Wow

I got home from watching 'The 100' with a friend about 10:45 pm, after the major storm had passed which drenched the city but while some others were coming through. I was hot and sticky (yes, serves me right for wearing polyester), so I came in with all intents and purposes of blogging but instead I took out my contacts, took off my clothes, turned on the fan in the bedroom, and propped my feet up on the bed. I'd been aching everywhere, and my knee is still bothering me a lot, so it felt good to have the breeze on me. I told myself I'd lie there for a minute or two, then go get my glasses, something to eat, and some ibuprofen. Than was three and a half hours ago. :) So now I'm doing all that, plus I cleared out some algae that was invading the fish tank's filtration system.

I got an e-mail saying the second of two positions I'd applied for had been filled. :( There is another one that just opened, though, so I'll go ahead and apply. I'm thinking that indicates an internal candidate got at least one of the jobs.

I submitted two book reviews today, was very productive at work, and then came home and had dinner and about 45 minutes of resting (no, I didn't nap). Then it was over to YKWIA's where we watched the first episode of the British comedy 'Clone' and then 'The 100', which is getting better and better as it goes along. I wonder how close it is to the book upon which it is based, by Kass Morgan? That might be worth looking at after the season's over, which will be three more episodes. Soon there will just be 'Salem' to watch, as 'Grimm' is over for the year. But hey, that's what Amazon Prime and Netflix are for. :)

Okay, I've had a little cereal and I'm going to take that ibuprofen. Time to go back to bed. Good night!

Another benefit of Amazon Prime membership

Free books that haven't been published yet...

Amazon Introduces Kindle First – Highly Anticipated Books Released In Kindle Format A Month Early, Offered For $2 or FREE!

Those without Prime can choose a Kindle book from the picks for $1.99.

:)

I personally would love to see Tom Baker and the other surviving 'Doctors' make an appearance on the 50th anniversary special. Tom Baker was the first Doctor for me, the one I watched as a kid on the PBS station out of Wichita, Kansas in the 1980s. Ah, nostalgia. 'Care for a Jelly Baby?' Speaking of Tom Baker, I've noticed several of the classic 'Doctor Who' seasons are listed for free to watch on Amazon Prime, going back to the original Doctor, William Hartnell and going all the way to Sylvester McCoy. I have "The Deadly Assassin", "The Pyramids of Mars", "The Five Doctors" (which was done without Tom Baker, actually) and a couple of others on VHS, but it might be fun to go back and watch those episodes that first drew me to 'Doctor Who', as well as the ones before and after. There's the issue of the missing episodes, so it's by no means complete, but still...between Netflix (which has about 75 episodes of classic Who as well) and Amazon, which both run the newer series as well, I can watch most of the Doctors with streaming video (the movie with Peter McGann (the 8th Doctor) is only available on DVD.)

I feel so much like John Watson sometimes

I just watched the 'Sherlock' episode "The Hounds of Baskeville", which I've had on DVR for quite some time and had not seen before. It was excellent. I considered re-watching 'The Reichenbach Fall', but it's been a pleasant evening, and I find that episode (while absolutely riveting) somewhat disturbing. But as I watched tonight, I was reminded of just how much YKWIA strikes me as a sort of a cross between Sherlock and Sheldon from 'The Big Bang Theory', although he is more functional than either in terms of social skills, etc. He's much better than either to be around, but many people find him, well, difficult. They see me as the reasonable one, despite the fact that he lives his life based on reason and I am much more emotional.

I've set up my Roku box to play Amazon Prime videos, so I can watch things like episodes of 'Grimm', which aren't on Netflix yet. But right now I'm using the Roku to listen to a Rob Thomas channel on Pandora.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to call and cancel my cable TV. The only thing I watch when it is first-run is 'Doctor Who', which, now that I have the car, I can just go to YKWIA's and watch with him. I have Netflix and Amazon Prime for most anything else I would watch. If it weren't for the fact that I have a wired desktop, I'd cancel the cable completely and get a mobile hotspot from my phone company. But I do need it for that and for the home phone (which is through Vonage). So I'll keep the cable Internet connexion, but it will half my bill, approximately. And if they offer some bundle that would really save me, I'll keep it, but generally there's no sense in me having it; except for the occasional foray into news or weather and 'Doctor Who', I simply do not watch.

So strange to have a third day off, and the weekend's still going strong

I'm mostly left to my own devices today, and I've just really gotten going this morning (I slept till 10!) Here's the plan for today:

1. Get something to eat--I've missed breakfast at McDonalds's. I'm thinking maybe Taco Bell.
2. Pick up a package that was delivered to work yesterday.
3. Get my hair cut sometime after 1 pm, when Dee Dee will be at Supercuts at Regency.
4. Go to the YMCA. Try out the pool if I can.
5. Do the dishes.
6. Straighten up the kitchen.
7. Clean out the refrigerator.
8. Bake bread.
9. Clean the bathroom, giving it a good once-over.
10. Work on the computer area.
11. Straighten up around the dining table.
12. Straighten up the couch.
13. Go through the mail.
14. Pay any bills due.
15. Take out the trash and recyclables.
16. Get some groceries.
17. Clean and fill the fish tank.
18. Do the hand-washable laundry.
19. Put away the other laundry.
20. Watch those last two episodes of 'Doctor Who'.
21. Watch 'Downton Abbey' DVDs.
22. Set up the Amazon Prime to run through the Roku box.
23. Watch 'Grimm'.

