River: Happiness is...

Happiness is...

• Lying in my wife's arms at 4:30 in the morning and weeping my first tears of joy because, after all my stupidity, she still loves me.
• Getting my heart back.
• Wise and patient friends. Thank you.
• Catharsis.
• Realizing that the first verse of Quiet Victories, which I thought was just there to set the scene, was more true and more important than I thought.
• Hearing her say "[recently] you've been as loving and attentive as the year we were married".
• Having her go happily back to sleep beside me.

Hippo, birdie, two ewes...

... to autographedcat and the drop-dead gorgeous and talented jenkitty!!!!!! Hope it's a wonderful one!!!

Very cool -- how walkable is your neighborhood?

Walk Score - map for my neighborhood.

What is Walk Score? We help people find houses and apartments in walkable neighborhoods. Walk Score shows you a map of what's nearby and calculates a Walk Score for any property. Living in a walkable neighborhood is good for the environment and good for your health.

(From O'Reilly Radar.)

The day so far

The air this morning was heavy with wood smoke. It's a smell I remember fondly from my youth in New England, the fall evening air crisp and fragrent with the smoke of fireplaces and burning leafpiles. To smell it in spring on a Northern California morning was deeply disturbing.

Nevertheless I'm contented, relaxed, and alert, though quite unable to focus my attention for long. This must be what catharsis feels like: sudafed with a gin chaser.

It's been hard to focus on work today, but since I started the morning with a flash of insight that could turn into a patent I can be proud of, I'm not complaining. I'll finish the write-up tomorrow.