Aw, Couldn't I Have Been Something More Exotic and Interesting?

You are a Social Liberal (78% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (33% permissive) You are best described as a: Democrat Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Sneaky Emotionally Manipulative Kittens

Sigh. Well, I suppose it had to happen. I finally went and bonded with the damn thing. There I was, sitting at work, giving him his bottle, like I've done six times a day for the last four deeply annoying days, and I suddenly found myself thinking about how cute he was, and how dependent he is on me, and how I'd saved his life, and how he was, well, mine. With all the predictable associated emotions, and the stupid smiling, and everything.

Shit. I'm never going to get rid of him now.

You Guys Are More Interested in the Kitten Than in Me at This Point. Admit It.

Took the kitty in to work with me today, seeing as he needs to be fed, like, every three hours. His first day at the office, I'm pleased to report, went entirely well. He was quite popular, and everybody remarked on the fact that he was cute. And tiny. Well, those are indeed, his two most noticeable characteristics.

I also think he's eating more now, which makes me feel better. We'll have him up to three whole ounces in no time!

Well, OK, Not Just Kittens...

You Are A: Turtle!

These reptiles, famous for their hard outer shells, spent their days roaming for food and relaxing in the water. As a turtle you are not very speedy, nor are you soft and cuddly. You tend to hide in your shell and you aren't much of a sprinter, however you are as cute as you are fascinating.

You were almost a: Duckling or a Mouse
You are least like a: Puppy or a PonyCute Animal Quiz!

That sounds like a good life to me!

It's Pretty Much All Kitten, All the Time Here at Maximum Verbosity This Weekend.

Thanks to everybody who's commented, expressed concern, or offered advice about the poor lil' orphaned kitty. It's appreciated! As predicted (and hoped), the little feller is eating, sleeping, and pooping in a semi-regular fashion.

I bought a postal scale to weigh him on, by the way: 2.6 ounces. Googling around suggests that's a bit low, so hopefully he'll put on some weight over the next few days.

Kitten Pic!

OK, people have been bugging me for pictures of the kitty... Unfortunately, I don't have a digital camera. (I'm not sure I even have a non-digital camera.) And taking pictures with my cell phone and e-mailing them turns out to be kind of a pain in the ass. Hence, I managed one crappy picture. But here it is: new kitten snuggled up to his stuffed bunny and his hot water bottle. Aww.

Kitten Update

OK, I went to the vet this morning, and they gave me some kitten-formula, with a set of instructions that were, actually, in places word-for-word what I'd found on the internet. Which is kind of reassuring. I've got an appointment to take him in for a look-over on Wednesday.

He (or she, I can't really tell) seems to be doing fine. He drank some of the formula -- not much, but then he's just a tiny thing -- and I even managed to get him to poop afterwards. It disturbs me how triumphant that made me feel. Whoo-hoo! I got a kitten to poop! Go, me! Also, the umbilical appears to have mostly fallen off, or at least the white cord-y part did. There's still a stump. I think this is probably normal and fine.

I'll keep you updated, but I think at this point his life is mainly going to consist of sleep-eat-poop-sleep, so it probably won't be terribly interesting.

Drive-By Birthing

So, I went out to get my laundry in off the line -- which, come to think of it, I still haven't managed -- got halfway to the clothesline, and realized I was hearing this loud, pitiful mewling sound from somewhere. It took me a while to figure out where, because the source was very dark and very tiny, and I looked right at it several times before even realizing it was there. Turned out "it" was a newborn kitten.[*] And I do mean newborn. As in, it was lying in a bloody patch on my driveway with an umbilical cord still attached. And no sign of a mother, naturally. Poor baby.

So, I've cleaned him off -- he was pretty dirty -- wrapped him up in a towel and gave him some warm milk with a syringe. (I stroked his tummy afterward, too, like the books tell you too, though it doesn't seem to have done anything.) And he's now lying in a shoe box, snuggled up to a stuffed bunny, and warmed by a hot water bottle, per instructions from this incredibly welcome website.

Thank god my vet has hours on Saturday morning, because, while the above probably made me sound all uber-confident at kitten care, I'm actually ignorant and petrified. And more than half expecting him to be dead in the morning.

[*] At least, I think it's a kitten. I thought at first it was a puppy, because I thought it was too big for a newborn kitty, but it looks more cat-like than dog-like, and the pictures in my ASPCA Complete Cat Care Manual of momma cats with newborns show them looking about the same size as this one, after all. (Hmm. Also, dogs don't generally have stripes.)

Unstuck in Time

I don't understand how the hell it got to be the middle of September already. I barely remember the last couple of weeks even happening, like I slept through them or something. Which actually isn't far from the truth: I've been having a bitch of a time switching off of nights this week, and have found myself more often than not puttering around doing not much of anything until about 4 or 5 AM and then sleeping until the afternoon. I've certainly accomplished absolutely nothing that I intended to get done, that's for sure.

Just to illustrate how much time's managed to get away from me lately: I missed a paycheck. Just completely failed to notice a payday while my check stub sat inconspicuously in the shadowy back corner of my mailbox at work, until it finally occurred to me to look at the balance in my check ledger and wonder, hey, wait a minute, why am I running out of money? It took a while to convince myself that, yes, it really had been three weeks since I wrote down the last deposit, too. And, I mean, wow, I know I'm capable of forgetting all kinds of things, but I would never, ever have guessed that payday would be one of them!

And, of course, on top of all that, autumn has somehow crept up on me while I was asleep. The trees aren't changing color here yet, but the nights are getting noticeably colder, and it doesn't feel like that should be happening yet, either. It's kind of... surreal. And, damn it, one of the things I didn't get accomplished this week was winterizing my swamp cooler. Which I'll probably pay somebody to do, actually, because I'm lazy and incompetent. And apparently not entirely out of money, after all.

