2003-10-01 - 1:42 p.m.

pets and data retail therapy

Years of empirical observation has revealed that the outside night air temperature is inversely proportional to the number of pets in your bed in the morning. This morning I found myself pinned to the bed by Mizzy and Lyra - my two cats. I had to really work hard to squeeze myself out from under them, in particular Mizzy who was perched on my hipbone.

They are definitely not morning creatures. Every other creature I have owned has tried to force me out of bed at the crack of dawn to open the can of Whiskas for them. Either these two have developed opposable thumbs, or they are the first cat-slugs I have really owned.

Came into work and discovered 4 really cool data CDs that have just been released and will be perfect for Tina's and my research. Hourly data from 12,000 meteorological stations - Ooo, enough to get your blood pumping!

The only drawback is that they cost $2500, but only $1850 if you buy online with credit card. Kind of the amazon.com for US government data, only bigger, and I've never received a gift certificate from them.

But it turns out that our German institute is not allowed to book purchases online using a credit card. We can only *fax* credit card numbers. The US institute will not accept faxed credit card numbers for online orders. Stuck once again between two bureaucratic policies, so I am forced to pull out my own reliable plastic and float the German institute a temporary loan. sigh.

Nevertheless, even though it is only data, the excitement of putting a 4-figure number on your credit card bill and the prospect of receiving golden data in the mail feels oddly like Christmas in October.

I think I need to get out more.