Letters to Myself

Well, it's a rainy Sunday afternoon. It's not a bad way to end the old year, washing out the last of it into the gutters and storm drains. Bye bye. Plus, it supposed to rain all evening and night, which should do a fine job of squelching any fireworks people might try to set off.

This may make me sound like a grump, but I can't help it; they scare the cats.

I haven't had much time to update, what with all the festive holidaying going on. Plus, I've been lazy, lazy, lazy. A lay-ZEE boy.

This is the moment when I should look back over the year and sum it up. Well, I ain't gonna. A lot happened. Do you hear me? A lot. There, how's that summing up fer ya?

Hmm. Maybe I am a bit of a grump.

Reading: Dzur, by Steven Brust. Whee, Vlad!

Posted by jon at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Posted by jon at 10:34 AM | Permalink

Internet is all fixed. Which means I can bring you a special holiday message from one of Santa's elves. No, not Legolas. He's busy up in Mirkwood, looking for berries with which to make hair product, no doubt.

No, this little guy is Cuddlebuddy. He's a new elf, fresh from the trees. What do you want to tell the people, Cuddlebuddy?

"Dad dad dag dab da da!"

Well said. And to all of you out there, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that. Drive safe if you're going anywhere.

Posted by jon at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Our DSL is kaput. The modem lights just blink slowly, in an extremely pitful kind of way, since Wednesday. As a result, I'm a little behind on keeping up with things. Like email, webpages, and news. I apologize.

Incidentally, I'm able to post this thanks to the use of Lisa's laptop while piggybacking on one of our neighbor's wireless. I don't who it is, but an unsecured network is a helpful thing. Even if it is a bit, er, irregular.

On the bright side, Bellsouth claims someone will be by tomorrow morning. Woo!

Posted by jon at 08:36 PM | Permalink

You know it's a bad sign when you make a list of things to do and then misplace the list.

* * *

Forgot to mention: from earlier last week, a 77 day reject from Heliotrope. Oh sadness. Still plenty of stuff out there, and all of it overdue. Guess editors are also busy.

* * *

Ah, found it! Now to add to the list, "find list," just so I can cross it off.

Posted by jon at 01:03 PM | Permalink

For all those Christmas sluts out there (you know who you are).

Posted by jon at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

The library is getting new carpet and tile in the Circulation and Reference Areas. Yay!

The physical plants guys are all busy moving other departments into the new Social Sciences building. Um, yay?

So, this morning I and some of my fellow librarians have moved the reference desk, two double cubicles, twenty eight computer tables, four regular tables, five bookcases of various heights, six display cabinets, two bookdrops, a handful of trashcans, and maybe a hundred minisofas, chairs both comfy and uncomfy, and barstools. Ack.

Tomorrow morning we move four more really, really big display cabinets and maybe a dozen comfy chairs. Mm, comfy chair.

Posted by jon at 02:50 PM | Permalink

It's fair to say that this birthday passed without much notice on my part. It certainly wasn't like most birthdays, in that I spent some of the time dealing with Ian's unilateral decision on his stomach's part to return all oatmeal immediately. Along with whatever else happened to be present in him. I think he was just trying to keep his old man from getting bored.

And in a related note: Happy Birthday, young Timothy! And now question 11 for ya:

The Discworld Librarian is a wizard who was transmogrified into what primate?

* A howler monkey
* A baboon
* An orangutan
* A human, ironically enuf

Go!

Posted by jon at 02:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

KING ARTHUR: Old woman!
JON: Man!
KING ARTHUR: Man. Sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there?
JON: I'm thirty-seven.
KING ARTHUR: I-- what?
JON: I'm thirty-seven. I'm not old.

Mr. Chapman & Mr. Palin, my thanks. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go chill with my boy.

Posted by jon at 09:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Well, I'm happy to report that the internal medicine folks think Andy's just got a case of chronic pancreatitis, which is treated by adjusting his diet. Nothing's certain until they get the bloodwork back tomorrow, but that seems the best bet. I'm sure Andy'll be thrilled by a change in his food, thrilled I say!

Hey, it could happen.

In more bad news for Andy, the way they determined this was by doing an ultrasound...which means he now has a shaved stomach. Hey, at least he didn't get an olive in his belly button.

Posted by jon at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Time sure flies when you're not updating. There's been a lot going on here, but the most distracting thing is that Andy the Gargantukitty is unwell. He's been cuddling close at night, lying up by our faces, obviously in need of comfort. He has a recurring inflammatory internal thing, which every six months or so brings him to the vet for a shot of cortisone. Unfortunately, because he is the Gargantukitty, every shot runs a risk of him developing diabetes. Which is a gigantic problem for cats. So, tomorrow afternoon he's going to see a specialist, where more, er, investigative procedures will take place.

Poor guy.

Reading: Jade Tiger, by Jenn Reese.

Posted by jon at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I've been thinking a lot about board games lately. Big surprise, with the lad in the house. Board games are one of those activities parents are encouraged to play with their kids. Promotes family bonding! Helps make the kid a reader! Gives the parents an excuse to play! You get the idea.

Of course, I find myself thinking not about the usual games people play, like Monopoly or Risk or Life, but the games I enjoyed as a lad. Which were mostly weird ones. Usually from the pages of Dragon Magazine and created by Tom Wham: Snit's Revenge, The Awful Green Things From Outer Space, Search for the Emperor's Treasure, Elefant Hunt, Planet Busters, and others. My copies are (I believe) sitting up in my parents' attic. I think Ian would like them (someday). He may also cast scorn on them, old and faded from the Georgia heat as they are. Mmm, baked paper.

But all is not lost. Did you know people, rather than shelling out a chunk of change on eBay, actually recreate games that are out of print? Apparently, if you can get hold of a color printer and a few things popular with the scrapbooking crowd, you can make new counters, boards, and everything else. All you need to do is find the parts out on the Intarweb, and let's face it, this is just the sort of thing that the Intarweb has. There are even people making new games. I have a mild urge to create a game called "Cats with Gats." I envision it as Tom and Jerry crossed with 1920's mobsters. Possibly I just like the title.

Caution should be applied, of course. Making a gift rather than buying one says that you care, but a homemade game could still be wildly inappropriate. Think of it as the equivalent of buying your wife an unrequested vacuum cleaner: "Oh, honey...you really shouldn't have." I can see some real potential for this with geek couples, however ("You made me a copy of The Creature That Ate Sheboygan? Awesome!").

Posted by jon at 02:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)