Kelly’s Unnecessary Blog

There are a number of reasons why I’m a bit manic right now, but what it probably mainly comes down to is that this afternoon I finished a phase of a work project and that was a big relief. But there are other reasons why I’m a little goofy tonight and I am not necessarily listing them in chronological order.

Charitable giving. Today, as promised to him, I donated to my friend Todd’s Movember men’s health fundraising campaign. If you’re reading this during November 2012, consider making a donation on behalf of Todd, or his team, or somebody else you know.

This evening, when I was feeling a gush of gratitude toward my local PBS station for re-airing (at least two episodes of) “Foyle’s War,” I finally signed up to be a sustaining member. And the same sentiment toward Minnesota Public Radio. I was particularly thankful for the (political) commercial-free news coverage in the forty-eight hours prior to the recent presidential election when I just couldn’t bear to turn on a television network (well, other than Al Jazeera English, which I have to watch online because Shitcast doesn’t carry it).

A couple of months ago I had a similar burst of generosity when I donated to the recovery fund of a group of co-habitating musicians who my Boston friend knows whose house went up in flames, as well as a micro-loan thing that my Nashville friend frequently contributes to, which allowed me to guilt-freely frivolously donate to The Oatmeal’s Wyndenhall/Tesla museum endeavor. I helped build a goddamn Tesla museum!

Guest blogging and beer. This morning, my first writing tiny project outside of work became public. And not only that, it was about beer. Not only was it about beer, but somebody other than I wanted me to write it! Concurrently, another friend chose me to guest-post on her wildly popular blog next week, and she said she wouldn’t mind if I wrote about beer there, too. I don’t know if I will, but I might.

Speaking of beer. I recently resumed working out and had good one tonight. Afterwards I dashed home, then dashed to my neighborhood awesome liquor store, Zipp’s Liquors, where aforementioned mustache Todd was dispensing samples of his Odell Brewing Company’s awesome beers. I mostly only intended to get Surly Abrasive (came out yesterday) and Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale but I ended up high a bottle of the Odell Woodcut No. 6, too. They are all beers of annual limited availability. And delicious.

Signing up for things. A couple of months ago I initiated my Hulu Plus subscription. Tonight I did the same at Netflix. Why did that take me so long? The first weirdo (non-American) TV series I searched for (“Spooks”) it had, and six of the resulting ten recommendations it foisted on me were series I already know that I like or love. Huzzah, $8 per month!

This might be the final straw on my want-to-ditch-Shitcast-TV camel’s back.

Cats where they do not belong. At first it was cute when my cat Dasie occasionally jumped up on the cabinet smack in front of the TV screen. She’d sit there for a minute or two then move around to the back where she’d curl up and snooze in the warmth of the heat sink.

About half the time these days, I have to guess what’s going on in the middle of the picture, you know, where all the action is happening, because my other cat CJ has become an ardent fan as well. From cricket to Kylie, they are both enamored of the boob tube (the head LED?). CJ spends more time blocking, and Dasie spends more time stabbing at what’s moving. Fortunately, there have been no expensive electronic topplings-over yet. It has become plenty annoying, but I’d also have a hard time saying that it isn’t still darned endearing.*

Exercise. I recently started working out again. I was very diligent for about a year and a half when I could easily drop in on my way home from work, but not only did that location close but so did the one I transferred to, which was less convenient to get to anyway. It’s been about two years since I went even sporadically, but I finally signed up with a new place which now, again, I can easily stop at on my way home from work. It’s a different brand and I’m not getting as good a workout, but a less good workout is better than no workout. Tonight I had a less bad workout and it felt good!

I’ve had worse days.

*For those who don’t know them, that’s CJ at the top with Kylie on Dancing with the Stars/Strictly Come Dancing, and Dasie sat the bottom with last months Champions League Twenty20 playoffs.