I like brochure and buggered.

Great news, Hil!

This seems apt: Spike's Bitches 45: I'm drowning in footwear!

But all the quotes look good to me. We seriously haven't used destroy the world yet?

Internet is down. Phone and tv still work. I'm a little nervous that my router doesn't have any lights.

I'm rather fond of "drowning in footwear" and "when do we destroy the world already".

Huh. That's usually when I unplug and wait and replug, Vortex. I figure that's the fix for everything, right?

I am SHOCKED that I am currently watching a Law and Order (SVU) that I have NEVER SEEN BEFORE. OMG!

I like brochure the most, but I dunno. Footwear is so very fitting.

Wake Up With Hugh Laurie: [link] (find minutes 1.07 to 3.57). Blackadder: made of awesome.

Yay for Hil's advisor endorsing the paper!

I like 'destroy the world already'.

oh stress, why do you keep me awake? It only makes you loom more! Please release my pysche so I can slither off to sleep land, so I can wake at a reasonable hour, and get the growing to-do list done.

I've been away for a couple of days (more on that in a moment), but the conversation about divorce and kids really got to me. I've seen mixed research on what's best for the kids. I would posit that this is an issue in which it's very difficult to control for other factors. There's obviously going to be a huge difference between a divorce in which the parents behave like -- well, parents; and a divorce where one just disappears, or they turn the kids into pawns, or take the stresses out on them. Big difference whether child support payments are made promptly and adequately or not. And so on. It's got to be so hard to disentangle it all to provide useful guidance as to whether this particular couple should stay together or not.

All I can say right now is that the idea of not being part of Ryan's life horrifies me.

On this note, last night Ryan had his first night away from home since he left the hospital. We all headed up to the Dandenongs for a couple of days. Now, the weather was a problem - we're in Melbourne's worst November heat wave since at least 1925. But we did get a couple of days surrounded by kookaburras, rosellas and native plants. (The rhododendron garden was beautiful, just the right time of year for it. Walking its entire length looking for my family - who camped out at the entrance five minutes after I got there - was less enjoyable.)

Anyway, we learned a few lessons, not least being that if Ryan wakes up in the middle of the night in a strange place, it upsets him. Poor little noodle. (Poor parents too.) But he'll go to sleep happily enough in the portable cot. (Second lesson: portable cots are still bloody heavy.) Wallybee's parents learned that when trying to turn the fan on in your cottage, it's a bad idea to turn on the electric blanket instead. And I learned that our hatchback is not big enough for four adults, one baby, a suitcase, a pram, a portable cot and some carry bags. Just as well the Dandenongs are only half an hour from our house, as it involved two trips each way. This was a pretty forgiving way to get a trial run for heading to Canberra over Christmas.

Ryan's now happily ensconced in his own cot, snoozing away and being generally adorable. I have some photos from the trip, which I'll put up when I get a chance.

Spike's Bitches 45: We band of buggered