Why Does Nobody Tell Me These Things?

Well, damn, if I'd known Zaphod Beeblebrox was running, I wouldn't have voted for Kerry.

Damn My Lack of Willpower!

It's really not a good thing if you buy Halloween candy and then eat it all before Halloween. For several reasons, really...

Could It Be... Satan?


You are pure evil. You are satan in the flesh. You
scare the hell out of me and everyone else and
you have the mind of a sick, deranged mass
murderer. You delight in torturing innocent
people... and guilty people... pretty much any
people. You have a major case of pyromania as
well. You'd rather put the world through a
lifetime of cruel tortures then kill em off and
get it over with. Seek help.

Are you satan?
brought to you by Quizilla

OK, I admit I was in a bit of an evil mood when I did this one, and may, um, have slanted the answers a bit...

I Have Exercised My Civil Rights, or Discharged My Civic Duty, or Something.

As I mentioned a while back, I registered to vote by mail several weeks ago. Well, I never got any information about where I was supposed to go to vote or anything, so I called the county clerk's office today to ask 'em where they wanted me to show up. "Oh!" they said. "We're doing early voting today and tomorrow. You can just come to the courthouse and do it right now." So, um, I did.

I feel all responsible and stuff.

Who is That?

The first publicity image for the new Doctor Who has been released. Am I the only one suddenly feeling very, very nervous?

No Vegetables Were Harmed in the Making of this Post.

If you don't like to get up out of your comfy computer chair and do things in the kitchen, but would still like to do a spot of pumpkin-carving, well, you're in luck, because you can now carve your own virtual pumpkin. Mine, alas, all came out extremely scary, and not in a good way.

Search Request Thursday Returns

Oh, all right. Here:

dialog star trek "she's got, captain": Well, Kirk probably heard that fairly often...

an ideal boyfriend is: ...fictional.

trenchcoats off of farscape: No, keep the trenchcoats on Farscape! They're cool!

shut up betty: Hey!

socorro blog party pics: Apparently I didn't get an invite. Sniff.

gigi edgley boyfriend: Yes, many people wish they were Gigi Edgley's boyfriend, I'm sure.

getting nude on schoolbus: I can just hear the driver now... "I'm not moving this bus until everybody puts their clothes back on!"

NEWS GOOGLE RESPET MARRIAGE: Yes! Spetting marriage once is not enough! I demand that Google do it again!

Wesley Crusher's asshole: I so hope there's an indefinite article missing there.

"christopher golden" nude: People are searching for nude pics of people who write Buffy novels now? Truly, the definition of celebrity is expanding.

chekov fan fiction: Because the poor guy never got to do much on-screen except scream and make lame jokes about Russia.

pumpkin carving pics ned flanders: Now there's a scary jack'o'lantern idea!

"freddy kruger" "middle name": I didn't know he had a middle name.

Experiments done in space by the Apollo astronauts: Hell, in it's own way, the entire venture was an experiment.

jack-o-lantern pattern farscape: You do realize that if you steal Rygel's design, he's going to charge you?

taste test sprite vs 7up science project: For science-minded kids who plan to sell out to the corporate sector when they graduate.

halloween costume rollerblades wheels: Hmm, rollerblade wheels. Now there's an original costume idea!

sexy military costume: Because, of course, sexiness is the first consideration of any military outfit.

lem "bad science fiction" fiasco: I do have a vague memory of reading that and thinking that it was not among his best works.

sweet and innocent nude pics: Yeah, "sweet and innocent." Riiiight.

chiana nude fan: Well, I guess the fan will cool her off faster if she's nude... By the way, I've (rather unsurprisingly) gotten an increasing number of search requests for nude Farscape characters of late, but I've still never had any for any of the guys except Crichton. I still think this is a sad state of affairs, and eagerly await the day when I finally get a hit from someone looking for nude pictures of Crais.

It's Not Easy Being Green...


You're Lorne. What this says about you: You're
bright, funny and an eternal optimist, wanting
nothing more than to be appreciated for your
talents. You're apt to hold grudges, but you
hate fighting about things. People tend to
rely on you more than they should and that gets
to you. When you're in love, you're probably
incredibly romantic about it. Try to stand up
for yourself once in a while. You're not a
vending machine.

Which Angel: the series Character Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Yay! He's, like, my favorite character. And that description isn't totally off, either.

