Happy leap day, or

as my word of the day puts it,  bissextus. Just a quick note to say hi,  really.  Yesterday we played the game again for the first time since before Christmas,  and while it was fun,  I got home late and didn't get much sleep.  The highlight of my day today was giving blood (pint 42). I've been tired all day,  unrelated to that,  and as the day wore on,  I've gotten quite a few aches where rain is coming.  A friend gave me some 8-hour Tylenol Arthritis,  and I made him soy dogs and we watched 'Ugly Betty'.

I'm home now,  which is good,  as I have to go over at 5:30 am tomorrow to pick someone up and get him to an appointment by 8 am,  which is always a challenge. So now it's a little after 10:30 pm,  so time for bed.  Good night!

I feel

Like I've run all over Creation today (and nearly got stuck in the unholy morass that is Tiverton Way). Today I have gone:

1) To pick up a friend at his house
2) Taken him to the pharmacy
3) Dropped him off at the barber
4) Returned home
5) Ate and took meds while playing Civilization IV
6) Went back to his house right as he was getting home in the bus
7) Got lost with him on Tiverton Way looking for Scrub World
8) Had to get in another lane when leaving the area so I wouldn't wind up blocking the intersection
9) Managed to get in the right lane and go to a men's clothing shop,  turning at the right place
10) Found they were closing out stock,  didn't have what we were looking for,  and their new store is...yes,  in Tiverton Way
11) Gave up on the clothing run
12) Went to the grocery
13) Found Homemade brand coconut almond chocolate chip ice cream -- one all three of us love--a lot
14) Spent time with YKWIA while A watched the basketball game and a movie about Scientology
15) Watched 'Ugly Betty' and 'Star Trek: Voyager'
16) Called Brenda about playing the game tomorrow
17) Helped clean up the library at their house
18) Spent time with YKWIA

Now I' m home and very,  very tired.  Good night.

Okay, so much for a half-hour nap

But I am finally warm. It just took awhile. That’s not like me, but I’ve been cold all day. We’re in a cold snap sandwiched between two warm weekends, and this morning I inadvisably did dishes before taking a shower, and I have a small apartment-sized hot water heater, so by the time I was finished and in the shower, it was not merely lukewarm but quite cold.

But I’m up now. I cleaned the toilet and the countertop in the bathroom. I’ll have to wait on vacuuming—I don’t want to annoy the neighbours. I’m going to eat a couple of small burritos, because I didn’t eat properly earlier, and then consider doing some things in the dining area. Among other things, I have some grey plastic tubs that I should go through, and while that’s not going to happen tonight, they need to be placed against the wall in a stack where the table that was put in their place was. Otherwise they’re sticking out into my escape path. I mean, I can get around them, but they are jutting out pretty far. I may sit on the couch and listen to some music and fold laundry, too. We’ll see. If not, reading before it’s time for bed (I want to go in early to work so that I can get my allergy shot) is a definite option.

I'm alone tonight

And I seriously considered going to the library,  as tomorrow is the last day the Eagle Creek branch is open.  They're encouraging people to check out lots of books and keep them until Eastside opens at Palumbo and Man O'War on March 15th (so there's lead to move). But I'm cold,  so I've turned the heat up a little and I'm under the covers and plan on taking a short nap before doing more on the house. I straightened up the kitchen this morning when I did dishes and took out the trash and recyclables.  The bath is fine; I'll do a quick once over with the toilet and countertop and that should be all it needs.  I want to do some vacuuming before it gets late,  and I'd also like to work on getting the clean laundry,  which is mostly on the dining table,  refolded and put away.  Then I'd like to do some reading and Latin review. But first, a half-hour  (in theory)  nap.

In fact, this is the first candidate who really gels well with my beliefs

Say what you will about Bernie Sanders, he is incredibly consistent, as opposed to his opponent, a woman, yes, but one I don't trust at all. I really believe that Sanders will do everything in his power to improve the lives of the average American and make this a better world for our progeny.

Seen on Facebook today

Okay, sometimes I do stray into politics, and those of you who have been reading for awhile know I am one of those over-educated unabashed liberals. But as far as I can tell, anyone with any sense should worry about Donald Trump, and yet plenty of people in our reality-TV modern 21st-century world seem to be supporting him, which worries me. And whenever I see him compared to Hitler, there's all these people who say 'read your history books, he's no Hitler!' Funny, they should read their history books and see how Hitler got his start. Sigh.

How America Made Donald Trump Unstoppable: He's no ordinary con man. He's way above average — and the American political system is his easiest mark ever

I saw this yesterday, and I love it

Kids get shelter dogs' tails wagging by reading them tales

Through a slide show, the kids learn to recognize stress signals in a dog's body language. They also learn how to approach such dogs — sitting sideways, with quiet voices and "library behavior" — and how to reward them with kibble if they respond.

