First up — Michael Jackson.

Folks? He was a nutjob kiddie-diddler, okay? Despite this, he’s been hogging my news channels for, like, a week and a half, now. There are riots in China, some sort of mess in Honduras, and, I think, ongoing problems in Iran. We’re leaving Iraq, the governor of South Carolina got caught abandoning his post for a booty call, and Sarah Palin said we were all being mean, and took her toys and went home. How much have you heard about any of that? Not a goddamn thing, because Michael Jackson died! Really? Really? I mean, this guy hasn’t even been relevant musically in twenty years, but I have to hear about his crazy ass on CNN and MSNBC 24-7 for a week? Do you know where I had to go to hear the news? Fox News. How goddamn sad is it that the only place playing actual news is Fox?
     So, last week I was in Oregon, doing the apartment hunt. It was actually a pretty easy hunt, as most of the places Jim and I found could be eliminated on the basis of bad location and/or lack of amenities. We settled on a really sharp townhouse, across the street from a shopping plaza with an awesome grocery store, a PetCo, and a double handful of other neat shops (including two coffee shops, because, y’know, it’s Oregon).
     This week I’ve been on the hunt for professional movers. I didn’t realize the moving industry was so scam-ridden, y’all. I started collecting quotes yesterday, and the first three companies that contacted me were huge scammers, with miles of bad reviews at places like RipOffReport.com and similar sites. So, word to the wise, if you’re hiring a moving company, do your homework. Be that as it may, I was shocked at how cheap it’s (probably) going to be to move cross-country. My first (reliable, reputable) estimate was about $2,400.00. Okay, granted, I hardly have anything to move, compared to some, but still. I was giving myself nightmares thinking it was going to be umpteen thousands of dollars to move.
     In other news, Jim and I stayed up way too late watching Dead Set, the zombie series on BBC. Holy shit, folks, this show is excellent. It was terrifying and funny and gory and vulgar, and just plain fantastic. The show’s premise is that the zombie apocalypse goes down, and the only survivors are the inhabitants of the Big Brother house, and a couple of crew members. I know, I know, that makes it sound a bit lame, but trust me, it’s not. This show is, like, the anti-lame. Seriously, drop what you’re doing and go watch it. It’s only a couple of hours or so long, and worth every single second.
     And finally, so help me, we’re still writing, and Chapter Eight is coming, I swear. I know, it’s been two months or more, but we’ve been busy. I promise. I’m working on it right now. Well, not right now, but you know what I mean.

     Yeah, I know, but even if I don’t like Michael Jackson, Thriller was still pretty awesome.