what day is it?

Silly observation of the morning: It's HARD to spread Nutella on an english muffin. All those nooks and crannies! Heh.

Serious observation of the morning: I see from CNN that the Pentagon, while still claiming it did not target a civilian area yesterday, is now also claiming that the bomb(s) that hit the marketplace were Iraqi, not American (sorry, "coalition"). Way to cover all your bases! If you're in the mood to be depressed and outraged, read an article about the marketplace attack and its aftermath by Robert Fisk of the Independent, one of my favorite on-the-scene journalists.

Re the subject of this post, I've been very confused recently about what day of the week it is. This is because I've been doing so much planning of my next couple of days -- something I don't usually do -- in preparation for mom's return from her vacation. I decided to sleep over at her place tonight to keep her kitties company and so that I can make sure the place is all nice and spiffy on Friday when she returns. Last night I packed my bag for tonight, which meant deciding what I would wear today *and* tomorrow, and then I had to think about what shows are on that need to be taped/TiVo'd, and about what food to bring since there isn't much at mom's place, and ... long story short, I keep having to stop and really think about what day today is. Heh.

But tomorrow, er I mean Saturday ;), mom will be back and maybe she will or maybe she won't feel like going to the big anti-war protest in Boston. It probably depends on how late she actually gets home (she's supposed to get in around 3:30pm Friday) and how tired she is and so forth. I imagine she'll want to go, having missed so many important demonstrations, but she might just be too darn tired. Saturday evening we're going to hear The Bobs in concert, so she better be able to stay awake for that! :)

I went to the chiropractor last night and it was, I dunno. I didn't feel any better or worse afterward. But it's been so long since I went, it'll probably take a few visits before I start to feel the effects. She said I was all out of whack and should come twice next week.

I tried a new moisturizing lotion last night (Gold Bond) and it turns out to be unbelievably, irresistibly delicious to Bini. After he licked my fingers he tried to eat my bathrobe, and later when I got up to brush my teeth, I came back and found him licking the sofa cushion I had been leaning on. Ewww. I had to hide my bathrobe in the laundry hamper overnight to keep him from devouring it. Bizarre. I may have to give that lotion to someone else.

Oh yeah, thoughts on last night's "Angel" episode later. Maybe. What crack are y'all smoking who actually think this season is any good? Can I have some? Please?

electronics woes and yays

Last Wednesday, a guy from RCN came to hook up my cable modem. I signed up for a package that includes cable-modem service, cable TV, and telephone service for about $100/month. So in addition to installing the cable modem he also had to switch over my phone line. (I got to keep my phone number the same, yay.)

Despite the fact that the woman on the phone who took my order assured me that digital cable does not require a box (unless you want premium channels), the installation guy insisted on installing a cable box. This made the entire process much more complicated than necessary. ( the geeky details )

Anyway, it did eventually all work out, so now I have basically the same phone and TV service I always had, and my internet connection is super-speedy! Well, okay, not as speedy as, say, the T1 line at work, but going from 56K to cable modem is definitely an improvement.

However, once all that was taken care of, I ran into another snag with the whole "trying to copy copy-protected DVDs" scheme that I posted about a while back. ( more geeky details )

So those are my recent adventures in electronics setup. Whew! (I think I need a new "geeky me" icon. I don't like the lego version of me so much.)

pissed off yet?

Because that "I'm taking my toys and going home" tactic worked so well when you were five:

UNITED NATIONS — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations walked out of a debate on the Iraqi war Thursday after Iraq's ambassador accused the United States of trying to exterminate the Iraqi people.

"I did sit through quite a long part of what he had to say but I'd heard enough," U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said.
Full story: www.boston.com/news/daily/27/un_iraq.htm

And, because that whole separation of church and state thing just wasn't working out:

H. RES. 153
Recognizing the public need for fasting and prayer in order to secure the blessings and protection of Providence for the people of the United States and our Armed Forces during the conflict in Iraq and under the threat of terrorism at home.
Complete text of bill: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.RES.153:
Bill Status: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:H.RES.153:

And in case you had any shreds of respect left for Colin Powell:

A US-based Norwegian weapons inspector accuses the USA and Secretary of State Colin Powell with providing the United Nations Security Council with incorrect and misleading information about Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), newspaper Dagbladet reports.

Joern Siljeholm, Ph.D. in environmental chemistry, risk analysis and toxicology, said that the USA's basis for going to war is thin indeed, and called it a slap in the face to the United Nations weapons inspectors. Siljeholm told Dagbladet that Colin Powell's report to the Security Council on how Iraq camouflaged their WMD program was full of holes.

"Much of what he said was wrong. It did not match up at all with our information. The entire speech was misleading," Siljeholm said.

Asked if the Americans lied, Siljeholm said: "Lie is a strong word - but yes, the information Powell presented about Iraq's nuclear program was simply incorrect," Siljeholm said.
Full story: www.aftenposten.no/english/world/article.jhtml?articleID=511811

and now, something completely different

Today's Grammar Peeve: incorrect usage of lay/lie/laid. Grammar Lesson follows.

"Lay" is a transitive verb. This means it must take an object: you have to lay something.

I will lay my head on the pillow.
He lays his hand on my shoulder.

"Lie" is an intransitive verb. This means that it does not take an object.

I like to lie on the sofa for my naps.
The rug lies on the floor.

Further confusing the issue, "lay" is also the past-tense form of "lie."

Yesterday I lay on the sofa for a nap.

The past-tense form of "lay", on the other hand, is "laid".

Yesterday I laid my sweater on the bed.

The following, therefore, are incorrect usages:

My cat likes to lay on my bed. INCORRECT
I came home and he was laying on the floor. INCORRECT
Let's lie our picnic blanket down here. INCORRECT

Any questions?

By the way, in case you weren't aware, I have a grammar website. It hasn't been updated in forever, but it's got a lot of useful (I like to think) stuff. Especially for those of y'all whose grammar is *ahem* a little shaky. ;)