Came home to find my downstairs neighbors' smoke alarms going off.  Again.  They're not home.  Again.  Sadly, this time their dogsitter is also not at home, so it will probably keep going off until Saturday, when they get back.  *sigh*

I was congratulating myself on not staying home from work to let in the handyman to hook my smoke alarms back up (since then mine would be going off) when all five of my disconnected smoke alarms start chirping.  Huh?  So I check and sure enough, the batteries are still in them.  So I remove the batteries.

AND THE DAMN THINGS KEEP CHIRPING.

WTF?  What are they running off of?  Cosmic rays? 

http://www.electronichouse.com/article/a_stargate_atlantis_theater_is_born/D1/

Or, at the least, he's got $70k into a home theatre that says he's a contender.  It's a little over the top (ok, it's a LOT over the top), but fairly cool.  Sort of looks like a puddlejumper drivethrough, if John wrangled Rodney into figuring out how to turn a Stargate into a giant movie screen. 

Was awakened at 2:30 am by my smoke alarm chirping.  Beep.  .  . beep. . . beep. . . Like the world's most obnoxious canary.  Not going off, warning of a fire.  Nope, just beeping, about once a minute.  Can't get back to sleep, so go hit the computer to check DW and LJ.  To make my misery complete, the Niaspan kicks in.  For those unfamiliar with this miracle of modern pharmacology, Niaspan has the interesting side effect of causing a severe, sunburn-like flushing.  All over.  It's PAINFUL.  And to add insult to injury, thanks to the gene complement of my Japanese mother, I don't GET sunburned.  *sigh* 

Smoke alarm stops chirping at 4:30.  I drag myself back to bed and go to sleep.  Until 6:30.  Beep. . . beep. . . beep. . .  The gods obviously hate me today.  I get back up, hoping this will go away again.  10:00.  Nope, not going away this time.  I check the internets, who inform me that this is probably just the alarm wanting its battery backup replaced.  Problem - bedroom smoke alarm is on a 12 foot recessed ceiling.  I have a 4 foot stepladder.  Let's see - am I still stupid enough to climb on the top step of a ladder, as they expressly tell you not to do, and will it be enough.? Checks.  Nope, and nope.  *sigh*  

Knock on downstairs neighbor's door to see if they have a ladder I can borrow.  They're not home.  Realize that the nearest place I might be able to buy a ladder is Target.  On Black Friday.  Briefly contemplate taking a sword and the four foot stepladder and impaling the smoke alarm.  Realize that this could potentially cause the whole alarm system to go off.  Go to Target.  No ladder.  *sigh*  

Come back home, check Craigslist, call the first handyman, who wants $80 to come out and change the battery.  Say fine.  Am now, for reasons inexplicable but strangely inevitable, horrendously sick.  Headache, nausea, forehead sweaty-but-cold-to-the-touch sick.  Lie on couch moaning until handyman shows up.  Brings in ladder, changes battery, alarm shuts up.  Pay very nice man, fall into bed and sleep the sleep of the sick and the damned. 

And now, I feel better.  And I am thankful for online yarn sales, and Amazon discounts on DVDs, and a smoke alarm that will shut up.  And the pot of chili that is simmering on my stove, and the fact that I no longer feel physically incapable of eating.  Happy Black Friday, y'all!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_re_us/us_interracial_rebuff

Apparently a Louisiana justice of the peace refused to issue a marriage license for an interracial couple, because he doesn't believe interracial marriages are accepted by either black society or white society.  *headdesk* 

The ACLU is asking the Louisiana Judiciary committee to impose the "most severe sanctions available."  I, personally, suggest that those sanctions include tattooing the entire text of Loving v. Virginia*, in very large, bold type across the most painful portions of his anatomy possible.  With the citation across his forehead.  And if you could make it glow in the dark, that would be good too.  Or if the plaintiff's counsel for Loving is still around, perhaps just leaving the official with him would be fitting.  And a big stick. 

*sigh*  The stupid is just so depressing. 

*For the non-lawyers in my very small audience, Loving v. Virginia is the Supreme Court case in which the Court held (9-0 - go Supremes!!!) that states may not forbid interracial marriage.  In 1967. 

http://rawstory.com/2009/10/n-c-church-to-burn-satans-books-including-works-of-mother-theresa/

Apparently, there's a Southern Baptist church near Asheville, NC, that's planning a book-burning for Halloween (why Halloween, you ask?  No clue, I answer.  Not like All Hallow's Eve or All Saint's Day are in the Southern Baptist liturgical calendar, such as it is.  But I digress).  The books?  Damn near everything, including pretty much all versions of the Bible that aren't the King James.  (Even the New King James.  Everyone's a critic). 

