Mother's Day, and note to all.

Happy Mother's Day to all those wonderful mothers who are on my friends list!

And a note:
It has come to my attention that some of you think I had a rough day yesterday. That isn't actually the case. I had a great day yesterday. I just wasn't in the mood for extended hedonism, that's all. While a part of me is sad that I didn't get to see all my wonderful friends at DHP, and that I didn't stay at Sin! long enough to run into plymouth and friends, for the most part I am quite satisfied, even happy, with my day yesterday.

An antisocial Questioner is not NECESSARILY an unhappy one. There are times when a happy Questioner will not be in the mood for a party, even one as good as the DHPs tend to be.

It's a beautiful day today. I started the day with orange juice, bacon, and chocolate chip cookies. I've opened the drapes up in command and control to let in the bright sunlight, and I'm happily journalling and working on the writing contract. All is well in my world.

*cough* shit

I think I'm having an allergic reaction to the insecticide we sprayed the couches and mattress with. I opened the window and left the room, but the coughing was persisting and I was having enough trouble breathing that I took some ventolin -- something I almost NEVER have to do.

In the meantime, I've moved to the kitchen. Very little if any insecticide was sprayed in here. The coughing is still bad, but I can breathe and it doesn't seem to be getting worse.

I thought leaving the window open all day and letting it sit overnight would clear it out. Apparently not. Anyone in the city willing to offer me a couch to sit on and a power outlet to plug into so I can get work done without coughing up a storm? I guess I can try working in the kitchen in the meantime.

Wow

Major props to aberrantvirtue for thoughtfulness and memory.

About a month ago I mentioned that if they were going to ikea any time soon to buy things for their apartment, I would love to get two spare shelves for my two ikea bookcases.

She just called me from ikea to ask if I knew what bookshelf it was for. Dude! She remembered! People who remember things like that are cool. Is that a female trait, or have I just had bad luck with boyfriends who suck at remembering little details like that?

On an unrelated note, my breathing has cleared up. I'll just sit here and work in the kitchen for a while while the living room airs out more. Maybe later I'll give working in there a try again, but maybe sitting at a table is a nice change. :)

Interestingly, the ventolin doesn't seem to be making me tremble much. It's been a long time since a puff of ventolin has NOT resulted in the shakes. I wonder what that means? Maybe simply that I really needed it this time?

Blah- Jury Duty

So I thought that I had to request postponement on my Jury service when I showed up. Turns out that maybe I need to request it before Friday, as in, this past friday.

I just called them up and tried to postpone, and they wouldn't let me. They said I was ineligible for a postponement. Well, the phone service said I was ineligible. There isn't anyone there now.

I really don't want to get jury duty. My students need me. On Monday I will call them up and find out why I'm ineligible and see if there's anything I can do about it. On the positive side, I don't have to go in Monday, but I AM supposed to call after 5 pm to find out if I should come in Tuesday. Wash rinse repeat.

Huzzah!

Except for one question I have to go back and change, I am now officially Half Done with the writing contract. Of course, that means I have 9 days including today to do 12 more chapters. But I'm hoping it will go faster now. This also marks the transition between EM stuff and a whole panoply of subjects which may be easier to write questions about. Understand that I was supposed to write 15 qualitative questions per chapter, and yet the more advanced material in E&M gets progressively less and less intuitive.

The second half includes:
4 chapters on optics (which I suck at)
1 chapter on relativity (which I aced, even at MIT)
2 chapters on quantum, which will be lots of fun
1 on atomic physics
1 on molecules and solids
1 on nuclear structure
1 on nuclear fusion and fission
1 on particle physics and cosmology

If you're curious, the book's website is at http://www.pse6.com. I believe that is where my tests will be going too.

And now I will celebrate by walking to Whole Foods to pick up some tea tree oil shampoo and crusty tasty bread. w00t!