Just found out today that my saved up vacation time... doesn't carry into next year, so I'm about to burn several paid days off. Oops.

New computer died. It's been sent back, waiting on a replacement.

Also, broke after buying Christmas presents and paying tuition in cash.

On the plus side, it's Christmas and stuff, and that's always fun. :-)

Today, I slept in, forgot my wallet at home, got stuck on hold with Verizon support, paid a huge tuition bill, realized halfway through lunch that my food was moldy, spilled my coffee onto the security guard's computer, sliced my finger on a can of cat food, accidentally embarrassed a coworker, and my brand new computer died horribly and needs to be returned.

On the plus side, a lot of things went right as well, but man, that was more negatives than I'm used to rolling with in one day.

Time to clean the attic. (Or, help Kelly clean the attic, as she made an enormous dent in that mess already.)

New computer: MSI Wind Box Nettop. $250. Cute, and it runs Windows 7. Will probably install Windows on the seven year old desktop it replaces, to help keep up with some work stuff from home.

Working on a bookcase - still - as a largish Christmas gift to Kelly. I've picked out some commercialish things, but this works pretty well too. (She fixed my motorcycle overpants to be a lot better for someone my height.)

Meanwhile, it's real slow here. Debating trying to get back on a gym kick after this professional writing course is done, which is tomorrow if I get all my stuff together.

So, there's a web comic I really like.

( Some examples: )

Radiation Hormesis is the idea that some radiation exposure causes your body to initiate maintenance and repairs. In the 1950's, a single guy killed 98% of the rabbits in Europe. A third of cocaine enters the United States in a submarine. In 1937, the President of the Dominican Republic ordered the murder of everyone in Haiti. In the 13th century, a small group of children were raised without ever hearing speech, to see if they naturally developed the language of Adam and Eve. (Hint: bad idea.) Defeat in Detail: military term meaning to lose by focusing on the small stuff.

I thought Biblical figures lived a long time (~900 years), but the Sumerian Kings win this game, at ~30,000 years old. Each. This moth has visibly evolved twice since the industrial revolution. I never knew we had a nuclear plant that had a full meltdown; it was a tiny plant, but still, ow. This is a two mile tall graffiti piece. A 1930's American plan to go to war with Britain, and the Pinnacle list is the words developed to quickly relate the loss/misplacement/etc of a nuclear bomb. If you've ever wondered how many times we've lost or nearly lost a nuclear weapon, there's a list.

Bart Simpson's prank calls are based off of these. The deepest hole ever drilled is about eight miles. 1816 had no summer. The KLF at one point burned a million quid.