Brunch -

to be finished - eek, gettin' behind

Snack - Need Something to Get Obsessed With?

I recently got a package of Buckyballs. They're my new obsession.

One set of these thingies includes 216 5mm magnets that you can stick together in pretty much infinite ways. They can be a bit frustrating when they refuse to snap together in the proper formation, but they're pretty much extremely fun. I took that there pic of a chain of 'em; the surface they're on is not at all photogenic - I might end up re-taking the photo with a better-hued backdrop - but their natural shininess made for some good "buckyball-keh" in the background!

Lunch - Halloween Hangover?

Are you feeling a bit ill from the quantity of sugar-laden sweets you consumed in the past couple of days? Have no fear. Here are some games to distract you.

The first, Record Tripping, is a visually prettyful but difficult adventure in which you use your mouse wheel to scratch a record (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) backward or forward, thus turning a combination lock or blowing a seed toward its destination flowerpot. Warning: I played this game with my lappy-top's touch pad, and it didn't work exceptionally well. You might do better with a regular old mouse scrollerball.

Prefer an easier, more casual game? Try Ballies, an avoider game where you try to touch similarly hued spheres and stay away from those those of a different chroma. With endearing big-eyed balls and cute (if not repetitive) music, it's a mildly addictive play.

Now you're more distracted, right? Oh, I guess I shouldn't have reminded you. Sorry ...