Every once in a while I buy used books online. It's practical, especially if you're looking to buy books that aren't very common. It's usually a good experience.

Except that one book I just bought arrived on time, intact, but with a very large "Not for Sale" sticker on the front. The previous legal owner, you see, had decided to participate in one of those programs where you leave a book lying around and get people to borrow it, read it, and then leave it somewhere else. It's a neat idea.

Except for that I've already paid money for it, because somewhere a bookseller got ahold of it. No doubt eventually I'll read through it and set it down somewhere as the previous owner intended, eventually, but the fact that I paid for it makes me grumpy. Why do I have to pay for something I'm required to set free? Grump, grump, grump, etc., etc. The universe is unfair, blah, blah, First World Problems.

In the meantime I have a book to read.

I went on a trip recently (one of the many reasons why I haven't exactly been around), and like most lazy people I discovered that the luggage tags that the airline had put on my suitcase the last time I flew were still on my suitcase when I dragged it out of the closet. Problem was that, despite living in San Jose, I swear I've never flown out of (or into) San Jose International Airport before. Except that my luggage had a big SJC tag on it.

So either my memory is failing or someone's been stealing my luggage and then returning it after they do a trip or two. Neither of these possibilities makes me feel that good. Maybe I'm just really, really forgetful. It would explain some things.

It occurs to me that there's a much better way to have traffic lights along major arterial streets. Really they need three modes - green, yellow, and blinking red.

If you think about it, either traffic along major roads should be flowing smoothly (when there's not much traffic in the perpendicular directions), or it should be doing its best to ensure everyone goes where they want to go. If there's no cross traffic, the light should just be green. When there is, it should just switch over to stop sign mode and let drivers alternate in the order in which they get to the starting line. It will avoid the problem of having to wait at stoplights while nobody is going in the other direction and the road is clear. Why not just have drivers proceed in a queue through the intersection at that time.

It won't work on big intersections between two large streets, but it seems that when you have one very large street and one much smaller this is probably the best way to handle the mess that our current system leaves.

Or at least not leave me so frustrated while sitting at stoplights with no other traffic.

Things I currently do not have in my refrigerator:

• Vegetables

Things I current do have in my refrigerator:

• Plums


• Pluots


• Nectarines


• Peaches


• Blueberries


• Pears


• Figs


• Strawberries

Conclusions:

1. I am going to catch diabetes (but probably not scurvy).


2. I live in California again.

After the previous announcement I have managed, by various machinations, to reduce myself to about 0.5 functional computers, spread out over two different boxes. Almost back to two functional, but it's still a bit of an uphill battle...

Every once in a while we are confronted by minor problems in life that expose things about us. Problems like, for instance, wanting to read something, but having nothing to read because all our books are in storage somewhere. There are many ways to answer this problem:

The rational response: Hmmm...maybe I better go find something else to do instead.

The irrational response: Obviously I need to go buy more books.

I can see already that getting a new job was like digging my own grave.

(Number of books bought today: 7)

Pro: I like being back in a state where transportation actually makes sense, and public transportation is at least present (no matter how much we may complain about it), and where things are not approximately infinity miles apart from each other so it's actually possible to walk from one thing to another.

Cons: I hate finding apartments in this state. This is not helped by the lack of any kind of standardized register, by the unwelcome influence of location upon price, and by the fact that there seems to have been some sort of building hiatus between 1980 and 2000, so that everything is either ultra-modern and therefore out of my budget, or old and somewhat falling apart (also of awkward dimension).

Conclusion: I'm getting increasingly grumpy in my old age.

The dangerous thing about paying someone else to do your moving work for you is that you're always in danger of procrastinating on the stuff you really should be doing.

Dear 2012,

Please see fit to end better then you're starting.

Thanks,
-dA

I haven't been on for a while because I managed to make myself sick in spectacular, stupid fashion (food-sick, not disease-sick), which was not very fun. Also, nothing exciting happens here.

Part of that is due to the weather. It's been hot here, and if there's one thing that you should know about living in Illinois when it's hot, it's that the heat brings out high natural growth in construction cones. Those things have been springing up everywhere. In fact, every major road leading to my apartment complex is under construction. Since it takes about 2-3 months for them to finish work on one intersection, or repave a section of road (sometimes more), I expect traffic to be hopelessly snarled until about mid-September.

Of course, I'm not sure whether that means I should basically live in my apartment like a hermit until it's over, or never go home and be a pathetic, rootless vagabond. Whatever. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually.