attention oncoming drivers

Did you not see the fog? Did you not notice how you can't see more than 20 feet? TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS, DUMBASS.

Thanks.

pirates and emperors

I don't want this to be a political blog, hence I avoid such topics here. However, I am a big Schoolhouse Rock fan, and this video is very well done as parodies go (regardless of whether or not you agree with its message). Pirates and Emperors

can we hurry up and fall back already?

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the sun going down at 7:00 every night. This year we have to go all the way to Halloween before we switch off Daylight Savings (which, by the way, has nothing to do with farmers -- why would a farmer want to change the clocks when his cows are still milking at 5 a.m., which is now 6 a.m. human time, but the market is effectively opening an hour earlier from the cow's point of view?).

Edited to add: Oops, I guess the sun will be going down even EARLIER once we fall back. My bad.

In other news, I'm finally printing those baby books I mentioned in my July vacation list. The design and revisions are done, but seeing as I need 30 twenty-page books and 20 six-page books, it's going to take a while to print. It's on thick paper, so I can only put about 30 pages at a time into the printer tray, then run them through again for the reverse side. It's not like I can just load up the printer and leave it running during the day (aside from which, I use my Mac laptop at work). It'll get done; it'll just take a while. I must say, it looks really nice and will be a great portfolio piece.

I would upload a PDF of the book, but one of the fonts I'm using refuses to embed itself due to "licensing restrictions," which I've never heard of a font doing before. InDesign also won't copy the font file when I Collect for Output, which is pretty hilarious -- what if I were sending this to a print bureau? How, exactly, are they supposed to print it without the font, Cap'n Johann Sparkling ITC? Represent, biotch!

Other things from my July vacation to-do list: I cleaned the car, which was made necessary by my spilling of coffee. I also put three boxes of Snoopy stuff into storage, finally (those particular three boxes have been sitting in my room since April of 2003, ready to be stored, but for whatever reason never were). I'm glad to get them out. At last, the end of the Big Snoopy Move Of 2002™ is in sight -- probably three or four more boxes, making 11 or 12 total, plus a giant bag of plush Snoopy dolls.

I haven't updated Quicken like I wanted to, for several reasons. The main one being that I'm switching to Microsoft Money 2005 as soon as it arrives in the mail, because it will import QIF files (which my credit union uses), unlike Quicken 2005 which claims QIF is obsolete therefore no one should use it even though they do and get along just fine (does Steve Jobs run Intuit too?). That means I'll have to use TaxCut instead of TurboTax, but no big loss there either. Aside from the QIF issue, Quicken 2005 is getting hideous reviews, and I got MS Money cheap from a friend. Yay.

I'm also doing very well with my theater hiatus. I did help out a few times with rehearsals for Elyria's Wizard of Oz, but didn't play for the shows. It's been so nice having my evenings free and being able to chip away at my to-do list, ever so slowly. Playing for a musical always seems like it would be fun at first, but after about the fifth rehearsal I remember why I always end up regretting it. Sorry, the money just isn't there for the time I have to commit, and I'm far enough along in my piano-playing ability that I can make such a statement. I'm generally shy and modest about my abilities and accomplishments with the piano, but playing for what is effectively nothing does get old after a while -- I don't have a big enough ego for applause and compliments to serve as payment. :) "If you enjoy it so much, how about paying me for it???"