Sunday, November 29, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
Excuses
Here are the reasons why I won't be posting for the next week and a half:
Monday: Inventory day. With Internal Auditors. Two of them. Woo! Then bell practice. I anticipate I'll be crabby.
Tuesday: Day One. I fully expect that I'll get nothing done on Monday which will result in my staying at work on Tuesday night until a most unreasonable hour. I anticipate I'll be crabby again.
Wednesday: Day Two. Really, I might as well bring a sleeping bag on Tuesday since I'll have to be back at work at a most unreasonable hour on Wednesday morning. This is also the day of our employee Christmas luncheon. I might hurt Santa, so I'll try to steer clear of his jollity. I plan to bake the majority of the cookies for our party Wednesday night. I anticipate I'll be crabby and will probably burn myself. More than once.
Thursday: Day Three. Things should be calming down at work by now. We'll be going to the comedy club to see Mitch Fatel. This should improve my crabby mood by quite a bit. I hope. (So does Adam, I'm sure.)
Friday: Day Four. If things aren't better at work by now, it's going to be a rough month. We're supposed to be having a UWO Accounting get-together for dinner, but I still haven't heard where we plan to go. Hopefully they figure it out.
Saturday: Party Day. Will spend the morning prepping and putting up the tree, the afternoon cooking and setting up the tables. Will spend the evening either cursing humanity or feeling fulfilled. Possibly both. Will then crash.
Monday: Inventory day. With Internal Auditors. Two of them. Woo! Then bell practice. I anticipate I'll be crabby.
Tuesday: Day One. I fully expect that I'll get nothing done on Monday which will result in my staying at work on Tuesday night until a most unreasonable hour. I anticipate I'll be crabby again.
Wednesday: Day Two. Really, I might as well bring a sleeping bag on Tuesday since I'll have to be back at work at a most unreasonable hour on Wednesday morning. This is also the day of our employee Christmas luncheon. I might hurt Santa, so I'll try to steer clear of his jollity. I plan to bake the majority of the cookies for our party Wednesday night. I anticipate I'll be crabby and will probably burn myself. More than once.
Thursday: Day Three. Things should be calming down at work by now. We'll be going to the comedy club to see Mitch Fatel. This should improve my crabby mood by quite a bit. I hope. (So does Adam, I'm sure.)
Friday: Day Four. If things aren't better at work by now, it's going to be a rough month. We're supposed to be having a UWO Accounting get-together for dinner, but I still haven't heard where we plan to go. Hopefully they figure it out.
Saturday: Party Day. Will spend the morning prepping and putting up the tree, the afternoon cooking and setting up the tables. Will spend the evening either cursing humanity or feeling fulfilled. Possibly both. Will then crash.
Party Preview
Keep in mind that this year is the last effort for a successful Christmas party. Response thus far has been more encouraging than last year's, but still pretty slow. We'll see how things end up.
With how ridiculously busy this coming week will be (more on that in a bit), I can say I'm not putting as much effort into this party as I did the previous two. But that's not to say I'm totally slacking and just putting out trays of crap we bought at Sam's Club. (That did cross my mind as a possibility though.) Nope, still plan on baking and cooking. Here's what's on the menu:
Hot Food:
Apple, Cheddar, and Turkey Meatballs
Seafood Dip
Chili (my preferred kind - with meat and beans, no noodles)
Chicken Wonton Stars
Spicy Sausage Wonton Stars
Spinach-Artichoke Dip
Baked Potato Bites
Cold Food:
BLT Stuffed Tomatoes
Cheese & Sausage Tray
Fruit Tray
Veggie Tray
Chex Mix
Sweets:
Chocolate Chex Caramel Crunch
Chocolate Mint Bars
M&M Cookies
Various Pre-Fab cookies (I think there are some macadamia nut, snickerdoodles. Don't remember. I suppose I could go downstairs and look but I'm too lazy to do that right now.)
We also have the hot pot for making hot chocolate, tea. We went out and got a variety pack of K-Cups for our new Keurig coffee maker as well. Fun stuff.
So yeah, please come to our party next Saturday.
With how ridiculously busy this coming week will be (more on that in a bit), I can say I'm not putting as much effort into this party as I did the previous two. But that's not to say I'm totally slacking and just putting out trays of crap we bought at Sam's Club. (That did cross my mind as a possibility though.) Nope, still plan on baking and cooking. Here's what's on the menu:
Hot Food:
Apple, Cheddar, and Turkey Meatballs
Seafood Dip
Chili (my preferred kind - with meat and beans, no noodles)
Chicken Wonton Stars
Spicy Sausage Wonton Stars
Spinach-Artichoke Dip
Baked Potato Bites
Cold Food:
BLT Stuffed Tomatoes
Cheese & Sausage Tray
Fruit Tray
Veggie Tray
Chex Mix
Sweets:
Chocolate Chex Caramel Crunch
Chocolate Mint Bars
M&M Cookies
Various Pre-Fab cookies (I think there are some macadamia nut, snickerdoodles. Don't remember. I suppose I could go downstairs and look but I'm too lazy to do that right now.)
We also have the hot pot for making hot chocolate, tea. We went out and got a variety pack of K-Cups for our new Keurig coffee maker as well. Fun stuff.
