Today, at Monro Brake & Muffler, I listened while the lead mechanic first recommended that a young lady go to a neighborhood 'no name' shop ( and gave her #s) after their quote was more than she could afford right now, and printed out a list of repairs in order of importance & told her to tell them to call him with questions. And that she didn't need manufacture parts. They charged her nothing. Then he took a call where he sent the caller to another shop 'they are the experts on that system.' And they didn't try to upsale me on an oil & filter change, just checked everything and said nothing more was needed. Either a front for something or ridiculously honest. Given all the old folks dropping off cars who they knew by name, I'm guessing more the latter. It was almost funny.

McCain is often troubled, but in the end never actually votes as if he were.

As Mavericks go he's more of a gelding.

I think the people who hit the road just before the top of the hour are more ragey than the people who start their commute just after the top of the hour. I'm never cut off more often than I am when I leave the house early, about ten till 8. I'm guessing they're all people who need to be at work at 8, and it's a fifteen-minute drive and they're clueless about why they're always late and angry.

I had to take a brief nap, since my brilliant plan of getting to bed on time last night was foiled by real crappy sleep. I was super-energetic at my 7AM meeting.

Also, yesterday was the fun conversation with the pharmacy where they told me that I couldn't get the full prescription of my new migraine drug, because insurance only allows three doses in a three-month period. This is the only thing that has ever helped me at stopping an ongoing migraine.

Incidentally, I have a migraine.

Oh, they're not voting on the healthcare bill until after July 4th. Temporary relief.

Timelies all!

Why my throat hurts, I don't know, but it does.

My audiobook narrator said nice things about my story all unprompted and all:

I do want to express real quick just how much I'm enjoying the book! I love Essy and Quinten so much already and can't wait for this kid steampunk trio to save the queen. They are precious. I could also say a lot in regards to how I appreciate the nature of how Cog got into the mess of having to pretend she's a boy - I'm sure it's something you meditated on for a quite a while. This is a trope with a long history of examples, of course, and it's often rife with commentary (intentional or not) on how it's inherently better to be a boy than to be a girl, but your story doesn't do that at all. I also really like how the specialties of the girls and boy in our trio are sort of switched according to traditional gender roles in genre fiction - the girls get all the left brain logic/puzzle skills and the boy gets the mysterious magical potential stuff. That's a pretty cool turn-around, and it's very refreshing!

That was nice to get on a day when I've been feeling like crap.

Excellent feedback, Gud!

I've got swim lessons arranged! I start next Monday!

Gud, I'm so glad your audiobook narrator shared that feedback with you! You deserve nice things.