One Stupid Online Trend Calls Me Another


You are a Forum Based RPG
Entertaining, Adventurous You are a reject from the
days of online mudding that should have been
abandoned years ago since the advent of IMs,
but linger on because it is so fucking easy to
get an EZ board account.

What stupid Online trend are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

They Know Me Too Well

Amazon.com.uk just sent me an e-mail to say that they really think I'll want to order this. And, oh, I am tempted. So very, very tempted...

I'd Make a Pun on the Word "Fall" Here, But It Wouldn't Be Very Clever or Original, So I've Decided Not To.

I like October. The rainy season is trickling to a close, the New Mexican climate finally provides us with a few short, beautiful weeks of blissfully livable weather between the pounding heat of summer and the pipe-freezing cold of winter, and there's an oddly exciting little nip in the air that makes me want to go and cheerfully gather up nuts or something.

It's a pity it doesn't last.

"Diet" Is a Four-Letter Word

And now I'm eating pie. Because I had a long day, and only got a sandwich for dinner, and I wanted comfort food. And there was a pie in the freezer, from way back when the supermarket had a "buy one, get one" pie sale and I went crazy stocking up on pies.

Sigh. But, y'know... PIE!

Allow Me to Simultaneously Say "Yes!" and "Damn!"

So, as previously mentioned, my video copy of the Farscape miniseries was completely crappy -- almost unwatchably crappy, sadly -- because there was a ton of static on my cable system when I taped it. Well, hey, they re-ran it today, and my cable, for once, was being clear as a bell, so I set it up to tape while I was at work. Good news: it came out beautifully. Bad news: I stuck in the wrong tape. A tape that wasn't re-wound. A tape that already had four hours worth of stuff on it.

Meaning, I got pt. 1 before the tape ran out, but not pt. 2. Sigh.

Oh, well, they're re-running pt. 2 again on Nov. 9. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll behave for me then. Or maybe I'll just have to wait for the DVD...

Once Again, Trying To Be Good Proves to Be a Bad Idea

I really need to get groceries. Which, actually, shouldn't really be all that much of a problem. The grocery store is very nearly on my way home from work, and next week I'll actually be walking home at an hour when the store is still open, so I can stop and pick up a few essentials. I'm damned annoyed at the state of my larder tonight, though.

See, I was going to make some nice lemon-pepper chicken for dinner. Except it turned out I had one chicken breast left, and it was all freezer burned. Damn, no chicken. And not a whole lot of anything else, either, except for a few Hot Pockets that a) weren't looking very appetizing, and b) I wanted to save to take to work. I thought about ordering a pizza, but, you know, I'm trying to eat a little better, and pizzas are absolutely full of fat. Plus, delivery people have a hard time finding my house. So I started looking through the pantry and thinking, hmm, what can I make?, when an answer hit me: waffles! Well, OK, I didn't have any eggs, but the recipe said eggs were optional, so, hey! I mixed up some batter and hauled out the ol' waffle iron, which I hadn't used in years, and got set to go... Except I neglected to grease the waffle iron. And then I overcooked the waffles. I literally had to pry the damned thing open, sending burnt waffle shrapnel everywhere. So much for waffles.

So I called Pizza Hut, and told them to bring me pizza. And hot wings. And breadsticks. And soda. And I am going to PIG OUT. Because all trying to eat better seems to be getting me at the moment is really pissed off.

Random Thought #5,965

How did I manage to waste so much of this day?

Oh, Gee, Here's a Subject I Never Talk About...

For those of you who may have missed Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars this week (or, at least those of you who live in the US and have cable), you've got another chance, because it's on again tomorrow at 3 PM Eastern/Pacific, on the Sci-Fi Channel.

The DVD is already scheduled for release in January, and you can pre-order it here (go to "buy merchandise" and click on "Farscape").

I'd offer to make video copies for people, too, but my own copy is crap, due to ridiculous levels of static on my cable system. I'm actually kind of hoping it might be a bit better tomorrow and I can re-do it...

These Shoes Are Made for Walking... Sort of.

Well, my car is currently up at a body shop in Albuquerque. I just got a call from the insurance company, and it's probably going to be November second before it's ready. It seems they're going to replace the door completely, but they don't happen to have one in stock. Sigh.

