So.. when I moved to my new apt.. I was excited about having a den.. so I could use it as an office.. but now I am considering moving my computer out in the living area since I don't really have a dining table.. and making my den a big walk in closet..

What do you think..

I work so hard to help you recommend me stuff I'll like. Every time I visit you I spend five minutes sorting through your recs, asking you to ignore stuff I bought as gifts, telling you what I already own, letting you know what doesn't appeal to me...

So why are you recommending I buy a pink version of the black gadget I bought two days ago? Have I ever bought anything pink? Have I ever said I own something pink? No. And why would I want another gadget, when I just bought one? Also - is it really necessary to recommend every single refill pack from every single third-party retailer? When I visit my rec page I want to see cool sci-fi and gadgets, not 15 Zink refills.

This is like when I said I had the complete Buffy box set - I was recommended every! single! Buffy and Angel DVD in stock. And after I'd gone through everything clicking 'not interested', you started recommending Buffy and Angel graphic novels. Which again... bzuh? I've never bought a graphic novel in my life.

WTF, Amazon, WTF?

UG and I will have been married for 15 years and will have lived together for 16 years on Thursday. We got each other gadgets, so we couldn't resist handing them over as soon as they arrived. I got UG a Glofiish X900 and he got me a Samsung F30 Flashcam. Mmmm, shiny tech. So much better than bling :)

Coffee is purking and I am sitting here in my new livingroom. I am tired and I had a dull throbbing headache most of the night.

I was having doubts about the place but now that I have my own furniture and things in it, I am starting to feel better. I have alot of organizing to do but at least I can do that at my own pace now.

It does feel a bit strange but in time it will feel like a home - finally.

Shinytown has gone OTT with the Saltire Celebrations. Seriously... the flag is being brought in by parachute.

They're expecting thousands of people to descend on Shinytown, and we live less than 50 yards from where the main focus of the celebrations will be.

On the one hand - I can watch a free Capercaillie gig by looking out of my living room window.

On the other hand - there's going to be a bloody Capercaillie gig 50 yards from my house, and I have to get up for work in the morning.

This morning so far I've managed to:

• Make two batches of stuffing.
• Preheat the oven.
• Clean and stuff the bird.
• Get the bird in the oven.
• Get the second batch of stuffing dressing prepped, though not in the oven yet.
• Clean down the kitchen (yay raw poultry).
• Get the trash and recycling out to the curb (it's trash day).
• Get the leaf in the table and the (borrowed) tablecloth on.
• Lay out the service pieces for the appetizers, turkey, stuffing, gravy, and condiments.

Next up? Vacuum the house, move the laptop away from the living room, shower, grab a light lunch (and no, not the uncooked dressing, no matter how tasty), bring in the empty trash/recycle bins, and if I can get the rest of that stuff all done in time, run out to the store and get olives for the condiment dish and something to garnish the cheese tray.

I should have at least 8 guests here in the next 4-6 hours.

Causing a little buzz on the internet, enjoy today's Saturday Morning Cartoon of The Muppets singing: Bohemian Rhapsody. Let the cartoon (Muppets) begin!

12:00 Skating by the sea, right on the beach at the Hotel Del Coronado, San Diego flic.kr/p/7iLmq3

16:14 Brought the kids to Belmont Park! flic.kr/p/7iP4c7

21:20 Hey SD peeps, probably hitting Pecs for a beer or two around ten tonight. Come hang out!

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Today I woke up to my noon-o'clock alarm, and knowing the weather was shit outside, went back to sleep. And slept rather well for another two hours before getting up and doing...well not much anything at all.

I watched a day's worth of Deadliest Catch which seemed a cruel joke as I had to keep hearing "Wanted" over and over again, especially after I ran color-commentary to Erin singing it on Rock Band last night.

I dicked around with Google Wave, debated how I wanted to handle the chili in the forthcoming cook-off, put away folded laundry, pulled my wall of messy boxes off teh shelves in the outer basement, realized it was horridly inappropriate to be doing CHORES without a drink in my hand, cursed that I somehow have more vodka than I needed at any given moment and no Kahlua at all so my original option of white Russians had to be replaced with dark rum and ginger ale which I KNOW isn't a dark and stormy (but is about as close as I'll get to one), bitched about why I hate Fables, then turned that into why I don't need to hear one more ridiculous fairy tale about Santa Claus and that I was almost tempted to go dig up L Frank Baum and kill him again for his Santa-raised-by-a-lion-and-elves load of malarky, then realizing that may have come from the "I hate Bill Wilingham" place and was just plain old transferrance.

