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Got to work about 9:30 today, only half an hour late. However, I sort of nodded off for a minute in the parking lot and got in at quarter to 10. I don't drive when I'm very sleepy. I felt pretty much ok on the way down. But once I stopped and turned the engine off... *zonk* My sleep schedule can be odd at times. Oh well, I'll catch up this weekend.

The little stereo-in-a-box at work has no AM antannae, so I haven't been able to listen to the news. Today I did something about this. I secured a pin in the end of the pin vise we use for drilling mini bases and jury-rigged it into the spring clip on the stereo intended for an antannae. After leaning a screwdriver against that for more length, I started picking up AM pretty well. Not too shabby for a McGyver job.

It was kinda creepy listening to the news of the war. I hate that it has to happen, but I still wanted to know about what's happening. Not that I'm going to really trust anything I hear through the news about this until it's been over for a while. It was an odd few hours. What can I say? I just hope it all ends soon with as few deaths as possible. Bush's 'peace through war' line is positivlely Orewellian. 'War is Peace'. Hmm, sounds familiar to those who've 1984, doesn't it? 'Freedom is slavery'. 'Ignorance is strength'. Not good ideals for a government, any of them. Let's hope the next two don't follow on the heels of the first. Although on the matter of that last tenet, the ignorance of the general population certainly seems to be a strength for certain of our elected officials...
Oh, I realized as I was going to bed that I forget to mention the one piece of good news that I've herd. Congress rejected legislature to open protected land in Alaska to oil driling. Let's hear it for congress! Sometimes they actually get something right. We don't need more supplies of oil to burn through, what we need is to (let's say it all together) 'STOP USING SO MUCH OF IT'. Thank you.

I stopped and bought a phone on the way home so I can talk to Andrea without borrowing a downstairs one. I have two already. One doesn't produce dtmf tones for dialling (I suspect the crystal is cracked, which I could probably replace, but I'm just as likely to drip solder somewhere and ruin the whole thing...) and the other has a bad microphone. It works on speakerphone, but I don't think that quite works in this situation. I hate shopping at Radio Slack. I have questions, they have blank looks. I stopped in to look for a multimeter once. I asked for an auto-ranging multimeter with true RMS. The person behind the counter said "Um, I don't know what that is." I wouldn't expect most people to be familiar with such a thing, but someone working at a place like Rat Shack ought to at least be vaguely familiar with their products. Somehow though, I'm sure he could've delved deeply into the virtues of whatever cell-phone they were pushing at the time. I bought it (Well, a cheaper one. Those things are expensive!) at Chester's instead which is a really great new and used electronics/tinkerer's store that has to be seen to be appreciated. Not that most people really appreciate it anyway, but hey, I'm odd. And the people there know their stuff. I've seen the same two guys working there for like 6 years now. Okay, </GEEKRAMBLE>.

This entry would in no way be complete withough mentioning that I got to talk to Andrea again tonight, since that is the most important thing I've done all day. 21 days left 'till I can express my affection for her in person. Three weeks...

(no subject)

People calling in to the radio tend to annoy me. That's why I usually don't listen to call in shows. Someone called up WGN while I was driving home and said, in reference to an earlier caller who said that she was sometimes tempted to pack up everything and move to Canada, that such an action would be 'despicable' and that 'abandoning' one's country is a terrible thing to do. Whether that's the case or not (and I certainly don't think it is necessarily the case), what really makes me mad is the way people presume to judge other people's actions. I fully support the right to have opinions and decide for yourself what the best course of action for you is. I stand firmly against imposing those opinions and actions on others. Who was this person to call someone they know nothing about despicable just for speaking her mind?

Blah. I'm gonna listen to the pure news station from now on. That's a little better anyway. *grumble* This war is getting me down.