*sigh*  I don't really know why I find this quite SO depressing.  Mostly, I guess, because I grew up in a Southern Baptist church in NC (although the other end of the state).  And no, I don't miss it - didn't fit in then, would fit in much less now.  But. . . burning the BIBLE?  Because you don't believe in the particular VERSION?  Seriously? 

*sigh*  There are days when I wonder if we ever make any progress at all. 

On my cheerful morning commute on the Metro this morning, managed to sardine pack onto the Red Line for the end run from Gallery Place to Farragut North.  Bell chimes, door closes, train starts to pull out. . . THUNK. 

Huh. . . that didn't sound right? 

Train stops.  We sit.  Eventually, driver comes on the intercom, "Attention all customers - we will be stopped here momentarily while we check to see what that noise was.  We should be moving momentarily."  Sit. . . sit. . . . sit. . .  train starts moving.  Builds up to its cruising clip. . . BANG!  *flash*  BANG! *flash* *sparks*

What the hell was that?  Was that some sort of explosion?

"Smoke!  Smoke!  Where's the emergency stop button?"

Yup, that was apparently some sort of equipment explosion.  Well, this could be. . . interesting.  *smoke starts seeping into the car, people start scrambling towards the exits of a packed Metro car, people still yelling for the stop button*  Hmmm, no, this could be. . . bad.  Bad is the word.  "Attention all customers - we are trying to creep the train into Metro Center so I can offload all of you.  We cannot stop in the middle of the tunnel and offload."  Ooh, she's pretty smart - that's comforting. 

Train creeps into Metro Station with the driver announcing "Attention all customers on the platform - please back up.  This train is out of service."  No kidding. 

Well, that was fun.  Sort of.  Kind of.  In the "Boy, that could have been horrifically bad and it wasn't" sense.  Think I'll make a cup of coffee and not think about work for a little while. 

Made it to Orlando and the Magic Kingdom et al. (aka Walt REALLY didn't want to run out of land this time).  The Wilderness Lodge is huge, but only to the point where I've only gotten lost once (I got lost on my way to the elevator in the Luxor, for example).  Found Syn and Sarah and explored the wonderful world of Disney food at Boma, which was every bit as amazing as they said it was.  Thus far, the only downpoint to my vacation (I'm on VACATION!!!!) is that the silly cocktail with fruit wasn't quite what I wanted.  Will simply have to try, try again. 

And now I have the photos to prove it!  \o/

http://www.ravelry.com/people/lawrence520/stash

Man that's a pain.  I've been telling myself I would organize the stash and inventory it on Ravelry for a while now, and been putting it off.  Now I'm not putting it off - it's just gonna TAKE forever.  I'm about 2 bins in, out of 20 or so.  *sigh*  

Does look pretty, though!

(1)  Making coffee with a french press is a bit of a time-consuming pain in the ass, particularly when you've gotten spoiled by a Keurig one-cup.
(2)  It's worth the trouble.
(3)  It's especially worth the trouble with Cafe du Monde coffee and chicory. 

Damn, that's good coffee.

Why am I at work again?  *sigh*

23 days until Disneyworld!

Check!  That was easy!

Back down in NC for the weekend - my friend griffdog  turned 30 today, and his beautiful wife recran decided that jumping out of a perfectly good airplane would be a good way for him to celebrate, and that she might as well try and kill me too.  Love you, dear!

Was a great deal of fun, in fact.  Tandem jump, courtesy of Jump Raeford here in NC.  Go up to 13,000 feet, strap you to someone who knows what they're doing, and kick you out of the airplane.  A minute or so of freefall, at what they tell us is approximately 120 miles per hour.  Then the chute opens, and you fall at a somewhat more sedate 20 mph for four or five minutes, flare out and attempt to land without faceplanting. 

Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane?  Scarier than you might think, at first.  Free-falling?  Somewhat LESS scary than you might think - my theory is that your brain only accepts that you're falling for the first couple of seconds, and then disbelief kicks in - "I can't possibly be falling - I'd've HIT something by now!"  Canopy opening?  Not gentle.  After that, the really scary bits are the turns - a bit of vertigo induced every time.  You get used to it. 

Fun.  Scary, incredibly energy-draining fun, but fun.  Now I need to move to Learn How to Ride a Bike (99), and Learn How to Ride a Motorcycle (98). 

Just got back from the Billy Joel/Elton John show.  Which almost turned into the Billy Joel show with ritual sacrifice of roadies when Elton John's piano malfunctioned (sustain pedal got stuck, causing a minor furor).  After a minor comedy routine in which Billy said "Well, at least you know it's not taped!", offered to trade pianos, and took off his jacket and laid down on stage to try and fix the piano himself, Elton exited stage right, Billy's band came on and a hellaciously fun set commenced.  It was awesome!  Many, many old favorites.

