She actually has a special website just for her pottery, check it out at http://erinspottery.blogspot.com/. Apparentlly she does bunny pottery AND squirrel pottery, which is just plain wrong.

I've been here since Thursday, guess it's time to let you know what's up.

1. Bunny news - I found another artist who makes awesome bunny art. Her furry name is Dingbat and her specialty is pottery. She made a Drunken Bunny sake set that was so adorable I was tempted to take up sake drinking to give me a good reason to bid on it. I also attended BunnyHugger's Bunnies panel this morning; now several more people know entirely too much about Feloni and will probably mysteriously disappear as a result. And two unfortuate folks are now in possession of the first and third Schnuffel CDs because I donated one to the charity auction and one as a door prize at BunnyHugger's panel. Lastly, I saw a cottontail rabbit and two squirrels run away from me during my hike down the nature trail behind the hotel; they must be alerting the local rabbit and squirrel authorities of my location.

2. Fursuiter news - Apparently some giant stuffed animals have come alive and started eating people. I could hear the people inside talking, and some of them are trying to get out. Curiously, many more of them were not trying to get out. I guess the stuffed animals have some sort of mind-controlling secretion to keep the humans happy until they're fully digested.

3. Buzzy warning - I bought you something here you don't want but very much deserve. I hope I find at least one other thing for you before I leave. There are many possibilities.

More news as it breaks, provided my hotel WiFi connection doesn't time out.

Someone made a homemade video of Haschenlied. They misspelled the title on YouTube so it evaded my initial search efforts, but I have found it for you. Enjoyishness.



And apparently I'm not the only one who was miffed about the chimpmunkification of Schnuffel, this guy decided to up the speed on "Piep Piep" by another 100% to make Jamba even happier.

I just finished off Bioshock. The Big Plot Twist in the middle of the game was amazing. Dr. Steinem, Peach Wilkins, Sander Cohen, and Fontaine will be remembered fondly as GlaDOS was. I was very impressed with the screenwriting; I've played role-playing games before that might have made decent movies, but this was the only first-person shooter that could make that claim. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes artsy-fartsy video games.

The latest Schnuffel CD doesn't have the videos on the CD like the other CDs did, another minus. :( I just hope Jamba has the decency to release a video for "Haschenlied" sometime, or at least put the song someplace where people can hear it without paying, because it's by far the catchiest song on the album, sort of a high-tempo Dance Dance Revolution disco.

The new Hershey Bliss candy bars are very delicious, they're like chocolate-coated chocolate truffles. I'd say they're Hershey's second-best candy bar after the blue Symphony bars.

Driving 45 minutes each way to work has become routine now. It's still an adventure, but I'm not scared anymore, just alert. I hope I start getting the urge to drive around and do fun things, right now it's mostly for necessities like groceries, and it should be much more than that.

I started listening to the latest Schnuffel CD, "Come Cuddle". It wasn't just "Piep Piep" that got the chipmunk treatment, he's got an annoyingly squeaky voice for the entire CD. The music sounds interesting, but I'm afraid the squeakiness is ruining the charm of the songs. The music seems to be speeded up too. The most grating thing about this is Jamba originally had him at the right speed, then decided to go back and speed him up. I wish I could play the songs at 75% speed or whatever, so I could hear him sing them like he did on the prior CDs. I'm afraid I can't recommend this CD, the other two were much better.

Edit: I finished the CD, two songs hold up rather well despite the acceleration, "Haschenlied" and "Kleine Sonne Bitte Schein". Haschenlied isn't on YouTube yet, but the other one is.

Read and despair: http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/12/cuteness-200912

I was heartbroken that I forgot to vote yesterday, until I started perusing the election results. The only positions that were being challenged were Inspector of Elections and Tax Collector. Everyone else was running unopposed. The tax collector has been OK, but he annoys me because he doesn't include an addressed envelope with the quarterly returns, so I may have picked the lady instead. I would have voted for the Republican election inspector, because we need someone to reprogram all those Diebold machines to guarantee Republican victory in the midterm elections next year. It might have been fun to write in Feloni's name to oppose all the unopposed candidates, but the less the authorities know about her, the better.

No more Fuddy garbage keyboards for me! Now I just have to get back to normal size so I can use it.

( Click to see the awesomeness )

Fighting Buzzy by moonlight,
Winning Jitters by daylight,
Never running 'cause she can't move,
She is the one Suctorian Moon.

She will never extrusome a friend,
With tentacles there to defend,
She's the ciliate on whom we can depend,
She is the one Suctorian...

Microtubules
And lorica
And haptocysts

With extremities all so new to her,
She is the one... Suctorian Moon!

I signed us up for an aerobics class in Anaheim. It was buy-two-get-one-free, so I signed Buzzy up too. I figure he'll be much more likely to let you go if he goes too. I can't wait to see him in legwarmers.

See ya there, and stay hoppy!

Halfway through my first week of long-distance driving, and I reached the landmark of my first gas tank fill-up, Naturally I commemorated the occasion by forgetting to replace the gas cap, which bounced and jangled merrily as I sped down the Turnpike (I should have keep my left turn signal on the whole way to complete the image). Fortunately I seem to be good at not repeating mistakes, so this shouldn't happen again.

Some impressions of driving so far:

1. Right now, driving is scarier and more nerve-wracking than a game of EverQuest, probably because the stakes are much higher (no rezes). I play EQ after driving home and I'm like, eh, this isn't so thrilling anymore. I wish I had more relaxation time during the day, like I got from walking and carpooling, but I guess more freedom means you have to stay wide awake longer.

