I worked a 16 hour day and it broke my brain, so instead of anything coherent, please enjoy this video of a kitten pile on a Roomba:

iRobot really needs to adapt my name for the Roomba as their slogan: The World’s Most Expensive Cat Toy.

via Cute Overload.

I got home 20 minutes ago. I switched shifts with my boss tomorrow, so I have to be at work about three hours earlier than I otherwise would, which means even ditching the gym tomorrow, I have to be asleep in about 20 minutes.

When do we wrap again?

Things are still batty at work, but at least I have a whole weekend this weekend. I have taken advantage of it by sleeping an enormous amount and swimming 3km this morning.

So, in the continuing spirit of not really feeling like doing anything of substance, I present some weekend randomness.

First, a video from the Chicago NBC station that is quite possibly the most hilarious “bored interns with animation software run amok” bit I’ve ever seen:

Then there’s this New York Times article about hilariously inappropraite place names in Britain. I really want to purchase a t-shirt of that map they have of numerous places in Britain with such names.

And last but not least, the show I’ve been working on since September premieres tomorrow night after the Closer, so check your local listings for what time that is in your area – note that on the West Coast TNT’s HD feed is still on Eastern time. Please watch, especially if you’re, say, a Nielsen household.

“rosa parks sat,

so that martin luther king jr. could walk,

martin luther king jr. walked,

so that barack obama could run.

barack obama ran, so we could fly”

-The mural currently up on a building I drive by every morning on my way to work.

As much of a cynic as I am, and as much as the thing that stuck in my mind most about the inauguration ceremony was Roberts and Obama working together to flub the first couple lines of the Oath of Office (seriously guys: rehearse!), to see what this day has meant to my black friends in particular has been truly heartwarming.

I can’t possibly fathom the depth of the importance of this day to them, but the joy I’ve seen in my friends’ eyes, heard in my friends’ voices, and even read in my friends’ Facebook status messages gives me just a little taste of this world-redefining moment.

It takes a hell of a lot to melt the heart of a cynic, especially one like mine, crusted ten years ago in the bile of the Clinton Impeachment and hardened fifteen years ago in the fights over Marion Barry and D.C.’s self-determination after his drug conviction and subsequent re-election.

But today I am happy for this nation as a whole for every political reason I cast my vote for Obama in November. And on a more personal level, I am very, very happy to see so many of my friends so overwhelmed with joy.

I’m tired. Really, really Tired.

Worked until 2am Saturday morning then had to get up at 8:30 to drop off Chaplin to get his stitches out Tired. Passed out on the couch repeatedly all day Saturday because I didn’t have the energy to drag myself to bed Tired.

Chaplin still bonking into things with his cone until tomorrow night because the vet changed her mind about how long he has to wear it Tired.

Biked 35 miles today Tired. Would probably have biked further if I’d realized how late my Sunday work was going to be Tired.

Finally got dragged into work at 8pm tonight for weekend script distro right as I was about to send an email asking if maybe we shouldn’t put out whatever we were putting out tomorrow Tired.

At least my call tomorrow is pushed off a bit tomorrow Tired, because if I had to be there at 8am after this I would have killed someone Tired.

So tired I’m ending this post with a gratuitous Blazing Saddles clip:

I was completely mesmerized by the insane events in New York today, with the plane that ditched in the Hudson after BOTH ENGINES got knocked out by bird strikes and somehow managed to get every last person out alive.

I’ve been reading and reading and reading coverage, and I think I found one guy whose reaction is probably about what mine would have been in this situation (although I’d like to think I’m more aware of my surroundings than this guy admits he is) [emphasis mine]:

Beck, the marketing executive, said he had flown all over the world on business but never bothered to read the seat-pocket emergency cards. “I wasn’t sure what to do” as the plane fell from the air, he said later. “I tried a few different positions. I ended up putting my arms on the chair in front of me and covering my head and face. All I could think about was that movie ‘Airplane’ where they say, ‘Assume crash positions,’ and everybody lays on the ground.”

I would have been thinking of the exact same thing. Either that or “FUUUUUUUUUUUCK!”

Work is completely batshit crazy right now – we premiere in two weeks (Monday January 26th at 10pm, 9pm central after the return of The Closer) so we’ve got all kinds of publicity things on top of the usual insanity, and it’s driving my hours into the range of Completely Loony instead of just the regular Somewhat Nutty.

Anyway, Chaplin is back and doing much, much better after having his abscess drained. I get to try to toss an antibiotic pill down his throat twice a day now. This is an addition to our routine that he is decidedly not in favor of, but which will hopefully prevent a recurrence of the abscess.

And now, just for giggles, a picture of him in the bed I bought him – technically a dog bed since he’s so huge he wouldn’t fit in a normal cat bed:

He resolutely ignored the bed until the night before I would have been able to return it, and now is sleeping in it all the time. He does have a sense of humor about these things.

Here’s hoping this was just a rather expensive overreaction on my part, but Chaplin’s back at the animal hospital. I won’t go into too much detail at this point because I’m just too drained, but they’re keeping him overnight for observation.

They’re going to call me in the morning after the doctors and surgeons get a better look at him and tell me what’s wrong, (I hope to fucking god) how they can fix it, and how much nicer a car I could have bought with the money I will now be adding on to my already egregious total.

I can’t take this anymore.

Update, 10AM: Phew. Just an abscess, which is easily treatable by draining it and giving him a bunch of antibiotics. The site of all the initial problems is doing just fine. I can hopefuly get him home late tonight or early tomorrow.

There was a nice little shake tonight while I was at the office.

At first I thought I was finally going completely batshit from lack of sleep, but then our Production Designer (who feels every little shake in his office for some reason) ran out going, “Did you guys feel it?!”

The best way to describe the feeling of being in a small to moderate earthquake is that it feels like you’re suddenly sitting on top of a bowl of Jello. Everything gets real wobbly for a minute, and then all is still again.

We participated in the California hobby of the Post-Earthquake Pool (everyone tries to guess the magnitude and location), and one of the bigwigs managed to hit the magnitude right on the nose, a feat for which he was justly proud.

Anyway, fun little 4.5 in San Bernadino. There was apparently an aftershock

Chaplin and his hilariously sad cone/satellite dish collar, critiquing my queue of BSG episodes.