• Grr. At some point yesterday afternoon, Dreamhost started to have mail delays with things like comments from my blog. I’m sure hoping that they get that sorted out soon so I can reply to y’all. (Of course, after I wrote that, I started to receive comment email again.)

• Looks like Amazon’s celebrating a million Twitter followers by giving away a free mp3 song of your choice. (Ends Sunday.)

• Thanks to everyone who played along in my contest for Michelle Rowen’s Tall, Dark and Fangsome. The five winners have been notified and have 48 hours to respond (from 7:30 pm CDT, September 3). I’ll post the winners on Tuesday.

• Tuesday? Why, yes, Monday’s a holiday here in the States, so it’s a blogging holiday for me. 🙂

• Speaking of which… After today, only two more blogging (and working) days until vacation starts next Thursday! Woot!

• I’m sure I’ll blog while I’m on vacation, but it’ll be sporadic and probably picture heavy.

• In order to add a bit more knitting content (the four remaining and desperate knitreaders just perked up, I can tell), I’m trying to convince Jeanne to guest blog periodically.

• Jeanne also has three very cute kitties, who have been known to (unwillingly but adorably) model knitwear.

• No pressure, Jeanne. *ahem*

• While on a bike ride after work yesterday (yup, things are slowing down at work!), I saw a guy with possibly the most amazingly muscley and sexy arms ever. Yum. Sleeveless bike jerseys were made for that guy.

• I also saw a large moving van stuck under one of the bikeway (formerly railroad) bridges. Dude. Did you not think the height restriction applied to your humongous vehicle? Why were you driving a moving van on the parkway in the first place?

• Glad I wasn’t on the bridge when that thing got stuck!

• Today should be a mellow day at work. My boss is on vacation and I’m the in-charge. My minions shall be legion, um, well, maybe two. One of whom will probably go for a long lunch and not return.

• That’s ok, since I’m taking a long lunch and getting a pedicure. 🙂

• And tomorrow I’m finally getting my hair cut, after six or seven months. Goodbye, 3-5″ of heavy, tangling hair.

“You did not just write that you are leaving again next week, right?” -Chaos

*looks worried* -Mayhem

“Wha…?” -Chaos

P.S. Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post before 7 pm CDT, Thursday, September 3, for your chance to win a copy of Michelle Rowen’s forthcoming paranormal romance, Tall, Dark and Fangsome! (Another of Michelle Rowen’s vampire romances, Bitten and Smitten, is a $1.99 ebook from Hatchette Books in September.)

P.P.S. Sticky note created over at Superstickies and as inspired by Paperback Writer.

My new netbook skin arrived! I applied it to my Dell Mini 9 netbook and dubbed said netbook Kuroi Neko (Japanese for “black cat”).

I think it fits right in around here. 😉

When I was taking pictures, I realized that Kuroi Neko is literally half the size of my Toshiba laptop, which has a 14.1″ screen.

Of course, not everyone was impressed…

“Um, Mom? There’s something seriously hinky about this cat.” -Chaos

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post before 7 pm CDT, Monday, August 17, for your chance to win a copy of Sandra Hill’s So Into You!

Last night work, exercise, and the pollen count conspired against you. Also, a cat may have eaten my homework. Or not. Anyway, I got nothin’ here except a very special picture of Chaos. Please feel free to caption amongst yourselves – I could use the giggles throughout the day!

Yours truly,

Chris

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post before 7 pm CDT, Monday, August 17, for your chance to win a copy of Sandra Hill’s So Into You!

• Mayhem spent a rare night sleeping in my bedroom Friday night, as I can’t actually get her out of her thunderstorm hiding spot (and it would’ve been cruel to try). I awoke Saturday morning to Mayhem happily gnawing on my arm and purring. Way to be unobtrusive, May! Not.

• We had an exciting Saturday weatherwise ’round here. Throughout the day, in no particular order, we had a heat advisory, a flash flood watch, a tornado warning, intermittent noisy thunderstorms, oodles of humidity, and the sirens going off in the evening. This probably didn’t help attendence for the local art fairs in Uptown, Loring Park, and Powderhorn Park.

• Yikes. I’m closing in on post #1000. This post is #994.

• I’m checking into getting a Dell Mini 9 laptop skin. I even know the design I want to get customized. (Many thanks to Limedragon for sending me that link some months ago!)

• I actually knitted last week when Jeanne was over. I knitted an entire inch of my second Meilenweit cotton sock, only to realize that I was knitting it on 56 stitches, not 72. D’oh. *rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrip*

• Many thanks to J. Kaye and Cecile for the recent blog awards. And much belated thanks to Lea for the Angel on My Blog Award a while back – I added the icon to my sidebar ages ago, but never mentioned it! (And apologies to anyone else who I haven’t mentioned on this one…)

• Huh. Goat towers?!

