Author Kurt Vonnegut passed away at 84. Fortunately, his hometown Indianapolis was in the middle of "The Year of Vonnegut" celebration of his life and work.
Mark Evanier brings up this quote from Vonnegut on what he thought was the meaning of life, that works for me as well:

"Well, I have a son who writes very well. He just wrote one book; it's called The Eden Express. It's my son Mark, who is a pediatrician and who went crazy and recovered to graduate from Harvard Medical School. But anyway, he says, and I've quoted him in a couple of my books, "We're here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is."

And other people on the Internets have pointed to this article about what happens when a celebrated violinist performs like other street performers. Do people put money in the open violin case? More important, do they even note the performance that is in such demand in tonier settings?
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it. "--Ferris Bueller's Day Off

From the CBBC series Totally Doctor Who: the first segment of their animated episodes:

Sorry it's been quiet. I've been sick for the past week and a half (only making the last post to note the important news) The congestion's just about out, but there's still some in my lungs that won't leave. I've tried coughing, Robitussin, DayQuil, NiteQuil, Alka Selzer Plus (and their generic equavalents) Even just had Kathy beat my back with cupped hands (a treatment from her family that's worked for her in the past) so hopefully that'll do it.
I had a phone interview last week that went well. They asked me in for an actual interview yesterday, said it'd be a couple of weeks to decide.
I read on one of the message boards I check for DVD deals that Wal-Mart released Spider-Man 2.1 with a bonus disc a week early, and sure enough, found it. I also used some of my Best Buy Reward Zone coupons to get the director's cut of Payback, and had a flyer from Circuit City for a price match. Best Buy must believe in their name, because they want to punish you for daring to use their price match policy. Before, the person at the checkout would have you wait while they get someone to tell them how to do the price match, then put a form in their receipt printer that takes much longer to print out than a regular receipt, then have you fill out your information on it. Now, they had me wait while they called Circuit City to confirm the price in the ad I brought in. The thing is, instead of $12.99 in the flyer they told them $9.99. But Best Buy had to have the last laugh by telling me I couldn't use both $5 coupons unless I bought something else, like some gum.
I took their survey online from the receipt, indicated my dissatisfaction, and that in the future, anyplace else that had a lower price I would either a)price match at a place that doesn't make you jump through hoops, or b) buy it direct from the lower price place. I don't get that much reward from the Reward Zone.
And I was out and about today because I had to take JoJo in for his follow up exam. His white blood cell count is back to normal, the thing on his back went away, and we're set up to get his bad tooth removed in a couple of weeks.

In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back there is a sequence wherein our heroes are rescuing an orangutan named Suzanne from laboratory testing when they're cornered by the federales in a diner. Jay hatches the scheme to pose as a gay couple with their son to escape, which they do as the gendarmes don't want to be seen as homophobic. While in the film it takes place in Utah (at the Arena Diner, named after the Star Trek episode that took place in a similar looking environment), previously Kevin Smith did a Jay and Silent Bob comic book miniseries "Chasing Dogma" that had the same sequence, only taking place in Indiana. When I came across the part about the authorities not wanting Indiana to be seen as homophobic, I thought "forget lesbians going straight for Ben Affleck, this is the biggest fiction Kevin Smith's ever created".
Fortunately, there is a glimmer of hope: the Indiana House, in a tied vote, defeated the gay marriage amendment for this year. Apparently, the wording of the second paragraph that has resulted in other states not using domestic abuse laws in situations where the couple wasn't married, was the stumbling block.
So unless it passes next year to be put on the ballot for the people to vote on, it's back to square one.
We've got a long way to go, and this is a good start.

I just read on Gordon's blog that Andy Martello lost his place to live due to bad weather, specifically a severe thunderstorm with high winds and a microburst, which is defined in this article about the storm in question as a "very localized column of sinking air, producing damaging winds at the surface that are similar to tornadoes." Andy posted an update later saying he had 15 minutes to get his cat and essentials out of the apartment. Man, I'm not sure if I could get JoJo in 15 minutes (I first pondered this back when Katrina hit, I'm not going to turn this into a post about me (hey, in my defense I was putting myself in his shoes) but real quick: JoJo seems to know something's up and can be tricky to catch, especially on visits to the vet or giving him medicine)
Please go to his blog to send him some best wishes and support, and keep an eye out to see if he needs help.
And yesterday I read about Joe Murphy passing away. The news had been bad for some time. Although I never interacted or listened to his podcasts, it was sad all the same. I understand the family's still struggling with bills related to Joe's illness, not to mention no Joe, so there's a page set up for donations.
Me, I'm sorry to say that I'll be fighting the demons I'm fighting in my neck of the woods, but at least I'll be glad I have a place for my stuff while doing that, not to mention my stuff, and won't mind fighting JoJo to give him his medicine.