smacky and bucky

Good news:

• I'm feeling much better today.
• We got much more snow than they originally predicted.
• The dogs have been having a blast playing in the back yard.

I'm sick. Have a cold. Missed last two days of work. Went to a doctor, got two prescriptions. Blech. Sleeping a lot. Not much to add.

Oh! But here's an example of how the internet is one big circle. A few weeks ago, Kate posted this pic she took:


She posted it to remark on the note stuck to it, but people took the opportunity to slam the Monet.

So weeks go by, and today I randomly stumble on this:

Inspired by Kate's ring post, I thought I'd do the same. Here's my wedding band:


Apologies for the crap focus. Camera on the phone sucks for close-ups. Anyway, it's braided platinum. I know, I know. Sheesh, right?

When we looked at jewelry stores for a ring for me, I had the idea in my head that I would get titanium: durable and cheap (like under $200) and that would be good enough for me. But Laura encouraged me to try on this one, and just the weight of the thing made it feel... substantial. Like the step we were taking.

The above pic is an Arlington County vehicle parked illegally (The No Parking sign behind it is pointing to the left). Two guys got out of the car and walked half a block, going into the Chinese restaurant where I had just picked up my lunch. I snapped a pic of the car and when I sent it to me e-mail, I noticed that the maintenance van parked behind the county truck is clearly in a handicapped spot. Son of a Bitch! The same county that DOUBLE PARKS vehicles on the street so the driver can get out and ticket cars with expired meters seems to give its employees a "park anywhere free" card.

I know it's not exactly selling crack to kids at playgrounds, but it still pissed me off. If I cared a tiny bit more, I'd have gotten the number off the back of the car and called someone to report it. Instead, I'll just get it out of my system in this blog and say F U, FRIDAY! Damn, today went by fast but it was one thing after another all day long, snowballing until the day finally ended.

Sigh.

Time to relax and stop stressing about things for a while.

Most of the team got outplayed last night, but the goalie was ON FIRE and at the end of the game, it's how many pucks got past the goalie that counts. The game was fun and the crowd was excited and loud. I drove up the street and found a meter near the metro stop and took the subway into town, spending less than $5 round trip compared to $18 or so to park in a garage in downtown DC. Definitely a headache-free way to do it.

* * *

I went to sleep around 11:30 and Laura woke me at 12:30 to say the baseboard heat wasn't working. After some very cold weeks, we had a very mild week, and I assumed the pilot light had gone out after not running the furnace. I groggily stumbled to the basement with one of those long-handled lighters and yep, the pilot was out. Relit it and cranked it up to 70 to get the furnace firing and made it back to bed in about 30 seconds, problem solved. Wish they were all that easy!

Sunday morning I watched Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, starring Deborah Gibson and Lorenzo Lamas on Netflix Streaming. It was goofy fun! The shark was attracted to the San Fransisco Bay by pheromones they released into the water, but I guess when he couldn't find a giant horny female shark he took his anger (blue balls) out on the Golden Gate bridge.

In other news, I left the house this morning and made it two steps to the car before realizing I had neglected to pick up my car keys on the way out... or my house keys. Oops. Had to wake up the wife to be let back in. At least she was nice about it and immediately went back to sleep.

Going to a Washington Capitals game tonight! A friend has an extra ticket, so I am buying it from her. We're meeting up downtown for dinner before the game. Wooo! Rock the Red!

The LA Times has a great article detailing the chain of events that led to Elvis being in the Oval Office... with a gun... one of three loaded guns that he carried on a commercial flight from Los Angeles to Washington, DC... with the pilot's knowledge and approval! Read all about it HERE.

My IKEA chair and futon have a temporary home in the sun room, and while it's stacked out there, the cats have turned it into kitty condos.

The Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood, like its mother show, has inspired a series of novels. BBC Books releases them three at a time, about every three months. There are 15 titles out now, including the three that came out just two days ago. I'm obviously a big sucker for design, because I love how each set of three makes a single picture of the current team across the spines of the books. See how they do it? After the third set, the spines reflect the current team being a trio (Yes, I know future titles will have to adjust the picture yet again, but I'm saving spoilers!)

Now I just need to start reading the darn things! I'm only partly kidding. I've only read one of them! There just isn't enough time in the day. But I have to keep buying them, because Amazon sells them at 33% off with free shipping, making it less than $8 for each hardback book. I figure if I bring lunch from home once I covered the cost of one of the books. Guess who's eating at his desk today? ;-)

On our last day of vacation, I awoke to 16-degree weather with a constant wind blowing, making wind chill about 2 degrees. In this weather, I had to remove the battery from my car and take it to the auto parts place. The good news is that the battery had an 11/08 date on it and a three-year warranty, so they slapped it on the machine and charged it back up for free.

And now, a New Year bonus "2-fer" pic of the day:


* (Yes, in my office I cross-hash each day like a convict!)


Also have two new page-a-day calendars for the year: The Office and Get Fuzzy. And finally, one new wall calendar I bought yesterday for 50% off while waiting for my battery:

I refuse to promise to do a post a day, or even a pic a day. This year promises to be both exciting and nutty. Details as they come.

Here's a pic for the beginning of the new year: