Wednesday midday stuff

* Big stuff going on in the news: a horrific fire in a London high-rise that lead to something like 9 deaths, and apparently they had no sprinkler system?

I confess: I worry about fires in the tower dorms here but I'm pretty sure they have sprinkler systems. I used to live in an apartment block (in Ann Arbor) on the sixth floor. I don't think there were sprinklers but I don't remember now. There was one a fire alarm - someone had a grease fire in their kitchen - and I remember running down the six flights of stairs - each side of the building had fire stairs (I sometimes used them to climb to my apartment if I needed exercise). I do remember one apartment had a guy who used a wheelchair and people had to carry him out of the building because you don't want to use elevators in a possible fire.

Fortunately, the grease fire was out almost as soon as the alarms went off (the apartment dweller knew the trick of clapping a pan lid down on top of the pan where there was a fire to smother it).

But yeah, I'm not sure I'd want to live in a higher-level apartment any more, not given other things I've read about.

* And a shooting at a Congress baseball practice. Apparently it was just an angry guy with possibly a vendetta against the particular party that was practicing? I don't know. My general feeling is "Disagree with people in government all you want, but the way you challenge them is at the ballot box, in the letters-to-the-editor, or with peaceful protests."

I hope this is a one-off incident. I am too good at seeing patterns where there may be none and I know a few times I've said "We're in for a really ugly couple months" and usually it comes to nothing.

The shooter was from Belleville, Illinois. I know where that is but it is not near to where I used to live.

* However, locally, things are okay: I submitted the revised manuscript yesterday so that means another publication coming out, and I rewrote the manuscript a student and I are doing and sent it to her for comments.

* And also, the bigger thing: My friend Laura was passing through the area on her way to a wedding in Colorado, so we made plans to meet up. We went to the fairly-new "Jimmy's Egg" (you can probably guess what style of restaurant that is) in town. It was pretty good - definitely a cut above IHOP. (I had a cheese omelette and part of a serving of sweet potato pancakes, she had a breakfast combination with eggs and meat and fruit). It was just good to get to see her.

* So I'm taking the rest of the day off. I need to practice piano for the day and I have Board Meeting tonight but otherwise I have a little time to work on the current amigurumi Pony (at this point it does look like I might have to do a JoAnn's run this weekend for more yarn, but we'll see).

I found out yesterday that classes start a week later in August than I planned (August 21, not August 14) so I think a day off here and there won't hurt my progress.

I also cleaned the house a little (mostly stuff like sweeping and washing floors; I had already picked stuff up a little) which means it's also done for when my piano teacher comes tomorrow.

* I also have vague plans to do something "fun" on Friday. No idea whether to just do a Sherman run, or to go to Whitesboro, or to stay home and work on a quilt. (Though I probably do need to at least do a grocery run).