Erratum, explanations, and excitement.

Regarding yesterday’s comments:

You are indeed correct, MG. PA has dropped their blood test requirement, although the majority of websites don’t seem to reflect this yet. I don’t know if The Socialist will be happy to learn this or not, since I don’t know whether or not he welcomed that little road block to the chapel. I’ll tell him PA no longer requires puncture wounds as part of the pre-marital tribal rites, and then leave it in his hands again.

CK, a lot of states used to require blood testing for venereal diseases as a prerequisite to getting a marriage license. The diseases were considered to be enough of a public health hazard that this was seen as good way of attempting to control the problem. Some states also have requirements for testing for sickle cell disease and for Rh factor, but more and more states are apparently dropping these requirements. For more info, see: The Straight Dope.

Sunday I slept until noon. That would have been a good thing except that Sunday was the one day I had off this weekend, and I spent half of it in bed. Yes, it felt good. Yes, I needed it. But it took a rather big bite out of the rest of my pitiful day.

The little green Palmobile got new shoes on Sunday. The new tires, plus the new headlight assembly from a week ago have relieved me of the burden of having to decide what to spend my Christmas bonus on. Doing the math, I now have $16.43 left of my Christmas bonus. I’m thinking I’ll spend that on a tank of gas on the way home tonight, and then hint broadly to Palmobile that it owes me a written thank-you note.

Sunday night was the last night that The Socialist and I would have together before he leaves for California at the end of the week. He’s giving finals every night this week, and then he’s got to hurry and grade them so he can submit all the grades on Friday before he departs. We decided to celebrate an early Christmas last night because of this. It was actually very nice to be sit down and not worry about other stuff that had to be done. The Professor came away from the exchange with three DVD’s for his original series Star Trek collection, a small radio controlled car with which he can torment the cats, a mathematics calendar (which is really pretty cool – 365 days of math brain benders) and something called an “octopus” which is a kind of stress reliever that massages your scalp.

I got two new CD’s, including an album by Ralph McTell that I have wanted for decades, and …

I don’t have to listen to my CD’s on my substandard computer speakers. I no longer have to use The Socialist’s sound system in the living room. I can park myself in my computer room and listen to CD’s while I surf! Life is very, very good.

Kitten has recently forsaken me, and seemingly prefers the company of The Socialist. My feelings are a little hurt by this, but what’s to be done? The O’Beast hangs out where the Kitten hangs out, so both are spending inordinate amounts of time on the spare bed in The Socialist’s computer room. Cattitude has taken over the cat beds in the kitchen, so I’m spending my time at the computer or on the sofa reading without feline interruption. I begin to feel guilty for having scolded the kids everytime they jumped into my lap unexpectedly or swatted at the book I was reading or walked across the keyboard … now that they ignore me I miss them.

Additional note: I spent $13.00 on gas on the way home tonight. That leaves $4.34 from my Christmas bonus. I wonder if that’s enough to buy the Palmobile a pair of fuzzy dice.