I make no secret of the fact that because he sings songs about lonely mad scientists, cyborgs, robot mining colonies, and lovesick giant squids with self esteem problems, Jonathan Coulton is my favorite singer. I even named my NaNoWriMo 2009 novel Code Monkey! in honor of one of my favorite Jonathan Coulton songs (and yes, I will be finishing up that novel soon).

So seeing Jonathan Coulton perform live on Friday night was a treat. He puts on a great show, and Jennifer and I had a real blast. Of course, this was the second year we’ve seen him live, and I’m hoping we can make it an annual tradition (assuming he comes to San Francisco each January). We got to sit in the front row, have the house dinner, and he even remarked on something that Jennifer said, which was fun. The picture above is the only picture I took of him at the concert, and even though I took it with my old cell phone, I think it looks pretty good.

Yesterday, since we were in San Francisco anyway (we’d stayed the night in a hotel — who wants to drive back to Sacramento at midnight after a concert?), we decided to take advantage of our zoo membership and spend a few hours there. Unfortunately we were worn out at one o’clock or so, and left without even seeing the baby gorilla.

I did take a few pictures at the zoo. For your edification, here they are. Click on any of them to embiggen.

This is an Andean black bear. It’s eating shrubbery.

This, of course, is a grizzly bear in the new Grizzly Corner habitat. Grizzly bears are, of course, one of the meanest critters on earth. This picture looks a little blurred because I took it through the glass surrounding the habitat.

Of course, for sheer cantankerousness and general meanness, you can’t beat the polar bear, who’ll eat you just for looking at him funny (or perhaps just being near him). I decided to take this picture of him lounging around like a cat, paw pads available for all the world to see. Doesn’t he look cuddly?

Speaking of cats, here’s an inelegant picture of a tiger’s rear end.

Here’s a picture of a river otter. I think river otters are awesome, and plan to come back as one in my next life. They just seem to have a blast. Plus, I’m rather pleased with how this picture came out.

I like the fact that there are prairie dogs at the zoo. This one was hanging out in front of his hole, barking like mad. I never figured out why, despite extensive questioning.

And the obligatory penguin post. I like penguins and not just because they’re the mascot of my favorite operating system. And I really like the way this picture turned out. I currently have this one set as my desktop wallpaper.

Today was a day of relaxation and kicking back. Jennifer started baking while I was at church, and she’s been baking ever since, meaning that the house now smells absolutely lovely (for Jennifer, baking is relaxing and kicking back). But it’s Sunday, and tomorrow I go back to work.

Already I’m feeling the post-weekend blues.