While the shelter doesn't have hard numbers, Klepacki believes the program has made a huge difference. "Just look at the dogs in these photos," she said. "These were dogs that before were hiding in the backs of the rooms with their tails tucked. You can see the connection — you can see them responding to those kids."

The kids get reading practice and develop empathy, and the dogs learn to calm down and come out of their shells. It's a win-win situation.

For some reason

Google Chrome has not been loading on my laptop when I try to get on the Internet, which is one reason I haven't blogged much lately. Instead I've had to blog on my phone, which has certain limits on using the Blogger mobile application, and the browser doesn't work at all for Blogger in terms of filling in the boxes, at least on Google Chrome. So...

In the time it took Chrome to come up and hang up, I used Microsoft Edge (which I don't like) to download and install Firefox. Now I'm online with no trouble. So it may have been a Chrome issue. Pity, I do like Chrome, but only if it works.

I was in scheduling yesterday and today, and both days were busy yet alright. Yesterday there was an appointment, too, and I went and got something for a friend at the pharmacy while he was at the doctor's office. Of course, there was something else to get today due to that visit. So I've been to the pharmacy, which is clear across town, but which we prefer to the big mega-pharmacies, twice in two days. After I delivered the item, I read through and proofread a document he wrote up, and then headed home. I'm behind on my cleaning venture, and tomorrow we have the pest control people coming in, so I need to have the kitchen and bathroom in good shape. Mainly I need to wash the handwashable dishes, take out the trash, and the recyclables, something I haven't done yet. Of course, after starting out warm this morning it's very cold outside and also very windy. We're supposed to get snow sometime overnight, maybe a dusting up to three inches. I'm not in scheduling tomorrow, but I expect there will be quite a few cancellations--they've been cancelling for two days already out of concern for the weather, even though it should be a mild snow, the ground is quite warm, and it will warm up in a day or two (60 degrees on Sunday). Spring seems to be around the corner (my allergies prove it), and that's great. We had a statewide tornado drill Tuesday to kick off the storm season, as well.

So it's been a busy week, so busy that yesterday I was in bed by 10 and still had trouble getting up this morning. The alarm went off at 6 am and I think I hit snooze several times till 8:10. Mind you, I need to be at work by 8:30. Fortunately I live very close to work. :)

There was something I saw today which was pretty cool, and has librarians across the country celebrating. President Obama has appointed (subject to Congressional approval, of course) a new Librarian of Congress. It's history-making because she would be the first woman, and she is black. But we're just happy that she's an actual librarian by training (it usually isn't, and the last Librarian was not, actually, a librarian by training). Her name is Carla Hayden:

Obama nominates African American woman to be Librarian of Congress

Hayden is the chief executive of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, a job she has had for 22 years. She drew praise and criticism for her decision to keep the library open during last year’s protests over the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. As the head of the American Library Association in 2003-2004, Hayden took on U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft over measures in the Patriot Act that she considered an invasion of privacy. And she is credited with updating Pratt’s technology and launching programs to meet the community’s needs.

Anyway, yay. Let's hope she'll be confirmed, and that the Congress (and the Republicans who would like to obstruct just about anything the President tries to do in his last eleven months in office) aren't poopheads about it.

Yesterday I learned a new Latin word

Crustulum -- cookie or small cake/pastry,  as in 'Mater puellae crustulum dat.' :)  I never came across that in school,  and I had five semesters of Classical Latin and one of Mediaeval Latin.  But it was buried in an exercise in Wheelock's.  I learned Latin from five of the books in the Ecce Romani  series, which starts you out with simple readings of composed Latin and builds vocabulary before learning the nuances of grammar, much as we learn language as children. My friends learned from the Oxford Latin series,  which follows Horace as a boy,  and which had more genuine Latin writings.  Wheelock's Latin  is a more traditional method,  starting strongly with grammar and memorisation. But it is the classic method of learning the language,  and is very useful for my review. I have the sixth edition on my Kindle, and while where are a few errors in that format,  I know the language well enough that I recognise them.  I have an older edition in paperback,  too.  I thought I had the accompanying reader,  but apparently not.   Anyway,  I was happy to come across a new word.  I an such a language geek.

A slow day

But now it's over.  Work was kind of slow,  but tomorrow will be busy because I'm back in scheduling.  Same goes for Wednesday.  Today after work I took a friend to physical therapy,  but I didn't have it because I've transitioned out for now.  I practiced my Latin while I waited,  making it through four chapters of Wheelock's Latin,  plus another couple from Ecce Romani!   I'm trying to review some every day as part of keeping my fluency and exercising my brain.  I also did several crosswords on my phone.

Yesterday I did my laundry and helped with the Sunday chores over at my friends',  but one of them sat me down and told me it was high time I watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off,  which I missed thirty years ago when it came out. I liked it a lot,  and it was nice to see landmarks of Chicago I recognised.

Tonight after we got in we watched 'Ugly Betty',  visited,  and somehow it was midnight when I got home,  so I'm headed to bed.  Good night!