I got Owen's teachers gift cards for Applebees. Lame, probably, but I just didn't have it in me to do more than that. I'm getting movie gift cards for the girls that work in the daycare center at the gym.

Not sure what to do for the bus drivers. (Not normally a thing but with Owen's issues, he gets extra attention and I like to thank the people who take good care of him.)

I have a working computer again! Wheeeeeee!

I think the only people who will be getting dead-tree cards from me this holiday will be my friends from work. I haven't seen them since I left New Jersey. Almost a year ago! Wow. No, wait, I saw some of them in Atlanta in April for the yearly meeting. (But we didn't even get drunk, much less talk about sex.) I want to keep in touch, and it takes an effort, because I'm really bad at that.

I got a call from somebody who lives six blocks east of here that they had seen a cat like Ivan in their yard and on their porch.

I was in the indoor pants so I changed clothes and raced over there - no cat, no answer at the door. I think I will phone tomorrow and offer to bring them an original of the poster so that they can see a clearer picture of Mr. Ivan.

Now, I'm sweaty and tired and hungry.

I'm going to order a burger.

Oh, sumi, how disappointing. I am so worried about you and Mr. Ivan. If I lost my Miss Bobo I would be inconsolable.

I'm sorry, sumi. I hope the cat your neighbors found is Mr. Ivan, and that you can meet up with them, and him, soon.

I have new windows, and now, when they are closed, I can't get internet. So I have to open my window. But it is cold, and all my head is going out the window, even with the drapes closed and a pillow stuffed in the opening. Any ideas? Should I try taping plastic over the whole thing?

I googled, and apparently this is a rather large problem. The signal is blocked by the low-e coating on the window. Some people are enclosing the modem in clear plastic and putting it outside the window. Otherwise, your best bet may be shrink film [link]

Did anyone else just go to a Roy Orbison Wrapped in Cling-Film place?

Wow- thank you ginger! It never occurred to me to google- the problem seemed so weird. I wish I could fit the #@^%!! receiver between the window and the screen, but I can;t.

Möbius Bagel: interlocking, endless, doughy rings of math

On the website of sculptor and mathematician George Hart, there are step-by-step instructions for how to craft a Möbius strip from a single bagel. I like his thoughts at the very end of the instruction process:

"It is much more fun to put cream cheese on these bagels than on an ordinary bagel. In additional to the intellectual stimulation, you get more cream cheese, because there is slightly more surface area."