Fortunately, My Outer Child Is Pretty Tough.

Your Inner Child Is Sad

You're a very sensitive soul. You haven't grown that thick skin that most adults have. Easily hurt, you tend to retreat to your comfort zone. You don't let many people in - unless you've trusted them for a long time.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Random Thought #9,023

I keep having dreams set in and around shopping malls. I have no idea what that means. Unless it's that my subconscious really wants to do some shopping.

Wow, I Know Somebody With A Relative Who's Made International News!

I'd heard vague references here and there around the blogsphere the last few days to an American peace protester who was being held by the authorities in Australia, having been labelled "a threat to national security," but I hadn't realized until today that the fellow in question is actually the brother of my blogging buddy JK (who, incidentally, was responsible for me starting on my own blogging career, way back when). It sucks that he's being kicked out of the country -- and I can totally understand why a lot of Australians, as well as US peace activists are seriously upset about the whole thing -- but I'm at least glad to hear that he's expected to be out of jail and back with his family soon.

And, y'know, this is a serious matter, and I know JK's been all kinds of stressed about it, so I'm trying very, very hard not to make any Simpsons jokes involving Australia "giving him The Boot." It's proving extremely difficult, though.

What Is the Internet For, If Not Posting Photos of Your Cats?

Via Sore Eyes, it's pictures of pets with their heads in food bags!

I'm wondering if I should send 'em this picture of Nova:

So Many Books...

This weekend, I reached Book #2,000 in my Big Database o' Books (wherein I enter volumes only after I finish reading them, so all those still-unread ones don't count). I feel like I ought to be celebrating this somehow, but mostly I'm just looking at my shelves going, "Wait, why do I have 2,000 books again?" The whole book-hoarding thing seemed like a wonderful idea when I started, but it seems a lot less so when you've recently had to move 'em all.

I've long since achieved my book-related life-goal, which was to have 1,000 books by the time I was 30. I actually hit that at 25. Which seems to imply a rate of 1,000 books every nine years. At this rate, I'm going to need a bigger house again right about the time this one gets paid off! (My other life-goals, by the way were to get my name in the acknowledgements of a professionally-published book, which I achieved entirely by accident a while back, even if it wasn't spelled correctly, and to appear on Jeopardy!, which I admit I have let slide. I did try to apply online a few years ago when they were having a contestant search in Denver, but my browser crashed and I couldn't tell if it went through. In any case, they never got back to me. Which may be just as well; Denver is an annoyingly long drive from here.)

Sadly, book #2,000 was in no way an exceptional volume, but rather a somewhat disappointing Doctor Who novel called Escape Velocity. Ah, well. I have a dim recollection of Book #1,000 being a Star Trek novel or something.

WTF?

OK, so, I'm outside hanging up laundry. The sky is mostly blue, except for a few vaguely rainy-looking clouds, which are not directly overhead. Suddenly, I start to hear this sound, all around me. It's a lot like the sound of water droplets hitting things like, oh, metal shed roofs. It confuses me. A few moments later, I begin to feel drops of water hitting my body. Water falling from the sky. Which is blue.

Is this that strange phenomenon folks in the Pacific Northwest refer to as a "sun shower?" Because I always kind of thought they were making it up.

But I Have Succumbed to the Digital Age!

I am: a rolodex Somehow this perennial data organizing device never quite succumbs to the digital age.

Which office supply are you?

Your Regularly Scheduled Monthly Meme

Current clothes: Light tan jeans. Off-white t-shirt with the words "Sentenced to Life on Planet Earth" on it. Blue denim short-sleeved shirt unbuttoned over it. Brown belt. White tube socks. No shoes.

Current mood: Hungry. And kind of bleh. Haven't been getting quite enough sleep lately.

Current music: Been listening to random playlists again. Before that it was Warren Zevon's The Wind.

Current annoyance: I find that I don't really have much room for annoyance at the moment. I'm too busy with disgust and rage.

Current thing: Swearing I'm not going to look at any more news from the Gulf Coast, due to aforementioned disgust and rage, and then constantly doing it anyway.

Current desktop picture: A wallpaper made by an online friend of mine, featuring the Ninth Doctor and Cally from Blake's 7. British TV aliens, unite!

Current song in head: There's been a lot of Zevon in the brain lately. Mostly "The Vast Indifference of Heaven" just now. That and "My Dirty Life and Times."

Current book: Roger Zelazny's Creatures of Light and Darkness. Strange, strange, strange book. But weirdly compelling, because Zelazny's like that.

Current video in player: None at the moment. There wasn't a Battlestar Galactica on last week, because they were having a Stargate marathon instead.

Current DVD in player: The last disc of Buffy season 7. Two more episodes to go!

Current refreshment: Hey, I don't have any water! I need some water.

Current worry: That freaky creeper vines, having smothered my trees and rosebushes, will cover up my house so that I need a machete to hack my way out of the door, at which point I will discover that they have grown to become hideous carnivorous mutants, and no one will ever hear from me again. Hey, I didn't say it was a rational worry.

Current thought: I don't have any. My mind is completely blank.

But of Course They Weren't Prepared. No One Could Have Predicted How Bad It Would Be.

A friend just forwarded me a link to this National Geographic article. Familiar stuff:

...[T]he storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however—the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party....

Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued... It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States.

So, what's interesting about this? It was published last October. Yeah. Eleven months ago. The next paragraph starts with:

When did this calamity happen? It hasn't—yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City.

