Currently listening to Silverspun Pickups and am going through a(nother) Weezer revival.

Most father’s can probably relate that the best news of the day is told to you (by your wife) right before bed. Tonight’s news was that my daughter shit in the cat box earlier in the day. Apparently she was pretending to be a kitty, and went down to the basement to use the litter box . . . and used it for real.

This is all we know, and all we will ever know really. “Why” is a tough question for a three year old.

I have a hypothesis though. Our family used World’s Best Cat Litter until we moved to Iowa, at which time we were no longer able to find that excellent brand of sand. My daughter was not potty trained until we moved here either. We’ve gone through many different types of cat litter and they all suck. They get soaked with cat urine and start smelling badly quickly - everytime I had to clean the cat box I wished for Worlds Best Cat Litter. Finally my wife drove an hour away and found some (this was a couple days ago).

So the new cat litter has been a topic around the house lately: both my wife and I have expressed our relief that we found this litter and of course the cat box is no longer nasty. My guess is that our daughter wanted to try it out first hand to see what all the hype is about - why should the cats get all the fun with the new cat litter?

You wouldn’t think making good cat litter would be so difficult, but for some reason the makers of Worlds Best Cat Litter have been the only ones to figure it out - they use whole kennel corn, crushed up to a course sand texture. It costs a small fortune but lasts a long time (stays clean a long time). My wife tells me that even my daughter’s poop was easily scooped.

1000Mbps, or Gigabit Ethernet, is fast. So fast in fact that it’s difficult to really describe how fast with simple numbers. Netgear has cleared up any confusion on the speed of Gigabit Ethernet by using the term “Lighting Speed”. That’s exactly how fast my new Netgear Gigabit switch will transfer “large files”.

I’m really excited to test this out tomorrow at the office. We have many large files.

I don’t have TV, so I just saw this today: Al Gore’s announcement.

That alien flu/virus/bug I contracted during the big thaw last weekend has not gone away. I’ve been coughing up nasties every day and my left tonsil is now the size and texture of a walnut. I cannot talk or eat without pain. And I love to do both.

So I went to see the doctor today. I was given a prescription for Amoxicillin, my Doctor assured me this was the best stuff on the market to fight Alien infections. I went directly to the drug store, which is on the same block as my office (small town) and had my prescription filled in minutes (small town).

When I got to my office and opened the bottle of Amoxillin I was shocked to find that they were bright pink and that they measured over half and inch long. Remember the part about the walnut in my throat and the pain involved with swallowing?

I’ve been putting off getting a haircut for too long out here in Fairfield. I’ve been spoiled on Rudy’s Barbershop where the haircuts are the best I’ve ever had and the prices don’t betray the “barbershop” title. Plus the place is littered with gay and lesbian porn, which is always a good sign for a hair salon barbershop.

So today I just decided time to get it over with; time to assimilate and get the standard male crew cut, shaved out with clippers in ten minutes to leave with that fuzzy new haircut look. I walked out of my office and right into the first barbershop/salon I could find. Which was Connie’s Hair Salon located not more than 10 yards from my office (small town).

After about five minutes in the chair, most of my hair had been cut with clippers and my hairstylist was finishing up the top and sides while talking on the phone. While I was prepared for the worst, I was still annoyed at the process. A couple minutes later I realized she was done and I looked up to see, to my surprise, a very nice haircut. No peach fuzz and messed up a bit the way I like it.

Now, I know what your thinking - just because I’m in a small town doesn’t mean that everyone around me is an unskilled redneck. And I agree, really. My fear of having a horrible haircutting experience today was based on two observations:

1. About half the men around here have bad haircuts.
2. A large portion of the other half are in desperate need of a haircut, begging the question, what are they afraid of?

Oooh, that second one makes me feel old (this is happening in greater frequency lately).
Before and After:

An example of why no one will ever (successfully) stand up on a plane and announce they have a bomb (again):

The cruise ship passengers told police they jumped on Wagner Segura, 20, to defend themselves when he pointed a .38 caliber revolver at them near the Caribbean port of Limon on Wednesday, and somehow snapped his neck, regional police director Luis Hernandez said.

Read more.

All this past week the weather has been doing a fine job of melting all the snow and ice that has been collecting around here since January. Then I wake up this morning to freezing rain. By 11am the trees and power lines were covered in a half an inch of ice in places and things started failing. First my beloved Internet went down. Then tree parts started falling all over the town. Then, naturally, the power went out. Trees and their parts continued to fall.

Around 4pm it was becoming clear the power might be off all weekend since the winter storm warning was pushed till 6pm Sunday. We have no fireplace in our new home and no generator (we’ve always had a home with a fireplace and never needed one). So I had to go to the only store in town (with power) that might have a generator in stock - this would be Walmart.

I hate Walmart. I hate Walmart even more than Mike Davidson hates Microsoft. But I also hate being cold, and not being able eat out of my own fridge. And I have a three year old who doesn’t understand why she cannot open the fridge or turn on the light during a power outage. That’s what being a parent is all about - making these tough sacrifices like going to Walmart.

I got off easy - Walmart has three rows of bite sized snack food, one row of coolers, half a row of gas cans, but not a single generator. So I left quickly. Well not quickly enough - I kid you not my car was temporarily blocked in by a pickup truck with a huge flag shade in the back window. Patriots like to shop at Walmart (a paradox for sure).

My family spent the early evening getting ready for a night in a cold house. To the sounds of ice coated tree parts falling on our roof, we broke out the candles, sweaters and extra blankets. I set my daughter’s fleece winter hat on her nightstand and then my wife sang her a goodnight song. I got into bed and cracked the lid on my laptop - and that’s when it happened - the power came on.

You never realize how noisy all your electrical stuff is until the power comes back on.

I got this bright yellow letter in the mail today with “Final Notice” stamped in red across the front (diagonally). I almost tossed it out thinking it was a sweepstakes ploy, but then I noticed it was from Fairfield Waterworks. Inside was a letter giving me notice that my water would be shut off in five days if I did not pay my bill.

I pay my bills electronically. Once a month, I go through all my opened bills and schedule them for immediate payment using ETrade’s bill pay application. Regardless of when the bill is due, I figure I have at least a month to pay it before there are any repercussions. This system has never been a problem in the fifteen years I’ve been in Washington state. A few times a bill has been missed, but it simply carries over to the next bill and gets paid and I don’t even recall there being a penalty in those rare situations.

Welcome to Iowa. After receiving the alarming final notice from the local water utility, I checked ETrade to see what had gone wrong with my payment. My bill of 59.80, which I received on 2/1, didn’t get scheduled with my other bills when I entered them into bill pay on 2/15. This is my mistake, but still, wtf? You can get your water shut off if you don’t pay a bill in less than 30 days?

I got curious and looked at my other utility bill - fearing I may be without heat as well in the near future. Alliant Energy, the local electric and gas utility company, doesn’t seem as eager to shut you down. However, on my most recent bill, received on 2/14, I have less than 20 days to pay before I am assessed a 1.5% penalty.

Ok so I need to update my bill pay strategy.

Annoying, but not a huge deal. What is slightly depressing though is when I consider how a family living below the poverty line deals with this. Consider the late fees, the stress of losing a utility and the fees associated with restoring a disconnect. These are not issues for anyone with savings or a decent income. Water is a basic necessity last I heard.