Post-pouri

So beginning Sunday Emily and I will be house/dog sitting for Brian Bell. He's a hydrologist at the Sedimentation lab. The dog in question, Boxie is a (yes you guessed it) a Boxer. She's 2.5 year old, and seems to be a sweetheart. Plus, if Chorni gets out of line, I have no doubt she can discipline him, being 30 lbs heavier and stronger.

I'll probably feel differently about this after a week away from home, but I like living in other people's houses. Mainly, I think that comes from the fact that almost everyone else has either better stuff or a better house, or both. And frankly, getting out of my messy crap filled house, and living someplace with a dishwasher is nice. Unfortunately, Brian lives about 10 minutes north of town, so the commute will take longer, but for 1-1.5 weeks, I think I can live with that.

I'm not sure how I found these pants, but they look pretty cool. The name is stupid, but the design features they talk about sound like they'd solve some problems I have commonly found; poor fit at the waist, waist and front too large, thighs too small, the general run of issues that come from trying to buy pants which have been sized for an overweight population when you yourself are not. Grab there blog here.

While I'm shilling for products I don't own, Multiwinia. This game is the multiplayer version of the superlative single player game Darwinia. I've downloaded the demo, and I have absolutely no idea why I haven't started playing. Just other things going on, I hope to rectify that this weekend. Darwinia was an amazingly fun and unique game. It's hard to explain, but give the download 20 minutes and you'll understand why I love the series so much, and suspect that Multiwinia is also very good. Leave a comment, let me know what you think.

Worth activating; Gmail Googles. Fairly obvious what this does, and not foolproof, but I know I could have used this a time or two.

Political confession here; I want John McCain to lose. Not that I'm looking forward to the Barakolypse, far from it. But McCain/Palin shouldn't be in the White House. I'll try to write more about this later, but for now, I think it's enough to say that Bob Dole's nomination was a bad idea the first time around, and I'm baffled why we chose to do it again.

Financial update; S&P down 5.5%, NASDAQ down 4.5%. The yen, of all currencies, is the recipient of a flight to safety during a banking crises. Who would have seen that coming? Good news; oil almost at $80, exactly where it was a year ago. I seriously want to find those Goldman Sachs analysts who where saying $200 oil this summer. They deserve round mocking.

Doesn't look like I'll be buying that BMW 2002 mentioned earlier. First, the seller is not interested in a trade, so I'd have to unload my Explorer separately. Second, the car is a 1975 model. That was apparently the year (the dreaded) emissions controls arrived. The result; '75 is the "least desirable" year. The price wasn't fantastic to begin with. So I think I'll hold out for a different one, or a lower price. The 1972 Tii would be idea; fuel injected, no big bumpers or pollution gear. Barring that, the '76 was offered in a 49 state (non-neutered) version w/ engine upgrades from the (then) upcoming 320i.

Actually about to have to do something in class, so this post is ending

now