Well, we're up to two out of three. Here's hoping California has better luck, because if I were them I wouldn't exactly count on a prompt, competent response when that quake hits.

A Second Look at the Seventh, Which Features the First

I'm almost done my DVD-watching of season 7 of Buffy: only four more episodes to go. Sadly, while it does contain some genuinely brilliant moments, I think I still have to peg it as my least favorite season. Too many potentially interesting ideas handled far too clumsily. Too many heavy-handed iterations of "Oooh, look, we have theme! See, this is the theme! Don't worry, if you missed it, we'll repeat it again in five minutes, whether it's actually in-character for the person who's saying it or not." And it starts out with a great concept, then loses momentum completely on the follow-through, which, if you ask me, is much worse than starting off slow and getting more interesting.

I will say, though, that in some respects it does improve on second viewing. My biggest complaint the first time was that, for several episodes in the middle of the season, we get a lot of "OK! Big things are going to happen! Everybody get ready!" And, y'know, big things would then completely fail to happen, week after week. Just more damn speeches. It was clearly meant to be tense, but mainly ended up being frustrating. I've discovered, though, that when you're watching them at a rate that's closer to one a day than one a week, it comes much closer to achieving the intended effect. Partly because you lose the "I've been waiting all week for this?" effect, and partly because that seems to put you somewhat closer to the characters' timeline, where individual episodes might take place only a day or three apart.

Should be interesting to watch the final episode again...

My Mother Always Said I Was Smart.

Day of the Triffids

While I wasn't looking, some kind of freaky creeper vine crawled up one of my trees and all over my poor rosebushes. I pulled it off of the tree (well, mostly, sort of), but rosebushes bite you when you try to do that. Anybody have any suggestions (other than "wear thick gloves")? Is there some kind of herbicide that kills freaky creeper plants but not roses?

Yes, I know. My ignorance is utterly appalling. I am merely an indifferent housekeeper, but I am a terrible gardener. Really, I shouldn't even have plants, and I certainly wouldn't have roses if they hadn't come with the house. If I ever have the cash, I'd like to just xeriscape the whole damn yard. I approve of xeriscaping, both environmentally and aesthetically, but most importantly, once you've covered a yard with gravel and cactus, you can then effectively ignore it.

Well, I Guess If There's No Terrorists Involved, It Doesn't Count.

Shit. I just have to stop reading the news. This is upsetting me worse than 9/11. Especially as it makes me wonder what the hell the government's been doing since 9/11, because it sure hasn't been preparing to keep American citizens safe in the face of disaster.

Homeland security, my ass.

I Feel Sick.

Woke up today to the following bit of "CNN breaking news" in my inbox: "'The results are not acceptable,' President Bush says of Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts."

No fucking kidding.

I read stuff like this, and... Literally, I had to step away from the computer, put my hand over my mouth, and try not to be physically ill.

This is 21st century America. We have money, we have resources, we have technology, we have the ability to predict fucking hurricanes days in advance. There is no excuse for letting this sort of thing happen. None.

RIP, VHS

According to the Washington Post, the VCR is now a dead technology:

VHS -- the beloved videotape format that bravely won the war against Betamax and charmed millions of Americans by allowing them to enjoy mindless Hollywood entertainment without leaving their homes -- has died at the age of 29. It passed away peacefully after a long illness caused by chronic technological insignificance and a lack of director's commentary tracks.

Apparently this sounding of the death-knell is occasioned by the fact that the new Star Wars movie is only being released on DVD. (I will refrain from making snarky comments about how the death of Star Wars and the death of videotape as sources of entertainment are thus inextricably linked.)

It's true, though, that's it's been a while since I've rented a videotape, and even longer since I've bought one (or at least, one that wasn't blank). They're still handy for taping Battlestar Galactica, though, at least until I finally get me one o' them new-fangled DVD recorders.

Mother Nature Is a Bitch.

I've just been looking at some of the coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. (Wikipedia has a lot of information, including a link to this helicopter footage of the Mississippi Gulf area, for which there are absolutely no words, other than perhaps "Holy fuck.")

Seeing things like this really puts into perspective how utterly trivial my own nearly-nonexistent problems are, I gotta tell ya. It also, quite irrationally, makes me want to take everything I own and care about and clutch it protectively to my chest. Not to mention making me really, really glad to live in New Mexico, where the weather stays relatively tame and boring.

If you feel so moved, you can donate to the hurricane relief fund at the Red Cross webpage. I'm just off to do that now.

Murphy's Law: It's the Only Thing in This Universe That You Can Really Count On.

Lately, they've had the air conditioning at work cranked up to sub-Arctic levels. It's 100 degrees outside, and inside people are huddled up in sweaters. It got so bad on Sunday's night shift that I actually turned on the little space heater we keep under the desk. So, last night, despite my feeling that it's just fundamentally wrong to be taking long-sleeved clothes out of the closet in August, I grabbed a sweatshirt and hauled it in to work with me. So, of course, the A/C was broken, and instead of being uncomfortably cold, it was uncomfortably warm. Sigh.

I really wish I had a clue how I ought to dress tonight. I suppose I should just follow the usual tactic for changeable desert climates and dress in layers.

Hey, The Advice You Get From your iPod Is Probably At Least As Good As What You Get From Your Friends.

Saw this amusing meme somewhere... It was labeled "iPod Eightball" or "iTunes Eightball," but, iconoclast that I am, I have a Rio Karma instead, so I don't benefit from the alliteration.

Anyway, you hit "shuffle" and ask the music-generating device of your choice to answer the following questions:

What do you think of me, iPod Karma?

