anniemiz

Fun with Zombies in Asbury Park

Dunno where the current fascination with zombies originated (maybe something to do with this?  somehow I doubt it...not enough penetration into the public consciousness).  Doesn't this sound like fun?  Then again, the undead are so interesting, they can't help but be the life of the party.

Ba-dum tsssh!

Asbury Park is hosting the NJ Zombie Walk today at 5:00 p.m. rain or shine.  Check out the Boardwalk's facebook page (you don't need to be in facebook to see it) or read about it in The Asburied Park Press on the walk's website.  Registration (free) and pre-walk events start at 11:00 a.m.  Fresh out of zombie makeup?  No worries: you can use the free makeup at the walk or get a professional zombification for a $10 donation to somewhere or other. 

They have a mess of stuff scheduled.  Some especially inviting tidbits:

• at 6:30 p.m., post-walk, the Zombie Fest begins with a Thriller performance by Asbury Dance & Yoga
• 7:00 p.m. - zombie beauty pageant
• 10:00 p.m. - Zombie Walk Official After Party at Asbury Lanes ($10 cover)
• roller derby in Convention Hall: The Jersey Shore Roller Girls v. Montreal Roller Derby (I've never seen roller derby; a rather mild-mannered friend is interested in doing this, so now I'm curious)
• among the performances, Tragedy: The All Undead, Heavy Metal Bee Gees Tribute Band; this in itself sounds pretty darn worthy of consideration

Much of it seems kid-friendly, esp. the earlier stuff, e.g., Dan Zanes at the Paramount in the afternoon.

There's even a bloodmobile (mind you, it's where you give blood).

Sounds like a ton o' fun...I just heard about it so I don't know if it's going to happen with us although the only thing we have to do today is pick up a mess of cat litter and deliver it to the cat shelter.  It's PATCH in Pompton Lakes, NJ and it's an all-cat, no-kill, private shelter.  Felix, the cat on their linked front page, is so freaking cute I'm gonna try and steal the photo and post it here.

As an aside, this was originally a bmp image, which TypePad won't let me use, but I just Googled how to convert bmp to jpg, which TypePad does like, and it was easy as pie.  Here's the link about converting.  You just need Microsoft Paint, which is usually included in Accessories.  Some of the Google results involved downloading software, which I disprefer bco the risk of downloading narsty stuff along with the software, so I was pleased to find this very easy solution.

There is an embarrassment of riches wrt zombie lolcats with which to end this post.  This is one of the cutest widdle zombie lolcats:

 

The tongue in this picture really adds a certain je ne sais quoi:

All this time I thought cats were doing something completely different when they did this:

Well, just goes to show, you're never too old to learn.

 
 

Powerless

Unfortunately, I've been w/o a pc for a while, hence no blogging.  My laptop is about 5 yo which, in human years, makes it about 94 yo.  I bought a new power cord a few months ago bc the original power cord died.  Its demise, I imagine, was hastened by first Edison's chewing on it and then Miles & Lizzie teething on it.  Now the new one no longer works.  The kits have stopped chewing on stuff like that, so it wasn't bco them.  So once the battery ran down I was up the river w/o a computer.

I've since read the customer reviews for the power cord and it turns out that it stinks.  Not that I had a whole heckuva lot of choice when it came to replacing the old cord; there only was the one power cord available.  Hmm, I wonder if I could have ordered a non-Dell power cord that would work w/my pc.

Anyway, I've ordered a new laptop...bc my old one is, well, old...(not just bc the power cord doesn't work, silly)...plus, the sound no longer works on the old one...and the battery, which never lasted as long as it should, doesn't hold a charge well anymore.   A Dell salesperson helped me build the laptop via chat.  She tells me that the power cord that comes w/the new pc will work w/my old pc.  The new one won't ship for about 3 weeks though, so I ask if they can just send the power cord out separately now seeing as I bought a new cord about 2 months ago that no longer works.  No can do.

