Angsty Birthday To Me

So, as of tomorrow, I am forty years old. I... really don't want to be forty. I mean, yes, obviously, it beats the alternative of not living to forty. And, no, it's really not old. It's not really anything; it's just an arbitrary number that only looks significant because we happen to be born with ten fingers. And yet, almost inevitably, it does have me thinking about things like what's going to happen to me in old age, and how kids today really are living in a world completely different from the one I knew, and, Comic Book Guy-style, whether I've wasted my life.

And just to make it all really hit home, while I was composing this post in my head, I noticed I had an answering machine message from my doctor. She does, in fact, want to me to start taking (a very small amount of) thyroid hormone. Which is probably no big deal, and maybe not even particularly unexpected, but, boy, if it doesn't feel like passing a signpost saying, "It's All Downhill From Here."

Obviously, I need to take myself on a birthday book-buying spree to cheer myself up.

Are We This Far Into July Already?

Current clothes: Gray sweatpants. Maroon t-shirt that says, "I know just enough to be dangerous." White socks. No shoes.

Current mood: Mostly pretty relaxed and good, except for being too hot. (See "current annoyance.")

Current music: Not much, except for my Emergency Medicinal Pink Floyd earlier.

Current annoyance: My swamp cooler has stopped working properly again. It's now 88 degrees in my house. And, of course, my work schedule being what it is, it's going to be the middle of next week before I can get anybody out here to work on it.

Current thing: Trying to take slightly better care of myself, I suppose. Hence all the preventative maintenance doctor visits. I've also been cutting back on the candy bars and the red meat.

Current desktop picture: Still the same Doctor Who wallpaper as last month. I've been meaning to change it again; I just haven't gotten around to it.

Current book: Five Complete Hercule Poirot Novels by Agatha Christie. I'm now a couple of chapters into novel five, Death on the Nile.

Current song in head: The theme song to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. (See "Current DVD" below.) I used to find it rather pretentious, but I must say, it's grown on me over the years. Possibly having Enterprise's theme song to compare it to helped.

Current DVD in player: Disc 2 of season 4 of Deep Space Nine. And, wow, what a solid season it's shaping up to be so far. I'd forgotten how well the show had hit its stride by this point. Oh, and in the DVD player in front of the treadmill is disc 2 of season 14 of South Park. Which varies wildly between brilliantly hilarious and mildly annoying. (I'm not even gonna to get into the infamous censorship issue.)

Current refreshment: Lemon-ginger tea.

Current worry: I cannot take in any more kittens! I just can't!

Current thought: Here's something that's been occupying my brain: characters on Star Trek are always -- and I mean always -- exclaiming that their readings have gone off the scale. Why the heck do they not make their instruments with bigger scales?

The Vampire Strikes Back

So, remember the blood tests I had last month when I had my first-in-umpty-years physical? Well, it turned out my creatinine levels, which indicate kidney function, were the teeniest smidge high, which is likely nothing but might be an indicator of slightly sub-par kidney function. So the doctor wanted to have it tested again in a month to see if it was a real thing, or a one-time anomaly, or what. And, while we're at it, she figured they ought to re-test my thyroid results, too. Apparently they were okay, but on the high end of the normal range, and since my thyroid feels a little big and I have a family history of thyroid trouble, she wanted to make sure they weren't creeping up.

None of which worries me massively, but I was not looking forward to getting more blood drawn, not after the last time. Fortunately, I appear to have come up with an excellent method of getting through it, which involves keeping my eyes tightly shut and cranking up Pink Floyd on the iPod. I will keep this very much in mind for future reference. Of course, it probably also helped that they only took two vials this time, as opposed to five, and didn't screw anything up.

I Am Always Finding New Things To Complain About.

You know what one of the annoying, unexpected downsides of never getting any rain is? Everything is covered in birdshit, because nothing ever washes the damned stuff away.

On the upside, I have not had to cut down the weeds in my back yard all summer, because there aren't any. Twenty years in New Mexico, and I have never seen those weeds not come up. They're usually everywhere, with some of the ones growing in empty lots getting as tall as I am.

Monsoon season can go ahead and start any time now. Really. Aaaaany time. Just, no more of this fake-out clouds-and-thunder-and-six-drops-of-rain stuff, please. It's cruel.

Oh, No, Not Again.

Mickey's mother appears to have another kitten. Well, at least one, I think. She's continued hanging around my yard, off and on, and I've been feeding her occasionally, mostly because I feel guilty for taking away her baby. And yesterday, there was a little gray kitten with her. Man, I really hope she takes better care of this one, because my experiences with Mickey proved definitively that I can not take in any more strays, and I'm completely out of people to give kittens to.

I'd really like to be able to catch momma cat and have her spayed, but I'm afraid that's not logistically possible, given how feral she is and how irregularly she comes and goes. Sigh.

Snap, Crackle, Pop

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans! Sadly, I have to work tonight, so no fireworks for me. Maybe I'll try to pretend I'm celebrating Crab Nebula Day by engaging in some radio astronomy instead.

And, to my fellow New Mexicans: please try not to set fire to anything else, OK?

The Mystery Of The Missing Sleep

Bad idea: trying to read a mystery novel when you're severely low on sleep. It's a little difficult trying to figure out whodunnit when you're having trouble remembering who the characters are three pages later.

Random Links For July

You’re A Good Time Lord, Charlie Brown: If Charles Schultz drew Doctor Who, it'd look a little something like this.

Speaking of Doctor Who, this tribute to badass-ness of Rory Williams cracks me up completely. Eat your heart out, Chuck Norris! (Warning: spoilers through the most recent ep.)

Lyric clouds, genre maps and distinctive words: An analysis of the frequency of specific words in various musical genres. I have no idea what conclusions to draw from it, but it's weirdly fascinating.

'Hobbit' First Look: 3 Pics!: Some still pics of Martin Freeman as Bilbo in the upcoming movie version of The Hobbit. You know, I hadn't actually felt excited about this movie until now.

Los Alamos Is Only the Latest of New Mexico's Travails: An article from Time about how much Mother Nature appears to hate New Mexico right now. They don't even mention the freakish snowfalls we had early in the year to go with the record-breaking freeze.

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!

OMGWTF?!!? THERE IS WATER COMING FROM THE SKY!!!!! Run for your lives!

[ETA: And now it's dry again. Man, that was scary for a few minutes there.]

Who Washes The Washmachines?

This morning a cat threw up on top of my washing machine. All over the top of my washing machine. To the point where some of it apparently dripped down around the side of the lid and into the washer. I have cat vomit in my washer.

There are days when I really think I should have just gotten a hamster.

Feets, Don't Fail Me Now!

You know you live in Socorro when: you spend two and a half hours in the car for a 20-minute doctor's appointment.

Well, on the upside, there now exist plaster casts of my feet, which I'm sure will someday be enshrined in a museum. Possibly the Museum of Cryptozoology. And in three weeks or so, I will have new shoe inserts, custom molded to fit my weird-ass feet and will hopefully be well on my way to pain-free pedestrianism.

Why? Because We Like Him!

Speaking of Mickey -- since I was in my last post -- Mom sent me some more pictures of him the other day, so I figured I'd share:






Look at him! He really did turn into a cat!

'Nother Batch Of Random Links

BBC Confirms 'Doctor Who' Won't Have A Full Season In 2012: I've read several articles about this now, and I still don't understand exactly what's going to air when, but I suspect that may be because the BBC hasn't entirely figured it out yet.

Rejected Father's Day Cards: Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Astronomer: 7 TV scientists that even real scientists approve of: I don't necessarily agree with this entire list, but it's fun.

Shelf-pod: A house where every wall is lined with bookshelves. Let me say that again. A house where every wall is lined with bookshelves. I am feeling a truly inappropriate amount of lust here.

Baby snow leopard triplets debut in Swiss zoo: Adorable endangered spotty kitty cubs!

Simon's Cat in 'Hidden Treasure': Speaking of kitties... I ought to send this to my mom. According to her this is one of Mickey's favorite activities.

Where There's Smoke

So, at this point, it seems pretty much the entire Southwest is on fire. I left my windows open last night, and this morning my living room smells like camping.

Which is not to say that I'm complaining. Hell, I'm just glad to live somewhere that's not being evacuated.

I Know! Let's Make All The DVD Covers As Close To Actual Size As Possible!

What the holy hell did Netflix do to their website?! And how do I make it stop?

OK, Now Is The Time To Use The Word "Footloose."

