All this week, it seemed like I couldn't get enough sleep. I'd go to bed, fall asleep immediately, and then have to drag myself out of bed when the alarm sounded. There were at least three evenings that I fell asleep while reading Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix.

Then, last night, I kept waking up during the night. I woke up around two in the morning, and Gladden was up, wanting to play. So, we had playtime. Afterwards, I couldn't get to sleep, so I got up and played Diablo II on the computer, and I then went to bed and fell asleep.

I woke up right at noon today. Usually, on weekends, I'm up by eight. I was groggy. My sleep pattern was all out of whack. Phillip and I canceled our 1:00 computer reservation at the library and stayed in. I heard that it rained today, but I don't know that firsthand.

There was so much I wanted to accomplish today. The only productive thing I did today was to confirm that installation files we'll need from this computer for the new one (the browser, firewall, and spyware killers) have been backed up.

It's been a lazy Saturday.

Way back in December, Phillip and I ordered our copy of Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince (the sixth book in the seven-book series), which will be published in July. This week, we've been re-reading the fifth book, Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix. I've also been reading up on rumors, as well as official teasers from J.K. Rolling, about this upcoming book. I am very excited.

Twice in this evening's yoga class, Lisa used me as a positive example for the rest of the class (as in, "Look what Paul is doing..."). Once was for my use of blocks during a forward bend, and the other was for the way I modified the placement of my arms during a backward bend. I feel like I am making progess.

Today, I discovered Michelle's Daily Dose for Writers while I was looking for something else. She offers some interesting writing exercises, like this one: "Write down a place, a color, a fruit, a name, a song, and a word that rhymes with motion. Put all of these words at the top of a blank page. Then write a short-short story using all of them."

This morning, I was listening to Shiva in Exile, which Magnatune describes as "Gothic Arab/Indian World Music." I liked it a lot, better than I liked hands upon black earth, which I was listening to yesterday afternoon.

Not everything on Magnatune's web site is World or New Age, but I haven't been in the mood for Punk, Heavy Metal, or English Renaissance (not at work, anyway).

Whenever I think about this new computer we've ordered, I'm reminded, for some reason, of a quote by Homer Simpson:

"Here's to alcohol: the cure for, and source of, all of life's troubles."

I dreamt this morning that some legal action had forced me to change my last name. I liked my new name - it was a good, common name (it began with a "C," but that's all I remember now) and I was almost grateful for the legal action. Still, I missed my old name. I began looking through all the publications I could find in which my old name had been printed. I found the directory of a church I had visited once. I was surprised to find my old name printed there, too. It appeared that I had joined that church, and had been active in it (according to the directory) but I had no memory of that. Then I woke up.

There is a very long list of artists at Magnatune's web site - and this crazy site allows you to listen to those artists' entire albums online. Amazing. This morning, I'm listening to Falik. Magnatune describes this husband and wife team like this: "Falik infuses middle-eastern, Greek, Celtic, and Baltic folk elements with electronica; it is at once exotic and familiar."

It's good music for listening to while you're sitting at work on a blustery Seattle morning, and you really want to be somewhere else.

The banner ad at the top of our start page, when I logged on this morning, was advertising an online special from Dell. I can barely believe that we bought a new computer last night. There will be some anxious days ahead, as I wait for it to be delivered. Then comes some busy days setting up the thing.

There was a puzzling news story on KING-TV yesterday evening, which was repeated this morning on Northwest Cable News. (KING is one of the stations that comprise NWCN.) It seems that the EPA's miles per gallon rating for new cars aren't accurate, because the EPA doesn't test cars under "real world" conditions.

What's puzzling about this news story is that it is a news story. I've known this fact about EPA estimates as long as I've had my driver's license (about 30 years), maybe longer. It's something my dad taught me. I've always used the EPA's MPG rating as a relative comparison. I know that this car isn't really going to get 28 MPG in the city, and that that car isn't really going to get 42 MPG in the city, but I can use these estimates to know that the second car gets a lot better gas mileage than the first one. The fact that the EPA's estimates aren't accurate has never bothered me, and it's not news to me.

The news story also mentioned that AAA is looking into ways the EPA can use more realistic tests. (There are a lot of acronyms in this post.) Now, that would be a news story in itself, but it was presented as a sort of footnote to the bigger "breaking" story. It also brought up a question in my mind: What real world city would they use to estimate city mileage? Does a Toyota Matrix get the same gas mileage on the hills of Seattle, Washington as it does on the prairies of David City, Nebraska?

Unless there were times I'm forgetting about, today was the second time I've ever been bowling. Bowling isn't my game - yet. It could be, I suspect, if I put enough effort into it. I bowled countless gutter balls, in the two games I played, but I also scored a few spares, and three strikes.

I started out not getting the game at all. I scored five gutter balls in a row. Then I somehow figured it out and my game improved. (Cindy pointed out that my game improved right after I started drinking Starbucks Double Shots®. Somehow, I don't think that was it.) Then I lost my rhythm, and I was back to gutter balls. Then I figured it out again, right at the end. That seems about right.

This first CAP outing, sponsored by Liz, was at the West Seattle Bowl. There were around 20, more or less, Centralites there. We had five lanes reserved. On our lane, there were Mike, Dana, Phillip, me, and Cliff. (That's two people who weren't at Writers' Group today.) It was a very fun afternoon, with just the right number of attendees.

The next CAP event, in April, will be Gay Bingo, sponsored by Allan.