Happiness is. Yesterday I got home from work and didn’t want to turn on the idiot box, so I took a copy of Top Ten that Nate lent me out into the backyard with a cold beer and sat in the garden enjoying the evening air. It was about 80 degrees and slightly cloudy, the neighborhood was quiet and peaceful, and all was right in the world. Top Ten is a book based around the premise that a city full of superheroes living normal lives needs policing, and is focused on the cops charged with enforcing those laws. Alan Moore is just an incredible writer, and the book is full of his trademark humor, sadness, action, and mystery. Think of a Joseph Wambaugh novel starring the Justice League of America, and you have the idea behind this book. One of the highlights of the second book (the one I read) was identifying some of the people in the backgrounds—it’s not unusual to see characters like American Flagg, the PowerPuff Girls, the cast of Futurama, or Dick Dastardly and Mutley walking around the city.

Apple announced a bunch of new products yesterday, and while I look forward to several of the new features included in the OSX update, I’m worried that the usual cycle of change will render my current machine even more clunky. I’ve been putting off even thinking about a new laptop for a year now, but as the days go by this laptop seems to get a little slower as it runs OSX. One of them newfangled 15″ Powerbooks would be fantastic; I’m determined to at least make it to a G4 with my next system, but I don’t have the cash to get there. For now, faithful Scout here will have to do.

It’s looking like I’m going to have to crank up the A/C unit tonight; the temps are in the 90’s today and I’m sure the city will be a sticky mess. Big fun!

This afternoon I took the opportunity to drive down the street from work and wash the Scout; after a soggy spring and life under the sap-laden trees of Lakewood Avenue, she was getting pretty grubby. (and I’m sure my neighbors were sick of looking at it.) I fed the quarters into the machine, dialled the appropriate setting, and scrubbed her down as much as I could before my money ran out. After four quarters, three runs of what is called the “soapy brush” cycle (which consists of a broke-down broom generating clouds of soapy bubblegum-scented foam) made the dirty Scout a not-so-dirty Scout.