Because I clearly haven't been through enough lately, and because all politicians are at their core about as mature as your average two year old, there appears to be a pretty good chance that I'm going to be furloughed. Which, you know, after dropping cash like a madwoman on all of the incidentals that two deaths and funerals in a row seem to bring and with gas jumping to new heights and the work my car needs (let's pray I don't need a whole transmission), I could really go for a furlough.Budget passed! Crisis averted! But it's okay. I'm a federal employee. As the incredibly well-informed individuals who comment on internet news stories know, I'm an uneducated slob paid astronomical sums of money to sit my drooling ass in a vibromassaging chair all day while plotting new and exciting ways to waste tax dollars and be nasty to tax payers. Oh, and I don't pay taxes either.

Hm. My sense of sarcasm is starting to return. A little? I guess that's... good? Sort of? I think that it's because anger is an easier emotional transition. I don't know. My sense of humor is still decidedly missing. I kind of don't want it to be back though, because in a weird way I don't want to feel normal again, because there is nothing that will ever be normal again and, if things become "normal" again it means that my brother is consigned to the past. And that is just opening another world of pain.

Bizarre sign that I miss my brother of the day: I actually left Ken Burns's Civil War on for a while tonight. It's just soooooo painfully boring to me, but I actually watched it for an hour and imagined Nick nitpicking the shit out of it. Sure beats the email from the blood bank asking my opinion about how to best handle Nick's image in their advertising campaign. That one left me a sobby mess in the restroom at work for a while-- on top of dropping the freshly baked coffee cake on my kitchen floor, should pretty much illustrate what a crappy morning it was. Sadly, it didn't get much better from there and then my plans got canceled on me. On the plus side? A quiet evening at home with FatCat and a good book is about the best way my evening could have turned out.

so let it be written...

• I know that a team with an excellent defense and mediocre-ish offense can still win Superbowls. Six words to summarize this radical notion: Trent. Dilfer. Has. A. Superbowl. Ring.
• I'm still laughing about the Metrodome collapsing after all the DRAHHHHHHHHMA over Favre starting and the Giants charter being diverted.
• Baltimoreans, scary drivers at the best of times, really need to accept that in temperate climes?  Precipitation happens.  Sometimes of the freezing/ frozen variety.  And it's okay.  People can make slight adjustments to their driving (perhaps not, say, average 55 in a 40 commercial zone as they do in clear weather) without overreacting (frantically slamming on the breaks) and thus avoid causing accidents.  Sheesh.  I thought Pittsburgh drivers were bad about freaking out over the weather.  Then again, Baltimore/ DC Drivers are about the worst in the country.
• While I draft this, I'm in the process of doing something drastic and/ or rash. When I do publish... le fait accompli. So let it be written, so let it be done.

please don't patronize the geeks who happen to be female

Some days I need to actually read what I write before I hit publish. But I'm a little burned out, and what, like five people in the entire universe have ever read this blog (not counting the autopost to FB)? So. Who cares.

What I can find enough energy to care about at the moment is trivial stuff. Like this story. I'm torn. It's kind of like... the way I feel about "feminine" NFL gear.

(fair warning-- this is the part where I'm going to throw around terms that belie the whole science background thing)

Y'all know that "feminine" gear tends to be very figure-conscious (read: sexy), come in "girly colors" like pink or purple, and/ or feature rhinestones/ sequins/ other shiny things. It reinforces the notion of feminine = altered, weaker version of masculine. It plays to traditional gender roles and expectations that women should always dress to attract a partner. It infantilizes women (we couldn't possibly be expected to want to wear the actual team colors or something that's not vomitous baby pink or purple). The whole thing is super heteronormative-- women who don't buy into the gimmick are comparatively more "masculine" (and thereby less desirable) than those who do. It's more socially acceptable for a woman to stay in the role, stick to the script, and wear the feminized gear. Likewise with the "girly" geek gear. I can't just be a geek that happens to be female. I can't just be comfortable in my own skin with whatever geeky accoutrements I already have-- I have to be sexy too while doing it, if I want to be socially acceptable. Having a Godzilla figure haunting the top of my filing cabinet isn't good enough. I should wear a tight-fitting low-cut teeshirt with strategically placed Mothra wings in sequins. Which is pretty much the opposite of what those so-called girl geeks claim to be promoting, with the whole be comfortable being yourself thing. So, anyway, that's why that kind of thing vaguely bothers me.

Happy weekend, kiddos.

I do not like this GPS, Sam-I-Am. I like it less than green eggs and ham.

My family gave me a TomTom Go for my birthday, and I have to confess. I fricking hate it. HATE. IT.

I appreciate my family's obvious concern that I find my way around. And their concern for my safety, and their observation of my birthday. But I want my old crappy GPS back. This thing? It's new, and yet it recognizes fewer places than my old GPS. This doesn't recognize shopping centers or major stores like Ikea that have been in place for about A DECADE. Or highways that have been in place for two YEARS now.

If I search for an address on Google or Bing, I can enter the number, street name, and zip code. Boom. The supposedly superior TomTom mapping software? Oh, no. You have to enter the FULL address, including "US." Because yes, apparently they think you're somehow magically going to DRIVE to an ISLAND in the south fricking PACIFIC even though you have a ZIP CODE.

But most offensive? It's CONSTANTLY trying to sell me shit. I won't buy an iPhone because I don't want to be constantly subjected to marketing every time I use it. Ohh, you need this app, you need this song, blah blah blah. It's the same thing with TomTom. Updates start at $40 a year. You can get all manner of mildly amusing voices starting at $15 a pop (personally, any amusement would evaporate the third time mine told me to go the wrong way down a one-way street or turn where no turns are permitted-- which happens every time I drive down one near my apartment). I get that they're trying to salvage what they can as GPS devices become obsolete in the face of smartphones, but really? How about you just make the damn thing work correctly in the first place?