I'm tempted to just rent a car in the interim, but that'd involve cadging a ride up to Albuquerque to get one... Sure, Enterprise says they'll pick you up, but somehow I don't think they mean "We'll pick you up 80 miles away." On the other hand, I'm going to have to scrounge a ride up there at some point to pick the damned car up, anyway. I don't know... It's almost a point of pride for me that I don't need a car. I've done without one for months, hell, for years, back when I was a student. I'm not one of these lazy-ass Americans who drives to the curb to get the mail, for crying out loud. I walk. I like to walk, and I don't need any damn car!

Yeah, except I'm still having problems with my stupid foot. Actually, it's been sort of OK. I've walked back and forth into work the last few days, and while I'm definitely noticing a little bit of pain, it's not too bad. I'm not limping, or wincing with every step or anything. I keep icing it up, and it keeps functioning. But I know I'm not doing it any favors, and I'm a little worried that I'll get to a point where I am having some serious difficulty. So I'm trying to keep my walking limited to the home-to-work round trip and not go anywhere else, which is kind of annoying, because sometime in the next couple of weeks I'm surely going to need groceries. And I hate asking people for rides. It's that stupid point of pride thing again.

One thing I did do was to switch shoes. Funnily enough, I never had this kind of problem with my feet when I was wearing the $8 Wal-Mart sneakers, as opposed to the $75 specialized walking shoes I was stupid enough to buy last year. Fortunately, I still had my old, battered pair, so I've been walking in those for the past few days. Unfortunately, while I'd swear my left foot (the one with the plantar fasciitis) does better in them, they're giving me blisters on my right foot. I suppose I could wear one Wal-Mart Special and one Overpriced Walking Shoe, but, y'know, people would look at me even funnier than they do now. Also, I think I'd be lopsided. Sigh.

I Know, I Know, I'm Falling Down on the Job...

Um, you may (or may not) have noticed that there was no Search Request Thursday yesterday. This is because, what with working on getting caught up on things after Family Vacation Week, and being all busy squealing over Farscape, and sundry other distractions, I never even actually took the time to check my referrer logs. Normal service will be resumed next week, unless I decide I can get away with discontinuing it again.

I Guess These People Know Me...

I'm high entertained by the fact that when I came back in to work today, the question I was asked was not "How was your vacation?" but "So, what did you think of the Farscape?"

Uber Geek!

According to the Official Geek Test, I am a Level 4 Geek, aka, Uber Geek. I'm sure this absolutely shocks everyone. I bet I could probably have hit Level 5, too, if it weren't for the time restrictions and the fact that I answered conservatively on a couple of questions...

In Your Face, Inferior Television Programs!

From a Sci Fi Channel press release:

FARSCAPE' DECLARES 'WAR' ON THE COMPETITION

SCI FI Miniseries Premieres #1
Among P18-49 and P25-54

New York, NY (October 19, 2004) -- The fans have spoken. They frelling love their Farscape. The two-night, four-hour Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (Oct. 17-18 @ 9-11pm ET/PT) premiere averaged a 1.7 HH rating/1,916,000 P2+, making SCI FI the #1 non-sports cable network for P25-54 and P18-49 for the time period over the two nights.

SCI FI trounced its competition among P25-54, outdelivering TNT (24%), TBS (45%) and Spike TV (42%). They fared no better among P18-49, with SCI FI outperforming TNT (32%), TBS (27%) and Spike TV (35%).

Peacekeeper Wars delivered an aggregate audience of 6,883,000 viewers over the two nights (4 telecasts of Night One, 3 telecasts of Night Two).

With a 1.5 HH rating/1,735,000 P2+, Night One of Peacekeeper Wars was up 81% in HH ratings and scored triple digit increases in key demos versus the time period average for October 2003:
• +163% in P25-54
• + 202% in P18-49

Night Two of the mini soared even higher, delivering a 1.9 HH rating/2,097,000 P2+ (Oct. 18 @9-11pm ET/PT). It improved upon the previous night's premiere by:
• +30% in HH rating
• +25% in P18-49
• +20% in P25-54

Things Are Heating Up

Well, after all the annoyance with the car -- and, by the way, the insurance agent, who was supposed to call me "within the next two hours" still hasn't gotten back to me -- at least I've had some fairly good news on the RL problems front. The way my furnace was behaving by the end of last winter, I was pretty nearly convinced there must be something seriously wrong with it, but I've just had people in to look at it, and it turns out the stupid thing was just clogged up with dirt and dust. They gave it a good, thorough cleaning, and it's working beautifully now. Hooray! I don't need a new furnace!

