International Animal Fest

Baby red pandas from Japan, a Romanian cat with hypnotic, Halloween eyes, a Moldovan zebra who looks like a piece of art, and an American monkey called "Tim," who's having a little birthday cake. SFGate's Day in Pictures ROCKS today!

My favorite co-worker...

... is one I've never spoken to. He sits in the back corner of the room, and actually, I'm not even sure what he does.

I know one thing about him:

1. He has a shelf full of "Lord of the Rings" action figures over his CPU, including Gandalf, Gollum and Sauron's fiery eye. I call his corner "The Land of Mordor," but see no reason to go over there. Sauron's eye watches me all day. But I can also see Gandalf, which is reassuring. I wonder if he plays with them after we are all gone for the day.

I so appreciate people's harmless obsessions.

I'm as sleepy as this little bear....

I could fall asleep in a tree right now, though I probably wouldn't apprciate a brach poking my ass cheek. The bear doesn't really seem to mind, though. To each his/her/its own.

I got up super-extra-bonus early this a.m. for a story that now looks like it might not happen today. It required me to sit in the parking lot of a strip club starting at 7 a.m.

It was just a meeting place for some people who are filing a lawsuit in federal court -- I didn't hang out with strippers. But it made me feel a little weird, nonetheless.

Cracked-up on coffee, I waited, and waited, and waited as the attorney labored away inside the club's office to prepare her lawsuit. Three hours later, still not done. Now the coffee has worn off and I'm at the office, still waiting.

Found this bear to start off the week.

It's not the antichrist, either.

There aren't enough exclamation points

Oooohhhhhhhh! It's Christmas already! The 30th anniversary DVD-CD combo of Cheap Trick Live at Budokan! SWEET! Nov. 11 cannot come fast enough! Three CDs and a DVD? Are you kidding? Plus bonus features on the DVD! Produced by Bruce "I Need More Cowbell" Dickinson? Now, please!

Later I'll be mortified that it has been 30 years. Now, I'm just excited.

The High-Fiving Grizzly of Friday

Dang. Not to be messed with.

Apparently, we had a little tropical storm action here yesterday. I thought it was just a blustery day, like in the Winnie the Pooh story. But this morning, my patio umbrella was askew and my potted plants had fallen over.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I think I'm going to paint my bedroom. Maybe the color of a grizzly. Probably not, though.

Too. Much. Cuteness.

Can't. breathe. Too. cute.

Pass the vodka and smokes or something.

In all seriousness...

Reason the first I can never be the president, president of a large corporation or a business reporter: I don't understand this Wall Street bailout thing.

Seriously -- this is not a political statement of any kind. I just need someone to explain this to me.

I've been reading everything I can, but I'm still unclear about a few things:

1. How did this happen?
2. Isn't this free-market capitalism? Someone starts a business, and it's their job to make it run correctly. Right? And if the business isn't successful, for whatever reason, isn't the owner responsible for that loss? How does it become my responsibility to pay for it?
3. What happens if we DON'T bail out these companies? I mean, I hear what politicians are saying. What I want is a straight answer from someone who doesn't have a dog in the political hunt.
4. Should I take my investments out of my Fidelity account and just put the money in the bank?

Anyone who understands this stuff more than me -- which is probably everyone -- please, please explain it minus the partisan politics. Explain it like you're talking to a 5-year-old, because I am confused.

I lied

I don't actually want to be a surgeon. You know I can't stand blood, guts, needles, scalpels or really anything in the medical realm.

But maybe in my next life I can marry Bob Cesca. Or, you know, just clean his house, tune up his bike or wash his dog or something.

And no, you pervs, "wash his dog" is not a euphemism. Either is "tune up his bike."

My next career

I've decided I want to be a surgeon. I know, I haven't been to medical school, but my dad was a doctor, and I have had surgery and known people who have had it.

So I'm probably in the vicinity of qualified, right? Especially with a couple weeks of brushing up on my skills.

You'd support me, right? And let me operate on your kids?

Just wondering.

Why wait for Friday?

Here's the new Swinging Bear of Monday. He's black and white and artsy.

Thanks, Veronica!

Quiet Sunday evening

Oh, the last night of my friend Jocelyn being here. I liked having company this week.

We went to see "Ghost Town" today. Very funny, and touching. I heart Ricky Gervais. Made me want to watch "Extras" all over again.

We went to Lowe's and I chose four samples of paint to try on my bedroom walls, and all of them suck. Vomitous.

I am uninspired by my bedroom. But I did have some good luck printing photos to frame, and if I ever choose a background color for my walls, I'm sure they will look lovely.

Jocelyn is reading research for her master's thesis while I'm burning CDs for my new Cheap Trick boyfriend. Well, he's not really my boyfriend, but we bonded over our love for Cheap Trick (although he has only seen them six times) the other night at Team Trivia, where he's the DJ/host. The category was lyrics, and as soon as he said "Mommy's..." I almost screamed "Surrender!" which would, of course, have helped all the other teams. I didn't do it. But I was happy. Now if he'd only ask Sopranos questions...We were in second place going into the final question, but, sadly, did not get all parts of the answer correct.

It's OK, though, because I have a new Cheap Trick friend! Who might be fun to kiss. Hmmm... bonus!