So, it turns out that plastic garbage bags aren't nearly as waterproof as you might expect them to be, especially when you slop large puddles of water onto the floor while trying to take a sponge bath. Oh, well, live and learn. It was an interesting experience while it lasted.

Footloose! No, Wait. The Opposite Of That.

Just got back from the podiatrist, an appointment I probably should have made at least five years ago. Fun trivia fact: the angle of a normal person's arch is about 15 degrees. Mine? Is six. As the Mythbusters would say, "Well, there's your problem!" Unsurprisingly, this is a genetic issue, so thanks again, Mom. (All my foot problems come from my mother's side of the family. Both her sisters have had foot surgery.)

Actually, I can't blame it all on Mom. The contributing factors for plantar fasciitis are: aforementioned genetic deformity, being overweight, walking a lot, and wearing crappy shoes. Go me, I'm four for four! It's probably a wonder I can walk at all.

The doctor is going to check and see if my insurance will cover orthotics. I think the policy statement I have explicitly says they won't, but it said that about wisdom tooth extractions, too, and they ended up paying for that after my dental insurer made us submit it there first, so who the hell knows. Maybe I'll get lucky. If not, I'll just have to pay for the damned things myself, because I really want this stupid problem to go away and not come back.

In the meantime, they taped my feet up to relieve my immediate pain (which wasn't all that bad today, anyway) and to give me a taste of life with proper foot support, and recommended some not-very-expensive inserts to be going on with. Which is kind of cool, except that it means I'm not allowed to wash my feet until tomorrow evening, by which point I'll probably have sweated on the tape enough for it to start coming off by itself.

And that was my exciting day. Well, that and running some other errands in the city. I... may have stopped at the Barnes & Noble. Um.

[ETA: Oh, hey, it turns out that while I was on my way home they called and left a message on my answering machine saying that my insurance would cover the orthotics "if they were medically necessary." As opposed to what, I don't know. I mean, why would I want them if they weren't medically necessary? Just for fun? Because they're sooooo stylish? Beats me. But I guess I'll call 'em tomorrow and see about making another appointment.]

This Is What Comes Out Of The Sky, Right?

I have the impression some folks think I'm exaggerating slightly about the complete and total nonexistence of rain in my world. As suggestive photographic evidence, I offer this:



That faint red dot is the sun. It's actually a heck of a lot redder to the eye than it looks in this picture, too. And there's a good reason for that. You see, this is what we have instead of rain. We have smoke. Smoke is the new rain here.

Me, I miss the old rain. Although at least today I can't actually feel burnt bits of Arizona in my lungs, so that's something.

Oh, Hey, I Can Also Talk About Movies.

For various reasons^*, movie-going has become a somewhat rare and limited thing for me these days, but I did go out with some friends yesterday for a double-header at the (thankfully inexpensive) local theater. So I can report that, despite being wholly unfamiliar with the comics, I found Thor quite entertaining. Although possibly I was watching it wrong, as I spent most of the movie rooting for the wrong guy. Hey, Thor, at least at the beginning of the movie, is kind of a douche (albeit a pretty one). Whereas Loki is, like, a sensitive, smart guy stuck living on the Planet of the Jocks. Yeah, which one do you think I'm going to relate to?

I can also report that Priest is pretty firmly in "so bad it's amusing" territory. Among other things, I think it may just set some sort of record for number of cliches per unit time. And there are a couple of random fight scene moments that are just hilarious.


* Including, but not necessarily limited to: they're too damned expensive, too many of them suck, I have to go out of town to get any real options, I always seem to end up sitting behind the jerk ignoring the "please turn off cell phones" messages, and the existence of Netflix.

Still Not Blogging Much. But I Have More Random Links!

George Takei vs. Tennessee's "Don't Say Gay" Bill: Just say "Takei!" I love this guy.

Swingin’ physics: A demonstration of how "in simplicity, complexity, and the border in between lies great beauty." Using pendulums. Or, in other words: physics is cool.

Allons-y!: The Tree Lobsters ask, "What would the Doctor do?"

Weight of book collection damaging house: It has occasionally occurred to me to wonder at what point the weight of one's book collection is likely to become structurally unsafe. Maybe this establishes a lower limit.

June Currentlies

Current clothes: Gray sweatpants, white socks, Rush concert t-shirt.

Current mood: Not bad. Kind of hungry.

Current music: Nothing notable. I've been listening to more random songs and podcasts, mainly.

Current annoyance: Mostly the stupid hours I've been working lately, although at least I'm off today.

Current thing: I'm not sure I've had much of a thing lately. Oh, dear, this may be shaping up to be the most boring Currently ever.

Current desktop picture: It's a rather gorgeous wallpaper inspired by the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Wife," but I'm not sure exactly where I got it, so I can't link to it. It's probably spoilery if you haven't seen the episode, anyway.

Current book: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8 Volume 8: Last Gleaming, by Joss Whedon, et al.

Current song in head: It seems to be "A Call to Arms" by Mike & the Mechanics, for some unfathomable reason.

Current DVD in player: Nothing at the moment, strangely enough, but I did just finish volume one of Pinky and the Brain as my on-the-treadmill show. (Big shout-out to Captain C!) And, man, I've always thought of that as a smart, entertaining, generally awesome cartoon, but it turns out it's even funnier and more all-around engaging than I remembered. I'm kind of sad not to have any episodes left. Need more DVDs! Narf!

Current refreshment: Nothing. But it may be time for an early lunch soon. Since I didn't have much in the way of breakfast.

Current worry: Bah, I've got more doctor's appointments of various kinds coming up. Those always make me feel just a tad stressed, in a completely irrational way. On top of which, even if you think you're pretty healthy, there's always the chance they're going to tell you something you don't particularly want to hear.

Current thought: There's pizza in the fridge... Is it too early in the day for pizza? If it is, does that actually matter to me, timezone-unto-myself that I am?

Nothin' Since February

You know what I no longer believe in? Rain. I no longer believe in the existence of rain.

I Swear It's Multiplying In There.

On Sunday, I made a massive pot of chicken & dumplings. It is now Friday, and I have reached the point where I cannot even look at another bowl of chicken & dumplings. Possibly not for the rest of my life.

This may actually be one of the biggest downsides to living alone.

No Use Crying

You know it's going to be one of those days when practically the first thing you do in the morning is to drop a nearly full carton of milk on the floor. Sideways.

Well, at least the cats enjoyed it.

Doctors Without Sonic Screwdrivers

In a couple of months, I'm going to be forty. Which is not something I really want to deal with, but I guess there's no point in denying it. And since that's traditionally viewed as the point where everything starts to go downhill, I figure I really ought to start taking better care of myself. I mean, my car gets preventative maintenance more often than I do, and it's months overdue for an oil change. So yesterday I had a physical for the first time in... well, let's say it's not quite "ever," but it's close. (It helped that I had to make a doctor's appointment to get more allergy drugs, or, knowing me, I might still be putting it off a year from now.) You'll be pleased to know that everything seems to be where it's supposed to be and my heart is beating and stuff. Also, my blood pressure is still good, which I like to think of as my father's hypertension and my mother's hypotension cancelling out.

I also walked out of the doctor's office with the following: 1) Prescriptions for more allergy drugs, including extra bonus nasal spray, so mission accomplished! 2) An appointment for a mammogram, which I'm sure will be tons of fun. And 3) a referral to a podiatrist in Albuquerque to talk to about my plantar fasciitis, who I need to call as soon as I figure out when the heck my work rotation allows me time for an appointment.

And then today I went back in to have blood drawn for whatever it is they like to check your blood for, since they need to do it when you haven't eaten recently. You know what's a great idea? Take someone who does not deal at all well with needles and blood, catch her when she hasn't eaten in twelve hours and is still groggy from sleeping, don't let her have her normal morning maintenance doses of coffee, and then slowly suck out multiple vials of her blood. It's hilarious! Actually, I was sort of doing OK, mostly by not watching, until I heard the phlebotomist (who was clearly new at her job) say something like, "Why is this happening?" and mutter something about the blood going into my arm instead of into the needle. After that, they had to put moist towelettes on my forehead. I am such an incredible wuss about this sort of thing. It's embarrassing. Even if, evolutionarily speaking, it does seem like a pretty good survival instinct. I mean, prior to the advent of modern medicine, blood coming out of you was pretty much never a good thing. (No, smartass, menstrual blood is a different thing and doesn't count.) If something in the back of my brain keeps wanting to scream, "Nooo! That blood is mine! I'm using that to carry oxygen to my tissues, damn it! Hull breach! Hull breach! AOOOOOGA! AOOOOOOOGA!", well, that's only a sensible response, right? even if it does make me feel bad about not being able to give blood.

