Update

After nearly a week away from home due to lack of computer and needing to write an article for XTRA, I returned home late Wednesday night.

Since then, I've:
-organized all the paperwork in the bedroom
-opened all my new mail
-gotten my laptop back up and running
-resent out all the ads for renting out the spare room, and responded to some of them scheduling appointments
-returned both the battery from the fall and the charger from this incident to Apple via UPS
-returned the charger I purchased to the Apple Store
-tried to fill my birth control pill prescription and discovered there are no more refills on it
-checked my EI claim online and discovered it hasn't been approved YET
-With Will's help, rearranged my bedroom and some of the common space furniture
-cleaned my dishes
-also with Will's help, assembled and took out some garbage and recycling
-went grocery shopping (massive load of groceries thanks to Will's car)
-dropped off the last two documents for my EI claim
-deboned the club pack of chicken thighs I bought and froze them
-vaccuumed the spare room, the living/dining room, the kitchen, the hallway, the bathroom, and my bedroom, using yaksman's Roomba (more entertainment than work, really)

Now we're watching the Star Wars movies while snuggling (I'm also knitting).

Roomba
OK, I'm totally converted to the cause of the Roomba. These things are amazing. They are a feat of engineering. They do as good a job as a normal vaccuum cleaner, and they are very well designed; the cleaning bits snap out so that you can remove the collected rubble (even the brushes). It seems to be very good at finding its way around the room without any prior context. And it does this all while you sit there, grinning. Since I find that mopping and vaccuuming are the cleaning tasks I'm least likely to do, a Roomba and Scooba (the scooba mops the floor) would be a God Send.

They are also a hoot to watch when there are cats around. At first, Mona simply ran away, and Skittles stalked it, never getting closer than 3/4 metre away, its tail fur puffed up as much as it could go. When the Roomba was in my room Skittles kept on whining at the door and then at us, as though to say, "The evil thing, it's in there! Get it! Get it!" They also kept sniffing at the Roomba's base, and when it was charging, at the Roomba itself. Very amusing. Wish darkestembrace could have been here to see it, but I have no idea where she is. In fact, she hasn't been home since super early this morning.

Too bad Roombas are so expensive. DEFINITELY not within my CURRENT budget, but given that I've seen even the higher level models on eBay for a reasonable price (oh, about $120 with 9 minutes to go, and $220 to buy it now), when I'm back in the green moula zone, I might just go for one.

Star Wars and Pink Five
We're about to start a short Star Wars campaign, taking place during the clone wars (between Ep. 2 and 3). In order to 'get in the mood' yaksman and I decided to watch Star Wars this evening. We tried to start with the Holiday Special, but the DVD player fucked up halfway through, so we skipped to Episode 4. Afterwards, he introduced me to Pink Five. This is hilarious.

Pink Five (first one)
Pink Five Strikes Back
Return of Pink Five, Vol. 1

Totally awesome. He also referred me to this, which I'm definitely hoping to read at some point...
Tag and Bink, the comedic story of two rebel soldiers who through serendipity wind up marooned in a wide variety of situations, including Empire starships, where they must masquerade as stormtroopers. Told in comic book format.

The only annoying thing is that now Episode V is also skipping a lot, much like the holiday special did... it COULD be the DVDs, but I'm thinking it's more likely this DVD player. darkestembrace didn't pay much for it, so this shouldn't be surprising, I suppose.

Tomorrow evening I'm having a scheduled playdate with the Wolf and Spryte, and then Sunday we have the first session of the Star Wars game, focusing on character creation. Monday evening is the social/sauna night, and Tuesday we have our apartment inspection at 6:30 and our next housemate interview at 8:30. Wednesday evening it's the equinox, so we were talking about doing a ritual. Not sure beyond that.

I definitely have some friends I need to make plans with, though. Yay for seeing friends! :)