Oh Dana, I'm sorry that the universe is sucker punching you and yours right now.

It's like musical chairs, only with fucking.

Tom, HA!

Okay, finally home. And no internet access. I'm going to bed.

I am happy. I've been wanting a netbook so I can have, essentially, a larger PDA with a full keyboard so I can just do writing away from my home desk. We went to a local college's surplus sale today and I found a Toshiba Satellite with a Pentium MMX, 32 meg of RAM, working CD, floppy drive--and a working battery! There's even a USB port, and 30 seconds of Googling found the Win 98 SE USB drivers I needed. All for $33. Considering what laptop batteries cost, I feel like I made out like a bandit. It's only got a 2 gig hard drive, but considering I'm only going to be writing in Notepad, I call it a big win.

Get some good sleep, Dana.

I'm going to go hang out with friends tomorrow night, low-key, have a drink.

The rest of the weekend will be housecleaning in prep for T-day, organizing files on the computer, blogging and job searching and sending in resumes.

Oh, and I think I'll go to the library too.

This weekend will be an organizing frenzy. I'm feeling a wicked urge to get my sh*t together.

I'll have to crank The Sorcerer's Apprentice and get those brooms a-movin'. No file, nor cranny will be safe from my ire.

Dana and Tom, I'm sorry for your day.

I saw HPVII-PartI today (there ought to be a better acronym: HPDHI?) and was entertained.

And now I have to go to bed.

I saw HPVII-PartI today (there ought to be a better acronym

Preferably one that doesn't make me want to encourage young women to get their Gardisil vaccinations.

I seem to have gained a cat. I think he's either been abandoned or is lost. I call him Oliver, he's been coming by for treats tossed from the balcony. He follows me everywhere, I can pick him up and scratch his ears. He actually walks beside me, like a dog. It's pretty damn cute.

It's cold and raining and he's been outside crying. I gave him a big bowl of food, and he ate every last crumb. Kristen made him a little bed out of a box and blanket so he'll be safe and warm outside my apartment door. I can't take him in, I've no idea if he has feline leukemia and can't risk Ruby's health.

If he's still outside tomorrow, I'll get him to the vet and have him tested. He's safe, warm, and fed for tonight. His crying is breaking my heart, though.

I've evaluated this public resistance, and I think it's shit and I don't want it to inconvenience me because I think it's going to be highly ineffective.

The TSA site says that body screening is optional, and the spokesbeings have repeatedly stressed that. If people en masse take them up on that offer (which I believe is all the big protest groups are recommending) I'm not sure its the individual travelers who are to blame.

I would usually agree with you about how effective its likely to be, but I'm surprised by how much blowback there's been in the past week. I am genuinely sorry for anybody who gets inconvenienced... but I am also genuinely sorry for the people who have been reduced to tears by pat-downs. I don't know how to weigh those things against each other.

And I don't mean that as "you're just being callous and fascist, ita, because that's you all over," because that isn't and you're not and ugh. When I think about it I argue both POVs in my head until I get dizzy and have to stop. All I can say is that I'm suspicious of any system that's set up so that groups of people are pitted against each other this way. Because it really is the worst aspects of mob psychology that get to this point.

Personally, the selfish me want the system changed soon, because the moralistic me might be asked to travel for work this winter. I haven't flown since last Feb (also for work), and as things stand I wouldn't fly again unless it's to leave the country permanently... which I think about doing more and more often. If I have to fly for my job, I'm faced with how serious my objections are, and what if that costs my job. I think that's unlikely... but I don't know for sure. And if it comes to that, are my morals more important than my paycheck? I haven't decided. Which means I'm kind of sickened by myself.

This weekend I'll be at Asilomar, in a historic lodge designed by Julia Morgan (the architect of Hearst Castle), and then down in San Luis Obispo at the crazy Madonna Inn, where every room has a different theme.

I have been to both those places! Only stayed at the former, though.