zzzzz.....

I am tired.

It is 3:30 in the am. I only managed to force myself to go to bed an hour or so ago, which means it wasn't until about a half hour ago that I was even on my way to beautiful somnia. So of course, that's when the damn fire alarms went off.

As far as I can tell, it was a false alarm, possibly caused by all the fog that we've been surrounded with, which in turn was caused by liquid rain encountering godawful hot asphalt. At least, one of my neighbors suggested that it was the fog. He seemed to know what he was talking about (actual quote, "It was probably the fog." My response: "gnnh."), so I'm not inclined to argue.

Here's how it went down:
Around 3 am, alarms go off and I drag myself out of bed, grab my keys, wallet, cell phone, umbrella and shoes, and amble down the three flights of stairs that stand between me and the outside. I know, I know; it's a lot of crap to grab when your life may be in imminent danger, but I've been through so many fire drills, I'm conditioned not to think that fire alarms mean imminent danger. Blame this one on the school systems.

At any rate, I stood outside for a little while looking at the building to see if there was any smoke, but if there was, it was cleverly hiding in all the damn fog. So, like many of my neighbors, I hopped into my car and tried to get some sleep. After ten or fifteen minutes of hearing the alarms, the fire trucks showed up, having made acceptable time. Not great, but they probably would have saved the building if it had actually had the common decency to be burning. And frankly, I don't know where they were coming from or how busy a night they were having or, for that matter, what a good time for getting to the scene of an emergency even is, so I can't really whine about this.

So the firepersons make their way through the building, and when they opt not to spray it down with huge amounts of water, I opt to go back to bed. On my way back into the building, I encountered a fireman, who told me it was okay to go upstairs. I responded by staring blankly at him, because it is half past three in the morning, and when he tells me again to go on upstairs, I get it, and go upstairs. Where I immediately try to go to bed, which doesn't work, so here I am, blogging away.

....

Crap. It is now 3:50, and the alarm just went off. Again. I'm going to find an all night coffee place, as coffee makes a good substitute for sleep.

A puzzle.

I just thought of this. I don't have an answer, but I think I have an idea of how to get the answer.

Four people are sitting around a table. Each person has a liter of a different kind of soda in front of him. Taking turns and going clockwise, each person pours 100 milliliters of the liquid in front of him into the glass of the person to his left. How many times will they go around the circle like this until they all have the exact same mix of soda?

Okay, I have an answer now. If you want to cheat, I'll put it up on my old blog. If not, you can figure it out yourself. This is what I do at 3:30 am, when I'm trying to stay awake because I work the overnight shift tomorrow (technically, tonight).

Radio recap.

For anyone who might have missed the beginning of my car radio saga, I will begin from the very beginning.

*Ahem*

I bought a car. It was about the most stripped-down car I could find. It had no AC, no power... anything (no, not even power steering), and of course, no radio. Everything else I can sort of live without, but I do like some NPR while I drive. To that end, I went off to Best Buy, and bought a radio. Then, because they're cool like that, they offered to install the radio for free, except I'd have to pay for parts.

Only, I didn't have to pay for parts. There weren't parts. My car was so damn new, they hadn't built the part yet. I have the car, I have the radio, I don't have the weird-shaped piece of plastic needed to connect the two. So, off I went on my merry way, determined not to give up. I went to the dealer, which told me that a) they don't install radios, and b) where I could find someone who does. So I went to a third-party (or I guess, fourth- or fifth-party by now) installation shop, which told me (gasp and shock) there is a part!

But it's backordered for a month or so. The people who do make the part are completely sold out. So I get back into my car, completely fail to turn on the radio, and drive home.

But there is a silver lining here. Yesterday, I went back to Best Buy to check the situation, and they called the company that told them there was no part, and behold: There is a part in Gilead! Hooray! But they can't sell this part to Best Buy. Don't ask me; I'm not a lawyer. It turns out, however, they can sell directly to consumers. So the Best Buy guy, who is by far the most fair and intelligent person I've met in any capacity in a long time, hands the phone over to me and has me order the part, directly from the manufacturer, over his phone, for half the price Best Buy would've charged me. And because he is so very awesome, he's going to honor Best Buy's "Install it for free because you paid a little extra for a nice radio" offer. So I'm actually getting it installed for cheaper than I would've, because I was patient and screwed over by circumstance.

Life is sometimes funny like that. Bear it in mind.