• @sanityknit Heh. Exactly why I’m heading to the bookstore to scope out titles now, with time to ship it before classes start! #
• @mizmoose SO MUCH TRUE. (and also funny.) #

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Things I Did Not Expect My Handspun Yarn To Turn Into, #420: Cat snuggle-toys.

• @sanityknit Excedrin Migraine is my newest best friend too! It is a magic green bottle. #
• Another reason Eddie Izzard is my hero: http://tinyurl.com/82g4ld #
• The problem with deciphering Estuary phonetic spellings is then you start writing things like ‘daft’ as ‘darft.” Stupid non-rhotic accents! #
• Okay, first thought: Who the hell is Matt Smith? http://tinyurl.com/9mt8tf #
• @sanityknit Well, I’ll miss RTD, but I <3 Moffat too, so I’m not worried. Also I wanna see what RTD does next! #
• Hahaha, poor Rod. Now even DHS is snubbing him. http://tinyurl.com/7n4ldc (But the real winner is 2nd ¶ of http://tinyurl.com/6gz4b8 ) #

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• Sooo excited! Cannot decide what knit projects I will need to take on the plane. Socks? Scarves? Lace? So many choices! #
• So excited I could hardly get to sleep last night. I cannot be held responsible if I go around singing “Vaycayshooonnnn” all day today. #
• Hahaha. I have to kill a process. Its pid is 31337. AWESOME. #
• @sanityknit Still headachey from that? What book was it, the unabridged OED? #
• @sanityknit DO IT. Naps rock! And take some Aleve beforehand. :) #
• @smokes70 You know, I think it did! #
• I am singing a little song about how much I love m4 and automation. m4 is my friiiiiiiend! I love you m4! (I forgive you for backticks.) #
• If my Cute Overload calendar could do YouTube, it would do this: http://tinyurl.com/3h8do4 #

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• On behalf of the people of Illinois, to all of you in TVland: Enjoy! It is our pleasure to provide you with pre-inauguration entertainment. #
• @sanityknit Crap! Do you still have my travel power adapter at your house? I totally forgot about that! #
• @sanityknit Nah, nevermind…sorry for the panic! My phone takes 220V so I should be good without the transformer. Phew. :) #
• @sanityknit Well, the specifics are still a bit vague but Heathrow seems to be implicated. :-) #
• @sanityknit Well, can you take 12-16 Jan off work? :-) #
• @sanityknit Well, maybe next time… have to schedule my time in between semesters now just like you so one of these days we’ll match up! #
• Dunno if it’s clicking “Make booking” or the entire pot of coffee that’s got me so twitchy right now. Or both. #
• Also, you know what I’ve never understood? Luggage shops in airports. Haven’t you already packed by the time you get there? #

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Just reserved a seat for one in the I-hope-it’s-purple cabin of a Virgin Atlantic plane, which shall wing its way from boring, tedious, probably shitty-weathered old O’Hare to Heathrow’s hopefully-not-so-broken-as-T5 Terminal 3, the Saturday after my 31st birthday. I cannot wait to learn my plane’s name! (Sadly, it will not be Unicorn Chaser, as she only flies domestic.) I even offset my carbon because I am a good little girl scout (even though I am not yet convinced it is not a scam…but I am willing to play along so long as people make up convincing enough lies. Besides, they give me stickers!).

I’d have traveled for my actual birthday, but I have CSO tickets for that night, and it’s Gustavo Dudamel, so the UK’s gotta wait in line. — I do feel mildly bad because I’ll be blowing off two nights of Alliance-Française classes, but I’m pretty sure I’ll pass the final for Niveau 7 either way, so I won’t worry too much about it. (The phonetics class, if it has a final, I’m probably going to blow it because I am pretty crap at the API, but at least I’ve gotten some sound — ’scuse the pun — help out of the class anyways.)