So I thought I'd just return the one I bought 2 months ago and get a new one; it's still under warranty.  Someone else will get the old pc and they'll need a working power cord.  And I did pay good money for one.  Well, I ordered the new pc on Monday, 7/14.  That's also when I started trying to find out how to exchange the non-working cord for a working cord.  I'm still working on that. On the phone, I've been transferred around the world in 3 days.  I just received a phone call from the Resolution Specialist who's responsible for seeing that my problem is resolved.  She just told me that she cannot access my customer number...different departments have access to different accounts, customer numbers and data...yadda yadda yadda...she's forwarding my email and problem to someone in another department who allegedly can help me.

All this for a power cord.  We're talking about a plug here, for goodness sake.

So anyway, no power = no puter for me.  I do use Kevin's desktop some, although he needs to use it, too.  He has to keep track of all his ebay auctions for funfmarks and dreimarks and grossens (sp? all) etc.  His pc is even older than my laptop.  As I'm typing this I occasionally delete something, highlight something, backspace something...it moves so s-l-o-w-l-y...I could make a light lunch for 12 in the interval. 

But!  I am excited about the new pc.  I put it off for a while bc I don't really do jazzy stuff on the computer.  I thought, do I really need a new one?  I'll need to move stuff from the old to the new, e.g., approximately 3,000 cat pictures.  How great would it be if all that stuff could be moved wirelessly?  E.g., since both pcs are Dell, if Dell offered something where they accessed stuff on the old and moved it to the new.  The new one has cool stuff...I could watch DVDs on my old one, but the screen was pretty small and then the sound went.  I might actually watch a DVD on my new one.  The mouse and printer are wireless, as is the keyboard although I don't think I ordered a separate, full-size keyboard.  It has a webcam, which I have no idea how to use, but might be fun.  It's really light.  The screen's a little bigger than my old pc's screen.  And and and it's red!  Yes, it's the little things in life.

In other news, Kevin and I went out to Pittsburgh this past weekend to meet and be godparents to our newest niece, Sofia.  Here's Kevin, my brother Greg, my SIL Marianne, nieces Gabi and Sofia:

A happy close up of Gabi:

Sofia:

Sofia at home, in the baby blanket I knitted for her:

  

She likes it, she really likes it!

Longtime readers may recall that Kevin and I are areligious.  So how can we be godparents, you ask.  Well, it's like this.  Gabi's godparents are Marianne's sister and BIL.  Technically, according to the church, they're Sofia's godparents, too, and we were just standing in for them (they live in MA).  In practice, according to Sofia and her family, we'll be her godparents.  That's a misnomer then, but I don't know what other word to use.  Guardians?

We had fun while we were out there...it was nice to meet Sofia and see Greg, Marianne and Gabi again.  I'll blog more on our visit and put up a photo album in the future.

Yinzerville

Kevin and I just returned from a lovely, long weekend visiting my brother, Greg, his wife, Marianne, and their daughter, Gabi, in Pittsburgh.  Here they are in a picture from our visit to Phipps Conservatory.

Here's Gabi and Uncle Kevin in what Gabi calls her 'plain' pose.

Don't know if she had a name for her pose in this picture, but I'll guess it's her 'fancy' pose.

Click here to view the blog's photo album from our visit.  The album starts with botanical pictures from the Phipps.  The glass art mixed in with the plants are from the Chihuly exhibit that runs until February 24.  Very neat.

The next batch of pictures are from the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning's Nationality Rooms.  These rooms are classrooms designed in the style of various countries.  We took an audio tour of the rooms on the first floor and a few of the newer rooms on the third floor.  Exquisite.

Greg and Marianne are expecting a baby in a few months (May?).  Six year old Gabi knows this, but I don't think she knows this.  I don't think she has any idea what's going to hit their home when that baby comes home from the hospital.  It appears they're having another girl which will bring our niece total up to 7 (Mary, Sammie, Ashley, Sydney, Kristen, Gabi and #7) and our nephew total up to 0.