So yeah, please come to our party next Saturday.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Updated NYC Plans
We went ahead and re-booked our trip to NYC next May. We had my dad on the phone while we looked for flights and hotels. We both booked the same thing so we’ll carpool to and from Milwaukee and will be staying at the same hotel. This will ensure we’re not stuck somewhere completely different from everyone else. We’re flying out on Monday and back on Wednesday, but hopefully there will be time to take in some of the sights and see that play. I’m not budging on that. Adam doesn’t want to go, but Catherine expressed interest and I told Dad and Cheryl about it too. Maybe even will be able to convince my mom, depending on her schedule.
SNL = sadly not laughing
Remember my Youtube post? (and really, how could you not, it was there at the top for like two weeks…) Oh, SNL, you sank to a new low this past week. January Jones was the host (yeah, me too. Who? Is it wrong that I thought she was black until I saw the promo spots?) She was just terrible. It was painfully obvious that she wasn’t used to giving live performances and the skits were so dumb. Grace Kelly farting? Lesbian reporter hitting on a DQ employee after a heist? Ugh. Once again, too much Kristin Wiig. Seriously. Give the lady a week off. Sadly, the best thing during the whole show was when the Black Eyed Peas beat up Kathie Lee in the opening sketch and that was in the first 15 minutes. This had better be the low point because if it gets much worse no one is going to watch anymore. I have hope – Joseph Gordon-Levitt is up this week and I like him.
Screening Room
Watched a few movies lately. With all my Oscar movies out of the queue, we’re getting older movies from Blockbuster. Recent titles include:
Meet Bill (eh)
The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything (Yes, it’s a Veggie Tales movie. I realize I’m about 20 years over the suggested age. I still think it was hilarious. Best line ever: The pirates are on an island and they have to get across a pretty vast part of ocean to get between two rocks (that conceal the secret cove) before they close. The tomato dude says, “I don’t think it’s possible, and this is coming from a guy who just swam (lots of) miles with no hands or legs.” Bwahahaha. Ok, so I guess you had to be there…)
The Ugly Truth (too many easy jokes, but not horrible)
The Anniversary Party (Wonderful - talk about jam-packed star power!)
We've got Hamlet 2 currently sitting on the end table to be watched.
Meet Bill (eh)
The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything (Yes, it’s a Veggie Tales movie. I realize I’m about 20 years over the suggested age. I still think it was hilarious. Best line ever: The pirates are on an island and they have to get across a pretty vast part of ocean to get between two rocks (that conceal the secret cove) before they close. The tomato dude says, “I don’t think it’s possible, and this is coming from a guy who just swam (lots of) miles with no hands or legs.” Bwahahaha. Ok, so I guess you had to be there…)
The Ugly Truth (too many easy jokes, but not horrible)
The Anniversary Party (Wonderful - talk about jam-packed star power!)
We've got Hamlet 2 currently sitting on the end table to be watched.
There's a Ringing in my Ears
Interesting developments in the bell choir these past few weeks. Nancy had been getting increasingly moody. As in two weeks ago, we waited downstairs as we usually do until after 6:30 and she didn’t show up. We finally decided to go on up and see if she was already upstairs. Lo and behold, she was there going through music. She proceeded to give a speech about how we’d have to stay late because we were starting late. We were all speechless. Last week we went upstairs as soon as we got there to avoid another awkward start. This past Monday she announced she had good news and bad news. The bad news – we lost one of the new ladies – Ms. Giggly. I thought about asking if that was the good news too, but refrained. Heh. The good news was Joan would be ringing with us for Christmas. This puts us one ringer down, but Nancy seemed in a MUCH better mood so hopefully we can get back to normal. It’s been a rough season so far. We’ll be ringing for the first time this coming Sunday.
In a particularly weird moment on Monday, Nancy stopped us when she thought something sounded off. When I pointed out that one of the ladies was ringing D instead of D flat she said, "thank you, handbell police." I was a little taken aback at first. I know I can come across as being a snobby know-it-all, but I was honestly just trying to save everyone time. I usually keep most of my comments to myself. She apologized, said it wasn't meant to come out that way, but still. Ouch. Oh well. Thick skin is needed I guess.
In a particularly weird moment on Monday, Nancy stopped us when she thought something sounded off. When I pointed out that one of the ladies was ringing D instead of D flat she said, "thank you, handbell police." I was a little taken aback at first. I know I can come across as being a snobby know-it-all, but I was honestly just trying to save everyone time. I usually keep most of my comments to myself. She apologized, said it wasn't meant to come out that way, but still. Ouch. Oh well. Thick skin is needed I guess.
Turning Japanese
(I have like twenty other entries I'm behind on and I'll get to them this weekend. I hope. I blame my blogging hiatus on the fact that Adam upgraded my computer to Windows 7 last weekend and I'm still recovering.
We now return you to the original blog entry...)
Adam’s been on a major sushi kick lately. With me not being a fan of fish, be they raw or cooked, he’s been on his own for the most part. Last night as his dinner out for the month he choose Katsu Ya, a Japanese restaurant in downtown Appleton. I agreed to it because I looked at their menu beforehand and saw they had these Yakiniku dinners where you grilled your own meat at your table. Sounded fun (and wasn’t raw fish) so I figured I could deal with it.