OK, that might not seem like much to celebrate. But at this point, I'll take it.

Part 2! (Emotional Reactions, No Specific Spoilers)

Oh. My. God. Two years. Two years of tireless fan campaigning, major investments of time and money and energy and ridiculous levels of optimism, and we did it. We got the rest of our story. And it was worth it. Hot damn. Because, yeah. That. Was. Good. Comedy and tragedy, action and drama, space battles and snark and blowin' stuff up and kissin' and the culmination of character and story arcs that have been building since season one. And, yeah, OK, it isn't the fifth season we wanted, but I will so frelling take it!

*slips into happy, overwhelmed fangirl coma and dies*

One Damn Thing After Another.

So, because was a good girl and I decided to get off my big fat butt and get some stuff accomplished today instead of sitting around surfing the internet, I took my car into the car wash. Then I vacuumed it with the car wash's crappy vacuum that didn't get any of the damned dirt and debris off. (And, believe me, after a road trip to White Sands with three adults and a toddler, your car accumulates some serious debris.) Then I put air in the tires. Only I couldn't reach the right front tire. So I backed up a little. With the passenger side door open. Into a post.

Result: inside of the door is dented. Door will not shut, will not latch, will not lock. I drove it by my mechanic, who was located half a block away, and he got out his leatherman and fiddled with the mechanism a bit, but quickly determined that the problem was that the dent was making the mechanism not connect, and that, while they could probably get it to shut with a fair amount of work, what I really needed was a body shop. So I came home and called the insurance company. Again.

There are a couple of annoying points about this. Point 1: This is, of course, an entirely separate incident from the hail damage. Which means two deductibles. Which means $500. Eep. I'm seriously thinking of just cancelling the claim on the hail dings and living with them. They're really not that bad, and given that I'm pretty much planning on driving the car until it dies and trading it it, they might not be worth worrying about. But we'll see what the adjustor says. Point 2: Car door not shutting means car not drivable, which is a difficulty, given that a) the body shop I usually use (and which my insurance company guarantees) is 60 miles away, and b) the body shops here in town are backed up for weeks fixing damage from the hail.

There are a couple of good points... Given that hail damage and accidents are being handled by two entirely different groups, I'm not going to have to wait for two weeks for somebody to come out and look at this problem. And, fortunately, my foot, while it's still giving me a little trouble, has mostly been behaving itself, even after all the walking I did last week, so if I have to walk into work for a while it should be OK.

Stupid car. Stupid post. Stupid laws of physics. Stupid me.

And Yet Another Goofy Quiz


Which File Extension are You?

I Do?


Roman Capitals- You have a proud and noble bearing,
and are of ancient pedigree, but you tend to be
very rigid and set in your ways.

What Calligraphy Hand Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

And the Results of Two Damn Years of Waiting?

I'm tired, my brain is kinda fried, and I'm currently having frenetic discussions about the subject with various people elsewhere on the internet. Plus, I know at least one or two non-US readers who would take it as a kindness if I avoided spoilerage. So I will just say this:

It was Farscape. It was good. And I cannot wait for part 2.

Home Alone

Mom left on Saturday, and I've just dispatched my sister and company to the airport, so it's just me once again. I swear, the house almost seems too quiet, although the neighbors' children are doing their best to take up the slack by making lots of noise outside.

Overall, it was a cool visit. Yesterday we drove around New Mexican back roads and visited some old ruined Spanish Missions, then stopped for dinner at the Olive Garden in Albuquerque. Yesterday was board games and DVDs again, and the three-year-old had what seems to have been the most exciting experience of his young life watching a bulldozer spreading fresh dirt over my driveway to fix the nasty mudhole that was left of it after the most recent batch of storms.

And now, of course, I have a TV show to watch. If you'll excuse me...

Ten Reasons to Watch Farscape

OK, I've got another few minutes to myself... Well, OK, almost to myself. I'm watching the toddler while Mom and my sis go roust the brother-in-law from the hotel room.

