Mac Disappointment

It was announced today the next release of Mac OS X, 10.5 Leopard, would not ship in spring after all. That is, it won’t ship in spring of the northern hemisphere. Instead Apple will release a “feature complete” beta to developers in June and release Leopard to customers in October. This delay is supposedly caused by need of key Leopard QA and developers on the iPhone. On the upside of this delay it gives some added hope there might really be those “secret” features as yet unrevealed.

I don’t care about the iPhone. I hate phones. It makes a neat demo and Apple has to get it right on the launch. They can’t afford to have the negative reaction that came with Sony’s release of the PS3.

Rumors say the new developer release of Leopard has no use of “brushed metal” and instead uses the dreary iTunes 7 look in its place. Yuck. I use Aqua4iTunes to change the iTunes 7 appearance to something less sullen on the Mac.

Mostly Right On Idol.

Yesterday I said, "I'll guess Chris, Phil, Haley are the bottom 3 and Phil goes home." and tonight they were the bottom three. Yay me.

Chris was safe. Who went home?

It wasn't Phil. Yay Phil. I scored on the bottom three guess. I've seen rumors of next week's theme being country music. One word: YUCK.

I watched the finale of Top Design on BRAVO. Congrats to Matt. See the lofts he and Carisa did here. I wasn't sure Matt was going to win. His loft's initial impression told me corporate lobby. It was not somewhere I'd want to live. I like 'master' the bedroom and his bathroom wasn't as frightful as his competitor's. Considering they had around $150,000 (most of that as pieces to be memoed from the Pacific Design Center), and two months for design, I was left rather unimpressed.

"Shear Genius" debuted after "Top Design" and with Jacklyn Smith hosting I naturally stayed tuned-in. The show really hasn't sold me on itself. I will probably check in next week if I think of it. I like Theodore and Tabitha. The best part of the show, other than looking at Jacklyn Smith, was the guts they had to actually kick off the most obnoxious character, Paul Jean, right off.

I'm a little curious about "Dr Boogie" who affects a gay stereotypical nelly character and said he was not gay when saying he couldn't take is eyes off the show's male "mentor."

Here's a look at arrogant little Paul Jean's losing "Final Cut"

Fishes Out Of Water On Idol

Updated Top eight brings us latin sounds with guest coach JLo trying to save her new (bombing) album.

When I can say Sanjaya performing "Bésame Mucho" was probably top 3--he got the show-closing "pimp spot"--you know the show had a bad night. Most of the performers sounded horribly uncomfortable in the genre.

Melinda's rendition of "Sway" reminded me of Ella Fitzgerald performing "Girl from Ipanema." Apparently Simon didn't like it. I haven't watched the show yet, only heard the performances. I have watched now and Simon thought she didn't look like she was having fun and seemed too old. I can agree but liked it.

The other "divas" seemed to have no idea what they were doing.

Lakisha butchered "Conga." It sounded to me like she wasn't "listen[ing] to the rhythm" as the lyric advises but fighting it, trying to make it R&B. Even Paula was unhappy so I'm curious how it'll play.

Jordin who I had good things to say about last week tried another Gloria Estefan hit "Rhythm is Gonna Get Ya" and she sounded amateurish at best. It was like she was trying to immitate Kelly Clarkson's first-season takes on Aretha songs. Unfortunately for Jordin this was Latin night. JLo praised the injection of soul/R&B stylings. Jordin looked better performing than it sounded which would puts her in a better position.

Batting 7th for the night, Blake actually seemed to get the theme in his performance of "I Need To Know" and although his vocal didn't sound perfect, overall it may have been the strongest performance of the night since he's usually very good on stage. We'll see how that goes. Simon said he was best of the night. I wasn't thrilled with the camera work. JLo actually called Blake in to help Haley by beat-boxing during her coaching session. I was flabbergasted.

There was a piano which and a piano like a drum is a percussion instrument. I wonder why that wouldn't be sufficient to provide the beat for Haley to practice singing with.

Speaking of her, Haley appears to be all about her legs again but she seemed to be trying to embrace the genre but didn't have the vocal prowess to do it. Unfortunately she took a swing at Gloria's hit "Turn the Beat Around." I see a pattern in tonight's failures for the girls: Gloria Estefan is a better singer than you might expect ladies. They didn't learn this lesson from past seasons. Tisk, tisk.

I don't know what to say about Chris and Phil. Chris was nasal, with too much R&B styling attempted on "Smooth"--JLo complimented it during the coaching. The judges were carrying Chris' water. They clearly want to keep him around awhile. Phil sucked a bit of life out of "Maria, Maria" but at least he was fairly in tune. I didn't like the R&B vocal flavoring. If Phil looked like Chris he'd be safe.

Who goes home? With so many clunkers, I don't know. I suspect Melinda, Blake and Sanjaya are safe for another week. Phil probably should be back based on his vocal performance but he isn't very popular.

I'll guess Chris, Phil, Haley are the bottom 3 and Phil goes home. I don't agree with JLo or the judges who liked the R&B bits tossed into the Latin songs. It sounded ridiculously out of place. From Simon's comments I'm a fuddy-duddy for liking Melinda but not Chris or Lakisha tonight. I disagree. Blake once again showed you could modernize without breaking the song. I still wish his voice was stronger than it is.

At The Margins

It was obviously coming; NBC has axed "The Black Donnellys" which is just too mature for network TV. It would really be a better fit on a cable channel like FX which hosts "The Shield."

I tried to tune in tonight with kitty and there was a moronic unscripted improv show "Oh My God! I'm Glad You're Here!" I check a TBD fan site and discovered this week's episode would be streamed online.

NBC's streaming is poor quality. I had to start it twice to get audio to generally sync with the picture. ABC has the best episode streaming of the networks in my experience.

Easter was just me with the cat, no email or call from the Brother & the herd. I asked Duckie if I should be annoyed and he suggested I look at it as a blessing for not having to put up with their craziness. That's a nice way to paper over things.

Well I just spent an hour or so digging through the garage looking for something. I found it! Yay me! It was not just the last place I looked but the only place I'd skipped over before. I'd all but decided I had a false memory of it being in the garage when I checked that other box.

What is it? It's facial/body scrubber. I'd guess it's 20 years old although I wouldn't be surprised to learn it's even older. Was it Mother's? Grandmother's? No, somehow I recall it was for we boys to use for facials to help with acne. I don't remember it getting used much at all but when it was, it was usually on my skin.

I brought it up to the apartment and it died out. Wondering if I could fix it, I fetched my toolkit and pulled it apart. It's a simple mechanism, just a small motor and two gears. I could hear Mother harping about buying another one, are you sure you can fix it, do you know how it goes together. I got it working. Yay me.

I cleaned toilet, washed mirrors, did laundry, took out trash today too.

More later.

Happy Easter?

I saw this pun online and couldn't resist sharing.



We gave RL & A candy crosses, which don't normally include the "Prince of Peeps," for their first Easter with us.

If you laughed, you'll burn in Hell too. :)

More and more I think Hell is memories you can't escape. You know the ones, they stalk you, club you with guilt or anxiety...

Update: Johnny Hart of the sometimes controversial B.C. comic strip (B.C. at Creator's Syndicate) has passed of a stroke at 76. It wasn't my favorite by far but I often read it when I was taking the local paper. I was stunned he'd been working on B.C. for 49 years. He also worked on the Wizard of Id. (at Creator's Syndicate)

Update Missing?

No new post today. There was one up for a few hours but I decided to pull it and keep it as a draft for now.

Not feeling great today. Liquid/soft diet time. Grrr.

Mailing Morons and TV

We got mail today. There's a bill, not necessarily unusual. It isn't mine, not necessarily unusual either. It was originally addressed to the SIL.

The post office put the forwarding address sticker for her on the envelope then put another, this time for me, on top of that one. I pulled one sticker off and dropped it back in the mail. We'll see what happens. I could've been "nice" and walked it up (2 mile round trip) but I'm a lazy bastard who wants to avoid the crabby SIL.

From the forwarding sticker, it could be her fault anyway. It only lists family name, not a first name. Either she didn't do one for each of her and Brother or someone at the post office was especially lazy. Who really knows anymore?

I had a very hard time sleeping. There's nothing in particular bothering me. I did binge eat yesterday. It wasn't that I over-indulged across the whole day just that I compacted more food into a shorted time period. Clearly a part of me wanted to feel physically bad and bloated for over-eating. This is annoying to be sure.

The Shield started up again last night. I haven't finished watching season 5 so I'm a bit behind, however a channel has been running a pair of shows a night so I'll be caught up to the new season quickly. I noted these syndicated episodes are only rated TV-14, not TV-MA. Since I haven't seen them before, I don't know if these are edited for content vs. their originally aired version. Why would cable channel which claims to be "television for men" need to edit a show for content?

Top Design is the final three tonight. I hope the right royal country cow gets eliminated. She has some skill, sure, but her attitude is out of control. Of the other two, I'm not sure whose work I prefer.

I'm hungry. I wish the cat would cook for me. Tisk.

It's now Thursday. Top Design cut the architect. When I saw her room I knew she was in trouble. It wasn't finished enough. Unfortunately the pain in the butt is in the finals. I'm not surprised because it gives the final showdown a sharp contrast. At least I'm not alone in loathing her, the viewer "vote" wanted to send her home something like 69%. Gay, straight or... oops, wrong show, Matt better win this thing. Starting after the Top Design final is a new show. I might watch this hair stylist challenge but only because Jacklyn Smith is the hostess. I'll tune in for the premier.

I saw the last few shows of the Shield season 5 last night. Wow. Unfortunately it backs up my sense the show may have jumped the shark. I don't believe there's any way Kavenaugh would be getting so many shots at taking down Vick & co. in the real world.

No Surprises On Idol

The result isn't a surprise. Gina had a bad week and wasn't going to win.

