Instant "Carma"

Okay, so the first bad thing of the year for me: somebody drove too close to my (parked) car and broke the driver's side mirror. The mirror's okay, but the housing on it was snapped, leaving the mirror dangling. They left a note on the windshield, although it looks like I can just fix the mirror with some Gorilla Glue or something, once it warms up a little. Still, grrruh!

Today is B1's 6th birthday.

Down with the sickness

I'm taking a sick day from work today; I actually do feel sick, and I'm sure that being at work will only make me feel sicker, yes? Best to stay home and get better than go to work and get sicker. Sure, it'd be best to go in and get everybody else sick, and then take tomorrow off, landing me a three-day weekend, but oh, well.

So, I watched ANTM last night, and what's-her-name quit the show when the time came for the judging. She actually wasn't going to be picked, but jumped the gun and quit, instead, earning the Contempt of Tyra(tm)! She was the gal who looked like she should be a 70s drug dealer's girlfriend in a movie, or something.

I'm definitely rooting for Heather in this. Lisa's really attractive, but has a kind of empty-eyed look and kittenish insecurity that's not appealing. I like that gal (Jenah, maybe??) who has the goose egg eyes and blonde hair who's not impressive in motion, but who nails it with the pictures. She reminds me of a gal I knew from college, except that she's bottled blonde. The so-called "plus sized" model is sort of interesting, too, at least in her looks -- on camera, anyway. In person, she's kind of furtive.

Printergate

Did I tell you that B2 broke our new printer? Same way he hamstrung the old printer, by snapping an internal guidewire. Christ!! The saga continues. I'd told Spousette to make sure that B2 didn't break it like he did our old one, but no dice. The stinker had gotten in there and busted it.

So, the circle is complete! But, since the printer was still covered by [Store's] returns policy, we took it back for a refund, told them it was broken. This was Spousette's suggestion. I wasn't keen on it, since it wasn't [Store's] fault the printer was broken, but she said "They won't care; I'm sure that happens all the time." So, we went back and returned it, nearly got our money back (e.g., it was credited to our credit card).

Thus, we are now currently printerless, with the memory cards still on their way, the ones I'd bought to fix the new printer problem to begin with. Fancy! Now, on one level, you might think, "Hey, Daibh, at least your system will have new memory, and perform better. And you can just grab any printer you like, now." and I'd agree. Except that we have several pricey inkjet cartridges that only go with particular HP printers. This was something we'd bought months ago when running low on cartridges, before we realized our Lil' Luddite would destroy our old printer.

Thus, the quest has shifted to me trying to find a replacement printer that uses those cartridges we have AND which our computer can handle. The Holy Grail would be a cakewalk by comparison, given that about half of the printers using those types of cartridges are discontinued. Sigh. There are still some out there, but they're generally older printers, not necessarily the latest-and-greatest printers -- and also they're not the cheapest printers, either (they run over $100 routinely, the ones that are compatible with the cartridges we have). If I find a good refurbished one, I'll be sorely tempted to snag it, and to place it behind Lexan to keep B2's cute little mitts away from it.

Amazing month of luck.

My three-word summary of last week: That fucking printer!!!

Carded.

The epic continues.

1. New printer is too memory-intensive for old computer
2. I order a memory card to add memory to old computer
3. I discover that computer requires a matched set of memory cards to work
4. I order another memory card matched to the original
5. I try to install the cards, only to find out that the Dell only takes specific types of memory cards
6. I then order a pair of Dell-friendly memory cards
7. They finally arrive, I go to install them, only to find out that the company sent me a mismatched pair of cards; one works, the other doesn't
8. So, I wrote the company and requested a matching card to match the one they should've fucking matched it to to begin with
   

I can't fucking win. This is insane. It's been like a month, now, since B2 destroyed our old printer.

