Good news: I managed to get the document I needed done today at work done on time. Also, I have plans for tomorrow!
Bad news: My washer is broke and I have to call Verizon and figure out why I'm being charged for two phone plans when I only signed up for one.

Sigh.

Seventeen Things Worth Knowing About Your Cat

and

CATS FOR GOLD!

miome will be out of town this weekend, leaving me to entertain myself. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery on what to do or who to see?

Texas' gay marriage ban may have banned all marriages

And people wondered why I wouldn't even consider moving to Texas (not that Virginia doesn't have its fair share of political oopsies).

Quite a few people have been telling me that the hacks I had done to the previous journal style were making it hard to read. So I changed style and have decide not to try and break fix this one in special, special ways. Let me know if this works for everyone. If not, I'll do one of the simpler ones.

PS- This layout is subject to rapid and inexplicable changes as I look for a layout that doesn't drive me up the wall when I attempt to read my friend's page.

Well I was going to work on something to submit to the Less Than Three Press Anthology. Instead I got mugged by a totally different story. A monstrous novel length story that will probably never fully get written. Sigh. Just what I need.

Oh well. At least I'm writing.

( Fragment of a much, much larger story set in a universe with aliens, superheros, emperors and space hooker outfits... )

People I am watching the absolute funniest cooking show ever on one of the television channels I get in DC (NHK World). It is called Your Japanese Kitchen and stars a very tall guy with a slight Scottish accent and a very small Japanese lady. The format is them making a dish and then a terrible, terrible interview/trivia portion that is very, very Japanese. I have no other words to describe it.

It's informative. The recipes look tasty, though I doubt I could find half the ingredients (I have no idea where I could get Chinese soup paste for instance or even really what it is). But even more important, it's entertaining because of its hilarious badness. This is not a high budget show to be sure. I can only hope I catch more episodes of it.

Really if you see ever get a chance to watch an episode, do so. I know it amuses me.

I like the ebook I'm reading. I really do.

But why, dear author, do you make such a huge deal about the characters in it being vulnerable to iron and then have one shrug off being cut with a steel knife? Do you know what steel is? IT'S ABOUT 98 to 99.8 PERCENT IRON.

Research is your friend.

ARGH!

dear cat,

you laying on my hand makes it rather difficult to type. and forget about soing capital letters.

oh well. at least you're warm.

your devoted slave master,
tsaiko

Small Worlds is my kind of game.

Free, entertaining, and I can't kill myself in new and interesting ways that the creators never intended.

Dear cat,

That bit of sandwich I had sitting on a plate next to my seat? That was not for kitty! That was the rest of my breakfast. Now that you've put your mouth on it, I'm not going to eat it. And no, you're not getting it either. I'm not going to reward that kind of behavior.

No love,
Tsaiko

Remember last week when my computer started acting up? Well, today it started doing the exact same thing. Surprise, surprise. A brief talk with the manufacturer and they are now telling me it's the motherboard. So I'm back to a loaner laptop.

It is rainy and cold as the remains of Ida hit the area. I walked to work, but decided to have miome pick me up. It gets dark early and with the clouds, it's too dark to walk home after work. At least the car is nice and warm.

Otherwise, life is good. I am adjusting to the idea of not being in school by reading Terry Pratchett.

Still need to finish unpacking though. -_-

The World of Chemistry

If chemistry actually involved two guys making out, I think I would have paid a lot more attention in class. XD

Today miome, Miome's parents, and I all took the Metro into DC proper to go to the Smithsonian (or more accurately, the American History museum). Of course we would pick the one weekend they're doing track maintenance on the blue line. Sigh. But we went, enjoyed ourselves, and got back. So that is a win.

Otherwise, I'm still slowly unpacking things. My cats are thrilled because one of the things I unpacked was the cat bed. Happy kitties are happy. They also think that the boxes are the best cat toys ever, right behind string and paper bags. Kitties.

