I awoke this morning at the right cheery hour of 7 am and thought to myself, “I would happily strangle a kitten or two if it would earn me another couple hours of sleep”. Yes, that’s terrible, and yes, I’m probably going to burn for all eternity. Then again, I don’t much like cats, largely due to the perception that they are a) the enemy of dogs everywhere, and b) uppity.

Seriously, I’ve never met a cat that really appeared to need it’s owner. Sure, they might tolerate one in the interest of having a warm spot to nap and a hand to serve them meals, but believe me, that little kitty has no real use for you beyond serving it. A dog, on the other hand, well a dog’s life is clearly centered on its master all the wonderful things he or she does.

Anyway, my real problem this morning, the cause that effected the feline hostility, was that I was up much of the night working. I do that, on occasion, which probably comes as a surprise to no one with any experience reading my ramblings. When I have a project coming down to the wire and I want everything just so, sometimes there’s no alternative beyond than utilizing the wee hours from 2:30 am to 5 am to get it done right. Surprisingly, there are very few interruptions at 4 o’clock in the morning.

Long story short, I got about 2 hours of sleep last night, and haven’t managed to squeeze any more in since then. At this point, it’s 12:30 AM a day later, and I’m not entirely sure what’s keeping me upright. I should be dead to the world, yet my body continues to function in a somewhat partially wakeful state. I think maybe I’m undead. Is it possible to be a zombie without, you know, the lumbering drag/walk, the outstretched arms, the ashen color, and, oh yeah, the never-ending urge to devour brains?

Well, I haven’t seen Scooby-Doo yet or any meddlesome kids, so maybe it’s not the zombie thing.

Of course, it’s always the most screwed up days that pack the most serious punch. Most normal days, I could burn a little midnight oil, sleep in a tad the following morning, do a few hours in the office and come home early for a nap. Not today, though, no sir. The Puddinette’s new laptop arrived today, but it turned its high-fallootin’ nose up at the thought of communicating with my so very common 5 year-old wireless router. So communications problems had to be solved and tinkering had to be done. No nap time there. Oh, and did I mention we started having part of our basement finished today? Just a little area, a dedicated section so the kids have a room where the Fisher-Price bombs can rain Little People. But the basement is a post for another day.

So, long story short on this lovely, near spring day: I’m exhausted and might be having an out of body experience, technology can be a pain, and the Puddinette and I get to spend the weekend discussing paint colors and why I can’t be more helpful choosing them, even though my “suggestions” are typically met with a bemused smirk that, at once, questions both my manhood and my intellect.

Still, no Mystery Mobile; I guess it’s good to know that I’m officially not undead.

pud’n

PS: No felines were harmed in the writing of this post. I only pretend to consider doing bad things in exchange for sleep. So please put down the the phone. PETA doesn’t need to splash my very utilitarian Target-acquired Programmer-Wear coat with anything.