Happy Who Day!

Today is the 49th anniversary of Doctor Who. To celebrate, I ordered that "My other car is a TARDIS" license plate holder people told me I should buy.

Happy Humble Appreciation With Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans!

You know, the idea of "giving thanks," when you phrase it that way, has always been a little problematic for me, non-theist that I am, since thanks imply some sort of thankee. But, as well as really lovin' the whole turkey thing, I've always felt that a regular reminder to take a moment and humbly appreciate the things that you have is an excellent practice. I have quite a lot of things to be humbly appreciative of, but first on the list at the moment is that fact that I'm finally starting to sound like myself again, at least to my own ears. Mostly. Better still, there's some pep in my step again. Yay! Now, if no more stupid germs attack me like that between now and next Thanksgiving, I'll be really grateful. Or appreciative. Or whatever.

Anyway, I hope everybody out there is doing at least as well as I am at this point, and that if you're celebrating Thanksgiving today, you thoroughly enjoy it. Me, I'm heading up to Albuquerque in a little while to spend it with some friends. (See you soon, Captain C!)

Apparently, Cats Should Only Watch PG-Rated Films.

I think the cats are having a certain amount of trouble dealing with the new TV. It sometimes seems to seriously freak Nova out. Not that Nova isn't easily freaked out at the best of times, but, dude, a couple of weeks ago, he ran away from the swooping eagle in the Colbert Report credits. And today I was watching Cabin in the Woods -- which just gets awesomer with repeat viewings, by the way -- and at one point he was staring utterly raptly at the TV. Cool, I think. Cat appreciates a good movie! Then, suddenly, with a little sting of music, a monster attacks from out of nowhere... and Nova starts violently, runs halfway down the hall, and peers nervously back at the TV with his eyes wide and his ears partway back. I actually felt kind of guilty, like a parent failing to wait until the kids are in bed to put the scary movie on. And yet, it was hilarious.

A Small, But Extra-Geeky Batch of Random Links

Morning Roundup: John Barrowman Gets His Butt Signed by Scott Bakula: Yeah... I'll be in my bunk.

Star Trek The Original Series: Every Classic Trek episode ever, in one glorious, giant picture. It's too bad they're not selling prints of this, because I think it would look terrific in my living room.

‘Doctor Who’ 2012 Christmas Special ‘The Snowmen’ Trailer & Prequel Minisode: Oh, gosh. The "prequel minisode" is equal parts hilarious and terribly sad, and the trailer just has me feeling incredibly excited. Yay for the return of awesome characters! Note: there are very definite spoilers for last season here.

Local Color

After having been told repeatedly that I really, really ought to, I have finally started watching Breaking Bad. The pilot was fairly interesting, but, man, watching a TV series set in Albuquerque is just weird. Weird, and distracting. It's kind of hard to concentrate on what the characters are doing when I'm staring so hard at the locations, yelling things like, "Hang on, I've been to that car wash!"

Hey, Three Of Them Were On My Wishlist.

OMG, giant library sale! I got 39 books for $10. I am honestly not sure whether I am more proud or ashamed of myself.

But, geez, you think Black Friday at Wal-Mart is bad... Believe me, it's got nothing on the frenzy of bibliophiles in a dank, book-filled basement when everything's going for five dollars a bag.

Currently, This.

Current clothes: Black jeans (which are probably a mistake, as they'll no doubt be covered with cat hair by the time I have to leave for work). Light gray Doctor Who t-shirt, with the new series logo, a lot of Gallifreyan scribblings, and a picture of the TARDIS on it. White socks. Scuffed brown leather hiking boots.

Current mood: Meh. Despite the cough and all, I don't exactly feel sick, but, to inadvertently paraphrase some song lyrics, I don't really feel well either. Mostly, I've been feeling pretty low-energy and blah lately, and it's kind of bringing me down. I could go on about that a lot, actually, but I'll spare you the pity party.

Current music: Not much lately. I remember listening to some random shuffle stuff on the iPod yesterday, but nothing particularly leaps out.

Current annoyance: Yeah, the cough, which is very intermittent, but still no fun. And my voice still sounds pretty hoarse and croaky, making me honestly somewhat embarrassed to talk to anybody. And I really want to have more mental and physical energy, dammit. And, yes, I'll stop the whining there.

Current thing: I've tried to make my current thing getting all excited about the various cool improvements I've been making in my life, but thanks to aforementioned, probably germ-induced lethargy, mostly it's just been lying around like a lump, instead. Yesterday I spent all evening on the couch watching episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

Current desktop picture: Still the kids from Fullmetal Alchemist.

Current book: Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis. The front cover bills it as "a detective novel in ancient Rome," which I think tells you pretty much everything you need to know. I've only just started it, but so far it's fun.

Current song in head: Well, right now, I think it's alternating between "Flagpole Sitta" and the Big Bang Theory theme song, because my brain is just that suggestible.

