While I was working on my mask for Phillip's office party, I half-watched Von Ryan's Express on American Movie Classics. I wasn't impressed with the movie. After Von Ryan's Express came a John Wayne movie called (I think) The Sands of Iwo Jima. It seems like every time I turn on AMC these days, there's a war movie on. At first, I thought it was a theme-of-the-week or something, but this has been going on for months. Did AMC change its name to "American Military Channel"?

I made a Gladden T Hart mask for the party. I made it simply, out of a piece of craft paper glued to a cardboard stick so I can hold it up to my face (it seemed easier than fashioning an elastic band of some sort), but I think it turned out well. I wanted to surprise Phillip at the party. I really didn't think he'd look inside a plain manilla envelope. Oh, well,

I hope that wherever Kelly is (helping her sister with the Christmas studio, probably), she is happy.

I started getting a sore throat yesterday afternoon, which got worse yesterday evening. (The flu?) I called in sick today, and spent most of the day sleeping and drinking orange juice. I don't like calling in sick so close to a planned time off (Friday afternoon, to go to Phillip's office party, and a personal holiday on Monday - for no special reason) - it looks so suspicious - but I had to.

I don't know what started me thinking about my ecological footprint today, but I started thinking, specifically, about the fruit we feed to the sugar gliders. We typically feed them either cantaloupe, watermelon, or honeydew 365 nights a year. I am aware that buying fruit out of season is bad for one's EF. Maybe we should start feeding the sugar gliders more seasonal fruit. The difficulty will be that the sugar gliders don't like citrus fruit, and they prefer fruit with lots of juice.

Phillip doesn't know this yet, but Three Sugar Gliders has a new title page. This will be the first design change its title page has ever had. It was Phillip who prompted the change. He visited the site recently, and told me that he'd just noticed that Gladys' and Squeak's photos were mixed up. Actually, they weren't - it's just that the photos were so old that young Gladys still looked like Squeak. So I decided to update the photos, and while I was at it, the title logo as well. (That, plus its JavaScript/CSS coding no longer worked with Netscape 7.)

How tough can it be to find a stuffed monkey? I continued my search in the hospital gift shop during my break this morning. They had many, many stuffed animals - beavers, bees, orcas, cats, porcupines - but no monkeys.

Today and tomorrow were supposed to go like this: This evening, our Spanish class - all four of us - was going to meet for dinner at a little taquería off The Ave (University Way). Tomorrow, I was scheduled for an all-day training class in management skills, followed by our last Spanish class.

Then came an email this afternoon that the management class had been postponed indefinitely, due to a death in the instructor's family. I wasn't looking forward to the class, but I was disappointed that I wouldn't be getting a day off from work. (Of course, I'm sorry for the instructor.)

Dinner tonight was at 7:00, and I get off work at 5:00, but I saw no point in coming home just to go right back to The University District. So Phillip asked me to look for a stuffed monkey while I was hanging around the U-District. I was grateful for a mission to pass the time. I never realized, however, just how difficult it is to find a stuffed monkey on The Ave. I looked in The University Bookstore, in Shiga (Asian gifts), in another Asian gift store, and in both drug stores - Rite Aid and Bartell's. But, no stuffed monkey. Everything else on The Ave is either food, drink, or CDs. (Not really, but just about.)

Dinner was terrific, and our instructor, Caroline, surprised us by picking up the whole bill. It was inexpensive food, but I still don't think she should have done that. I whispered to Cathy, "We're hiring her. She shouldn't be paying." Then Caroline suggested that we have the last class there, over dinner, instead of tomorrow night.

I've enjoyed this class. The next level, with Caroline, is in February.

It's 6:27, Monday morning. I'm reading email and listening to news on NWCN. Last week, I would have been boarding the bus at this time. It feels good that two weeks of overtime is over.

I finished The Doll's House this weekend - yesterday, actually. Of course, Phillip finished it in one sitting. We have different reading styles. I just now placed Dream Country - the next in the series - on hold at The Seattle Public Library.

Reading this series is unlike anything I've ever encountered. It's sort of like reading a new language. I mean that in a positive way. The creativity of Neil Gaiman's writing constantly amazes me - from an African storyteller to a man who decides that dying is a "mug's game" to a chilling "Cereal Convention," all in one book.

So far, in these first two books, I've met Dream, his sister Death, his sister/brother Desire, and his sister Despair. They are The Endless, and I understand that there are more.