"Factory Girl" (The Chieftans & Sinead O'Connor)

Well, that seems to be an answer, but damned if I know what it means.

Will I have a happy life?

"Rappin' Ronnie Reagan" (The Simpsons)

Uh... Is that a yes or a no?

What do my friends really think of me?

Long Live Rock (The Who)

They think I should live long! Like rock!

Do people secretly lust after me?

"Bullet the Blue Sky" (U2)

I'm not sure, but I think that's a no.

How can I make myself happy?

"Slave Girl" (The Goo Goo Dolls)

Is it telling me to get one, or be one? Either way, I am, uh, dubious.

What should I do with my life?

"Ojibway Square Dance" (Georgia Wettlin-Larsen)

I should learn square dancing! Of course!

Why must life be so full of pain?

"Speak to Me"/"Breathe" (Pink Floyd)

Yes, Pink Floyd understands the pain that is life.

How can I maximize my pleasure during sex?

"Inveraray Castle/Calum Beag/Lucy Cassidy" (Battlefield Band)

I should play the bagpipes? Kinky!

Will I ever have children?

"Cabin Down Below" (Tom Petty)

I'll have kids after a wild weekend in a cabin the woods with Tom Petty, apparently. Which doesn't sound like a bad time, all things considered, but why have I forgotten the protection?

Will I die happy?

"Tuesday Afternoon" (The Moody Blues)

Apparently yes, I will. On a Tuesday afternoon.

Can you give me some advice?

"Polka Power!" (Weird Al Yankovic)

Well, you can't get better advice than that.

What do you think happiness is?

"Complainte de la Butte" (Rufus Wainwright)

Damn it! The secret to happiness is in French! It just bloody well figures.

What's my favorite fetish?

"The Star Spangled Banner" (sung by Bleeding Gums Murphy)

Betcha had no idea I was that patriotic, did you?

I'm Honestly Not Sure How I Feel About That.

Adam 54% amorality, 27% passion, 72% spirituality, 45% selflessness

Interesting. Do not be fooled by his rough exterior; Adam was much deeper than most have given him credit for. Like most, he sought answers to the harder questions of existence: who am I? what is my purpose? You might ask those same questions, yourself. Like Adam, you're calm, and dispassionately work to achieve your ends. Also, you may just have a nuclear core. Congratulations! If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in the following: Nerds, Geeks & Dorks Professional Wrestling Love & Sexuality Thanks Again! -- THE 4-VARIABLE BUFFY PERSONALITY TEST

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 25% on morality You scored higher than 0% on repose You scored higher than 76% on spirituality You scored higher than 52% on selflessness

Link: The 4-Variable Buffy Personality Test written by donathos on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Space Blog!

For the space exploration enthusiasts, there's a new blog hosted by The Planetary Society that looks worth following. (Well, OK, relatively new. It's been around for a month, but I'm a bit slow these days, apparently.)

From the description in the Society's newsletter:

People seemed to like the weblogs I wrote for the landing of Huygens and launch of Cosmos 1, so we decided to make a weblog a permanent feature of the website. I'm using it as a space to make a note of whatever space events or photos grab my attention, from Mars launches to comet encounters to flybys of Saturn's moons. I update it nearly every day, so please visit often to keep in touch with what's going on in space exploration!

Sounds pretty cool to me. I've added it to the blog links. (Which I desperately need to update properly, I know.)

I Will Now Stand Around and Talk About My Character Issues.

So, as I believe I mentioned before, I've been watching the final season of Buffy on DVD. And I've been enjoying it; there are some really great episodes early in the season. But, nine episodes in, I'm starting to remember one of the reasons why it kind of annoyed me the first time around. I never, ever, ever want to watch another scene where the characters stand around and talk about their Issues. (And, oh, man, do I know that there are going to be more of them.) OK, introducing a psych-major vampire to head-shrink your main character in insightful, funny ways between bouts of fighting... that works, if you do it right, because it's amusing and clever. But if you're gonna do something like that, TV, writers, milk it for all you can, because unless your character is actually in therapy, it should be the last bit of head-shrinking you do for, oh, at least a season.

Don't get me wrong. I love shows that give us insights into characters' psyches. That's one of the best things you can do in a story. But there is a certain amount to be said for the old writerly adage of "show, don't tell," and there's a great deal to be said for a little thing called subtlety. One of the themes of the season is that Buffy is feeling isolated by her power? Show us that. There are lots of ways to do it: Write her scenes where she struggles on her own to make decisions, let the actor bring out that emotion with her expression and body language, give us some camera-angles that emphasize her aloneness. Whatever. Long speeches about the loneliness of power? Not really the best way to go, especially when they come off as self-pitying, rather than as evoking our pity. Which, y'know, often tends to happen when you have people talking about their problems rather than just having them.

Oh, and writers? So, let's say you have some interesting insights into a character's romantic relationships. That's great! But, working these into the story by having someone basically come up and say things like, "So, I've had some interesting insights into your romantic relationships" is really not the most sophisticated and effective method, y'know?

I'm a Dork, a Geek, and a Nerd!

Outcast Genius 69 % Nerd, 69% Geek, 69% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in all three, earning you the title of: Outcast Genius. Outcast geniuses usually are bright enough to understand what society wants of them, and they just don't care! They are highly intelligent and passionate about the things they know are *truly* important in the world. Typically, this does not include sports, cars or make-up, but it can on occassion (and if it does then they know more than all of their friends combined in that subject). Outcast geniuses can be very lonely, due to their being outcast from most normal groups and too smart for the room among many other types of dorks and geeks, but they can also be the types to eventually rule the world, ala Bill Gates, the prototypical Outcast Genius. Congratulations!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 80% on nerdiness You scored higher than 87% on geekosity You scored higher than 97% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid

A Bunch of Linky Thingies

Loyal Reader LDH sent me a link to this article about experiments involving a drug that can reverse the effects of sleep-deprivation, with the comment that it made him think of me. Aww!

