A big dog and a little dog are having a barking war either downstairs or next door. I've put my ear to the wall and the floor and I can't decide where it's coming from so I don't know whether to pound on the wall or stomp on the floor. A better idea would be to decide not to be bothered by it. Dogs bark. I'm not trying to sleep... yet.

People knock the city government beat -- say how boring it must be -- but I'll admit I am pretty enraptured for the duration of any given meeting. Granted, there gets to be a point in most meetings where you can feel the issue has dragged on far longer than necessary and now it's time that everyone should be home. But still. I admire city staff so much -- they put up with a ton of crap for things that are primarily not their fault. They get overworked and underpaid because their salary is another thing subject to public scrutiny. Meanwhile, the council is constantly adding to the work they already have.

The council itself is also a fun little unit, though. It takes all six of those people to disagree with each other just so to come up with the result they do each week.

Freaking dogs. They shut up for a while and then one of them barks and then they're both going at it again. Where are their owners at 11:30 at night that they're not both hearing this and annoyed by it?