May 2, 1998 --

"You are on the verge of being truly mad."
"No, not at all. Look at me. I can tie my shoelaces. See? And my tie. Takes some care, you know, to get it all around your neck and into your shirt and so forth, and not look like a lunatic with a big scarf around your neck.

David Talbot and Lestat in Memnoch The Devil by Anne Rice.

I thought that was the funniest thing I had ever read at the time. Maybe because I feel like that sometimes. I recommend this book highly...but read the five OTHER Vampire Chronicles novels before you do. It's just better that way.

Oooo...pretty. Less font tags!! Joy!!! Do you believe I do all this in Notepad? Yes, with the horrible little font. Eww. It helps to remind me I'm sane. Personally, I'm growing fond of stylesheets. When used properly (as I'm hoping I've done!) they can drastically cut back on typing and make everything much prettier, without spazzing out older browsers. Older browsers, or people with stylesheets shut off, will just see whatever font they have their browser set to. The rest of you get to enjoy the beauty that is Comic Sans MS. At 12 or 14 pixels high...whichever I last set it at...

Enough chatter. I had an interesting morning.

The phone rings, Kathy (our brave hero) dives across her bed to answer it before the blasted answering machine gets it.
Me: Hello?
Them: Do you have eight-inch white vinyl siding?
Me: ...pause... Pardon?
Them: Do you have eight-inch white vinyl siding?
Me: ...pause... I think you have the wrong number. (cheerfully) As a matter of fact, I'm sure of it.
Them: Oh, this isn't [insert name of someplace that might very well have eight-inch white vinyl siding]?
Me: (cheerfully) No, this is my apartment.
Them: I'm sorry. You weren't tired, were you?
Me: (cheerfully) Of course not!
Them: Good, have a nice weekend.
Me: (cheerfully) You too.

What? Who asks that? "Were you tired?" Let's see, I was in bed, you're a total stranger wrong number person, we're on the phone....um....what?

I got a good laugh out of the whole thing.

In other, more interesting news. I got a hamster. I named him Baxter. Kristen loves him even though when I told her I wanted to get a hamster she said "Ewww!" It turned out she didn't know what hamsters were. She thought they were like rats. Baxter is not like a rat. He is also not like my other hamster, Marvin. Marvin's been dead at least a year now. He was a ill-tempered little bugger. Baxter is very very sweet. He fell asleep on my lap. Baxter is very fuzzy and has grayish-tan fur.

I got him a little hamster penthouse thing. It's a little wire cage with two levels. He hasn't discovered the little house yet. I bought a water bottle that attaches on the outside and the nozzle sticks through the wires. It has a little float inside it shaped like a duck. That's so you can tell when the water gets low. I thought it was a very cute water bottle with a little floating duck inside. I was pleased to learn it was actually useful too.

I made Brian guess what I got while I was out. He got it on the second try. His first guess was potato chips. Baxter likes Triscuits. I found out last night that Kristen does too. ;)

I'm speaking in simple sentences. This sounds so choppy. I don't was to edit it. I just want to go to bed.

Shake it off.

Okay, I'll try again. Brian stopped by because he felt like it, but forgot to bring the tape with Xena and Hercules on it. :::sniff::: That's okay...I got a lot of work done that I probably wouldn't have if I had a tape to watch. The first thing Brian did was stick his nose against the bars of the hamster cage and make clicking noises with his tongue (like I do to him when I want to be cute and get a kiss).

Baxter doesn't like that. It scares him.

Baxter got over it and Brian picked him up. Awww. Cute hamster. He's just a little guy. He likes to sleep on top of the wheel, because it's a crappy wheel and it's too stiff for him to run in. I'll have to get a new one. Brian agreed that he's cute. ;)

I got a hamster. :)