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The last time I posted anything substantial was over a month ago. How did time fly by that fast? I hate this stupid job that consumes my life.

Really, not much has happened though.

Right after spaworld, I came down with a cold. I don't think I caught it at the bath house because colds take a few days to incubate. I probably caught it from someone at work. No one there takes time off when they are sick.So everyone ends up sick.

I took two days off though. I was determined to break the cycle of infection.

Of course no one picked up any of the stuff I had at work, so I fell further behind on everything. It was awful. I guess that's why no one takes time off when they are sick.

This ended up biting me really bad as one of my supervisors then complained to her supervisor that I don't show urgency on anything. How do I how urgency when everything is urgent all the time?

So anyway, I guess they decided I wasn't underwater enough so they gave me a 4th client - League of Women Voters. It's actually a really cool one and one of the ones I had wanted to work with before I was hired, but at the same time I am so swamped with work I worry I am going to damage them. On Thursday I had to actually ask my supervisor on that account (I have different supervisors on each account. this one likes me for some unknown reason) to help me finish the work. Thankfully she did and Friday was a lot less stressful.

Other stuff that has been happening? When ben returned from his trip, his company threw him into a super high level networking class that requires him to stay late twice a week. So he's super stressed too. The certification is like a phd in network engineering so it's a big deal. I wish it didn't take up so much of him time though. When he's not staying late for class, he's staying up late going over class materials or doing labs.

On nights when he stays late for class, I have been eating at mcdonalds in order to collect my little pony toys. I know in theory you should be able to just buy the toys if you ask nicely, but that implies the staff at your local mcdonalds has a strong command of the english language. I keep asking for "the pink one with the pink hair." So far, I've received Fluttershy (yellow with pink hair), Rainbow Dash (blue with rainbow hair), and TWO Lilly Blossoms (purple with yellow hair). I suspect the staff aren't even trying. Half the time I don't even get my sweet and sour sauce.

I need to find a new mcdonalds to go to anyway. This one is convenient because it's directly on my path home. But I worry they are starting to recognize me and my social anxiety won't stand for that.

Today is the Reason Rally in dc. It's an event for atheists. Ben and I would like to go, but we're going to wait until the afternoon. Ben had a midnight shift at work last night (after working a full day) so he's pretty tired. All the big speakers are in the afternoon anyway.

In the mean time I am going to fuss over noname. She woke up constipated yesterday morning. String beans were not helping, so I've decided to go with the big guns - pumpkin puree. I gave her a good spoonful this morning, along with a little cup of milk. If that combination does not get her pooping again, nothing will.

Book: Make room! Make Room!

Make Room! Make Room! is the book that the film Soylent Green was based off of. It is one of the rare cases where the movie is better than the book.

The main plot of the book was an extremely generic detective plot. There weren't even any good twists to the murder. Behind all of this was the interesting work of 1999 where the world population has reached 7 billion and supplies of everything are extremely scarce. Soylent, in this book, is just a brand of soy and lentil cracker that people eat with absolutely everything because it is cheap and nutritious. It is not made from people at all.

I wish the author had spent more time on the stuff going on in the background. The farmers cut off the aqueduct from upstate to nyc so there was a terrible water shortage. Meat was rationed out to only the sick. Electricity was spotty so many people built their own generators. The city's own food supply ran out so inflation was running wild on the black market.

The only sympathetic character in the book was the old man that shared an apartment with the detective. He knew the only way the world's problems could be solved is with reduced population. He was a strong supporter of a bill that would make birth control free for any women that wanted it. People who were against it used arguments like religious freedom and how birth control kills babies.

Funny how things NEVER CHANGE. (And by funny I mean terribly horribly depressing.)

I'd stick with the movie and skip this book. The author really missed an opportunity to explore the interesting world he built.

Comic Books: Planetary vol 4 & Crossing Worlds

Planetary is one of those comic where I have no clue what is going on but I mostly enjoy the ride anyway.

I feel like I should have re-read vol 3 before I started reading this series again. I didn't understand anything in vol 4. But it was all very interesting nonetheless.

I felt clever for figuring out who the four were. But I suspect it was super obvious since I'm not actually all that clever.

Crossing worlds I found to be a little less interesting. I felt like it was a shameless way to get batman fans to buy a comic they normally wouldn't. There were some interesting spots here and there, but overall I don't think it was a good follow up to the main series.

Book: The God Delusion

I wanted to read a book by Dawkins before the Reason Rally because he's very popular in atheist circles and was going to speak and I really don't know much about him.

The God Delusion is always mentioned as their favorite by people who escaped religion so I decided that would be a good one to try.

Honestly I found it terribly dull. I knew all the arguments already. There was very little he wrote that I hadn't heard somewhere before. Probably because people are using his arguments, but still, I was bored.

I suspect it would be far more interesting for someone who is religious and didn't know these arguments. So I probably shouldn't have chosen a book that former religious people liked. Perhaps another book would have been better. But if his other books are all along the same line, probably not.

On a side note, my library refused to let me renew this book at all. I found that terribly rude. Someone else had requested the book, so I'm only allowed to have it two weeks? What if I had a reading disability? I ended up keeping the book for an additional week and paying a fine. Whatever.