He made reservations and after the cats were fed we headed up. (On a side note, traffic at 5pm on the highway is nuts. I’m so glad I rarely have occasion to try and navigate it.) We found a parking spot right in front of the restaurant. We headed inside, confused the hostess as to where we wanted to sit, figured it all out, and made our way back to the sushi area. The décor of the place is neat. The tables all have these huge red fans as their back. Adam said they were mighty comfortable as he had one of the ribs of the fan on his back giving him a massage of sorts.
I was immediately aware of the fact that there was no flatware on the table. Napkins, yes. Cute little faux-wood bowls, yes. Chopsticks, yes. That’s all folks. I had completely forgotten that I’d probably have to eat without the help of a fork. Now, chopsticks and me, we don’t have a good relationship. I’ve tried to nail down the technique before, but apparently since I hold pens “wrong” when I write I’ll forever be behind on the learning curve for chopsticks.
Adam ordered an appetizer made of cucumber, salmon, crab, cream cheese, and fish eggs. I laughed when he asked if I wanted to try it. He said it was delicious and I’m sure it was. I just prefer…different things than he does. He looked through their extensive sushi menu, decided on his order, and we got it all to our server. My “grill your own” came with soup – I choose their house soup rather than Miso (hello fish base!) The waitress said it was beef-based, but it had a strange overtone of something else I couldn’t quite identify. It wasn’t bad though. Had plenty of green onions floating in it.
The middle of the table was removed, exposing the gas grill mechanism. The grate was inserted, flames ignited, grill oiled, and I was off. I got the chicken (I know, shocking), which was marinated in some soy/sesame concoction. The grill cooked kind of unevenly so I had to move things around to get everything cooked through. It was good. It came with rice and some sort of dipping sauce as well. Not sure what was in the sauce, but it had some kick.
Now, back to the chopstick dilemma. At first I tried to hold them correctly and pinch the food or whatever. It just wasn’t working and resulted in Adam laughing at me a lot. But I pressed on, being mostly successful in not getting food all down the front of my shirt. The rice was another challenge. Luckily it’s sticky rice so it’s not like I had to eat it one grain at a time. I used my soup spoon for a bite or two which I realize was totally classless. In the end, I made it through the meal with just a slight case of carpal tunnel from clasping those two wooden sticks so hard in my fingers. Adam tells me I should use some skewers and home and practice. I say the next time we go to a Japanese restaurant I’ll hide a fork in my purse.
When we were done eating and emerged from the darkness of the bar into the damp darkness of the street we discovered we still had 55 minutes left on the parking meter. Since Katsu Ya is two doors down from Déjà Vu, and it wasn’t yet 8 so the Monkey Bar wasn’t open, we figured it wouldn’t be too naughty to go sit and have a martini before heading back home. Gotta live a little, right? We were one of four couples in the bar and, as fate would have it, one of the other couples included one of my co-workers. We chatted for a little bit as they were on their way out. We had also chosen seats that resulted in me having to look at a painting of (tastefully) naked people every time I looked at Adam. Very distracting.
Adam was quite taken by their bar snack mix so he looked it up online and found that it was sold at Aldi. So guess where we stopped on the way home. It’s been years since I’ve been to Aldi. We found the snack mix pretty quickly and then browsed through the rest of the store. Adam found quite the deal on the La Brea bread we like. He proceeded to buy 6 packages, which I think might have been overkill, but they’re frozen and will last awhile. We finally made it back home, unloaded, and watched some DVR shows. We’re falling behind again this week – we’ve been busy doing other stuff.
So, in summary: I suck at eating with chopsticks, the sushi place wasn’t that bad (and didn’t smell), there’s nothing wrong with boozing it up on a weeknight, and I should maybe think about shopping for some stuff at Aldi.
We now return you to the original blog entry...)
Adam’s been on a major sushi kick lately. With me not being a fan of fish, be they raw or cooked, he’s been on his own for the most part. Last night as his dinner out for the month he choose Katsu Ya, a Japanese restaurant in downtown Appleton. I agreed to it because I looked at their menu beforehand and saw they had these Yakiniku dinners where you grilled your own meat at your table. Sounded fun (and wasn’t raw fish) so I figured I could deal with it.
He made reservations and after the cats were fed we headed up. (On a side note, traffic at 5pm on the highway is nuts. I’m so glad I rarely have occasion to try and navigate it.) We found a parking spot right in front of the restaurant. We headed inside, confused the hostess as to where we wanted to sit, figured it all out, and made our way back to the sushi area. The décor of the place is neat. The tables all have these huge red fans as their back. Adam said they were mighty comfortable as he had one of the ribs of the fan on his back giving him a massage of sorts.
I was immediately aware of the fact that there was no flatware on the table. Napkins, yes. Cute little faux-wood bowls, yes. Chopsticks, yes. That’s all folks. I had completely forgotten that I’d probably have to eat without the help of a fork. Now, chopsticks and me, we don’t have a good relationship. I’ve tried to nail down the technique before, but apparently since I hold pens “wrong” when I write I’ll forever be behind on the learning curve for chopsticks.
Adam ordered an appetizer made of cucumber, salmon, crab, cream cheese, and fish eggs. I laughed when he asked if I wanted to try it. He said it was delicious and I’m sure it was. I just prefer…different things than he does. He looked through their extensive sushi menu, decided on his order, and we got it all to our server. My “grill your own” came with soup – I choose their house soup rather than Miso (hello fish base!) The waitress said it was beef-based, but it had a strange overtone of something else I couldn’t quite identify. It wasn’t bad though. Had plenty of green onions floating in it.