Anyway, given a few minutes to myself on the internet, I will, of course, inevitably start finding and linking to stuff like this. So: here's teevee.org's Ten Reasons to Watch Farscape. Very good, very spot-on list. Here's a sample:

1. There's something for everyone. Farscape strikes a fantastic balance between action and romance, drama and comedy. Science fiction fans will dig Farscape's unusually savvy take on the genre, with a fresh spin for everything from time travel to gender relations. Sci-fi haters will appreciate Farscape's absolute refusal to take itself seriously; characters make fun of their own technobabble, drop Star Trek references and aren't afraid to interrupt a tense moment by announcing their urgent need to pee. Adrenaline junkies will love the massive, John Woo-inspired gun battles and thrilling space dogfights, while soap opera enthusiasts can get hooked on the tortured romance of astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) and exiled soldier Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black.)

Warning: the list contains a few smallish spoilers, and item #7 mentions how the final episode (pre-miniseries) ends.

Speaking of which, just as a reminder, part 1 of the miniseries airs on the Sci-Fi Channel this Sunday, at 9:00 PM Eastern/Pacific. (That's 7 PM here in Mountain, the Forgotten Timezone.)

Brief Update

My sis, brother-in-law, and three-year-old nephew have been here since Sunday, and Mom came in on Wednesday, so I have a full house at the moment. Or did, since I packed them all off to a motel last night. At the moment, I'm just waiting for them to show up again for breakfast. And, I admit, enjoying the peace and quiet and time to spend alone with my precious internet. Because I love 'em all dearly, but I've grown used to not having people around, y'know?

Anyway, we've been having fun. There have been road trips and DVDs and board games. We went down to Alamogordo, visiting White Sands and the Museum of Space History, with stops at the Valley of Fires lava flows and the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site on the way. Yesterday we drove out to the VLA, where my mother availed herself of my employee discount in the gift shop, and the toddler learned how to say "radio telescope." Not sure what we're going to do today. Maybe a drive through the desert, maybe just hanging out.

Whatever the case, you're still not likely to hear from me again for a couple of days...

Sorry, Faithful Blog-Readers, But You're Only My Second Priority!

I'm off to the airport in a little while to pick up my sister. She's going to be staying with me for a week, along with her husband and their three-year-old son. My mother's also apparently planning on coming out for a couple of days later in the week, too.

I'm not sure exactly what we're going to be doing... Maybe a roadtrip or two, maybe a lot of sitting around shooting the breeze and watching DVDs. But, either way, doing the socializing-with-family thing is doubtless going to cut into my usual twelve to fourteen hours of online time, so blogging is likely to be very light for the next week or so. Try not to take it too hard, 'kay?

Hee! They Found Me Out.



take the "what's your dark secret?" quiz
| courtesy of mewing.net. where darkness and secrecy abound.

The Academic Girl Next Door?

I am a hybrid of: Academic Girl Girl Next Door Click on the pictures below to read more: Take the 'What Kind of Girl Are You?' quiz at CookingToHookup.com

Well, one of those is kind of accurate...

Hey, It's the Most Interesting Thing That's Happened Here in Ages.

The New Mexico Tech website has more info on our freak hailstorm and its aftermath, including links to pictures posted by various people. Apparently, the county may well end up being declared a federal disaster area...

Monthly Meme

I should be doing useful stuff. Instead I'm doing this.

Current clothes: Blue jeans. White socks. An olive-colored pocket t-shirt. No shoes.

Current mood: Tired. I got less than five hours of sleep today. I was feeling really irritable earlier, but I seem to be getting over that now.

Current music: Most recently, Leonard Cohen's New Skin for the Old Ceremony.

Current annoyance: My front yard's flooded again, after that freaky-ass storm.

Current thing: Procrastination.

Current desktop picture: This image of lightning at Kitt Peak Observatory.

Current song in head: It appears to be "Funky Cold Medina." For absolutely no reason I can fathom.

Current book: Last Man Running, a Doctor Who novel by Chris Boucher. I adore Boucher's TV work, but I must admit, I'm kind of disappointed in the book. For at least the first hundred pages or so, it's pretty much been: they walk through a forest and fight a monster; they walk through a jungle and fight a monster; they take a swim and fight a monster... It might actually translate into a decent episode on screen, but as a book, it's dull.

Current video in player: Nothing at the moment. Just finished copying a bunch of Farscape episodes for a friend of mine in Finland.