Phil's problem isn't his voice but his look. If he looked like Chris or Blake he'd make Top 4. It's a shame. Simon was right that Phil's performance seems dark in tone. That's something he could work on performance-wise but he might be too late in the competition to change perception.

Two weeks in a row Blake's bored me. I know Bennett told him to slow the tempo down on the song but I think that was bad advice for Blake. I've always kind of figured he might peak at Top 4 but now I'm not sure he'll hold on. He's good on stage, a top 3 performer, but his voice just isn't pulling it off enough. Fortunately, he is pretty good at song choice but he'll ultimately be at the mercy of the theme. I'm not seeing much of Blake's own charm. I thought the judges were wrong about Diana Ross week, adding the beat to the song was just what Blake can do well.

I'm disappointed in the "top 3." Another set of "Divas" like season 3? Melinda is the most polished but the first part of the song was boring. She coasted a bit this week. Lakisha is OK, not on Melinda's level, but not so consistent.

For the first time I recognized how Jordin is a big threat and I'm glad. I'd rather see her in the finals than either of the other pair. There's a bit of natural charisma the others are lacking. Melinda usually makes up for it in experience as a performer. On Melinda I have to say her humility shtick (genuine or not) is tiresome.

Sanjaya is this season's "around too long" contestant like the "goat girl" in season 2, "miss constipation" in season 3, "the red head" in season 4, and so on. The over-focus on him is harming Blake and maybe some of the others who would benefit from genuine buzz.

Chris's voice is often irritating. Some of the gymnastics he attempts aren't well suited to his skills. He doesn't seem self-possessed on stage as much as putting on a performance. I keep seeing Timberlake when I see and hear him and I have an ongoing revulsion to "Mistuh" JT.

I think Jordin could win it.

Do Stylists Hate Their Clients?

I'm thinking whoever styles Jesse McCartney hates him. The suit makes me itch by looking at it. The off-kilter trucker hat needs to be burnt! He was performing at the Nick Kid's Choice Awards:



Update: Clay Aiken has a new look. F*cking hell.

April Fools

I can't stand this date. All the faux "news stories" really ruin attempts to enjoy my routine. Since there's so damned little I enjoy now, it's doubly irritating. Bah.

Back to yesterday's visit to the house. The SIL was up-tight which was one reason Brother came down with the fridge. He remarked he wished he had a lawyer on speed-dial and advised me to stay single. He told me our uncle had a license plate holder on his orange van: "Happiness is being single." Even into his third marriage he kept the holder. I remember the van, even attending that wedding (that marriage stuck) but was too young to have taken note of the holder. I reassured Brother staying single wouldn't be a problem. Besides, Duckie wouldn't elope to Canada.

What else? I saw the kids. A and RL were still in their baseball uniforms. Although I noticed what they were wearing, I completely overlooked asking them about their games. Mother would've remembered.

MD was hobbling around all grins while A was trying to put things in a bookcase. The carpet cleaner is finally returned. I can't even remember how long ago it was borrowed. I still don't have the vacuum. It's lost somewhere in the cardboard jungle. The SIL couldn't figure out where to start on things. The new pantry looks OK with things in it and isn't full at this time but I have to say the quality was no where near what I'd expect of myself for free much less at $60/hr. The flaws of the new wallboard, put up where Brother and I pulled down old paneling, makes my skin cry out in horror. I did keep my mouth shut and complimented the fact there were actually walls to be seen rather than the paneling. After 30+ years it was a drastic thing and about 30 years overdo. Brother later told me he had it done because of Mother and even that she's dead she deserved to finally be rid of the damned paneling. Of course, there's still a wall with paneling but it's unobtrusive.

I wish my mood was better. It's been rather morbid over the past couple of weeks, more so than before. A downturn isn't usual for me this time of year but it's more aggressive than I remember.

I tried a couple Mac software products that let you scan barcodes to catalog books and films with your Firewire/iLink/IEEE-1394 video cam. "Delicious Library" seems to work pretty well. It reads the codes with reliability. Pulling information off of Amazon is a bit slow and sometimes the process falls short. Of the random selection of DVDs I tried, it couldn't find the governor's "Jingle All The Way" and didn't bring down the cover-art for "True Lies." The competitor I won't mention. None of the DVDs scanned and it took a half-hour to get it to recognize a hand-full of book barcodes. They need to do more work on fundamental scanning reliability. As nifty as having such an inventory might be, it seems a little pointless for me unless I want to divest myself of films. When Mother was around, it might've been fun to use although I kept track of our DVD purchases with a simple, manually entered list of titles. There are other things I'd like to track though. Food purchases, for example, so I could profile my activities. For years I've kept a photo log of toys and educational things I buy for the niece and nephews to avoid duplicates. Before gift-giving events come up, I'd send off photos to get approval or confirmation it wasn't a duplicate otherwise purchased. Since no one else was buying the educational stuff, it was fairly easy on us.

Rent is paid, health coverage is paid (although my bill was sent to the wrong address). I got a credit card bill for $0.00. I wish I was happier. Forget happy, just less self-loathing would be a turn. My hard drive cable has arrived in CA so it could actually arrive tomorrow as expected. I'm not sure I saved anything by ordering online for about $10 less. Maybe I did. I ordered the cable for the "old" desktop VAIO. One of the hard disks reported failure and after backing it up for a last time, I pulled the cable and the cable itself tore away from the plug which stuck in the drive. In 20 years I've never had that happen to a ribbon cable before.

Speaking of SONY products, the SIL got her HDTV, a 40" Bravia. I didn't note if it's 720p or 1080p.

Cynical Much?

I was reading a celebrity gossip site (not Perez) to pass the time and saw a story about Shane West. I don't watch ER but I remember Shane from his days as Eli on "Once and Again." Supposedly he was seen at a party for GQ kissing an occasional actor on "Boston Legal." No, he wasn't kissing William Shatner's butt. Sorry.

The claim got the gay gossip chirping and the expected PR flack denials flew.

It just happens Shane and Ashton Holmes are playing gay in an upcoming film. Am I just too cynical assuming this story only happened as a viral marketing ploy for the film?

I was up to the house a bit. I didn't walk up there. Brother called about delivering the fridge. The garage is packed. The kid's playroom is filled. I cynically chuckle since the SIL had complained about there being so much junk in the house when it was still Mother's. We had nothing on the warehouse going on now!

I hate the new lounge sofas. They're amorphous "leather" blobs. Out of proportion to the room, it's like looking at the super-obese. I'm talking those 700 lbs waves and folds of flesh. Yuck.

The dining floor is down and there's some tile left over. I wish Mother'd been able to see the tile extend throughout the dining room.

We had wanted to do it but she decided it would have been too much for me to do and, maybe more so, we didn't have enough tile to do the bedrooms and dining both.

There's more to write about the house but I just can't be bothered right now. I had ravioli and find it wasn't enough to satisfy my food craving. Maybe I'll do some crackers or something.

A $6000 poll later and it seems Californians would rather have gay marriage than legalize ferrets as pets. In the USA, only CA and Hawaii ban pet ferrets.

Happy 31.

Must. Hold. On. To. Sanity.

Been up since 7. He was supposed to come at 10 but Brother didn't call me back until 11:30. Ok. Yes, Duckie, we know this isn't unusual. Keep reading anyway. :P

Instead of waiting for him, I walked up to the house anyway.

We were going to lay tile in the dining. I checked the carpet put down in RL's room and it stuck. I then vacuumed in the room. First, we needed to clear out the niece's room and disassemble Father's deathbed for pick up tomorrow. Mother would be pleased to see it go. While we were doing that, the SIL arrived. "Mullet-man," who had put the bamboo flooring in the master was still working on the pantry. She tended to some painting in RL's room. None of the rooms she painted have been finished.

We cleared out the dining room, ready to start on the tile. The SIL got huffy. And said, "Don't do that! "Mullet-man" will want to prep it. OK, at this point I'm like WTF? He costs $60/hr. Brother had managed to talk her out of using Mullet-man to blow up the wall between lounge and dining. He'd been working on the pantry for days now. I'm not saying it won't be nice, only that it's slow moving and they want to move in this weekend. Yes, really. Seriously. No kidding!

There's only bare concrete. The SIL thinks "Mullet-man" would wash it with paint thinner like he did the master. Well, I doubt he would because he was gluing the hardwood to that floor. This is done differently. But let's assume he does it that way. She's moving in this weekend. A dining room full of paint thinner will be wonderful for the children, don't you think? Yes. I thought so too.

I admit I said a few things. I reminded her that we can do the work. I wondered why I was even there. I was insulted, really. Part of her argument is "Mullet-man" "needs the work" but they aren't running a charity! Brother is not with limitless funding and time matters.

Before this bit came about Brother notices the red wine was missing from the rack. It had been put in the fridge. You don't chill red wine but not before I realized that's where it had gone I noted my fridge full of food had been thrown out after i was told to go leave it there by SIL. :( Even "Mullet-man's" food was thrown out! SIL denied knowledge of any of this. It was her friend who did it. UGH!

Along the way I pinched the skin on my left pointer finger between a hammer and pry-bar trying to get a nail out. It didn't bruise as badly I was feared. (Did I just hear a cry from Duckie for pix?) I tried to figure why WiFi wasn't working at the house and narrowed it down to the cable modem. The laptop could see the router both via ethernet and WiFi and direct connecting to the modem made no difference. Since they didn't have a computer there to test it when installed, I said just call and have them replace the modem.

While I was troubling shooting the WiFi (that would be SIL's laptop, btw) SIL decided to run off in a snit. I think she blamed me for causing trouble. No doubt. There I go trying to bring some rationality to her insane world. The shame of it all! Brother was not happy that she was dashing off.

Neither of us knew that to do. She wanted to lounge cleared for the carpet cleaner coming tomorrow. HUH??? So, we have four carpeted rooms, they can't have anything if they're being cleaned. Dining room? No, it has no floor and you don't want to impede a floor going in. What about the niece's room? Well, that bed needs to be moved out so you can fill it up. That would leave the master which "Mullet-man" was working in!! I guess there's the roof. Or let's haul it to the apt. (I'm kidding about that last one, Duckie.)