Beloit College has released their Class of 2009 Mindset List. They do this every year to remind people what kind of a world the year's newly-minted college freshmen grew up in. These are absolutely guaranteed to make any one who is no longer college freshman-aged feel really, really old. I was doing OK, though, until I got to "54. They never saw the shuttle Challenger fly." I mean, holy freakin shit! That just ain't right.

What could be more fun than Klingon Fairy Tales? "Old Mother Hubbard, Lacking the Means to Support Herself With Honor, Sets Her Disruptor on Self-Destruct and Waits for the Inevitable." Classic.

Doctor Who Bobbleheads!

RSS Update

OK, everything seems to be working now! If anybody is still having problems, please let me know. I will add a link to the site feed over in the sidebar later on, when I don't have to go and get ready for work.

I'm Sure Nobody Wants to Hear Me Going on About my Boring Domestic Issues Yet Again. But Too Bad! Bwahahaha!

Well, the plumbers have been and gone, and I now have shiny new bathroom fixtures that do not leak. Yay!

On the downside, they also took all my money (well, OK, a large chunk of what was in my checking account, anyway), and left ugly cuts in the wall where they had to make a hole to reach the pipes.

Disturbingly, my first thought about that latter point, was, "Ooh, you know, if I was going to buy a dishwasher, it would go right in front of that spot, and then I wouldn't have to fix it. And I'd have a dishwasher!" Then, of course, I reflected upon the former point, which caused me to shrug philosophically.

Now, a Whole New Way to Read Maximum Verbosity! I Hope.

Loyal reader Fred of Occasional Fish was encouraging me earlier to consider setting up an RSS feed for this blog. This, I know from pretty much nothing, but I've followed his tips, and thus, I am able to present you with a URL:

http://maximumverbosit.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Those of you who use such things, let me know if it works, hmm?

Also, Nothing Rhymes With Me.


You're Mr. Orange!


Which Reservoir Dog Are You?
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A Couple More Random Links

Because it's always time for Random Links!

Powells.com has an interview with Neil Gaiman in which, among other things, he talks about his forthcoming novel Anansi Boys. I want to read this more than ever, now. (Note: there's a spoiler for the book in the middle, but it's clearly labeled so you can skip over it. I did.)

Art Face-Off: Two paintings, completely unidentified, go head-to-head. Vote for your favorite! See if people really prefer do prefer paintings by the acknowledged masters, or if it's the artists you've never heard of who make the cut.

I Do Both of Those Things!

Apparently this is me as a robot:

Homeowner's Update

The roof is supposedly fixed again, for real this time. The roof guy said it looked like something had just come loose, which happens sometimes, but that if they did, in fact, get it fixed, it should stay fixed. He also asked me, unprompted, whether there had been any damage inside, and reminded me that if there was, it was their obligation to fix that, too. It doesn't look to me like there was, other than one very small hole that should be fine with some spackle smeared over it, so I told him it probably wasn't necessary, but I really appreciated his attitude. (That's New Horizon Construction in Socorro, by the way. I figure I might as well give 'em a plug, since I'm pleased with them.)

Sadly, I'm much less pleased with the progress (or lack thereof) in finding someone to consult about my subsidence issues. I asked my real estate agent (or, technically, her assistant) if she knew any structural engineers she could recommend, since I figured, hey, it must occasionally come up that someone wants to consult such a person before buying a house. Well, apparently it doesn't come up often, but she eventually gave me the name of a company in Los Lunas. I called them once: no answer. I called a second time and got forwarded to a really terrible cell phone connection where I was eventually able to hear the person on the other end well enough to understand that she was telling me the person I needed to talk to wouldn't be around until Thursday. Thursday, as it happened, turned out not to be a good day for accomplishing much of anything, but I called back on Friday, and got an answering machine. I left a message, but never got a call back. That was a week ago. I'm pretty much drawing the conclusion now that these aren't people I particularly want to deal with, anyway, but I really don't know how to go about finding someone else. Well, someone at work mentioned that there are some civil engineers in town. I don't know whether they handle this kind of stuff or not, because I really have no idea how much specialization there is in this particular field, but I guess I should try getting in touch with them, and, if nothing else, maybe they can recommend somebody. I'm seriously considering putting it off for a few weeks until I'm on evening shift again and am actually home and awake during business hours to call people, though. Sigh. I really do want to get some decent professional advice on this stuff before too much more time goes by...

Oh, and the latest problem is that my bathtub faucet is leaking. Actually, "leak" makes it sound like it's just sort of dripping, whereas it's really putting out a constant stream of water. Hot water. So I called the plumbers, who said, well, they're really busy this week, and was it an emergency? Which I couldn't justify it as, even to myself, so they're not going to be out until Tuesday. I'll probably just see if I can get 'em to replace the fixtures entirely. They're pretty old, and the knob that turns the water flow from tub to shower leaks, too, though only when the water's actually on.

With all of that, though, it's still better than living in the trailer.

I'm not Playing Poker, I'm Playing Chess!

I want this.

"What the Gravity-Agenda Scientists Need to Realize Is That 'Gravity Waves' and 'Gravitons' are Just Secular Words for 'God Can Do Whatever He Wants.'"

