Happy

Well, I kinda flubbed my hope to write more in my journal during Thanksgiving break, didn't I? Oh, well.

Part of this is because I ended up having to work about a day over last Monday-to-Wednesday, finishing a project for this coming week. And no small part of that was spent trying to figure out why I couldn't build our product on my laptop, and in the process of trying to fix it I hosed the laptop's wireless networking and had to do a clean install of the OS. Gah! Very frustrating. So I ended up doing the work in the office after all. I'm hoping I can get the time comped i the near future, though.

On the plus side, Debbi and the kittens came down for the long weekend, and we went to two Thanksgiving dinners. The first - actually on Thanksgiving - was at the home of one of Debbi's cow-orkers, Bill, and his wife Elaine. They host a Turkey Day Feast every year, and we were among the 11 people attending this year. It was a lot of fun, with very good food, four Persian cats, and good conversation. Even another fellow who collects comics (mostly Silver Age, which you don't often encounter). Bill and Elaine have a lovely house with a great view and a cool landscaped yard which they've worked on for years. I'm jealous.

Saturday we went to Lisa and Michel's, as they were having a late dinner so both their parents could attend. We had a good time there as well. And both times Debbi brought some pepperoni pizza bread twists from a recipe of her sister's (and which I suspect is basically how a favorite restaurant of ours makes their sausage bread).

Meanwhile, the cats and kittens seem to be getting along better and better. Today Jefferson even let Roulette snooze with him for a bit, and he even helped clean her fur! Blackjack is a tougher sell, since he wants to play all the time, and Jeff isn't that comfortable with them yet. But it's slowly getting worked out. I figure once Newton starts playing with them then all will be good.

Oh, and I received my new couch on Friday:

The cats seem to like it a lot, probably because - unlike my old futon-couch - the seat isn't sloped, so they can lie in it any which way they want. Jefferson has made a few light scratch attempts at it, but we've been scolding him immediately when we catch him at it.

It's very comfy - I like it a lot.

I've done a lot of cleaning this week, including doing some serious tidying of my study's closet, where the futon's frame is being stored until Trish can come get it. The mattress is rolled up at the foot of my bed, where it's nearly out of the way. Hopefully in a couple of weeks she can snag it. I may need to go down to help her put it together, tho, as I don't think I have the instructions for it any longer.

But it's good to have the place a little cleaner. Surprisingly, there was not much crap under the futon to be vacuumed up.

I got a little bit of reading done this week. Mostly odds-and-ends, though I did read Jess Nevins' Heroes and Monsters, the print version of his annotations to Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's comics series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (upon which the film was based). It's quite a geek-fest for fans of the series or of Victorian adventure literature.

(And for fans of the comic, the hardcover collection of the second series is available.)

Other than that, we've mostly taken it easy this weekend. Partly since Debbi had a pain in her back, and partly because I came down with a cold yesterday. Last night we watched my DVDs of both Finding Nemo and The Muppet Movie. I'd forgotten how much fun the latter is. ("If frogs couldn't hop, I'd be gone with the Schwinn!") It really is a minor masterpiece of a film, playing around with the conventions of filmmaking, and "breaking the fourth wall" early and often. It's witty and not just for kids. I haven't had much interest in Muppetalia since the early 80s, but this one is cool.

(For the record, Mel Brooks out-acts everyone else in the film in his surreal turn as a Nazi scientist; makes me wonder how much of that scene was ad-libbed by Brooks. And Austin Pendleton reminds me greatly of Joshua Malina. But anyway.)

Both Debbi and I are feeling much better this evening, and she's headed home so we can both prepare to face the week.

Me, I think I'll spend some time on the couch.