The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

I shall have a loligoth Rei to match the loligoth Asuka. This makes me very happy.

Getting much work done today. This also makes me very happy. However, people continue to suck.

A helpful link from Tohya has given the alpaca plans an unanticipated boost in priority. We should be able to get our land cleared, the "barn" converted (pens, power, fans), and at least one fence up by next spring. Probably earlier. We're working on obtaining a truck by the end of the year.

Buying the alpacas is a little more problematic, but Erik's grandmother may be willing to loan us what we'll need for two females. The other costs are more or less incidental - vet bills foot trimming, etc. Erik's going to ask around at work to see if any of his cop buddies are married to CPAs who might be able to help us with the tax planning issues.

The bad part about this is that Erik's going to have to bear the burden of most of this. I can't do a lot of the heavy work (although I can likely handle things like the burning), and I can't work side jobs for absurd amounts of money. Erik doesn't like my solution for the truck purchase (trade in Mini for truck, I drive the Neon, so we only have one car payment), which is kind of nice on one hand, but annoying on the other. Yes, I adore the Mini. Yes, I've wanted one for years, and it's the best car ever. But...it's the most efficient solution, and there's nothing to prevent me from, say, four years down the line selling one of the alpacas we'll be breeding and outright buying a Mini. Nothing at all. I *can* be patient...really.

The results of this? No more DVDs (not even Samurai 7, Count of Monte Cristo, and Planetes, sob, although exceptions might be made for Princess Tutu), CDs, or novel-books (not that I need those) for the rest of the year. Manga...I can't cut myself off completely, the addiction is too deep. But, I've savagely cut my list down to fewer than 25 titles, 13 of which are within four volumes of completion. Only one (Spiral) is a completely new title. Pinkies and the random assortment of figures I buy may be next to be axed.

It will work, and it will be fun. The attack llama may take a little longer.

Although there is some sort of undeniable coolness in being able to completely write off an attack llama as a business expense. I mean, even cooler than having an attack llama.

Imagine wet, meaty thunks and the sound of fragile objects breaking, and you have a good idea of what my mood is at the moment. Dear god but this year has sucked!

We currently have no supervisor, so the job's been rotating through the various team leaders - or former team leaders. Boss Man is in charge during Happy Bonus Time. Who wants to take bets on the likelyhood that my exhausting work in the fall to get the NMCI rollout completed with minimal impact doesn't get recognized? Yea.

Fuck!

My attack llama shall be named "Big Fire," to give me an excuse to run around shouting "HAIL, BIG FIRE!" It will rock.

More to the point, does anyone have anything good or bad to say about the Toyota Tacoma extended cab? I think Erik's locked in on that one, and I can't object too loudly to the price.

[EDIT] Netflix! Again with the "shipping tomorrow" crap! Just for that, I'm going to go to work Friday by way of the post office, just to ensure that they have to send me more movies before the weekend. Not that I'll have time to watch any movies this weekend, since I'll be several hours away from my house, but it amuses me.

Oh yea - and I should endevour to make the hold-screen-door-open thingee actually work if I'm going to make carrying large, very heavy boxes into the house a more frequent occurance - I managed to remove all the skin from the back of one heel. Ouch. And yes, this means I got my Ginormous Boxes of Books, and I now have a truly terrifying number of unread books in my house. I won't tell you how many, but it's a lot.