The good, the bad and the ugly.

The good:

1. Riley and Xander's ringworm infections seem to be clearing by themselves. And there was much rejoicing because I don't have to pay for expensive itraconazole treatment.
2. I inexplicably got a tiny pay raise at work starting in February 2007.
3. The professional medical opinion is that my right knee can be rehabilitated with physiotherapy and that surgery is probably not necessary.
4. I finally bought a TV antenna and can now watch all three CSI series if I so desire. I still like Las Vegas the best, but Miami has gotten surprisingly better, especially when David Caruso's character isn't the focus of the episode.
5. I finally discovered the virtues of cast iron, and can make tastier grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade paninis (which are essentially grilled cheese sandwiches with fancier ingredients and actual grill marks).
6. I just found out that I get a discount on my cell phone plan, new cell phones and accessories through work. It would have been nice if I had discovered this 2.5 years ago, but at least I managed to buy a Bluetooth flip camera phone pretty cheaply and I'll be saving money from now on.
   
7. I have switched over to Firefox and aside from a few minor shortcomings, it is immeasurably superior to Internet Explorer.
8. There is such a thing as flavourful green tea.
9. I got to kayak for the first time in San Francisco and managed not to tip myself over.
10. I am going to a wedding and Halloween party next Saturday (yup, on the same day), and have managed to come up with an idea for a costume that will incorporate the dress that I'll be wearing to the wedding.
    

The bad:

1. I am in cloning hell at work. I have created some 20-odd new DNA constructs in the past month or so and still have about 5 more to make.
2. I have to figure out how to culture neurons and for various reasons, I haven't had cardiomyocyte preps for three weeks in a row.
3. For some unknown reason, my boss has given me the title of "Chief Canadian" and has encouraged the other Canadians in the lab (who are "Deputy Canadian" and "Assistant Canadian") to depose me.
4. I have not any time to do any wire work since I came back from Australia.
   
5. The physiotherapy exercises for my right knee don't make any sense and are boring as hell. However, I can do one of the exercises during meetings as long as I can stretch out my legs in front of me.
   
6. I can't keep the cats off my computer desk, so once again, I have to rearrange my personal belongings because of them.
7. I haven't seen any movies lately.
8. The streetcar line has been extended a few more stops, which means that it'll be even later than usual.
9. I am addicted to Cheez-Its.
10. I have to shop for accessories for my Halloween costume.
    

The ugly:

1. The hard drive on my laptop died a horrible death, probably because of a physical malfunction, so I am missing about 1.5 years' worth of work data and some photos from the white water rafting trip. Fortunately, I was able to find all of my lab meeting presentations on my home computer, so I'm not as screwed as I could be. If you aren't performing regular backups of your files, start right now. External hard drives and DVD burners are cheap, so there's no excuse.
   
2. I made a mistake on my 2005 Oregon state tax return and owe about $400 in tax and penalty interest.