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I'm really going to Barcelona ...
... after all this waiting. On Sunday. How about that? -
A Plan:
I've decided there's no point in going to Spain until after the holidays; apparently no one works during that time period anyway ( Read more... ) -
Listening to the debate...
does it remind anyone else of Chancellor Palpatine when McCain addresses people as "my friend" in a slightly nasal voice? -
Luigi's grocery list
With the good weather, my tortoise is freaking out and literally climbing the walls. I let him outside every day, but the rest of the time he just scrabbles frantically at the sides of his tank. Frequently he jumps around so much he ends up stuck on his back, which can be fatal if he's like that for long (the lungs get crushed by the weight of the ( Read more... ) -
Back in the U.S.S.R.
is the song stuck in my head, but actually of course here I am in Oregon. I had a fantastic time at the conference in Brighton, UK: the plenaries were superb, the company and conference dinner were the best, and I've been assured that my own talk was enlightening and well-delivered (though since it was prepared at the last minute, I'd been worried ( Read more... ) -
Car vandalism
Dang! My parents' car had its windshield broken a week and a half ago, along with a bunch of other nearby cars' windshields. I just found out yesterday because I don't go out the front door, where it's parked (since there are no front-door keys) and I don't use the car (since it's a stick-shift, and I can barely even drive an automatic). D'oh!
I ( Read more... ) -
Europe plans -- finally settled
I'd forgotten how much I hate buying international plane tickets! Online, everything always seems to go wrong, and I even went in to a travel agent, with no better success. My problem this time was that nobody wanted to sell me a ticket leaving London later than 6 a.m., which wouldn't make it possible to get up there from Brighton in time, without ( Read more... ) -
Obama ice cream
This weekend, Obama visited the ice cream parlor down the street where I worked for a year. Waah! Why wasn't I there? Apparently he ordered mint chip (a good choice, if slightly conservative; my brother's favorite, anyway) and got a taste of the green tea ice cream, which is utterly fabulous. And left a five-dollar tip.
This is good news for the ( Read more... ) -
OMG, horrible, horrible toilet rat
Last night, after hauling 2 tons of books from a truck, across a yard, and into the basement, I was really sleepy. But when I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, around midnight, there was a rat jumping around in the toilet bowl and screeching. Not like squeaking at all, but making a sound more like a bird of prey and really loud, actually ( Read more... ) -
Now Entering the Wasteland of No Wireless
I apparently survived the trip to Eugene. Actually, I enjoyed the drive for the most part, since I completed it over 2 days, so didn't drive more than 6 hours either day. Also, most drivers gave me lots of space because they suspected I was incompetent (and little did they know how very right they were...) So I got to Mt. Shasta in the early ( Read more... )