It's 4 degrees below zero. I'm glad it's warmed up a bit. Yesterday, I had to bring in the bird feeder, scrape ice off it, and run hot water over the lid so that I could open and fill it. But it's very pretty out there, with lots of snow on the ground.

It's also nice to see Christmas decorations going up. My favorite so far is about a half mile from my house. Someone has set up store mannequins in pink prom dresses and attached gold wings as part of his display. It looks like he's filming Attack of the Freaky Paris Hilton Angels.

During the time it took to write this, the temp dropped to minus 3. I'd probably feel warmer if I got rid of the Weather Bug at the bottom of the screen.

Somehow, I was struck by this plaintive little story in the local paper:

Mason City officials say one person was injured in a fire that apparently started when a shoe placed next to a heat lamp in the top of a fish aquarium overheated.

The fire happened Sunday afternoon at a mobile home. Officials say the fire was contained to the aquarium that was a housing a lizard.

Fire Capt. Richard Paulson says one person was injured and taken to a Mason City hospital. The person’s name was not immediately released.

Paulson says the lizard died in the fire.

Poor lizard. And I can just imagine the kind of living space where a shoe is likely to wind up on top of an aquarium.

I can't stop laughing about this, although the fact that this guy is an elected official should give me pause.

In the opinion of Arlington Mayor Russell Wiseman, President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night on the war in Afghanistan was deliberately timed to block the Christian message of the "Peanuts" television Christmas special.

Wiseman made the statements on his Facebook page, where he declared Obama to be a Muslim. Only people on Wiseman's "friend's list" had access to the post. ( Unsurprisingly, the mayor also doesn't get the Friends List concept )

I'll be over here, listening to Joe Cool's Blues, one of my favorite albums. Wynton Marsalis' dad Ellis wrote some of the music for the Peanuts specials, and Wynton and his brothers join their dad and other artists to record these favorites. Now, that's family values transformed into art.

I've been so scarce on LJ for so long, I think I'm making more of this posting thing than it deserves. So I will just babble.

I had the best Thanksgiving in a long time. My father died over a decade ago on Thanksgiving, very suddenly, and that cast a pall over the holiday for years. But I've reached the point in mourning where you welcome the reminders of the person you've lost. And memories of my dad were nicely bookended by the opportunity to see my kids, both of whom came home from college. M:TNG-1 was ill, but at least I was reassured she was getting a bit of rest, and emails indicate she's feeling better now. M:TNG-2 brought a delightful friend, or, rather, jwaneeta brought them both and the cranberry sauce.

Mr. M slaved over the stove Wednesday night and all day Thursday, producing turkey with all the trimmings, including absolutely amazing fig stuffing. We set up and trimmed the Christmas tree, wandered around Iowa City, and jwaneeta dragged me out to the movies. We saw "2012,: which is the funniest film I've seen in ages, with the added bonus of pretty images of the Earth being destroyed.

They infiltrated an insurance industry conference -- musically.

Do you have one of those wheelie bins for trash, composting or recycling that says on the inside of the lid, "Lid must be closed when moving"? I do, and I found out what happens if you don't close the lid, even if you're just trying to push the bin a few feet because you're cleaning out the garage gutters and you want to be able to drop the sludge directly into the compost collection bin when you're up on a stepladder ladder.

It attacked me. I survived, but I swear there are bite marks on my wrist. Wheelie bin bites! Now I know how Mickey felt in the first Ninth Doctor episode.

Why have I still not internalized the "follow instructions" message the nuns tried so hard to drum into my then-youthful skull?

I keep setting aside time to read my FL but my eyes get tired so quickly I have to take a break, and I'm not reading fic or books at all. I may have to break down and get new glasses before the end of the year even though I already ran through the money set aside for that.

First, thanks for the birthday wishes. I haven't thanked a lot of people individually yet because I've had a really busy week, although in general a good one.

It just got a bit better. I opened the mail and found a letter from the state department of revenue, the income tax people. It seems they disagreed with my calculation of deductions for the 2008 tax year and sent me a nice refund. It's not enormous, but it will almost pay the cost of bringing M:TNG-1 home for Thanksgiving.

I use Google Reader for most of the blogs I follow, like Talking Points Memo and Awkward Family Photos. It has "previous item" and "next item" buttons so that when I'm finished reading one post I can mouse-click and have the next post conveniently move up to the top of the window, instead of having to use the scroll bar to position it that way.

I'd like to have that on my FL, so that when I finish one post, I don't wind up staring at the subject line and first two sentences of the next person's post, and have to reposition the post to the top of the window with the scrollbar.

What? I never mentioned before how lazy I am?

I'm afraid the TARDIS isn't included, though. Or the Dalek.

(For non-US readers, ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act, which, among other things, sets accessibility standards. Of course, the newer Daleks wouldn't have any problem with the stairs.)

I've been sick all week and am just getting back up to speed. Of course, when I finally sat down to read my FL last night, LJ was down. Pah.

I want to get work done, but can't sit still and my concentration is shot. I've tried exercising, but that just makes me more anxious, although not about anything in particular. My stomach keeps telling me I'm hungry even though I've fed it twice what I usually eat by this time of day in an effort to shut it up. I'm not sad or angry, but it would be hard to describe what I feel as happy either. I feel like I'm going to jump out of my skin.

I assume this is menopause playing tricks again.

I haven't been posting because work is crazy and after spending extra computer time each day dealing with my job, my eyes just can't handle a lot of recreational time in front of a monitor. Instead I've been making Mr. M watch Glee with me and trying to remember how to knit, although I haven't made him share that second activity. I have so far remastered dropping stitches and splitting yarn, but to my surprise my hands feel better from having a different activity than keyboarding. If I'd known crocheting and knitting would help with my RSI rather than make it worse, I would have tried picking it up again sooner.

I'm furious, and disgusted with behavior that seems to be coming mostly from my generation and people up to a decade or two older. Town halls are supposed to be for discussion, not booing a woman in a wheelchair as she describes her financial distress.

Political rallies are supposed to be opportunities to present your opinions, not to bite off people's fingers. Mike Tyson is not a role model, folks! The pro-health care biter was described as swaggering off after maiming someone and is apparently hiding from the police. The anti-health care bitee not admits to throwing the first punch in the fight, it turns out this guy who opposes socialism in all forms is being treated thanks to Medicare.

Baby boomers, grow up.

The latest Auto-Tune the News:



It's hard to pick my favorite among these videos, but I think the lettuce regulations episode may be it:



We're blessed by Joe Biden from space!

31 percent of young workers report being uninsured, up from 24 percent 10 years ago, and 79 percent of the uninsured say they don’t have coverage because they can’t afford it or their employer does not offer it.


Bonus facts, because I've missed several days:

- Only 31 percent [of young workers] say they make enough money to cover their bills and put some money aside—22 percentage points fewer than in 1999—while 24 percent cannot even pay their monthly bills.

- 37 percent have put off education or professional development because they can’t afford it.

Oh, and Michele Bachmann is crazy.

A short clip in case you need something to make you smile

LOL

That is all.

The distinction between the content of fanfic and canon has officially disappeared.

One out of every three dollars spent on health care in the US is wasted.

Money-Driven Medicine