Anyway, I now have a bandage around my arm. Which kind of hurts. But at least I can take satisfaction in being a responsible adult and getting the most out of my health insurance and stuff.

How About Some Random Links?

Doctor Who Recipes: BBC America shows you how to make a (non-alcoholic) sonic screwdriver, fish fingers with custard (or at least something that looks like custard) and other silly Whovian treats. Now I really have seen everything.

German TV: 'Star Trek' terrorists killed bin Laden: Yes, according to German television, bin Laden was apparently taken down by the Maquis. Best googling failure ever.

The world's most inspiring bookstores: When I'm retired and (somehow) independently wealthy, I think I will dedicate myself to traveling the world and visiting these places. I've already been to Powell's so that's one down. Although I'll probably have to visit it again, for completeness' sake.

Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse: Good to know they're planning ahead. I only hope they do better with the actual zombie apocalypse than they did in The Walking Dead.

The General State Of Things

So, um, apparently I've posted here exactly twice this month. Honestly, I swear, I don't know where the hell May came from so suddenly or where it's going to so fast. But I guess I should at least put in a "still not dead" appearance once in a while. So, what's going on at the moment?

Well, first the bad news: my dad called a couple of days ago to say that he was going into the hospital again. Pancreatitis. I try not to worry too much; he's had it before and I'm sure he'll be okay. Still, it sounds like a whole lot of no fun. Get well soon, Dad!

On a happier note, I really did enjoy those five days in a row off that this month's weird work schedule shuffle accidentally gave me. Mostly I spent them getting stuff done around the house and watching DVDs and playing Portal 2. (Which I still haven't quite finished, by the way. The people who complain that game is too short are clearly much better at it than I am.) I have now gone back to work feeling much more relaxed. Which is good, because later this month and into the beginning of June I'm going to have to pay for that lovely time off by working some long-ass weeks.

Also happy-making was the most recent episode of Doctor Who, brought to us by the inimitable Neil Gaiman. I'm still walking around smiling about that one like the sappy fangirl I am.

Otherwise, I have not much to say. Other than, you know, I aten't dead.

Currently, I Am Doing The Currently Meme

It's May ninth already? I have no idea what I've been doing this month. Obviously not blogging. Well, let's see about this thing, anyway:

Current clothes: Black t-shirt with a picture of a Dalek on it. Denim shorts. Black socks. Black sneakers.

Current mood: OK. A little lacking in motivation.

Current music: Nothing at the moment.

Current annoyance: Work has been alternately boring and irritating lately. Also, I just upgraded to Firefox 4 a couple of days ago, and they switched "open in new tab" with "open in new window" on the right-click menu so that I keep accidentally opening new windows, though I think I've almost trained myself out of that now.

Current thing: I don't know. For a while, it was doing nothing except watching DVDs and streaming stuff on the internet. Hey, my internet inexplicably got much faster! Meaning that it became, you know, adequate. I could suddenly stream stuff without it stopping to buffer all the time! It was very exciting! So obviously I had to spend all my time taking advantage of that for a while. And then I guess my thing was catching up on all the stuff I didn't do while I was sitting around watching videos. Now it's just working all the damned time. Soon, however, I will actually have a bunch of days off in a row, and then I will indulge in many things. Many, many things.

Current desktop picture: I haven't even changed it since last month. Or the month before. Shows you how lazy I've been.

Current book: God: The Failed Hypothesis by Victor J. Stenger.

Current song in head: "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd.

Current DVD in player: Nothing in the one in the living room right now. Most recently was a collection of Weird Al Yankovic videos. The one in front of the treadmill has part 2 of The Venture Bros. season 4, since I'm actually starting to get back to walking on it on a regular basis now.

Current refreshment: Nothing at the moment, although I should get some food soon. I'm thinking of going out for a burger.

Current worry: What do you mean, I can't do everything I might conceivably want to do with my life in the five days I have off this week?

Current thought: There's nothing in my brain right now but Pink Floyd. Sorry.

Even If It Is For Science...

Man, I so want to get Portal 2, but based on my experiences with the first game, I really, really don't want to do it while I have a) a bedtime, or b) anything else whatsoever that I need or want to do with my life.

Sigh. I hate being sensible.

Random Linkiness

The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going To Miss Almost Everything: An article about how there's just too damned much of everything, especially books, for any of us to keep up with. The author talks about two possible responses to this: "culling" and "surrender." I find that I am constitutionally unable to manage either and am thus rapidly driving myself crazy.

Tree Lobsters! #262 Imponderable: I've had conversations like this.

Pages, Dimensions and Weight: bragan: Courtesy of LibraryThing, it's physical stats of my home library! Apparently if you stacked all my books up, they would be higher than Big Ben. It should be noted that these stats aren't entirely accurate, as there are lots of books with no data and I haven't been particularly careful about inputting correct editions. But I think that number probably errs on the low side, if anything. And this is why I can never, ever move again.

Video Of The Day: Captain Sisko Yelling Compilation: Nobody yells like The Sisko.

Doctor Who Premiere Blasts BBC America Ratings Record: That's right, the season premiere of Doctor Who earned BBC America its highest ratings ever. USA! USA! BBC America has been promoting the heck out of the show, which highly gratifying, but I do have to wonder whether we'll see a ratings drop-off for part 2, since part 1, I must say, did not seem very new viewer-friendly to me. It was confusing enough, really, even if you already know who the characters are and are used to Moffat's timey-wimey ways. I would love to be wrong about that, though.

Proof Of Existence

My mother finally e-mailed me some new pictures of Mickey! Here he is now:



Look how big he's gotten! He went and turned into a cat! Clearly she is taking good care of him. And doesn't he look all sleepily content in his little patch of sun? Awwww.

I Used To Be So Much Better At Night Shifts.

You know, just once this week, I'd like to be able to get more than five or six hours of sleep. Just once.

Shockingly Sad Doctor Who News

Here I was, all excited by the prospect of new Doctor Who this weekend, only to have that emotion derailed by some extremely sad news: Elisabeth Sladen has died. No more Sarah Jane.

She always seemed like a lovely person, and I was so very much enjoying seeing her playing the action hero on the generally excellent Sarah Jane Adventures. How many older women do you get to see doing something like that? And how many people can do it that well? I'm deeply sad to lose that, and even sadder, of course, at the reason.

And I know it's been almost forty-nine years and on those kinds of timescales it's utterly inevitable, but DW people can stop dying now. Just for a little while. Please?

But At Least It's A Dessicatingly Dry Heat!

Not even the end of April, and already it's getting uncomfortably hot. It's 82 degrees in my living room right now. At 9 PM. With the windows open and the fan on.

New Mexico. Bah.

I'll Take "Things You Don't Want To Walk Into Your Kitchen And See" For $1000, Please, Alex.

Holy crap, a cat just threw up on top of my stove.

It's Random Linky Time!

Astronomer: What's the REAL chance an asteroid will wipe out life on Earth?: Astronomer Phil Plait gives you the scientific scoop on the odds of global asteroid armageddon.

And as a companion piece to that: Death from the Skies, in which Plait and singer George Hrab tell us about various astronomical things that might kill us. (Plait wrote a book on the subject a while back. It was pretty good.)

Mirror: I don't know about you, but I found this eerily accurate.

Ian Anderson + Cady Coleman flute duet in space: Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull and astronaut Cady Coleman perform an Earth-to-orbit rock flute duet. Which is awesome on all kinds of levels.

Personal account of tsunami and aftermath in Japan: An American's account of surviving the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Fascinating and very much worth reading, if only as a look at the ways people can pull together in a crisis.

Currently, It's April! How Did That Happen?

Current clothes: Blue-and-white t-shirt in, I don't know, some kind of vaguely tie-dye-ish pattern. Tan jeans. White socks. Black sneakers.

Current mood: Not too bad. As of tonight, I'm off day shifts again for a while, so that's nice.

Current music: Not much of anything lately, to be honest. Random shuffle stuff that I don't remember.

