Did someone unleash the monkeys and chimps in your bathroom too? That's a common occurence here.

Man...I can't get test monkeys anywhere around here, but you guys got 'em in your friggin' latrines!

The universe, she is unfair and unbalanced, monkey-wise.

Today is "prim" day, chez moi. The months of inactivity mean I've lost enough weight to fit into the long grey wool skirt, so that forced me to wear character shoes and a crisp (dusky rose) shirt, and I have my slightly cats eyes reading glasses with pink highlights. Garters and stockings with more pink highlights.

I don't get why people are surprised I do pink. Such narrow minds (but as a teacher pointed out, those narrow minds often come with wide stances, all the better for kicking them in the groin).

This is kinda' cool, and the pictures are somewhat less gross than one might imagine: Urban Wildlife Games: Hawk 1, Pigeon 0

Yesterday I noticed a group of people standing in a circle on Mission Street in downtown San Francisco. "One of our amusing drunken homeless people must have fallen over," I thought to myself. To my surprise, however, I poked my head through the circle to find a northern goshawk (at least I think that's what it was) tearing a pigeon to shreds in the middle of the sidewalk.

Apparently the hawk had swooped down only seconds before my arrival, snatched the pigeon, and was now totally content to spend the afternoon in the...

...middle of an extraordinarily busy San Francisco sidewalk, directly in front of the entrance to salesforce.com (a massive tech company) eating its meal. Businessmen and women, bicycle messengers, tourists, hipsters, and even two policemen stood by snapping Blackberry pictures of the raptor. I even overhead the policemen say that that they couldn't wait to include this in their weekly department newsletter.

edit for clarity....

The universe, she is unfair and unbalanced, monkey-wise.

If I could catch them I'd send them right to you. Somehow, though, I suspect someone would just unleash more of them.

If I could catch them I'd send them right to you. Somehow, though, I suspect someone would just unleash more of them.

That would mean I would have a nice fat margin of error for when...IF! I mean IF!...something explode-y were to occur.

According to my cafeteria, it's Penguin Appreciation Day. Happy PAD, y'all!

(They were celebrating by giving $1 discounts to anyone dressed all in black/white, and free lunches to anyone in formal attire.)

ETA, of course, this could just be a funny schtick from the cafe managers. They like to do that.

Last week, I saw a hawk eating something on top of the shopping center building where I go to school in Cambridge. Too far up for cameraphone pictures, alas. Saw presumably the same hawk on top of the parking lot lightpole yesterday.

I always feel cheery when I see a raptor.

I always feel cheery when I see a raptor.

I suspect whatever the hawk was eating would feel differently (or felt differently, as the case may be).

I love working downtown in a tall-ish building, because I often get to see hawks/falcons flying around - sometimes they come pretty close to the window I sit by.

{{Scrappy}} What they said. It sucks that she has put you in this position, but she is still so very lucky to have such a wise and loving aunt.

Hell no. I can't imagine them being that damned naive.

I know 2 Olympic athletes and they are not even remotely naive. They are fanatical about knowing every single thing that goes into their bodies because they can't risk blowing all their hard work. In theory I can see some trainer giving an athlete some banned substance without their knowledge, but they sure as hell should know better.

Scrappy, I know you know this, but I just want to remind you that your niece's recovery is not your responsibility and there is no one right way to handle her. Al-Anon or similar could be a good resource for you, if only to give you a place to vent to an audience that has been through similar situations. Whatever you choose to do right now will, I'm sure, be in line with the grace and kindness you demonstrate on b.org every day and no one can ask for better than that.

So much this, Scrappy. So very much this.