This morning I received a random but most awesome email, from a staff member at the high school I attended all those years ago:

Dear Ms. Morrow,

It has come our attention through the hard work and dedication of XXXXX that you have in your possession a copy of BASIC ENGLISH REVISITED; A STUDENT HANDBOOK.

Since we only have 396 copies of this classic reference book on hand waiting for XXXXX to use when he substitute teaches Language Arts once every two years, we must request its return. Since the book was featured on your Flickr image gallery, we are willing to wave[sic] the 96 billion dollar restocking fee, contingent on your willingness to drop off the book at South Campus under XXXXX’s supervision.

Well, you really don’t even need to return the book, but we would love to have you drop by the library for a short write up for the South Campus Web Site and a follow up picture for the Flickr gallery.

The South Campus Book Detectives

Serves me right. I do like one of the insightful comments on flickr, from over a year ago:

Was it Seinfeld that had an episode once featuring a “library detective”? This guy who hunted down people who had overdue books? Maybe that school system has a library detective and someone will tip off that person and….Anyway, imagine how your life would just totally fall apart without that h.s. diploma now.

I’ll report back after my visit.

Bonus: It’s that time of year again, for Spooky Sock Monkeys! And this time they are being auctioned off, rather than sold outright. Naturally I want the cephalopodic Zaloob.

I blame the lingering effects of the cold. I’ve had a migraine much of the day and a regular old headache much of the week, which makes it more challenging to string words together in a meaningful way. But that rarely stops me.

So maybe I shouldn’t have tried to savor series two of Life on Mars. Because it’s gone now. The clips have mostly been yanked down from YouTube. And the ones that were up were missing entire scenes. And the quality is crappy anyhow. I would very much like to buy the complete box set, but it’s about $100 (USD). Youch.

Also grumpy-making? Once again, there are a ton of happenings in the Twin Cities this weekend, stuff I’d really like to stick around for, but the lad and I are headed up to Duluth. It’s too late to cancel (well, to cancel and receive a refund). But I’ve a feeling it’ll go more smoothly than the Chicago trip. And hey, some friends are joining us for part of the weekend. And we get to see some other friends, Scott and V-Nick. It’s been too long and Duluth really is a cool city.

Bonus: The lad and I walked to the library yesterday, where I picked up A Nameless Witch by A. Lee Martinez (I enjoyed his other two books as well). Nothing better than curling up with a good book, two cats and a cozy comforter, especially now that the Fall weather has kicked in for real.
Plus: Monday was International Cephalopod Awareness Day and I failed to blog about it until now. Where’s my cephalopodic pride? Oh well. Hopefully I’ll have an octopus tattoo by this time next year, to go with the squid.
And: Ever since we took the kid to Valleyfair he’s had a changed attitude about our morning commute. He pretends that the freeway on and off ramps are all part of a giant rollercoaster. I appreciate his positive vibe, but I could do without the early morning screaming.

My body is finally on the mend but my brain has been busy all along. You lot didn’t exactly chime in with the requested distractions…so I had to seek some out on my own. In the case of Thursday that meant discovering Life on Mars, and watching all eight episodes of series one (I’m going to try to savor series two more slowly). And a dorky aside…at first I blamed the fever, for making me think of Simon Pegg as I watched lead actor John Simm. But then imdb came to the rescue. A sight gag I’d seen in an episode of Spaced hinged on the similarity of their appearances. So take that! Er, someone.

As for last night’s indiscretions, I blame Mr. Barrett Chase. After reading his pilot night post I watched both episodes of the new Bionic Woman. Though it should really be called the bionic women, plural. I know Michelle Ryan is supposed to be the main star, but it’s all about Katee Sackhoff for me. This might just tide me over until we get some new BSG.

Bonus: What did we do before YouTube? Shout outs to Nick and Dels for some love, The Things We Do For Love and The Hounds of Love respectively.
Plus: I had a perfectly sound topic to place here, but it fell out of my brain before I could type it. Instead I’ll post this tidbit…Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd comes out this Christmas. Yahoo movies has got the trailer.
And: This weekend is FallCon but I’m no collector. I just like picking up random comics that catch my eye, then following the writers/artists who impressed me. A visit to Big Brain is in order (or to the library, which would be much cheaper).

C’mon people, I’m still sick. Throw me a bone. Or something. Seeking out my own diversions has been exhausting. Though reading a post by James led me to look up the release date for Control (October 10th, limited) which led to the Landmark site which has finally been reskinned after all these years but viewing the source code shows that it is still done in frames and tables. Ack. Also, I kinda sorta want to see Kontroll again now as well (and not just because it’s a homophone of Control). But I’d really like to see a movie I haven’t seen before. One like the upcoming Michel Gondry movie, Be Kind Rewind, which looks most awesome. Or heck, even Die Hard 4. I am that bored and lacking in energy. I am even having wistful thoughts of the gym. Somebody help me out. Book recommendations, movie recommendations, YouTube clips, that sort of thing. Thanks.

Bonus: Working from home today would’ve been somewhat restful, but for Freddy who a) chewed through my Sennheiser headphones, right in front of me, rendering them useless and b) ate my soup.
Plus: J returns tonight from a week long business trip. We’ve missed him.
And: Amanda makes me smile. We are so much alike.

I’m sick. And tired. And frustrated. And lacking decent distractions. Distract me? Please?

Bonus: Looking forward to the next Coen Brothers film, No Country For Old Men. Opens next month.
Plus: Last night’s second episode of Heroes - season two - was so much better than the first.
And: The little man is still on his Superfriends kick, and way into Robin in particular. I’d love to get these Batman and Robin paintings for his room, but I’ve dropped enough cash lately.