We've had what I'll call a love/hate relationship.. but she's back, and I'm glad. We had a long talk, and she's had a few adjustments made, so I think things will work out this time. Hopefully she doesn't flood my apartment again. Here we are, me and my dishwasher, reunited at last:

My carpet was re-laid today. Got some new carpet in the hallway, it doesn't quite match, but I like the way it looks with the old. A nice contrast. My apartment also smells like glue now – I have the windows open, and it's a lot better than it was a few hours ago. And yes, I turned the a/c off.

Last night I had to go over to a friend's apartment and save her from a bat. Which turned out to be two bats. A little guy, and a momma bat. I've never seen a bat up close like that, I got right up to the little guy and was checking him out like a kid in a candy store. They're pretty amazing. I watched him follow my head around with his ears, and all I could really think about was how silly it seemed for him to have to blink his eyes so often when they weren't really doing anything.

Also, you know those pull-strings on window blinds? The kind that kids apparently choke themselves on? Yeah, those. I get really annoyed by the ones that "solve" that problem by separating the two strings and making me pull two plastic pieces at the same time and speed. Are there any that keep the convenience of having only one pull string yet are "child safe"? I was thinking something along the lines of having the plastic pull still be two pieces, but one half has a magnet in it, and the other a piece of metal. Or velcro between them. That way you only have to search for the end of one string, they're both automatically pulled at the same speed.. and if a kid decides that putting his head between two strings is a good idea – the pulls would easily separate. Two obvious? Where are these things?

thum-pi-ty [thuhm-pi-tee]
adjective

1. of or relating to an abundance of thump
2. something with a heavy bass or a strong beat ('My techno is more thumpity than yours')
3. an exciting object or event ('That was one thumpity party!')

Use at your own risk

I was on the phone with a certain someone, trying to talk about everything and nothing.. because it feels good. And one of the 'nothings' that I started talking about (before the phone lost signal) was this candle in my kitchen. One of many purchases from the evil-empire of Wal-Mart. So, for the sake of continuing that conversation, I'll blog about it tonight. And I'll keep it in the "why are you talking like that?" format.
Now, this candle isn't just an ordinary candle. No. I would even go as far as saying that it was a "magical" candle. Please note that "magical" is in quotes, inferring that it's not actually magical. But it is a lovely large jar candle.. 3 layers. It's name? "Baker's Dozen." Its layers? "Cookie Crunch" "Maple Spice" and "Cranberry Oatmeal."

I'm still about halfway through the cookie crunch, and at first, I thought that it was the ultimate candle scent. It makes the entire house smell like there are a bunch of cookies ready to come out of the oven. After letting it burn for quite some time, the jar heated up enough to get a bit of the maple spice going. It was like a symphony of cookies and pancakes suddenly began playing. If only you could experience it.

I'm not entirely looking forward to the cranberry oatmeal layer though. I'm sure that it smells good, but getting to it means that I'll be entirely out of the cookie crunch and low on the maple spice. I'm not sure how I'll cope.

An interesting video from 1994. Dick Cheney defends the decision to not remove Saddam from power in Iraq.

Do any of the problematic results that he lists sound familiar? It seems intelligence was.. more intelligent back then.

So I found a copy of the p90x workout videos that I can borrow.. It's pretty brutal. My body isn't really used to working out, and I threw quite a bit at it last night. I couldn't completely follow along with the video, because I don't have a chin-up bar, and I gave up after about 40 minutes because I couldn't do too much more moving.

I think I must have done about a billion pushups. I kept getting to the point where I'd be counting a set, and get to 30, and then my brain would kick in and be like "no, you can't even do 30. you're done" and then my arms would give out.

I'm really not sore anymore, but I think I have like "phantom pain" where I keep imagining what it felt like last night.