Current annoyance: Allergy season. The fact that I've gained enough weight back that even my fat jeans are starting to feel snug. My neighbors' garbage-strewn lawn. (And I don't mean junk. I mean, literally, garbage. It's disgusting.) Various foods not entirely agreeing with me. Living in a country with a Congress that can't or won't accomplish anything except making sure they get themselves paid. Windy weather. Shift work. I could go on.

Current thing: I'm not sure I have a current thing. Possibly I have a bunch of little things.

Current desktop picture: Still the same stars and nebula as last month.

Current book: Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre.

Current song in head: Brain Radio has been very suggestible lately. Right this minute, it seems to be playing "Dog Years" by Rush. I think something reminded me of something that reminded me of one of the lyrics.

Current DVD in player: Nothing at the moment, but most recently watched was disc 2 of season 1 of Merlin. Which is total brain candy, but it's pleasant, digestible brain candy. Even if I normally dislike the tendency to teenage-ify everything.

Current refreshment: Mint tea. Mmm.

Current worry: Not worried about too much in my own life for once, but I do know people who are going through some tough times, so I guess I'll worry for them instead.

Current thought: My mind just went completely and utterly blank.

Well, They Are Calling It "Most Peculiar" On The Paperwork.

Oh, hey, so this is what we're observing tonight. Very, very cool!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Dear self,

You know that when you try to take a nap, you almost always just end up feeling groggier than you started. Give it up!

Love & caffeinated beverages,
Me

Why, Yes, Most Of Them Are Photos Of Cats.

Apparently Blogger has introduced several new ways to view their blogs, most of which are both ugly and difficult to make sense of and leave me scratching my head wondering why you'd ever want that. But this one, which lets you just look at all the images posted to a blog, is kind of neat.

More Adventures In Time And Space

Another Doctor Who trailer, this time from BBC America:

"

I hope this time when we see the Doctor visit the American West, it's better than "The Gunfighters."

I Lied Before. It's Another Mickey Update.

Mom keeps calling me to share a laugh at or complain about or just shake her head in disbelief over Mickey's antics. Yesterday, she mentioned that most of his toy mice had gone missing and she found no fewer than five of them when she looked under the hutch in her living room. She's started fishing them out with a broom when he knocks them under there. Today she sent me the following email (I don't think she'd mind me sharing it):

This cat is too much. I caught him putting the mice under my hutch on purpose. He carried them over and took his paw to bat them under. He just wants to see me dig them out.

Hee! Cats is the most manipulativest creatures.

Speaking Of Traveling...

New Doctor Who trailer!



O.M.G. SO. EXCITED.

Papers, Please

I finally got around to renewing my passport today (nearly two years after it expired), so if anybody needs me to leave the country, just say the word!

A Few Random Links

Adventures with the Wife in Space: A guy and his non-fan wife watch classic Doctor Who from the beginning, and he records her opinions. Entertaining and funny, at least if you're a Who fan.

360-Degree Panorama Takes You Inside Prague’s Off-Limits Baroque Library: Or, as the friend who alerted me to this put it, "Hey, Wired has
bookshelf porn up today!" Oh, people. You know what I like.

Why Cats are Not Doctors: Hilarious. If you see a cat with a stethoscope, run!

First Image Ever Obtained from Mercury Orbit: The first picture sent back from Messenger, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. Definitely click for the larger image; the level of detail is great. One more planet down!

Ooh, Creepy.

For those who are interested: a two-minute prequel to the new season of Doctor Who! Which, somewhat to my surprise, is actually viewable outside the UK.

Seriously. I'm Not Even Asking For Terms.

Dear allergy season,

I surrender. Uncle! Uncle!

Yours in misery,
Me

Good TiVo! Good Boy!

There was one good thing to come out of my failed experiment with attempting to get a copy of Monday's House to play on my TiVo, which is that as I was scrolling down through the menu to get to it, I noticed the machine had helpfully recorded the first episode of Charlie Jade, which is now showing sometime in the middle of the night on The Channel Formerly Known as SciFi. (Oh, Siffy. Why can't I quit you?) This show had been recommended to me by a couple of people, I think, but the last time it was on I missed it, and it doesn't seem to exist on DVD, or at least on Netflix. It's a weird show, and after watching the first episode I'm still not entirely sure what it's about, but it's very stylish, and I find myself quite intrigued by whatever the heck it is that's going on in the plot. Unfortunately, it seems like one of those shows that's probably best watched on DVD, and I suspect that by the time they show episode two I'll have largely forgotten what it was that episode one did to hook me in. Technology, I'm afraid, has spoiled me utterly, and a one-week wait between episodes of anything with a continuing plot now seems far too long.

To-Done List

A partial list of things I have done on my days off this week:

Went to the post office.
Bought groceries.
Put gas in the car.
Mopped all the tile floors in my house.
Did four loads of laundry.
Did my taxes (state and federal).
Paid some bills.
Cleaned old leftovers out of the fridge.
Washed several sinksfull of dishes.
Put away sweaters and unpacked shorts.
Finished a longish book and reviewed it for LibraryThing's Early Reviewers.
Started another book.
Watched some DVDs I'd been meaning to get to.
Called two different family members.
Talked to the cable company.
Cooked myself a couple of decent meals.
Did various small, random bits of tidying and housecleaning.
And, oh, yes, rotated my sleep-wake schedule completely around from nights to mornings.

Now, will the nagging feeling in the back of my head that keeps telling me I'm not accomplishing things fast enough please shut up?

Still Trying To Watch House...

Note to self: never, ever try to legally download a video again. I don't mind paying money -- well, OK, maybe I mind a little, when it's the cable company's fault in the first place -- but the effort it takes just to watch the damned thing when and where you want to watch it is way, way, way more trouble than it's worth.

Nice job shooting yourself in the foot, Hollywood and/or iTunes. Nice job.

[ETA: Well, at least after all that crap it turned out to be a pretty good episode.]

Comcast: "WTF?!"

So, I called Comcast. They don't seem to have any clue what the hell is going on, either. They swear they didn't change anything. They kept trying to blame the TiVo. Guys, it's not the TiVo. I checked. It does exactly the same thing when the cable is plugged directly into the TV.

Anyway, they insist they need to send a service person out. What they heck they're going to do, I don't know. I get the impression that their sole job will be to go, "Yep, it's not the TiVo!" And, of course, they're not going to be here until next Wednesday. (Well, it could have been Friday. But I have to work Friday. Also Monday and Tuesday.) I still think there's something screwy with my local provider. With any luck, maybe they'll figure it out before Wednesday. Otherwise, they're gonna owe me two episodes of House.

Well, at least I got them to promise not to bill me for the service call if it turns out to be their fault. They also offered to call me if they do find out what's going on, which, frankly, is better customer service than I expected. I guess we'll see...

[ETA at about noon: Fox seems to be back. The CW station is still missing, as is the one that originally got switched with Fox, although I don't care so much about those. I think I'm gonna wait to see what happens before I call and cancel the service request, though.]

WTF Comcast?!

OK, I am all kinds of confused. I went to watch House, which should have been happily recording on channel 2 (aka KASA Fox 2), only to discover that apparently it had been replaced by some other station entirely, and House had magically morphed into some iteration or other of Law and Order. All other stations seem to be where they're supposed to be, except for KWBQ (CW), which has apparently just gone dark. Well, that and apparently I recorded a bunch of blackness earlier when I should have been recording Jeopardy! on KRQE (CBS), although that looks OK now. I tried updating my Tivo's channel list, but, no, as far as it -- or the information it's getting from Comcast -- is concerned, nothing seems to have changed.

I'd maybe assume it has something to do with this, but I cannot for the life of me see how, since a) I don't have Dish Network, b) apparently they fixed that, and c) everything was fine and normal last week.

So, again, I say, WTF, Comcast?! You owe me a goddamned episode of House!

Ooh, Look, The Air's Moving!

It is very, very windy outside. I'm wondering whether that constitutes a good excuse not to leave the house. I'm thinking maybe it does.

Accumulated Random Links

Wow, I have more of these than I thought I did.

Zombie Trailer Park: The latest thing I have wasted my time with. Starts out easy, but I admit it took me a fair few tries to get through level 3.

And while we're at it, Bubble Shooter: Wastes your time much more efficiently, but with fewer zombies. Also, if you play it long enough, it fatigues the neurons that fire when you see round things, so that anything with sharp edges looks weird and extreme when you finally look away.

Watch Doctor Who Comic Relief Specials: Humorous two-part Doctor Who mini-episode that aired the other day as part of the annual Comic Relief charity event. Warning: probably best avoided for spoiler reasons if you haven't yet seen season 5.

