Bats

There are bats in my parking garage. I saw one last Friday hanging from the metal grid that encloses the staircase. Initially, I was thrilled. I'm always excited to see urban wildlife (that is wildlife that is not rats) and the parking garage is new, so I was enthused that they were already warming up to it. And bats are especially great with their appetites for bugs and mosquitoes. But Monday morning as I walked down, I saw that the bat had died. It had fallen to the ground right below where it had been hanging. When I got into the office a co-worker suggested that I call the health department, so I did call the Animal Control division and they assured me that they would come out and check it out for rabies or west nile. Now I'm sort of freaked out. I had resisted moving to the parking garage since I hate them anyway, and I already was taking the stairs since I'm not so thrilled with the claustrophobic elevators. Now I've somewhat convinced myself that there is a coven of rabid bats haunting the garage waiting for me in the stairwell. This has seriously upset the only exercise I really was doing (walking down from the 9th or 10th floor and walking up a couple of floors before catching the elevator). Then again, maybe they aren't in the stairwell, but amassed in the elevator, waiting for me to close the doors before they swoop down. Probably it hasn't helped that I'm watching Trueblood, with it's creepy bat montage in the open sequence. So help me get over my irrational bat fear, folks so I can get back to the stairs.

Techfrustration

Okay, I know that the world has changed dramatically since I was daisychaining Macs together with telephone cord back at the ACORN office in the 90's, but how did it happen that I now have NO IDEA about how anything works with my computer.

Backstory: Our music & audio files are getting to big and at the same time our stereo has about bit the dust (it's only 5-6 years old - my last one was still working when we downsized and I got it in '89, but that's another rant). I'm thinking it's time to get a big i-pod (we've somehow managed to figure out this Nano thing) and digitize all of our CD's. Great, but then I need an external hard drive and the reality is that I have no idea what to look for.

Upshot: Every time I try to figure out what's what I realize I don't even have the proper vocabulary anymore. And then there are the mind-numbing details that lead into wormholes of paranoia ( Don't get me started on net-neutrality and privacy concerns with internet access not to mention the googlization of our lives). Can someone point me in the direction of a resource that is a step above: "this is a mouse, here's how to use it" but will not lead me into a spiral of technospeak that results in me: 1. screaming 2. curling up into a ball and wondering how old have I really gotten and where did all this grey hair come from 3. ready to move to the hills and live off the grid?

Under The Weather

All of my obsessing about buying a vintage Fisher Price farm that might be contaminated with germs has jinxed me into getting sick myself. Unbelievably, I am recovering from my SECOND bout with stomach flu this year. Prior to 2007, I cannot remember the last time I threw up due to legitimate illness and not over indulgence in drink. (Amazingly, I never once threw up while pregnant with Nora.) Oh, yeah, and I had the shingles this year. Jason says it's as if a small, wee person is sucking the antibodies out of me, and while I don't really plan to wean anytime soon, he might have a point.

Underground

As some of you know, I do not like underground places. Especially if they are submerged in water. Which makes is sort of ironic that I work in an office that is one story underground and surrounded by a moat, but due to the absence of water and the presence of sunlight, I'm okay.

That being the said, I am nevertheless intrigued by this website that explores the Ozarks underground - and actually above ground too. Arkansans might want to check out the picture gallery of the now abandoned Dogpatch theme park, and you transplants to St. Louis might be surprised to know just how extensive our cave system really is. Time to start digging in your basement!