I like Pittsburgh.  This is our second visit there.  I don't know what I expected when we first went there a few years ago, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I especially like that it has all those distinct neighborhoods.  At some point, talk turned to talk, as in Pittsburghese.  That link has a disclaimer that the site is all in fun and is not meant to be used for scholarly research on Pittsburghese.  If what you want is scholarly stuff about how yinzers talk, click on the Pittsburgh Speech & Society Project website.  Huh.  In Pittsburghese, our cat Nosey could be called Nebby.

I like dialects.  I think it's neat how different accents and words develop.  Sometimes I catch myself saying things that give away how long I've lived in NJ and how much I've soaked up the accent and phrasing.  At first, I didn't care for it; I don't really tawlk like that, do I?  Now I don't necessarily embrace it, but just accept it as part of life and where (geographically) life has taken me.

I gotta go do some stuff.  Smudgie's got a new chemotherapy protocol starting today which requires one med 4 days on/3 days off and weekly bloodwork before starting up again; Dolly's going on Smudgie's old chemo drug; Nosey continues to have blood in his urine; the kittens start a once-a-day for three days deworming today (they've been dewormed twice already; what gives?); along with Dolly's usual hyperthyroid pills and Nosey's usual insulin shots.  I want to get and keep all these meds straightened out.  These cats are like a part-time job.  The biggest thing now is to find something that will help Smudgie stop losing weight and start gaining weight.

Misc.

Poor Kevin's all sick with a bad cold.  He was home from work Friday and he hasn't improved.  Fortunately, he's been able to relax and rest.  He's enjoying playoff football.   In about an hour his beloved Giants will take on the Cowboys.  The Giants have been playing very well their last couple of games.  Someone's spiked their morning orange juice.  The Cowboys have been playing very poorly.  I hope their respective trends continue.

Unfortunately, he was too ill to attend a delicious fundraising dinner on Friday night.  It was hosted by the local lodge of American Sokol.  From their website:

Well into it's second century, American Sokol remains an organization dedicated to the physical, mental, and cultural advancement of its members, the youth and adults that attend its programs and the local communities we serve.

Sokol was founded on the philosophy that only physically fit, mentally alert, and cuturally well developed citizens can make a nation strong and give life to the honorable spirit of patriotism.

There are currently 44 Sokol units, or clubs, open in North America. Please visit our website or contact us by phone to find the club that is closest to you.

Hmm.  Funky formatting.

Only 44 Sokol clubs in North America...and one is in Boonton!  How lucky is that?  Well, it's not as lucky as we used to be bc there used to be 2(!) Sokol clubs in town.  And they were just a couple of blocks away from each other.  The 2nd one was a lodge of Slovak Catholic Sokol, another national organization of Sokol lodges.  They left; their lodge is now the town's rec center.  That rec center could be the subject of a whole 'nuther post.

Back to the food: it was choice, I tell ya, choice!  Chicken paprikash over egg noodles.  Galumpki.  Pierogies.  Kielbasa.  Some thing with pork and sauerkraut and onions.  It was all exceedingly tasty.  The desserts were not, AFAIK, especially traditional, although there was something like a nut roll there.  It was cakey as opposed to bready and I prefer my nut rolls bready.  Clearly, the main meal was the main attraction.  Fortunately, they offered a take out option so Kevin could have some.

It appeared to be the event in town; the place was full and they eventually stopped selling tickets bc they were running out of food.  I went with some co-workers and their peeps.  There are quite a few people of Polish/Slovak descent on staff.  Well, there are quite a few people of Polish/Slovak descent in town.  I understand that, back in the day, the hills part of town was the Polish section and the flats (where we live) was the Italian section.  Now there are lots more ethnicities, but there remain a lot of Polish/Slovak/Italian families.  Also, as a friend who grew up in Lincoln Park (next to Boonton) and attended Boonton High School (Lincoln Park kids attend BHS) said to me when we were considering moving here: people in Boonton grow up, marry each other, stay in Boonton and raise their kids in Boonton.  Of course, that's not entirely true, but there are a lot of old, extended families here.  Kevin and I have been here since 1995.  We joke that we could stay here another 50 years and we'd still be newcomers.  That we don't have kids will probably serve to keep us from fully entering into the bloodlines here.

