Dear Diary . . . day by day

Friday September 8th - Security Blanket
It's a long, slow adjustment coming back from BM, kids. There's still a huge pile of stuff in my dining room, waiting to be unpacked. My housemates haven't said a word about it, bless their hearts. And it's not like I've not been home to deal with it - I've just been caught up in bonding with my fancy new computer set-up.
I went out and bought an ergonomic keyboard and logitech mouse (with scroll button) yesterday and hooked them into my system. The keyboard has two USB ports, so I can run both the mouse and the printer through it. That means that when I bring the laptop to my desktop set-up, all I have to do is plug it into the keyboard and everything is hooked in (well, I also have to attach the phone line for online stuff, and the power cord if I need to recharge). What struck me as odd this week was that hooking up all these cables and cords and what-not seemed, well, intuitive. I mean, I read the instructions for the printer, of course, but I was never confused about which phone cords went where (the phone is connected to the answering machine, which is connected to the printer/fax which is connected to the leg bone, I mean, wall). Last night I cleaned up by threading the cords through the hole at the back of my desk, so now you don't even have to look at the spiderweb of connectivity I've created. It's cool. I've been installing software all week long and printing out stupid word documents that say stuff along the lines of "I have a new printer!" "I have a new keyboard and it works!" Dumb shit. Hey, I have yet to transfer any real substance over from my other computer, so I had to make up stuff to print.
I know, I'm boring you. One more little bit related to the new baby, then I'll rant on about Burning Man some more, ok?
The other night I woke up around 3am to the sound of stuff falling in my room. Now, my room is piled HIGH with crap right now, and sometimes gravity wins and piles of papers come sliding to the floor; it's just a fact of life. However, once I was awake, the falling kept happening - and I realized it was coming from my CD rack near my open window. I let out a yell/scream which wasn't loud enough to wake my housemate Aron but let the would-be intruder know I was awake. As I scrambled for the light switch, I could hear him scramble over the high wood fence that protects that side of the house (so high and narrow and annoying that I have never been in that area). Anyway, my curtain was pushed out over the CD rack and CDs were littering the floor. Unfortunately, I can't tell if they got anything - I don't remember what CDs were there. I closed and locked my window and, yes, I'll admit it, took the laptop into the bed with me (I pushed it under the pillows to my side so I wouldn't roll on top of it or anything).
Needless to say, I don't sleep with the windows open anymore. This morning, when I left, I locked my windows, locked my bedroom door and set the house alarm (which we're gonna start doing again). I'm looking into renter's insurance. I'm going to suppliment my weight-lifting, elliptical cardio workout and yoga with an Aikido class once or twice a week. I have to remember that I live in a city, in a rather sketchy neighborhood, and that I now own something very precious. Damn. There's always a hidden price.
I might put another Burning Man story up later today, but then again, I get pictures back tonight, so maybe I'll wait. I'm still having trouble with Fetch and my internet account, so I'm not able to upload pictures even though I can scan them from home (nowadays I'm getting a picture CD along with prints when I develop - times, they are a-changin'). Does anyone out there know of a good uploading program like fetch that will allow me to put pictures on my website? I do all this writing stuff in telnet, by hand, so I need something else for the pictures. It has to work on a Mac, of course, and it would be lovely if I could download it from the web for free. Please email me at gryffyn@there.net if you have any suggestions. Thanks!
Exercise log:
Lifted weights: shoulders, sides and abs. Then a huffing 25 minutes on the elliptical machine.
Writing log:
Well, I plugged in my new keyboard and futzed around for hours, but I didn't really write anything.
I'm currently reading:
Children of the Wind by Kate Wilhelm
Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier

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