Current DVD in player: Er, the most recent one would be a Farscape disc I was copying. Shh. Don't tell anyone.

Current refreshment: Just finished some Wintermint tea. I'm not that fond of it, actually. It tastes sorta medicinal. But I bought a box of it, so I keep drinking it every once in a while.

Current worry: Getting the house cleaned and stuff before my sister gets here on Sunday. Also whether my front yard is gonna be dried out by then.

Current thought: My nose itches.

Search Request Thursday

Here:

world peacekeepers, 1:18 toy playsets: I don't think Peacekeepers play with toys.

my ticklish sister: My sister is actually very ticklish. Or at least, she used to be. When we were kids, all I used to have to do to tickle her would be to waggle my fingers in the direction of her neck, and she'd start shrieking and squirming. And then, of course, I could legitimately defend myself to Mom with, "But I'm not touching her!"

verbosity my tunes: Alas, this blog has no tunes.

paranoid schizophrenic wav listen sound: I knew you were making recordings of me! You're all out to get me!

How can I become cooler: Well, this is how I did it.

sue and malcolm camper rover: Well, I hope Sue, Malcolm and Rover enjoy their camping trip, I guess.

kinky customs nude pics: But if they're customs, they're by definition normal, aren't they? Which would by definition make them not kinky.

betty and sex: Yes, they go together like, um... Two things that haven't gone together in a while.

nude star trek sims: How can you tell they're Trek sims if they're not wearing uniforms? Unless they're all aliens...

pumpkin carving designs and tinkerbell: Oh, yeah, there's a scary Jack'o'lantern idea.

religion farscape blog essay: Hey, I actually wrote one of those once! Oh, my god, you mean somebody might have actually come to my blog looking for something that was on my blog? Wow. That's a first.

"betty's brain" software download: Sorry. My brain software is proprietary.

funny aragorn nude pictures: See, this is why Middle Earth doesn't enjoy freedom of the press.

"download douglas adams": Hey, when you figure out how to download dead people, let me know, 'kay?

hailstorm in socorro on oct 5th: Freakiest damn weather I've ever seen in my life.

pervy retreats: Are those like writers' retreats? Only for perverts?

culture differences when involving hygine: Well, some cultures spell it "hygiene..."

subtitling maximum words: Umm, how big's the screen?

pictures of socorro hailstorm: I kind of wish I'd taken some, but as I don't have a digital camera, I wouldn't have 'em to post, anyway.

stark psychology disorder farscape: I think the poor guy's got several of them.

"drive without my glasses": If I tried that, I would die.

They'll Take My Net Access Away When They Pry the Keyboard from My Cold, Dead Fingers.

According to this article, "Study Participants Suffered Withdrawal Symptoms, Feelings of Loss When Deprived of Web Access for Two Weeks." Well, duh. Man, the very thought makes me cringe...

Alienated

One of the things I did while I was lying around being sick was to finally finish watching the Alien Nation DVDs I've had for ages and have been slowly going through an episode at a time. And, damn it, now I really, really want the TV movies. Why are these not available on DVD? For that matter, why isn't the series more widely available on DVD? As far as I can tell, the only place you can get them from is Columbia House. Come on, surely I can't be the only person who remembers that show with fondness? If there's a market for all the other shows that are out now on DVD, there's gotta be a market for that one.

Hopefully the Sky Is Done Throwing Things at Us Now.

By the way, here's a local newspaper article about yesterday's scary-ass freak hailstorm. They're not exaggerating about the damage, either. Me, I got off lucky. My car is now completely covered in little pockmark dents, but nothing actually broke. I know a lot of people whose cars are completely totaled, and I don't think there's an unbroken skylight in town. I would not want to be an insurance agent in New Mexico right now.

Man, this is what I get for being all smug about not living in Florida, isn't it?

"The Classic Story of Boy Meets Girl..."

This fan-made TV ad for the Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars miniseries has me giggling hysterically. Hell, even if you're completely unfamiliar with Farscape, it's gotta be funny. Check it out. (Warning: Requires Quicktime. Contains some spoilers for the Story Thus Far.)

I Don't Know Where I'm A-Gonna Go When The Volcano Blow

Check it out: Mt. St. Helens Volcano Cam. It wasn't doing anything interesting when I looked, but at least now I have proof that it's there, since it was completely invisible behind the clouds the time I actually visited.

