(no subject)

Today's commute: two and a half hours. Mostly the roads were just wet but the traffic volume was insane. Coming back south from Sterling though, it was getting kind of nasty; I did all kinds of sliding around on the side roads, even though I was being extremely cautious, and there was a bit of slush on 28 already. At least now I know what it takes to merit a "jam factor: red" on XM's traffic channel. They were reporting a two hour trip in on 66 east from Gainesville to the Beltway and backups on the outer loop from the mixing bowl to the American Legion bridge, along with huge backups pretty much everywhere else. I'm thankful that I don't commute into DC, or even in that general direction. First snowfall of the year always results in a giant mess, but hopefully from now on it won't be quite as bad. Note that I don't say anything remotely like "okay", since around here we don't get nearly enough snow to learn how to drive in it properly.

On a happier note, I'm finally back in my own office. Yay! *spazz hands* The repainting ended up being "checking for mold, tearing out drywall, treating for mold, installing new drywall, and repainting". What in theory should've been a couple of days ended up being more than a month.

Tidings of zombies and joy

Christopher Moore guest-blogging at Powell's:

Okay, so 'tis the season and whatnot. And everyone's always axing me: "Did you have any event in your childhood that might have fucked you up and made you like you are so you write these completely sick stories about zombies and Christmas and stuff?"

Yes, childhood! You're small, stupid, and totally powerless. It's like being, I don't know, Lichtenstein at the United Nations, or, like the Littlest Pope. (Didn't you love that book when you were a kid, about the littlest Pope, and how he was crowned head of the most powerful church in the world, but all he really wanted was a pony? I loved that. Especially when he has the Irish inquisition torture all the Leprechauns to death because they called him a wee Papist wanker. How about the part where the Daili Lama kicks his ass at Pope school because he knows kung fu? Great book!)

Anyway, Christmas.

[much hilarity and trauma ensues]

I love this man SO MUCH. ♥