I have left the following note for myself so that I am not a total dweeb tomorrow:

Yo, dippy –

SANDYWICH for lunch! Munch awt.

– De P.

Happy 20th birthday, kitty!

25 years ago today, on May 18, 1980 at 8:32 am PDT, Mount St. Helens blew with a fury unexpected by everyone watching the ongoing events at the volcano. 25 years later, the area has begun an awesome recovery and a memorial for those who died in the blast.

It is extremely fitting that Mount St. Helens is once again active in time for this anniversary.

Visit the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument site for more information.

Below are my energy usage graphs for March and April, 2005 as according to Puget Sound Energy.

Obviously, there’s been a drastic change here. I’ve switched the blog over (quite effortlessly, might I add) from Movable Type 2.661 to WordPress 1.5. WordPress is the same software that I’ve been using on the Pixelary Development Blog for the last few months, though this blog runs the most recent version. I’ll be converting the layout later to coincide with a new personal site which I’m working on.

Oh, and for the time being, comments have returned! I’ll be implementing some WordPress plugins to control this properly.

Those that know about Amanda and I will understand that reference.

I had forgotten the joy of sneezing so hard that it feels like your head should separate from the rest of your body. That said, a number of things I should talk about here — the Port Townsend trip, for instance, and my completion of the write-up for the conference I went to a few weeks back — will just have to wait.

Sorry

No, not cable car goodness, cable and car goodness.

Seesh.

Comcast Cable
We had Comcast high-speed internet hooked up when we first moved in, but we didn’t get TV service with that. Amanda and I finally decided to add in limited cable access a couple days ago. We had been told by the manager of our apartment complex that nobody got cable unless they explicitly ordered it from Comcast. Operating from this assumption, we put a call in.

Apparently, our complex has a bulk account that allows us to get basic cable for free, though nobody at Comcast seemed to know what to do about it. After being transferred four or five times, we finally got someone who knew what they were doing and scheduled a service call for Monday, May 2 in order to figure out why our TV wasn’t picking up the signal.

A technician apparently came by yesterday, since there was a work summary sheet under our door when we got home. But of course, nothing is without snafus — when the technician fixed the TV, he screwed over the cable internet.

One more phone call to Comcast.

Thus, another technician came out this morning and fixed it so that both the TV and the internet work. We now enjoy cable internet/TV goodness at the same time, rather than just one or the other but not both.

My opinion of Comcast has historically been very bad, since they don’t seem to be able to do anything straight without at least three different attempts. My feelings in that respect were mollified slightly when the technician who stopped by this morning called personally later on to confirm that the work corrected the problem. I, of course, thanked him for calling, and it is working properly.

Car Goodness
My parents decided that I’ll be getting my mom’s 2004 Subaru Forester and that she’ll be shopping for another new car. Thus, my hunt is over, though I’ll have to wait a while in order to pick the car up from home. Though, of course, that makes me responsible for gas, maintenance, etc. I won’t have it in time to go to Port Townsend, but probably sometime in the next couple weeks or so.

Yay.

The perfect car.

Now how the hell do I get it?

I’m now in the market for a car. Joy.

Currently, I’m looking for the following cars (not listed in any particular order):

1. 1997-2004 Honda CR-V
2. 1997-2004 Toyota Camry
3. 1997-2002 Toyota Corolla
4. 2002-2004 Ford Focus (ZX3, ZX5 hatchbacks preferred, but sedan OK)

These are all based on the rankings of Consumer Reports.

In case people are wondering about my criteria, here’s a list, with rankings on a scale of 1-5, 5 high, 1 low:

• Fuel economy: 3
  I’m willing to sacrifice here as long as the car is reasonably reliable; the used-car market is such that I may not have much choice on fuel economy.
• Price: 5
  I absolutely must fit within my maximum budget for this.
• Reliability: 4
• Safety: 4
  Driver’s side airbags minimum; passenger-side airbags preferred
• Manufacturers: Honda/Toyota preferred
• Mileage: < = 60,000 miles preferred; max 65,000 miles

We did some shopping around Olympia on Sunday and nearly found a good Ford Focus wagon, but the car had 91,000 miles on it, which made my dad and I a little nervous. Yes, there are still very reliable cars with that many miles, but we’re a cautious bunch.

My favorite Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors (and the descriptions from their web site) are:

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: Vanilla Ice Cream with Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• Chocolate Fudge Brownie: Chocolate Ice Cream with Fudge Brownies
• Marsha Marsha Marshmellow: Chocolate Ice Cream with Fudge Chunks & Toasted Marshmallow & Graham Cracker Swirls (new this year — it’s like an ice cream s’more!)

Their Cherry Garcia is tolerable, but not a favorite. I also don’t particularly like Phish Food (caramel.. ech).