Smoke and Mirrors

« Mmrph. | Main | Happy Easter! »

April 14, 2003

Adopt a pet!

I added a new feature. Look on the sidebar on the main page, under the calendar. Isn't that cute? Don't you want to go adopt a pet now? I have it set to show pets from my area (which is very bad indeed, as it makes me want to go get another pet myself, and Queen Smoke would not approve of that) but you can search petfinder.org for pets in your area. I highly recommend it -- I adopted Smoke from a local shelter six years ago, and I have never regretted it. )I saw that little feature on Bill's journal, then on Claire's, and wanted to swipe it for my own site. So, there it is!)

Today was not a lot of fun. I woke up in a panic at 5 a.m. because I realized that rent is due tomorrow, and I hadn't mailed the checks yet. Eep. My roommate had also forgotten -- he had the same reaction I did: "Oh, SHIT!" So, the checks were hastily written, and mailed off. That problem solved... but then, I happened to glance at the payment booklet for my student loans. They've been in forbearance for a year, and the first payment is due this month. I thought it was due on the 28th, which would have been fine. Except it was due on the 9th. Yow. So, I mailed that check, and then checked my bank balance, and... well, it's important to remind yourself that I am an idiot. I didn't revamp my budget early enough. I did redo it, factoring in the loans... but I did that last week. So, I don't have enough to cover both checks. Bad news. So, I am currently hoping and praying that the loan check doesn't clear before Friday. I doubt it will, but if it does, I will be well and truly screwed. Sigh. I hate money, a lot.

In further bitchy news, our cooling system at work is broken. Right now, we have heat, or nothing. If we want circulating air, we have to have hot air. It was warm today, in the 50s, which meant it was 90+ degrees inside the library. Tomorrow, it's going to be near 80 outside. Inside, the temperature will likely resemble the surface of the sun. And I swear, if one more person walks up to my desk and says "Hey, do you know it's sorta hot in here?" I will snap and thwap them upside the head with a book. Next week, all the ventilation gets shut down completely, so that they can fix the cooling system. No air at all for a week, yay! I may melt. I nearly fell asleep at my desk today.

Also, Jeff has had no internet access for more than a week. This means no nightly chatting. This makes me sad, and lonely. I miss the chatting.

But, on a brighter note: I got to work today, in the middle of a full-blown panic attack over money, and one of our hawks was back. She (I'm assuming it's a female -- it's working on the nest. If anyone knows anything about red-tailed hawks, correct me if I'm worng) was sitting in one of the trees by the plaza in front of my building, right over the bike rack. I stopped to watch her, creeping closer to her tree to get a better look, thinking "She's so beautiful! So graceful!" And then she preened a wing, shook out her tail feathers, and took an enormous crap all over the bike rack. Graceful, indeed. I tried not to laugh too loudly, while she sized me up from her perch. Then she snapped off a branch, and took off, swooping over my head and making grumbling noises (I assume they meant "Get the hell away from my tree, you") and flew off to her nest. So that cheered me up. And hey, at least she didn't poop on me, right?

Posted by Mary Ellen at April 14, 2003 10:42 PM

Comments

Posted by: rawrin at April 15, 2003 09:02 AM

Posted by: Mary Ellen at April 15, 2003 09:09 AM

Posted by: Jeff at April 15, 2003 10:34 AM

Posted by: Mary Ellen at April 15, 2003 12:00 PM

Posted by: Patrick at April 15, 2003 02:36 PM