The 50 Most Loathsome People in America

Here's a great list, with really nice illustrations: The 50 Most Loathsome People in America.

The 50 Most Loathsome People in America

Me on a postage stamp

Apparently, you can get just about any picture on a postage stamp. Zazzle.com offers a service wherein you can buy sheets of stamps custom printed with the photo you specify.  They're legal for postage and will pass muster with the USPO.  The catch is that they're really expensive! Buying a single sheet of 20 - 39-cent stamps costs $16.99 (the stamps alone are $7.80 of postage).  Prices start dropping rapidly depending on the number of sheets you order, but figure you're still going to cough up $4 extra/ even if you're ordering 100 sheets of 20 stamps.  That's a bit much for this, no matter how cool I could make postage look:

Me immortalized on a postage stamp

Me on a postage stamp

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah....

I feel awful. The Babe feels awful. Ick.

And I've done something to my left leg: I keep having a deep pain in my shin. I must've stretched it or (more likely) slept on it wrong.

snivel snivel snivel snivel....

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah....

Singing voice

I normally sing bass.  Not always quite as deep a bass as I might like, but bass enough.  With this cold, my breath control is just no good at the moment.  I have fits of coughing that I can't suppress, that nasty, dry cough that doesn't do anything for the reason for coughing, but it does end up taking the back of your head off. 

But even though my breath control is no good, I can hit notes a 4th or 5th lower than normal.  All the crud in my throat is making my voice niiiiiiiiiiiice and deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. 

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see what I can do with the bass line of "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" from South Pacific.

Singing voice

Nifty blogging tool

I heard about a nifty blogging tool for Firefox 1.5 users (which ought to be all of you).  It's called Deepest Sender and it's a downloadable extension that gives you a complete blogging front end to work with for four or five different blogs.  Now, I grant you that most blogs have some kind of JavaScript front end that lets you do simple character and paragraph enhancements, but this tool supports multiple blogs (on multiple locations) and has a slightly wider range of formatting tools than are available on Blogger.com at the moment.  It's none too shabby. I urge you to try it out.

Nifty blogging tool

The cats as kittens

I said that I couldn't sleep this morning and here's the proof. I went through a bunch of digital pictures I had in a general directory, sorted them, labeled them, and uploaded some of them to my Flickr photo directories. (BTW, I don't post everything on the blog by a long shot, but I store all the digital photos on Flickr, so if you've a hankering for more cat pix or STC photos or what-have-you, that's the place you should look.)

One of the photo sets that stood out as not having been posted before was a bunch of photos of Yin and Yang as kittens. Here's Susan holding both Yin and Yang together (Yin's the one with the dark paws, although it'd be more true to form by saying that Yang is the one who's asleep). 

Susan with Yin and Yang

Yang, you'll recall, is the one who lies on top of my monitor facing away from me with his tail and part of this gut lapping over the screen. In this picture, he was about 9 or 10 weeks old and could be held in one hand. (Actually, I can do that still, but it's quite a job making sure he doesn't lollop off to one side or another.)

Yang, the small but fierce

Yang has always been a cat who enjoyed sleeping. It's nature, not nurture.

Yang's apparent genetic predisposition

This predilection is in no wise disproved by this shot, either: Yin's the one who's awake. Yang is the one who's asleep.

Both kittens

Yang will wake up when the situation seems to require, but this picture with Susan's friend Marcie shows that he won't bestir himself until absolutely necessary.

Marcie and the kittens

I only found the one shot of either cat as a teenager, although I'm sure there are more somewhere. This is Yang at maybe 10-12 months. Note the firm muscles, the vigorous constitution, the glint in his... oh, screw it, he's lying down in this one, too.

The cats as kittens

Can't sleep

It's 4:30 and between this cold making my throat hurt and the muscles in my neck and upper back all knotted, I just can't sleep anymore, even with the pain pills. There's not much going on at the moment, but I do have the satisfaction of having BC come up to me and snuggle a little, after which, he curled up right on top of my foot. It's very nice, really; I can feel him purring on my tooes and he's a big furry slipper. :)

Can't sleep

"My Neighbor Totoro"

I'm very fond of My Neighbor Totoro, an anime about two little girls who have moved to the country with their father while their mother is in the hospital... and they meet the forest spirits that live in the camphor tree.

The movie is sweet and charming and feels very real. It's all quite low-key. And I stumbled over it on TCM when I was channel surfing this afternoon for something to watch on the tube.

