.blindness.

I have 71 .rm files I want to convert to .mp3.

for file in *.rm; newname=basename $file .rm mplayer -quiet -vo null -vc dummy -ao pcm:file=$newname.wav $newname.rm && lame $newname.wav $newname.mp3 && rm $newname.wav; done

I was involved in some sort of thrilling hostage situation at a public library where I worked. I did the IT support and someone was holding me and my staff at gunpoint. The library was a huge circular tower, maybe 30 floors, and were somewhere around floor 23 and I needed to do something to a server on the 26th floor. The gunmen were controlling exactly what I could do, but they also needed me so they were letting me on the server a bit.

Somehow I "escaped" and went down to the street level. The front door of the library was a giant bank vault door that opened inward. There was a small elephant that they kept chained just inside the doorway; she was trained to close the door when people left. The library was deserted and I left, but freed the elephant. It ran out of the building and into the streets, and also a tiger appeared from somewhere.

I was running the camera/sound on a Louis Theroux episode. Louis and I were in a big muddy tunnel that was semi-underground and there were rats everywhere. We were done filming for the day so I suggested we go have a drink somewhere. The woman he was interviewing came along and we went back to Louis' flat, which was small and kinda crummy. The woman's name was Stoney Farnsworth and I made a joke about her sounding posh. Louis looked bad - he started to talk about these problems he was having with his roommates. Then, the 3 roommates came into the kitchen, where we were sitting. They were kinda tough, ugly people, and they confronted Louis about something. Stoney and I went into the other room cause it was getting awkward and talked about something for awhile. Then we went into the bathroom, where Louis was crying. His roommates had put him in a wig and dressed him all grunge, and he looked like Kurt Cobain.

Watching Colbert last night (and Countdown, and all of the other cable news garbage I digest now) there's still this continual statement by the Republicans that Obama is going to raise taxes. This is technically true, though only for 2% of Americans, but it's pretty misleading to keep hammering at people that. Of course the election is over, so obviously it didn't work, but whatever happens to the Republican party they are certainly going to make tax cuts their M.O. Hopefully the Obama administration will make enough of a memorable tax cut that the majority of America will call the Republicans on their bullshit and not be misled into thinking their taxes are going up.

Does anyone have any tips on how to prevent homemade soy milk from curdling in coffee? The best I've heard is to add some guar gum, but I don't know where to find that ....

My total and complete obsession is starting to hit the fear stage - I'm not afraid of the Democrats losing the presidency, but I'm afraid of weird case situations. One such fear: Alaskan Democrats don't bother voting since Obama will likely be announced as the winner hours before, and Ted Stevens gets re-elected by fanatic Wasilians who want to vote for Palin anyway because they love her. And of course, the Dems have 59 senators now and need Alaska to get the filibuster-breaking 60. It's just a silly scenario I was thinking about, since, again, I am completely obsessed.

Watching the full video of the Obama/Joe the Plumber interaction, it's really fascinating to see how the GOP has spun this. It looks like Obama did well and actually presented a convincing argument for his situation. Despite all this Joe the Plumber nonsense I kinda like his style - he's an expert media manipulator.