short takes

The spam subject line "Pick your favorite Idol!" caused me to do a double-take. I don't do idolatry, guys! Oh, wait, they're probably talking about a TV show.

My cats are psychic. (Maybe also psycho, but that's another subject.) I opened several cans tonight in the process of cooking tonight's dinner and prepping for Shabbat. They came running exactly once -- when I began to open a can of tuna. They couldn't have smelled it and reacted unless they have teleportation technology. And if they could teleport, the occasional wrestling matches would be shorter.

Purim is coming up soon. It is, among things, a day of some amount of silliness. I am looking for inspiration -- or better yet, stealable material -- for the "kiddush" to recite at the festive meal. (Kiddush is a blessing said, over wine, to sanctify Shabbat and other holidays. It's formal and has a fixed text and stuff -- except Purim doesn't have a kiddush, not being a Torah holiday, but that never stopped people from having fun.)

I wore a talit at services this morning for the first time at that congregation. (Well, I also wore a talit when I led Shabbat services there, but I was specifically told I should for that.) The people who were encouraging me said positive things and I didn't notice anyone giving me strange looks. Good. Now I can be consistent. They gave me an aliya, and then asked me to stay up there to lead concluding prayers. That was nice, and I do that part pretty well. (If Kriat Sh'ma weren't kicking my butt on the Hebrew I could lead the entire morning service. Note: we don't do a chazan's repetition of the Amidah, so there's no nusach to learn there. Everyone is presumed to be competent to daven for himself.)

I have located exactly two gas stations that serve diesel fuel within a couple miles of my home. (One's in Oakland and one's in Swissvale.) That's not enough for me to be comfortable buying a car with a diesel engine.

that's a surprise!

This morning I got email from amazon.uk telling me that my Blake's 7 DVDs (first season) have shipped. I placed the order last May, and watched the release date change from June to September to November to January to unconfirmed, and I figured that meant the release was dead.

I wonder how long the second season will take. Will the fact that they finally released the first season expedite things, or will each season's release suffer similar pitfalls?

Time will tell. Or won't. :-)

Update: the product page now shows a release date of March 1. (Also "not yet released" or the like, so I guess they're filling advance orders before opening it up to everyone else.)