Let's see--I woke up between six and seven, checked my e-mail and deleted the junk mail, checked the weather maps, moved on to BBC News, then the comics.

I had only about 70 pieces of bulk mail yesterday. For a while I was collecting more than a hundred each day. I no longer scan to see if something "real" got caught in there--I got tired of some of the truly disgusting solicitations for enhancement products for a body part I don't possess or solicitations for a wide variety of sexual acts.

I check the weather maps first thing each day to get an idea of whether I'll be able to get errands done when I want to. It looked okay for grocery shopping in the morning, so I had a quick breakfast. Or at least I tried to have a quick breakfast. A Certain Cat managed to knock over a cup of liquid so I had to take about 20 minutes out for the associated cleanup.

Cats do NOT walk in straight lines, especially CC. She takes the meandering route, and the goal is to never touch the floor between points A and B.

Grocery shopping was routine, and a bit cheaper when one is not buying dog food. Not a lot cheaper, but there are generally two fewer bags. One of these days when I'm headed to the other end of the parish I'll drop the leftover dog food off at the shelter where I got the cats.

I filled up my gas tank, thinking about how I would have heart failure these days if I still had the full-size van with the 36 gallon tank. As I recall, I got 18-20 mpg with it, but a tankful of gas would be over $100.

Reading the BBC News and listening to the TV is incredibly depressing these days, with the Israel/Lebanon thing keeping killing company with the suicide bombers in Iraq.

Somewhere I read something on the order of "this IS World War Three." I hadn't thought of it in those terms, but one could make a good argument for it. And who really set it off? Was it 9/11 or was it the reaction to it and the non-existent WMD? By the way, whatever happened to "Osama bin Laden, alive or dead?"

And then there are the heat waves setting records and creating infrastructure problems.

So I read the comics online every day. Most of them are (used to be?) carried in the local rag which now arrives anywhere from two to six days after publication (via USPS) and which I generally toss directly into the trash. One of these days I need to drop them a line and tell them to quit junking up my mailbox.

Rain was threatening this afternooon so I passed up PJ's and took a nap.

Unless something spectacular happens this evening this day will be really high on the unremarkability list.