Today was the (unannounced) final test of our building's new fire alarm system. They tested every heat/smoke detector in all 24 apartments, plus the 12 pull stations, one by one. Fire alarm going off for a few seconds every 1-2 minutes for three and a half hours. 84 times (give or take).

After this water torture was over I found this note pushed out from 'underthebed,' which is where the cats hide in any circumstance under which a dog would be trying to save my life.

So, I'm down one cat and I don't know how I'll cope without the extra help around the house. She left a forwarding address for the food (underthebed), but at some point we're both going to realize the litter box is outfrom underthebed, and we have a problem.

I really feel for the victims and families of The Station nightclub fire, but the resulting rush to write new fire code that looks like it's effective has put companies and landlords out of business unnecessarily, and worse, put a klaxon in my bedroom. Facing my bed. Ya know, the darn thing was plenty loud when it was out in the hall. Oh, there's still one there too.

Thank you for tolerating or ignoring my little rant.