The place where lost socks go...

Yesterday evening, the electrician came over to take a look at the work we want done. There are about three things that need to be fixed, and another dozen things that we want to do just to improve the house (e.g. add bathroom vents, bedroom fan lights, extra outlets). The repairs, which are the most crucial work, will probably not cost much. The other modifications are a bit more, but still seem to be affordable. Good deal!

Lang came over last night, for the last time until I get back from Argentina. In order to stay awake long enough to appreciate the evening, we bought some caffeinated tea. The type of tea we bought was named "Awake." That should have been a clue. We drank our tea at 10:30pm. Around 1:20pm, Lang drifted off to sleep. Meanwhile, I laid in bed, very much Awake. I have never been prone to insomnia, but I should have known that would happen, now that I caffeinate myself very rarely. When the alarm went off at 6:00am, I was not a happy camper. Ugh! Napped for a good part of the morning to make up for last night.

Best news of the day is that resourceress is flying in from Boston for a week and a few days. She is in the air now, so I should go head out to O'Hare to pick her up...

As mentioned earlier, I had a fantastic trip to Arizona last week. Despite a rocky start that made me wonder if I was even going to get on the plane, everything shaped up to be practically perfect. Here's how the trip went:

( Friday: A Little Bit of Everything )

( Saturday: Local to Global Justice, 3rd Annual Teach-In )

( Sunday: Quality Time )

( Monday: Mundanity Day )

All in all, it was quite an amazing trip, in many different ways...

On Thursday, I flew out to Arizona to spend a long weekend with cheshcat. This worked out, despite a wrong turn made by my ride on the way to the airport. Wrong turns in rush hour traffic are bad, and this one cost us half an hour. Realizing that there was no way I would have time to check baggage for the flight, I hopped in the back seat and frantically shoved most of the contents of a mid-sized suitcase into a small, but expandable backpack. Ooof!

The flight itself -- #5 for 2004 -- was quite uneventful, as usual, and I finished several chapters of Howard Zinn at 40,000 feet. It feels really good to be back in Arizona; much as I like the life I've set up in Illinois these past few months, I do miss the life that I had here. It feels even better to have some time together with cheshcat.

Monday, the local blood bank was visiting the lab. This was only the second time that I've donated blood in Illinois; the first time, my arm was bruised for several days afterwards. That never happened during all the years that I donated in NY, so I was a tad apprehensive about going back. Thankfully, it went off without a hitch. Since needles are a phobia for me, I am always nervous when I go to give blood. Usually I bite my right hand, leaving noticable marks, when they insert the needle (and I've never actually looked at the needle itself). This time, I challenged myself not to bite down on anything, and was successful. Rationally, I've given blood donations so many times that I know there is nothing to be afraid of, but phobias aren't rational. So long as my actions aren't being dictated by the phobia, I don't mind being afraid.

Monday night, I had a date with Lang. We rented the movie American Splendor, which based on the "underground" comic book of the same title. Both movie and comic are auto-biographical stories about the author, a fairly ordinary guy named Harvey Pekar. The movie was good; I may have to check out the comic book. After the Arisia panel on "Cool Comics You're Probably Not Reading", I now have a rather long list of new comic book titles to look into.

Tuesday evening, I went into the city for a vegan potluck hosted by jennie and Liberte. I saw a few Chicago Anarchists that I had already met, and I was introduced to a several new ones as well. I spend time in so many different communities, like the Pagan community, the sci-fi community, the Anarchist community, and the particle physics community. In general, though, I feel most comfortable in the Anarchist communities. There is, of course, the natural comfort of being amongst like-minded people, but there is also something comfortable about the welcoming nature of people who believe strongly in mutual aid. As the evening went on, the typical political discussions gave way to talk of Star Trek and the Tick. Anarcho-geeks! I love it!

This afternoon, the lab had a coloquium given by uber-physicist James "BJ" Bjorken. The title was "The Classification of Universes," and the topic was on multiverses and the athropic principle. Yet it was a science talk given by a prominant scientist. Being aware of the meta-physical implications, he rated his talk "TO" for "Tenure Only" and explicitly warned that digestion of this material could be bad for your career.

This evening was the monthly dinner outing of the Poly-Chicago group. I had been to the restaurant (Whistler's Restaurant) before with Lang, and wasn't impressed. Last night, I continued to be unimpressed. However, the company and the conversation was fun. After dinner, a few of us went back to Raven's place to help move a king-size matress up a flight of stairs. Raven has an amazing studio set up in his apartment, in lieu of a living room. There are computers and instruments a'plenty; Lang and I were suitably awed.

Friday night, the International Film Society at the lab was showing Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner). The Moof and Lang and I went to go see it together. This is the first (only?) movie ever filmed in the Inuit language of Inuktitut. Not being a fluent speaker of Inuktitut myself, I was pleased to see that there would be subtitles. Unfortunately, white subtitles aren't the best choice for a movie set north of the Artic circle (where most of the scenery is snow), but with a little effort we managed to read most of the dialogue. The film itself was quite good, though I would like to see the first thirty minutes again because I think I would understand them better now. On first viewing, they were a little confusing.