Current DVD in player: I did finish season 5 of The Big Bang Theory yesterday. Next up is season 6 of Red Dwarf, because apparently geeky half-hour comedies are just about my speed lately. And because Netflix keeps refusing to send me Supernatural. I'm also back to watching The Twilight Zone on the treadmill. I'm currently a little way into season 3. Unsurprisingly for an anthology show, it's a little uneven. One episode, you get a not-very-good retelling of a campfire story, and the next you're watching an unforgettably creepy little Bill Mumy wishing people into the cornfield. Overall, though, I continue to be highly impressed. So much of what that show did really should feel incredibly trite and corny fifty years later, and yet so little of it actually does. The truly classic episodes are classics for a reason, but there are a lot of hidden gems among the lesser-known ones, too. Less than halfway through the series, and I already feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of the boxed set I bought.

Current refreshment: A nice mug of chai.

Current worry: I hope everyone on the east coast who got first hurricaned on and then snowed on is doing OK.

Current thought: Eh, I'm not doing that badly, really. It could be a hell of a lot worse.

Yet Another Frivolous Purchase I Am Contemplating

Oh, and also: do you think I should get this for my new car? It apparently just got back in stock, and I am debating.

Random Items Of Randomness

A few random thoughts/observations:

1. Geez, you don't realize just how much yelling you do at your TV and/or computer until you sort of lose your voice.

2. The soap dish I ordered does not fit into the hole left by the old one. Looks like I'm going to have to clean the nasty old one off and stick it back in, after all. Yeah, my life is so full of hardships.

3. I'm not going to talk about the election much here, except to say that I'm very relieved that's all over with, at least for another few days until the 2016 campaign begins in earnest.

Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey

Oh, look. I get to set all the clocks back now! On a day when I really, really need to stay up as late as possible to switch over to night shifts and am already up far too early to make that easy. Thanks so much, Daylight Saving Time!

The Sick And The Dead

Alas, the battle is not going well. The enemy forces have been far too opportunistic and cunning. First, the armies of Common Cold began massing against me, without my knowledge. Then I invited a traitor through my gates: Dead Flu Virus, who I thought would be my ally, but who instead served as a distraction at the critical moment while the troops of Common Cold made their assault. While I was still beating back the forces of Cold, reinforcements arrived for them in the form of Bronchitis. And while Bronchitis waged its war of attrition on me, a new threat arose: laryngitis. Although, in the heat of the battle, it's not at all clear whether that particular damage was done by foreign invaders, or by my own attempts to fight the Bronchitis forces. (Meaning I'm not sure if my vocal chords are actually infected, or if I've just coughed myself hoarse.)

The battle rages on, but the damage has been significant, and in the immortal words of Montgomery Scott, "She cannae take much more!" Because my job does sometimes involve talking on the phone, and if my voice gets any worse than this, I'm in trouble. Also, my poor immune system trooopers have a distinct lack of medical support. I was going to go to the doctor today, but apparently when the website lists the hours as "8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday-Friday" and then on the next line: "Saturday (Walk-in care. No appointment needed)", that actually means "We will be closed at 1 PM on a Saturday." Not that I expect a doctor to be all that much help, anyway. Whenever I go in with bronchitis, they usually just give me some antibiotics, in the forlorn hope that there might be some bacteria involved somewhere. Waste of antibiotics, if you ask me, but, hey, am I a doctor? I was holding out a vague hope, though, that maybe they'd at least give me some nice narcotic cough syrup or something. Ah, well. If it's not better Monday, I'll try again then. Even though I should be sleeping most of the day on Monday.

In completely different news, but in keeping with the violent battle theme we've got going here, I've been playing the Walking Dead video game, since Steam had it on sale for Halloween. Mostly, I have been attempting to demonstrate that one can survive a zombie apocalypse without turning into a giant ass, contrary to the attitude of certain characters I could name. So far, I've managed to let two people get eaten alive, and a jerk whose life I probably saved punched me in the face. Good times!

Everything Is Falling Apart.

The soap dish in my bathtub is no longer attached to the wall, due to the fact that I am an idiot and used it to help pull myself out of the tub last night. SIGH. Now not only do I have to devote a chunk of my weekend to replacing it, in my own, inimitable, fumbling-around-being-no-good-at-DIY way, but I'm also not going to be able to take a shower for days while various adhesives dry. I really, really want to whine about this a whole lot, but, well, I know people who are currently without power for at least a week after the hurricane, so I guess I probably shouldn't complain too much. Things could always be worse.

[ETA: I take it back. No DIY for me this weekend. Apparently a replacement ceramic soap dish is not to be found in Socorro, and I'm not driving all the way to Albuquerque tomorrow just to buy one. And if I'm going to have to do the work anyway, I'm not putting the nasty, chipped-up old one back in. So it looks like I'm going to be using the old "tape a garbage bag over the hole so it doesn't get wet" trick for a little while.]

