Date:	2006-01-09 09:21
Subject:	47 degrees and a side of bacon
Security:	Public
Mood:	determined
Music:	Morning Edition

Wow. January in western NY and it's 47 degrees out there. Excellent news if you've got a Christmas puppy to house train, probably not so excellent if you run what passes for a ski resort out here. If this is global warming, I'm not so sure I'm against it anymore.

Today is a crucial day. Two websites that I want to get up (there, I put it in writing), and far too much to get done in the probably single day before the girls come tumbling back home. And, of course, a Christmas puppy to train and play with. Ah well. Maybe if I could train the puppy to use Dreamweaver™...

Is it inherently snobbish to believe that the political problems in our fine nation can, in the long term, only be solved by education?

Discuss.

Date:	2006-01-07 08:15
Subject:	Gray Again
Security:	Public
Mood:	awake
Music:	That would be nice.

What a difference a day makes, twenty-four, little hours...

That, of course, is where the similarity ends, since in my case we're back to 100% cloud cover and almost constant snow and down down down from the unseasonal tempurateres of freezing or even above...

Ah well. Today is a pilgimage to the house of the giant pizza rat to celebrate the continued existence of my youngest offspring. Lights, action, presents, and a camera or two. I find that this little writing exercise has uncovered in me a previously unsuspected yet not wholly natural love affair with the comma. I can't tell you the strain required to complete that sentence without one. "When in doubt, leave it out." que no?

So Sharon and that West Virginia coal miner are in their respective comas (no love affair there, despite the similarity). I've got to say, though, I'm getting frustrated with the media going on and on about the "only survivor" of the mine explosion. That pretty much focuses on the negative, doesn't it? What about all the miners who got out without being trapped in the first place? Don't they get to count their blessings? Don't their families get to celebrate their good fortune? Why force the community to define the tragedy even more negatively than they must? Ah well. I'm feeling corny and hackneyed babbling about the news in a blog. Let's break for now, shall we?

Date:	2006-01-06 11:12
Subject:	A week, already...
Security:	Public
Mood:	discontent
Music:	Diane Rheem, because she's got a decent guest

Good morning. It is, barely, still morning, after all. The part of my internal dialog that took place while I was away from the keyboard getting coffee was centering on the phrase: "Don't catch your chickens before the eggs hatch." It occurred to me that it was sadly outdated for me, since I only have hens. It seems okay for me to count my chickens, since I know that none of their eggs are going to hatch. It would be more appropriate to not count my eggs, really, since the hens won't lay with only a few hours of light every day.

Which reminds me. I looked out the window a few minutes ago, and realized that our streak has been broken. We had 13 straight days with no sunshine whatsoever. None. Zip, Nada. Now we've had about 8 minutes of sunshine in the past two weeks. If that's not a cheerful enough sign to get me recording my thoughts for posterity, I don't know what is. And, now that I think of it, I should probably get it on the record that I got my girls a puppy for Christmas now, before anyone starts reading my journal and telling me what a horrible thing it is to purchase a living being at all, much less as a seasonal gift.

The unfortunate thing that I've noticed is that while I've been typing, nothing else has been magically getting done. Dishes still dirty, floors still unswept, "work" still undone. I guess I should move on. After all, I've broken the ice, que no? (speaking of ice, how about that dwindling ice cap? I'm pretty sure that the Martians are stealing our water, but I can't prove it yet.)

( DO NOT READ )