random...

Just read that a 56-year old woman gave birth to twins. More power to her -- it means that she'll be 75 and probably hobbled by arthritis and high cholesterol by the time they graduate from high school. (Not to mention those middle-of-the-night bad dreams when she's 60, though who's to know whether the initial awakenings will be hers or her kids.) And she chose this?

My dad voted in a US election for the first time since he voted for JFK. Somehow, the US citizenship laws changed, so he's now able to claim dual citizenship in Canada and the US. He told me he voted a straight Democratic ticket out of Chicago, but I assume that in keeping with his anti-traditional style, he voted only once. And he was alive when he did it.

Two sites meant to comfort the 49% minority:
No good American will be left behind
http://www.marryanamerican.ca/

Sorry World -- we tried
http://www.sorryeverybody.com/
Truly delightful.

And my friend Dr. Curmudgeon has *truly* redefined marriage:
http://www.cafepress.com/drbanks.14525788

Meanwhile, work continues to be (mostly) fun. It took 6 or 7 weeks for the honeymoon to be disrupted, but not destroyed. Been having some good conversations with co-workers, and I'm just pleased as punch that my writing coworker has arrived (yeah!). I have a peer! Further, we're releasing the next version early next week, and I've been able to contribute in a fairly satisfying, if not entirely significant, way without stretching myself too thin. I really like the engineers -- they're for the most part incredibly sweet and enthusiastic, and they cheerfully write first drafts of technically complex material for me. I'm stunned.

Meanwhile, back at the (well, it's not exactly a ranch), we've been having fun with some last decorating projects. The garage is nearly cleaned out, with more going tomorrow, and Robert slowly getting rid of some last electronica that he no longer wants. Next week -- garage door openers. For some reason, not having them has felt like a hardship (ok, go ahead and laugh, but I *like* putting my car in the garage, and I'm already getting tired of scraping frost). That, and during the coldest part of last winter having to go downstairs in the middle of the night to pee and just having subflooring to step on. Icky. But that part of the project is well behind us. It's nice living here. Sometimes I come home and think "oooh. Real grownups live here. Oh yeah. Welcome home."

And much as I enjoyed my solitary lifestyle for so many years, I like having someone to share this place with. I love coming home to a devoted kitty; it's even nicer that there's another human here, one whom I like and love.

Back to watching the random stream flow by, with more selections to come.