h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does K get a week off too? You guys could take off and explore. Finding a suitable pit stop for Herman, obviously.

Either way, I'm sure there are better things you could be doing with your *holiday* than indulging your anxieties. Have fun whatever you do.

Tony Blair gives his final address to Parliament this lunchtime, and Sainsbury's are giving away free toilet roll to every customer. Coincidence?? I think not.

Indulging anxieties? I was just going to get this house back to some semblance of cleanage. I'm not at all anxious about it- I'm looking forward to finally having the time.

No, K won't have that week off. It'll be too warm out that week for either of us to want to do much outdoor activity, anyway. It'll just be Herman and me, hanging out during the days and enjoying a much-needed break from work.

We had a shitload of rain (and will see more today) with flash flooding yesterday. When I got off my train near home, there was a car under the viaduct submerged in water up to its windows. I'll try to upload a photo later. I can't get the "share link" function to work at CBS News website, but here's a link to their video page- look for related video about "torrential rains" and "flash flooding".

http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?cid=48

I hope they've cleared under the viaduct K and I need to pass under to get to work today...

Video links can be a bit difficult - any video is no-go at work, and the library server can be a little testy about them; but that worked okay. Jesus! Wrigley Field there, Hillsborough here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/07/uk_enl_1182851231/html/1.stm

Hope things improve for you too. Getting to work is enough of a pain as it is. We've been pretty lucky round here, but the Midlands are getting slaughtered.

"First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a masterpiece.

Ugh. You're weirder than I thought. I think it's awful.

As I was puddle-jumping my way home from the train (if you can call water up past your knees a "puddle"), I was really wishing I had a pair of those popular rubber clogs that K won't let me buy because they're so ugly. I can't imagine anything better for walking in the rain than rubber shoes. Luckily I usually wear my Chucks to and from and change to dressy shoes at the office...

And in some places they're drying up, desperate for rain.

And I'll try to avoid video links in the future- forgot about that. I'm not allowed video (or audio) streaming at work, either. Puts too much strain on the servers that need to maintain at least 1,000 Beasts.

http://www.b3ta.com/board/7344172

Thanks for the fwd about the political remains, btw

Nice one! And I'm glad the email gave you a chuckle.

I was overtaken with a sudden overwhelming industriousness yesterday afternoon, and now I've nothing to do at work until noon. It's 7:15 AM.

I've also got a rather embarrassing confession to make. I'd intended to swing by the post office one day next week and send those DVDs I mentioned to you. I've got a couple to send another friend in Scotland who's away next week, and thought it would just be easier to send both at the same time... anyway, long story short: I could have sworn I copied your new address into my address book, but I apparently failed to do so. And I don't save emails for too long. So, would you mind sending it to me again? I'll copy it down this time, promise.

I hope you'll enjoy "A Parody Now" and "Fear Of a Black Hat". Keep a barf bag handy, though- I laughed like a drain.

No probs. I'll email you presently. And look forward to barfing.

Still not mailed yet. The weekend was too hectic.

Can I ask a question about British spelling? Is the word "breathe" really spelled "breath" over there? It's a mis-spelling here, one attributed to ignorance and laziness, but I see it spelled that way quite often by a handful of British posters who otherwise consider themselves quite bright and wonderful writers, so I wondered...

I think I'm going to be really busy today and tomorrow, though my boss is out tomorrow so I will be able to shuffle my workload without compromising any priorities.

Two more weeks till my vacation!

Anything else new?

Well, as long as it's the verb, there should definitely be an e at the end. With the exception (I *think*) of a sort of sotto voce expression of a sound. "You're supposed to breath it". Maybe. If not, they're slacking off.

Not a lot new here. Looking forward to the festival in a couple of weeks, got tickets and a tent and so on. Still raining, sadly.

Oh, and my latest displacement activity is Latin. Someone was asking for a translation of Shit Happens (stercus accidit) and I got motivated to download a program to try and work out a load of other happenings. I'll let you know how I get on.

Good luck with that. It sounds pretty productive to me, but then again, you know one of my favorite hobbies is laboring over elaborate projects for which there is no monetary compensation (and the fruits of which are usually immediately undone by someone else who's oblivious to the whole thing... ).

Am I missing something, or is that the idea?

Let's just say that whenever I commence upon a major organizational endeavor, the original intent is for things to remain in the organized state for all eternity. Unfortunately, no one else seems to follow my logic, so my efforts always wind up undone, one way or another.

Oh, the Autist Empire! I remember

Check this out http://www.b3ta.com/board/7360246

Ubi Meo Mentis Est? - Where Is My Mind?

The program only does Latin > English so it's trial and error to get the right words, and that's even before you try to conjugate them. Further investigation will be necessary. *Sigh*

Just had a thought - before you send me that stuff, can you get a business card or a bit of publicity from Planet Of Sound Records? Sad, but I'd love to have something from a record store named after a Pixies song. All record shops should be named after Pixies songs. Except for "Tame", obviously, that wouldn't work.

Well, John's store does borrow its name from the title of a Pixies song, but I'm not entirely sure it's a result of any true devotion to them.

"Tame" is a pretty good description of them, though. Anyway, I am sure I have a business card at home and can easily slip one in the envelope with the DVDs. It's actually a nice little shop- K helped the owner to open it back in 1997 (he'd worked for him at another shop in the south suburbs years ago). A handful of our friends work there, including Nick from Vee Dee and, at any given time, at least one Smoking Pope (if not more). All fine people, all too eager to hunt down rare, obscure and obtuse titles for K and me. Not to mention all of the cool used books and trinkets he finds and sells. We were just there this past Saturday. I bought a DVD of an older (79) film called "Radio On". I've never seen the movie, but heard of it some years back- can't wait to check it out.

You know, the handiest Latin material for my phrase book would be new and creative curses to hurl at those who vex me. Pretty much everyone, today.

Tame!? Morsus Mea.

I'm sorry, did I say "tame", with a "T"? I meant "lame".

I in no way feel like doing work today. Sigh.