I am really interested to see the final breakdown of my ticket costs. The fare was only $280, which you must admit is excellent. The taxes and fees were $365, or one third again the fare cost. Seriously, I want to see how that is all broken down. It is worth noting that the first time I flew to London, in June of 2003, it cost me slightly more: about $675, vs $645. A friend bought the tickets for the second, most recent time I flew to London, in January of 2004, so I don’t recall how much that was, but I think it was about the same. So considering inflation, it’s far cheaper to fly now than it was back then! I should take vacations more often!

So I am very excited. It has really been since that first trip to London (the very worst vacation ever in the history of vacation-kind) that I’ve had much of a proper vacation. The second trip to the UK was really just a long weekend (4 days, I think?), and my massive road trip out to New Hampshire in ‘05 was somewhat muddied by being preceded by an unexpected 1400-mile-round-trip hospital visit and, two weeks later, the death of my grandmother, immediately before I was supposed to start my actual vacation. I went to Las Vegas last January for a long weekend, and I went to Baltimore this summer for a long weekend, which worked out better than last time I went to Baltimore, but only by certain measures. That’s really been about it, though. I can’t remember the last time I took an entire week off of work and unplugged. I actually asked for three weeks off of work, since I took no real vacation for all of 2008 since we were understaffed all year, but they said no; so one week in the UK and a few more days off for this year’s Vegas trip it is.

Right, I mentioned I’m going to Vegas again, yeah? ‘Cos I am. And this year, I have been practicing my video poker skills. Two weeks ago we went to the Casino in Hammond for Liz’s birthday and I kicked ass. I was up $80 on video poker, then we went to the nickel Wheels of Fortune, which are so incredibly much more fun than the expensive Wheels of Fortune — and I could not for the life of me, get a spin. (The Wheel of Fortune — excuse me: WHEEL! OF! FORTUNE!!!! — machines basically work like the game show except there are no puzzles. You spin the reels like a regular slot machine, and sometimes you get the magic combination that lets you have a spin of the win-this-amount-of-money wheel. When the magic symbols come up on the reel, it shouts WHEEL! (for the first reel), OF! (if you get the second as well) and FORTUNE!!! (if you get all three). I got lots of WHEEL!s and many WHEEL! OF!s, but not a single damn WHEEL! OF! FORTUNE!! the whole time I sat at that one machine. Which, it should be noted, had no problem giving Liz spins later! Of course, she was the birthday girl.) The spin is, like, the whole point of the damn thing. IT WOULD NOT GIVE ME A SPIN. Everyone around me was getting spins left, right, and center, but I didn’t get any. It did give me lots of money though; one time I hit a magic combination on the slot reels that gave me a little over $50, which is practically real money. I cashed out at one point being up $122 for the day. (My initial buyin was $100, so that is not too shabby.) And then we went on and found the nickel video poker machines, which have crappy odds and are not as much fun as the nickel Wheels! Of! Fortune!!!, but at any rate, I am much better at video poker this time, so I should not feed the machine $40 only to lose it in ten minutes anymore (I will lose it in an hour…), and I came out of Hammond with $80 more than I went with (so I promptly went home and ordered pizza delivery to celebrate, because coming home with $230 when you had expected to come home with $0 is totally awesome). Where was I? Oh yeah, I’m totally psyched about video poker now.

So I have plans for London. I am going to hit the London Transport Museum, and maybe see if I can go on a tour of the BBC Television Centre because that would be neat, and Friday there is ice skating (of course I am going ice skating) at Somerset House with Desdemona Plays Pop. And I want to go to the Tate Modern because I’ve never been. Obviously I wanted to get a ticket to go see Sunday Night Project but as I have received no calls and now it’s well past 7 days, … fail. Alas. On the free entertainment side, the side that makes people stare at me funny and remark that it must be nice to be so easily amused, I am going to Boots straight off just so I can buy paracetamol because I prefer paracetamol because it’s much easier to spell than acetaminophen. (That almost makes up for all the diphthongs such as in “paediatrics” and “oestrogen,” but not quite. (Though credit must be given to the language just for giving me an excuse to use the word diphthongs, which is also easier to spell than acetaminophen.))

