There is a complex network of spying going on in the animal/human world, beginning with the Brown bear seeing the Red Bird looking at him.

Baby’s bellybutton is under her shirt, but that in no way contradicts the fact that baby’s feet are behind the cat.

Some aliens are dirty, some aliens are clean, some aliens are nice, and the alien with the lobsterclaw hands is mean.

Ball. Basketball.

The ostrich has Pip’s paintbrush, and inexplicably there is a chicken in the engine.

Both Popi and Pip, though they come from entirely different countries, different species and totally separate books, like to rest at the end of a busy day.

You’re never gonna keep those Philadelphia Chickens down on the farm.

Zapato is Spanish for shoe. Actually, I probably knew this one. But Zapato is fun to say.

Dozy, Dozy dinosaur sleeps and eats and not much more.

Butterflies go to sleep, but ladybugs hang with their friends.

Moon rhymes with moon, though I think it’s stretching things a bit. Also, anthropomorphic rabbits keep kittens as pets.

The cow goes “booo booo”.

Some spiders are completely socially inept, and in fact somewhat offensive.

Bills of Material reviewed : check.

Conversations with different Scottish People : Two.

Missing software : located and emailed.

Vendor calls screened : Three.

Oil Pressure Light warnings : 8-10

Old Oil Cap ripped off: check.

Oil refilled : check.

New Oil Cap purchased and inserted: check.

25 minute parking lot conversation with Jim regarding deregulation of automobile headlights : tolerated.

Ham and swiss sandwich : eaten.

Toddler medicine : purchased.

La Croix : sipped.

LiveJournal : surfed.

Really, I think that’s all one can expect from a Thursday.

I just had a 15 minute phone conversation… with someone 10 feet away.

Excuse me while I dissipate into individual molecules and drift away on the ventilation air currents.

Er. Um.

So I was sitting here tap-tap-tapping away on the keyboard, when I hear in the distance one of those ever-present phone messages…

The number you have reached is not in service. Please hang up, check the number and try again.

I am in a cube farm, so it is not uncommon to hear telephone noises on speakerphone wafting o’er the dividers. I figured the owner of the phone in question would, indeed, hang up and try again.

Except they didn’t. For a full 2 and a half minutes…

The number you have reached is not in service. Please hang up, check the number and try again.

And I’m thinking, that is ridiculous, why on earth would you sit and listen to that message for that long? Perhaps they walked out of their cube, forgetting to hang up? How rude can you be?

It was then that I realized it was coming from the cellphone in my pocket.

Er. Um.

Heheh.

I’ve chronicled my exploits with the water company a bit earlier, but to sum up: we didn’t get a bill for the first four months we were in this here new house, and then they shut us off, and I had to pay $29, presumably the debt owed, to get it back on.

So, I had pretty much assumed that $29 for four months would be about the right amount. I’ve never had to pay for water, I have no concept of what it costs if it doesn’t come bottled from the grocery and labeled NAIVE backwards.

Recently, we received the bimonthly bill… for $222! Shocked, I put it on my little bill keeper thingy, and went into denial for a couple weeks.

Then tonight, I started going through the monthly bills, and paid the $222 through online billpay.

But when I got to the bottom of my bill stack, there was a late notice from the water company. (I was, in fact, 4 days late as of today). But the odd bit is, the bill was for $146!

So confused. So very, very confused.

I’m gonna go get me a divining stick and start diggin’ a well.

I dearly love writing with black felt tip pens.

That is all.

I was just back in the lab where a technician and our buildings & grounds guy were swapping jokes. Actual jokes. Who does that anymore?

Older folks still try and tell jokes… I’ve had a few salesmen clumsily try to win favor by starting off with a joke. Generally, I just stared in disbelief at them, like an Australopithecines had walked in and tried to sell me resistors. Anachronism, dontchaknow.

When did they go away? What was the last generation to tell jokes?

Just had a nice lunch with and , where we met Judy for the first time in person.

doesn’t seem to be a psychotic axe murderer, so that’s good. I did think it odd when she bit the head off of a live bat and ate it raw. Though she tells me that’s just how they do it out in L.A., so I relaxed. It’s another world out there!

I’m so buoyed by the success of the lunch, I may venture to meet some of the other people on my friend’s list, like and .

‘s and I went to see Harry Potter III this afternoon at the Buckhead backlot. Our good buddy Sarah Robinson babysitted for us, in exchange for Stacey taking her to see Spider-Man 2 yesterday.

There was only one showing today of HP at Buckhead, which was supposed to be at 3:50pm, according to the website. When we got there, the marquee said 4:00pm. No biggie.

But we didn’t get into the theater until 4:40pm or so. There were dozens of us crowded in the little hallway, and kids running wilder and wilder by the minute. Management gave us all free sodas. When the doors finally opened, about 7 people came out, carrying a half finished birthday cake. Apparently we’d all been inconvenienced by a rental. boooo!

HP Spoiler

I had a new weekly meeting with the Continuation group today. It went from 1:30 to 4:30. I didn’t mind, it felt like goofing off, but it was work. Mostly.

It was a marked contrast to the high pressure, go-go-go, all business, weekly conference calls I’ve been having for a year and a half.

The last half hour was spent looking at pictures from a team member’s vacation trip to the Alps. (Apparently, continuation has a rule that if you go on a vacation, you have to show your pictures during the weekly meeting.) Bjorn, the coworker, is the type of photographer who only takes pictures of things, not people. We all wanted to see pictures of him and his wife there, but it was just scenic shot after scenic shot. Eventually, we came to a shot where he had accidentally caught his wife in a corner of the frame. She was standing in the distance and he had walked way back to capture an entire view. So we spent 15 minutes cropping and blowing up her image, just for fun. Then we started to apply photoshop filters, turning her different colors and textures. Then we printed out copies for everyone.

And who was at the helm of the computer during this adventure? My new boss.

I think I’m going to enjoy my new job.