Computer has gone bonkers and I don't know if it's hardware or software related yet. I'm going to backup my data and reinstall Windows. Hopefully that's it rather than having to send it in. btw, I'm typing, er, wanding this on my Wii. :o)

Happy 38th birthday to my sister Stephanie!

&

Belated b-days to Cholly & Mikey!
(I'm getting too old to remember them these days, oi)

My favourite torrent site has been down for days with no expected return time. Colour me bummed.

Mary Travers - one-third of folk group Peter, Paul and Mary - died today at the age of 72 after a battle with leukemia. I enjoyed both the group and her solo material very much. I even looked forward to the PBS pledge drives if only to see PP&M concerts they usually ran. Farewell Mary.

The last two days we've had the scent of smoke in the air as well as a rare sprinkle or two of ash from the fires southwest from here. The intensity of the smell varies considerably.

Babysat for about an hour today for my aunt & uncle while my aunt went to the doctor. My two charges were their great-grandkids, 2 yrs old and 2 months old. The 2 month old mostly slept and when awake just stared at the surroundings very zen-like. She cried just once and when picked up I realized she was wet. Once the diaper was changed I rocked her to sleep. It's then when you have a baby on your shoulder sleeping with tiny hands clutching your shirt long-ago assumed dead paternal feelings rise up a bit. That's soon squashed by the smell of killer-atomic waste poop. ;o) I spent most of my time with the two year old who watched streamed episodes of Special Agent Oso half the time and played with various office supplies for the other. Who know a manilla envelope could be so versatile

What else? Oh yeah, I got new glasses about 3 weeks ago I had broken one of the nose guards on my previous pair. I had to get my eyes examined first and boy had my eyes changed. I mentioned I had trouble seeing up close with my glasses on so he suggested I get bifocals. Uh.... I hemmed and hawed enough that he said I could put it off this time but not the next. Anyway, 10 days later I got my new ones and there was definitely a Keanu-esque "Whoa!" moment when I put them on.

I'm going to have to take in my monitor to be repaired tomorrow (under the extended warentee.) Most likely I'll get a call in a few days saying it's toast and to come in to get a new one. In the meantime, I'm back to using my oooold 17" CRT at a maximum rez of 1024x768. *eyetwich* Hardly any of my games are setup to use this ancient resolution mode. The text looks so...small and mushy/bleary to me. ( Details )

In other news, I had joked about how I was going to hurt my joints playing Wii Tennis but it was turned out to be true. I was hurting enough I had to stop playing for a few days until I created a new Mii to use with my other arm (left) and now I alternate between arms. For a while my left arm had a 200 point advantage over my right but now it's a 100 point difference the other way (1300 vs 1200.)

All spare time lately was been taken up with the Sims 3. I had lots of complaints & grumbles over it but Pes' Awesomemod has fixed & quelled those. Once he gets same-sex baby making working I'll be a happy camper.

Last Wednesday at Costco, a Nintendo Wii was bought. A new TV was supposed to be gotten too but... *shrugs* I suppose there's nothing wrong with the one in the front room. It's only 24 years old and not cable ready (which never gets used 'natch), so, I've got the Wii attached to the 20" TV in my bedroom which suprisingly displays quite well.

It was the bowling part that got everyone in my family (it seems) to get the console+game but it has turned out to be tennis that I play the most - even though I'm not too good at it. Now, the manual clearly states to "swing gently." I laugh at this. I swing more like Serena Williams and thank god for the wrist strap. For a nostalgic touch I like to throw in an old-school Monica Seles grunt every now and then. If I keep this up though I'm going to throw both my shoulder and elbow out of joints. But who cares, I'm having fun. :o)

I can not believe I completely forgot about the special election today. I only realized it when I was reading the news at CNN.com. And that was 10 minutes before the polls closed. Ah well, the politicians would be glad I didn't. I was planning to vote yes on two, no on another two, and was still iffy on the fifth. All five needed a yes to "solve the crisis." Pfft, whatever.

I try to keep up with news from my birthtown by reading the local paper, the Sun-Star, online but I hadn't for a few weeks. So, I go to read this evening and found out that the First Lady, Michelle Obama, spoke at the graduation ceremory at the University of California campus* there last Saturday. I felt a bit of pride about that for some reason. I've lived here in Barstow now more than I did in Merced (20 vs 18 years). I have no illusions that the political bent there is to my liking. Too republican-leaning, too much religion influencing the populace. But still. My heart skipped a beat. Yes, I give her pass unlike her husband. I still dislike him. More so now, actually, than I did before the election. But he was, after all, the lesser of the other evils. Hmmph.

* Which is still new enough to have that brand-new car smell going on.

Just got a call from mom. She's in Los Angeles participating in the REVLON Run/Walk for Women. She and some co-workers were about 1 mile into the walk when she called. Good to see so many people participating and raising money. ($55 million over the past 15 years!) There's just too many women out there with cancer. I had a cousin die from cancer long ago, and, my step-mother had breast cancer. Sad sad sad.

"In a new survey by Research 2000 for the liberal Daily Kos blog, Texas voters were asked whether the Lone Star State would be better off as an "independent nation" or as part of the United States.

Overall, more than six in ten chose the latter option. (No big surprise there.) But, among Republicans, 48 percent said it would be better for Texas if the state was an independent nation -- the same number who said they would prefer the state remain a part of the United States."

Read more @ the Washington Post

Sure, invite all the other right-wing wackos, wall yourselves in and call yourselves the Holy American Empire (as if ya'll didn't already.) I'll help build the wall.