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's Star Wars: These guys are always funny. I'm going to sulk about having to work this weekend so I couldn't go up to Albuquerque with friends and see Paul now.

Muppet D&D Alignments: Pretty much spot on.

International Space Station library: The ISS's library, cataloged on LibraryThing. See what astronauts read in their spare time!

Lego Creations Inspired By Movies: Exactly what it sounds like. Surprisingly artistic.

Jake Shimabukuro plays "Bohemian Rhapsody": The twist? He plays it on the ukelele.

The Wall of Shatner: Creepiest goddamned thing I have seen in my life. You have been warned.

Bill O’Reilly’s Tidal Skepticism Launches "You Can’t Explain That" Meme: There are a lot of things Bill O'Reilly can't explain. This amuses me probably far more than it should.

Mickey Update #4

OK, last one, just for the people who have asked about the little guy, and then I'll get back to talking about something that doesn't involve cats, I promise. But Mom called again, saying that this was the last update she was going to give me because, and I quote, "He's settled in fantastic." She says he hardly ever runs from her any more, and almost never runs to hide under the bed. Although when he does, she says, he just sticks his head under the bed and leaves his butt sticking out, apparently in the belief that if he can't see her, she can't see him. (Which, I believe, makes my mother the Bugblatter Beast of Traal.) But mostly he lets her pet him lots, purrs loudly and frequently, and seems to prefer being in the same room as she is.

She also says that he's been "into everything," meaning that he's having a grand time exploring the house, and that "he thinks he's the king of the castle," which seems to mean that he's staked out the most comfortable chair in the house as his.

Mom has complained a little about his kitten energy and semi-nocturnal habits, but only good-naturedly. He seems to amuse her, especially with his tail-chasing antics. Also, she swears that he likes to watch TV with her, particularly auto racing, which I guess does have lots of noise and movement to attract a kitten. She says once when she turned the TV off, he went over, put his paws up on it, and meowed until she turned it back on and let him watch it for another minute or two! Which seems to have tickled her immensely. She's also being quite indulgent of him... She mentioned that last night he jumped up on the bed to play with the dangling chain again while she was trying to go to sleep, but when I suggested that she shorten it, her reply was, "But he likes playing with it!" She then added that he didn't do it for very long and that he does leave it alone when shooed, but still. I do believe he has worked his charms on her.

And I think I did the right thing. Aww.

Mickey Update #3

Apparently my poor mother is currently experiencing this.

And Then There's My Period Of Adjustment...

Man, it is just disturbingly quiet here now without the kitten.

Mickey Update #2

So, Mom called again. It seems Mickey is now out and about: exploring the house, playing with his toys, using his scratching post... He's still a little skittish, she said, but he does let her skritch his chin. Then while she was talking to me on the phone, he came up to her and meowed for attention until she petted him. I don't think he's ever done that to me. I may actually be a little jealous.

Anyway, he's doing great. Although she says she did consider killing him last night... It seems that the ceiling fan in her bedroom has this very long chain that dangles down over the bed, and while she was trying to sleep he kept coming up and jumping up and down on her bed, playing with it. Hee! He's still totally a kitten.

Mickey Update

I just talked to Mom again a little while ago. She says Mickey was really good in the car the entire way to her house. Apparently the pill the vet gave him worked beautifully and kept him nice and calm and quiet, exactly as advertised. Much better than I'd expected, to be honest.

Right now, she's keeping him confined to the bedroom and its attached bathroom. Which is a good idea not just because it means she knows where he is (which I think is her main reason), but also because cats generally feel more secure with a smaller area when they're first moved somewhere new. She says he's hiding under the bed most of the time, especially when she's in the room and moving around. She was getting worried because he hadn't really eaten anything, but says she did hear him come out and munch on some food during the night. (I told her not to worry. It's normal for a cat not to eat much in a situation like that, and he's not going to let himself starve to death.)

She also went in and lay quietly on the bed for a while to see if he'd come out if she wasn't moving around, and he did. So she dangled a toy over the edge of the bed and he actually played with it for a while before ducking under the bed again when she got up. Which seems like real progress to me! I'm sure that eventually they'll be just fine.

From The Department Of Eerily Convenient Timing

I went out to get the mail this morning and nearly tripped over a package containing the new UPS battery I'd ordered after being bugged by my UPS software for a week or so that it was time to replace it. Then I went to turn on my computer and couldn't, because the UPS was off. So I turned the UPS on, and got panicky beeping and light-flashing that is pretty much the battery equivalent of flailing arms and spurting arterial blood.

Wow. That's not quite like those Star Trek episodes where the computer informs us that everybody is suddenly going to die of radiation poisoning in 13.47 minutes, but they really do have this battery lifetime thing down to a science.

Bon Voyage, Kitten-Cat.

So, Mickey is now on his way to California with my mother. I have to admit, it's hard to let him go. He's such a sweetie, and he'd just gotten to the point where he would respond to his name, and sit and let me pet him more often and everything. I already miss him terribly.

I also feel bad, because he and Mom didn't exactly bond while she was here. He's not used to strangers in my house, and never seemed quite sure what to make of her. He's not greatly afraid of her or anything, but he is a little wary around her. He tends to run off when she approaches him, and didn't let her touch him very much. Which isn't necessarily as bad a sign as it sounds like; he often does something similar with me when he's not in a mood to be petted, which a lot of the time he isn't. I'm pretty sure that, given time to adjust, they'll get along fine. Still, I can't help feeling like I'm betraying the poor little thing, sending him to live somewhere strange with someone he doesn't completely trust. Even if I'm sure it will be for the best in the long run.

*sniffle*

Mickey Pics!

I promised someone I'd take some more pictures of Mickey before he left. (Which is not for a few days, by the way. Mom's coming out today, and will spend some time here getting to know the little guy before leaving with him on Monday.) He's still hard to take pictures of because he moves around so much, but I made a few attempts.

Here he is chasing his tail, which is hilarious to watch (although slightly less so in still photo form):



Here he is looking very cute in a (slightly) sneaky hiding spot:



X-Treme Close-Up! This is Mickey trying to eat the strap on my camera:

The Currently Meme Marches On

Current clothes: Blue jeans. Brown t-shirt from Uluru, Australia. White socks. Black sneakers.

Current mood: Mostly OK. I've been pretty stressed lately, but I've been a bit mellower for the last couple of days, which is good.

Current music: Most recently, Sand in the Vaseline by the Talking Heads. Because if I had to have "Love for Sale" stuck in my head, I figured I might as well have the real version.

Current annoyance: My plantar fasciitis is back with a vengeance, aggravated by the fact that I refuse to admit it and keep walking everywhere, anyway. Also back with a vengeance is allergy season. And I am covered with cat scratches. So, basically, it's that whole "having a physical body" thing that's annoying me again.

Current thing: I went out and bought the Ambitions expansion pack for The Sims 3, because there is nothing that helps me stay awake when I need to switch over for the night shift half so well as a fresh shot of The Sims. And, of course, I never just stick to playing it at night. Oh, I think, I'll just boot it up and make sure it runs properly, and the next thing I know it's three days later, and I'm all upset because some virtual person electrocuted himself trying to fix a TV.

Current desktop picture: This stars-and-nebula shot from the constellation of Orion.

Current book: The Moral Lives of Animals by Dale Peterson, which I got as a free review copy through LibraryThing.

Current song in head: I seem to have managed to replace "Love for Sale" with "Lifetime Piling Up."

Current DVD in player: Disc two of Dilbert: The Complete Series. This was supposed to be my on-the-treadmill show, but aforementioned foot problems mean I should be doing less of that, and I want to get it watched so I can send it back to Netflix and move on with the queue. So I just watched an episode over lunch.

Current refreshment: Tea. Replacement tea, actually, after I spilled the first mug all over the living room. It's a good thing I'm feeling mellower today...

Current worry: All my current worries are cat-related. I won't bore you or work myself up by going over them all again. Especially as I'm sure the little kitty guy will be fine, really.

Current thought: For as much of a night person as I am, I've been craving sunlight lately. Nice springtime sunshine actually seems to be helping with the stress, too. I don't know what's happening to me.

Random Thoughts For Today

1. No matter how carefully I study them, I feel I will never truly understand extroverts. They are like some fascinating alien life form. Frequently exasperating, but fascinating.

