In which Dr. Virago shakes her fist in melodramatic anger at the gods or fortune or whatever

As if noisy, stomping downstairs neighbors weren't enough (and no, I haven't talked to them yet -- I haven't had time to buy the slippers or make the cookies), now my landlord is installing new insulation in the attic, and the window through which the tube (which blows in the insulation) is right above my study. So now I have stomping and assorted machinery noise right above me, while I'm trying to finish editing my *@&%$?!# book (which, btw, I am beginning to *hate*). Oh, and the landlord -- who is otherwise a sweet man and a good landlord -- didn't warn me of this. (Isn't he obligated to tell me about things that will disturb my quiet enjoyment?) I came home yesterday (that's when it started) to find some kid with a reeeeee-al cun-try ak-cent standing in front of my door, laying out stacks and stacks of insulation all across my front walk, effectively blocking access to my door except through the grass and bushes. Nice. I asked him how long it would take. He said, "Oh, 'bout a day or two, I 'spect." (Woah, didn't know people still said "I suspect"! cool!) So I hope it'll be done today. Sounds like they're nailing down floorboards up there anyway. I can only hope.

And yes, yes, I know I have a laptop and could take my book MS and my laptop to the local coffee shop -- and also check blogs from there if I so wished, for free, because you may not know this, but my humble Rust Belt City is, in fact, *the* most wireless city in the country according to some poll somewhere! who knew! -- but the MS is big and awkward and packing up the computer is annoying, and I'm stil in my pj's and was looking forward to staying that way until I run this afternoon. So there.

Grrrrrrr. Dr. Virago is cranky.

She is also cranky because even though Chris Clarke is not, after all, shutting down his blog, GZombie is shutting down his -- though not until March 1. (Scroll down through the comments to his post -- ignore my stupid ones -- to find G's further thoughts on why.) Dammit. Now who's going to tell me interesting things about orality and literacy and sound, or the material culture of the book, and link to the scholarship on these subjects, and who will I count on to pass on cool new music to check out (links included), all while making me weirdly nostalgic for my hometown? No one, I tell you, because that's a pretty statistically improbably combination of qualities! Seriously, I started reading GZombie soon after he started up, when I was still living in Sprawling Big City. I still have the original bookmark to his blog, made long ago, before he was a Non-Zombie, and somewhere in my e-mail archives is the fan-girly e-mail I sent him saying something along the lines of "you're cool and have great taste in music and I want to be you when I grow up" and his polite reply. In fact, his was the first academic blog I ever encountered or read. (No, wait, that's not accurate. I think maybe I discoverd Danah Boyd's Apophenia -- then called something else -- before G's blog, but his is the first English lit one I read.) And, as I said in one of my first posts here, GZombie's blog was one of my models of what I wanted for this blog. Of course, the fact that I haven't met that goal is in no way a reflection on him!! Thanks for Not Being a Zombie will be missed, but I look forward to other encounters with its writer, virtual or in print or perhaps in person in the British Library.