My fingers froze as I typed this.

So... a while ago last fall I had this notion that I should get one of those kerosene heaters. My dad has one. This mostly ceramic oddjob in a circular cage burns at a rate enough to be almost too warm. So far, I used it once when the pilot light went out.

The pilot light on this furnace is retarded. The day it went out, I trucked it down to the basement of doom and was thoroughly befuddled. I saw nothing that looked like a pilot light, and the dead remains of a thousand old matches were scattered in no apparent pattern, suggesting that tennants past had the same problem. The landlord sent someone over, who knew it quite well. When you look into this thing, there's a thick wall of pipes blocking the top half, and a tangle of wires webbed across the bottom half. You really can't see the pilot light even when it's on short of mirrors or flexibility that would make a gymnast blush.

Mr Maintenance showed me where it was. It was deeply hidden.

This morning, I discovered that once again I needed to cook up some hydrocarbons. Pilot light is on. When it tried to kick in and warm the place up, the beast sounded sick. The sickest part, though, is that I could see my breath when I woke up. Let me reiterate that:

I could see my own breath before I got out of bed this morning.

It's that freakin cold in here. Mr Landlord is sending over Mr Maintenance, but they're taking their sweet time. On the bright side, I think my CPU is running at optimal efficiency.

My inner geek

...is really my outer geek. I came across some conversation hearts. (which anyone knows is made of bone meal and earwig honey)
The first thing I noticed was:
a) The color
b) The words
c) The font type the letters are printed in

If you guessed C, you know me better than I do sometimes.

(I think the font is Dox Matrix. Does anyone actually know?)

Computers computers compu......

So I got a netbook. An Asus EEE, specifically. I managed to snag it for free through... various fully legal means.

Blogging on this thing is hard. It's one of the first models, so it's sporting the diminutive six inch screen. The keyboard isn't much bigger. Taking notes in class is easy, though. A few sentences here and there (and being able to look something up when the professor can't quite remember something is nice). It's very light. My other laptop was (is, really) a beast. Break my back every time I had to carry it around.

Sure it's nice, but wake me up when Apple builds a Macbook Air Tablet.

My inner old man

So I have a bad knee. I don't really know what to blame it on. I was never in an accident. Never had a sports injury. First came up when I was (get this) 18 years old and just standing in place. Suddenly I couldn't stand anymore. It comes and goes. The more I walk, the more I notice it. Living in Buffalo, I walk to school, wheras in Syracuse I drove.

I feel like an invalid waiting for the elevator to take me down 1 floor. Going upstairs is fine, I don't feel it much. But going down is murder.

I pretty much spend the weekends sitting down now.

Back to buff

No, not a return to nudity, but the end of my vacation. In fact, it ended this past Monday when classes started again. I think this is going to be a lot better. Last semester was pure anxiety. The classes themselves were an exercise in patience, but were only half the issue. I realized that the very layout of my classes never gave me reprieve. I could not simply relax. Drove me nuts.

Both problems solved. Better courses, better layout, and strangely enough, I find the tax season oddly soothing.

2 new kids

I've been in Minnesota for 3 days. The two children here, ages 1 and 2, have adopted me already. Once they latch on, there is no escape. I'm here until the 30th. People keep telling me I'm good with kids, but I have no idea what they're talking about.

Nature can be such a wuss

So, anyone hear about that *biiiiiiiiiiig* storm that hit the northeast yesterday? The day I was supposed to drive from Syracuse to Rochester to catch a flight to Minnesota?

3 hours in the car, followed by 6 hours flying/ hanging out in airports. Well I got there. My flight landed near 1AM central (2AM in my head). You call that a storm? HA!