Anyway, I wasted a day, lost food and the topper was coming back to a PC saying, 'RED ALERT! HD is crashing! Quick! Back up!' That was my day.

Edited to add this: I finally caught up to "Ugly Betty" this week. It sucked. This was probably the lamest show of the season. On Idol, I'm glad to see Blake will be back again this coming week for the Top 10. Unlike the judges I preferred his change up on "You Keep Me Hanging On" from last week although he picked the right song for his voice this week. He still needs to work on his vocal control.

"

Must Be A Monday

I went to bed early last night because my eyes felt like they wanted to pop from my skull and roll down the road. Feeling better this morning. Yay me. There wasn't rain over night. Big surprise. Supposedly rain will come tonight instead. We'll see.

I called my old neighbor Sunday evening. There was a remarkable lack of energy in his voice. He asked me to step in when I come up to the Brother's house next. Could happen Today.

Brother emailed late telling me about the house destruction on-going. I guess laminated wood flooring is going in the Master instead of the carpet I bought on the estate's behalf. As part of a Caribbean theme, the walls are as bright aqua blue.

He asked me if I'd like to help tear down the wall Father built to solve an echo problem in the dining room. With the dining carpet gone and being replaced with more of the tile I put throughout the hallways and kitchen you can be sure any echo problem will be back with a vengeance. It'll be even more significant if they do remove the popcorn acoustic ceiling texture. It's an ugly look but serves a function. I have 10 ft ceilings at the apt and no acoustic texture. There is some echo but it doesn't bother me. With squealing kids, I'd be one badly frayed nerve.

The tile laying is being tossed to a dad for one of SIL's old childcare gigs. He'll probably be building the pantry as well. He needs work.

I seem more sensitive to sounds, the abrasiveness of so much music these days is like being run back-and-forth across a cheese grater. I've sought refuge with Radio Disney streaming for now. Black-Eyed-Peas up now with "Let's Get It Started." "Let's get ig'nant?" I had to look that up. Supposedly it's akin to "unplugging" and "zoning out" while dancing rather than a repudiation of knowledge. I wonder what level of penetration the meaning gets with listeners. Talking of double-meanings, "YMCA" now playing on Radio Disney! Hilarious!!

I'd always taken the song "YMCA" at face value. I also loathed literary analysis in school but I'm digressing. I tend to do that a lot with things which is probably why I just assume "it's all lies" now as a defense mechanism. Readers of this blog have probably heard the stories that "YMCA" is really about gay men "hooking up."

I just had the cat blog reading. She barfed on the carpet over-night. The food wasn't digested. That's the second time since we moved, not bad for her.

Interim Posting

I'm running behind on my entries. In the mean time, I went up to the office to complain about the kitchen skin. It's just not draining today. Period. The other day I tried to use the disposal in hopes of getting it flowing and the water drained in the disposal side and came back up on the other. I also ended up with two sinks of goo. I got that cleaned up and it did eventually drain. Last night it cooperated but today not one bit.

Since I'm self-hating depressive or something, I could stand the sink torment but I was puzzled by the building's exterior lights running all day long. That wasn't so with the other buildings. I don't know if these lights run on a timer or light sensor. I'll guess timer. The office will mention it to maintenance.

I called in a refill again. Of course it didn't go right the first time. I put in my new phone number and said, "Let me transfer you to an agent." It's Sunday so all those minutes were wasted. Let's try again and put in the old phone number. Ok, that worked. That means I have to call again tomorrow and tell them to update the damned phone number already! Oh, and help me get online since I never did get that temp password. Of course, I'm using a cell so all calls cost. So much for "toll-free numbers."

I watched "High School Musical" today. It was not high art but it passed the time. My old neighbor's grandson looks like Zac Efron. Maybe it's the hair. I used to see Efron play in WB's "Summerland" (Wikipedia) with singer Jesse McCartney and Ryan Kwanten (IMDB) which no Aussies seem to like! Bizarre.

I missed the sad, pathetic product that is Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Limited Numbered Signature Edition. Really! The box is "signed" by Bill Gates hisself! [sic]

Of course Apple's done this on actual computers rather than packaging. Back in 1987 or so, it had the "Woz" limited-edition IIgs. (pic) Woz, of course, was the engineering mind behind the Apple II, aka Steve Wozniak. Steve Job's signature, along with other members of the first Mac's team are carved on the inside (folklore.org) of the original's case. There were a few laser-engraved signature iPods for awhile too.

AOL's Top 12 Most Annoying (Idol) Songs

I can't disagree with the list. I didn't see American Idol season 1 but I know many of these were performed in season 2. Numbers 10, 8 & 3 were sung by Trenyce. Clay also performed three of these: 2 (semi-finals), 4 (won the "Wild Card" spot), & 12 (eliminated him early).

12. 'Open Arms' by Journey 
11. 'Superstition' by Stevie Wonder
10. 'Let's Stay Together' by Al Green
 9. 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' by Queen
 8. 'I'm Every Woman' by Chaka Khan
 7. 'One Last Cry' by Brian McKnight
 6. 'I Believe I Can Fly' by R. Kelly
 5. 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered' by Stevie Wonder
 4. 'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me' by Elton John
 3. 'I Have Nothing' by Whitney Houston
 2. 'Unchained Melody' by The Righteous Brothers
 1. 'Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)' by Phil Collins

Most Overdone Songs

The Three Little Pigs Puppies?

From "The Death of Civilization is at Hand" file comes a story from the UK. The 150 year old children's classic story of the Three Little Pigs has been renamed for a school production to avoid possibly offending Muslim tots. No Muslims have objected to the original title, this is just some nutter trying to be "sensitive" and "multicultural." In fact, there's been objection *TO* the change because Muslims think it makes them seem like freaks. The prohibition is about eating pigs, not reading about them!

On the Clay Aiken front, it seems his gay-fling accuser John Paulus is now claiming he made it all up. Well, not he alone. He now says it was a conspiracy hated by Aiken haters who agreed to help him meet a porn producer if he played the part of Clay's secret gay lover. At this point, I just don't care. I was a registered Claymate but his albums have been disappointing with the most recent a completely lifeless disc of covers. That's really amazing as his singing covers in the Idol competition breathed so much life into them that he built a devoted fan base to start with! I don't know why he's packed on the pounds either but the chins look bad on someone with such a slender frame.

Congratulations to Anthony Fedorov for being cast in The Fantasticks.

"THE FANTASTICKS, the world’s longest running musical, are proud to announce that “American Idol” Top-Four Finalist, Anthony Fedorov, will step into the role of “Matt” on Tuesday, May 1, 2007."

It's Good To Burn.

I'm trying Listerine citris flavor. It doesn't taste bad but I'd forgotten how much that stuff burns by the end of the 30 seconds. On the upside it doesn't make my stomach rebel like many antiseptic mouthwashes.

I felt bad today and consequently slept. Sometimes in bed, sometimes on the floor. I'm feeling better this evening but not 100%. I didn't watch Idol live but I've heard the performances. Blake was disappointing in the vocal department but far from the worst. He did, however, have an interesting arrangement for "You Keep Me Hanging On" which I think could've been cool as a full song. It seemed to end suddenly but we had a tantilizing glimpse at what he had in mind. At least he was different.

It was "Diana Ross" week. Two or three forgot their words. Melinda is still near the top although she did "Home" which is one of those songs I'd permanently retire from Idol along with the Whitney Houston song book. Sanjaya should go home but I think Brandon was worst this week. Attempting "You Can't Hurry Love," his voice broke, he forgot words and generally it was just a mess.

Tiny Little Boxes

It finally happened. The U-Haul came and now I have a garage full of boxes. There's lots of stuff here now that I did not want. Lucky me. I then joined the caravan. SIL had the minivan, Brother the U-Haul. I rode with him. We took the truck back, stopping for petrol. It was so very cheap--only $3.02/gal. That's about a half dollar over national average that I heard on radio today. Yes, sarcasm on the cheap.

I waited in the minivan with the youngest nephew. He was napping. He's huge how. A giant! He walks, waves saying "bye-bye" and shares too. I didn't need the milk and potato chip although I did play with his toy now and then, when offered. That makes him smile. Sometimes he shows teeth too. He's too happy.

Can I say that the new blogger is a pain? I'll be typing and randomly Firefox will end my lines as if I've kit the Return key. Very annoying. I'm so glad Google decided it was out of beta. Ugh.

So, U-Haul back, another reserved for the move of them into the house. Now we went back to the house but interruption! They were here for the bin. The bin was very full! Frightfully full! But more scary was when the truck lifted it up and here came the water rushing out. Yuck, what an odor. Can't believe it was all rainwater.

The baby nephew is walking. He tried to share his potato chips with me but I only accepted his toy when he offered. The potato chip had milk on it a combination I'd rather avoid. Just a year old, he talks a bit. He'll wave and say, "bye-bye." He also smiles easily. That's so not me.

The niece had some independent testing done and is only at 50% for a Kindergartener except i the one category she's only 9% in ability. She's very confused about T-Ball. I guess she ran from first base to the pitcher's mound. The SIL said they're really beginning to see the adverse effects of the birth mother's drug abuse during the pregnancy. Long-time readers know the niece is the third child taken from the woman. Makes me want to bang my head on the edge of a desk. Meanwhile Madge, Angelina and others go abroad to buy their pets... um, for adoptions.

