Booked and Overbooked

This weekend I'm throwing a birthday party for myself, so most of the weekend will be spent preparing for or enjoying that. Plus it gives me reason to clean the apartment.

Next weekend I'm going to a housewarming party, and I've actually managed to overcommit myself on Sunday since I'd forgotten that it's Super Bowl Sunday and I've been invited to a party for that. Lucy and I had tentatively planned to go to the SF Zoo that day, but I remembered yesterday that I'd already said I'd go to the Super Bowl party (plus, like, I do actually want to watch the Super Bowl...)

So if Lucy's schedule allows, we might push that to the following weekend. Plus my friend Rob and I have been talking about getting together in the next few weeks - we haven't seen each other in about a year, and since then he and his wife have bought a new house and become parents! Plus another friend and I are thinking of going to the Winchester Mystery House sometime...

I do feel somewhat ambivalent when my schedule gets full like this. I often like to have a certain amount of time left open so I can do things on the spur of the moment. But, on the other hand, if I don't find any such "things" to do, I might lament the fact that I didn't schedule something ahead of time. So on balance knowing that I have plans like these has to be counted a good thing. Especially since I've been doing fewer things with friends during weeknights, which means I have that time to spend at home with the cats. So it works out.

Well, my neck feels much better - not 100%, but much better than the 30% or so it felt on Thursday. I guess it was just stiff.

On the other hand, my throat has become fairly sore over the last couple of days, mostly feeling very dried out, despite drinking large quantities of liquid. I've been drinking cranberry juice (something I picked up from Adrienne, actually) and orange juice as well as water. I otherwise basically feel fine, except that I'm pretty tired by the end of the day, that bone-tiredness that indicates that my body is in fact fighting off something.

After work last night I went grocery shopping, mainly for my party, but also just to stock the fridge. I had a yen to cook rice pilaf, so I picked up the fixings for that. I also bought a bunch of sandwich meat, drinks, fruits, peanuts, and the like.

Oh, I did indeed make the rice pilaf when I got home; managed to slice a small hunk out of my middle finger on my left hand while doing it. It's really small, but it's bright red and bled for quite a while. It was more annoying than painful! Anyway, it's a really good recipe and I think I've finally cooked it enough times to have the details ironed out. I do need a better covered pot for it, though. (My friend John would probably scoff at my cooking utensils if he saw them in their entirety. I'm not much of a chef and only buy what looks sufficient for my limited needs, whereas he does serious cooking and spends vast sums of money on cooking utensils.)

Today, well, I started off by finishing a second crossword puzzle in the Merc. Either the Merc's crossword puzzles are easier than the ones my Mom does in the Boston Globe (quite possible), or I'm actually getting better at them.

And then I went to The Prolific Oven to pick up a cake. (They've redesigned their Web site and it's pretty spiffy, by the way. I think it's done with Flash.) I bought my cake there last year and it went over well, and it's generally been well-endorsed by people I've talked to anyway. So how can I go wrong?

You're probably aware that the power crisis in California has gotten bad enough that the two major utility companies might file for bankruptcy, the state is starting to buy power directly (which has the potential to drive the state into bankruptcy if a long-term solution isn't found), and we're having rolling blackouts. Apple hasn't been hit yet, since we had a blackout last summer and I think they continued the blackout list from where it left off then. But my apartment got hit during the day on Thursday, as I came home and all my clocks were flashing at me (except, strangely, for one of my VCRs, which retained both its clock and its programming somehow; it must have its own battery). The food in the fridge seemed to be okay, though.

On the radio I recently heard what I think is the wisest thing anyone's said about the crisis: The primary goal of the energy grid in our society should be to provide energy reliably, without interruption, and at a stable cost. The state should structure the power system to meet these needs. However, these needs are obviously not ones which can be easily met by the free market, because these goals are directly at odds with the laws of supply and demand. Therefore, energy should not be supplied by the market.

This is why California's deregulation of power has been such a bad idea. And it's why, even though other states are having better luck, I don't expect it will work there over the long term, either.

By the way, Lucy wrote to me:

I meant to tell you earlier: I totally agree that the Calvin and Hobbes strip you posted completely captures your sense of humor!