Shrinkage

With Halloween's imminent approach, the candy aisles overflow with chocolate. And that's swell, although I have to say that the "Fun Size" isn't so fun, anymore. They keep making them smaller. I just ate a fun size Mounds that was all of .6 of an ounce. I bet in the 70s, a fun sized Mounds was likely far bigger. I hate that. So, eating two of them, I end up eating 1.2 ounces of Mounds. I might as well go shoe-shopping afterwards. Sheesh.

Work's insane as ever. Annoying Bizarroworld, extra-annoying and mentally ill coworkers, and me just wanting to be gone from there, trying to keep my head down for when the bullets start flying. I have a couple of job-lead nibbles, but refuse to get my hopes up just yet, lest I jinx'em.

I watched "Beauty & the Geek" last night, again. I hate that they call the geeks "geeks" -- that bugs me. But it was still amusing. Spell "Intelligence" -- I loved how slowly and carefully the mimbo spelled that. The makeovers were amusing, too. Now they all look like hipsters, with varying degrees of success. The pretty boy did the best in the makeovers; hopefully he'll keep that look going, and should be up to his armpits in babes after this show's over.

I can't believe it's only Wednesday. Today should really be Thursday, shouldn't it? Lordy.

Something I stumbled on over the weekend, on one of the lame weekend shows, they had people sum up their week in three words, which led to a treaclefest. But I liked that concept, and will likely do that for kicks.

Last week: Sick of it!!

Music: Big Black, "He's a Whore" (perfect tune for the moment)

This'll be me

Once I try to get those memory cards installed in our computer!

Can't win for losing

I knew our free (sigh) cable went out for a reason this summer; they're doing the MLB playoffs on basic cable this year! Thanks heaps, Bud fuckin' Selig. Now I won't be able to watch the Cubs play. That alone might guarantee them a World Series Championship, just in sheer Fuck You Factor. Still, it's really irritating -- I love watching the playoffs, and they took them off network television. WTF? Those of you with basic cable, looks like they'll be on TBS. I guess I'll listen to the games on WGN AM 720. Pout.

My new thing

My way of getting through my day these days is lots of e-mail, web-surfing, YouTube, and daydreaming. I'm multi-shirking! Now, how is that different from my usual shirkage? I dunno -- I'm more readily able to blot out that I'm even here. Like I was doing some mental revisions of the fantasy book, working things out in my head, which occupied me even as my fingers flew on the work that I was doing. I guess I'm familiar enough with the work I do that I can do it on autopilot, which is nice, even as I'm looking for something elsewhere.

One annoying thing, however: one of the rooftop a/c units for our building (our half of it, of course) is on the blink, so it's been frickin' humid over here, and fairly warm. Not too pleasant. Glad I wore seersucker today, I guess.

I biked to work yesterday and this morning; the weather's been great for it. I can definitely tell I'm getting stronger and fitter from all the biking -- by week's end, I'll have biked nearly 360 miles in about five weeks! Woot!

Music: Joy Division, "Decades"

Toenail RIP

Lost the rest of that pesky toenail yesterday; snagged it on a box, hurt like hell, and I clipped it to the nubbins, peroxided it and added some Neosporin to it and a band-aid. It's much better now. Stupid nail! My toestub count since 7/12 stands at 3.

Weekend went way too quickly, but we went to a fun party yesterday. A luau (sic) for one of Spousette's friends, who's moving to Hawaii for a year for an academic program. Cool stuff! We may visit her next year, if save up for it (and, ideally, I'll have another job by then, yes? Sheesh).

Anyway, it was fun. The boys enjoyed themselves greatly. B2 is shaping up to be a party animal, but that's something I already knew. I did a few shots of some kickass tequila, using a tiki shotglass necklace that I'd been given. Nice!

What else? I drove in to work today, because it's supposedly gonna storm this afternoon, and I had to get home in good time because Spousette's got a doctor's appointment, the final follow-up on her lasik eye surgery, which went without incident, and turned out to be a great thing for her, no muss, no fuss. I'd never do it, though. No way!

Looks like 3-D might be out this week. That'd be great, if so. I thought I'd overheard him saying he'll be out this week, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. So far, though, so good.

