Hello, faithful reader! Just about to head off to the garage to get that boot changed. Life’s been pretty hectic what with HPSN just around the corner. D’oh!! Just got called into work.
Update, 11:43am: Well, work turned out to be nothing major; just a minor tweak and all was well. I’ve got a brand new front-right CV joint! Total: $213 with tax. Things don’t feel/sound much different, although the steering is tighter, and, for reasons I don’t understand, changing gears feels cleaner (basically, the car just doesn’t lurch as much as it used to, especially between 1st-2nd and 2nd-3rd). Weird. But cool.
Anyhow, it’s lunchtime (hooray!). I love being up early on Saturday.

We had the first rains of spring today. Boom! Lightning and everything. First time since August or so.
Well, I hope everyone’s had a alright week so far. Mine’s been composed of returning a lot of calls — I’ve had at least two new voicemails/day after getting home from work since the article came out 11 days ago. I thought it would have died down by now but apparently not!
Incidentally, if you haven’t submitted your homework yet, get on it! Today is the submission deadline. I sent mine in last night, I hope at least a couple other folks have too, considering there’s *prizes* to be won (click on the “comment” link).
While the general stress-level around work has gone down a bit, the hours haven’t. Not anything like the monster that was last week, but still not where they should be.
Took the car in for an oil change today, learned the “boot” on the front-right axle is broken and needs to be replaced. That’ll be $189 please. Does that sound right to any of my car-familiar readers? Going in Saturday to get it done. And apparently it’s about 20 mins worth of work. Ugh.

While waiting at a stop light yesterday, a leaf jumped out of my fingers while I was removing it from my car’s windshield. This, of course, totally freaked the hell out of me, and I nervously peered around to see who had seen me jump in my chair.
Turns out, said leaf was not actually a leaf at all but a grasshopper, cleverly coloured and textured to look like a leaf. Stem and everything.
In the process of trying to hop away, it lost a leg (which I later discovered was caught between the driver’s side door and the car body). Had it looked more like a grasshopper and not a leaf, I probably wouldn’t have touched it. How’s that for a little evolutionary irony? Grasshoppers need to start looking like the the black of the rubber liner on car doors methinks.
Anyhow, the weekend was composed of movie, work, Ultimate, and movie.
Blue Velvet was…. well, definitely Lynch. Not sure how much I like it yet. Here’s why I’ve liked Lynch films so much so far — they’ve made me think about what I’m watching. Blue Velvet was more of straight-ahead look at a deviant side of an otherwise sleepy small town. Definitely not as mixed up (and hence, interesting) as Lost Highway or Mulholland Drive, but you can definitely see how he “got there from here”.
If you like the show, then you’ll love Kids in the Hall: Same Guys, New Dresses. It follows the Canadian five-some on tour, back together again for the first time since 1996 when Brain Candy was released and promptly met with a dismal performance at the box office. KitH: SGND didn’t include as many skits as I was hoping for (“I’m crushing your head!!”), focusing more the tour itself, but it was still a lot of fun, including a great bit where the Kids meet up with Conan and Andy. Definitely worth the rental for any fan of the series.
Finally, I spent a little bit of Saturday working on a wee homework assignment. It’s not too late to participate, do have a look, take a few shots, and send ’em in. It’ll be neat to see what everyone comes up with.