The Chronicle’s Henry Shulman reports that Giants shortstop Rich Aurelia will be appearing on an upcoming episode of ‘General Hospital’ as a juror. He doesn’t have any spoken lines.

MousePlanet’s Disneyland Resort update includes this lovely photo, taken by Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix, of the progress being made on painting Space Mountain white.

With Caltrain down on the weekends and no other public transit accomodations made, the Chronicle reports a big jam is possible for the Big Game tomorrow.

Traffic jams are as much a tradition as tailgating and heckling opposing fans when Cal and Stanford meet for their annual football rivalry. But traffic at the 106th Big Game could cause it to be remembered as the Big Backup.

Virtually no public transit service will be available to Stanford Stadium, the site of Saturday’s game — and that could make for major traffic tie-ups before and after the game.

The 70,000-plus fans expected to attend will have to make their way to the stadium without Caltrain, which won’t be operating, or any special-event transit designed to haul huge crowds. Peninsula transit officials said they just couldn’t afford special service to the game.

I’ll be staying home tomorrow, that’s for sure.

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened had I not accepted the job offer that resulted in our moving from SoCal to NoCal. The odds are that I’d still be working for Davidson/CendantSoft/Havas Interactive/Vivendi Universal Games or whatever they’re called today; would still be making an even more ridiculously low wage (unless the new, new, new owners forced a layoff or a wage review); and would still be living in an apartment. We’d still be going to Disneyland every Sunday and I expect I’d be much more involved with MousePlanet content-wise. Jennifer would be closer to her family. We would not have adopted Linus, but might have found another kitten.

We would not be scalp-deep in debt.

On the other hand, we would not be homeowners, and I really do like it here in the Bay Area.

Do I regret it? If I had to answer yes or no, I’d say no. If I could give a percentage, I’d say I’m about 65% satisfied. This would be improved with a change in employment, I think.

United States Patent 5,443,036 describes a

method for inducing cats to exercise consists of directing a beam of invisible light produced by a hand-held laser apparatus onto the floor or wall or other opaque surface in the vicinity of the cat, then moving the laser so as to cause the bright pattern of light to move in an irregular way fascinating to cats, and to any other animal with a chase instinct.

Does that mean I have to pay license fees when I play with Linus with the laser level?