I don't know what happened today. There was some sort of yellow thing up in the sky, with some blue stuff around it, and it was all very shiny. What happened to the grey we've become used to, and the water continuously falling? Surely 9 inches of rain for this month (plus more coming) is not enough?

I completed several important tasks today. One was selling the logic board of my old computer. It's hard to believe, but I've only sold about 2/3 of the parts and already the total income (for a broken, 6-year-old computer!) has been well over $150 (of course, before shipping and ebay fees, the former of which in particular has been expensive).

Second was spending money--on a new bike! The axle on the old one broke, and the people at the bike shop said they just kept finding rusted-out parts and problems, and suggested I get a new one. Here's the sweet new ride (and the other sweet, well, still somewhat new, gas-powered ride):




The third was to complete a draft of my paper for the Music Theory Midwest conference. For once, I'm actually quite happy with the paper in its early stages, but as usual, it's far too long. There's a lot of example-making to do still, which is bad because it's time-consuming but good because I think some of the text will end up in examples, freeing up space. This was actually the second big project for the semester, the first (and more important) being becoming ABD, and the third and yet to come being preparing for teaching this summer. Obviously, I've still got some time on that last one. It'll feel good to get this paper into almost-done shape, which I plan to do by the end of the week--it'll be a big load off.

Okay, the cat who bullies his sister (just look at the difference between their tails!)...



...conks out on the couch...



...always jumps up on the island to help us when we make yogurt...



...and is just so cute and fuzzy...



...needs his food. Time to go!