Happy birthdays, Valentines, and the Most Important Event of the day.

Congrats to kengr and yohannon for making it another year. Have fun, but don't do anything that would result in fines, imprisonment, or a guest shot on Oprah.

Happy Valentines Day to the lovely ladies of my life. kshandra, you remain the love of my life. The PT is so you. fimbrethil, you are an amazing lady, I'm proud to call you my friend (and props the Brigid for achieving new heights in butt-kicking!) eleri, you amaze me. How you handle everything life throws at you is inspiring. Hugs to the Mousie too!

Then there's the Nieces: madelineusher and Kylie (who should be on LJ any second now - she's approaching two years old!) Keep being amazing, keep making us old fogies feel, well, old, by outstripping us in every way. Speaking of family, a big shout out to Amanda (too cool for LJ) at UCLA. I really envy you.

Hell, all y'all are my family.

But along with birthdays and holidays brought to you by Hallmark, there was another event today, and event that overshadowed the martyrdom of Valentinus in either 269, 270 or 273.

PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT!!!!! Baseball is back!!! yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

Random, beer-fueled, observations.

The show I was watching on snipers had a good segment on the women snipers of the Red Army. Anyone who thinks women can't handle combat needs to do some research on these ladies. Kill numbers into the hundreds, they interviewed one who, among other things, was wearing the ribbon for being a Hero of the Soviet Union. She recalled being sent out to hunt a Nazi sniper (none of them said German - just Nazi) and getting shot in the leg. She immediately tracked back and killed the enemy sniper. She also recalled a fellow sniper who was mortally wounded by a mortar shell but still took her shot.

Just saw a commercial set on a construction site. The only thing I noticed? The extremely clean white hard hats. Ha! My hard hat, which gets worn a few times a week for a few minutes at a time, is constantly grimy and coated with dust. And I've never seen a construction worker who didn't cover his hat with stickers for his union, company, suppliers, favorite vehicles and sports teams... in many cases, they are the only thing a worker has that is his and they tend to make them as individual as possible.

Rereading Heavy Weather. Probably the best cyberpunk novel of them all, because it grasps the essential feel of the genre without requiring huge amounts of new technology.

I really shouldn't drink beer before I make dinner.

I so need a trapdoor.

For some reason, our little barrio has seen a huge upswing in door-to-door peddlers. Maybe the Immigration crackdown is forcing El Indocumentado out of their jobs. But now almost nightly I have to deal with people speaking no English trying to sell me everything from tamales to pirate videos. When I'm freaking bushed from work, I really dislike getting up to answer the door.

But that's not why I'm pissed, I'm pissed because pretty much every one of these pests knocks on the door constantly until i open it.

*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*knock*

It drives me nuts. I have never been anywhere where this is considered polite, or even marginally tolerable behavior. Hell, if I were still training new drivers at SuperShuttle, I'd seriously consider blackballing someone who did this.

So now, very tired, and in the middle of a rather extensive reply in Usenet, I get the machine-gun knocking. I leap up, open the door, and lay into the Central American immigrant standing there. I tell her never to come to our door again. ¡No mas!

I need to get "No Solicitor" signs in English and Spanish. Or a trapdoor.

iTunes for the win.