Happy Leap Year!

Happy Leap Year! I've been wishing the occasional person this just to see what they do. Most of them are amused, since it's not actually a holiday or a cause to be happy. Which is why I do it, of course!

I even fixed a bug in my scripts which power this journal; the day-of-the-week was a day ahead of the date-of-year. Turns out my math was wrong for January/February of leap years. Strangely, no one noticed (or, at least, no one wrote to tell me about it). Easy enough to fix, though!

Sadly, Debbi's not having a happy leap year, as she got home tonight and found when she went to move her car from her temporary unloading spot to her regular spot, that it didn't start. Just a click when she turned the key, though apparently she got battery charge (radio and lights came on, etc.). Not sure whether it's the starter, or the engine, or what. Her car is getting up there in years, so think good thoughts for her please.

At least she has her kitties to keep her company. I've been meaning to run some new photos of them for a while, so here they are: Blackjack and Roulette!

We had a pretty leisurely weekend, all things considered. Hung around at home Friday night, and then Debbi went to her aerobics class Saturday morning, so I got to entertain all the kitties for the morning, and also do some much-needed cleanup of my desk in my study.

When she got home we grabbed lunch (gyros), and then went into San Francisco to take advantage of the sale at the New Balance outlet. Debbi bought some crosstrainers, while I got some walking sneakers, which definitely have a different feel from my usual running sneakers (which I don't use for running), and are also more subdued, with a suede exterior. Both sets of shoes were on sale, and Debbi was happier with the sales staff at the SF store than at the Santana Row store in San Jose.

Then we made a run to Amoeba Music on Haight Street so I could do a bit of shopping, followed by a short visit to the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, which is definitely much more impressive than the other two we've seen in the area. We got there shortly before closing, so we will need to go back and see it at a more leisurely pace in the future. We also briefly visited the Shakespeare Garden nearby.

Today we quietly hit the farmer's market, then spent the afternoon at home, mostly not doing much. Debbi napped a bit, I think to regain some energy following her extraordinarily busy week last week. I puttered around, and put together an Indian dish for dinner (mmm, ground beef and garbanzo beans). And kept the kittens entertained, of course.

The kittens love coming down to visit. They really don't like the car ride, but few cats do. Once they get here Roulette spends her first evening mostly being manic and wanting to explore everything and do things and be with the big cats. Blackjack is pretty manic most of the time anyway, and loves to run back and forth down my upstairs hallway. Roulette and Newton are gradually striking up a friendship, I think, with some rubbing and licking and less hissing and growling. I think Roulette is not considered a threat by Jefferson and Newton, unlike Blackjack who is much more aggressive and not very intimidated. Jefferson I think doesn't really want much to do with either kitten, but I think Newton is starting to appreciate Roulette. It's taking a while, but Debbi thinks they'll become friends. Not the combination either of us had expected!

We're starting to ramp up towards fantasy baseball season. Trying to fill a couple of vacancies in the league, with an eye towards an early-April draft. My team is in pretty good position to make a run this year, though last year's champion has such a good core of players that he'll be hard to beat. But I think I can be competitive for several years to come with my core. That's the plan, anyway.

Spring training is underway, and I guess games are getting started. Not sure whether I can pick any up in my office... this might be the year I finally give in and subscribe to MLB's Internet radio package... assuming the prices haven't gone up much since last I checked.

Spring training always means that nice weather is right around the corner, and I look forward to the end of winter, good hiking and biking days, and spending leisurely evenings and weekends listening to ballgames in the background. And of course attending games from time to time! It's just because such an integral part of my summers over the last ten years, and once football season ends and we're in the dark age where only basketball and hockey (and even lesser sports) are on television and in the sports section of the paper, I realize that I'm entirely ready for baseball to start again.

I try not to dwell on baseball too much in this journal, since I know not everyone is interested, and I already have many outlets for my baseball geekdom. I may try writing the occasional "serious" article about baseball here from time to time, as the mood strikes. On a related note, I would like to do comic book reviews a bit more regularly - maybe monthly. Hey, if nothing else it may get me to write here more often, and that's not a bad thing, right?