iTunes and Other Stuff

I've been slowly learning about my iPod nano and iTunes. I can't quite figure out how to get the iPod list. But here's what's in Party Shuffle on iTunes this morning:

1. Run Away - Halo Friends
2. Tears In Heaven - Eric Clapton
3. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes - Paul Simon
4. Alberta - Eric Clapton
5. Path Of Thorns - Sarah McLachlan
6. Moving - Secret Garden
7. Mozart - Quartet, K.285b in C, Variation I - Jms Galway & Tokyo Str Quartet
8. Summerbreeze - Emiliana Torrini
9. Underneath Your Clothes - Shakira
10. Richard Strauss - Sonata for Violin & Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 18 - Midori & Robert McDonald
11. How Long - Ladysmith Black Mambazo
12. Shake - Sam Cooke

BTW - the Halo Friends and Emiliana Torrini are from the Buffy soundtrack album. I can't tell you a darned thing about them, other than it was a purchase at the height of my BTVS fandom. I still find myself putting the first couple of seasons on when I want something 'comfortable' for knitting. Don't ask; I don't get it, either.

And I credit my excellent friends Knitdevil Madge and Jayne for getting me to actually do something with my little magical music player. This in spite of the fact that they are both of the Mac persuasion and don't have many of the quirks of Windows to deal with. They are tempting me.... tempting me....

On other news, it's been a quiet time Chez CBM, though rather worrisome. My darling Midnight began to have balance problems last week, especially whenever she would do the big head-shake, which can knock her right off her feet. DH took her to the vet on Friday, who found an infection in her ears and prescribed yet another med. She's being a real darling about the daily indignity of eardrops, but there seems to be no improvement yet. Oddly enough, she still seems to have no problems jumping up onto things. She has suddenly developed thyroid problems and has not been eating, so she is rather skinny at the moment. With her kidney problems, it's not good to try to tempt her finicky palate with the Really Good Foods that come in the tiny cans marked Fancy Feast. And even though her $$$ prescription food is covered in gravy, she passes it by for the crunchies. I think she's bored with it, and, as Lazarus Long wrote: "Never try to out-stubborn a cat." With all of this going on, she's just not in the mood to groom, so she looks rather pitiful; she did finally allow me to brush her a bit yesterday. Hey, Bast! You need to take better care of my little purry girl!

We had a quick but most enjoyable visit from one of DH's oldest friends. Louie flew in to do some business down in Newport Beach, and showed his real level of friendship by driving over 50 miles from there to here on Friday night for an overnight stay. Nice thick steaks on the barby Friday night, leisurely Saturday morning brunch in the back garden, and then he was off to John Wayne airport for his flight home to Washington.

For all sorts of reasons besides my concern about Ms Elegant Pawsitude, I've not been in the mood to knit much, though I have read several books.

• One of my impulse buys at Borders last week was The Bookwoman's Last Fling, by John Dunning. The title and the cover attracted me, combining horseracing, books, and a protagonist from Denver. Plus it's a Book Sense bestseller, which often leads me to authors I might never choose otherwise. Friends, read this book, and the ones which came before it. I found it the best of the lot I brought home on Tuesday, and I'm trying to keep from running out to my nearby B&N for the others.
  
• I've also worked my way through a couple of my mountain of "To Be Read" titles. One was Atlantis Found, one of the Dirk Pitt novels from Clive Cussler. I've been a fan ever since the first Cussler stories in the late 70s. Remember Richard Jordan in Raise the Titanic?
  
• And I'm currently being both fascinated and exasperated by a Linda Fairstein mystery, The Kills. Fairstein is a competent writer, with interesting plot twists, but then there're the incredibly stupid things she has her heroine doing. I mean, if Our Heroine Alexandra thinks she's being stalked - her tires were slashed - why would she consider walking farther than her car, let alone 10 blocks through lower Manhattan, and why would her two cop buddies let her do so? Or go off to her Martha's Vineyard house by herself in the last hours before a hurricane? Huh? Can we say 'Ridiculous'??? This is the sort of book that causes me to skip to the end and then work my way backwards.

I did finish the sleeves on the little green KP&S baby jacket, and the other, in the James Brett Marble yarn, is finally nearing completion, too. I really want to get back to my Luna Moth shawl and my Horcrux socks (now ripped back to the end of the leg), but I'm just not settled enough. Maybe today?

And that's the way it is (thanks, Walter!)