My day has been full of a feverish, and unrelatedly constipated, 4 yo. Who is refusing to poop (originally typed pop) despite fiber, liquids, and a suppository. He is alternating between sleeping , whining, and practically vibrating.

There aren't many legitimate noise complaints to be made at noon. I am sometimes concerned about the cats deciding to race at 2 or 3 am.

I have a 4 D cell maglite in the car, but I've given up on them for the smaller flashlights. I have a small LED 3 color flashlight made by Coleman.

I've given up on them for the smaller flashlights

Why? Was it price or performance? What does Coleman have going?

Most of the time I quickly need a flashlight, I end up using an app on my phone--statistically speaking finding shit in my purse is when I normally need extra light. But I should be prepared.

And seriously, the actual most annoying thing outside my parents' is birds, and what can you do about that? TWEET! TWEET!!!!!

Heh. I did knock on the window one night recently to get a pidgeon to shut up. It was late!

The only time I seriously wanted to complain was when it sounded like the kids were throwing bowling balls right over my head (their living room is right above my bedroom). It wasn't early or anything, I was sleeping late and THUNK! THUNK!THUNKTHUNK THUNK!

Why? Was it price or performance? What does Coleman have going?

At the time it was price. They were just starting to come out with LED then. I've been happy enough with the Coleman that I haven't bothered to compare more recently. I was also more than a little frustrated with the number of AA incandescent Maglights to fail me.

The Tuareg are also very handsome, seriously -- one of those ethnic groups that somehow got an extra dose of gorgeous genes, like the Kurds and Maori.

FWIW, it's really a good good idea to keep the smoke alarms in the highest part of the ceiling, since that's where the smoke rises first. You want the alarm to go off as soon as possible, either to be able to put the cause of the smoke out or to get out of the house.

It's a big topic for me, my roommate's mother died in a fire where a working smoke alarm might have saved her life.

Another reason I am glad I bought a house instead of a condo--little 7 pound Dita has discovered the joys of slippery hardwood floors, and she sounds like a herd of something.

Ugh, you guys. The Trader Joe's near us seems to have swapped out its lighting for some form of fluorescent/klieg mashup. By the time I got out of there, I felt awful and I had to wait out one of those eye migraines in the parking lot. I haven't felt that bad in a long time. Home now, with advil.

I get being annoyed by kids making a lot of noise (ask me about the multiple yappy dogs various neighbors own that bark at everything in their absence), but some of that you just suck up and deal with if it's during reasonable daylight hours and they're not wildly banging objects against the walls or floors.