I just chilled the rest of the day. Papertraded 3 more winners in the afternoon and had some regrets that they weren't real trades, but what the hell. It was a nice relaxed day overall, came out ahead, and when it comes down to it, you gotta wish all days resulted like that.

For the 2nd time this week, we're having a birthday party for my grandpa. I guess when you're 85, you should get as many parties as possible. This time I'm healthy enough to actually eat the food and enjoy myself. I should go out and get a gift since I was too sick over the weekend to get one. Maybe he wants a used, broken keyboard? He doesn't have a computer to plug it into so maybe he won't notice it's busted.

WHAT I'M DOWNLOADING: Badfinger-Behind The Music. This is a 3 gb DVD of an old VH1 documentary about the old, cursed rock group, Badfinger. I'm one of their 397 fans, and I never caught this the few times it aired before being forever shelved, so I've been slowly grabbing it in my spare time. Hopefully it's done before the weekend. It's an achingly slow bit torrent download with a handful of seeds. Tracker: http://b2.easytree.org/announce.php/e24b68ce5e06ceccaea9a9a311d3b438/

WHAT I'M WATCHING: Coincidentally or not, VH1. They've got this troika of hideous reality tv shows right now, and they replay the shit everytime I flip by the channel. Of course, I have to stop and watch, even if I saw that particular episode last night or two weeks ago. First show is Strange Love which follows the love affair in Italy between Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav. Seriously. Next is The Surreal Life 4, which used to be on FOX or UPN or something like that. That's actually where Brigitte and Flav first hooked up. Anyway, season 4 has guys like mini-me, Peter Brady, that wrestling Chyna she-male chick, and one of the Go-Go's all in one house being wacky. God it sucks. God I can't stop watching. Finally is Celebrity Fit Club which is a Biggest Loser knockoff with celebs who are less famous than on The Surreal Life. These shows SUCK SUCK SUCK, and I hope they get new episodes soon.

WHAT I'M READING: a year's worth of back copies of WIRED magazine. Got a year for $10 and just let them pile up, so after reading "WARNING: This is your last copy!" on my final issue, I took that as a sign that I wouldn't be getting anymore and that something should be done with this pile. Biggest regret is one issue had two coupons for a Buy 1, Get 1 Free box of Krispy Kremes that expired 12/31/04. Damn me.

WHAT I THREW OUT: In my continuing rage to clean up the clutter around here, I took a big step and dumped my entire collection of trading magazine articles and old, yellow clippings from IBD. 99% of it remained unread, but out they went. That felt good. Unlike with WIRED, I actually do check out my new copies of Active Trader and SFO and all that stuff. I don't read it, but I skim, rip out "must read later" articles, then add it to the pile. The pile originally stayed on top of the toilet tank as "quality reading time" material, but the top of the tank got all crowded with more important stuff like the Glade spray cans I kept getting for 3/$1 on sale at Ralph's (they double coupons). The pile moved to under my desk and eventually formed a covering over those unsightly computer wires and powerstrips.

LAST MOVIES I SAW: Hable con Ella and The Princess & The Warrior. This was an at home foreign movie double feature after Christmas. Both were pretty entertaining stories, not special effect driven stuff. One Spanish, the other German. They were similar in showing off what I call an "itchy eyeball" feeling of slight discomfort. Go watch them yourselves if you're interested in that or finding out what that is.