Heat; Car Doors; Breakfast in the Afternoon; "Dark Matter" / "Murder"

Today is Friday, is it not? As I was running around this afternoon, my brain went totally blank, and I wasn't sure if it was Friday or Saturday.

I managed to work three days in a row this week without being sick. I'm convinced that one of the factors that plagues me is the heating and cooling system at work. At the start of December, my office was frigid. Finally the maintenance people came and looked at the pipes in the ceiling in the hall and discovered a valve was broken.

After several days a new one arrived, and the defective one was replaced. But then my office became warm if not downright hot. So at this point my office and the ones to the north are too hot. But the ones to the south are too cold. Which means that people are having all kinds of respiratory problems.

I'd just as soon have someone come along and rip out all the ductwork and give each office an empty oil drum and a cord of fire wood. If we run out of wood, we can always use old memos.

I cleaned off the windshield and reached over to open the front car door, but it was locked. "Oh, shit!" "What the fuck do I do?" "Oh, I'll walk back home and get the extra car keys." Then I realized that the house keys were on the key ring in the car. "Holy fuck!"

I stood there feeling absolutely confused. I was also trying to figure out what to do with the scrapper, and my hand instinctively reached for the back door. Which turned out to be unlocked! So it was a simple manner to reach over and unlock the front door.

Somehow when I got out of the car, I must have flipped the front door lock; something that I've never done before.

WH may be one of the few places that never closes. Holidays, blizzards, pestilence, floods, robberies, direct thermonuclear strikes have no impact. In years past, I would go there at 1 or 2 am after having been to the local gay watering hole.

The food is ok, I guess. But the real attraction is the staff and the patrons. The staff always seem ready to commit mayhem. And the patrons reflect every type from bum to socialite.

I remember reading something about "The Golden Compass" when it was first published. But I didn't pay that much attention. Yesterday, I stopped of at Barnes and Noble and picked it up. It's taken me a while to get into. If it reminds me of anything, it is Ursula Le Guin's "Left Hand of Darkness." Not that it is like Le Guin's book, it's just that both take place in wintery climes.

While I was at B&N, I meandered back to the Gay and Lesbian section. Actually I was looking for a birthday gift. (I didn't think a lesbian love story would be appropriate.) And I came across "Death Comes Easy" - "The Gay Times Book of Murder Stories." When I got home, I started reading it and decided I'll keep this one and buy another for the gift.

PAX!