* The Tron Legacy Trailer can be found here. If you loved Tron…check it out.

* The rather rude, but also hilarious Ten Words You Need to Stop Misspelling can be found here.

* Jobs of Yesteryear: Obsolete Occupations from npr.org is a very interesting look at how things used to be.

* I mostly looked True West Magazine up for my friend Debbie, but you all might enjoy checking it out, too. They even offer a directory of Western Businesses. And yes…That includes stuff from the “Old West.”

* And, of course, I already told you lot about my friend Laurie’s jewelry shop Acanthusleaf Designs.

* Did you hear about the All-Black Penguin?

…and that’s it. For now, anyway.

The view down the street on my way back from breakfast to get my car. Dig the clouds.

Today I have discovered a few things.

1) I can get up earlier than I want to and load up the car and leave in less than an hour if I get my stuff together the night before.
2) My front brakes really needed new pads. Luckily, I’ve taken care of that.
3) I really like saltines. I suppose I knew that, but I’d forgotten.
4) The ladies’ room at Pea Soup Andersen’s (in Santa Nella) is my favorite rest room in the whole world. I knew this, but today it was reaffirmed. It’s large and airy. Just the thing for ladies who have been in a cramped car for too long. Love it.
5)I can make it to L.A. quite a bit faster than I thought. I suppose that I’m still thinking of the time it takes to get there from Sacramento.
6) My Evil Twin has a Jack Russell Terrier of extreme cuteness.
7) Your arms hurt after driving for several hours. ow.

So yes. As you may have gathered, I am in SoCal right now. I’m down here for the Doctor Who Convention – Gallifrey One. I’m going to spend the weekend being geeky. If you want more info about my time at the Con, you may wish to check out my posts over at Watching Doctor Who as I will be posting a bunch of stuff there.

TTFN

* According to SciFi Wire – [tag]Moonlight[/tag], the complete series DVD set comes out on Jan. 20, 2009. Yay!

* [tag]David Tennant[/tag] is stepping down as The Doctor following the 2009 specials. *Sob*

* Need a [tag]Princess Leia[/tag] costume? Try here. (Someday when I have money…)

* Speaking of costumes, if you have need of a [tag]cravat[/tag] or [tag]jabot[/tag] to complete your attire, try here. (Like I needed any more proof of the coolness of Etsy.)

* The answer to the eternal question: Can scientists dance? is yes. They’re creative about it, too.

* Fellow [tag]Twilight[/tag] fans, did you know that the iTunes version of the film soundtrack will include three extra songs? Yep. “Rob Pattinson’s ‘Let Me Sign’, plus two orchestral pieces from the movie, La Traviata and Clair de Lune.”

Oh, and speaking of Twilight, this TV trailer includes a clip from a scene that I have been waiting for…

Twilight TV Spot:

Look! It’s a tiny bit of the Port Angeles scene! *happy dance*

In other news:

I may go mental before the end of November because…

The Second N – NaNoWriMo:

I am planning on doing NaNoWriMo this year. This will be my excuse to work on my WIP which I know a great deal about, but haven’t actually written more than a couple of pages on at this point. Koshvader and my Mum are totally against my posting any part of this story on the blog, so you will have to be content with vague references. Sorry.

But that’s not the only reason that I may go spare…

The Third N – NaBloPoMo:

Yep. National Novel Writing Month and National Blog Posting Month. My friend JM has faith in me. She thinks I can do it, since I’m only planning on participating here on this blog, as opposed to on all four. Hopefully I can manage it. My current plan involves a photograph a day. It may be a picture of one of the bookmarks from my collection. It may be of a cool event. Chances are, it may involve a cute cat, but you know how I am about cute kitties. Oh! Maybe I can sneak in vague references to my WIP using photographs. I’ll see what I can manage. Either way, you will not be bored.

I have ideas and perhaps some evil plans. So, stand by world!

You know, at work I often say that I want to change the name of the “Information desk” to the “Too Much Information desk.” This is due to our habit of giving people much more information than they came for. It’s a librarian thing, apparently.

Knowing this I will try to keep my results report from the HSG short.

Everything is fine. Rather a lot of fuss to discover this really, and I am so glad I took the day off as there is no way I could have worked today. No blockages and everything looks fine. I know this, ’cause I could see the monitor. It’s weird to see one’s innards like that, but also kind of interesting. As I expected I did not like the process at all. It was very uncomfortable, and I was moving very slowly once it was all done.

Well, now that much is checked off of my list. Not sure what the next step will be at this point, but…there you are.

The test that I’ve been trying to get done for months now? Friday.

On the one hand I’m thinking. “Finally!”

On the other hand…I’m terrified. Not only do I have to deal with this test, but then the news that follows. I’ve taken Friday off of work. Like I’d be of any use there on Friday. Can you say Stress Monkey?

And Koshvader’s new job begins on Thursday.