I don't mean to suggest that we're treated as newcomers or outsiders; not at all.  In fact, quite the opposite.  It was lovely to run into friends, neighbors, countrymen at the dinner.  But there are people, like some of my co-workers, whose families have lived in Boonton for generations on end.  It's neat to hear about Boonton of old.  It's fun when Kevin and I can tell newer residents about Boonton before their arrival, as if we're the old timers.  Perhaps bc I work at the town library, I get to talk with and know a lot of residents, so I hear a lot of good stuff there.

The community room at the library is set to open tomorrow.  It's a room in the lurvely (not really) library basement with more public puters (and accessories).  For several set periods during the week, the room will be set aside for kids.  There is a great need in Boonton for inexpensive/free after school activities for kids.  The rec center mentioned above offers programs, but, except for a homework help program, they all cost money.  And a lot of town families cannot afford these programs, especially when they have more than one kid.  They also cannot afford after school child care.  Some parents tell their kids to go to the library until dinnertime, when the parents will be home.  Some kids just want to go to the library after school to play games on the computers.  Bottom line, there are a lot of factors contributing to a huge (huge compared to the size of the library, which is approximately the size of the first floor of my house) and overwhelming (when you consider the resources such a small library can offer) influx of kids at the library after school.

Kids being kids, they tend to do things in large, noisy, physical groups.  So for several hours after each school day, there are a mess of noisy kids that perhaps don't take over the entire library, but it's pretty close.  Bc the library is so small, it's impossible to find a quiet place during the after school hours.

So the library is trying to deal with this issue by creating the community room.  Some feel that the library shouldn't have to step up in this way just bc the town doesn't offer after school programs for low income families.  The reality is that the library has to do something.

When it's not kid time in the community room, it's available for adult patrons to use.  When it is kid time, there must be a staff person there bc the kids will, innocently or not so innocently, get into trouble down there on their own.  Tomorrow is the first day the community room will be open and I have the honor of being the first staffperson to work down there.

I am very pleased by the community room.  I'm a firm believer in the idea of libraries as being mental sanctuaries.  Sure, if the resources are there, offer an area where kids can be noisy and active and kid-like.  As it was, the after school crowd pretty much drove other patrons away from the library.  Is it fair to the kids that the library (pre-community room) didn't have space for them to be nuts?  Probably not.  As a 7 year old once told a 5 year old friend, 'Life isn't always fair'.  I think I was in the minority of people who believed that the pre-community room library should not be allowed to be crazy for a while during the after school hours.   Of course, the kids would have to be allowed some level of noise and activity bc they're kids and they have the attention span and diligence of gnats when it comes to expectations that they don't particularly value.  I thought they could use the computers and be somewhat loud and active and any adult patrons would just have to deal with it during those hours.  A compromise.  Sure, ideally, there'd be a place for kids to be kid-like, but since we didn't have it at the time, I didn't see why a compromise between semi-kid-like behavior and semi-library-as-sanctuary couldn't be achieved.

I have more to say on that, but I'm not going to get into it here.  Long-time readers could probably predict exactly what kind of curmudgeonly things I would have to say.

There are other things I've wanted to blog about, but I've been a little busy.  And now I'm off to the grocery store.  Kevin usually goes, but he's in no shape for it.  Normally, he'd go when he feels better, but it doesn't appear he'll feel better very soon.  Plus, we're supposed to get a bunch of snow here tonight and tomorrow.  Not that I'm going to stock up on milk, bread, eggs, etc.  That cracks me up when there's no milk at the store bc people are stocking up on in advance of an onslaught of inches of snow.  Okay, if you have infants or elderly or sick people, i.e, people with very specific nutritional needs, it makes sense to make sure you have, oh, say, enough jars of baby food on hand.  Wait a minute.  Nosey has very specific nutritional needs in that he only eats stage 1 chicken baby food.  I'm going to clear that shelf if it's the last thing I do!