My plans for Vegas…. I mentioned I have been practicing video poker, right? Because I totally have! (Hint: it’s all about the pairs.) Also I am going to a sports book to put down a few dollars on the Sox winning the division because I meant to last year and forgot and look how that turned out, so I’m not going to forget this time, Just In Case. That is, in all honesty, the extent of my Vegas plans. I am going to completely veg out the entire time and it will be brilliant. (Except for when I am doing homework for the one math class and one bio class I will be missing in order to be there. But that is what airport delays are for.)

I know this whole post is utterly stream-of-consciousnessy, and sorry for that, but dudes, I am just so excited. I have not had a vacation in so very long, and I saved up my money and I have my passport and I know the 3-1-1 rules and I am totally going on vacation! VAAAACAAAAAATIONNNNNNNNNNNNN!

• There’s something remarkably calming about staring out into space over the whole of an orderly, sparkling cityscape. I <3 my apartment. #
• The Plague, Day 3. Pro: Less sinus headache. Con: Still cannot talk in anything but a painfully froggy voice. Perhaps Day 4? #
• @smokes70 20 days left of Bush! #

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• Okay, I am now officially weary of the plague. Also, out of Kleenex. #
• Had thought maybe I could go in to work today. However, upon limping out of bed, still feel like death on toast. Argh. #
• Just read an article which used this spelling: preëminent. Technically correct trema usage, I suppose, but still pretentious as all git-out. #
• Never got contacted about an SNP ticket. Guess I’m not getting one. :( #

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• On my third pot of mint tea w/honey today. Soon, I shall turn green from it all. #
• @jacklund Probably all licensing issues. Think of it as an excuse to catch up on all the classics you always meant to watch! #
• Ow. Sinuses making every part of my head hurt. Sudafed, why have you forsaken me? #
• @denizenofchaos Haha. It’s the price we pay for being cool kids! #
• @sanityknit Enjoy it while it lasts :) #

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• @sanityknit Wow. Yeah. That’s … weird? I hope it’s just perspective or something :-) #
• I think I’m coming down with something. Wonderful. #
• Ugh. Have definitely come down with something. So much for my only one personal weekend day to myself this weekend being relaxing. #
• Making matzoh ball soup and feeling generally sorry for myself. At least it’s an excuse to break out the TNG S1 disks I got recently. #

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• It took me 40 minutes to drive 15 miles. Pea soup fog. Missed an exit in the fogbank. Still getting passed by idiots doing 60, natch. #
• @sanityknit Took it to auto parts store - they have a diagnostic thingie. Fuel mix running lean. Not critical, just wasteful. Yay? #
• Also, unexpected extra evening in P-Town. Fambly elected that I should not drive in this goo. I didn’t really protest. T-storms tmrw tho. #
• Also, should note that after spending 75 mins clearing half of driveway, 50*F temps melted the rest of it. My heart was in the right place. #
• @robotviki Have a great trip! Accost lots of Deutschlanders! Drink bier! Sehen cool stuff! Enjoy being !here! #
• Crap!! I just realized I have like 6 days left to finish that afghan I wanted to finish crocheting by the end of the year!!! #
• Dude. Totally just checked the weather for the trip back tomorrow. It’s gonna be like 6 hours of dense fog, rain, gusting winds. W/cat. :( #
• About 4 hours left until I blow this taco stand. Breakfast, yarn hunting, cat setup and retrieval operations… then the fun begins. #
• Home! Missed nearly all of the bad weather, too. Though that didn’t stop me from constantly watching the horizon for funnel clouds. #
• @sanityknit Yeah, but in the end, you’ll have WAY better bragging rights than those of us who have only knit sweaters in super-bulky… #

