It's finals week at school, and I'm already done. It's like getting an extra week of spring break. I think I did good on my final, it was harder than the midterm, which surprised me, but I had a solid A- going in, so I don't have much to worry about.

I got in a quick 15-minute run this morning. It was nice, running on such a beautiful day, and all the birds seemed to be out. I saw a pair of bluejays and I think a starling (I don't even know what a starling looks like, but when I see a little songbird I can't identify, I always seem to decide it must be a starling, guess I just like the word). I would've run more, but I was tired, my legs were still a bit sore and stiff from Sunday, and I had an appointment to give blood this afternoon and didn't want to get dehydrated.

So as I said, I gave blood today, which meant I took the day off work. Took about two hours, since I was giving plasma and platelets, not whole blood. I think the screening nurse was new, she didn't really seem to know what she was doing. When I told her I had a tetanus shot, that really threw her off. But I got in and got my blood ran through the machine and all, and got a donut and juice and a tee-shirt, and a coupon for a pint of ice cream from Baskin-Robbins, which was nice. And I got that nice warm feeling knowing I did my part to contribute to the blood supply that made my Dad's last years a little easier and more fulfilling.

On the stock market front, I bought Harris Interactive and some more Fannie Mae today. I haven't got the price I paid yet, but I know Fannie Mae was up, Harris down. I also got a bit more of The Limited via reinvested dividends. It troubles me that the market is up with war looking inevitable. Though really it just shows the stupidity of the market movers, fund managers and their ilk. Pricing the market down because there might be a war, then pricing it up because the uncertainty is gone. Uncertainty is a good thing, it's what makes profitable situations in the market possible. War, terrorism, our tarnished international reputation, these are bad things. Oil prices are stabilizing, yes, but when Iraq is liberated and we discover we don't know what to do next, and when our luck runs out in Afghanistan and the weak, sectarian government collapses, maybe taking Pakistan and their bomb with it, is that good for the market? I think the war will be over in less than two week (I was going to say less than 10 days, but I'll give myself some leeway). I also seem to think our fatalities from enemy attacks will be less than the number of soldiers we have already lost in this most recent military build-up in Black Hawk helicopter crashes alone (what the hell is going on there? They grounded them for awhile, did nothing, and are now letting them kill more and more of our soldiers), though I could easily see myself being wrong there. I think six months down the line is when this war is going to start looking more and more unwise. But hey, maybe I'll be wrong, wouldn't be the first time. I guess since this is going to happen whatever my opinion is, that's the best I can hope for now.