In happier news, I found the missing red purse. It was among the stuff brought to the apartment yesterday. I'd have sworn it was already here but, in retrospect, I realize I was thinking of having had it on Mother's chair at the house rather than the apartment. I don't know if I've shared about the red purse. Mother hated attention. She'd been looking for a new purse for some time and while she was shopping for other things she said, "Go pick me out a purse," and let me tell you that is no easy task! There are hundreds of styles in any given department store. She already had three or four that were unused, buyer's remorse, purchases. If she ever used a daily purse that wasn't black, I don't remember it. Anyway, we settled upon a few and I convinced her the red one was it. I insisted she check in a mirror. It was a tough sell. Even when she got home, I had to talk shame her into actually switching over to it. But I finally moved that mountain. She embraced it pretty quickly. It's a great design for her uses regardless of the color. It ended up as her last purse. She was ultimately very happy with it. When I think about Mother, I can't not think of her and her every-day purses. Although she was a modern slacks-and-jeans wearing woman, she always had the purse with her unless she was literally going around to pick us up from our school bus stop. Driving, the purse was always under her legs. It had all kinds of things from a plastic rain scarf to meds to a tape measure. I'd say it's as notable for what you wouldn't find in it: a mirror or make-up.

The duckie is online so I'll wrap this up now and demand to know why he hasn't commented!

The History Boys

Excellent. Well worth my time. IMDB entry

I had vague knowledge of it from award-winning success as a play. I really enjoyed it. It had lots of depth that you almost never see on screen in a comedy.

---

The cat is meowing at me. I'm getting drowsy. I'll probably walk about for a bit though. TV on Friday's is simply awful. Free-to-air radio was a bore.

I've been listening to another streaming station which is just starting and it's a bit unfocused. I'm not really a fan of "rock" in the Creed-mold. I find the vocal sound causes me irritation. I'm irritated on my own, I need music to improve my mood damn it!

Did I say the meds came? Ok, that's one less piece of drama in my life. I already ate one of my pair of ice creams. I was just in that kind of mood tonight. There's a chance I didn't have a house-related dream during my day nap. I don't really remember a particular dream so I'll take that as a bonus.

It's already feeling stuffy in the apartment, I think I'll crack a window while I'm on the balconey. No Duckie yet tonight. Has it been two days? I can't be sure. There is some thinking I've got pending on the nature of life and whether "happiness" is a bedrock element. On the way to the grocery I pondering how long my life had been about filling gaps. Once I was old enough, I fell into a support role and then really took that with me to uni and beyond. I've not really spent much time on what excites me about living, if anything. I've been through a few days this week where I was completely nihilistic about life.

Still Awake?

Yes I am. It's 8:40am. I had an up and down night. I never did make those cookies. I got a bug up my butt and went to the grocery this morning around 6:30. Along the way I rescued an abandoned shopping cart which I promptly abandoned out front of the store for another. I was on the verge of going to bed but somehow decided enough was enough and to just get the grocery out of the way. Of course, along the way, any passersby could see me verbally sparing with myself whether to detour to the house or not. In the end, I did not. It didn't make sense and would've added probably two miles to my trip. I decided Mother would've said, "Take care of yourself first. You don't own the House, I don't own the House, go to the store!" Sound advice.

The store was empty except for a few scattered employees and lots of stock. (Kitty is getting on my case for being off schedule right now but I think I talked her down from her rant.) Where was I? The store. I looked at canned goods and battled with myself over the "sale" prices and concluded I could decide at the end of my trip to come back to the aisle if I wanted. I did and picked up cans of chili to go with my cans of raviolis. 80 cents for raviolis! I wasn't passing that up. The chili was gawd awfully high at $2/can but it was cheap for the grocery store. Along my trip I think I remembered most of what I needed or wanted. I checked the toothbrushes. I wanted a cheap one to help me clean my keyboard. Wow. Even the store-brand was $1.80! No, wait, I spy a kid's pair of brushes for $3. Last second I spied a two-pack of "travel" toothbrushes for $2.49. OK, sure I could've got one brush for $1.80 but I'm always going to need another toothbrush, right? Two for $1.25 is a bargain! I snatched up some dental gum and mouthwash (citris flavor). There was a woman attempting to stock the shelves and I kept coming back into the aisle when I remembered another item to look for. This time it was Tylenol or something like it. Sorry, I'm not paying those prices even for the generic! Such is the evil of grocery store markups.

I didn't get Nutella. It was almost $5 for a tiny jar. I'll check somewhere else. I looked at the peanut butters. I like the store brand. Of course they actually have three (or more) under their name. I have to ask myself, just how nasty are the peanuts that go into the super cheap peanut butter? I'm talking cheaper than the "normal" store brand by 50 cents. Mother, in her misbegotten youth, was a food chemist and helped develop store-brand versions of the market leaders. I wish she was around to tell me more stories. Perhaps it's an irony that she was a brand-loyalty shopper in general. Maybe it's because she had that luxury or maybe she just felt at her age, damn it, I'm going to eat what I enjoy. Yeah, it was probably the latter. I always annoyed her when I'd stand there and debate whether it's worth saving ten cents. She hated that I'd fuss over things like that. Sometimes the cheaper brand was satisfying and sometimes it was putrid. Mostly she'd just saying, "Oh for Heaven's sake! Get what you *LIKE*!" Sometimes I would.

Today was a bit of a tribute-shopping. Haagan Dazs was on sale. Ok, it was a crappy sale. Two for $7. But, just before getting into the check-out line, I decided to buy it. I also bought more cookie dough. Bloody hell, it was $1! You can't pass that up! I made sure to get one of the $1 cookie doughs that hadn't passed their "Best By" date. Many were a month past and one flavor was two months over! Crazy, lazy store. I wonder if Nestle know what they're doing. I had made cookies from dough I'd forgotten in the fridge until a month past the "Best By" date and the damned little things stayed almost square! It's one thing for me to make that goof at home but the store should *not* be selling that "expired" product. It's a liability issue just waiting for the right lawyer.

I trolled the frozen section and, damn it, when I got back and loaded the freezer saw I'd gotten a couple varieties mixed in that I didn't want! Ugh. The walk back seemed rather long but I hadn't taken the route in that direction before. The hill is much more imposing going back down. I picked up some juice. I wasn't really in the mood to pick up soda. Diet versions tend to annoy my stomach and regular versions aren't really good for a person to drink on a regular basis. I need to work that out. I got a bottle of Cranberry that claims to be 100% juice. It was on sale. Only $2. Just to compare I got the one from concentrate as well. I don't do fruit juices much because I tend to burn out quickly on them and they ferment on me. My stomach doesn't care for apple juice although apples themselves and apple sauce have never been a problem.

Cereal was a pain in the butt. I swear there's a cartel of cereal price fixers. $8 for Cheerios? What the hell is that all about? I ended up getting a small bag of the store-brand corn flakes for $3. I hate that store. It's so damned expensive. Yes, I have an alternative but this was closer and I knew it was open at that hour. I'll just continue to look elsewhere for cereal that isn't at platinum prices. There was a coupon machine in the frozen aisle spitting out coupons. Since I was buying the product, I took a pair of coupons. I didn't really look to see the requirements. I think it was cents off on 3. Fine, I had more than that. What I did notice is the coupon expired last month. Well, hell, I thought. If they haven't changed the damned machine, I'm going to offer the coupons at the register. It's all computerized and I've seen coupons rejected before. The system took the coupons. I guess expired food isn't the only think OK in that store. *shakes head*

I probably could've saved more if I'd gone to the other store. Damn it. Maybe next time. Or I'll finally order online and never leave the apt complex again.

I think my delayed sleeping is catching up with me. It's about time to pass out. I might go up to the office and get some tea. I went earlier but it wasn't open yet. I mailed my peanut butter jar lids from the recall finally and wasn't sure I could put them in the normal mail slots. I had planned to leave the packet with the office out going mail. Not being open, I decided to see if I could get it into a mail slot and was successful without losing any fingers or toes.

I wonder what the cat is up too. She's been far too quiet.

The @#!% Plane! The @#!% Plane!

Doing laundry. Dryer is taking forever. Kitty is on the sofa being a look out. I got my slipper fixed. There was a small hold in the toe. I broke out the sewing stuff and patched it up.

Yes, really.

I've got an ugly headache tonight. I need to eat but I'm about as much in a mood to eat as duckie would be Rosie's mistress. Didn't bother with live TV tonight.

"If You Want It To Be Good Girl" from Backstreet Boys just came on the streaming radio. It's the best thing I've heard in an hour. Nick growls in this one.

More later if the mood strikes.

Here I am again. The mood struck but the blow wasn't fatal. I just read Hollywood is planning to remake "Fantasy Island" again. It tried a TV remake once in the 90's with Malcolm McDowell in the Ricardo Montalbán part of Mr. Roarke.

What grand suave and debonair casting have they him in this film attempt?

Eddie Murphy!

I wish I were kidding.

Idol Surprise?

Ok. The voting public are insane. Sanjaya made the Top 12. That's just crazy.

No surprise on Jared. He had some singing ability but wasn't any 'wow' and while he would perform, it didn't always match the song. His over-used grin was pure lounge performer. Not a loss. Except, well, he should've stayed longer than Sanjaya.

I don't even remember Sabrina. That's a bad sign and why she's gone.

The talentless, bitchy Antonella got cut. I think Simon gave people cover in not voting for her by saying last night that she'd weathered the scandalous photos controversy well. Thank you, Simon.

The big shock, really, is Sundance Head being cut. Wow. Yes, "Jeremy" was butchered, but he was clearly among the more talented guys.

There are pre-Idol performance clips of Blake Lewis ("B-Shorty") on YouTube. He's probably not been "discovered" since some of the stuff is fairly experimental and not even close to what would land a record deal. He's clearly talented and has his own thing going on. I think he should work on his vocals, in particular using his falsetto. He employs vocal effects in his act so he can get away with slips a bit more than in the Idol realm. I think, if he's willing to go mainstream in the way he's melded his style to Idol, he could be very, very successful.

The Week So Far, An Update

Just noticed this bit of news, Actor John Inman, Mr. Humphries of "Are You Being Served?", has died in London aged 71. Mother and I used to watch that on public broadcasting now and then when we needed a laugh. Honestly, I expected he'd have been older.

