[emphasis added]

I got an e-mail from J that the cats had brought in a half-dead magpie early this morning!

Well, just as I got into keeping track of my bicycling...I got a flat tire. And while I was at the repair shop (I'm not yet motivated to learn to fix tires on my own) I asked about the weird clunk-clunk noise the bike sometimes makes. Turns out there's something wrong with somethingorother between the pedals and they have to basically take it all apart and put it back together again. So I'll have to pay them a bunch of money and leave the bike there until Wednesday. :-(

On the good side, the guy at the repair shop said that my bike (which is at least 12 years old) is otherwise in good condition and that I can probably use it for another 10 years, provided this repair is done. At least I won't have to spend money on a new bike...

I feel like keeping track of how much I bike - I take the bicycle to work, to tai chi chuan (which is officially on break, but we might meet up next week too) and whenever I go downtown. It adds up.

Tuesday: 8.3km (5.2mi) (home to work to town, then back home)
Wednesday: 7.3km (4.5mi) + 5.4km (3.4mi) = 12.7km (work + tai chi)
Today: 6.8km (4.2mi) - I found a slightly shorter route to work when I looked at a map, but IRL that route was worse - part of it is a steep hill. So I think the longer route is actually quicker.

Note to self: The largest pot in my kitchen is NOT large enough to cook an entire chicken.

Finally done with the second JavaScript assignment. I was really surprised when I saw that it worked after I had made one last minor adjustment.

Next one deals with RSS. Should be interesting.

If you link to or embed a video from YouTube, can the person who uploaded it see what site has linked to or embedded it?

Helloooooo, 1990s!

I used to own this album.

Where I should live (in the US) according to http://www.findyourspot.com (I wish there was a similar site for the world, that picked out countries for you!):

Cherokee Village, Arkansas ("Vacation Living at its Best")
Heber Springs-Greers Ferry Lake, Arkansas ("A Natural Paradise")
Salisbury, Maryland ("Maryland’s Secluded Retreat")
Truth or Consequences, New Mexico ("City of the Sun")
Natchitoches, Louisiana ("A Model for the South")
Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana ("Cities of Three Flags")
Mountain Home/Bull Shoals, Arkansas ("Gateway to the Ozarks")
Hot Springs-Hot Springs Village, Arkansas ("America’s Natural Spa")
Alexandria, Louisiana ("The Crossroads of Louisiana")
Leesville, Louisiana ("The Gem of Vernon Parish")
Silver City, New Mexico ("Four Gentle Seasons")
St. Helens, Oregon ("The Riverside Town")

...and now the site is temporarily down for maintenance, so I'll post the rest of the list later...

*ETA: "To keep things running smoothly, we quickly clean up our system each night at this time." Since when is almost two hours (and counting) "quickly"? And every night? (Not that it's night over here, but I guess the site is intended for US Americans...) Yes, I'm keeping that browser tab open because otherwise I'll just forget to update the list - I'm not by the computer all the time, though.

*edited again: the rest of the list!

Holiday Island, Arkansas ("Where Every Day is a Holiday")
Eureka Springs, Arkansas ("Playground of the Ozarks")
Houma, Louisiana ("The Heart of Cajun Country")
Carlsbad, New Mexico ("A True Desert Oasis")
Milwaukie, Oregon ("City of Dogwoods")
Astoria, Oregon ("Where the Eagles Fly")
Fayetteville, Arkansas ("Light of the Ozarks")
Monroe, Louisiana ("Twin Cities of the South")
Eugene, Oregon ("The Emerald City")
Newport, Oregon ("Treasure Chest of the Oregon Coast")
Paradise, California ("The Name Says it All")
Hagerstown, Maryland ("The Hub City")

For some reason I thought Midsummer's Eve was tomorrow, but it's today. D'oh. I don't care about Midsummer but since it's such a huge Swedish holiday you are almost obliged to do something special (party or dinner or whatever). Oh well. I hadn't planned to do much anyway except making slightly fancier dinner, mainly so my mother won't be worried if she calls...

I guess I could pretend to celebrate the solstice instead (makes more sense to me anyway), because that is tomorrow.

Firefox 3 is awesome.

You can't spell SUCCESS...
I finally solved the first JavaScript assignment, though I'm still not 100% sure why it works or why it didn't work before. Oh well.

...without SUCC.
The next assignment involves sorting a static table of data according to one value (from random order to birthdate) and adding a button for that next to the table. And it should be done in an external .js file, without changing the XHTML file at all. Oy.

Because I really should clean and knit and stuff...here's a meme instead that I got from padiwack:

"Page 123 in the Book Closest to You" Meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

There is a string of HTML with the value "<p>This is <em>my</em> content.</p>".
You can test this by updating example.js with a new function:

window.onload = function() {
var testdiv = document.getElementById("testdiv");
alert(testdiv.innerHTML);
}

Refresh test.html in a web browser. You will see an alert dialog with the innerHTML value of "testdiv".

(Did I ever mention I'm having a hard time with JavaScript?) The excerpt is from DOM Scripting by Jeremy Keith.

(Also not tagging anyone - whoever wants to play can play)

(gonna x-post this to photoforward)

I just remembered that I never uploaded photos from the walk in the park last weekend.

( Penguins! And some other nature stuff. )

Hmm. I want to register at Twitter but I can't think of a good username. It must be semi-professional yet unusual so it's not taken already...

At about 8 o'clock this morning, I ate 1.5 serving of oat-and-quinoa-flake porridge, one banana and one egg (also a glass of water and some fish oil capsules). It's now nearing 10.30 and I'm hungry. :-/

I'll go make a cup of tea and see if there is any fruit left in the kitchen...

Strangely mesmerizing.

I've typed the word "anthropomorphic" so many times today and I still stumble over it.

Today after dinner I went for a walk instead of turning the computer on. Go me.

( It's spring! )

Having grown up in a place where the first/only "spring" flower (in mid/late May if you're lucky) is the dandelion, it's exciting to see proper spring flowers. There are cherry trees in bloom too - at least that's what I think they are - but I haven't taken any pictures of those yet.

(I'll cross-post the pictures to photoforward...)

I'm leaving on Sunday and I have a nagging feeling that there are a lot of things I have forgotten to do. Still haven't cleaned the apartment properly but will get to that tomorrow and Friday (I'm trying to take Saturday mostly off, as it's my birthday). I was feeling really stressed about it until I realised I could ask J to help me. I'm not used to having someone who can (and wants to) help me with things like those.

Today I met the lady whose two Maine Coon cats I will look after this summer, as long as my references tell her good things about me (my sister threatened to tell her that I make a great cat stew, though). Tomorrow I'll meet another woman for another catsitting job - they both contacted me recently and it turns out the timing is good because one job would be 16 June - 9 July and the other one 12 July - 31 July. :-)

I'm coughing and feeling weird. NOW IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO GET SICK, BODY.

Also, I'm a little proud of my response to the subletter who texted me to ask whether he could come by to drop of some things tomorrow evening (I'd promised him he could drop things off earlier because he wouldn't have access to a car every day). Normally I'd have said something like "oh sure, come over whenever is convenient for you" and then fretted about it all day without being able to relax until he'd been here, but today I replied "sure, but preferably before 7 PM". Hopefully he'll make it by that time, because I look forward to watching CSI with J (we have about 4 episodes left of season 7, and I'd like to watch them before I leave) without being disturbed.