2. Ever since I finished watching Max Headroom on DVD, I have had "Love for Sale" by the Talking Heads stuck in my brain, as some decision-making process deep in my cortex has decided that that is the actual theme song for that show, no matter what boring electronic thing they actually used. And, man, the Talking Heads are great and all, but it's starting to get old. (Also, verdict on Max Headroom: It hasn't aged remotely as well as the people who made it seem to think, and the title character is just as stupid as I remember. But there was definitely something there, and it was clearly in the process of maturing when it abruptly got cancelled. If nothing else, it's an interesting window into its times. Also, Morgan Sheppard is awesome. And Matt Frewer used to be disturbingly attractive when not covered in prosthetics. Even if he does sort of sound like a Muppet.)

3. Now that Mickey the kitten is leaving me soon, I keep alternating between feeling I already miss him like crazy and thinking guiltily about how much more peaceful it will be when he's gone. Also, I appear to be attempting to pack an entire kitty-lifetime of worrying about him into one remaining week. And then, true to my own neurotic tendencies, I get stressed out by how much I'm worrying. Sigh. Have I mentioned lately what a very, very good thing it is that I've never had kids?

I Swear, This Has Nothing To Do With The Previous Post.

So, an update on Mickey the kitten... He actually has gotten a bit mellower since being neutered, at least as far as perpetrating actual acts of violence on the other cats goes, but that doesn't change the fact that two out of three cats in this household hate him and that the current situation is really pretty stressful for all concerned. Even if he is somewhat better, I still don't quite trust them all together when I'm alone, and I'm not finding it much easier to imagine them getting to the point where I can. At this point, my desire to keep him here and try to make it all work is based more on the fact that he's cute and I like him and I don't want to let him go than on any kind of realism. And, you know, better to make decisions based on what's good for the cats than on that kind of selfish reaction.

So, I've called my mother. She's going to give him a good home, free of other cats. I'm sure that will be better for him, especially as she's not working these days and can thus give him lots of attention. She's also aware of the possibility that he may have health issues somewhere down the road, and is capable of dealing with that. She's coming out next week and will take him back with her. Awww. I'm gonna miss him, but at least I can go and visit him sometimes. (Heck, that may be my mother's ulterior motive: giving me an incentive to visit her more often!)

One somewhat upsetting footnote to this: Mom will be taking him back to California with her by car -- something like a 12-hour trip -- and asked me to call the vet to see about getting something to keep him calm on the journey. So I did, and their receptionist told me, no problem, I could just come in and pick up some homeopathic drops that would "calm the cat down." Homeopathic drops. In other words, magic water. Aargh. I made an appointment to take him in so he can be prescribed some actual drugs instead, but I gotta say, I actually feel pretty shaken by that. I love my vets. They've been very, very good to me. But something like this kind of undermines my faith in their overall medical competence. And now I have the choice of living with that niggling worry or ending a years-long and generally satisfying relationship in what would be, for me, a somewhat painful and embarrassing way. And here I only just brought myself to make one difficult cat-related decision. Fucking homeopathy.

I Now Have Claw Marks In Sensitive Places.

Here's a good thing not to do: don't put on a pair of very thin drawstring pajama pants, leave the drawstring dangling down, and stand directly in front of a playful six-month-old kitten. Ow. Well, at least I am feeling very lucky to be female.

Sad News

Sad enough that I couldn't quite bring myself to blog about it last night. But...

Goodbye, Nicholas Courtney. Courtney's character of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart -- the Brigadier to fans -- was one of the most enduringly wonderful parts of Doctor Who, and will continue to be for as long as the show is watched and remembered. But the man who brought him to us will be very deeply missed.

My Name Is Betty, And I Am A Biblioholic.

Thanks to the latest round of bookcase purchasing and assembly, there are now empty bookshelves in my dining room. Almost eight of them. Which looks weird. Weird, and kind of wrong. And while part of my brain is contemplating them in quiet satisfaction, thinking, "There, that should do me for the next few years, at least as far as the fiction goes!", some other, more primal part keeps shouting, "OMG, empty shelves! Must fill them up! Must read faster!"

Well. At least it's not the worst possible obsession to have. Right?

Home Phone

I finally got around to calling the phone company and asking them to come out and install a phone jack in my living room, so that a) I can actually have a phone in the living room, which is far and away the most convenient place to keep one, and b) I can put a bookcase in front of the phone jack I'm using now, because that's a much better place for a bookcase than a phone.

They said someone would be here between noon and 5 PM today. It is now 4:40. Any bets on whether they're actually going to show?

[ETA: Five o'clock sharp, and they just called to say they're on their way. OK, whatever...]

Who's A Good Dog, Then?

Hey, it's been ages since I've done a "Which Doctor Who character are you?" quiz! So:


You are K9
Take The Doctor Who Personality Test and Horoscope today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Personality Test Generator.

You are an absolute know it all. You take everything too literally. You are great with technology and a master at chess. You are extremely loyal and would sacrifice yourself to save your friends. You are the go-to person in every situation. You have a tough time negociating terrain and are always the loudest one in the room, even when you are not talking. And you have a laser blaster in you nose. You will end up being outdated and thrown in the trunk of a car until you are completely rusted.

Except, really, I suck at chess.

Don't Talk To Me About Life.

Cats woke me up at four o'clock in the fucking morning. Could not get back to sleep. Now have to work annoying day shift.

Send chocolate.

Bookshelves, And Kitten, In Progress

Well, Mickey has just passed a very important milestone in any cat's development: his first time "helping" a human assemble furniture. "Ooh, look, nails! I wonder what these do!"

Are We Sure That Wasn't Pluto?

My god, but the weather today is astonishingly gorgeous. I'm having trouble believing that this is still the same planet I was on two weeks ago.

Another Installment Of "What Betty's Watching"

Most recently acquired from Netflix: Max Headroom, a show I vaguely remember watching an episode or two of back when it aired, but which somehow didn't seem especially appealing to me at the time, I think because I thought the digitized talking head looked silly. I've just watched the first episode, and I feel like I ought to talk about the social satire (which was decent, though not quite as sharp as I expected), or the rather charmingly simple 80s computer effects. Or even my reluctant admission that while I deplore the steady increase in commercial lengths and the resulting shrinking of actual storytelling time -- a particularly appropriate complaint when discussing this show -- I have to admit that watching stuff like this from a couple of decades ago does make me realize how much better paced most shows are now. But, honestly, my main thought while watching this was just, "Wow, Matt Frewer looks so young!"

I Heart Outer Space

I have to say, I am not a huge fan of Valentine's Day. But I am in love with the cosmos, so I will link to this: Happy cosmic Valentine’s Day!. Aww! The universe is full of love! Or at least full of random things that look like other things.

My Parents Used To Do The Same Thing With Us And The Dog.

Here's another way you can tell when you've got too many cats: I've started calling them by the wrong names, especially when I want to yell at them. I keep yelling "Vir!" at Mickey, and "Mickey!" at Vir. Possibly because those are the two who get yelled at most, but the fact that they're close to the same color no doubt adds to the confusion in my brain. I'm thinking maybe I ought to dye one of them pink. (Or possibly just accept the fact that this really is too many cats, which may well yet happen.)

And Here I Thought The Last Batch Would Last A While

I've just had to order some new bookshelves. Again. I am living in fear of the day when I run out of places to put them.

Currently, I Am Still Bitching About My Cats.

Current clothes: Black jeans. Black and red sweater. White socks.

Current mood: A little bit stressy.

Current music: Nothing much. Well, I've been listening to Pandora on my phone occasionally. It's been kind of heavy on the Pink Floyd.

Current annoyance: Cats! Aaargh! Mickey's still spending more time shut up in his room than he is out of it, which I feel kind of terrible about, but I can not leave him alone with Happiness. This morning, I let him out for half an hour, keeping a close eye on him the whole time, then left him alone for a minute and a half while I went to take a dump, and when I came out, he and Happiness were being all confrontational, and before I could grab the squirt bottle, he started chasing her and got her cornered under the utility sink. This sort of thing just keeps happening. I'm really, really hoping things get better now that he's neutered, and I know that it might take a while, but my optimism levels keep fluctuating. He might very well end up having to go live with my mother. And in the meantime, it's difficult to get anything done, with having to watch him all the time. It's like having a goddamned toddler. Fortunately, as with toddlers, he's just too cute and lovable to kill.

Current thing: Trying to keep warm and sane and to prevent the cats from killing each other. Or from killing them myself.