Think I can get that all finished? :)

It is apparently the afternoon of napping

I was doing my laundry over at my friends' house and everyone in the house except me--humans, dogs, and cats, fell asleep, One had been up since four something in the morning and was falling asleep at the computer before he laid down. Another fell asleep to 'The Flying Nun', which was the only thing he could find on television he could handle. The dogs and cats were ranged around him. I took a picture of everyone but the one in bed, which I'll show them later. But my laundry finished, so I folded it and got my stuff and crept out of there. A barely stirred. :)

I feel like a nap, too. I watered the outside plants as soon as I got home because they were looking peaked in the heat, but the sun is beating down through the windows and it's a pleasant afternoon. The plan is to get up later, do game notes and hand-wash laundry, as well as dishes and a bit of straightening, before calling it a night.

I did send the disc of 'Grimm' I have out from Netflix back today so I could get another. I checked and the first season is on Amazon Prime, which I have, without paying anything additional. So I'm going to go that route. I couldn't get Silver Linings Playbook at the library, so I added it to my disc queue to watch in a little while. I have a couple of other discs first, but they should be quick to watch, I think. A said it was fine to wait a bit. Okay, now for my nap. :)

Spent some time with a friend and his family

who gave me a ride home from work (with a quick stop at Kroger for bread). It was nice to see them. Since neither of us have a car (he had borrowed one for the day), it makes it hard to get together much, and both of us stay pretty busy, but we usually text at least every other day. In fact, he's the main person (okay, the only person) I text. :) He and his wife just celebrated their ninth anniversary, and have two rowdy (especially the youngest) children. More power to them, they seem like great parents, but they have more guts than I do in that regard. :)

I've washed dishes, straightened up the kitchen, taken out the trash (the recyclables outside are full to the brim, so that will have to wait until tomorrow), and put away a few things I had on the loveseat. Tomorrow I need to call the leasing office and ask maintenance to have a look at my commode, as it seems to have a slow leak if you don't jiggle the handle a bit each time. It's probably time for the guts to be replaced again. I go through them fairly quickly for some reason. I promise, I'm not mega-flushing or anything.

I need to water the plants, which are doing well, but I think they're overdue for that--I normally do it on Saturdays at home, Mondays at work. The ones at work are flourishing. The shamrocks are growing like weeds (the purple one gets lots of oohs and ahs at work, it's so big), the violet is blooming (finally), the Christmas cactus isn't but it's very healthy. I did come in Monday to find the rose withered in places. I don't know why; it takes quite a bit of water but I gave it some extra towards the end of the week. I cut the withered pieces away and left the new growth, which was doing fine. I've never been able to keep miniature roses alive indoors, for some reason, but I'm going to give it a try.

Outside, the apartments have replaced the rather scrubby yew shrubs with holly ones, full of berries. I think they'll be a delight come winter when the berries are red. It makes for a nice change. I was saddened when I went into work the other day and they were cutting down a crabapple to get to the gutters and roof near the portico. They're working on the roof of the hospital, and likely will till November, replacing the whole thing. I'm getting somewhat used to the high-pitched sawing sounds, and the hammering, but there's something that causes a vibration that makes the walls shake that just gets under my skin. I've been wearing my headphones when I can and listening to music. Unfortunately, since a lot of my morning is spent on the phone, that's not always possible.

I'm feeling better about my work in regards to the referrals. I'm busy trying to get a handle on three very large clinic days next week, so I'm not doing them at the last minute. 'Course, I did that last week, too, and look how stressed I was Friday and Monday. :)

I'm listening to the Celtic music channel on cable. I'm seriously considering removing the TV package from my cable bill and relying on Netflix for entertainment. It would mean not seeing 'Doctor Who' as it comes out, but all the other seasons are on Netflix and I expect I could watch it after the new season ends. I'm bad about DVR'ing it anyway and then not getting around to watching it, especially as it comes on at a time on Saturday when I'm likely on my way home on the bus. We'll see. It seems silly to pay $75 a month for a service I rarely use. That's $900 a year. I'd still keep the Internet service, though, because, well, one, broadband service is important to me and I use it a lot, two, my Vonage phone piggy-backs on it, and three, that's how you watch those shows on Netflix. :) But it really would half my cable bill entirely. I only spend $16 a month for Netflix in comparison, and that's about $8 for the streaming bit, as I also have the DVD-by-mail subscription. I also have a trial going of Amazon Prime, which includes streaming video, which comes out to be about $6 a month. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to keep it. It also includes borrowing Kindle books and free two-day shipping. We'll see.

Okay, I think I'm going to go read. Or maybe play Ninja Chicken. No, read. :) Good night if I don't write again this evening.