Then I put the boxes away neatly and made everything around my room a bit more presentable (with the exception of my desk, which I think I rather like being this way).

Tomorrow I'm going to start stringing up lights for the trees since it'll be nicely temperate outside (and why the fuck would I want to climb trees when there's snow and freezing rain?).

And I need to know what to buy two more people, and I'm hopefully wrapping up the consumerism of Ecks-Mas in two weeks. Assuming I can get the Christmas cards done in time.

( I promise I don't talk this much in real life. )

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So, I'm at work. At 11 pm. On a holiday. And I'll be here tomorrow, too.

This is fine. I mean, it sucks, yes, but it's an extraordinary circumstance, this doesn't normally happen, and it's for a big important project, all that kind of stuff, so I don't mind.

I spent all day with my Dad's side of the family yesterday, which was much longer and more enjoyable than I expected. There are a lot of small childrens, and some of my nephews are a bit shrieky, but there were enough children and parents that they didn't demand attention. Maybe they kind of cancel each other out once you get enough of them?

There was lots of tasty food. The turkeys (one roasted, one deep-friend, both brined) were really excellent this year, and the sesame-ginger (aka Of Crack) green beans went over well.

It turns out that my middle sister is, indeed, divorced, and has been for long enough that she's been with her current boyfriend for a year. I got to pick the two of them up and drive them down there, so I got to hear some details, and it sounds like it's all for the best. New Boyfriend definitely earns more approval points than Ex-Husband. (It also turns out that my sister and I have similar taste in men, but that's neither here nor there.)

I remembered to bring games this year, and we played three(!) rounds of Dominion. It was a bigger hit than I expected.

Had some good conversation with siblings, and we got some pictures with all of us, since this may well be the last time we do everyone in the same place for a holiday. My youngest sister is graduating high school in the spring, and then my step-mom will be selling her house and moving out to West Virginia with my step-sister & her (large) family, so there won't really be a central gathering point any more.

I'm thankful for a lot of things this year, as always. Friends and family are one of the big ones.

Is this line from a CraigsList ad intentional irony or simple ignorance?

"If u has Excellent communication skills then contact us with your resume."

In either case, would I want to apply?

I just drunk-dialed the boy. Only I wasn't drunk, just slightly loopy on oxy. And I texted rather than dialed.

I asked if everything was cool between us since we made out that night. And, of course, he's just swamped with work and school and I'm being an idiot. His responses were a trifle curt, but I can understand if he's that busy. And I'm being a whiny, stoned Cling-on.

I think I'll be able to just leave him alone to deal with his workload now. Mainly because I'm too embarrassed now,

*sigh* Bed now.

Twitted throughout the day:

• 22:27 Wishes he were watching this Beyonce thing with a certain date cause we'd have fun; girls and homosexuals only. #
• 22:30 seriously, Beyonce is a ridiculous entity; this mix of 'real' and 'unreal'; unique and uber-packaged. Ricockulous. #
• 22:32 ut what are you? #
• 22:32 I mean those are her real hips but def not her real hair. The black and the non black. That is her voice but also her vocal track. #
• 22:46 Beyonce 'i am yours' but what are you? #
• 22:48 Beyonce contradiction: pretty princess songbird backed by a tough rocker
  chick band. Her band is fierce, but then again so is Beyonce. #
• 23:01 Carlos contradiction: I'm a very happy male but every once in a while I'd kill for a life as long-legged dancer chick. Beautiful. #
• 23:04 as an aside, nothing wrong with a sixpack shirtless dancer boi #
• 01:28 is surrounded by the sound of gently snoring doggies. #
• 12:53 is walking in the winter clear. A heavy lifting brain day. Some things just refuse to go away. Slow dance on the el anyway. #
• 16:50 guesses that the main reason he enjoyed Ninja Assasin was that JMS of Babylon 5/Thor/Spiderman f
  ame wrote it. #

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Word Count: 55,397

I'm having a hard time saying goodbye to Somniverse. I'm in the final chapters, wrapping up the story. I have a few flashbacks to go back and write (since I decided to incorporate some back story that way), but otherwise the bulk of the rough draft is complete. And it makes me sad that the adventure is over.

This may be the first year that I not only finish my novel by NaNo's end - but finish it early. I'm already looking forward to the rewrites!