Today, Lang and I spent a lazy morning lounging in bed with music, laptops, kittens, and conversation. After she left, the Moof and I played another game of GO, our third game this week. I am more than pleased to annouce that I won this game. I did not trounce the Moof -- the game was actually quite close (43 to 35) -- but at least I am now able to win. More importantly, this is the first game where I truly felt imbued with the spirit of GO. In other words, this is the first time that I grasped enough of the game strategy to feel somewhat in control of the board. I was able to act, not merely react. Additionally, I am beginning to comprehend the aesthetic elegance of the game.

The sky was clear all day today. I appreciate this, because most of the winter has been characterized by a completely gray cloudy sky. I really prefer to see blue when I look up, which is why I liked living in Arizona. However, of late Chicagoland has resembled Kamioka in that clouds are everpresent. After sunset, I took advantage of the clear evening to bring out the telescope. I looked at Orion, Ursa Major, and Canis Major. And I paid special attention to Jupiter and Saturn, both of which offer prime viewing right now.

Riddle me this, Batman: If kittens born together are a litter of cats, then what takes place in a cat litter box?

After Lang left for work this morning, I headed back to bed. It is not uncommon to be followed by cats, especially when they were locked out of the bedroom for the night. This morning, before drifting off to sleep, I lay there and just watched them for a bit. The kittens -- not so young now, they turned seventeen months yesterday -- were being very affectionate with one another. There was cuddling going on, and I saw one of the girls grooming one of her sisters. When finished the groomed one walked across the bed to The Boy and began grooming him in turn.

These little ones are always playing together, chasing and stalking and playing. But I also quite enjoy seeing them be so caring with one another. I'm really quite pleased that we decided to keep the entire litter of babies. Cats have been a part of my household for a long time now, with many different inter-feline relationships, but I don't think I have ever seen any as closely bonded as these four are. This is not surprising; they have spent every day of their lives together.

If I have a choice in the matter, I will probably try to only adopt new litters of kittens into my home from now on. I really like the dynamics of having a full family here. Poor Totoro, in contrast, has jealousy issues and really prefers to be the only cat around. We shall see if I have a choice, though. I have learned that cats get adopted here, not by plan, but when one with sufficient need turns up looking for a home. Which means that I should probably buy those have-a-heart traps to neuter the strays, before another pregnant mom shows up on the doorstep asking to be let in.

This Friday, being the first Friday of the month, was the branch meeting of the Chicago Wobblies. Of itself, that is nothing special, but Lang agreed to go with me to this meeting. Although I've tried hard not to proselytize her, it has been ever more difficult as her job has increased her hours, reduced her sick days, and jerked her around. I don't like seeing workers treated like crap, especially when they are friends. So I've been trying to get Lang to see that she is not, in fact, Middle Class because the Middle Class is a myth, built on exploitation and designed to keep the more privleged faction of the Working Class content as the Employing Class jerks them around!

Anyway, the meeting went well on a number of levels. It was a good and productive IWW meeting, and Lang seemed to enjoy being there. It's not like she suddently felt the spirit of Joe Hill move her, causing her to join the union on the spot -- but she did say that she would go back to another meeting.

After the meeting, we went out with a college friend of Lang's who was visiting from Connecticut. It was fun; conversation consisted of old college stories, musings about Connecticut & New England, and much punning. Interestingly enough, he seemed impressed that I could quote Shakespeare.

Saturday afternoon was spent, at last, at the Museum of Science and Industry. A fun time was had by all [two of us]. I hatched plans to kidnap the baby chicks from their exhibit, as this would probably be easier than snatching a buffalo from work. It is a tad odd to see the juxtaposition of science AND industry, though. This changed the feel of the museum slightly, relative to other science museums that I have been to (e.g. Boston Science Museum, Liberty Science Center). I think that I like the pure science museums a bit better.

Now I'm off to install Linux on the new laptop, hopefully making it co-exist peacably with the pre-installed copy of Windoze 2000 Pro.

Left Mexico yesterday, got back home last night -- strange to take an international flight that lasts for only four hours and doesn't ever change time zones. In any case, my fourth flight of 2004 was typical: Uneventful and boring. Got to nap and to read another chapter of Howard Zinn.

It's good to return home. Much as I love traveling, I am always happy when I get home again. Lang picked me up at the airport; I had a taxi reservation through the lab, but she preferred to cancel it and get me herself so that we could spend the whole evening together. I'm not going to complain. :) It was a nice date.

This morning, I went back to bed after Lang left, and all of the kitties decided to share the bed with me. It's amazing how hard it can be for one person to fit comfortably on a bed with five cats. But they missed me and wanted cuddle time, so I let them all stay and I laid in bed for longer than I would have if they hadn't been there with me. I missed them, too.

I'm taking the day off from work with no guilt since I just got back from a work-oriented trip. This lets me tackle the usual mundanity that builds up when I am out of town for a spell. Any work that I might get done today can easily be done from home, anyway. And this evening is quite busy: At 7pm there's a meeting of the Chicago Anti-authoritarian Anarchist Autonomous Coalition. At 7:30pm, there's polyoke: the monthly meeting of the Polyamorous Chicago group at a karaoke bar. I'll definitely be late, but I think I can get to both. Business first, then pleasure.