If you've never seen it, go buy it.

"My Neighbor Totoro"

Aw, lookit the widdle kitties!

Okay, I've spent the last week working on an article for Biz Tech Magazine. Pleasant work and I liked the assignment. It's done now and I've got a moment to update the blog with the pix I promised.

During the course of writing and for the last few weeks, the cats have been really clingy. It's been quite irritating. I mean, I love the little friskettes and all, but when they leap onto the monitor at a full gallop, the whole desk shakes and the back of the monitor will even sink down under the weight of El Catto Grande (usually Yang), which means that the front of the monitor is now aimed at a spot about a foot and a half over my head, necessitating a pseudo-defenestration of the offending cat(s) so I can reposition the monitor without having the cats emulating the counter-weight on a shadouf while I do so.

BC and Yang

The worst part is not that the cats have been curling up on the monitor or the desk or walking all over my lap and constantly bumping my hand, it's that they will leap onto the monitor, stay there for... oh... maybe 15 minutes, then they will leap down and do something else annoying, like pushing piles of paper or pencils on the floor, or leaping down and walking off. They then repeat the whole process a few minutes later or send another cat in to do the same thing.

Bo and Yang

I've been working with the door shut frequently. Unfortunately, this isn't proof against them, either; the cats will bang, paw, and scratch at the door to be let in. BC has figured out how to work the European door latches, so you can hear him pawing at the lever until he manages to get it engaged. If I have the door locked to keep him out, he keeps doing it for a while.

BC and Yang

The cats have been given all-expenses paid trips outside periodically, too.

Bo and Yang

I think that this is about one of three things:

The weather sucks and the cats aren't interested in going outside, but they're bored.

Susan has the cats dieting, so they're hungry and trying to get us to feed them. Yang really needs to lose poundage. Not only did the vet observe that he's grossly overweight, but parts of him sorta lap over the edge of the monitor, which is rather unsightly.

Willow's gone and this is a reaction to the change in social dynamic in the remaining four kitties. (We did see a little of this already; Yin and the other cats were behaving differently. As the one remaining feline female, she's taken over for Willow's position as omega cat.)

With Yang sprawling all over the desk, with or without a partner in crime, I've been inclined to get the desk debrided, which has been nice. I actually have a little desk space, that which isn't taken up with snoring cat.

Aw, lookit the widdle kitties!

"George Bush is a saint!"

Bush has been suffering from lower approval ratings than Nixon did at the zenith of his stupidity. So, in an effort to bolster his public image, he scheduled a visit to the D.C. Methodist Church for a display of piety.

One of Karl Rove's boys made a visit to the Methodist bishop and said to him "We've been getting a lot of bad publicity among Methodists because of Bush's position on stem cell research and the like. We'd gladly make a contribution to this church of $100,000 if, during your sermon, you'd say the President is a saint."

The bishop thinks it over for a few moments and finally says, "We really are in desperate need of funds. I'll do it."

A few days later, Bush pompously shows up with lots of press. The bishop gets up and says, "Before I begin my sermon, I'd like to say something about today's distinguished visitor." Bush preens a little and looks especially smug, and the bishop continues with "George Bush is a petty, self-absorbed hypocrite and a nitwit. He is a liar, a cheat, and a low-intelligence weasel. He has lied about his military record and had the gall to put himself in a jet plane landing on a carrier posing before a banner stating 'Mission Accomplished.' He invaded a country for oil and money, and is using it to lie to the American people. He is the worst example of a Methodist it's ever been my displeasure to know."

The bishop pauses and then says "But, compared to Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and the rest of Bush's cabinet, George Bush is a saint!"

"George Bush is a saint!"

Quick thoughts on a Satyrday afternoon

I'm ignoring the distant early warning signs of a cold that Susan and the Babe have had and getting work done on an article that's due tomorrow night. There's a Seahawk game on this afternoon that'll be an excellent time to hit the treadmill--I always like to do treadmilling when there's something worth watching on the idiot box--and then I'll get back to work.

I have a zillion pictures of the cats being incredibly cute, but it'll take a while to format them. I want to get more words on paper.

Quick thoughts on a Satyrday afternoon

Avian flu symptoms

Given the hoof-handed way in which we're dealing with bird flu, it's important to be on the lookout for signs of Avian Influenza. Symptoms include:

Fever

Chest congestion

Nausea

Persistent fatigue

Aching joints

Irresistible urge to crap on a windshield

Avian flu symptoms