I'm hoping that once I get into a more stable routine, I'll start really writing again. I know people have been agitating for me to finish the Witch King stories and I'd at least like to get the next part done before seriously writing another set in that universe.

At least I'm beginning to have time to read again. ^^

Tsaiko: I think I'll log into my computer.
Computer: I think not. *freezes while logging in*
Tsaiko: Fine. I'll just hard reboot you.
Computer: Wrong answer. *blue screens on boot up*
Tsaiko: WTF? *sends ticket*
IT Guy: What seems to be the problem?
Tsaiko: *indicates computer which is cycling through blue screening and restarting in an infinite loop of malaise* This.
IT Guy: We'll do Windows repair!
Computer: Look! I'm fine!
IT Guy: All fixed. *starts walking away*
Computer: Dumbass. *freezes*
Tsaiko: Wait! It just froze.
Computer: Damn. Should have waited a few more seconds.
IT Guy: Hmmm... This requires a few sacrificed chickens to fix. BRB. *takes computer*
Tsaiko: *twiddles thumbs until lunchtime* Oh look! It returned my computer while I was at lunch.
Computer: La la la.
Tsaiko: Did IT say what was wrong?
Coworker: They said the docking station was bad so they replaced it.
Tsaiko: ...I seriously doubt the docking station was blue screening the computer while it was booting.
Coworker: Sounds fishy to me too.
Tsaiko: Well, I need to reboot to get the license manager working.
Computer: Not in this lifetime, bitch. *blue screens*
Tsaiko: I've only had you for seven days, you stupid piece of shit!

IT has taken my week old, brand new computer and is going to reimage the thing. Personally, I don't think that will help. The only thing that will help that thing is a bullet to the case.

Cell size and scale.

Science is awesome.

Tonight I got home and poached three chicken breasts. I've never poached chicken before, but it turned out great. Very moist. This was immediately shredded and some of it was put on top of cheese pizza I had in the oven. MMmmm... good stuff. I'll use the rest in chicken salad and possibly chicken tacos/burritos.

I have also started walking to and from work. It's a good 30 minute walk one way, which means if I walk both to and from work, I get an hour's worth of exercise. The people at my job act like this is a horrible thing. "Well, Tsaiko says her commute is walkable..." And it is walkable.The scenery is pleasant, I'm on a trail that's offset from the road, and I pass the grocery store/bank/drug store on the way meaning if I leave work a little I can do some shopping on the way home. They keep telling me to just wait till it's raining, but really, they have an invention called umbrellas for a reason.

With the eating in and exercising, maybe I can actually lose some of the weight I gained why frantically trying to finish my thesis.

Tsaiko: There are Bojangles! GoogleMaps tells me so.
Miome: Yes!
Tsaiko: *looks at the locations* What? The Bojangles are all in Maryland? There are none in Virginia?!?!
Miome: This is not the South.

Surprise time change! I mean, I knew it was coming, but didn't know it was this weekend until I opened my computer and stared at the time displayed in confusion.

Yesterday, miome and I found Vietnamese restaurant that specializes in pho and is nearby. According to Google Maps, there are at least 8 Vietnamese restaurants within a 10 mile radius of here. I think I may just learn to love this place.

Curtain hanging is going. We seem to be missing a panel from our old apartment. I'm sure it will turn up: one does not simply lose an entire curtain panel without noticing. It's probably in a box used as padding for something.

The kitties are adjusting to the new place well. They show this by sleeping, randomly chasing invisible fairies up and down the stairs, and demanding pettings as soon as they hear us talking in the morning. In other words, by acting like cats.

We are both still trying to learn how everything works in our kitchen/apartment. For example, the last stove we had tended to bake about 50-100 degrees higher than what you set it at. On this stove, the range is high powered. I haven't tried baking anything yet. I'm sure it will take a few runs to get it right.

Now if only we could figure out how the thermostat worked here...

I can haz curtains!