Happy November!

Am still coughing. My voice has now been reduced to a kind of ridiculous croak, which would be hilarious, except for how it's really not.

In other news, I just went and voted early, so I don't have to do it on Tuesday when I'm on night shift. So everybody can stop calling me and leaving goddamned political ads on my answering machine, OK? It is now legally impossible to influence my vote, as opposed to just practically impossible, which it was before.

Hack, Hack, Ptui

Cold is still getting better. Cough is getting worse. Anybody know where I can trade in my lungs for a new pair? I think these ones are defective.

It's Couch Potato Time!

I am enjoying my new satellite TV. Mostly. The DVR is a lot more annoying to use than my old TiVo, in just about every possible way, but I was expecting that. TiVo really does have just about the best interface I've ever encountered on anything: intuitive, simple, and extremely user-friendly without sacrificing functionality or treating you like an idiot. Even the remote was very nicely designed, which the DIRECTV one... isn't. Ah, well. So far, I've managed to avoid wanting to throw the new one against a wall, so I think I'll be able to live with it.

On the upside, though, HD on that great big new TV of mine is... Is kind of weird, actually. It's going to take a little getting used to. But in a good way. I also think I'm likely to end up finding the On Demand feature more useful than I expected. Heck, I already have: it enabled me to get caught up on The Walking Dead, so that I can now watch it as it airs instead of waiting for the current season to come out on DVD. (Although that may not necessarily be a good thing, as I suspect this may be one of those shows that works better on DVD, where you don't have a full week between episodes to think about how stupid whatever the characters just did was.) I also discovered you can watch YouTube videos with the DVR, which is kind of cool, although it has the potential to be a dangerous time-waster.

Wow, That Actually Does Look Pretty Scary.

All you folks on the East Coast, try not to die of hurricane, OK?

Well, If I Can't Have A Social Life, At Least I Have TV.

I am feeling a lot better today, which just bloody well figures. Damned germs apparently accomplished their mission of keeping me from having any fun and are now satisfied. Although the cough is being kind of sneaky... I keep thinking maybe's it's completely gone, and then suddenly it'll pay a return visit, give me a nice little hacking fit for just long enough to make my throat hurt, then disappear again for hours. Not that I'm complaining about the fact that it's not worse.

In other news, Project Upgrade My Life to the 21st Century is now very close to completion, as the DIRECTV guy was just here and installed my shiny new HD TV service. Finally, my new TV lives up to its full potential! Now if only there were anything good on... Anyway, now all I need is a gadget to let me stream Netflix to said TV, and my entertainment options will be utterly complete, so that if I'm ever placed under house arrest for some reason, I will not care.

I Am Difficult To Deal With When I'm Sick. I Do Realize That.

Dammit, my cold is getting steadily worse. I've developed a cough now. An intermittent cough, but a bad enough one. The kind that makes your lungs feel all wet and itchy, and can occasionally emerge with enough force to make your head hurt. This particularly alarms me, because once a respiratory infection settles down into my lungs, often as not that means I have six fun-filled weeks of bronchitis to look forward to. Yay. Even more annoyingly, if I'm not feeling better than this tomorrow, I probably shouldn't go to the Halloween party I was planning to attend. Which really kind of pisses me off. I am not generally a big fan of parties, but, dammit, this one I was actually looking forward to, and not just in that "Well, it's good for me to get out and be social" way that usually motivates me to go to parties, on the infrequent occasions when I do. Why do germs keep screwing with everything I really want to do lately? Aaargh!

If you'll excuse me, I am going to go to my room now and pout like a teenage girl over how my life is so unfaaaaaaair.

Not That I Don't Trust Bruce Campbell's Word, But...

So, there's a trailer out for the new Evil Dead remake. Here it is, if you're interested and haven't seen it yet. (Warning: gore! Duh.)



I'm afraid I can't really find it in myself to get very interested in this. If you ask me, the only thing that made the first Evil Dead movie even remotely interesting, other than the presence of Bruce Campbell, is the fact that the gory special effects were so obviously a carefully crafted labor of low-budget love. Twisted, disturbed, ridiculously blood-splattered love. Remake that with actual money and production values (and, if this trailer is an accurate reflection, without the fun, campy humor of Evil Dead 2), and what have you got? What's the point? Other than to remind me that I really need to pick up Cabin in the Woods on DVD, that is.

More Whining About The State Of My Health

Clearly I do have a cold. For the second time in as many months. SIGH. This one's not nearly as bad as the last one, and industrial strength decongestants are mostly keeping the nose functional, but apparently whatever crud I have managed to clear from my respiratory system has gone straight into my brain.

Dammit, I better be over this quickly. I have things to do this weekend. Did I mention I have things to do this weekend?