The People's Democratic Republic of Insomnia

"It's just laser beams and power chords--there's no plot at all."

Sunday, January 31, 2010

News Update

I overheard some radio traffic on the coast guard frequency, apparently two boats, one red and one blue, had collided in the Gulf.

Both crews were marooned.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Rackin' up the ZZZs

For the last two weeks or so I've been on a pretty constant work/sleep rotation. Even on my days off I've had commitments that have kept me running. Last night I finally got to go to sleep when I felt like it and stay in bed until I woke up on my own (well, until the dog wanted breakfast, anyway).

Feels good to be caught up, but I'm sore from staying in one position for so long.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

I Write a Book Report

I just finished _Neither Here nor There_ by Yankee John's man-crush, Bill Bryson. I can now say that there IS a Bryson book I don't like.

Bryson's typical whimsy and self-deprecating humor are redirected against Europe in this travelogue. The author complains about delays, strange food, foreign customs, and all things not Anglo-American to such an extent that one wonders why he bothers travelling at all. He abandons his usual formula (let me tell you about this neat thing I saw, followed by a story of how I'm an idiot, lightly peppered with rants about something random) in favor of 200 pages of whining about how Europe isn't the US (except when he's whining that Europe is too much like the US).

Give this one a miss, and go re-read _A Walk in the Woods_ instead.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Weather Report

It is just unnecessarily cold tonight. Water pipes are NOT supposed to freeze-break south of I-10, dammit. And then some idiot on the Westbank decided to go off-roading on the neutral ground, possibly due to said broken water pipes. Did I mention that he went off-roading through a streetlight, leaving a live wire exposed next to said broken water pipes?

Interesting evening.