Hee! I love the Onion. I totally do. And I've been saying for years that if the Fundamentalists are going to go after evolution for being "only a theory," they ought to go after gravity, too, because it's "only a theory" in precisely the same sense. Then again, these are the same people who make a big stink about that line in Leviticus about how "detestable" homosexuality is, but have completely failed to launch a crusade against the equally forbidden practice of having sex with a woman during her period, as delivered a few lines above. So, y'know, rational consistency is clearly not their strong point. (And I know I've probably horribly offended at least one reader with that comment but... Well, no, anything else I could say in my defense would doubtless be even more offensive, so never mind.)

I'm just hoping this doesn't give the people in Kansas ideas...

Complain, Complain, Complain...

Apologies for the relative lack of blogging lately, but, really, it's just as well that I've mostly been quiet, except for stupid quizzes, because if I was posting anything, I'm pretty sure it'd only be yet again more bitching about how much I hate morning shifts. And I do hate them with a passion, oh, yes. I spend all day feeling half asleep, no matter how many hours of sleep I may actually have gotten, and the point in the evening where I finally start to perk up is just about the point where I have to start thinking about shutting down so I can get to bed. And going to sleep isn't much of anything to look forward to, as it just means that the next thing I'll be conscious of will be having to haul my dragging ass to work. Also, I always seem to be in the middle of some strange, vaguely unpleasant dream when my alarm goes off, and even though I forget the specifics pretty quickly, it tends to leave a disturbing emotional aftertaste that lingers.

Sigh. Well, I suppose the good thing about shiftwork is that it always gives you something to look forward to. When I'm on days, I keep thinking, "Thank goodness, I'll be off of this and onto night shift soon." And when I'm on night shift, I tell myself that it's OK, because soon I'll be on evenings.

Aww, It's Cute as a Bug!

Your Summer Ride is a Beetle Convertible

Fun, funky, and a little bit euro. You love your summers to be full of style and sun!

What's Your Summer Ride?

Actually, I would be delighted to drive one of those, except for the relative lack of cargo space.

Yep, "Unusually Smart," That's Me! Also Modest...

Very Well-Rounded You have: 70% SCIENTIFIC INTUITION and 62% EMOTIONAL INTUITION

The graph on the right represents your place in Intuition 2-Space. As you can see, you scored above average on emotional intuition and above average on scientific intuition. (Weirdly, your emotional and scientific intuitions are equally strong.) Your Emotional Intuition score is a measure of how well you understand people, especially their unspoken needs and sympathies. A high score score usually indicates social grace and persuasiveness. A low score usually means you're good at Quake. Your Scientific Intuition score tells you how in tune you are with the world around you; how well you understand your physical and intellectual environment. People with high scores here are apt to succeed in business and, of course, the sciences.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Scientific You scored higher than 99% on Interpersonal

Link: The 2-Variable Intuition Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid

I Don't Think I'm Having a Good Day

First, I was awakened at 8 AM by a cat jumping from a windowsill onto my bed with all of his claws extended and managing to rip a chunk out of my toe in the process. Owie.

So, OK, I got up, had some coffee, checked my e-mail, took a shower... I wasn't exactly awake, but otherwise things didn't seem too bad. Then, of course, I made the mistake of using the toilet. Now, the toilet had lately started doing this thing where it wouldn't shut off unless you reached in and pulled the float arm up the last little way. And I, of course, was getting sick of doing that. "Hmm," I said to myself, maybe if I can just bend it upwards a little..." Snap! Damn, but those toilet components are fragile.

So, I had to go out and buy toilet parts. And, of course, you can't just replace the arm with the floaty ball on it, because they don't hardly make those any more. It's all this new fangled toilet technology now. So I had to replace the whole valve thingy instead. Which wouldn't have been a problem if anybody but me ever actually paid attention to the instructions on toilets where it says to hand-tighten the freaking nut! It took me half an hour, a can of WD-40 and a pair of pliers to get the damned valve out so I could replace it, during which time I grew tired and sweaty, managed to splash water all over my clothes, and both reopened an old cut on my hand (from a previous encounter with an evil metal filing cabinet) and scored a couple of new ones, which will probably now cause my fingers to rot off, having been infected by disgusting toilet water. Gaaah.

I believe I am going to take another shower now. And then I am going to put my pajamas back on and do nothing for the rest of the day that involves any activity more strenuous than typing. Or maybe, if I get really ambitious, doing the dishes. Yes. That sounds like a plan.

Whenever Life Gets You Down, Mrs. Brown...

Today's link: A Study of the Galaxy Song by Eric Idle. I once calculated the orbital velocity of the Earth to check the figure for it in this song, myself, and it's nice to see that I'm not the only one who's that big of a nerd. (For the record, 19 miles/second is, indeed, correct.) I recently read Idle's Greedy Bastard Diary, in which he mentions that he's periodically updated the figures in the song to keep up with current knowledge, thus proving that the guy cares more about scientific accuracy than, say, all the writers of Star Trek: Voyager combined.

Estivation

Aargh, I have got to stop sleeping this late. I'm supposed to be rolling over onto morning shift next week, and my sleeping patterns keep drifting in the wrong direction. But, man... You know how sometimes, in the winter, your body does that thing where it just wants to eat a lot of starches and curl up in bed and sleep? I seem to get that at the height of the summer, as well. I wonder if I have, like, the opposite of SAD. Is it possible to get too much sunlight? I know I often find myself wishing the damned sun would hurry up and set, but that's mostly just because it's so freakin' hot.

