Today I walked at lunch with Kim and Gina. We were talking briefly about how Michael and I managed while we didn’t have a furnace, and I said it wasn’t too bad, since we have a wood stove. The only issue was that it’s a small stove, and would burn out overnight.

One of the two commented how that must have been annoying, having to get out of bed when it’s really cold.

I said, no way! Becuase the first thing I got to do was go downstairs and PLAY WITH FIRE! YAY!

At which point I got a matched set of incredulous looks.

The best response I could make was to say, “I like fire,” shrug, and go on.

Somedays, I discover I’m even less like other people than I had previously thought.

But it’s okay. Because I really do like to play with fire.

This should come as a surprise:
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To Whom It May Concern,

Okay. That’s enough already. We have now replaced every appliance in the house, so we’re done. I’m thankful that you broke things slowly, over a period of four years, instead of all at once, but really. You can stop now.

Thank you.

It’s dead week. Time for some quizzy goodness!
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Twice now I’ve seen a bumper sticker that I love:
4 out of 3 people have trouble with fractions.

That’s right up there with another favorite:
There are three kinds of people, those who can do math, and those who can’t.

A date which will live in Infamy

In 1941, Japanese planes made a surprise attack on the US Navy at Pearl Harbor, killing 2,403 and wounding 1,178. Twenty-one ships were sunk or damaged, including the USS Arizona, which remains on the harbor floor, and the USS West Virginia, which was eventually refloated, repaired, and rejoined the fleet towards the end of the war.

The following websites may be of interest:

For information about the Pearl Harbor Attack, including ships lost and damaged and casualties, as well as other resources.
Pearl Harbor Remembered, including survivor’s remembrances.
The official US Navy Pearl Harbor website.
Information about the attack at Pearl Harbor, including images of the dispatch sent by Commander in Chief Pacific (CINCPAC).
A site about the USS West Virginia, including pictures of the ship from the 20s through the “mothballing” of the ship in the 1950s (She was later broken up and sold for scrap).
Website for the USS Arizona, from the University of Arizona, including a brief hisotry and online exhibits.
Here you can find the text and of the audio of President Roosevelt’s speech in response to Pearl Harbor, and the other attacks that day, calling for war.

One man who is trying to identify the remains of those who died that day, and who are buried in unmarked graves.

I love it when I learn new stuff.

I may have a busted furnace, but I am happy, for I have figured out a web design problem that has been nagging me for months.

Behold my menus!

In a brower that is NOT Internet Explorer, hold your cursor over one of the letters at the top of the page (preferably not I or Q or X or Y, which do not have any associated authors)

In Internet Explorer the page should look fine, you just don’t get the nifty menu.

Which is all the more reason to switch to Mozilla or Firefox now!

And now, I’m off to convert my other pages. Woo!

I made the mistake Sunday, of mentioning how the furnace is the only appliance in the house we haven’t replaced since we bought the house.

Guess what stopped working yesterday?

I was thinking this evening about mental movies. I’ve seen enough mention of them in popular culture that I’m sure that even if you don’t have your own set, you at least know what I’m talking about.

Anyway, I was thinking about the movies in my mind, and what I don’t understand is why mine are always disaster flicks.

Seriously.

Several months ago I ran across something (I don’t have a clue what, anymore) talking about getting out in emergencies. Things you need in an emergency, things you should always carry with you, etc. And I read something about a disaster where the residents of a town had to evacuate. Perhaps it was a chemical plant disaster. Immaterial. The point is that they had to get out, and couldn’t go back for anything. Including their pets. Almost as an aside there was mention of the fact that during the days/weeks the town was evacuated, the pets that survived were the ones who had access to water, which was in most cases a toilet with the seat left up.

Do I remember anything else about the discussion? Of course not. But the bit about the dead pets stuck with me.

So. We close the lid on the toilet. Why? because there is little more disturbing than unexpectedly sitting down on a toilet seat covered in wet paw prints. Except that now I wonder whether I’m sending Kat and Kit to a certain death, because if there is an emergency, they won’t have access to water so they can survive (assuming of course that the disaster didn’t kill ’em right off).

Does everyone do this, or is this just my own kind of personal hell, constantly imagining the worst that could possibly go wrong, and attempting to find ways to circumvent that fate?

I try to rationalize it: Of course I grab everything during a fire drill! The boiler caught on fire when I was in elementary school, and we had to evacuate even without our coats. Never want to do that again! Reasonable enough. Except that that doesn’t explain why I carry a handcuff key on my key-chain, why I carry a pocketknife in my coat, and why I feel like I should always carry around matches or a lighter, or any of the other little quirks I attempt to prepare for.

Hmmm….

On second thought, maybe I should just stop listening to the news.

The Great Book of Amber (1999) Roger Zelazny

If you’re wondering why I haven’t written any reviews recently, The Great Book of Amber is why. A compilation of all ten of Roger Zelazny’s Amber books, The Great Book of Amber comes in at 1258 pages.

This omnibus edition contains the first Amber series: Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos; and the second Amber series: Trumps of Doom, Blood of Amber, Sign of Chaos, Knight of Shadows, Prince of Chaos.

Read More about The Great Book of Amber

Just got back from seeing Miss Saigon.

I really liked the guy who played the Engineer. He was very good and very entertaining. Otherwise? I’d somehow managed to repress the idea that Miss Saigon is a love story.

No offense to anyone, but I just don’t care for love stories.

So. I thought it needed more dinosaurs.

Either that or more helicopters and explosions.

So the major drawback of having my name on my weblog, is that I can’t post snarky comments about family and co-workers.

Which means y’all are missing my best material.

Just though I should let you know.

The Hand Puppet Movie Theatre Presents: Serenity

OMG!

If you haven’t seen Serenity, don’t go there.