Spring Fever . . . or is it Bean Fever?

I know. It's been a week since I posted. But since there are only two regular readers of this blog -- and I can't even count myself among them -- I'm not overy concerned.

I worry, though, that I'm not worried enough about this conversion to digital television. I stopped watching most broadcast and cable TV shows about 11 years ago. I'm in the dark most of the time on politics, because I don't get the constant feed television offers. Oh, I get news i want on the Internet, but since I can pick and choose what I want to consume, I skip most of the "politic slop," as Ralphie Parker's Dad would say. So I can't say I'm all that bothered with the thought that broadcasters are going from analog to digital. I'm not lining up for one of those converter boxes the government is pushing on everyone. Heck, I don't even watch the taped TV shows we get from my father-in-law anymore. I amy soon revert to squatting in a corner of the basement and drawing pictograms on the walls with red clay.

Next week, layoffs begin. People are looking for signs in the stars everywhere to know if they'll be axed or spared. Including me. I began fretting last night that because I hadn't heard from my employers on a new bus pass -- mine expires Tuesday -- that they knew I was on the list to get the flush and figured it would be a waste of time communicating with me. But this morning I get news on the bus pass, and they ask me to fill out a company contact form. Maybe so they know where to train the security cameras when they lay off my sorry ass next week . . . Ah, the paranoia continues.

I'm coming, slowly, to a realization: The book I'm working on isn't going to write itself. Maybe it should try, because it might turn out better if I'm not connected with it.

Spring is finally starting to show up around here. We had rain yesterday. Honest rain, helping to usher the snow away. We still have a ton of snow in the front yard, but where the snow didn't fall as thick next to the house, we have tulips starting to poke out of the ground. They look really excited to be here. Really excited. We've also cleard the driveway of snow and ice, which is nice, because the vehicles now don't have to park at an angle. Uncovering the driveway was like chiseling through a glacier, except that I'm sure glaciers don't have the Pomeranian poop content that our driveay ice has. Max is a good little dog, but he really can pound out the biscuits over the winter.

I'm crabby. I'm ready for the snow to go away. Liam was watching over my shoulder last night as I was playing Sim City 4, and it got so irritating I had to stop before I really got cranky and shooed him away. This layoff situation just has me really tense. I'm ready for next week to be over, no matter the outcome.

I need some kind of tension-breaker that doesn't involve Starbursts. Maybe I'll move on to cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco and then I'll go onto that nicotine gum. A good five-year plan.

Disappointment: Saw a copy of Airplane! in the discount bin at Wal-Mart earlier this week. Went to get it last night, figuring I could sneak it into the house over Michelle's objections. All the copies had been cherry-picked out of the bin, leaving only stupid movies behind. Sigh. I shouldn't complain. She got me a copy of The Dilbert Principle and Spies Like Us, so I'm not totally bereft of token consumerist swag this week.