Current desktop picture: This image of my new current favorite character, thanks to last month's Supernatural marathon. Although the full size version apparently no longer exists.

Current book: Just finished Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. Next up is The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking.

Current song in head: "Skullcrusher Mountain" by Jonathan Coulton. I'm trying not to read anything into that.

Current DVD in player: The last disc of Deep Space 9 season 3.

Current refreshment: Nothing. But I may need more tea. Tea is good for stress, and will help keep me sane.

Current worry: That I will have to face the fact that four cats is too damned many cats.

Current thought: Hmm. The kitten is being very quiet. I should check on him. Again.

Meowing Soprano

Mickey is back from his trip to the vet and doing well! He seems happy to be home, and not to hold his recent ordeal against me. Also, he's very cute. I sometimes forget that when he's being a pain in the ass, but when he's been gone for a day, suddenly it's blindingly obvious.

While he was there, I also had them trim his claws, so that if he doesn't stop fighting, at least maybe he'll do less damage. Those suckers were sharp.

Can't Stop Talking About The Weather

With this weather, we may have hardly known what hit us, but here it is made visible: Snowpocalypse 2011 from space!. You can see me there in New Mexico, smiling indulgently at the rest of the country freaking out, right up until we get coated with a very dramatic WHOOSH! Guess that showed us.

It's A Gas, Gas, Gas. Or, Um, Not.

Oh, god. Apparently the reason I'm having problems with my heaters is because the entire state is running out of natural gas.

Can I take that trip to Hawaii now?

[ETA: My heat is doing somewhat better now. The second wall heater is actually staying lit. On the other hand, I just got an e-mail from work saying their heat wasn't working right. You know, work. That place I have to be until midnight. Sigh.]

[ETA again: Also, I neglected to mention that I did get Mickey in to the vet for his neutering. They're keeping him overnight, since I'm working all evening, so at least it's their responsibility and not mine to keep him from freezing to death tonight.]

Eleven Degrees Below Zero! Fahrenheit!

Oh. My. God. I do not have clothing warm enough for this weather. The ancient wall heater in my living room apparently could not cope with having to stay on continuously all night just to keep the house livable and now appears to be all but dead. I almost couldn't get my car to start. And I had to go inside for a while midway through knocking the snow off of it because the pain in my fingers was becoming unbearable.

What the hell happened to sunny New Mexico?!

OMG, SNOW!

So, we ended up with over 3 inches of snow, with possibly more on the way. This may be about the biggest snowstorm I've ever seen here -- yes, you folks in the Northeast may laugh with bitter derision now -- and for once, unthinkably, it probably won't all have melted by the end of the day. It's still cold, and it's going to get colder. They're calling for record low temperatures tonight.

Naturally, everything here is shut down. The organization I work for is on Emergency Status, meaning people don't have to come in, or get extra pay if they do. That doesn't necessarily always mean that I don't need to come in, as astronomy is very much a "the show must go on" kind of endeavor, and someone's got to point the telescopes. But with the weather this bad across this much of the country, it's difficult to do much observing, so even we are pretty much shut down. The boss gave me the option of coming in if I want to, but there's not going to be anything to do.

Unfortunately, though, I don't get the emergency shutdown time -- or not much of it -- because that only applies during normal working hours. Because that's all anyone works, right? Or people who don't don't count, or something. But any hours after 5:30 that I'm not there, I either have to make up somehow, or take out of my own vacation time. Which is massively, massively dickish of them, especially as I would have zero problem getting in right now, but walking home at midnight in record-breaking low temperatures sounds like a really stupid idea. I might be willing to try driving on the snow-covered road, maybe even coming home in the dark, except that they close off the direct route from my work to my house at night for "security reasons," and you have to circumnavigate the entire campus if you're driving. Which involves either going up a very steep hill, or threading your way through narrow, winding driveways between parking lots. The last time I tried that in icy conditions, I ran over a curb, bent the crap out of my rim, and had the tire literally fall off my car two days later. No thank you. Jerks. I'm just glad I still have plenty of vacation time.

And now, of course, I'm worried about whether I'm going to be able to get Mickey in for his operation in the morning. If it's still this bad, the vet might not even be open. Stupid snow.

Eek! Weather!

Wow. That's... kind of a lot of snow.

Dialing Down The Testosterone

All right, so, I've made Mickey an appointment for his little snip-snip operation on Thursday. Here's hoping this provides the attitude adjustment he needs, because he's still picking fights with Happiness, and even his play-fighting with Nova has started getting a little aggressive for comfort. Hell, he occasionally looks like he's covertly plotting Vir's overthrow as King Cat. If ever there was a case of having too much balls for your own good...

In Which I Bitch Some More About My Cats

Aaargh. Apparently it's not Happiness attacking Mickey I have to worry about, it's Mickey attacking Happiness. He's taken to hissing at her, and today they got into a staring contest from two inches away, at the culmination of which he just flew at her. She managed to disengage and run away, and he followed her and leaped onto her back. It was not remotely playful. And then when I pulled him off, he started chewing on my arm.

It's all very upsetting, not least because I don't know what to do about it. It seems like a very different problem from "Oh, no, there's an interloper on my territory!", which at least is an issue I have a clue about. 90% of the time they ignore each other and are fine, but I cannot leave them unsupervised if they're going to keep fighting like this, and I can't leave Mickey cooped up in the spare bedroom for half the day forever. Again I say, aaaargh!

(And, yeah, yeah, I know, everyone but me is probably getting tired of hearing all about this, but I need somewhere to vent, and you, oh internet, are it.)

Because Certain People Continue To Encourage Me: Kitten Pic!

Here's Mickey relaxing after a hard day of terrorizing the other kitties:



His eyes look a little weird in this picture, but don't worry. That's due to glare, not injury.

Enough About Cats. Have Some Random Links.

Doctor Who Meets Star Wars Parody: OK, it's mostly just random Star Wars scenes with the Doctor inserted into them without any particular rhyme or reason, but it's nicely done, with some amusing bits.

6 awesomely geeky sci-fi snowmen: This is about as geeky as snow gets.

And, finally, two musical sentiments I can get behind: Never interrupt me me when I'm Reading a Book. Also, Call Me During Doctor Who and I'll Kill You!

Another Cat Socialization Update

Gawd, it's one step forward, two steps back with these animals. I've gotten to the point where I'm leaving Mickey out pretty much all day when I'm home and awake, and while Vir still has periods of growliness, they're able to be in the same room for longer and longer periods with no ill effects whatsoever. I think feeding Vir treats while Mickey's around was very helpful, if not exactly good for Vir's diet.

On the other hand, now Happiness is being all pissy and dangerous. Yesterday, she got into a hissing, tail-puffing confrontation with Vir, and then last night she and Mickey got into a full-fledged claws-out slap fight. Fortunately, neither of them was injured, but she got me pretty damned good when I leaped in to intervene. And then Mickey clawed me up a bit more in a panic to get down after I picked him up to put him back in his room for a cooling-down period. (Note: Conventional wisdom is that you should never get into the middle of a catfight. Conventional wisdom is sensible on this topic, and you should listen to it. I don't listen to it, but that's because where cats are concerned I'm kind of an idiot.)

And then today, apparently Mickey was sitting in a spot on the windowsill that Happiness wanted, so she jumped up there and knocked him off. The poor little thing was hanging by his front paws with his back feet scrabbling desperately against the wall. I had to go over and catch him. It was less cute than it sounds. Sigh. And here I used to wish Happiness would be more assertive with the other cats. I take it back!

Somehow, I Never Seem To Make My Own Travel Plans.

Apparently I just let my mother talk me into going to Hawaii with her in September. I really hope the cats are no longer trying to kill each other by then.

Oh, Mr. Nugent, You Always Know Just What To Say.

Playing on the radio while I was driving to the vet's to get Mickey a new tube of ointment: "Cat Scratch Fever." Thanks, DJ! I needed that laugh.

Also, it serves as a reminder that I need to make Mickey an appointment to be neutered in a couple of months.

More Aaargh

So, this morning I somehow managed to accidentally splooge out Mickey's entire tube of eye ointment, which was supposed to last a full week. And not into Mickey's eye, either. So now he's without his medicine until I can get back to the vet to get some more. Which I can't right now, because I'm stuck at work. Again. Which might not matter, anyway, because it's entirely possible the vet isn't open today.