I had another house dream. I've lost track at the number so far. This wasn't so bad. It was a bit odd. Mother and Father, I think, had bought the house or something or they'd just decided on a remodel. I can't remember. Or don't want to. I only remember there were things that weren't liked and somehow I was to work on them.

Ugh. Damned IM sound made me jump in my chair.

What else. I had tried to refill meds online. The damned system said I hadn't activated my account. I'll have to phone, ask for a new activation which means waiting a week for postal mail. So, next, I tried doing it on the phone. I'm just using a cell now, not a landline since moving to control expenses. I called, the automated system wouldn't let me specify my mailing address. It said call back at 7am. I passed out around 6:30am. I woke later and called. It took over 17 minutes to talk to a person. Tick-tick-tick. So much for controlling costs. That did get the address changed, however. Maybe I won't run out of meds before the refill gets here. We'll see.

I had no postal mail today. Not even an advertisement! No word from Brother or neighbor in email. Tonight I watched Idol. The season is lame but you already know that. There was one stand-out: Melinda Doolittle; she'll probably win. I like Blake. He's a bit Timberlake with the beatbox thing but he doesn't irritate me like Mr. JT has since the NSYNC years. Why is Lance Bass writing an autobiography?

I did some flip-watching and caught "Criminal Minds" (story was competing serial killers), something on 700+ lbs people, the Bravo reality show Top Design (lame garage challenge) and bits of Wedding-something debuting on Fox after and America's Next Top Model on CW. I don't know that I was entertained by any one show that much. Other things I've seen this week include the Idle guys, some Law and Order, CSI: Miami, Heroes (on hiatus until end of April) and The Black Donnellys (organized crime drama) which no one seems to be watching.

I'll skip the Idol results show. It'll be old news before it airs and I don't really know what's on Thursdays. Maybe I'll look. I may do groceries today. New sale cycle. It's 5am and I'm feeling a mood to go so maybe I'll get moving before 6am and be done before 8am. Or I'll just decided to give it up and sleep because I can't wait for another house-themed dream.

Pork Roast, Anyone?

Can't you just picture having future in-laws over and serving one of these as a roast with apples in the mouth? Err mouths?

Manna for the Soul?

I give you the grilled cheese:



I had a difficult time sleeping. Yes, another freaking house-related dream. No need to get too specific but Brother accidentally dragged Father to his death under a pickup truck. I woke myself and said, "Why the hell I am having this dream?" Kitty was non-plussed. So was I, really; Father's been dead for years now.

Anyway, I made grilled cheese; I hadn't had grilled cheese in years. I'd been weaving in and out of a craving for grilled cheese since Neighbor had mentioned making it for his wife. I finally did it. This was the first use of the gas range at the apt. The first one was not so successful so for the second I grilled the pieces of bread before adding the cheese and that worked out well. I have a sandwich maker. Ok, two. One is in storage. The one at the apt needs cleaning so I used the small frying pan instead.

The grilled cheese was more satisfying than anything else I've eaten since I moved in. I don't know why. Maybe it's memories of grilled cheese growing up. Or memories of grilled cheese on the Buck Roger's 80's TV show. Or all of the above. Anyway, here's to an insanely simple bit of 'home cookin'.

New iTunes + Quicktime

Apple's released an update to iTunes (and Quicktime).

* Ejecting an iPod from Windows Explorer or the Windows notification area (system tray) using the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature may corrupt your iPod. To always safely eject an iPod, choose Eject iPod from the Controls menu within iTunes. If your iPod becomes corrupt, selecting your iPod in iTunes and clicking Restore in the iPod's Summary panel should return your iPod to a working condition.
* iTunes may display text or graphics incorrectly on your screen. Resizing the iTunes window should correct this issue.
* Contacts from Windows Address Book may not sync with iPod.
* iTunes remains unsupported on 64 bit editions of Windows, including Windows Vista and Windows XP x64.

There's a 3rd party plug-in for which lets you sync an iPod from WMP 11.

Housewives. Brothers and Sisters.

I wasn't going to watch Desperate Housewives live tonight but kitty was sitting on the sofa back waiting for me to turn on the TV. It was pretty good. More Andrew than probably the rest of the season combined. I stayed tuned for "Brothers and Sisters" which someone had asked if I'd watched it (I don't remember who) and I hadn't before. Well, I noticed a few names I recognized and gave it a shot.

Rob Lowe annoys me. He has no acting chops or he's always playing the same character. I can't tell. How many years has he played a political character? They had a faux Perez Hilton-type, an Asian guy, and borrowed a detail of how Lance Bass' mother found out he was gay: by reading it online (she Googled him with regularity). There are some passable actors in the show but overall it's just a haphazardly done soap. The characters annoyed, there was almost no emotion actually on the screen. It was like folks were reading their lines. I think I'll pass on watching it live in the future. Ok, some of that might have to do with the three painful "Wow" Windows Vista ads. If I get terminally bored (likely enough), I'll stream online and waste the network's bandwidth.

It was nice to see Emily Van Camp ("Everwood") and I guess Bat Getty is clean and gave up his underground band or whatever. Nice to see he's holding an acting job again. Sorry Marc & Greg, I don't care for the show. Kitty left the sofa for her chair. I don't think she liked it either.

I had to take the evil toilet to task again. Cleaned it. Kitty supervised. Two days. No, maybe one day, no house-related dream. I think last night it was house related but I am blocking it out. It's almost time for groceries again. Duckie wants me to try online ordering. I might? That is very lazy but I'm not in the mood to go up to the stores. I'm bitter and hermit-like, as if Osama in his cave!

From the "What the Hell?" Box…

From the "What the Hell?" box I give you this story:

Pupils up to the age of 11 are being bottle-fed and mothered in school as part of a radical new move to address poor discipline LINK

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Yahoo lured me in with a headline that Jennifer Hudson won an NAACP Image Award. Not surprising but I was curious to see what she may have said. That wasn't interesting. What caused me to shake-my-head was seeing Isaiah Washington won an NAACP Image Award! Hello?

Wikipedia has this summary of the trouble he's been:

In October 2006, news reports surfaced that Washington had grabbed co-star Patrick Dempsey by the throat. It was reported that the altercation was prompted by or related to Washington's use of a derogatory epithet (faggot) toward costar T.R. Knight and his sexuality... [In January] After the show won Best Drama, Washington, in response to press queries as to any conflicts backstage, said that he had never referred to Knight as a "faggot".

He won an NAACP Image Award.

He's promoting "The ideals of human and civil rights." Surrre…

Will anyone else notice this poke in the eye?

Which One Are You?

Wal-Mart has decided their world of customers breaks into three kinds, which do you think you'd be:

There are “brand aspirationals” (people with low incomes who are obsessed with names like KitchenAid), “price-sensitive affluents” (wealthier shoppers who love deals), and “value-price shoppers” (who like low prices and cannot afford much more).

Lucky Me?

I heard from Google: Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so that it will no longer appear as potential spam. So yay me.

I had another irritating dream. This time there was Neighbor and problems with water at the house. A leak. Work that was done, an added line or something crazy. It was a mess. And Neighbor had a problem too. There were people obvious doing things to the house they shouldn't. And later in the dream there was a bald-head guy in white from Aus trying to get into the house through the front door. Just trying to wander inside! Obviously there's a lot of anxiety pent up from the house being empty of inhabitants, save one fish. I haven't any idea when they'll get moved in. And going up to the house makes me crazy. I don't live there. Hell, I'm still getting email reminders about its bills which aren't mine. I'm feeling suffocated. I have made up a box of stuff that shouldn't have come to the apt at all like spare bath tile, mother's pajamas and so on.

Duckie has not sent death. Today's mail was a the electric bill I paid last night and an ad for phone service. Yay me? Now that I got voice mail working again, no one's calling. Lovely, eh? Idol axed two guys (Nick & AJ) who were OK. While not amazing but probably should've stayed. In the usually irritation it kept one (the effeminate, small-voiced, Wacko-Jacko-styled Sanjaya) who should've been ditched long before this stage. I'll post so I can find something Duckie asked for--I did and he had already forgotten what it was. *sigh*

How Annoying?

Apparently blogger thinks this is a "spam blog" the defining link of which is broken. Fabulous. And yes, this isn't the post I had begun writing. That went down with another lock-up thanks to Safari's loving the new "non-beta" Blogger. Right. Sure. Well, I'm irritated. My neck, eyes and skull ache today.

I tuned in many hours of TV tonight. I don't know why, I just wasn't in the mood to chat and my regular talk program host is on holiday. I watched Idol. Was girls night. They were generally pretty bad. There was one or two who had any business on stage and that's about it. Really of 20 contestants this week I'd have kept maybe six. None of them grab me like Clay had in '03 or Anthony did a few years later. I'm sick of the nameless-faceless R&B clones. Go home, girls. It's boring. To paraphrase that jerk James Carville, you can drag a dollar bill through a black church anywhere in America and hear singing even better. He was talking trailer parks and loose women.

Did I mention my eyes, neck and skull ache? I usually wake up that way. At least with the neck part. The eyes come later. I did flipping during Idol. I watched a bit of "Friday Night Lights" and might watch a bit online. Later I watched "Criminal Minds" which was a lame New Orleans / Katrina / Jack-the-Ripper story. I flipped during it as well. This time it was bits of Becker and more Idol and during all of those some "Americas Next Top ModeL" because I had been lead to believe "One Tree Hill" runs on Wednesdays. I guess not? After this I watched some design show marathon on Bravo. The judges are morons. The orange and green room was vile and had almost zero storage. The evident runner-up had no voiced drawbacks. They did at least kick off the right person.

