sleep is hard. let's go shopping.

Wind Power Without the Blades: "Resembling thin cattails, the Windstalks generate electricity when the wind sets them waving." Concept only, but what a concept.

College student named police chief in Mexico; no one else applied. I'm hoping that in twenty years Valles García will be the basis for the next Walking Tall.

On PTSD and some ways to deal with it. I'm especially fond of the suggestions for things to tell me-from-then.

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My sleep schedule for the past who knows how long has been 'crawl into bed around one (or two), sleep like a rock until shortly after seven.' This week I've been exhausted enough to go to bed around 10:30 when uilos does, read for half an hour or so, and then fall asleep. You'd think this would result in me getting more sleep.

You'd be wrong. My body is firmly convinced that six hours is all it really needs, and when the people upstairs start moving around at quarter past five it is totally time for me to wake up as well. Lying in bed hasn't helped much; my brain starts running and I can't get back to sleep. So I either doze fitfully until seven, or go ahead and get up and go in to work early. Bleh. I've been even more tired at work than usual.

Today I managed to fall back asleep, at least. Progress of a sort. Still kinda woozy.

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Still kicking around Mac ideas. Still irritated by the lack of updates to the non-Air laptops.

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Added to the list of Helpful Songs: Dar Williams, "It's Alright" (who knew that Dar's mediocre last album would be of any use?); Cake, "Never There."

zombies!

Seen around my reading lists lately:

Look to your right. Whatever object you see there is your designated weapon in the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse! Comment on this post to tell me what it is, then repost to spread the zombie virus.

Um. Depending on whether you go by 'angle' or 'distance,' it's either my plastic watering can or my lucky bamboo. Which I guess means that I'm in Plants Vs Zombies.

retail therapy accomplished

A discussion with darkfyre_muse yesterday reminded me to take a closer look at the displays that were being offered. Turns out the only way to get a non-glossy display on a Mac laptop is to spend more money on a larger Pro. And poking at them in the store confirms that the antiglare is o so very much nicer on the eyes. Feh. I was looking forward to a slightly smaller machine but no dice.

So, yay for the Refurbished section of the Apple store, which has provided me with a 15" Macbook Pro that's slightly better than the baseline spec and has an antiglare display, for about what I could have spent on a baseline machine in the store today if they'd had one. (As of early this week $company gets an Apple discount, but it doesn't apply to refurbs.) Which is still more money than I've ever spent on anything that's not a car, by about a factor of four.

Oh well. In theory, and based on what I've heard from just about everyone who has one, assuming I like this computer it'll last me until at least the middle of the next decade.

Now to wait impatiently until the end of next week, and also to see how twitchy buyers' remorse makes me.