After an inauspicious start, today got better as it went along. I woke up at six this morning with nasty stomach cramps. The evidence seems to be piling up that I just can't eat pizza any more (sigh.). So I was in and out of the bathroom for a while, then decided (groggily) to sleep in the living room so as not to wake up Jeff.

I ended up dozing on the couch until about eleven. I woke up a lot, especially when the cats were playing (I ended up being a human race track for a short amount of time).It rained today. Not a lot, but every half-inch here and there helps in the drought we've got. Jeff and I headed out for lunch and I actually had to turn on my windshield wipers—it's been quite some time since I've had to do that. After we had lunch, we went shopping for computer desks. I'm not in a position to buy a new one for myself right now, but I will be in a few weeks.

I just got curious and pulled down my stats for today. I thought I'd see if any of the friends I emailed actually took a look at the catcam page. Now, granted, it refreshes every 30 seconds, but 700 hits in less than eight hours?!?!? Don't you guys have day jobs?

Seven hundred?
("thirty-seven?? thirty-seven??")

Tonight: I'm not doing a damn thing. It's Friday. I'm going to read. I'm going to harass my cats. I'm going to cook up some really good pasta-y comfort food, and that's going to be it. I'll probably study up on PHP too.

Tomorrow—going over to Kat's. We're going to rent a DVD, I think, and be generally lazy over there and admire their new TV.

For your amusement, I've added a webcam to my desk. It takes a new picture every sixty seconds; the webpage should refresh every thirty. It's possible that there are still some bugs in this, but then again I've not totally gotten it tweaked like I want it.

There's a link in the contents box. I'd link it here, but since I think I'm going to tailor the link a bit so that it pops up a separate window and such, I'd rather not have to change the link here as well.

Let me know if you have any problems.

Whee! Today I'm working (again) on my proposed redesign for my company's website. I've put in a LOT of hours on this. It's my fourth design for these guys—I've not been very happy with my previous three. This one, I think, has possibly got the goods. It's still way down deep in alpha, but you can see it on the screenshot for today (September 7).

I called my folks last night—there was more to the story than what I'd been told. The problem is that the more I hear, the worse it sounds. Evidently my aunt Mildred's pretty much gone off the deep end—drinking heavily and not taking her lithium. I gather she got in a fight with my grandmother, and that my aunt also attacked my parents.

Thus my parents took her to the hospital. Again. She did what she does every time this happens—fights, screams, yells, curses, and tries to hurt anyone who comes near her. Apparently she directly attacked my parents, too. Because of how the laws are, the hospital can't keep her against her will. As soon as she's stable—meaning her lithium levels are back up—she can't be held against her will.

This hurts.

I'd intended for my commentary today to be about all the fun we had this weekend, but considering I just got back from the bathroom with red eyes and a sniffly nose, I think you can guess that it's the furthest thing from my mind right now.

I happened to think to check my home email account a few minutes ago, and got kicked in the pants by what I found. Mom emailed me at about one this morning to let me know about what happened this weekend. My aunt Mildred, the one who is battling bipolar disorder, shot her son (my cousin Clint) in the hand this weekend during an argument.

She swears it's an accident.

All I know is that I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach.

I just don't know what to make of this. I just don't. We've dealt with the problems of dealing with her problems for as long as I can remember, and I guess in my mind I've always hoped that it would never come to this—to violence. But evidently it has.