Song of the day

I adore this song. The best damned thing Steve Winwood was ever involved with (he played the Hammond). I find occasions to use quotes from this tune regularly (the final lines of the third verse, italicized, were an epigraph for a college paper I wrote on Churchill's role in destroying the Lusitania, and applies just as well to the current Bush regime). It's a wonderful song, merging my (and clearly Billy's) general sense of cynicism with occasional bouts of optimism.

( warning: Billy Joel ahead )

Tuesday morning randomness

Jack's new habit: He'll climb in my lap, and then decide he wants to lick my nose. So he stands, and proceeds to grab my shirt with his claws (and if he gets any skin in the process, well, that's just a bonus), and nuzzles me. It'd be cute if it didn't ruin all of my shirts.

Work rant still coming up. Give me a couple of days.

Am really fucking tired. And I haven't had the time to read that I need. I had a whopping hour yesterday. Won't have any tonight until Elayna's in bed (and the Tivo's nearly full, so I feel an obligation there, as well). But I'm loving The Lord of Castle Black. It may be up there with Five Hundred Years After. We're getting mega-doses of lots of characters I adore including a wonderful reunion of the principle characters, the evolution of Morrolan (without ever ruining his mystique), more Sethra and the Necromancer, at least one major surprise character, etc. And the new generation are just as nifty. I can already tell that I'm going to be horribly impatient for the third book to arrive. And I've been extra good about not skipping to the end to read Neil's About the Author, which is supposed to be funnier than the Theresa Nielsen Hayden or Pamela Dean ones from previous books.

Today, my old college buddy Kari is supposed to be on campus for an interview, so I'm hoping to grab lunch with her. I'm horrible about keeping up with old friends -- Kari was one of about three or four close friends from college that I always mean to write or contact, and almost never get around to actually communicating with. Need to break that habit.

Elayna woke up with a bad dream, which meant that she woke me up, of course. The one good thing about being awake at 4 in the morning is the spontaneous "I love you" your little girl give you when you tuck her back in to bed. But I really need more coffee now.

Aww! Poor Wittle Rupert Murdoch!

Looks like Rupert and his fellow thick-skins at Fuck Snooze can dish it out but can't take it (not exactly a surprise, really). They're suing Al Franken for his (parodic and therefore protected) use of their Fair and Balanced slogan (which I'd always taken to be deliberately humorous in the first place, as only someone on six forms of crack and/or with an IQ below 85 could possible think of them as fair or balanced). Thanks to pinballsorceror for the link.