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• Argh. You know you’re in the sticks when…all the damn mechanics for 50 miles are closed the day /after/ the holiday. Even the dealer! #
• Also, you know you’re in the sticks when the idea of driving 50 miles to the mechanic’s is not an unreasonable one. #
• @smokes70 Oh my God, THANK YOU. YOU ARE A LIFESAVER. #
• @chowbok Haha, brilliant. Is it actually for real? I can’t tell, it’s so improbable yet, I mean, people are pretty dumb sometimes… #
• Still no SNP ticket. :( :( :( :( :( #
• I hate Comcast’s support site. It’s all so whizbang you can’t open pages in new tabs or use back/fwd buttons effectively. Web design jerks! #
• Also, Dear Windows Mail: “Error Number 0×800CCC92″ is not, personally, what I would consider a particularly useful message to the user. FYI. #
• Does anyone have a more Grandma-friendly email GUI client suggestion than Vista Windows Mail, which makes me regret being born? #
• VISTA WONT INSTALL HOTFIXES IT JUST TELLS ME ‘FAILED’ SERIOUSLY GOING TO START TAKING HOSTAGES ANY MINUTE NOW #
• @shadow Haven’t tried it actually… Might give it a shot. Can’t possibly be /worse/, can it? #
• And okay, seriously, in the annals of bad errors, “An unknown error has occurred” is right up there on the WORST EVER list. #
• @shadow THUNDERBIRD CAN SEND EMAIL OMG OMG OMG YAY! #
• Windows Firewall blocking Windows Updates which kept Windows Mail from working. Nice interdepartmental communications there, guys. #
• omg. Just cleared ice/slush/goo off 2/3 of a double-wide driveway. So tired now. Someone bring me coffee and a donut; I’m too weak to move. #
• @sanityknit I don’t know… check engine light came back on. Suspect they did not actually fix the problem last time. :( #
• @jacklund Their features make me stabby. Also their errors. And really, their software in general. #
• Also, next time someone mocks me for using a Mac I’m just going to say, “Unexpected error 8007002E.” #

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• @mizmoose Delivery? #
• Made it to P-Town. Cat made it all the way to Bloomington before barfing… And he aimed for the rubber floormat, good kitty. #
• OMG. Vista constantly popping up “Did you really click…?” windows for the stupidest things. WHINIEST, MOST CODEPENDENT OS EVER. #
• Ugh. I now regret giving my grandmother a computer with such an awful, awful train wreck of an operating system. I long for XP. #
• Wishing i had something profound to say. Stupidly left knitting in car; consequently, BOOORED. #

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• One of my KnitPicks Options circular needles died today!! The cord pulled out of the screwy bit. I am shocked and dismayed. #
• @chowbok I love cat snores! They’re the best. Better even than chasing yarn balls in their sleep. #
• Tiger gets to go back to P-Town for the first time in…12 years?? Bet he still loves the roadtripping! #
• And Citi attempts to screw me twice in the same calendar month. So long, guys. Your poor money management skills are /not/ my problem. #
• Bottle of catnip spray worth its price just for the first time Kiyoshi rolls ecstatically right off the side of the ‘nip-doused footstool. #

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• Every so often, my smoke detector chirps a couple times a few seconds apart, then goes silent for hours. Dying battery, or random taunting? #
• Someone is shooting off a ton of fireworks in the south loop, obscured by the hateful new high-rise kitty corner from mine. Can’t see! Boo! #
• Argh. Xmas plans all up in the air now. Stress stress stress. Also, MOAR SNOW-SLEET-SLUSH-ICE? DO NOT WANT #
• Having a slapfight with @smokes70 over Fourth vs Fifth Doctor. But only because HE IS CLEARLY WRONG. #
• @mizmoose Hey, who knew, you are also COMPLETELY WRONG. #
• @mizmoose Well, yes, Nine is full of win. That is an acceptable compromise. #
• Throwing up my hands in the air as once more an unannounced network outage screws over the work I was trying to get done. #

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