So this morning was pretty shitty, and I was in one hell of an adrenaline-fueled foul mood.  However, as the day wore on, despite the increasing exhaustion and agonizing pain in my lower back, my mood improved dramatically.  That's one thing I've noticed in the last few months: even when a have a run of unfortunate experiences or just find myself hating the world for some unspecified reason, those sour moods don't last for very long at all anymore.  Maybe an hour, maybe two, but it doesn't take me very long to come around and babble on cheerfully about some inane little joy like a fresh cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee or zombie raptors.  While I admitted to still being horribly cranky because of my back and the nasty adventures of the morning, I was at least cheerful about it (hey, if I can be optimistically cynical [or did my coworker say I was cynically optimistic?], I can be a cheerful little crank).  

I survived the day and while I *should* have immediately lain down with my heat massage thing upon coming home tonight, I opted instead to torture my poor fractured spine by spending half an hour sitting on the floor while I set up my new wireless router.  It's about damn time I have wifi at home.  Now I don't have to remain tethered to the study when I want to do a little procrastination browsing!  My mom is not nearly as excited about our new wireless capabilities as she should be; after all, when she works from home, she's relegated to using dial-up since she prefers to work downstairs and she didn't want to bother getting a cable splitter and 2nd modem for the kitchen or living room.  She should be uber-geeked out about finally having high speed access for her company-issued laptop in the comfort of her own breakfast nook!  But then again, she was pretty exhausted tonight, so maybe the geeky joy will be properly expressed after she's had a good night's rest (or after she realizes it will only take her 2 seconds to check her email instead of 8 minutes at best. . .).  

I've been enjoying the ability to play with Safari and Pandora and various apps on the iPod Touch I got for Christmas, and I discovered a charming little app which I'm really going to enjoy.  It's a cute little thing called the Gratitude Journal.  Every day, you write 5 things that make you happy, and you rate your day on a 5-star scale, and you can add a picture from your own library for each entry.  Each time a new entry is added, you're treated to an inspirational quote.  

After composing today's list (which included technical savvy, Mina, and zombie raptors) and tacking on a pic of Mina squashing a Raggedy Ann doll, my quote appeared: "Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you."  Jean-Paul Sartre.  That made me smile, especially since I've been thinking about last night's lessons.  

And the more I look into it, the more I want to buy a house.  No surprise there since I've been wanting to buy a house since fall of 2006, but now I'm in a position where I just might actually be able to make that dream come true.  And I may actually be able to make that dream come true on my own.  And that's what makes it even more exciting (and terrifying) and enticing.  I've been obsessed with the Victorian row homes in West End Allentown for YEARS, and they are within my price range.   Methinks I should start talking to my bank and to Mortgage America and get myself preapproved.  I want to be bathing in claw-footed bathtub before the year is out.