now for a change of pace...

I got tired of reading my last title, and since things seem to be better than they were a week ago, why not write a more cheerful blog?

the cats are getting along a bit better. Lucy is tolerating Aesop (below) a bit better, and a few thumps on the head went a long way with Aesop for not getting in Lucy's face all the time. I now understand corporal punishment... nothing else got through to him.



Anyhow, they chase each other around and play hide-and-seek with each other. Lucy likes watching Aesop play with the plastic donut with the ball stuck in it for 20 minutes at a time, and he watches her do this and that. She doesn't seem to mind Aesop sitting on my lap either, though she's definitely still jealous. And life continues...

Our catalytic converter repairs cost far less than both the mechanic and I thought it would. Tomorrow I go for our third attempt to pass emissions testing and get a damn registration sticker before we are officially illegal. So much chaos--we were gone for a week and got back last Thursday, enough time to work for two days and get the car repaired. Then we were out all weekend, though the car wasn't ready yet anyhow. Now I need to go in on a Tuesday, which I'm told by everyone is the worst day of the week to get your emissions tested. It would go well enough if the car computer was actually reset this time.

It's spring, which is in name only around here but it does encourage you to look on the bright side. It can't be more than... 5 months until summer...

Regardless of the weather, there are two theXplodingboys shows coming up in the next 32 days. One is at The Know on April 11th. The second is May 1st at the Wonder Ballroom with the cool local Joy Division band Unknown Pleasures, and probably a third band as well. It's a big space, so you need to come out and help fill it!

Obama "fired" Rick Wagoner, the former CEO of General Motors. That smacks of figureheads and scapegoats. I know Mark Hurd has little to do with the decisions that Hewlett-Packard makes. He's the front man to investors and Wall Street. It's the lower-level managers who make the strategic decisions and maintain the status quo. Like the upper-level shmucks at AIG who got big bonuses but then (pretty much) gave them back. Bet you didn't think I'd feel like that about it, did you?

I'm actually interested to see how GM and Chrysler deal with the 60- and 30-day deadlines to propose even more radical changes and organize a merger with Fiat, respectively. Reminds me of an 80s Twilight Zone episode (the ones in color, if that helps) where aliens come to earth to ask us to make ourselves more interstellarly valuable to the universe in 24 hours or be destroyed. 24 hours later they come back and the President or whoever hands him a big book (still trying to figure that out) and says "here you are... world peace!" The alien looks at him and says, "I'm afraid you misunderstood me... I meant you needed to make better weapons!" Then alien UFOs descend and everything goes dark.

Well, maybe it's not like that but it does remind me of it. Of course I often think of that episode, as well as the one with the Vietnam vet guy who can't go to sleep or the Vietnam War comes alive all around him, so I was probably just waiting for a suitable situation to come along so I could say it reminded me of that Twilight Zone episode. I certainly hope the other one isn't realized any time soon.

And, I'm done.