And, thus, I find myself full of vague, annoying resentments. I resent having to work 32+ hours in the the space of less than three days. I resent people who have holidays off when I don't. I resent people who have other people at home to help them with crap like this. I resent my own overblown sense of responsibility which makes me do things like take in sick, stray kittens who have no one else and then freak out irrationally when I can't take care of them perfectly.

All of which is stupid, I know, because the kitten will almost certainly be fine, anyway, and because I'm still better off than 99.99% of the people in human history, and I really have no right to bitch. Still...

[ETA: Just called the vet. They are open. So I can go and get some more when I get off work. Well, that's something, anyway. Actually quite a relief, in fact.]

[ETA again: And, you see? There are so many reasons why it's a good thing I never had kids. The cats are more than stressful enough!]

No Peace

Remember how I said things were perhaps looking hopeful and the cats were starting to get along better? Well, there was one small hissing altercation after that, but mostly relations did seem to be improving. At one point last night, Mickey and Nova were actually sort of playing together, in a vague and tentative way. I was feeling so hopeful, in fact, that I thought, you know, maybe this time I can leave Mickey out while I'm sleeping and trust them not to kill each other... an idea with particular appeal, since I still don't quite trust them when I'm not home, and I felt bad about having to keep Mickey locked up in the spare bedroom all weekend while I do 12-hour shifts.

Yeah. Not the best idea I've ever had. I was woken up at 5:30 AM to the sound of a yowling cat fight, and after I rushed out and broke it up, I discovered that Mickey had blood seeping out of the corner of his eye. Eeeeep!

Don't worry. He's OK. He has a scratched cornea, which I know from personal experience is painful, but heals fast. (Presumably he won't have the long-term problems I have, since I gather that's pretty uncommon, and I was just "lucky.") Also, he has now been shot full of antibiotics to prevent infection, as abscesses are the big thing they worry about with cat fights. But I feel kind of terrible. At least the vet -- not my usual one, but the only one that was open today -- was able to see him first thing, and I was only 45 minutes late for work. (And, man, do I owe the night shift guy big time for staying late to cover for me.) I really wish I could be home with him, though. Sigh.

Of course, the real question in all of this is: What the hell does Vir have against corneas?

Peace?

There are currently four cats lounging around my living room. Right at this moment, none of them are hissing. Things may be looking hopeful.

Also, It Kind Of Made Me Sleepy

So, I tried to watch Inception, but after about an hour of watching DiCaprio act an annoying character in boring fashion and constantly muttering to myself "But dreams don't work that way" and contemplating the fact that my TV really is too small for movies that exist mainly to dazzle me with expensive special FX, I found myself getting distracted playing Scrabble on my phone, and half an hour later I gave up and turned it off. Possibly I was just not in the right mood. In fact, I'm sure I was not in the right mood. But, I dunno, mostly it just struck me much the same way The Matrix struck me when I first saw it. "Ooh, look how pretentious and full of myself I am about how clever and twisty and slick and original I am, when I'm really just serving up warmed-over Philip K. Dick!" Meh.

Well, January Seems To Be Flying By Fast...

Current clothes: Tan jeans. Gray t-shirt with a big round VLBA logo and little flags from all the states where we have antennas. Blue long-sleeve button-down shirt unbuttoned over that. White socks. Black sneakers.

Current mood: I feel a bit strange and out of it, in that way that happens when my sleeping patterns are even more messed up than usual. But now that the sun's up and I have some warm breakfast in my belly, it's improving a little.

Current music: Nothing recently, really. Well, more random songs I don't even remember.

Current annoyance: Bitchy, territorial cats.

Current thing: I just finished mainlining an entire season of Supernatural. To which my main reaction was, "For being kind of a not-very-good-show, that's actually a really good show." Yeah, it confuses me, too.

Current desktop picture: The TARDIS with a wreath on the door. Time to change that back, I guess. The holidays were sure over fast.

Current book: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race. Very smart, funny humor.

Current song in head: "Totem" by Rush. Also, a random medley of songs with the word "angel" in the title. Both of which are the legacy of having just mainlined aforementioned season of Supernatural.

Current DVD in player: Nothing, 'cause I finished the Supernatural. Next up from Netflix: Inception. Since I never did get around to seeing it in the theater, despite it being one of the few movies I was interested enough in to want to.

Current refreshment: Lukewarm coffee from Subway.

Current worry: These goddamn cats will never settle down and get along smoothly.

Current thought: I'm still kind of hungry.

Stupid Real Life.

Bah! I do not want to go in to work. This will be my 7th day -- excuse me, seventh night -- in a row, the end of what is effectively a 64-hour work week. Have I mentioned that my current schedule kind of sucks? I also do not want to deal with any more stressed out cats. What I want to do is to lie on the sofa and marathon episodes of Supernatural until my brain explodes. Possibly while eating ice cream.

Oh, well. Maybe that can be my plan for tomorrow.

Cat Socialization Update

So, I had this idea about leaving Mickey's door open with the gate in place for longer periods of time to help the other cats get used to him, occasionally rewarding them with treats if they behave themselves in his presence. Which seemed like it might be a promising approach, up until the point where Mickey finally figured out how to jump the gate. At which point, I kind of gave up, shrugged my shoulders and said, "OK, I guess we're at this stage now, ready or not," and let him wander around the house a little. Which provoked the following reactions in the other cats:

Nova: Hissed a little, but was easily distracted with a dollop of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. (He loves that stuff. Don't ask me why.)

Vir: Growled and hissed a lot. Followed Mickey around a little bit to growl and hiss at him some more. But showed no inclination to actually attack him. Hey, at this point, I'll take it.

Happiness: Was asleep in the living room. Barely opened her eyes, even when Vir was right across the room growling. Because Happiness is too old to deal with young cat bullshit. Go, Happiness.

So, I guess that's where we are. I'll start letting him out more now when I'm home and able to keep an eye on him. And eventually Vir will have to learn to deal. Right?

Partial Progress

So, Happiness and Nova are now at the stage where they seem perfectly capable of ignoring the fact that, hey, there's a kitten over there! when in the presence of lots of petting and artificial dairy products, respectively. Vir, meanwhile, is moping around the house in a royally pissy mood, and saying things like, "You've been touching a kitten! I can smell it on you! DON'T TOUCH ME!" in what really might just as well be English.

Sigh. He can't keep it up forever, can he? Because, OK, it's one thing if they don't get along. They won't be the first cats in this household to feel that way. But Vir is perfectly capable of lashing out quite badly if something really sets him off, and the possibility of him hurting the kitten is really not acceptable.

Yeah, yeah. Taking it very, very slowly...

2010: The Year In Books

That's right, it's time for the traditional New Year's book post! The complete list of my 2010 book reading can be found here, conveniently sorted by the order in which I read them. Total for this year was 171, which is pretty substantial even by my standards. I think it's actually the highest total since I've been keeping records. Go, me! Anyway, said reading is the usual eclectic mish-mash of stuff, although I was rather surprised to realize that while a lot of these books come under the general heading of "speculative fiction," there's actually comparatively little straight-ahead science fiction. And a fair percentage of the books that do qualify are either Doctor Who or Miles Vorkosigan novels. (I finally finished the latter series this year, by the way. Now I feel bereft.)

I did fulfill my stated goal of ending the year with fewer than 400 books on the To-Read Pile. Only by the skin of my teeth, though; if the mail service were any faster, I would have missed it. I ended up with 398 unread books, 30 fewer than I started with. Which is less impressive than it sounds, considering that 30 is also the number of books I pulled off the To-Read shelves and donated to the library. Oops.

Anyway, as has also become traditional, here is the my list of the best books I read in 2010, based on the ratings I gave them at the time I read them. It's a pleasantly long list this time, I think.

Fiction:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Simpsons Futurama Crossover Crisis by Matt Goening and Bill Morrison
The World Inside by Robert Silverberg
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
A Civil Campaign by Lois McMaster Bujold
Iron Council by China Mieville
Voices by Ursula K. LeGuin
Powers by Ursula K. LeGuin
Ring for Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit by P.G. Wodehouse
Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich
I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles

Non-fiction:

Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From The Beaten Track: The Letters Of Richard P. Feynman by Richard P. Feynman, compiled by Michelle Feynman
The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia by Laura Miller
The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose
Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach
Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht
Prisoner of Trebekistan: A Decade in Jeopardy! by Bob Harris

I don't know why I had so much more high-rated fiction than non-fiction, though, considering that my overall reading was pretty close to a 50-50 split. Maybe my standards are just a bit higher for non-fiction.