Titanium toes and laser discs

I really, really need to get some steel- or titanium-toed slippers. Christ. Years ago, I nearly punted a cast-iron table with my left foot, nearly broke a couple of toes, broke some toenails. Anyway, I have a weekly track record of toe-stubbings. I swear, I should track it, see how often I do it. This morning, I whacked my left foot against my sneakers, tore free one of those toenails that hadn't ever fully recovered from the whacking of years ago -- imagine the toenail like the hood of a car, flipping up from my toe. Aughh! I didn't want to rip the bastard off entirely, so I peroxided it after taking my morning shower, then bandaged it so it wouldn't snag on my socks when I put'em on. What a PITA! So irksome.

My upper left arm is blistered from the sunburn I got a week ago. I've been putting aloe on it. I'm such a sun sissy. I've joked with Spousette that if we ever moved to Hawaii, I'd have to become nocturnal. I told her I'm built for clouds, cold, and snow. Give me a kilt, a claymore, and some Highlands to feud upon and I'm good. Spousette's all for the sun and the warmth. B1 is like her, like fair but doesn't burn (that magic mix!) while B2 and I burn very quickly! B2 is like a little marshmallow, is only starting to get a few freckles across his cute baby button nose.

Got our new DVD player (B2 had trashed the old one). The new one is so nice and compact; it's a fraction of the size of the other one (imagine an encyclopedia -- it's about that same length, but thinner). Gotta love miniaturization, baby! Hopefully B2 won't demolish this one, too, since it's light enough for him to pick up and hurl, our little Luddite! I was going through DVD withdrawal, so I'm glad it showed up when it did.

Shallot didn't invite me to her birthday outing this weekend. I'd love to know what her reasons are, although I doubt I'd know for sure if it was real or bullshit. I only found out about it from Homegrrl, and asked Leona if she was going, too. Maybe she thought it should be girls' night out or something, is doing her patented friend triage, or else figured I'd not turn up, or she's got some boy in tow and doesn't want me to tease or embarrass her while she's impression-managing the fella, or else she's miffed at me for some obscure reason. Ah, well. I wished her a happy birthday, anyway, to be gentlemanly. But if you know me, you know that sensible people want me at their parties, because, as Homegrrl puts it, I'm a "Sparklie" -- I light up in social settings.

After today I'll have logged nearly 225 miles on the bike in three weeks! Woot!

Silverfishin'

I think I shall not bike today, given the likelihood of the obligatory late-afternoon Chicago thunderstorms. Gruh. But the rest of the week looks to be mostly clear, so I'll bike then.

Got those silverfish traps, and deployed them in our bathroom. They've caught some of the pesky little bastards, but not nearly enough -- my foot remains the best silverfish trap. I hate those things.

Really don't want to go to work today. Today's TB's last day, before her exodus. I overheard Costy talking on the phone about tying editors' salaries to the page counts of the publications they work on, although I didn't hear all of that -- but it does fit his more = better quantitative ethos.

So annoying -- I've still got a bit of a sunburn on my left arm; an archetypal trucker's burn! I was so careful over vacation to not get burned, paleface that I am, and then on the drive home, I cooked my left arm. Stooopid.

I watched "Hell's Kitchen" last night, wanted to do a happy dance when drowned rat Melissa was axed from the show. That was great. That bossy, bullying bag of rags needed to be dumped the week before, but I was glad she got what was coming to her.

As for who I'm rooting for, it's tougher this year, no real stars. I like Julia, just as an underdog -- her personality's kinda not-there, and I think she has no chance of winning, given her limits as a chef (she's a solid short-order cook, works well in the kitchen, but seems way out of her league, otherwise). I think Rock will be the one to win, because he combines culinary imagination with hard work and good kitchen skills. He's the likeliest to win, I think. The other guys are dopes; they've got no chance. Brooke the nanny has some talent, but isn't up to the task, and Jen the cipher, nah (although she handled her position in the kitchen very well last night). She's a possible dark horse, although I doubt it.