This time I was trying to peel Ianto off the roof of the cage and he didn't want to go, and I tried to put my hand under him, and he latched onto my pinkie finger. He let go pretty quick when I yelped, and I put him away in the cage, which was my goal.

Here's the thing, though: his lower teeth pinched skin, but left no mark. The upper teeth? Punched a crack in my pinkie fingernail. I don't think he intended this or he would have drawn blood on the bottom too. I think he just has good rodent incisors and I have thin fingernails.

A fingernail with a crack in the middle of it? Kinda pinches. (Yes, I just sanitized it and bandaged it. Yes, I have an up to date tetanus shot.)

So I guess I've figured out that with Ianto, if he wants to hang on and you're trying to keep him from doing it, he will try to hang on with his teeth. This after lots of handling him with hands that smell like dates (his favorite food) and not getting nibbled or nipped at all. So yeah, I think he just wants control over his situation. Silly little critter.

I wanted to go to sleep at about 8 or so.

But the VFW post across the street had a live band at their outdoor party tonight and even with the window shut, the fan on and ear plugs in, I could still hear the music, which was good music, but tiring when I wanted to sleep.

And now it seems my neighborhood fireworks enthusiasts have decided that where last night was firecracker night quite a few blocks away, tonight is roman candle night, significantly more nearby.

*shrug* I am having a day because I got 5 hours of sleep last night, I forgot two doses of my daily hormones, and my officemate had her last day of work today. If I can get to sleep, the rest of the weekend should be better. *sigh*

Silly national holidays with their excuses for noisemaking. I just want to hide out here all weekend and play with the rats, but I know I'll have more fun with friends and making mojitos, so that's what I'm gonna do starting in the morning.

I didn't think having a latte with actual caffeine at noon yesterday would cause me to sleep from midnight to 5 AM today, but that's the only reason I can think of for my first sleep night in 2 weeks that was so short?

Also, my neck hurts. No idea why. Oh well, I'm up early paying bills and stuff.

I just figured out that in about 8 months, my retirement money will equal my remaining student loan balance. That's kinda nifty.

The other night my landlord mentioned that he's raising rent by $50 a month because he's drowning in heating oil costs, which was not surprising. (He's also looking into converting the house's heating back to natural gas, which I guess we'll subsidize.) Luckily, my salary is going up by $160 a month (before taxes), so I'll still get out a little ahead after the rent increase and the way my other bills have gone up. I am not certain that things work out such that I should start looking to buy a house this fall, but I need to actually sit down and do a budget analysis and more serious projections, and if not this fall, once my car is paid off in 13 months, I think it will clearly be the right choice.

Okay, I gotta get my ass to the car dealership by 8. Adios.

I think it's cool that I live in the city in America with the highest Puerto Rican population outside of Puerto Rico.

The random local fireworks started last night, and that I'm not crazy about. Not that it was better in New Haven.

I don't actually have it on film, and it isn't even the most interesting part of this evening's playtime.

( The setup, for those of you who are new to the zoo.... )

The part about rickrolling really cheered me up. Her own discussion of the word 'homosexual' should be required reading! To, um, everyone everywhere. Yeah.

I have gotten up late, splattered my breakfast all over the microwave, and failed to lose any weight. Back to the mines!

I just got asked for help finding materials about chemical elements, by 10 middle-schoolers. Yes, CTY is here and they're hitting the books.

I especially love how some students in a group will be shuffling paper and there's always some kid who shushes them louder than the shuffling noises. Ah, kids.

Really, if all of my students asked for books on hydrogen in such an earnest tone, my work would be so much more pleasant. Their teacher was delighted to have the help, too.

1. Any more, voicemail on my home phone means a car warranty scam call, or my dentist's office phoning to reschedule again. This time it was just the car dealership reminding me that I have a service appointment on Thursday, but by the time I logged in to Vonage and opened the file, I was biting a pen really hard because the phone number looked like it might be my dentist, and I have HAD IT with that dentist.

2. This morning I thought about the calendar, thought about this coming Sunday's date, and realized that maybe I should be planning something. I'd planned to hit parties Friday and Saturday and be home for a quiet Sunday, but now I'm wondering about the wisdom of that plan. My memory for dates is a bad thing sometimes-- I don't _want_ to observe this one but my brain will probably keep reminding me. (Yes, those of you who wish I was going to be in SF this weekend can laugh now, but note that being at a wedding on the anniversary of the end of my engagement would probably not be a good thing either.) Oh well. I'll come up with something. I'm not sure yet what I'll be in the mood for, but I'll think of something.

3. My arm hurts already from the Hep B vaccine (second of three) that I got 90 minutes ago. Silly immune system! I took some Tylenol. I should note, however, that I had a relaxed, happy morning this morning and did not need any Xanax at all. The Nintendo DS is still racking up victories against my old reaction to needles-- I'm not tensing up and getting dizzy afterwards anymore!

4. Oh jeez, I am a yuppie pet owner, aren't I? Flushable wheat litter, premium no-corn-or-wheat cat food, premium ultra-absorbent critter litter, yeah, I'm a yuppie pet owner to the tune of $40 at Dave's today. (But I suspect I'm getting my money's worth, too.) Me and the cat napped in an armchair by the rats at dusk last night, though, and dammit, it's _fun_ being a yuppie pet owner....

Feel free to submit any of these to White Whines. I didn't even get to the part about being too much in a hurry to get wine at Big Y in Northampton while I was shopping for lunch food....

Update: Having noticed that a lot of my f-list is having the same sort of day of random frustrations, let me just deliver unto all of you a big *GROUP HUG*. I guess it's just an irritating week, or an irritating time of year or something. Hope it gets better for all of ya.

at Special Library Association Annual Conference.

Brought to you by me and podbaydoor, the people behind your Gaius Baltar sighting at SLA 2005 Toronto.

My power adaptor is, as most of them do, cracking at the point where the plug into the machine joins the cord. I have it wrapped in electrical tape for now but it's heating up more that way, and I know it'll only last for a while.

I'm looking at replacements; any advice? HB, I _know_ you've bought replacements for these before, could you please advise? I really don't want to spend the money on the OEM replacement, it's not worth the money.

This one looks like it would work.

And now, I must hustle, for I am laaaaaaate for work.

True to predictions, I cried buckets.

Now I understand what it was like when my parents took me to E.T. And it didn't hurt that Wall-E's visuals and sounds had a lot of the good things about E.T., without so much of the cat-yowl noise that made him creepy sometimes.

Oh my heavens, what a beautiful movie. And hard to watch, if you, like me, have serious problems with robots in peril. I've always been that way. This was no exception.

We had our moments of physics snark, namely sound carrying in space and living material being exposed to vaccuum, but overall the film did a damn good job. And the music, oh, it was perfect for the film too.

I'm glad a lot of people picked up the nods to Miyazaki-- I've even heard reviewers mention it.

At the end, I would say I was crying as much for my own losses, for who _was not there_, as for anything in the movie. It was that kind of story. Wall-E was that kind of robot.

I will never think of the Mac start-up sound the same way again.

Addendum: For the love of Mike, remember to stay for the credits. They're a work of art too.