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There is a bluejay in my office with me.  It was trapped in the chimney when I got here this morning.  I managed to get the flue open and after a while it came out, poor little sooty thing.  Unfortunately only one window on this floor of the office suite opens, and it's down the other end of the suite.  So we have that window open, all the other window shades drawn and the lights in my office off, in the hopes that the bird will follow the light to the open window.  He seems to prefer sitting on my bookshelves and yelling, though.  I assume it is a fledgling leaving a nest which had been built at the top of the chimney, and hopped the wrong way out of the nest.  At my parents' house, sparrows occasionally do this in their wood stove.  Animal Control will eventually be here with a net to escort him out of the building if he doesn't manage it himself.

Gosh bluejays are loud when you are in a small enclosed space with one.  Again, poor little thing. 
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Success!

It only took about an hour and a half, but eventually the bluejay figured out where out was.  Once he was in the same room as the window, he found it pretty quickly and hightailed it out of here.  Yay for happy endings!

Of course, now I can't get the chimney flue closed and am afraid I broke it, but a roofer is being sent over (I guess roofers take care of chimneys) to see what can be done.
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for wierdness, the Mexican jumping bean is hard to beat

But this BBC video clip about them comes close :-)

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Dell, I swear, pow! right in the kisser!

I just got a call from a Dell rep introducing himself as my new point of contact for Dell, saying he was calling to see how things were going with the new laptop.  I told him it was fine, and he asked if I had any comments about my Dell experience.  I don't believe he had read my file before calling, because I rather stunned him with my polite but blunt comments about my Dell experience.  He apologized, and then said he needed to explain the terms of my warranty to me, fine, it was good to get clarification on whether the one year warranty started again at zero with the new laptop, which it did.  But then he totally turned the conversation into a sales call trying to get me to purchase five-year accident insurance for the laptop, five years for the price of one, isn't Dell great for making me this offer?  That sound you all surely heard just now, the one that sounded like tectonic plates moving?  That was my teeth grinding.  I said no nicely once but when he persisted I told him that I frankly resented that this had become a sales call and I would certainly call him if we have any further problems and good day to you sir.  RAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!
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