Update Shmupdate

Oh, peopoe, peopoe, peopoe, I haven't really been into/had time for blogging lately.  I feel much better now that my high bp's been addressed.  I was 115/75 at my week-later checkup.  I return in 3 months for another checkup.  Amazing what one little pill a day can do.  I asked the doctor about what else to do and he said lose weight and watch the salt.  The latter's not too hard.  I like a little added salt, but I came late in life to liking added salt, so I can go back to not adding it.  The former is the toughie.  I've been watching what I eat since my diagnosis -- nothing like the threat of stroke to get one's attention (or simply the threat of those narsty headaches returning; again, it makes one wonder what do people with greater, chronic pain do?  Do they not want to off themselves?) -- and been successful so far, but the challenge is long-term success, once the shock and awe of high bp has worn off.  One thought I've found helpful is the idea that if I'm not hungry enough to eat an apple, preferably a crunchy red delicious (photo courtesy of and (c) by NY Apple Association), I'm not hungry enough to eat anything (i.e., fries, ice cream, even a second helping of something healthy).  I meant to pick up actual apples at the store yesterday, to put some bite (so to speak) into the idea, but I forgot.  In its practical stead, I use rice cakes.  Granted, they're caramel corn rice cakes which have a little sweetness to them, but they're not scrumptious like cookies and cream ice cream, my current nemesis.

The cats are doing well, for the most part.  We're currently working on figuring out what Dolly's problem is.  Symptomatically, it points to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).  The drug of choice is prednisone, which she received orally for a while, but which she also vomited up within 10 minutes of taking it (even with prepping her with pepcid and/or food).  So we're going to try and get us some transdermal prednisone to apply to her ears.  That will bypass her stomach.  We hope to see a reduction in vomiting and diarrhea and increased weight.  It could also be pancreatic insufficiency -- those test values were elevated, further suggesting that that's the problem -- but the vets lean toward IBD, based on her overall presentation.

A definitive diagnosis would require an endoscopy, but we've decided to just go w/the prednisone for a couple of reasons.  (a) If it is IBD, we're doing the right thing.  (b) An endoscopy would be another several hundred dollars, maybe close to $1,000, and we've had an expensive 1+ years or so what with Nosey's IBD and diabetes and Smudgie's head case.  Of course, if it's not IBD, we've wasted time.  It's possible that she has lymphoma, like her late littermate, Archie, but I tend to think not bc she's had this problem for some time now.  I think it would have progressed to lymphoma and she'd have been dead by now if it were lymphoma.  But, as Dr. Slade mentioned recently, the surprise diagnoses we've received lately teach us not to get cocky.

The others are  doing well.  Smudgie's eye is looking better.  He'll be on an anti-fungal pill for a while, probably months.  Sounds like getting rid of a fungus is a long-term endeavor.  His right eye hasn't returned to its former beauty, but it looks much better.  He has some kind of grey area on the right eye.  Don't know what that's from.  Also don't know how affected his vision is.  Even if he has lost some/all vision in that eye.  cats do phenomenally well with reduced or absent vision.  He'll be fine.  The important thing is that he no longer has a portabella thriving in his head.

Oh, man, the thing about hungry-enought-to-eat-an-apple thing is that if I am hungry enough to eat an apple, I'm usually hungry enough to gnaw off my arm.  Okay, where are those stupid rice cakes?  Nom nom nom.  And only one point each!