What else happened today. I paid the rent. And power bill. Let's forget the power bill for a bit. The rent. I went up to the office, check in hand. They had a notice it was closed for an "off-site" meeting. I decided to experiment and use the drop box. Well, as anticipated, when I called later this afternoon to confirm they got the check I did get seven minutes of "it's lost" / "not here" which pleases me no end! Seriously, it was complete crap. No, duckie, it wasn't Dixie. It cost me all those cell minutes of dead air but it was finally found supposedly stuck to another check. Right. I wasn't a complete fool, I did make a copy first. Anyway, I'll be sure to pay in person from now on.

The last time I was up at the office to talk about the oven, some older woman was getting a song-and-dance about her missing check. I got email about the power bill. I paid. Was 25 bucks or so. I also got email about the house power bill. I guess it wasn't paid last month. They're never moving in, I swear. I'm not paying it. I've been here.

Grrr. It's club night for Duckie. Another reason to me annoyed. Kitty is kneading my forearm. Yay me? I need read CompUSA is closing lots of stores. All of them within 200 miles of me appear to be closing up. That's depressing. Not that they haven't screwed themselves by moving further into consumer electronics but on a personal historic note there was a lot of history with them, shopping with different people, purchasing my VAIOs, first laser printer and flatbed scanners, and visits with Mother including opening day about 20 years ago. Change sucks.

Been a few bad nights of sleep. I've had folks coming into the house in my dreams, dreaming about an old neighbor who moved in just after my parents moved to the house, and last evening's dream I carried Mother and kitty back to the house from Neighbor's after a long evening. Not a chance for rest.

Kitty has been weird too. On Tuesday she hid under some covers pulled off the bed. I'd seen her do that a bit but never well into the evening. Not sure what sparked it. It did make me nervous.

Did I mention my cookies turned out crunchy? Yeah, not worth doing expired dough in the future. I'll preheat 15 minutes in the future although the manual online says 10 minutes if there's no indicator light. My experience, at least with even new electric ovens, is 10 minutes may not be enough. Sure, it's a gas oven but a few extra minutes preheating can't hurt.

The cat is still mutilating said left arm. Purr on full throttle. She watches a bit of TV, then hid awhile and came back later to lounge on the back of the sofa a lot like she used to when the two of us, with Mother would watch shows. I wish like hell Mother was here. I keep having more and more moments of "Oh, I want to tell her that or ask her this." It's maddening and not in an angry sense. I think I'll do cereal and see if this will post.

Now what?

Ok, so it's just turned over Monday. Woo for JHud and Helen Mirren at Oscars. I so want to vomit. I'm just not feeling good. And now I'm worried someone stole Mother's purse. Or, well, the last purse she used. A bright red purse I picked out. I thought it was on her dining chair in the apt with her red sweater. But when I was cleaning up for kitty I didn't see it. I looked about the apt. and don't see it. I guess it's possible it's at the house but brain is fighting me, screaming out only bad vibes. Can't go up to the house because of oven triage. If I had a sidearm I'd want to blow my head off to escape the annoyance of life. I'll have cereal instead. :(

Freaking HELL!

Well, I was finally forced to "convert" to the new Blogger. I had to create a new Google account. Evidently they aren't smart enough to just grandfather their Blogger accounts automatically to Google ones. I tried to post and the browser locked up. So we'll see if this works. (It didn't, Safari locked up again when I was ready to post.) Oh, and maybe the stupid blogging widget won't be such crap and will work. Sure. Right.

An hour ago I remembered I had unused cookie dough in the fridge that I was going to bake up fo rmy brithday and wondered if it was past use by date. One is. Do I care? Not really. I turned the oven on to pre-heat. The range and oven here are natural gas-powered, not electric as I'd alway sused. While I was putting the dough on the baking paper, I saw what I thought was puffs of smoke from the oven. Suddenly I have THREE smoke alarms screaming at me. Jeebus. Needless to say, the cat was not imperssed and hid under the covers while I resolved the issue. I opened the doors, a window and put on the ceiling fans while turning off the oven. Look, seriously, rent is just under 2K per month. That's almost like real money. Since I moved in I've battled a toilet, had the apartment exterior painted twice, been drowned by a kitchen sprayer that doesn't always turn off, had to replace two of three smoke alrm batteries, a thermostat battery, had a garage door latch stick... avoided a garage break-in... now discover the oven is evil. UGH. I haven't used the dish washer. I don't dare! All this I'm still not all moved in with stuff from the house that Brother's sending over! *smacks head on edge of desk*

Update

Well, it was coming. One fish has passed on. The red one, the beta Mother picked out, was on the bottom of its tank when I was at the house today. It was sad but not surprising. It seemed to have been partially paralyzed for more than a month.

The blue one got a cleaned tank. It's still going. I will probably bring it to the apt since brother is not interested in it.

Peanut Butter Recall: Salmonella Alert

Some jars of "Peter Pan Peanut Butter" (and some Great Value brand) with product codes starting 2111 have been known to cause illness from salmonella. All jars starting with that code are under recall. Here's what maker ConAgra says:

"If consumers have this product, they should discard it, but save the product lid. For a full refund, consumers must return the Peter Pan Peanut Butter or Great Value Peanut Butter product lid along with their name and mailing address to ConAgra Foods, P.O. Box 3768, Omaha, NE 68103." Recall info.

I have two jars with this code. One I've already been using. Yay me.

Shameless Plug

An online pal has a streaming station, PrideRadio. A mix of 80's, R&B and Rock. Asked about ads for the station he said, "Group of music fanatics seeks listeners to exploit our bandwidth?"

Listen. Enjoy? There's a forum at the link above where you can make requests.

Points Off, Symbiotic Three-way

Points off on this managed community. The battery in the thermostat died the first week I was in the new apt. This afternoon, I got the first piercing chirp from one of the smoke detectors, warning of low battery. The cat napping in my lap was not amused.

Discovering strange biological bedfellows talks of a clever three-way symbiotic situation.

I need to go up to the house but I'm resisting. I hate going back there. I'm not that thrilled with the walk either I guess. From what I could determine from email, Brother's busy until Thursday which is when he wants to go see the lawyer as she requested to finish estate paperwork.

Freaky Fish! And Other Things.

Frill Shark

In other news there's a local trial of a woman having murdered her husband. Her defense lawyer her flashing breasts at a party was part of her grieving process.

I am still moving out. Sort of. I'm at the house sorting. I slept on the floor.

(Congratulations to Jen Hudson on her Oscar nomination.)

Golden Globes

Congratulations, Helen Mirren. Won "Best Actress" both for "Elizabeth I" and "The Queen."



Jennifer Hudson, from American Idol 3, adds a another trophy for her role in "Dreamgirls." She won the film critic's award and now adds a "Golden Globe."

iPhone vs. neonode N1m

The N1m is a three-in-one device like iPhone. It too has no physical keypad, does web browsing, phone and media playback.

N1m is not elegant. The virtual keypad is the usual phone style 3 x 4 number-letter layout while iPhone uses QWERTY like a regular keyboard.

Neonode's N1m is smaller in height, width and weight but far thicker at 21 mm vs 11.6 mm. That smaller height and width also mean it has a smaller screen (176 x 220 pixels) compared to iPhone (320 x 480 pixels).

The 1GB N1m supports more media types because you can play DiVX, WMV, MPEG while the 4 or 8 GB iPhones only seems to support iPod-ready video. The built-in cam of N1m is listed as 1 megapixel, Apple iPhone's is 2 megapixels.

What about cost? The N1m is €532,00 (approx US$692.55) while iPhone US$499 for the 4GB version, US$599 for 8GB.

So, looking at the most near true analog to the iPhone, the Apple product is bigger where it matters in storage, screen & cam resolutions yet less expensive!

I won't be buying either one, since they are far more than I need in a cell phone and iPhone comes with that nasty "2 yr contract" attached. That said, iPhone is a tremendously exciting product demo which suggests great technology trickling down to common disposable devices over the next five years. I suspect the OS X used by iPhone is the coming 10.5 Leopard, not 10.4 Tiger, since Leopard will have scalable user interface elements and Core Animation, a technology mentioned as part of iPhone in the keynote address.

iPhone specs
neonode N1m specs

Blog Running Behind...

I found a place, I can move this weekend. I have detailed entries being worked on in the 'drafts'.

Same Crud, Different Year?

Nice to see online communities still have tin horn dictators. Must be the nature of the species. Oh well.

I had planned to do some "serious" blogging but I had a headache and felt more than a little 'off' so I delayed. I'm doing a bit better now, with some food ingested. Let me hand out sick-bags just in case. Basically I was thinking over my youthful dreams and breeding and so forth.

When I was in high school, I was interested in adopting a "hard to place" older child. Sure, in grade school as adolescence was just getting underway I fantasized about procreating. Yes, seriously. Not simply a copulating act but with purpose of actual impregnation. Later as I great through puberty and so forth I never really had an impulse to marry. And interest in siring my own flesh and blood dissipated.

I'm about twice as old now, or rapidly shall be. It's only natural I suppose I'd revisit such topics. Now's a good time especially with the radical difference my day to day life will have this year. Other than myself, it'll all be different. (Heaven help me!)

OK, back to the parental thing. I heard a call on Dr. Laura from a 13 yr old asking how he can make his estranged father love him. Of course, he can't because the sperm donor is a distant, disinterested person. She advised the boy to focus on the love around him from mom, step-dad, etc. and feel bad for his bio-dad for what he's missing and may one day regret. Anyway, the call was gut wrenching. I felt very paternal and compassionate, while silently cursing guys like his bio-dad. Anyway, it rekindled old passions of a desire to mentor, do foster care, adopt or something.

In recent weeks I'd wrestled with the absence of biological grandkids. Of course, with my parents now gone, they couldn't meet their hypothetical biological grandkids. So much pressure would be off if Brother had married a healthy, fertile woman. In the ten-plus months since Mother passed I've been thinking over different things she said, trying to put together the puzzle pieces. I had decided to talk to her about these things but put it off as I figured I had all year long and could wait till she got over the pneumonia she'd been diagnosed with.

