I'm having a mini-heart attack. Is anyone else watching 24? I think that the first season was the best, but this season is not so shabby.

And this episode? Mini-heart attack.

And then major heart attack. TONY! Tony! I didn't watch last week's episode, so I don't know if he was in that. But Tony!

Man do I love 24.

Tony!

That was unexpected. I mean really unexpected.

The people across the hall from me are cooking again.

I hate it. It drives me insane. Because it ALWAYS smells so friggin' good. I have—on several occasions—had to stop myself from knocking on the door and begging for leftovers.

No, seriously. They must make some amazing food.

Random Story: I'm a bit of a cheese fan. Okay, a huge bit of a cheese fan.

I like cheese, people.

Anyway, whenever I get some cheese out of the fridge, wrapped or not, I get a cat.

Doesn't matter where she is in the apartment. I take the cheese out of the fridge, wander into the livingroom, and two seconds later I have a cat staring at me wanting my cheese.

Are cats supposed to like cheese?

RANDOM STORY: I was really annoyed by the constant ads for the "See Arnold Run" movie. And now I'm friggin' watching it. Sigh.

Actually I'm kinda curious as to how he met Maria.

And I find it interesting when two people marry that have such differing politics.

So I can't decide whether the writers/producers of the Arnold movie are for or against Arnold. I kinda think they're trying to make an objective portrayal of his life. It's kinda hard to tell. But I kinda like it.

Don't hurt me.

Okay, I had been having a semi-crappy Sunday. I've been working on a website and having trouble with it. Not serious trouble, mind you, but it's just been kind of a pain.

So to keep my mind off of it for a moment, I went online to check email, visitor stats, blah blah blah.

I got an email entitled "Quotes". Yeah, nothing new. ALWAYS appreciated, but nothing new. I get emails every few days or so from visitors.

So I read it. And was a little confused. So I reread it and realized it was from someone sending me a quote of the day. How sweet is that? I've never gotten a quote of the day submission.

So I went to update the page and realized that somewhere down the line I had sent out a plea for new quotes. So it makes more sense. But that someone actually saw it and emailed me?

I love people.

Happy Sunday, y'all.

On the way home, listening to the radio, that Butthole Surfers song came on. You know the one:

I don't mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows.
I can taste you on my breath and smell you with my nose..."

Or something like that.

Does it remind anyone else of Jim Carroll's People Who've Died? No? Okay.

NEXT RANDOM THOUGHT: I watched The Surreal Life last time. And was struck by the interaction between Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav. Because they appeared to develop a genuine deep affection for each other. Seemed like a weird pairing, But it was really very sweet to watch.

Now there's a new show, Strange Love, which is showing their ongoing relationship.

Now I am perpetually mistrustful of reality TV, but unless I am just a gullible little girl I think they really adore each other. And it's really nice to watch.

And if it's fake, damn you, Reality TV!

All last night I kept reminding myself, "I have to pick up Mom at nine. I have to pick up Mom at nine." She was getting her car serviced and needed me to pick her up.

And I'm not good at waking up early (my version of early is before nine) so I was worried. I finally set my alarm and went to bed.

This morning, my phone rang, waking me up, so I jumped out of bed and grabbed it. It was my mother, asking me to bring walking shoes so we could go for a walk. I looked at the clock.

8:21. I overslept.

Good job, Claire.

To my credit, I showered, dressed, and was out the door in 20 minutes. And made it to the dealership by 9:05.

After I picked Mom up, we went to visit Grandma as she lives in a Memory Care center nearby. She was happy to see us.

Okay, I interrupt this rant to announce that a big truck has pulled up at the back door. It's a rental truck. And it looks like it's for the neighbors upstairs. Who are already really noisy. So I am thinking the ceiling's coming down in a few minutes. It's like a circus up there.

Well I've given up on the webcam. At least for the time being. The information I can track down online is spotty, and the applications I've found have horrible documentation.

I have systematically hosed my system repeatedly, often mucking up the application that came with the camera.

So a) the camera works, and 2) I'm done. At least the reason I got the camera in the first place is working, albeit slow.

Ugh. It's a cold Winter Thursday here in Minnesota. I have a cold, I'm a bit down, and I can't figure out how to get my wesbcam live. Plus, I've been working all morning on a website and it's got my brain addled.

Plus, I have The OC to quote tonight. And although it's self-induced, it tends to stress me out.

Plus I have no job.

Eh, what are you gonna do. If nothing else I'll sponge off of friends and loved ones.

I'll come up with something interesting later.

Maybe.

There was an ad for CAIR on just now. And I can't for the life of remember what the acronym stands for.

But it was an ad with a bunch of Muslim-Americans just basically saying what their background was. The gist of the ad was to tell people that Muslim-Americans are people too.

I find that so sad. Because it illustrates a phenomenon that I've been seeing way too much: a hatred of all Muslims, most generally for the September 11 tragedies.

And I just don't think that's right. I think it's closed-minded and just plain uninformed.

The Koran teaches love and respect, just as the Bible does.

People don't condemn all of Christianity when a Christian murders an abortion doctor in the name of God.

Eh. I think too much. I guess I just wish people—in general—would be more understanding and open-minded. Just a thought.

So it's 5 AM and someone's doing laundry. The laundry room is below me. And I guess I'm surprised. I mean I realize my bedroom isn't above the washer and dryer, but there are people next to it.

Oh well. I think too much.

Still haven't figured out how to get my webcam online. I tried a few applications and couldn't figure them out.

Okay, so here's the latest:

I got the webcam. Took a bit, but I think I can now talk to people over AIM. I haven't used AIM in years. I'm amazed the account is still active.

So my next step is figuring out how to get a webcam running on my site. I've tried a few options, but after spending the day getting the thing to work to talk to my dad, I'm waiting until tomorrow to really research it.

So AIM users, if you want to catch photos of my useless crap, let me know. I aim to please.

Currently, the camera is pointed at my cat sitting next to me.

Okay, so you know how you do something incredibly emotionally challenging, and then it turns out ten times better than you ever expected? Yeah, I'm having a good week.

Okay, I'm having a really good week.

Plus, I now have a webcam on order. A webcam. So that'll be interesting. I'm formulating all the different ways to use it.

I'm also formulating how to use it. I've never dealt with a webcam before.

Sunday night.

I still have no job tomorrow.

Okay. Deep sigh of relief. Deep sigh.

I finally got the courage up to wander out to my car. And it was there! Woo hoo! I was sorta worried I had misunderstood the parking laws and got towed.

Trying not to look like I was wandering around aimlessly, I grabbed a bag of stuff out of my car.

So tonight I'm gonna break out the Swatch phone.

I have no idea if it'll work. It's been in sub-zero temperatures for a month or so. And it's maybe 10 years old.

Alright. Swatch phone works. It's plastic and kinda discolored, but it has my heart.

And as I admire my Swatch phone, I'm recalling that I had a Swatch clock. It was this oversized watch that hung on the wall.

Man, were the 80s weird.