Please pray/keep your fingers crossed for me.

Planetary Nebula NGC 2371

I need a Rubber Chicken, and they are out of stock at Archie McPhee. Why do I need a Rubber Chicken? Well, I’m going to be making some changes over at Silliness.org, and one of those is changing the theme to Misty Look. Misty Look will allow me to change the picture in the header, so I’m going to get a Rubber Chicken (which I’ve been meaning to get for a couple of years now) and take some random pics of it. That way I can change the header periodically. You see? With the change of theme will also come another change. I’m going to start using ads. Hey, I need to make up that rent increase somehow. And I can’t say anything about the addition of ads over there, as that is against the usage policy. I’m hoping that the change of theme will give the blog a slightly sillier appearance. It’s kind of boring now. Hey, I could even have some new tag lines like: Silliness.org – Obey the chicken. Anyway, that’s what’s going on over there.

I’m still alive. In case the fact that I’m posting this hadn’t tipped you off. I will never again sneer at Influenza. I’m not sure that I ever have before, but there you are. Bleh. I’m still coughing, but I’m otherwise okay if a bit on the tired side. My brain is back to its usual thousand miles an hour thing. So, thank you for your well wishes.

I’ve been working on my list today. So far:

I’ve made an appointment with my OB/GYN who is back from her maternity leave. (28. Call OB/GYN’s office.) I need to catch up and talk to her about that test I need to do.
I’ve changed doctors. (30. Change doctors)

And I’ve been working on some other things like the old version of Silliness.org and my filing system. I even got my old renter’s insurance policy (the people that re-upped without asking) canceled officially. The new policy proof is being faxed to the complex as I type.

Now, some bad news. The pet rent was not included in the original estimate of the new rent price starting in June. So, our rent is going up a grand total of $233/month. Good Gad! Yes, I just got off of the phone. Now I really wish that I’d get that Tea Blogger job I applied for.

Hey, Dad! This is the song that was stuck in my head the other day. (Mind you, this live version is a bit faster than I’m used to.)

Oh, and finally, Doctor Who series 4 starts tomorrow in the UK. Just so you know.

Government benefit programs in trouble

…And I will persist in using a toaster oven that is a bit too high up to easily reach, and taking out items that I’ve toasted with my bare hands. Today, I even manged to brush against the heating element while reaching for the last of my fries. One tiny flash of smoke later, I have a wee burn on my hand that doesn’t even hurt. Good thing my hands aren’t hairy.

I’m thinking that they have it in for me. Well, at least I didn’t cry this time. Mostly, I was laughing (once I could breathe again) from my position on the floor of the entryway. KoshVader was busy freaking out somewhere behind me. But I couldn’t see it as my back was to him.

At this point I’ve cut my fingernails, had some nice hot and sweet tea, I’m sitting on the couch with my feet up, and I’m trying to order some more sports for my sweetie. We don’t have enough sports at the moment, apparently.

No, really.

I took my Spock to the vet this morning at 8:30am. I carried her down the stairs and out to the car in her comfy donut thingy. She sat quietly during the trip across town, just watching through the windshield and occasionally glancing at me. At the Vet’s I filled out the paperwork with one hand while holding her with the other arm. When we went in to the room, the doctor very gently checked her out and confirmed my fears. Kidney failure. I wasn’t really surprised. She’d been drinking so much water and she had a very distinctive smell. I had just hoped that I was wrong somehow. The vet said that even if I had come in a month ago, the results would have been the same. He offered to run tests if I wanted, or give her fluids as she was dehydrated in spite of all the water. But there was no point. I could let her linger in pain for another week or so, or do the humane thing and let my baby go. That’s not really a choice. So I stayed with her until she was gone…and then I had to go to work.

I’m having her cremated and then returned to me, so that I can scatter her in a couple of weeks in the same area as we are going to scatter the ashes of my Father-in-law this weekend. I figure she’d like to have someone to annoy, and that way they won’t be lonely.

I hate these last two weeks. Everything from the terrible, unexpected phone call at 4:20am on Monday October 29, to sleeping on the floor up at the house in the mountains while we made all of the arrangements (okay…I got some knitting done, but still), to this, my laptop monitor dying, and the meeting I have tomorrow that I have to be non-specific about right now. Don’t worry, you’ll be hearing about the meeting as soon as I am allowed to say. And we have to go back up the mountain this weekend, picking up my father-in-law’s ashes on the way.

I need a gorram vacation. Oh. I have next week off. That’s good timing. I wish I had the money to go somewhere. Grr. I’m thinking of going anyway. So there.

Now, I need either a lot of chocolate or a lot of alcohol…or both. Too bad I don’t have time. *sigh* Oh, and the title of the post comes from last night’s shopping trip. That’s what we went to the store for. It was such a weird combination of things that I had to use it.

Spock 1991-2007