My conclusion is that despite what I'd said, Mother was convinced I'm gay. I might draw that out later how I conclude this but it's not important to this entry. So with that conclusion I've wondered if maybe it is correct. Well, as I considered my passed fanciful desires, it ultimately it doesn't matter since it really didn't involve anything in the way of a relationship regardless of gender. It really only had a cornerstone of single parenthood.

By now you know the SIL and Brother have adopted three kids. Two are final and have been for a few years. The infant, whom Mother met days before she passed on, hasn't been finalized. That was a key motivator to the change in housing arrangements. They needed four bedrooms and I, the cat and her fish need considerably fewer.

OK, I'm wandering all over a bit. I'm tired. The cat is waiting for me to come to bed, it's almost 7:30am. Focusing a bit... I'm less interested in "solving" any kind of sexuality question than I am in addressing the running theme of having no life partner in my past visions of a future. I might have an answer. I'm not ready to blog about it yet, however. And, no, it has little to do with commitment concerns. I'd commit to almost anything. I'm silly that way. I have seen, objectively, that I'd benefit from having someone to help me avoid certain pitfalls like being too nice, overly generous, or too free with spotting others some funds.

So, anyway, on levels that matter to me I feel that one person seems like a potential keeper. I'm intrigued. Sure it's a guy but really I haven't had meaningful contact with anything else in years. I could be in a partnership arrangement if it's with someone I trust, with whom I know I'll have a mutual relationship of looking out for one another. When it gets down to it, what else is there? If you have to be suspicious, forget it. I've been there. I thought I had something like that with my uni girlfriend but that wasn't true leading me to regret the ongoing nature of our intimate physical relationship and ultimately cease it and deciding to cut bait.

Last week I heard the end of an hour of Dr. Laura where a wife was calling to say she'd been wedded 17 years and when she wasn't sure the marriage would last early on, she aborted their first child. It was a child she didn't tell her husband they were expecting. She had lately decided to be "totally honest" with him and told her husband. She was upset at his horror and was calling for advice (Dr. Laura said never, ever speak of it again). Things like that scare the hell out of me. It's actually a scenario (a potential spouse aborting child secretly) I'd wondered about through the years. I'm nuts like that.

So, ok. I'll just leave this entry as is. I'm sure it'll stir something. I hope. Maybe? No guests invading today means plenty of rest. Sunday we hunt for new accommodations.

Here We Go Again!

It's likely been more than a year but I got another wrong delivery of... Yes, dear... it's HAY!



The O.C. is canceled, finale plays Feb 22. in the States. Show was good in season one and became unwatchable with its constant return to clichés of Ryan using his fists and swirling around the drain that was Mischa Barton's character.

Ramblings

First off, I've recently seen Elephant a film by Gus Van Sant. It's good, obviously strongly 'inspired' by the Columbine high school shooting in the U.S. in the '90s. I had no idea what it was about when I watched it. Anyway, it was unlike another Gus film, "My Own Private Idaho," which I saw maybe last year (or '05?) about 10-15 years after friends suggested I'd "get something out of it." Well I thought MOPI was a piece of pretentious wank. There's probably a blog entry. So out of three films from that director I've liked "Good Will Hunting" and "Elephant." I think I'll stop while I'm ahead.

It's a bit like Ang Lee. "Ice Storm" was intriguing. I stopped and watched it one day flipping around and saw Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline, then Elijah Wood so I was thinking, "Ok, what is this film?" When it was time for him to do "Hulk" I was excited. That film was a total disaster. Then I'm hearing about "Brokeback Mountain" and grudgingly watched it. I hated it; there wasn't any romance in my mind. It maddeningly pissed me off--I saw the first "encounter" as rape with all else coloured by that reaction. Bored and trying to fall asleep I rewatched it this week and it didn't piss me off like the first time but the sheep are still the best part of the film. The cinematography still makes me want to move to Wyom... err Canada. I still haven't unwrapped the shrink-wrap on Crouching Tiger. I can't say I trust Ang Lee as a director.

My candy bar wrapper smelled like cigars. :( That's probably why it was on sale for 60 cents (from 89). I got those stupid corn cereals again. I argued with myself in the store but decided food was food. Well, I've had two bowls maybe three or four. Well, I don't know. Doesn't matter. I'm annoyed. Wasn't what I wanted but it was what the store had. Or fake Cheerios. I got those too along with chili, peanut butter and raviolis. I'm hooked on the raviolis. I did not feel good on my walk. Not sure why. I felt out of shape which is a bit ridiculous considering it isn't any further than gammaneighbor's new place. I think I felt better walking back with a backpack full of canned goods. I did get annoyed with those loitering outside the stores smoking like chimneys. Ugh!

I slept just 2 hrs after a 22 waking period and don't get why.

Well, the series *was* set in the 21st century.



Read about the "dolphin boat" at the Daily Mail.

Word of the Day

nebbish - a person, esp. a man, who is regarded as pitifully ineffectual, timid, or submissive.

late 19th century from Yiddish nebekh 'poor thing'

Do you Firefox?

If you use Firefox and want to save YouTube clips (or clips from many sites) you should try this free plug-in, Download Helper.

Firefox had an update this past week. It's now at 2.0.0.1. No, that isn't a typo. :P

The guy who originally played Lionel Jefferson on "The Jeffersons" passed away at 57 (throat cancer).

I got a Christmas card from my uncle. I had successfully stalked him online to find his new address since neither I nor my brother had heard from him since he left the state in August. Jeebus! His house still hasn't sold!

Mother got a certificate that she has paid off the mortgage. Yay Mother! Too bad you're dead and can't enjoy it. :/ What else? Hmm. Phone rang again. It is stupid "Unknown Name" at a toll-free number. I see from online that it's a company trying to get me to pay for longer appliance coverage. They never leave a message but I still have to clear the call from the machine. How annoying. :P

My bank has told me they are changing my account type. It will now have a $6 monthly fee! Those bastards! Doesn't start until Feb tho so now I'll be looking for other account types and maybe another bank. Been their customer for like 15 years and never had fee. Grr.

12 Days of '06

It's funny!

The 12 Days of 2006

Cast your vote!

Cunning Dental Group dental makeover (frightful images ahead)

Chocolate-Pork-Pancake Update!

I found them at grocery. They were SEVEN ($7) for a box! I didn't buy. :/

Ultimate Piggy Food?

Should I buy?

Men, Turn Back The Clock? (PG-13)

Turn it back in ways you didn't expect that is.

Scientists in the UK are working on a contraceptive Pill for men. However, it would be easily taken hours before a "date" and not need to be taken daily as it won't stop sperm production like some efforts being researched.

It would, however, roll back time to your early years when masturbation led to dry orgasms (wikipedia). It works by preventing ejaculation!

Daily Mail has more.

Seriously, do they not understand the term "money shot" exists for a reason? I could see this being a fetish item among those who like to role play. I can also see the "reproductive rights" "progressives" trying to make this as nearly universal for young males as they have made the Pill for young females. I see the dollar signs in their eyes already!

RIP Dave Cockrum, artist / creator

Dave co-created the modern X-Men including Colossus, Nightcrawler, Storm and Phoenix. He wasn't my favorite artist but I thought he had a solid ability of designing covers. He has passed away after a long illness at 63.

Below is a favorite, the debut of Phoenix, Uncanny X-Men #101:

Coming Out Of The Woodwork?

LOST's Michelle Rodriquez has come out as a lesbian. Her girlfriend is T3's Kristanna Loken. Read more at The Advocate

Loken, as the T-X, with CA Governor Schwarzenegger in "T3: Rise of the Machines"

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Happy Birthday to Muz.

Moving?

Well tomorrow Brother is putting in for a home loan to buy this house.  It's expected he'll be successful.  I'll need to figure out where to move to.

It was very hot today, I had a nap in the afternoon because I was feeling miserable. I may have picked up Brother's cold. He was over to chat a bit yesterday.

I talked about a small house nearby and sent him some photos. He agreed it is nice but the price is beyond ridiculous.  I'll have some money to move but not enough to outright purchase a place in this area I think.  Need to do considerable looking.  And, of course, I need to decide just what it is I need to keep.  I did lots of cleaning out earlier this year but there is plenty that I hung on to that, really, could be parted with.

I'm a packrat by nature and after 30 years you can imagine I've packed quite a bit.  I'd rather let others sort and throw away than me. I need to adopt Mother's mood when she would get into a cleaning fit. She was vicious, even merciless. :(

Last night I was thinking about my fear of success. Now I just want to vomit which, if I get enough chocolate into me might just happen!  Was going to do more cereal but I think I'm in the mood for pasta.

Another One?

Former "Doogie Howser" star Neil Patrick Harris has told People Magazine he's gay too.

He has "come out" because of "speculation and interest in my private life and relationships."

A certain gay gossip terrorist apparently can't seem to leave celebrities alone. Bastard.

Nov 1st, All Saints (Day)

It is 1 Nov! How did I get here? Yikes.

November has never really been a month I've enjoyed. As a young child, I was hospitalized and almost died in a Nov, grandmother died in a Nov, I broke off my first "adult" relationship in a Nov, Father went into hospital for the last time in a Nov... It's not my favorite month! Make it go away?

I had no trick-or-treat visitors last night so Kitty and I can hoard our candy until we explode. Except she can't have chocolates so it's mine. Mine! All MINE!

Just had fella come to door begging for support of candidate. I hate candidate? Candidate is bastard. I voted for candidate and agreed to endorse.

My chocolates say, "Find your passion" and "Love without rules."

Kitty is in the bedroom window getting sun! I still haven't gotten out to post office. I did do three bills though. Internet is good. Saves me stamps!

Mail came. It is time to pay the yard-nazis fees for "community" pool. Bah. 30 years and I still have no key.