Homeowner Update

Well, I still haven't gotten hold of the engineers to tell me what to do about my subsidence problems. But the roof guy did call me back. And not only did he not give me a hard time about the warranty (which I was half-expecting), but, he already knew more about my problem then I did. "Is it in the back, by a skylight?" he says. Why, yes. Yes, it is. "We had that problem before, and we thought we fixed it, but it sounds like it came back. Or maybe we didn't actually find it. But don't worry, we will this time! We'll be right over." Cool! Of course, I then had to dash off to work, but he assured me that, reasonably enough, they wouldn't need to be able to get inside the house to fix the roof. So I should have a non-leaking roof when I get home. Yay!

That "Current" Thing Again

Current clothes: I am, in fact, sitting here in a towel, because I just got out of the shower and I'm too damned lazy even to dry myself off. Instead, I just walk around in a towel for a while until the moisture evaporates, and then I get dressed.

Current mood: I have passed through "nervous" and "annoyed" lately, and rolled all the way back around to "calm."

Current music: Most recently listened-to actual music was, I think, some random playlist again. But the most recent thing I listened to on the mp3 player was Ron D. Moore's commentary podcast for the last Battlestar Galactica episode.

Current annoyance: Living in a house that doesn't have self-repair nanotechnology.

Current thing: Alternating bursts of productivity with bouts of incredible laziness.

Current desktop picture: A screencap of Scotty, which I put up in memorial to James Doohan. Here:


Current song in head: "Somebody Told Me" by the Killers. I don't know what it is about the Killers, but they've got, like, the stickiest songs ever.

Current book: Just started Sewer, Gas & Electric by Matt Ruff.

Current video in player: It was the aforementioned Battlestar Galactica episode, which I have been taping for a cable-deprived co-worker, but I actually remembered to take it out of the machine so I can bring it to him.

Current DVD in player: Disc one of season 7 of Buffy.

Current refreshment: Nothing at the moment. Most recently, coffee and some toast.

Current worry: A whole raft of stupid homeowner shit.

Current thought: Hmm, I'm starting to dry. I guess I need to think about getting dressed and getting on with my day.

Remind Me Why I Wanted to Own a Home Again?

Aargh, now I've got a leak in my roof! OK, it seems to be a fairly small leak. And the roof, which was replaced shortly before I bought the place, is still under warranty. Assuming the problem is the roof and not water getting in through another crack somewhere, of course. *whimper*

Actually, I Prefer Pepperoni.

Cheese Pizza

Traditional and comforting. You focus on living a quality life. You're not easily impressed with novelty. Yet, you easily impress others.

What's Your Pizza Personality?

Man, am I that boring?

A Visual Meme

I don't use Blogger's new image-hosting service nearly often enough, so here's a post that goes above and beyond the call in, um, rectifying that. How I believe this works is, you type the answer to each of these questions into Google's image search, pick the image you like best from the first page of results, and display it proudly, inviting the populace at large to guess what the answer actually was, and cackling when they get it wrong.

Disclaimer: None of these images are mine. They are shamelessly snurched from various people on various places around the web. I sincerely hope nobody shows up wanting to sue me for this, especially as I really haven't got any money, anyway.


1. The age you will be on your next birthday.



2. The place you live.



3. Your favorite color.



4. The place you want to get married.



5. Your first love.



6. Your favorite fruit or vegetable.



7. Your favorite animal.



8. The last name of your favorite actor or actress.



9. The name of a pet.



10. Your favorite song.



11. A bad habit of yours.



12. Your middle name.

Yet Again Still More Random Links

A long interview with Joss Whedeon: Some talk about Serenity and Buffy stuff, but also a lot about his job as a script doctor on various movies.

Gmail Tips: Handy tips for users of gmail. At least, they're supposed to be handy. I haven't tried any of 'em out yet. (By the way, if anybody wants a gmail account, let me know. I've got 50 invites to give away.)

Too Much Coffee Man: Yeah, like it's possible too have too much coffee. *twitch*

Optical Illusions: Three amazing illusions demonstrating the relative nature of human color perception. (I think I'm probably the last blog on the net to link to this, but what the heck.)

Mmmm... Jesus Cake

So, there was a woman sitting outside the Post Office earlier today selling baked goods, and, sadly, she managed to catch me on an empty stomach, which made said baked goods look really, really tempting. She even waved this gingerbread-cake sort of stuff under my nose and told me all about how she used fresh ginger!, and, damn, but it smelled good. So I gave in to weakness and bought some. And, along with my cake, I got a little religious flyer. Plus a piece of paper with a Bible verse on it under the cake, where you might normally have a bit of cardboard or something. I thought about being mildly annoyed by this, but, hey, reading the pamphlet was optional, and the only thing she was forcibly proselytizing me about was ginger, so I figured it was cool. Sort of like the difference between getting a junk flyer in your PO Box and having a telemarketer call you, you know? The latter makes me homicidal, but the former doesn't bother me at all, 'cause I can just chuck it out. Anyway, so, yeah, I decided to be amused rather than annoyed, and sat down to enjoy a yummy slice of what I had promptly dubbed Jesus Cake. Except, sadly, the Jesus Cake didn't taste nearly as good as it smelled (which, admittedly, given how it smelled, would have been hard).

What's really disturbing me is that now, many hours later, I'm sitting here at work desperately craving some of that Jesus Cake, even though I didn't actually like it all that much. I'm starting to think Jesus Cake has some scary, addictive ingredient. Man, those Christians are insidious!

