things that make you go hmmm.

so i found out today that one of my friends at work has been let go. a permanent employee, not contract like me.
and it is his position that i'm going to be filling for at least the next 2 weeks.
and that feels sketchy. i liked this guy. we went and got tea together almost every day for a while. i feel bad that i couldnt' say goodbye.
but i also found out that he was being a real creep to others in NOT OKAY ways.
i don't know how to feel about my good fortune being at his expense.

good fortune being another 2 weeks paychecks, and the immense goodwill of my co-workers/supervisors, etc.
my agency called me and told me they had been told how grateful 3M is for my positive attitude. that feels good and i earned it. it just feels weird to replace a friend.

i took leto in to be fixed last night. the breeder decided she didn't want to use him as a stud, so there was no real reason to keep him whole.  the vet called this morning and said everything went really well this morning, but he kept kicking the anaesthesia needle out of his leg, so he mostly had gas and might be awake enough for me to take home this afternoon instead of tomorrow. that would be very good.

i am re-reading the foundation trilogy by isaac asimov and am enjoying it tremendously. i normally don't care for books that aren't character driven, but this is a notable exception. i don't fall in love with asimov's characters, because it isn't who they are that is important. what is important is what they think. his characters come up with ideas that no one else in the story has and that the forward progress of the story depends on. they are idea-driven rather than character driven or even plot driven and it is very exciting. i love the underlying believe that it is ideas that make people great. i don't believe it is the only thing that can make someone great, but what a wonderful thing when it happens! i have never read anything like asimov's work, although vernor vinge's work is clearly influenced by it.

it snowed all morning here but nothing stuck. we expect more snow tomorrow. it is so beautiful and exciting at the beginning of winter.  i feel energized by it. i have always associated "over the river and through the woods" with thanksgiving, rather than xmas, so it feels right to have snow this time of year to me.
tonight susan is coming over. we haven't seen her in about 2 months because she's been so busy with school.
tomorrow i expect to be canning with corrin, knitting, drinking cider/cocoa and weather permitting - playing vampire tag. it is looking like a good weekend.

i am sharing here a comment i left on christianleft because i think it's important

my dad - who is an 80 year old minister who grew up in the bible belt during the depression - said something to me when i was in college. he said. "i don't believe it can be wrong to be gay because i don't believe a loving God would put a bunch of people on this earth and condemn them to be lonely."

i don't think that's necessarily true. i think God does put people on this earth in circumstances which prevent them from ever having a satisfying romantic relationship(some forms of retardation or other disability for example, can, but do not necessarily prevent romance, and some conditions kill before ever allowing someone to hit puberty) - and some people like catholic monks are called to a life of celebacy (usually including free from romance).
but something about what my dad said struck a cord of truth for me. i do believe in a LOVING God, not a persecuting God. i don't think it is okay for humans to persecute one another and i do think that's what the mormon church did with their money. hiring someone to do it instead of doing it yourself doesn't make it christian.
and it is also an issue of skewed priorities. even if homosexuality is wrong (i remain unconvinced), there is very little in the bible against it. where as there is a LOT about hate, and poverty and kindness to one another. why aren't we spending our money on that? i am pretty much appalled by what the LDS church did.

zombie removal brought to you by ravelry

because it was too damn funny not to re-post.

shimmergreen said:
I hate zombies.

They dig around my yarn, lookin fer brains, and drop bits of rotted flesh into my stash.

Their breath freakin STINKS and is very annoying when I’m trying to knit/crochet and they’re looking over my shoulder – in search of brains, no doubt.

I’ve tried to use zombies as a swift when I’m winding yarn on my ghetto nostepinne (a size 35 plastic knitting needle), but they don’t have a very long attention span and start shambling around in search of brains, tangling my yarn.

My cat hates zombies, too. She has a sensitive nose.

If they can’t find any brains in my house, why oh why don’t they GO AWAY and look somewhere else?

Dang zombies.

diastelo responded with:
Well, I heard if you leave out a little bowl with some beer in it, the zombies will climb into it and drown. Or was that slugs? I don’t remember, so the distinction can’t be that important.

Whatever you do, be strong and resist the urge to mail away for pirates or ninjas to drive away the zombie infestation. I know the ads make it sound like the perfect solution, but they multiply like crazy, and soon you’ll be worse off than before.

Some solutions you might try:

Join Mensa and offer to host the next meeting of the local chapter at your house. Plenty of brains for everyone! The sated zombies should be easy to dislodge.
If the zombies have already split into rival factions, drive a wedge between them with some quiet asides and the occasional rumor that can’t be traced back to you. With any luck, they’ll eat each other’s pitiful excuses for brains. Unfortunately, there will probably be at least one survivor, but he should be far easier to handle. For one thing, he’ll probably have put on a few pounds around the middle, making him far more sluggish.
Hire an exterminator. Try to be vague on the phone. I’ve noticed that many of these so-called professionals won’t show up for the free quote if they understand the scope of the problem. It’s shameful, really. No pride in the profession anymore.
Call up your local vampire hunter chapter and ask if anyone’s been sidelining in zombie beheading. If they don’t have someone on hand, they may be able to give you a referral.