My sister forwarded me an e-mail she was sent at work describing how to deal with being covered in ash. (She works for an insurance company, so I guess they know all about ash-related damage.) Kind of disturbing stuff. Gee, I'm glad I live in New Mexico, where I just have to worry about baseball-sized hailstones dinging the hell out of my car...

One of Those News Items I Am All But Obligated to Blog

"The rocket plane SpaceShipOne has shot to an altitude of more than 100km for the second time inside a week to claim the $10m Ansari X-Prize." Yay, team!

Hail, Hail...

Geez, I mean, you hear about golfball-sized hail, but I'd never actually seen any before. It keeps setting off the neighbor's car alarm. Heh.

Looks like it's mostly starting to turn back into rain now, but I'm still hearing occasional loud thumps on the roof.

(Wait, did I say "golfball?" Some of these are baseball sized. Holy shit. And it's starting up again now...)

Weather Report

Wow, it's hailing like a sumbitch here. Damn, but that's loud on a metal roof.

So, Am I Still Sick, Or Am I Just Lazy?

Still haven't decided whether I'm going to go in to work tonight. I keep thinking I feel a lot better, but whenever I'm up and about for an hour or so -- not even necessarily doing anything, just being vertical -- I get all tired out and want to lie down again for a while. So, yeah, maybe not.

It's odd. Except for the one bout of flu where I was knocked out for the better part of a week, the times I've been sick over the last year or two seem to have followed roughly the same pattern. Day 1: Feel fine most of the day. Develop a slightly scratchy throat by bedtime. Day 2: Wake up after very little sleep feeling like complete crap. Headache, sore throat, general achiness. Terrible congestion that actually clears up considerably after a few hours, especially with the help of a little pseudoephedrin. Day 3: Symptoms mostly gone, still some headache, but very tired and listless and weak. Day 4: Pretty much better. I'm not really complaining about this. It could be a hell of a lot worse. But it seems strange, because most of the colds I've had in my life have been annoying, lingering things with much more pronounced symptoms.

Watching My Language

I'm feeling slightly better today... Still have a headache, though, and my sleep schedule's completely out of whack now, so I'm not sure whether I'm going to go in to work tonight or not. We'll see. At some point, at least, I am going to have to put some clothes on and go to the grocery store, because I need "feminine hygiene products." And orange juice.

In the meantime, I think I'm just going to sit quietly here in front of my computer and entertain my poor headachy brain however I can. Given that my brain has strange ideas of what's entertaining, I've had it doing more quizzes, this time to test your language skills in Spanish and French.

I got 10/10 on the Spanish. It'd be inaccurate to say that I speak Spanish, but I can read it pretty well. I'm not gonna be picking up Cervantes in the original or anything, but I can usually (if slowly) make my way through a newspaper article.

On the other hand, I scored 8/10 on the French, which I do not speak at all. I am capable of recognizing the meanings of a few isolated French words, either from having picked them up somewhere or because they're similar to Spanish or English words, and several times the one word I recognized would appear in one of the multiple-choice options and not the others, which made it a pretty easy test.

Do I Have to Wear That Hat?


You are a Bavarian.

What's your Inner European?
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Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me

I went to bed last night at about 2:30 with a slightly scratchy throat. I woke up this morning at 6:30 with a scratchy throat, a phlegm-clogged respiratory system, aching sinuses, and a widespread general feeling of bodily unhappiness. (Also cramps, but I suppose those aren't especially relevant, except inasmuch as they contribute to my overall misery.)

Apparently, my plans for the day have just metamorphosed into: "lie in bed a lot, drink liquids, and sleep at random intervals whenever it actually proves possible."

And I'm pretty damned sure I'm not going into work tonight. Which I'm sure my boss will be thrilled about, as we've already had a bunch of people out for various reasons over the last few days.

And, to top it all off, I thought I had some orange juice in the fridge, and I don't. *sniff*

The Shift-Worker's Dilemma

For various reasons, I've only been managing to get five or six hours of sleep for the past three nights -- or, rather, days -- and as a result I am feeling incredibly wiped out right now. I'm still on night shift for another week, though, which leaves me with a dilemma: should I force myself to stay awake for another four or five hours so as not to throw my schedule off, or should I just give in to sweet, sweet sleep and worry about next week when it gets here?

At the moment, I am leaning strongly towards Plan B...