The middle of the table was removed, exposing the gas grill mechanism. The grate was inserted, flames ignited, grill oiled, and I was off. I got the chicken (I know, shocking), which was marinated in some soy/sesame concoction. The grill cooked kind of unevenly so I had to move things around to get everything cooked through. It was good. It came with rice and some sort of dipping sauce as well. Not sure what was in the sauce, but it had some kick.
Now, back to the chopstick dilemma. At first I tried to hold them correctly and pinch the food or whatever. It just wasn’t working and resulted in Adam laughing at me a lot. But I pressed on, being mostly successful in not getting food all down the front of my shirt. The rice was another challenge. Luckily it’s sticky rice so it’s not like I had to eat it one grain at a time. I used my soup spoon for a bite or two which I realize was totally classless. In the end, I made it through the meal with just a slight case of carpal tunnel from clasping those two wooden sticks so hard in my fingers. Adam tells me I should use some skewers and home and practice. I say the next time we go to a Japanese restaurant I’ll hide a fork in my purse.
When we were done eating and emerged from the darkness of the bar into the damp darkness of the street we discovered we still had 55 minutes left on the parking meter. Since Katsu Ya is two doors down from Déjà Vu, and it wasn’t yet 8 so the Monkey Bar wasn’t open, we figured it wouldn’t be too naughty to go sit and have a martini before heading back home. Gotta live a little, right? We were one of four couples in the bar and, as fate would have it, one of the other couples included one of my co-workers. We chatted for a little bit as they were on their way out. We had also chosen seats that resulted in me having to look at a painting of (tastefully) naked people every time I looked at Adam. Very distracting.
Adam was quite taken by their bar snack mix so he looked it up online and found that it was sold at Aldi. So guess where we stopped on the way home. It’s been years since I’ve been to Aldi. We found the snack mix pretty quickly and then browsed through the rest of the store. Adam found quite the deal on the La Brea bread we like. He proceeded to buy 6 packages, which I think might have been overkill, but they’re frozen and will last awhile. We finally made it back home, unloaded, and watched some DVR shows. We’re falling behind again this week – we’ve been busy doing other stuff.
So, in summary: I suck at eating with chopsticks, the sushi place wasn’t that bad (and didn’t smell), there’s nothing wrong with boozing it up on a weeknight, and I should maybe think about shopping for some stuff at Aldi.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Burning Questions, YouTube Edition
1) Why does this season of SNL suck so much? Seriously. Not one of the hosts so far has hit it out of the park (or even been much good, actually. Worst - Megan Fox. Best - Ryan Reynolds.) Also, too much Kristen Wiig, not enough Andy Samburg. Remember my idea about having Justin Timberlake appear in every episode? Maybe not such a bad idea...
2) How did David Archuleta not win American Idol Season 7? I admit, I didn't really watch it and I've only voted once - for Clay in Season 2 - but really? Have you heard him sing?
(PS - his Christmas album just came out. The tracks I've listened to so far are wonderful. *swoon*)
3) This stupid song, "Replay" has been, excuse the pun, replaying in my head continuously over the past few days. So annoying...
Make it stop! (Ok, so that really wasn't a question, but I needed to get it out there...)
I feel better now. It's been a long week.
2) How did David Archuleta not win American Idol Season 7? I admit, I didn't really watch it and I've only voted once - for Clay in Season 2 - but really? Have you heard him sing?
(PS - his Christmas album just came out. The tracks I've listened to so far are wonderful. *swoon*)
3) This stupid song, "Replay" has been, excuse the pun, replaying in my head continuously over the past few days. So annoying...
Make it stop! (Ok, so that really wasn't a question, but I needed to get it out there...)
I feel better now. It's been a long week.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Just Pictures
Carly explores the floor:
Hey, she might actually be a cat - she shows interest in a cat toy!
Ted, hard at work in Adam's new office chair:
JC prefers browsing the bookshelves
Or catching a "catnap":
Carly gets in on that from time to time as well:
And finally, Happy Halloween from Carly a day late, but just as cute:
Hey, she might actually be a cat - she shows interest in a cat toy!
Ted, hard at work in Adam's new office chair:
JC prefers browsing the bookshelves
Or catching a "catnap":
Carly gets in on that from time to time as well:
And finally, Happy Halloween from Carly a day late, but just as cute:
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Water Works
Here's what we had for dinner last night:
Asian Burgers. Link is to the entry on my cooking blog.
Not pictured: Adam, laying on the floor with a spoon and a flashlight trying to figure out why our dishwasher suddenly started leaking water all over the floor. Which I discovered after feeding the cats, rinsing off the fork in the kitchen sink, and finding I was standing in a puddle.
Seriously, home ownership? Never boring. Also, rarely cheap.
It looks as though perhaps he fixed the problem (gasket something or other. I won't pretend I know anything about it.) We'll see. I did the dishes by hand for the first time since we moved into our apartment back in 2005. It didn't totally suck, but I wouldn't want to do it every day. Here's to hoping the dishwasher is on my side. We'll find out tomorrow when we run it with dishes in it again!