I'm bored with the Kerry story? He's an ass. Go Troops!:

RIP, Last Firefighter Dies From Esperanza Arson

23-year-old Pablo Cerda has passed away. He served for 2 yrs and had suffered lung damage and 3rd degree burns on over 90% of his body.  His death is the fifth among the five fightfighters caught up in the recent arson blaze in Southern CA. The fire is now contained.  If caught, the arsonist will face five counts of murder.

The other firefighters were Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 44, Jess McLean, 27, Jason McKay, 27, and Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20.

iTunes Updated

Apple has released 7.0.2 for both Macs and Windows. iTunes Download Page.

It Is Duckie's Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the Duckie.

It is also Halloween.  Still not sure if I'll give out candy.  I am still awake from yesterday. It is almost 11:30 am.  I put out bins this morning, changed litter box late last evening, talked to neighbor and grandma neighbor.  

I got rid of some scrap wood and unneeded things in garage.  I also got ride of some of the concrete Father never used that turned into giant blocks because of rain.  There are still some, though.  Will try again next week!  

What else? Oh, I patched driveway cracks and even sidewalk crack that I ignored years ago when I fixed driveway before. 

Mother said ignore because it is city's problem. City is lazy and cheap and corrupt so I patched it anyway.  I went to neighbor's side of the wall and fixed a gap.  He will probably not notice.  

I also am painting the street-level numbers on the curb again.  

Kitty is confused about my schedule. So am I!  Got another call asking me to volunteer from campaign.  Not sure I want to do that.  It hasn't been my thing.  I've made and put out signs in the past although I probably won't this year. 

I want to nap but naps are evil.  I should burn these shoes. They smell bad. 

Surprises in Microsoft's Vista License

A must read over at the Register for folks who might want to upgrade to Windows Vista or use virtualization software like Parallels or VMWare.

Is A Moron?

Brother finally emailed to say RL and A are not doing Halloween here this year.  He claims I will get pix but I haven't see air show pix yet either.

SIL is taking kids to school event instead.  I just realized he didn't say *they* were taking, just SIL. Maybe he is working?  Could be!  I am disappointed because I made special grocery walk to get candy.  I called first and had to leave a message!  Grrr.

Now I have candy that I won't be giving out?  Annoying. :/  Grandma neighbor said she tosses out most candy because the grandevils don't need all that sugar so I can give it to them!  Maybe I will keep and pig out when I am depressed!

Whitney is looking better? She recently appeared with Clive Davis at an event, looking healthy for a change (right-hand photo):

Sunday Circuses.

Clocks changed here. There are a few I haven't changed somewhere.  They are laying about teasing me; I can tell!

Before breakfast I was outside.  I fixed lock on grandma neighbor's door. 

Her house has door from garage into house at laundry room.  That lock was not working.  Landry room door has no lock from dining.

There is no lock or motor, not even a slide bold on big outside garage door so anyone could just lift it and walk through right into house!  

The grandevils had left the doors all wide open this morning.  Surprised to see all the open doors and hearing no sounds, I was curious! When she suddenly came out front door, I asked if she knew the others were open. She did not.

She then told me it doesn't lock!  Very scary!  I only had to unscrew lock and put back on.  It is cheap lock so it just got loose with age.  The door isn't even what should be there.  They put a hollow-core interior door there which is bad for insulation and worse for security.  Originally there was a "utility door" but that is long gone.

She said her dryer isn't working much anymore either.  I am not going to try to fix tho.  It could just be the belt but dat is like opening can of worms!  I don't like worms?  They are not good eats. :D

She is not living behind concrete and steel like me and kitty--although kitty went over the wall again last night while I chatted with neighbor! :/ 

Bunker feel is one reason I like being here? It helps soothe the paranoia Father said I have. Am I really paranoid if they really *are* out to get me? :D

Brother emailed?  I had sent drawing from internet.  His email said he and RL liked.  No other msg content. :/  *sigh*

Sleep was meh-ish.  I feel pretty good but am unsure what do to with today?  It is still early enough there might be guests?  Guests never call. They are evil that way.  I should hide in bed with kitty and pretend the world outside does not exist!

Blah

It is Saturday. I woke off and on through the night.  I went to sleep around 3am in case Brother would show.  

There was door bell ringing around 9am.  I ignored.  Kitty looked at me and decided to ignore too.  Later I asked neighbor about it, he said it was carpet cleaner salesman. 

I decided to get up in case Brother came but as hours ran on, I knew he wasn't going to.  I started to get self-annoyed because I could have slept!  

I watered lawn with sprinkler to get soaking.  Did same for flower boxes at street.  

They are not thriving except in one small part!  I switched to easy growing candy apple ice plant because the flower seed did not grown.  Now ice plant is not working well either! That was $35 wasted plus water use. :/  

It isn't as if the ground should be bad because I did fertilize and water and turn!  Crazy.  I would tell Brother to take out about 1 ft deep and buy top soil.  It has annoyed because other plants and grasses are ok but most visible stuff is not! 

Am falling into sullen mood, pining for death (like duckie!). I have barely eaten so I will do food in a moment, it will help mood.  

Neighbor's grandson was at friend's house last evening and was dropped off while I was watering.  It is good that he still visits. Maybe I will listen to lame pre-recording radio show. Bah.

Freaked Out Friday

It is Friday. Supposedly it is 85F (~30C). I did watering of grass and plants, spoke to neighbor who was doing the same. Brother's flight seems a bit delayed to San Diego but he should be in Arizona. That is good, there are thunder storms in GA according to Accuweather lies.

I have been putting joint compound on wall in a kind of Ventian plaster look. I gave up on trying to match new with old looks. This is easier. I have not eaten. I was wanting to shake myself senseless wondering WTF I am doing in moving from house so SIL, et al. can infest it? Yes, I'll have money from it and can move and do whatever but this has been my permanent residence long time! Leaving after 30 years when so much will be destroyed to appease the unappeasable SIL (she is like terrorists and dictators that way :D ) just to find a new place for my lonely, isolated self and kitty is cazy. It isn't like when Mother and I were going to move because we had picked places together, we would have each other and kitty and kitty's fish for company. Here, I have neighbors and it is convenient location too!

Why should SIL get excellent break on property tax? It is not what Mother would want. Just to mention, Mother would have taken tax rate with her to new place within the state. Brother could say, "Meh! You got insurance," but that was not for me to decide. Mother was not going to leave him anything which is not something I have said or will say any time soon. It isn't something I can explain? Mother did think she owed me for 10 years of caregiving and companionship. I told him before I had asked her for the house but obviously that didn't work out (although that was her plan whether we lived here or had moved). I can already feel the regret of encouraging Brother to buy house. I am depricating my own desires for greater good. I have often been own worst enemy. Just look at money I have "spent" on Brother that Duckie, the Kiwi and Muz think I'm crazy for doing? Sure I get that back but...

I wonder if I would prefer a third party get house than either of us. That would be most fair! :(

Mostly I want RL and A to have good home. But SIL will hate? She is chronic complainer and I would be very angry / hurt if she makes nasty comments about house! She already said my replacement of lemon tree with rocks and bark and bushes looked like 'pet semetary'. That was very mean.

Kitty is on my bed enjoying warmth of day. She has gotten petting and last evening she slept on the house side of me (instead of window side or at feet). She was probably chilled. :/

I want to go out for a bit to get cereal and a couple of things.

It is almost midnight now. I did get cereal and antibacterial soap and kitty food. I got soy milk. It is not great? Fortunately it is only a quarter (about 1 liter). There was near-ish fire so there was smoke in the air on walk back. Very annoying to breathe. I should have gotten things to drink. Maybe soon. I mowed lawn again which attracted attention. Grandmaneighbor borrowed vacuum. I finished putting up joint compound so now entire wall is that way. I gave up trying to match old with new and so we will see how much Brother hates if he comes over. In theory he got back but I don't have confirmation he was actually on his flights.

What else? Kitty and I went out a bit tonight, I watered lawn for third time today. It has been warm and dry. I was going to eat dinner when grandmaneighbor returned vacuum. I used it a bit later to get dust from French Door windowpanes and dining window screen. I watched Veronica Mars tonight. Episode was OK but something was missing with it. Not sure what. Duckie is online. Kitty did not get tuna today, she was not in mood.

Big Dude

That's Manny Yarbrough, a sumo wrestler. He's about 6'8" (204cm) and around 708lbs (321kg).

Weird Wednesday

It was a very weird day. I didn't get up until late. I just didn't feel good each time I woke up which seemed all too often.

I have no milk so my Cheerios were dry. I've had tamales again tonight. Kitty is meowing off in the distance. She demanded we go outside, even coming into the bathroom to plead her case! She walked the path around the front lawn eventually deciding to sit quietly. It seemed too chilly but she wasn't in any rush to come inside. I had go out in bare feet so the concrete was starting to ice up my toes. Grandmaneighbor popped outside so I hid back up on the patio. Kitty had hid too! She got lower and tried hiding behind the taller grass. Hillarious! Grandmaneighbor didn't see us and went back inside after moving her trash bin away from the front door.

It is raining in Georgia (where Brother is) according to Accuweather which means it could really be 39C (~100F) in the shade.

Radio was not so good tonight. Getting tired of election topics. Listened to Mix down in Sydney a bit, now it's 11pm and I have them on again awhile. I can't believe there's no Amazon.com for Australia. What kind of country is that?

What else? Mail was early for some reason. I got mostly junk other than notice to Mother than mortgage is autopay again. I was avoiding email until now. Only thing of note was cable bill being ready. Thrilling! She "wants a man with a slow hand" in the Mix song playing.

I had odd dreams. More grocery shopping. And Mother. And house remodel talk. This is great stuff! :/

Made to Suffer

Brain is in self-loathing mode. I could sneak a snack, perhaps yogurt. I'm just very annoyed. I was in a good mood having watched a cute little film called "CAMP" when I made the mistake of asking in an IM, "How goes the battle," an idiom asking how's life / what's up? Well, I got some comment about "casualties" and "ragheads" and that ticked me off.

The duckie just has come online so I will post this and poke at him awhile.