Wotta A Day, Wotcher!

well, it seems to have been a banner day once again at the Scary Squirrel Man household. i awoke at 5 this morning and for some strange reason decided to just get up and go to work instead of rolling over and trying to ease the kink out of my back. honestly, i truly sleep about 3-4 hours a night. the rest of the time i doze and try to fight my way out of dreams that keep going wrong (the other day i had a nap dream in which i was able to ask God [for some odd reason] to get me out of a situation and i woke right up. first time ever). so, this morning i get up at the ass crack of dawn and shower, brush my head, rub my teeth, salt lick my pits, make tea and a couple of burritoes and go to work. the sacramento office has sent me all of their asphalt and i look forward to a full day of puttering around (lots of work, no work- i'm a great, professional putterer). but i also know that a certain lady is going to call me. she is going to call me with glad tidings. her tidings will spill forth onto my lack of a steady car. and i shall be washed in the bath of the replacement.
yes, i bought a new used car. it took almost four hours, because i was doing this under the benediction of my credit union, and while it is nice to have such an indulgence, it sure does take a damn long time. fortunately, the woman selling it to me appeared more and more desperate to get the money. and it wasn't a "god, this car sucks" so much as it was "god, i hate my ex-husband and this car reminds me of him too much". it's a 1998 saturn wagon and i already love it (unless, of course, the engine falls completely off tomorrow; in which case i will continue to love the car wash i bought it today, but not much else). it's a beaut.
also, two weeks ago i went to garden grove (smells like blue dog inside the van) to take my level 1 NICET (National Institute for Certification of Engineering Technicians) tests. i have run most of these tests for a long time, but i walked out of the testing very unconfident. i was pretty sure i had fucked up and would receive a shitload of wellearned abuse from my fellow labbies. i got the results in the mail today and...i passed all three first levels (soils, concrete and asphalt). out of 34 tests i failed only three (one i knew i failed and two that had me scratching my head). this, to me, is the best news of the dayweekmonth. it would have ben bery bery humiliating had i not passed, even though i was afraid i had bombed. here's a sample question of what i did miss:
Assuming no friction, how many Newtons of Force would it take to move a stationary object of such and such a weight into constant motion at such and such a speed?
um, who fucking cares? i guessed and may have gotten it right, because i passed that test for some unknown reason. my goodness, basic math and physical science were never my forte, but when did they start wanting to know what wattage/amperage would provide the most power? again, who the fuck cares? but i passed and i can go into work tomorrow knowing that now our lab is one of the very few in the state to have four labbies holding this title at the same time. it's so very cool.
anyway, it's time for political/social outrage and spittle. so, grab your drool cups and prepare to wonder what the hell i live for since it ain't sex and fritoes:

In the world as Bunnatine Greenhouse sees it, people do the right thing. They stand up for the greater good and they speak up when things go wrong. She believes God has a purpose for each life and she prays every day for that purpose to be made evident. These days she is praying her heart out, because she is in a great deal of trouble.

The news that Toyota is locating its next North American auto plant in Canada rather than in the U.S. shouldn't have come as such a shock to American bigwigs.

If there’s still any question what to call it — and Lord knows some in Washington tried — Ohio can now sadly assure the nation beyond any shadow of doubt.

Last week, Bush again brushed off polls showing his public approval ratings are the lowest of his presidency, saying a politician who made decisions based on polls would be "a miserable leader."
Reminded that power is perception, Bush scoffed, "Power is being president."

Several recent developments —persistently high gasoline prices, unprecedented warnings from the Secretary of Energy and the major oil companies, China's brief pursuit of the American Unocal Corporation—suggest that we are just about to enter the Twilight Era of Petroleum

Will fundamentalism tighten its grip on Hollywood, as it did many years ago?

It's "backdoor budget chicanery,"

"At this time we have a choice to make. Father God is watching while we cause Mother Earth so much pain. It's such a shame. Not enough money for the young, the old, the poor, but for war there is always more,"

Mohamed Yousry, an Arabic-language translator, has been practicing for life in a prison cell. He closes himself into small spaces to meditate and combs through his library for nonpolitical books he supposes his keepers will allow him to read.

and the letter i can't send to the Wall Street Journal can be read here (and the reason i can't send is that i have to subscribe to their crappy rag):
No offense intended to you illustrious journalists there at the Journal, but you just printed another column that stated Valerie Plame got her husband the Niger gig. Do you not read CIA memos? This is a fabrication that was shot down a long time ago. While she had influence over who was asked to Niger to track down the nonexistent "yellowcake", all CIA bigwigs and 'those in the know' have stated en masse that Joe Wilson was not her decision or request and their decision was not based on her influence or request. Their decision was based on his expertise and experience. Oh, and willingness to go without large entourage or expense account. Get this kind of thing right and you may be able to stop wondering why many of us who consider ourselves "normal" consider you "not".