Asian Burgers. Link is to the entry on my cooking blog.
Not pictured: Adam, laying on the floor with a spoon and a flashlight trying to figure out why our dishwasher suddenly started leaking water all over the floor. Which I discovered after feeding the cats, rinsing off the fork in the kitchen sink, and finding I was standing in a puddle.
Seriously, home ownership? Never boring. Also, rarely cheap.
It looks as though perhaps he fixed the problem (gasket something or other. I won't pretend I know anything about it.) We'll see. I did the dishes by hand for the first time since we moved into our apartment back in 2005. It didn't totally suck, but I wouldn't want to do it every day. Here's to hoping the dishwasher is on my side. We'll find out tomorrow when we run it with dishes in it again!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Fulfilling my Life's Dream...
I've found the only thing I want to do when I'm in New York next May. Forget the Statue of Liberty and Central Park. I'm going to go see this.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Photographic Memory #12 - Ode to SC
It's been so rainy and dreary here lately, I feel like we need to see some good weather and sunshine. So, I give you South Carolina - home of sun and the ocean (and hurricanes and cheating politicians and outspoken hecklers of the president. But I digress...)
Here I am back in 1999, standing in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time:
I was visiting Evan between my junior and senior year of high school. I attended a science class of some sort with Jodi and distinctly remember thinking "if this is what college is like, it'll be a breeze." (Ha. It was the first day, which pretty much included handing out a syllabus.)
I was back less than a year later with the rest of the family to celebrate Evan's graduation from USC.
I stood in the ocean again:
Explored my Confederate side:
And posed for a really bad picture at the airport:
Here I am back in 1999, standing in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time:
I was visiting Evan between my junior and senior year of high school. I attended a science class of some sort with Jodi and distinctly remember thinking "if this is what college is like, it'll be a breeze." (Ha. It was the first day, which pretty much included handing out a syllabus.)
I was back less than a year later with the rest of the family to celebrate Evan's graduation from USC.
I stood in the ocean again:
Explored my Confederate side:
And posed for a really bad picture at the airport:
Saturday, October 24, 2009
a long post about pretty much nothing
I seriously have no idea where the time has been going these past few weeks. I have a feeling that TV is eating up a lot of my time again. I know I should kick a few of the shows off the DVR, but it will be hard deciding which one(s.)
Bells are pretty much the same. We skipped our first scheduled ringing because we 1) weren’t ready 2) one of our members had emergency gall bladder surgery. So our first time will be November 1st. The new ladies are a mixed bag. Giggly lady is still giggly, much to the frustration and annoyance of most everyone else in the group. The other is really catching on quickly and doing quite well. You win some, you lose some.
The second IMA meeting was last Tuesday. Fairly good response by students. The breakfast meeting this coming week is also getting pretty good response. That one I’m definitely looking forward to. Listening to a good fraud story is always a fun way to spend a morning. It looks like I’ll miss our May meeting due to Catherine’s graduation, so I've already started feeling things out for a temporary replacement.
Speaking of Catherine’s graduation, that whole rescheduling thing really threw a monkey-wrench in our plans. That’s what we get for trying to plan ahead. Also, the airfare we paid is ridiculously overpriced compared to what the same flight is going for today. Mad about that. We had dinner with Dad and Cheryl last weekend to talk it out a little with them. We plan to scrap the idea of renting a house. For a few reasons, really. 1) It’s probably getting too late to get a decent one. 2) We only plan on staying 2 or 3 nights. 3) Bab(ies) crying? No thanks. (sorry Evan/Jodi/Caroline) Granted, we still need to find out what everyone else plans to do and where we’ll need to be close to before we confirm anything else. Fool me once… Dad and Cheryl are on their way to Seattle today so hopefully that subject will come up while they're out there. Adam was a hard one to convince, but I think he's on board with going now. I bribed him with a trip to wherever HE wanted to go. Looks like he's picked Baltimore/DC, but we'll see how that turns out.
Adam has been working these last few Saturdays which has shifted his schedule during the week around a little. Starting November 1, he’ll be working from home. This has been a long time coming and I think he’s looking forward to it. From what I recall it’s a 6-month rotational thing. Lucky him – he gets the 6-months with snow and crappy weather to avoid the commute. I don’t think I’d like working from home myself. Too many distractions. And kitties. I’d be tempted to nap with the cats all day long. Adam has set up his desk in the opposite corner from the big desk in the office. I think he plans to close the door so the cats leave him alone. This will crush Connor, who just loves the big blue chair in there. I guess we’ll all learn to deal with the change. I told him, hey, now he can have lunch ready for me every day! He just laughed at me. I get no respect.
We pulled the trigger and went ahead with our Christmas party plans. Date is December 5th, a Saturday, at 3pm. Hopefully the early date will help with weather and conflicts. I’m working on the menu but you can bet it will be nowhere as involved as last year’s was. Just not worth it. And seriously, if we get crappy attendance again I’m done. I love my Dad and Cheryl and Adam’s parents, but if we want to have them over we can invite them anytime and not have to put so much time and effort into it. So there – fair warning.