• Shhh! Don’t tell Mayhem that Sammy has a tiara, too.

“Pink! Feathery! Sparkly! Tiaray!” -Mayhem

Don’t forget to leave a comment on the contest post before 7 pm CDT, Thursday, August 6, for your chance to win a copy of Diana Holquist’s How to Tame a Modern Rogue!

You may or may not have noticed that I have certain geekish tendencies. It’s hereditary – what can I say? (Hi, Dad! Hi, Matt!) 😉 Anyway, said geekish tendencies are sometimes expressed through acquisition of technology. Most recently, through the acquisition of a Dell Mini 8.9″ netbook, on the right below. For scale, my regular laptop on the left has a 14.1″ screen. Quite a difference, eh?

My plans for the wee Dell are to get it setup so I can connect to work when I’m on-call (better than lugging a laptop around!), take notes in various situations, and have a lightweight way to stay in touch on vacation.

Oh, and I think Jeanne was mightily amused to be fielding Ubuntu questions from me last night. I’m mostly recovered from that fall when I discovered that you don’t need anti-virus software for Ubuntu, Jeanne. Thanks for checking! :p

“Technology bores me.” -Mayhem

“Crap, this thing is too small for me to hide behind.” -Chaos

Gosh, I can’t even remember the last time I did a bullet post. Surely it must be time.

• I am on call this week for the first time in my life. Let’s everyone think happy healthy database thoughts, shall we?
• Hee hee – the ice cream truck just drove by (playing a loud and chirpy song) at the same time my cell phone rang. Chaos growled and poofed and Mayhem hid. Apparently the Feline Apocalypse begins with the ice cream truck…
• Grr. WordPress and I are fighting again. Really, I shouldn’t have time to read four pages in a book while saving a draft of this post.
• Wow, I’ve had sort of a crazy week o’ winning. I think I’ll have to list each as a separate bullet item, due to the complexity of one prize.
• First I won Misery and Cabernet from CursingMama’s Not So Humble Opinions.
• Then I won a rather amazing goodie bag from author Lynn Viehl’s Paperback Writer blog: The Pajama Girls of Lambert Square by Rosina Lippi; Master of Shadows by Lynn Viehl; Animal Attraction by Charlene Teglia; The Missing by Shiloh Walker; Primal Male by Sasha White; Round the Clock by Dara Girard, Red Fire and Red Kiss by Deidre Knight; Pleasure Unbound, Desire Unleashed and Passion Unleashed by Larissa Ione; Hawkspar by Holly Lisle; The Iron Hunt and Darkness Calls by Marjorie M. Liu; and signed paperback copies of Lynn Viehl’s novels StarDoc and Evermore, as well as some other surprises.
• Next was a copy of Lauren Dane’s Relentless from Romance Reviews Today.
• Finally, I won a copy of Jaci Burton’s Hunting the Demon from Nice Mommy, Evil Editor.
• Many thanks to CursingMama, Lynn Viehl, Patti from Romance Reviews Today, and Jaci Burton!
• (begin foreshadowing) Of course, since I have several of the books in the goodie bag, I’ll probably need to have another book giveaway here in the not-too-distant future… (end foreshadowing)
• The cats are not thrilled by the new toilet because there isn’t enough space behind the base for them to walk in circles around it anymore.
• However, there is a mysterious porthole-like opening in the base, so now they stand one on each side of the toilet and touch noses through the porthole.
• Don’t expect a picture of that anytime soon.
• I’ve been slowly trying to get back in shape… after about three years of being an utter slug. Slowly because if I try to do too much too soon, my body fights back and I can’t exercise for several days while the aches and pains subside.
• Did I mention that getting older isn’t so fun?
• Or that I didn’t properly appreciate my level of fitness three years ago?!
• Did you hear that the high temperature Saturday in Minnaepolis was 65F? We’re still having drought conditions, too.
• On the plus side, neither mosquitoes nor humidity have been bothersome this summer.
• I’m definitely going to have a scar from that sprocket incident a few weeks ago.
• I’ve also added a lovely array of new bruises: dropping something on my foot, bike pedal to the shin, and skidding the toilet box (with toilet in it) down the front of my other shin to keep the toilet from smashing to the ground.
• It’s hard to describe how much I love Placebo’s new song, “For What It’s Worth.” I can listen to it over and over and over and over…
• My goodness, I’d best stop now. This got a bit out of hand, didn’t it?! 🙂

“I’m not going to look at you, Mom. That just encourages you with that silly flashing.” -Mayhem