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.



ETA: This is my 50th post. Huh.

My concerts are done. I could sing.

OK, that's an exaggeration. One more. And then I'm done. I can hardly wait.

Normal people don't get how much December sucks for musicians. We're constantly on the run. I'm just tired in general of being stressed. And tired. And cold, come to that. But it's been that kind of year. I'm in a lull between major projects. Things should get truly hideous right around the first of the year, lull again in early April, then suck through to June. Or something like that. The writers' strike is killing me. It would be nice to be able to watch decent - for lack of a better word - TV to relax. But no. We get such crapola as Gladiator. Who thinks of this junk? And PBS, as much as I love them, is in the middle of a fund drive. So the Roadshow and This Old House get preempted for the likes of stinkin' Andre Rieu, who I hate. *sigh* When you can't count on PBS, you can't count on nobody.

Anyway, concerts are almost done, shopping is almost done, wrapping is almost done, decorating is almost done, baking is almost done... huzzah. Cards need to occur. But it could be a whole lot worse. That aspect of stress at least is under control.

Tomorrow will be a relatively easy day at work. Most of my projects should involve sitting on my derrière and listening to other folks. Little thought or preparation involved for me. Hallelujah. My brain is starting to shut down. OK, wrong tense there. But you know. Going to have a review on Thursday, so need to prepare for that. But shouldn't be too bad.

And then there's today's puzzler: why do the cats, who have a perfectly good water bowl mind you, insist upon drinking from the humidifier basin whenever I take out the tank to refill it? Not to mention the little one, who persists in ripping my Santa window cling down so she can chew on it. Not making me happy. At least they haven't knocked the mini tree over in a few days. And they haven't ripped down any of the Christmas lights. Granted, December is still young.

OK, 9 p.m. and therefore time for bed. I don't get to bed by 9, I regret it the next day. Granted, I've been yawning since 6. Oh adventure, be my wild partner.

Song of the week: Coffee Shop. Yes, I know it's in a commercial. In spite of that, it's lovely. Sorry to not be able to link to the real vid - this was the best I could find on You Tube. I think I like his other stuff too. His music isn't deep, but it's decent. For what I've heard, Coffee Shop is my fave.

Not much to say; just figured I may as well say something as it's been a while.

Not so pumped about the TV writers' strike. Moonlighting had to deal with the last big one, back in '88. It's not a federal case or anything, and Lord knows there's plenty in this world that's more important, but it's nice to have an escape, once and a while. And Jim and Pam finally got together. Darn it!

Today traded places with one of my co-workers and did his job for the day. What fun. Things are totally different where he works. Everyone was very nice, helpful, welcoming, willing to try anything. Just different. Had a great time.

Am tired but just can't make myself go to bed. Hm.

Spent time cleaning today, some stuff that has been sitting around gathering dust for quite some time. Hung up piles of clean clothes, made the bed, etc.

Got a book the other day - Country Wisdom and Know-How: Everything You Need to Know to Live Off the Land. Stinkin' awesome. Covers everything from how to build a chicken coop to cooking with tofu to chair caning and seat weaving. You can't go wrong with that.

Went out with T yesterday to Penzey's, lunch, and a yarn shop that is unfortunately closing. We had a good time. Got some sock yarn. Think I'm going to try to crochet some socks. Have been crafty lately. This weekend did some canning, crocheting, soap making.

I can't "p" again. Stupid keyboard.

Nothing much to say; just wanted to say a few words.

Nitwit. Blubber. Oddment. Tweak.

Thank you.

So my cat just lost my jump drive. That I got from work. Yesterday. *sigh* That's what I get for putting a nice tempting chord on the end of it. I now have three jump drives - one for work I just received, one work gave me in the bag of chords I also got yesterday to go with my other new computer toys (I think they'd forgotten they already gave me one), and the personal one I bought two years ago before work finally got with the times. Oh - two squirrels are chasing each other around the tree outside. Maybe this'll distract the cat enough to give me the opportunity I need... ah yes, there it is. Right under her butt. Lovely.

I got a bunch of toys yesterday, which was quite nice. The folks who organized these things did a great job idiot-proofing it all. The chords are labeled which end goes in to which end, we have instructions online, we practiced it in the lab at the office, etc. My problem is needing to write a grant and jump through a ton of hoops in order to get stuff I should be getting anyway. Drives me nuts.

Headed out to the Fair today. Met H and M at a park and ride at the U. H and I have been doing this almost every year for a long time. It was fun to have an 8 month old along - M especially liked the poultry barn. I didn't even get pooped on. The food was yummy as always. Had a deep fried candy bar, which I haven't had in a while. Mmm. Fried fruit was new this year, and different than I thought it would be. Decent, though. The fruit was a little tasteless. Lost something in the frying process. A cousin of mine entered knitted socks and won a blue ribbon, which is pretty cool. I'm happy for her. She makes awesome stuff, and deserves to be recognized. Someday, I hope to have both the guts and the skill to do that myself.

A sad little update - they think they've found everyone now and we're up to 13 dead. That plus the 7 dead in flooding this weekend makes for quite a couple of weeks around here. Between the drought, the floods, and the bridge, I wonder how much geography is currently listed as a federal disaster area.

The painters are still here, still sitting around on the steps of the building opposite, smoking (leaving butts everywhere of course), and making crude comments really loudly. Sure wish they'd get things done and go bother someone else.

Had a good time at the family reunion. Cousin of mine showed up unexpectedly, and it was nice having the prodigal back home. He stayed with his sister and drove up a little late, just to surprise them. Could only stay for a few hours as he had to fly out again. He made some serious points with his folks, that's for sure. Cold as heck, though. We baked last year and froze this. Ugh. Predictable, I suppose.

Song of the day: Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's. I know, I know, it's been everywhere lately. Boring. But I swear I liked it before it hit heavy rotation. Combo of acoustic guitar and strings, I think. Gets me every time.