fractalnavel

• went to the dentist for my cleaning appointment today - and they had mis-scheduled, something about a system change-over.  also, the lady who has been doing the work the last couple of years has moved on to a dental research job.  odd, i wish i had had a chance to say goodbye, good luck, also kind of curious about the position.  well, no problem: re-scheduled for saturday morning (yuk - i'll miss my cartoons ;-) ), and treated my self to a japanese lunch / dinner (yum - sake clams, seafood udon, and chirashi without the rice).
• i've been trying to get back to working out (again), and the big problem is eating right - or rather, enough.  compounding this has been the year-and-a-half-old mini-mt.-trashmore in the kitchen, preventing my from being able to prepare food there.  so finally, it occurred to me that cleaning that up was probably the most effective thing i could do at this point to improve my weight training efforts.  the results (hum along with a christmas tune while reading):
  • eight bags of miscellaneous garbage
  • three garbage cans of beer bottles
  • two bags of pizza boxes
  • one bag or garbage can each: beer cans; plastic pop bottles; beer cartons (eleven years' worth - !); junk mail.

  this still leaves:

  • six heineken kegs;
  • another garbage can or two of beer bottles;
  • an unestimated amount of old magazines;
  • perhaps a bag or two more of mail related crap;
  • years of dust bunny droppings.

  i just ran out of containers, that's all.  and beyond these basics, there's more, so much more.

• the local FOX affiliate ran a new self-promotional ad late night last night.  it went like this:

  "we've got great boobs - and weee show 'em !"

  well, i was laughing.  i mean, come on - conservative old bastion fox, running that sort of thing ?  of course, the "boobs" were the main characters in its syndicated sitcoms and animated features.  yet at the end of the ad, they had a bra over a couple of round cut-outs where the breasts would be, in which the "boobs" were being shown, and when they got to the "we show 'em" line, the bra dropped away.  wow.  i somehow doubt this will continue to run.  funny while it lasts.
• hey, i had jury duty last august - !  yeah - me ! kind of ticked me off, as i was working at the time.  $19 per day doesn't come close to making up for the time.  but hey, well, whatever, i managed to talk myself into something approximating a positive attitude, and even figured out what bus routes to use, etc. - no sense in blowing parking money, stress, gas & pollutants for something like that.  as it turned out, i was only there two days out of my allocated two weeks, got selected for a jury pool once, sent to lunch, and then informed to go home, a plea bargain had been reached.  really oddly uneventful, after all my earlier fretting.  i got a book read on those two days, got to see some neighborhoods from the bus that i don't normally pass through, and the weather was just perfect.  got some nice girl watching done too ;-)  also, right across from the courthouse was the place to get passports renewed, so i got that done too.  interesting almost-non-experience.
• travels, eh ?  not been much of that lately.  got over to my sister's place in michigan for thanksgiving, where the other brothers & sisters & families were gathering.  first time in a couple of years.  good to see everyone, rather uneventful, but nice to have a group of people around that get each others' senses of humor, for the most part.  a number of things i could have done without, but hey, that's why i keep to myself most of the time, and a little bit of tolerance over the holidays isn't a problem.  on the bright side, jeep has new shoes, really makes a difference, especially for winter driving.

and that's about it, as far as life goes.  trying to live small, stay local.  ignoring news for a while now, all it does is causes stress, not sure what, if anything, i can do.  domestic & international situations, economy, whatever.  calm before the storm stuff, really; my own version of peril-sensitive glasses.  some possibilities i was hoping for a couple months back look improbable now, so i have to come up with alternatives.