Phantom Mice! Nooooooooooo!
I was terrified by phantom mice this morning. I had gotten to bed unusually early, so I wasn't sleeping quite so soundly... and then I heard that horrible twittering sound. I knew, deep in my soul, that it might be mice. Ack! There it was again! So down the ladder I come and turn on the light and get up at 5:20 AM to check my uncovered food, which seems to be fine and not-infiltrated. Maybe it was something else. Ugh.
So, some quick cookies & checking the Internet followed. Then... something. It came down off a shelf like a flash. Maybe a trick of the light? Or something perfectly inanimate falling off (it happens)? Perhaps. Or perhaps.... it got away!
Then, back to bed for a refreshing hour & a half of not really sleeping. Was it really a mouse? I'll never know. I do know that being only half-awake makes sounds far more interesting. As my coworker pointed out, it's vaguely like the Tell-Tale Heart. See, I'd participated in the execution of a mouse earlier that day. It had gotten caught in a glue trap, and a wimpy roommate wanted to just attempt to feed it to a cat or leave it there or something. Looking at it trying to get away as it mewled piteously left it clear to me that there was only one humane option, a speedy death. Feeding it to the outdoors cat is ridiculous, as cats are smart enough not to get their face stuck in a glue trap forever WITH the mouse. I proposed picking it off and throwing it to its death, except my flatmate complained that I might mess up a perfectly good oven mitt with glue & mouse parts. So eventually it came down to the grimly direct method of a hammer to the head, followed by tossing it in the trash. Did it get its ethereal revenge on me the next morning?
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On a political note, check out:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html
It's the official declaration (pre-emptive) state of disaster declaration in Louisiana issued shortly before Katrina made landfall. A picture is worth a thousand words on this one, and I don't have a link, but if you map out those listed parishes, you'll note that the administration seems to be assuming that Katrina would make a mighty leap into the ionosphere over New Orleans, land in Arkansas, then turn south. That's right: the northern parishes of Louisana were declared disasters, but the coastal ones weren't. Surely the fact that the northern parishes voted for Republicans in the House, while the southeastern coast voted Democratic (and the southwestern coast were swing areas that mostly went Republican anyway, but ended up getting left off for some reason anyway?), is a complete and total coincidence. Just keep telling yourself that: a coincidence. Surely not a method of funneling FEMA money in to pay off supporters after the surely minor hurricane missed, right?
(Here's a map of the Louisiana parishes, although sadly without the filled in north and empty south. Still, noticing the lack of Orleans parish, probably the only one most people would know by name outside of Louisiana, should set off alarm bells anyway.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/louisiana_map.html )
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In other news, I suck. Meaning to post Shadowrun updates for some time now, and I come home absolutely determined to write it up right now every single day and somehow do absolutely nothing. I'm not sure how this is happening; I was generally more disciplined with homework back in school, and I should just consider it a type of that. Meh.
So, some quick cookies & checking the Internet followed. Then... something. It came down off a shelf like a flash. Maybe a trick of the light? Or something perfectly inanimate falling off (it happens)? Perhaps. Or perhaps.... it got away!
Then, back to bed for a refreshing hour & a half of not really sleeping. Was it really a mouse? I'll never know. I do know that being only half-awake makes sounds far more interesting. As my coworker pointed out, it's vaguely like the Tell-Tale Heart. See, I'd participated in the execution of a mouse earlier that day. It had gotten caught in a glue trap, and a wimpy roommate wanted to just attempt to feed it to a cat or leave it there or something. Looking at it trying to get away as it mewled piteously left it clear to me that there was only one humane option, a speedy death. Feeding it to the outdoors cat is ridiculous, as cats are smart enough not to get their face stuck in a glue trap forever WITH the mouse. I proposed picking it off and throwing it to its death, except my flatmate complained that I might mess up a perfectly good oven mitt with glue & mouse parts. So eventually it came down to the grimly direct method of a hammer to the head, followed by tossing it in the trash. Did it get its ethereal revenge on me the next morning?
--
On a political note, check out:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html
It's the official declaration (pre-emptive) state of disaster declaration in Louisiana issued shortly before Katrina made landfall. A picture is worth a thousand words on this one, and I don't have a link, but if you map out those listed parishes, you'll note that the administration seems to be assuming that Katrina would make a mighty leap into the ionosphere over New Orleans, land in Arkansas, then turn south. That's right: the northern parishes of Louisana were declared disasters, but the coastal ones weren't. Surely the fact that the northern parishes voted for Republicans in the House, while the southeastern coast voted Democratic (and the southwestern coast were swing areas that mostly went Republican anyway, but ended up getting left off for some reason anyway?), is a complete and total coincidence. Just keep telling yourself that: a coincidence. Surely not a method of funneling FEMA money in to pay off supporters after the surely minor hurricane missed, right?
(Here's a map of the Louisiana parishes, although sadly without the filled in north and empty south. Still, noticing the lack of Orleans parish, probably the only one most people would know by name outside of Louisiana, should set off alarm bells anyway.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/louisiana_map.html )
--
In other news, I suck. Meaning to post Shadowrun updates for some time now, and I come home absolutely determined to write it up right now every single day and somehow do absolutely nothing. I'm not sure how this is happening; I was generally more disciplined with homework back in school, and I should just consider it a type of that. Meh.