Just spent a fairly pleasant hour sitting in the darkened corner of the complex, at the gate to the swimming pool that has been locked for the winter.

Monday night when I was doing laundry the darkness was an annoyance, joining forces with a blanket of fall leaves to keep me from knowing where the sidewalks were. Tonight it was a joy -- the perfect spot to sit and watch meteors.

The Geminid shower hit its peak tonight. I counted 16 in a bit over an hour -- would probably have seen many more if I'd driven out away from the city lights, except that these days that takes 20-30 minutes, where it used to take only ten. (Yeah, I know. In some ways I've been spoiled, living in Waco. Still...)

Hmm. It seems LiveJournal has changed up its entry-posting screen...

I have a button (thanks, starcat_jewel) that says something like "If I'm awake at 6 in the morning, there is a 95 percent probability that I haven't been to bed yet."

This is a 5 percent day.

The shuttle launch attempts (and, finally, launch) have played some havoc with my sleep schedule, but in truth my wake-up time has been edging later and later anyway. So I'm taking advantage of the disruption (and the weekend) to try to kick it back.

Which is why, instead of going to bed around 4:30 as usual, I actually got up at 4:30. And now I'm in the Twilight Zone (literally, in a way). I'm up at an hour where nobody I know is awake. One of the people I often IM in the hours before bedtime logged off just as I was getting back to the computer.

It's an odd time, and I'm not sure what to do with it...

The water main broke.

While my clothes were in the washing machine.

45 minutes now, and there's still no water, and I was supposed to leave for ArmadilloCon in Austin by about 45 minutes from now.

Not what you would call a happy camper.

Dinsdale is still a little wheezy at times, only fussing a little when I give him the antibiotic and the Prednisone. His appetite is definitely back full force.

Didn't get to sleep for various reasons until 7:30 or so. Woken at 11:30 by the cell phone: The adjuster was on his way. Got up, trudged outside. Typed some things into the laptop, took some pictures... and told me the damage would be right around the 70% threshold.



Totalled? That? I knew it was a 13-year-old car, but jeez...


I'd really prefer not to have to deal with a car payment again...

Bad news: I was in a wreck today. I don't think I'm hurt -- I'll go get checked tomorrow on my day off. Car's still driveable, but the front is squished in a bit and the lens on the right headlight is shatttered. It'll get (hopefully) checked tomorrow.

Good news is two items, actually: 1) Dinsdale will be home from the vet's tomorrow. 2) The reason I have tomorrow off is so I can go see The Chieftains here tomorrow night (if I couldn't get tomorrow off I was contemplating a drive to Austin for their concert there on Sunday).

Back-window sticker seen by a co-worker: "Everybody has the right to be stupid. You're abusing the privilage".

Spelled just like that.