Quote for the Day

The Brothers Grimm, in the introduction to the second edition of their fairy tale collection, on the subject of stories, censorship and Thinking of the Children:

...[I]t has been noted that this or that might prove embarrassing and would be unsuitable for children or offensive (such as the naming of certain situations and relations -- there are those who do not even want them to hear bad things about the devil) and that parents might not want to put the book into the hands of their children. That concern might well be appropriate in certain cases, and then one can easily choose selections. On the whole, it is really unnecessary. Nature itself is our best witness, for she has let these flowers and leaves grow in these colors and shapes. Whoever fails to find them right for certain needs, unknown to nature, can pass right by them, but ought not to demand that they therefore be colored and cut in a different fashion. To put it another way: rain and dew benefit everything on earth. Whoever is afraid to put plants outside because they are too delicate and could be injured, instead preferring to moisten them indoors can hardly demand an end to the rain and dew.

No particular point there. I just happened to encounter this bit while reading The Annotated Brothers Grimm, liked both the sentiment and the analogy, and wanted to preserve it.

But, Sadly, I Don't Look Nearly as Good in a Skin-Tight Catsuit.


You are Seven of Nine. You are an outcast learning to cope and understand the ways of those around you. Your blunt honesty and intellectual capacity cause others to mistake you for egotistical...when really, you ARE just smarter than everyone else.

Take the Star Trek Quiz

The Tenth Planet

You've all seen this news item about the discovery of a "tenth planet" by now, right? Apparently, the astronomers who discovered it -- being, as astronomers often are, great big geeks -- are informally calling it "Xena."

Personally, I vote for "Mondas."

Hey, Look! More Random Links!

For, lo, there has been much web-wandering...

Dungeons & Dragons for Complete and Utter Idiots: Exactly what it says. The flowchart is particularly amusing.

Blog Depression: Are you suffering from Blog Depression?

Catty: "[A] chatter bot that does not try to understand or simulate human language, cannot learn, does not know meanings, knows no facts. Instead, it interfaces you to the entire web by using Google search engine to look up sentences that may be relevant to what you are saying." Kind of surreal to talk to. Sometimes says rather, um, inappropriate things, so be warned.

Interview with a Search Engine: More talking to search engines, this time a transcript of an "interview" with Ask Jeeves. Extremely funny.

Planarity: A puzzle game I found deeply fascinating right up to the point where it became deeply frustrating.

Life in the Crack(ed) House, Update

This Has Your House Got Cracks? book, sadly, is proving to be pretty much useless. It's full of incredibly detailed, highly relevant information... for British people. Alas, I'm afraid the UK a) undoubtedly has different insurance and housing regulations, b) definitely has a very different climate, and c) builds almost exclusively with brick, meaning there's not much information that's terribly relevant to me and my wood-frame-on-concrete house.

Between the book and what I've been able to infer from the scraps of information I've gleaned on the internet, though, I've at least been able to reassure myself that, no, there probably really isn't any serious danger of my house collapsing[*], and that it is entirely normal for existing cracks to widen and for new cracks to appear in the summer, especially when it's been dry. That does help my peace of mind, because it's the fact that the changes are large and ongoing and came on rather quickly that was really freaking me out.

I definitely need to consult a professional, though. It seems quite possible to me that the foundation will need work, and even if it doesn't, informed advice on how to prevent further damage and at what point I do need to be concerned about safety issues is a good thing to have. Sigh. Why do I have the feeling that I'm going to be saying goodbye to what remains of my savings all too soon?


[*] The biggest danger, apparently, is cracking pipes. Which is definitely something to be concerned about, but which somehow doesn't lead to quite the same kind of panicky feelings as "Oh, my god, is the wall going to fall down?!"

There Will Be Non-Quiz Content Here at Some Point, I Swear.


FANTASY! - Mystical, magical mayhem! You feel the
urge to write of fantastic worlds that never
were and the beings that might live there. Are
they Lands of Wonder or adventures of Magical
Folly? JRR Tolkien and Tanith Lee are your
guides.

What Kind of Novel Should I Write?
brought to you by Quizilla

Not entirely sure about that result, but bonus points for picking Tanith Lee as an example.

We All Scream For...

You Are Strawberry Ice Cream

A bit shy and sensitive, you are sweet to the core. You often find yourself on the outside looking in. Insightful and pensive, you really understand how the world works. You are most compatible with chocolate chip ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

Pottering Around

OK, so, I got the new Harry Potter in the mail a couple of days ago, and finished it last night (or, technically, this morning). I definitely enjoyed it: the plot continues to develop in interesting ways, and even though the situation is getting more and more desperate and sinister, there's still a lot of great humor. (Dumbledore, really, is a funny, funny guy.) And, like the previous books, it's a very fast, zippy read.

The ending, though (about which I am now going to talk in vague, non-spoilery terms), left me feeling pretty unsatisfied, because it raises six billion questions and answers nothing. Which promises interesting things for the next book, for sure, but leaves this particular novel, to me, at least, feeling like one big, uncomfortable, dangling loose end. At least the previous ones, even though they were part of a continuing storyline, still had a sense of individual closure. Mind you, it could be that I'm overthinking things, and the stuff that raises the most questions in my mind is stuff that I'm actually supposed to take at face value and not expect more exploration of later... But I really don't think so, and if that turns out to have be the case, I'll be extremely disappointed.

In other words, I guess I can't really let you know entirely what I thought of Book 6 until I've read Book 7...

I Always Said I Was Mostly a Sci Fi Geek, Really

Up, Up, and Away!

Go, Discovery! And come back in one piece, please.

How Strange

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

Tennant's Looking Pretty Bootylicious in His Tardis![*]

I still miss the heck out of Eccleston, and I'm still pissed off by the complete lack of a US distribution, but pretty much everything else about the plans for the next season of Doctor Who makes me happy. Well, I'm not sure about the costume, but, hey, I didn't like the leather jacket at first, either.


[*] Apologies to Loyal Readers John Hall and Fred Coppersmith, and to the OED.