ita, I'm pleased for you at the improvement. May it continue.

I like the B/W version, too, Teppy. We used to have a fairly expensive SLR with a fabulous standard lens, plus telephoto, and we took some awesome pictures with it. But it required knowledge and much trial and error, and the great shots were usually happy accidents in the middle of a roll of drek. The digital has made decent pictures attainable for me. Digital plus Photoshop? I'm a GEEnyus photographer.

Just for contrast, over the holidays I took duplicate shots of things with and without flash. The ones without came up uniformly dark, until I played with the brightness and contrast, and then they were so.much.better than the flash versions. More detail, more realistic color and shadow, and without that whiteout effect flash often gives.

I have been an adult all day! With the cleaning. And the laundry. And the paperwork. And trudging through the snowpocalypse to take out the garbage.

I think that means I get to make bacon and eggs for dinner and watch movies all night.

I have to pee, but I don't want to miss the dinner reservations lady. That's the extent of my current difficulties.... eta: problem solved....

I have to tidy up the place. Polgara is coming for dinner, I made beef stew in the crock pot and some sort of apple tart concoction I think may turn out like crap which is in the oven, now.

I filled out a mountain of paperwork for tomorrow. Kristen and I are trying to adopt a dog. Her name is Mona, and she's about three years old. She's some sort of Doxie mix with floppy ears and huge brown eyes.

She's visiting another family before us, and Mona goes to whichever family she likes the best. I have no idea how I'll feel about getting rejected by a shelter dog.

She was dropped at a shelter, pregnant. She and the pups were going to be euthanized, but apparently her disposition was so sweet they thought she would be a good candidate for adoption.

I'm hoping she digs us, we'd really love to give her a good home.

FUCK!!! Major freight train derailment in Pittsburg. They are talking "multiple double-digit hour delays." or maybe they'll put us on a bus from Pittsburg to DC.

tommy, that sucks. I'd almost be tempted to see what flights price out at.

Oooh, KR! Sounds like a sweet beastie. I love floppy dog ears. I hope she likes you guys and the cat. OMG, what will Ruby think?

eta: if you don't get picked by Mona, it's probably because the other, equally nice people rubbed them & their house down in BACON. Just so you and Kristen know...

Did I ever tell you what happened when Mister Kitty met met my neighbor's chihuahua? The leetle doggie was so excited his butt was meeting his head as he wriggled. He so wanted to love on MK. MK was watching with his patented WTFingH!!! expression. And he reached out slowly and planted his paw in the dog's forehead, pushing the eager pup down into a submissive position, which it was so damned blissed about. It was hilarious.

I swear, MK's such an all-around unfazable sweetheart, I wish he weren't too old to sign him up for ambassadorial duties. He'd have been good at that.

Ruby is ridiculously territorial about other cats, but pretty much ignores dogs unless they bark and frighten her. Apparently Mona isn't a big barker (but will howl at sirens, as dogs tend to do).

Plus, she'd mostly be Kristen's doggie, and sleep with her, so Ruby won't have to share her bed, which would have been the biggest foreseeable problem.

That's good.

I've got the musical bed thing happening with Devi being such a bitch to Loki. Both want to sleep with me and Devi wants to beat him up a little more. They take turns. MK can't stand hyper Loki in the morning, too. It's crazy. I've slept out on the futon for MK and Devi at times because they also object to being shut all night in the bedroom.

...oh shit, I am a crazy cat lady.

{{{Brenda}}}

(although it *does* teach that God already knows who will accept grace, which sounds kind of like predestination, but the difference there -- IIRC -- is that God doesn't choose people's destinies; they use their free will to accept grace or not, and he just knows about it ahead of time).

That's actually how the technically Calvinist Presbyterian church I grew up in explained it too. People have free will and the moral responsibility for choosing salvation or not is theirs, but from God's omniscient vantage point past, present, and future are all the same thing and He knows how it all turns out.

Our church was a lot more milquetoast-y about the Elect being shown signs of divine favor in earthly life than the Puritans, though.

Is there anything in the news about the derailment in Pittsburg? We've left the station and I'm at dinner.