In kitty news, well, not much is going on. Carly’s still doing well with the litter boxes. Just one major mistake and small oops since we took the plastic back away. Luckily neither mess was on the good carpet, just on the remnants we put underneath the boxes. She’s still as crabby as ever though. I think that’s the way it’s going to be. She hasn’t been so bad during the night lately – usually once around 1 and then again around 3:30. Her new thing is jumping up onto my shoulders when I pick her up so my back and shoulders are covered in scratches from when she freaks out and jumps off. It’s awesome.
Ted is obsessed with being petted now. It’s a monster of my own creation. If I hadn’t trapped him in the cat room and got him into “pet me” mode, we’d still be in “run away” mode. Grrr. It’s a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I’m glad he’s more open to human contact. On the other, it’s TOTALLY ANNOYING. He sits in the hallway/kitchen/living room and howls a lot. A lot more than he used to, that’s for sure. Adam thinks it’s because he wants to be petted. I say, if he wants to be petted he can come over by me and I’ll pet him. Unfortunately Ted sees it differently and still only wants to be petted in the cat room or office when I’m sitting on the floor. Picky, picky.
Connor seems to be regressing as Ted is progressing. It’s a rare thing that he’ll let me pet him. Usually most of my contact with him is him rubbing on my legs. He’s enjoying the fact that we finally relented and turned the heat on. He loves hanging out next to the heat vents. Smart kitty. Except that he rubs his head of them and closes them, thereby annoying Adam. Oh, and negating the whole heat thing.
JC. He’s crazy. He’s been very cuddly at night lately, but has the tendency to steal covers. He doesn’t quite know what to make of all the leaves falling the yard, but sure has a good time chasing them. There also seem to be a plethora of bugs in the house these days to keep his hunting skills in tune.
That's all for now. Hope to be back with another photographic memory soon.
Bells are pretty much the same. We skipped our first scheduled ringing because we 1) weren’t ready 2) one of our members had emergency gall bladder surgery. So our first time will be November 1st. The new ladies are a mixed bag. Giggly lady is still giggly, much to the frustration and annoyance of most everyone else in the group. The other is really catching on quickly and doing quite well. You win some, you lose some.
The second IMA meeting was last Tuesday. Fairly good response by students. The breakfast meeting this coming week is also getting pretty good response. That one I’m definitely looking forward to. Listening to a good fraud story is always a fun way to spend a morning. It looks like I’ll miss our May meeting due to Catherine’s graduation, so I've already started feeling things out for a temporary replacement.
Speaking of Catherine’s graduation, that whole rescheduling thing really threw a monkey-wrench in our plans. That’s what we get for trying to plan ahead. Also, the airfare we paid is ridiculously overpriced compared to what the same flight is going for today. Mad about that. We had dinner with Dad and Cheryl last weekend to talk it out a little with them. We plan to scrap the idea of renting a house. For a few reasons, really. 1) It’s probably getting too late to get a decent one. 2) We only plan on staying 2 or 3 nights. 3) Bab(ies) crying? No thanks. (sorry Evan/Jodi/Caroline) Granted, we still need to find out what everyone else plans to do and where we’ll need to be close to before we confirm anything else. Fool me once… Dad and Cheryl are on their way to Seattle today so hopefully that subject will come up while they're out there. Adam was a hard one to convince, but I think he's on board with going now. I bribed him with a trip to wherever HE wanted to go. Looks like he's picked Baltimore/DC, but we'll see how that turns out.
Adam has been working these last few Saturdays which has shifted his schedule during the week around a little. Starting November 1, he’ll be working from home. This has been a long time coming and I think he’s looking forward to it. From what I recall it’s a 6-month rotational thing. Lucky him – he gets the 6-months with snow and crappy weather to avoid the commute. I don’t think I’d like working from home myself. Too many distractions. And kitties. I’d be tempted to nap with the cats all day long. Adam has set up his desk in the opposite corner from the big desk in the office. I think he plans to close the door so the cats leave him alone. This will crush Connor, who just loves the big blue chair in there. I guess we’ll all learn to deal with the change. I told him, hey, now he can have lunch ready for me every day! He just laughed at me. I get no respect.
We pulled the trigger and went ahead with our Christmas party plans. Date is December 5th, a Saturday, at 3pm. Hopefully the early date will help with weather and conflicts. I’m working on the menu but you can bet it will be nowhere as involved as last year’s was. Just not worth it. And seriously, if we get crappy attendance again I’m done. I love my Dad and Cheryl and Adam’s parents, but if we want to have them over we can invite them anytime and not have to put so much time and effort into it. So there – fair warning.
In kitty news, well, not much is going on. Carly’s still doing well with the litter boxes. Just one major mistake and small oops since we took the plastic back away. Luckily neither mess was on the good carpet, just on the remnants we put underneath the boxes. She’s still as crabby as ever though. I think that’s the way it’s going to be. She hasn’t been so bad during the night lately – usually once around 1 and then again around 3:30. Her new thing is jumping up onto my shoulders when I pick her up so my back and shoulders are covered in scratches from when she freaks out and jumps off. It’s awesome.
Ted is obsessed with being petted now. It’s a monster of my own creation. If I hadn’t trapped him in the cat room and got him into “pet me” mode, we’d still be in “run away” mode. Grrr. It’s a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I’m glad he’s more open to human contact. On the other, it’s TOTALLY ANNOYING. He sits in the hallway/kitchen/living room and howls a lot. A lot more than he used to, that’s for sure. Adam thinks it’s because he wants to be petted. I say, if he wants to be petted he can come over by me and I’ll pet him. Unfortunately Ted sees it differently and still only wants to be petted in the cat room or office when I’m sitting on the floor. Picky, picky.