2. Merging and changing lanes are the bane of my existence. Travelling in the slow lane is easy, just stay in the middle of your lane and maintain distance with the car in front of you. Passing or merging require psychology, because you don't know whether the other guy is going to speed up, slow down, or maintain distance. Right now I'm being ultra-cautious doing both, I had one scare and that is enough for a lifetime.

3. If you maintain a safe 3-4 second distance between you and the car in front of you on the highway, some loon will invariably pass you and slide into the empty spot. Apparently it's worth it for some people to make two lane changes to advance three car lengths.

4. Getting in the wrong lane can cost you 15 minutes or more of inconvenience, especially if you're not willing to break the law to get back into the correct lane. It's very important to think one step ahead so you know where you need to be.

5. Fifty nearly-consecutive miles of the eastbound Pennsylvania Turnpike are marked Work Area, complete with 55MPH signs and endless stretches of Jersey barriers, but the only actual road work going on is a one-mile stretch where they're putting in a new bridge. Thanks for making the commute far more harrowing than it needs to be, Penndot. :p

"Wild Thing" by The Troggs was a raunchy rock song, "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc was an even raunchier rap song, but "Where the Wild Things Are" is supposed to be a children's movie??? Keep your kids AWAY please!

Mole Day is celebrated from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m. every Oct. 23 and commemorates Avogadro's Number: 6.02 x 10^23. For a given molecule, a mole is a mass in grams whose number is equal to the atomic mass of the molecule.

Since the Anaheim Angels are battling the New York Yankees this week, the Angels shall be henceforth referred to as "The Yankers".

I picked up my new 2010 Honda today (there was a mixup on the 2009 model and it was no longer for sale), and I started enjoying my newfound freedom. My first trip was two practice runs to the park-and-ride where I'll be carpooling with my coworkers. It was rather dark, so the first run was a... learning experience. I missed a turn and ended up in a complicated series of neighborhoods; I had no map so I had to wander for about 15 minutes, going wherever the road would take me. I got to practice doing three-point turns at least. Fortunately my partially-functional internal compass kicked in, and I realized the radio tower on my left was a useful landmark, and I eventually got where I was supposed to be. The second run was smoother, but I wasn't comfortable with the narrow two-lane roads (newbie drivers need a little cushion room until they master the art of staying in the middle of the lane). So I'll be taking the highway route instead, it's longer and has more traffic, but I won't get lost and I won't risk colliding with anyone on a too-narrow road.

Then I did something which probably sounds normal to you but was a big treat for me: I went to the grocery store and filled the cart with heavy things. Canned soup, V8, orange juice, liquid Tide, Arizona iced tea, everything I could get my paws on. Then I carted them to my car and didn't have to pick them up again until I was in my driveway. This is noticeably different from my previous routine, which involved carrying groceries two mostly-uphill miles. I fear my muscles will be shrinking, but I will feel less idiotic, so it's a fair trade.

The Red Sox players get to go on vacations to the destinations of their choice, while the Angels are doomed to another week of hard work and unpaid overtime. Way to go Sox!

For the second time in six months, my primary hard drive is about to fail on me. I can only run Windows in safe mode now, normal mode locks up. I guess I should have sprung for the extra bucks for a solid state hard drive. Backup and restore and reinstall usually eats up a full day, bleh. At least this time the replacement is on Dell's tab instead of mine, I'm still under warranty. I'll have to get by without video games for three days though, maybe I can play around with those big paper things to see if I remember how to use them.

I test drove a 2009 Honda Civic LX Sedan today (http://automobiles.honda.com/2009/civic-sedan/), and it was clearly superior to the Corolla I drove yesterday. It wasn't missing key options I was hoping for that the Corolla didn't have, like cruise control and remote locking. It had some very clever features for the newbie driver, like a speedometer mounted just below the windshield, so you can check your speed without taking your eye off the road for more than a fraction of a second. Another nice feature is that all Civic LX's have the same features, so I didn't have to scan through pages of paper to see what was left out on the model I was buying.

The salesman was fairly eager to get the 2009 model off the lot to make room for a 2010, and he wasn't going to be in town the next day to make the sale, so he offered me a little cash discount to buy on the spot, and I took him up on the offer (total price was about the same as the 2010 Corolla). Monday I'll finalize the insurance and get a cashier's check from the bank, and I'll be all set.

Looks like I'll be paying about $100 a month for gas, $100 a month for insurance, and maybe $50 a month for maintenance like tune-ups and oil changes. I've been paying about $200 a month in carpool fees, so my monthly expenditures for travel won't go up much, and I'll have so much more freedom this way. I can't wait for Monday!

President Obama just won the Nobel Peace Prize, not for his accomplishments, but for his peaceful intentions. Alfred Nobel, who founded the Nobel prizes, was the inventor of dynamite and thought his invention would bring an end to war.

I guess the road to Hell is paved with Nobel prizes.

I test drove a Toyota Corolla LE yesterday, it was missing some of the features I was hoping for, but it was considerably cheaper than the customized model I wanted. The test drive was quite satisfactory, the biggest problem was the nut behind the wheel (someday I'll learn how to make smooth turns...) They had eight models with identical specifications on the lot, I chose the blue one. I wish they'd had some models with advanced features instead of eight clones, some of those features are pretty important to new drivers, like the auto-lock feature. I know I'll be daft enough to leave my car unlocked someday.

Today I'll be test driving a Honda Civic LX. So far it looks like a somewhat nicer car with a moderately higher pricetag. The dealer has more variety on their lot, so I should be able to pick out a model closer to what I've been looking for. I imagine it will drive nicely as well, so the big decision will be whether the handful of advanced options on the Honda are worth an extra $1,500 or so over the Corolla.

A distressing number of people at work have owned both the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla, any advice from those in the peanut gallery?