Since last week, however, the third TV has been tuned to CNN, which makes working out at 7:30 am a bit surreal. Do a set of bench press, then watch Basra explode to the soundtrack of Christina Aguilera. Shoulder press, and then it's a group of generals in desert camouflage answering press questions to Danii Minogue. A set of rows, then it's time to watch a reporter via a picture phone of exceptionally poor quality to the tune of Eminem.

Not this morning though. Today a new guy was in charge of the floor, and obviously no one had briefed him on TV protocol, and he had all three TVs tuned in to the music station. There were only three of us working out, and none of us complained.

It just doesn't seem right to be pumping iron while Baghdad burns and good people die.

And now, an item from our Department of Disgust.

Calliope was begging for some attention a short while ago, so I stopped what I was doing and gave her a good belly scratch. She likes that, and writhed around on the floor in apparent delight.

Which is when I noticed the turd hanging half-way out her ass. I grabbed the scruff of her neck and yelled to Elvis to bring me a paper towel or something. Calliope broke loose and we chased her down the hall and into the bedroom. Elvis passed me a tissue on the way like it was the baton in a relay race. I finally cornered her near the heater, got a better grasp on the little bitch (who was hollering REAL LOUD by this point), and applied tissue to bottom.

That turd was hard! So hard that I grabbed on to it (through the tissue, of course), and pulled. And pulled. And twisted it a bit until I finally got the whole thing out. I swear, it was like someone had jammed a cork up there. I think it may have been (in part) one of the hairballs she tries so hard to puke up and almost never manages to do so.

Whatever it was, she doesn't seem to be bearing a grudge. I can't imagine that it felt very good-- as far as I know, felines aren't in to butt plugs or any other exotic toy. Nevertheless, when I heard her jump out of her little box a couple minutes ago, I was right there to inspect the relevant region. Thankfully, it got the all clear.

Fiber, people. It's not always a good thing.

Today, in the "Active Language" module of my Portuguese class, we talked about extreme sports, the European Union, and household pets.

In the last one I went to, we discussed the economic situation in Germany after reunification, in addition to learning how Portuguese children refer to pee-pee and poo- poo.

It seems like yesterday that we were splitting off into pairs, and one person would pretend to own a shop and the other would attempt to buy stamps or shoes or bread or something.

Oh, wait-- that was last month.

Today turned out to be a really nice one-- sunny and bright and warm.

Just the kind of day to stand on line in the post office, waiting to pay bills. At least I received them all before the first one was due, so I don't have to go back and do it all over again anytime soon, like I did last month.

They had been forecasting rain for the next five days, starting with yesterday's completely shitty weather, so I hope the forecast has changed and that today wasn't just a fluke.

It would be nice to be able to get out and enjoy the weather sometime soon.

As always, we shall see.