Connor seems to be regressing as Ted is progressing. It’s a rare thing that he’ll let me pet him. Usually most of my contact with him is him rubbing on my legs. He’s enjoying the fact that we finally relented and turned the heat on. He loves hanging out next to the heat vents. Smart kitty. Except that he rubs his head of them and closes them, thereby annoying Adam. Oh, and negating the whole heat thing.
JC. He’s crazy. He’s been very cuddly at night lately, but has the tendency to steal covers. He doesn’t quite know what to make of all the leaves falling the yard, but sure has a good time chasing them. There also seem to be a plethora of bugs in the house these days to keep his hunting skills in tune.
That's all for now. Hope to be back with another photographic memory soon.
Project Feed Me
I found this on one of the cooking blogs I stalk. It sounds like a wonderful idea.
Basic premise: Each week for nine weeks she will post an item that food pantries are in need of on her blog (currently in week two: first week was chili, second was tuna.) Go out, buy two of said item. At the end of the nine weeks, take all your purchases to your local food pantry.
Sometimes it's easy to get lost in the "one step forward, two steps back" that we seem to be stuck in these days. This kind of project reminds us that we are indeed blessed to be where we are. I encourage you to participate, even if it's in an unofficial capacity. Link below to sign up and for additional info.
Basic premise: Each week for nine weeks she will post an item that food pantries are in need of on her blog (currently in week two: first week was chili, second was tuna.) Go out, buy two of said item. At the end of the nine weeks, take all your purchases to your local food pantry.
Sometimes it's easy to get lost in the "one step forward, two steps back" that we seem to be stuck in these days. This kind of project reminds us that we are indeed blessed to be where we are. I encourage you to participate, even if it's in an unofficial capacity. Link below to sign up and for additional info.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Photographic Memory #11 - France, Deux Fois
The Eiffel Tower and Me, 1998:
The Eiffel Tower and Me, 2003:
The Pont du Gard and Me, 1998:
The Pont du Gard and Me, 2003:
Collioure (sans moi), 1998:
Collioure and Me, 2003:
What a difference five years and digital photography make! Sorry the 2003 versions are so small - they're actually thumbnailed versions of the originals. I lost the original files when Adam rebuilt my computer back in 2005 and erased my hard drive. :)
I'd love to go back eventually. Especially to Collioure. It's just so beautiful there, even for someone who isn't particularly a beach person.
The Eiffel Tower and Me, 2003:
The Pont du Gard and Me, 1998:
The Pont du Gard and Me, 2003:
Collioure (sans moi), 1998:
Collioure and Me, 2003:
What a difference five years and digital photography make! Sorry the 2003 versions are so small - they're actually thumbnailed versions of the originals. I lost the original files when Adam rebuilt my computer back in 2005 and erased my hard drive. :)
I'd love to go back eventually. Especially to Collioure. It's just so beautiful there, even for someone who isn't particularly a beach person.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
20 Scariest Movies of All Time
According to Entertainment Weekly:
1. The Shining
2. The Exorcist
3. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
4. Silence of the Lambs
5. Jaws
6. The Ring
7. Halloween
8. Psycho
9. Seven
10. Rosemary's Baby
11. Poltergeist
12. 28 Days Later
13. A Nightmare on Elm Street
14. The Thing
15. The Evil Dead
16. Carrie
17. Night of the Living Dead
18. The Omen
19. An American Werewolf in London
20. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Guess how many of them I've seen.
Ha ha. I bet you said "none." You're WRONG! I've seen two for sure, and a third and fourth one I think I've seen parts of.
I saw Jaws at school in 8th grade. It was linked to something educational. Like ocean conservation or something. Pretty messed up if you ask me.
I actually rented Rosemary's Baby and didn't really think it was that bad. That could have been because of Mia Farrow's distractingly bad acting though...
Not sure I've seen the first one or the whole thing, but I know I've seen parts of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I distinctly remember some kid being sucked into a waterbed and drowning. And some kid being in class, falling asleep at their desk, and dying in some other hideous fashion. Horrible, horrible movies.
The other one I'm not sure I saw all of is The Evil Dead. The plot sounds familiar. It's supposed to be kind of funny right? Eh. In any case, don't remember if I stuck it out for the whole thing.
Really, for someone who had nightmares because of Ursula in The Little Mermaid, I think it's pretty impressive that I've seen that many of the "Scariest Movies of All Time." Not sure I want to see more of them though. I'm much too impressionable and I like my sleep.
1. The Shining
2. The Exorcist
3. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
4. Silence of the Lambs
5. Jaws
6. The Ring
7. Halloween
8. Psycho
9. Seven
10. Rosemary's Baby
11. Poltergeist
12. 28 Days Later
13. A Nightmare on Elm Street
14. The Thing
15. The Evil Dead
16. Carrie
17. Night of the Living Dead
18. The Omen
19. An American Werewolf in London
20. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Guess how many of them I've seen.
Ha ha. I bet you said "none." You're WRONG! I've seen two for sure, and a third and fourth one I think I've seen parts of.
I saw Jaws at school in 8th grade. It was linked to something educational. Like ocean conservation or something. Pretty messed up if you ask me.