The Vicious Attack Dog of Friday

If this prairie dog was my pet, I'd name him Sid, as in Vicious.

The Cash of Friday

9/12/03.

This will be an all-Cash day for me.

The all-girl show

Well, my neighbors who suspect my roommate and I are a couple will have extra fodder for gossip this week when Jen arrives Friday night and Jocelyn gets here Wednesday. Plus, we're watching Jen's dog, Lucy, who is, of course, a girl.

The neighbor lady asked Claudia one day how the two of us met and how long we had been living together. The guy two doors down will not wave to us or even acknowledge is, we're such an abomination.

I can't help it -- I delight in saying naughty things when Claudia and I are in the front yard. One day she was helping me unload some supplies from Lowe's, and we were joking about who was stronger (it's NOT me), and really loudly I said "I guess the neighbors will know who wears the penis in our family."

After the girls start arriving, I'm sure they are going to assume we've turned our house into the Isle of Lesbos.

Whatever, rednecks.

I think we'll be barbecuing some mooseburgers this weekend, actually.

Thank god

Even if the world comes to an end, Stephen Colbert will live on -- as long as aliens are willing to clone him.

Genius! Yup, yup.

Bye Bye Hanna

Hanna blew through quickly, knocked the power out in some places and left quite a bit of water in others, but people aren't reporting any real damage. The sun is trying to come out now, and there's a little, tiny baby gecko sunning himself on the shrub outside my back door.

Hanna's on her way up north. Hope she heads on out to sea soon.

I feel so sorry for the people in Haiti. Gustav, Hanna, and soon Ike. The floods haven't even receded there from Hanna and now they are about to get hit again, and Hanna killed at least 137 people there. We got lucky, but they sure didn't.

The Red Cross's disaster relief fund is empty, their CEO is saying on CNN, and there are still 800,000 people without power from Gustav in the Gulf Coast area.

Liveblogging the storm... maybe

Just before 5 p.m. The humidity level jumped, the rain started, and the wind is gusting a bit, off and on. There's a tornado warning, too, for, well, pretty much everywhere from N.C. to the Gulf of Mexico. But the skies look nothing like I've ever seen before a tornado, so I don't think it's a big worry here.

So far, no worse than an average rainy day here.

8:50 p.m. Yawn. I'm spackling some spots in my bedroom and bathroom. It's raining. I folded laundry. Bored.

9:05: OK, spoke too soon. Now it's a downpour and the wind has picked up.

1:30 a.m.: Yep, still awake. Apparently, the deluge earlier was just a preview. Hanna is supposed to make landfall here in the next hour. It's not raining now, and there's no wind. Our power flashed off and on a couple times about an hour ago. Here's hoping it doesn't go out.

I'm just sitting here looking up things on the Internets and beginning to seriously think about my next trip to Italy. Spring 2010, baby. This time I'm going to plan for Venice, Turin, the Cinque Terre, Florence and, of course, Rome. I have to see it again. That gives me a little more than a year to save up, panhandle for spare change, get a second roommate to but down on the bills, whatever. And plan. And daydream. I cannot wait to see Rome again.

Probably it's time for bed, but I kind of want to see what happens at landfall time.

Day 2 Update -- Surf's Up!

Another nice shot by Jessmore.

So now Hanna is supposed to make landfall south of us, exposing this area to her stronger, northern side.

Still battened.

Hurricane Watch, Day 2

OK, I didn't get any good pictures, so I'm borrowing one from one of our fabulous photogs. This is, of course, copyrighted. Props to Steve Jessmore.

Hanna's stopping by Florida and should be here this evening. We're all secure and yes, I have duct tape.

The weather service says we could get waves of 12 to 14 feet. Great time for surfing! Hanna's supposed to touch down north of here, but not by much, about midnight, but her wind and rain precedes her. Could be 39 mph to 73 mph. Wahoo!

Hurricane Watch, Day 1

Here's a picture of Hanna staggering drunkenly around the Bahamas for a few days while Gustav was hitting the Gulf region. Now, she's on her way here. At this point she's weak, still a tropical storm, but getting a little stronger. We should start seeing some wind and rain about noon tomorrow.

Here's the forecast right now: Horry County (yes, I live in Horry County. Go ahead with the "Whore-y" jokes) could start to feel the impact of the approaching storm early Friday morning into Friday late afternoon, with the strongest conditions being felt late Friday evening into early Saturday morning. The current track brings Hanna into the South Carolina/North Carolina border at the extreme northeastern tip of Horry County as a potential Category 1 storm. As the storm approaches and makes landfall, residents of Horry County (go ahead again) can expect 40 – 60 mph sustained winds, 2-4 inches of rain, and a chance of isolated tornadoes. Storm surge could be 2-4 feet with an elevated high tide that is 1-3 feet above normal.

No, I'm not worried, and yes, I'm prepared.

I love storms.

Don't look! It's horrible!

A polar bear attacking a zoo worker! Oh, the humanity!

Holy Hanna

It's a gorgeous, perfect, warm-but-not-humid, breezy, clear day here. You'd never guess there's a hurricane coming.

Chronic

I think my insomnia is becoming pathological. 4 a.m. 4. That's when I finally dozed off. Had to get up at 6 to be at work at 7. I'm already hating today.