Geek Habitat

I loaded up on more Kleenex and allergy medications yesterday at the store, since I seem to be fighting this for the long haul (probably until our first hard freeze, which in South Texas, typically means early January!) I’m living, I’m just not entirely witty and coherent, or at least don’t feel it.

Going to the store yesterday reminded me of my love/hate relationship with the holidays, specifically everything from Halloween clean through to New Year’s Day. There are more Christmas items on display than Halloween — understandable, from a “hierarchy of holidays” standpoint, but absurd from a it’s-still-freaking-2-months-away perspective! Losing battle, I know. Maybe I’m just bitter because I didn’t find anything cool to buy as gifts, allowing a certain self-satisfied “HA! I’ve begun my Christmas shopping, and the rest of the world are big, fat, hairy slackers!” feeling. Not that I’ve ever had that feeling, mind you. I do my shopping online closer to the holidays, so I can avoid being shoulder to shoulder with those aforementioned folks.

I’m loving the cooler weather, even though it’s making my pains over not having camped in 2 years quite evident. I love camping… as much as Justin loves flying. But I haven’t been aggressive or successful in keeping camping an active part of my post-corporate peon schedule, and that much needs to change. Camping is a time of renewal — recharging my aging solar cells and purging all the stale deskbound code-monkey air from my lungs. I enjoy going solo, but really enjoy having Justin around to share sights and experiences with, so that complicates matters a little (no spontaneous weeknight camping trips, in other words). And in another week or so, camping in Texas will coincide with hunting season, which adds a certain Fear Factor to the experience that I’d rather do without, in addition to reducing the available days some parks are even open for non-hunters. I’m not knocking hunting, btw — it’s the primary revenue stream for Texas parks, and always has been, and the majority of hunters are responsible, well-trained and not (too) drunk. Still… I like my wildlife a little hairier than the average human ape.

So, I’m rambling, which is how my brain’s working these days… I still owe you photos and anecdotes. I know. I owe a lot of folks a lot of stuff, actually. So… do they make jumper cables for the human brain? ‘Cuz I think I could use a pair right now…