I actually rented Rosemary's Baby and didn't really think it was that bad. That could have been because of Mia Farrow's distractingly bad acting though...
Not sure I've seen the first one or the whole thing, but I know I've seen parts of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I distinctly remember some kid being sucked into a waterbed and drowning. And some kid being in class, falling asleep at their desk, and dying in some other hideous fashion. Horrible, horrible movies.
The other one I'm not sure I saw all of is The Evil Dead. The plot sounds familiar. It's supposed to be kind of funny right? Eh. In any case, don't remember if I stuck it out for the whole thing.
Really, for someone who had nightmares because of Ursula in The Little Mermaid, I think it's pretty impressive that I've seen that many of the "Scariest Movies of All Time." Not sure I want to see more of them though. I'm much too impressionable and I like my sleep.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Photographic Memory #10 - Critters
We've always had pets in my family. When we lived on Center Ave we had dogs and cats - Carbon, Shadow, Penny. I don't have many pictures of them and, honestly, I don't remember them too much.
When we moved across town to 7th Street, I had a hamster. Her name was Brownie and I loved her fiercely. She was a master Houdini at escaping from her cage. She ended up in the furnace vents once. Through what has to be purely luck, my mom managed to find her and get her out before she crawled her way to a firey death. She lived a long time for a hamster and when she died I was devastated. So much so that I recorded the date of her death - November 9, 1992 - on the back of this photo.
I got a replacement hamster who I (completely innocently) named BJ - as in Brownie Junior. But, Brownie Junior she was not. I soon put a classified ad in the paper and, as fate would have it, ended up giving her to Jess, who soon became my best friend. If I recall correctly, BJ met a not-so-pleasant end in Jess' basement...
At some point we got two rabbits. They were twin brothers and the only way we could tell them apart was to put nail polish on one rabbit's ear. (Yes, I only see one rabbit in this picture too. The other one was probably behind the slide.)
Their names were Midnight and Bunnicula. Both names are pretty self-explanatory. I don't remember what ended up happening with them. I think we gave them away...
Somewhere along the line we got another cat - Candy. She was very mellow. An older cat, she was good for cuddling.
She would spend some nights in my bed with me which I allowed until she started peeing in it. Then I had to close my room at night.
My sister also got a cat who I spoke about previously.
Then there was Mandy. When my parents got divorced and my mom moved into the upstairs of the store she adopted a dog. When we got her, "Mandy" was "Martha" but we decided one of us had better be renamed. The dog won that toss.
Not the smartest of animals, she was a sweetheart. Pretty much untrainable, she provided companionship and a semblance of protection. She never liked men much - we figure she had been abused by a former owner. But she sure liked me. She'd lick whatever part she could reach, loved cuddling at the top of the stairs. She really hated baths, but she'd always fall for my "let's go on the deck and play" bit. When my mom and sister moved out east, Mandy didn't go along. We'll leave it at that. Further elaboration makes me want to cry.
I was pet free until we started our revolving door of rodents. And now we've got four feline friends. I can't imagine a life without some kind of animal companion. As annoying and time-consuming as they can be, at the end of the day it's nice to have someone keep your head warm all night.
When we moved across town to 7th Street, I had a hamster. Her name was Brownie and I loved her fiercely. She was a master Houdini at escaping from her cage. She ended up in the furnace vents once. Through what has to be purely luck, my mom managed to find her and get her out before she crawled her way to a firey death. She lived a long time for a hamster and when she died I was devastated. So much so that I recorded the date of her death - November 9, 1992 - on the back of this photo.
I got a replacement hamster who I (completely innocently) named BJ - as in Brownie Junior. But, Brownie Junior she was not. I soon put a classified ad in the paper and, as fate would have it, ended up giving her to Jess, who soon became my best friend. If I recall correctly, BJ met a not-so-pleasant end in Jess' basement...
At some point we got two rabbits. They were twin brothers and the only way we could tell them apart was to put nail polish on one rabbit's ear. (Yes, I only see one rabbit in this picture too. The other one was probably behind the slide.)
Their names were Midnight and Bunnicula. Both names are pretty self-explanatory. I don't remember what ended up happening with them. I think we gave them away...
Somewhere along the line we got another cat - Candy. She was very mellow. An older cat, she was good for cuddling.
She would spend some nights in my bed with me which I allowed until she started peeing in it. Then I had to close my room at night.
My sister also got a cat who I spoke about previously.
Then there was Mandy. When my parents got divorced and my mom moved into the upstairs of the store she adopted a dog. When we got her, "Mandy" was "Martha" but we decided one of us had better be renamed. The dog won that toss.
Not the smartest of animals, she was a sweetheart. Pretty much untrainable, she provided companionship and a semblance of protection. She never liked men much - we figure she had been abused by a former owner. But she sure liked me. She'd lick whatever part she could reach, loved cuddling at the top of the stairs. She really hated baths, but she'd always fall for my "let's go on the deck and play" bit. When my mom and sister moved out east, Mandy didn't go along. We'll leave it at that. Further elaboration makes me want to cry.
I was pet free until we started our revolving door of rodents. And now we've got four feline friends. I can't imagine a life without some kind of animal companion. As annoying and time-consuming as they can be, at the end of the day it's nice to have someone keep your head warm all night.
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