Spring will be a little late... Monday, when I pulled my rib muscle, it was sunny and warm -- almost reaching 60. Tuesday, it snowed. Three inches worth, although the accumulation was thankfully much less. Wednesday was grayish, and overnight left a new dusting of snow. Thursday was sunny and relatively warmer, which melted the snowdust. Tomorrow's forecast? Four to six inches of snow, mixing at times with sleet and rain. And Saturday is the first day of spring. April can't come soon enough. Or May or June, for that matter.

Transport of the future. I'm training my nephew-by-friendship, Alex, the right way. For his birthday and Christmas, I get him additional pieces of a monorail set modeled after the real ones at Disney World. I was visiting yesterday, and he took me into the basement to show me the latest setup: a sprawling system going from under the stairs, snaking around and under the air hockey table, and ending...in mid-air. I asked him what happens when the train reaches the end of its track. "I catch it!" he grinned.

Seems he ran out of track. I know he knows how to make connected circuits -- I've seen him make figure-8s and double loops. Guess I'll concentrate on buying extra track for the next gift-giving occasion.

Spain. Some partly-baked thoughts:

The recent change of ruling party in Spain is being credited to/blamed on fear of al-Qaida and the 3/11 train bombings that have killed 201. I'm not so sure. If, as some say, the Spanish electorate are cowards, then why didn't they stay at home instead of going to a public polling place?

And was the Popular Party (the one that was defeated) really doing all that well in the final week leading up to the election? If they were, I don't think reaction to the bombings would be great enough to change the results of the election. If they were running close to the Socialists, or even slightly behind, then I could see it. Yet most polls were saying the PP was ahead...I know that pollsters are not God, yet if the pre-election polls are being reported accurately, then this is the biggest poll blunder since "Dewey Defeats Truman".

I will hand it to the Socialists. By being the first to rush to the microphones and say "We're not going to campaign any more," they grabbed the high ground away from the Popular Party. The PP couldn't do anything that might even smack of campaigning without looking callous towards the dead. Isn't it true that the last, biggest, most effective burst of campaigning is done in the last few days before the election? And that's what the Socialists managed to snatch away from the PP. Clever lads.

Workin' for the weekend... Friday night, there's an open mike event Bill and I go to called "Out of the Box", down in New Brunswick. There's a big Gay and Lesbian Expo at the Javits Center in NYC this weekend. There's also two other possible events for Saturday. Oh, yes, and the guy from PSE&G is coming to read the gas meter Saturday. Sunday, the traditional "breakfast followed by grocery shopping". All in all, it's shaping up to be one busy weekend.

Of course, now that I've said that, everything will fall apart and I'll be sitting here Saturday afternoon saying "I dunno, what do you wanna do?" to Bill. To make the gods laugh, make plans for the future.