I'm up to my arse in work, but I still feel the need to post. It's a kind of validation, I guess. I have no actual news. All I have is frustration that there are possibly only two copies of the Cambridge companion to Goethe in the state, both in Fort Wayne. Go Red Sox.

Today's news will carry some measure of schadenfreude for my brother. The rest of you probably haven't known me as well or as long. I'm getting reading glasses. (I'll pause now, for Michael's friends to retrieve the defibrillator from the closet and start his heart again.) My vision is good, better than what the Air Force requires of jet pilots. However, I haven't been reading very well lately. This has probably been the case for quite a while, as the only materials I have been able to read at length are things that don't require prolonged focus on small print. Comic books, e-mail, and some magazines are easier because I can refocus my eyes periodically. In summary, only sub-grad level, or sub-Michelle. Making up new terms for things is fun.

I took a little side trip to the new instrument store on Jefferson. They have a nice selection of guitars and amps, as well as a lovely young woman who showed me a guitar and amp that I'm thinking about purchasing at some point. Well, sort of. The amp isn't that much, and it really sounds nice, but $230 is something I'm going to need this summer in Italy. The guitar is way out of my price range; Victory-class Star Destroyer expensive. It sounds fabulous, though, even in the hands of a hack like me. Maybe I'll focus my energies on concocting a scheme to tie this nice stuff in to my studies and get a grant for it. Yes, that's the ticket.

This is my first Fall break ever. USF didn't believe in such luxuries, but we did get a "reading day". I don't mind the break, considering how the semester has gone. It's been nothing but reading thus far, aside from my GA job. Sometimes the reading is important for class, but most of the time it's never discussed. Theory is all well and good, but I need some way to apply it or it goes in one ear and out the other like a TV commercial. What really sold me on the program was the tour I got last spring from my advisor. I liked his attitude, and I liked the building: a two-story toy box for super-powered AV equipment courtesy of a massive chunk of change from Lilly. The digital storytelling program is full of great people from several backgrounds, and I feel fortunate to have met them. With so much positive, I feel bad complaining that I'm bored and lost. I've been told that grad school is supposed to be a sort of do-it-yourself education. This would be great, if I had enough time to take any sort of initiative outside of my classes. Things look better in the long-term, as my course load will lighten and probably include something more technical. Ah well, end rant. The rest will do me good.

Last night I went to see Sarah Vowell read at Butler University. She was great, and I wrote down a few lines that made me laugh. They make more sense if you've read her books. For those of you who read nothing but Greek and Douglas Adams, or read only as much as you absolutely have to, here is what you need to know: the author loves history and pop culture, and often relates the two.

"I learned that John Kerry is descended from John Winthrop, which I found thrilling."

Speaking about the guilt that comes from being raised to be a nice girl, the "guilt that becomes narcissistic", she thinks about Pol Pot: "Whatever I've done, are there piles of skulls lying around? Most of the time, no."

"Assassinations are my Kevin Bacon" -referring to her ability to relate anything to a presidential assassination.

Comparing working at NPR to working at Pixar:"It's like a scratchy brown sweater vs a Cosby sweater."

It was an enjoyable evening. I got a signed copy of her first book, "Radio On", and even she was incredulous when I told her my name was Loyal. I had to spell it.

Today is my birthday. It's been a good day of web design work thus far. Well, that and blogging. I alternate back and forth. Tonight I'm going out to dinner with my friend Michelle, and later I'm going out with a huge gaggle of fools. A confederacy of fools? A murder of fools? Whatever. It'll be fun. I'll report the details that are appropriate for the internet tomorrow.

Check out these articles from McSweeney's. They made me laugh.
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Here is the news I wanted to post yesterday, but couldn't because I was busy. I got to take a tour of Paws Inc, the place where Garfield is drawn. As much as I tried to maintain my composure, I was giddy over getting to see the place. I used to read Garfield books and collect as much Garfield memorabilia as I could when I was younger, so getting to see all of this was really great. Doc was the tour guide. I'd seen him before a few years ago at the Castle Gallery show where I met Jim Davis (I sang what I could remember of the Abu-Dhabi song and he laughed). What really impressed me about the whole facility is that it's the family business. It's global and very successful, but it's run mostly by relatives.

I just read this- Sarah Vowell will be at Butler U tomorrow night at 7:30. She's one of my favorite authors, and she also did voice acting for Pixar's "The Incredibles." I'm pretty sure I can make that- I get off work at 5:30, but I might be able to knock off a little earlier. This geeks me out on a cerebral level.

It's Tuesday, I'm hungry, and I really don't have time to blog now. But, I do have a couple of links I feel a strong need to post.

The visual thesaurus is probably something somebody is trying to sell, but the demo on the site is fun to mess around with. Little by little, hypertext is taking over, and I for one welcome our benevolent technological overlords. Please don't crush me.

A New Kind of Science, by Stephen Wolfram, is now online. The whole thing. The immense mass of it is capable of forming and supporting a life-sustaining atmosphere, given time. That's just how big it is.

More actual news tomorrow if I live through today.

Any big news I might have to post here has already been covered by my fellow bloggers. Gerry covered the season's end for the Cubs, and my brother posted this glorious news. Beyond shameless plugs for other blogs I love, there's really only one piece of blogworthy news left.

The other night, long after the sun had gone down, I was walking to my car to drive to Walmart. I was parked behind my building, near the windows of my single-bedroom subterranean. As I fumbled with my keys, I noticed motion in the shadows of the building behind a few plants. Neighborhood cats often walk past my window, so I assumed the slinking shadow to be feline. I called to the cat in the voice I reserve for animals smaller than a breadbox, but I could tell something was amiss. My eyes adjusted to the dark, and in the ambient orange glow of a street light half a block away, I saw the true beastly form of the creature under my window. A possum. Those of you who read this with any regularity may recall that I had a run-in with a possum last winter. I made a powerful enemy that cold day, not just in an ill-tempered rodent, but in a primal force of nature. The genetic memory of the north American possum is forever ingrained with the knowledge of "tall one, hurler of ice." We recognized each other, there in the night behind my apartment. He knows where I live, and we both know that there won't be any snow on the ground for at least a month or more, thus putting me at a marked disadvantage. This isn't over.