If Mona's part doxie, with those short legs, she'll look like she's wearing Hammer pants. I think that's the cutest trick, ever.

Liv was wide awake at 5 am. It's too cold (-15) and dark to be awake. She doesn't understand this concept.

Leifur decided to wake me up about 10 minutes before my alarm by snuggling up on my arm and shoulder, nuzzling and purring in my ear.

That's way better than waking up to NPR chatter.

This morning I dreamed that my alarm was going off, and it would not turn off! I pressed all the buttons, I unplugged it, I stuffed it under pillows, I took the batteries out, I even disassembled the thing, and it would not turn off! The neighbors were going to be furious!

Finally I woke all the way up and turned it off for real.

I had a fun but tiring weekend. Sunday I toured north and eventually met up with Laura and her family. Monday I drove down to Key Largo (where I had a great time on the glass-bottomed boat tour out of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park) and then on to Key West (got there in time to take some pictures at the Southernmost Point in the contiguous U.S., then made it to Mallory Square in time to watch the sunset with the crowd) and back.

Now off to work, so I can get some rest.

Ooh, pretty. And WARM, which I could really use this morning.

Ugh, shrift. Having your place broken into is really unsettling.

And just catching up with shrift's awful news, which I've had happen to me (not recently, but it kind of stays in your memory).

People are talking around me. Why won't they shut up?

Hey, I know we have photographers around, so this may be of interest: J. Peterman is running a travel photography contest with cash prizes: [link]

I wish I were still a J Peterman type of person who theoretically traveled to interesting places. But I'm not.

I also still wish I were a policy wonk who knew the names of all the supreme court justices and cabinet members and didn't feel like a person trying to remember the names of all the seven dwarves while doing it. But I'm not.

Oh well.

I'm too tired now.

Speaking of photography: Did anyone see the thing in the NYT about the pool photographers from AP, Reuters and AFP (or is it APF?) who picked the photos they thought summed up Bush the best? Fascinating stuff: [link]

I think this is a particularly astute observation:

What fascinates me is that George W. Bush often references photographs. What disturbs him most is the photographs that make him look bad. So, for example, there’ll be “Mission Accomplished,” and he’ll say, “Well, you know, that was a bad idea to put up Mission Accomplished.” But he doesn’t say, for example, it might have been a bad idea to go to war for fraudulent reasons. Or it might have been a bad idea to destabilize an entire country or to immiserate an entire population.

Oh, shrift, that's awful. Good luck and lots of vibes for reclaiming the apartment and making it feel safe, and yours, again.

Hey, I know we have photographers around, so this may be of interest: J. Peterman is running a travel photography contest with cash prizes:

They should just divide the prizes evenly between dcp and Scola and call it good.

Surely Ben is only seven and Frisco just happened into the world a couple of months ago? Just in case, though, abundantly happy birthday to both!