After an hour or so of that (and I suspect the ritual sacrifice of at least one of the road crew), Elton's piano was fixed and he also played a great set.  I'm not as big an Elton John fan, compounded slightly by the fact that Sir Elton likes concert sets of songs, with really, really long intros, instrumental interludes, and extended endings.  I think there was one song (and now I can't remember which one) that was damn near 15 minutes long.  On the other hand, Crocodile Rock was the insane amount of fun it always is. 

Show ended as it was supposed to begin, with both Elton and Billy playing duet versions of both men's songs.  The duet versions of My Life and It's Still Rock and Roll to Me got the place jumping, and the duet of Candle in the Wind was pretty, but the final song - Piano Man, fittingly enough - had the entire stadium singing along.  That's a lotta people all singing at the same time. 

Awfully glad I made it to this one - most fun I've had in a long, long time. 

The bad: I can't set  it up until I get home.  :-(  Bummer.  On the other hand, at least it will give me new shiny toy to play with, as I navigate the joys of mandatory fun! (Big health lawyers' conference beginning of next week - round of mandatory social outings and cocktail parties and dinners this weekend, for all the out of towners coming in for the conference). 

and their circle, and so on, and so on. . .

Picked up from <lj user="shezan">.  Wonderfully heart-warming vid of "Stand By Me," recorded by various street musicians from around the world.  Possibly the coolest vid I've ever seen.  Go.  Watch.  You won't be sorry. 

http://gizmodo.com/5231112/best-video-ive-seen-today-will-make-you-smile

Just got home from work (I need a life, badly) and found this channel-surfing:

"Ninja Cheerleaders - A trio of college students with triple secret identities as cheerleaders, exotic dancers and assassins attempt to rescue their mentor (George Takei) when he is abducted by the mob."  Other than poor George (who at least looks like he's having fun), stars Trishelle Cannatella (from MTV's the Real World).

I'm torn between absolute horror at the fall of Western civilization, and glee that I picked a good lifetime to study swords, blacksmithing, knitting, and general construction.  All skills that I think will serve me in good stead in the end times.  

and then I shall be dangerous!

About three-quarters of the way through my first attempt to knit the Lady Eleanor entrelac stole, I finally figured out how to knit backwards, thereby limiting the number of times I had to turn the work by about half.  It would've been considerably more than that, except that I couldn't figure out how to slip with yarn in back and purl two together backwards, which meant I still had to do all the odd-numbered tiers turning all the time. 

Just cast on my second attempt, and I've finally figured it out!  \o/  Now all I need to do from the wrong-side is to pick up and purl - and eventually I may figure that out too!  Next, spinning!

http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/16/3dconnexions-spacepilot-pro-3d-mouse/

Seriously?  I mean, I'm generally the last person to snark about overly expensive silly toys - I want a $5000 spinning wheel, after all (see http://www.goldingfibertools.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=42&Itemid=139 if you think I'm kidding) - but still.  A $500 mouse? 

Swiped from tricksterquinn</lj>, both because I'm a sheep and because I couldn't resist signing up to see what she might make me. 

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

- What I create will be just for you.
- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
- You will receive your item before the end of the year (or sooner).
- You will have no clue what the item is going to be. It could be a story or poetry. It could be a piece of handmade jewelry or an art doll. I may draw, paint, collage or knit something. I might bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!  Although, I must admit, the odds are strongly in the favor of knitting. 
- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? No catch, I think.  I suspect that even those on this list who are crafters are, shall we say, booked pretty heavily this year.  :-)  So first come, first serve!

Ready, set, make! :)

and wants me to be happy: meandering on the way home from watching "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans," the first song on deck is "Howl at the Moon."  Also proof that my iPod has a twisted sense of humor. 

Mini-review - speaking for the werewolves among us, it's pretty much worth waiting through three movies to finally see the vampires get what's coming to them.  Also, Lucian is very, very pretty.  And also has a twisted sense of humor.  I approve.  Also, Kevin Grevioux seriously needs to get more work, as he looks and sounds like the love-child of Teal'c and James Earl Jones.  I greatly approve.  

Belle de Brillet, pear-infused cognac?  Is very, very nice indeed.  So, thus far this evening, I've:

• had a very nice dinner at Lebanese Taverna;
• rewatched a couple of episodes of Leverage, which is turning out to be one of the most entertaining new shows I've found this season (the other being Merlin, of course);
• found a rather nice new liquor store (they had Calvados, and Pama, and mead, and Commandaria St. John, and ice cider, which I'd never heard of before, but sounds quite nice); 
• and am now kicking back waiting for another Leverage ep to finish downloading and sipping a very, very nice pear-infused cognac. 

Life is pretty darn good.