Wrt school:  :(  I did not have enough money to pay for school this semester, so the director kindly agreed that I could start next semester.  (I know what you're thinking: spend less money on cats and you'd have enough to pay for school.  Answer: not an option.  I'll give up pretty much anything else before I give up their medical care.  E.g., I've obviously given up fashion bc (a) I have no sense of fashion to begin with and (b) it's not as important.  That I only have a few outfits I can wear to work is less important than that I have healthy cats.  Anyway....)  I have to figure out something so that I can consistently pay for school each semester; otherwise, it will take me eons to finish with a one-class-one-semester-on/no-class-one-semester-off approach.  And I'm no spring chicken as it is.  Not that I'm ancient -- and they do say 40 is the new 20 -- but still: my time here isn't unlimited.  Plus, I'd like to graduate before I die of stroke.  So, with that positive attitude, I am thinking ever so hard about my options on this absolutely gorgeous Labor Day weekend.  Details on the decision will be forthcoming once a decision has been made.

Changes are ahead, nay, already afoot, although I am making sure to enjoy this lovely weekend.  This weekend is the town's annual Firemens' Labor Day Celebration.  Gawd, do they love their Fire Department here.  It's pretty much the social organization in town.  But hey, I love a a parade and yesterday was a great day for a parade.  We'll go to the carnival and fireworks tonight.  Now that we've cut down a few trees in the backyard, we could watch the fireworks from home, but we like to go to the carnival.  It's small and very little changes from year to year, but that serves to make it comfortingly (word?) traditional: you can count on it to be there every year.  For us, it's especially nice bc we can tote our chairs to the parade and to the fireworks.  We just leave our chairs and/or blanket or whatever, go enjoy the carnival and then come back to find them safe and sound for parking our butts to watch the fireworks.

Bonus goodness this weekend: we're catsitting our friend Carol's cats, Tigger and Choco.  I have pictures to prove it so they'll be guest cats for Friday Cat Blogging later this week.

Kevin's been working hard all day, weeding and mulching.  Perhaps it's time I go and be  productive as well.  Or perhaps not.  Or maybe just look productive.  But my work here is done for now.  Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Vacay By The Bay, II

So the next day in SF, after Kevin was done w/his conference, we had lunch at a yummo restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf.  I can't remember the name, and I can't find it online, but we really enjoyed it.  It was a little ways away from Pier 39 and near where we had to go after lunch to ferry over to Alcatraz.  Our appetizer was some kind of strawberry-noodle-sushi combination rolled in what I think was rice paper.  It was tasty when it first hits the mouth and then, I don't know what all happened, but it lost its tastyness.  My entree was a shaking kobe salad:  greens, tomatoes, highly rare beef chunks, a poached egg on top -- that sold me on it.  Veggies.  Almost raw beef.  And a runny egg.  What's not to like?

Alcatraz was interesting.  I didn't know much about it before going; all I knew was its legendary status as a supposedly inescapable prison.  I like old buildings, especially big, institutional-type buildings.  Weird NJ often has stories of some weird New Jerseyan snooping around an old hospital, mental asylum or the like.  I love that stuff.  I like the history of the buildings themselves, e.g., the different uses Alcatraz had over time.  The self-guided audio tour is pretty good.  It includes former guards, prisoners and I think even some adults who grew up on the island.  I enjoy hearing peoples' personal stories.  The cells are tiny.  And the solitary cells: creepy.

We took a sunset cruise for dinner.  It was okay.  I expected a bit more guide-like commentary; there was very little and, when the captain did say something, it was very hard to hear over the PA system.  The dinner part was a buffet.  It was adequate, but it was more what I'd call a lunch buffet: those small sandwiches you get from making big sandwiches and then cutting them up; small pizza bits; a salad (which was gone by the time we went to the buffet); some fruit; cookies (no chocolate cookies left!).  Now, we didn't leave hungry, but the spread wasn't very impressive.  It all tasted okay; I kinda expected a dinner buffet to have a little more oomph.  They also cut it a little close w/the quantities.  I had the last piece of plain pizza.  The salad was all gone.  Now, one of my greatest fears (or so Kevin tells me) is that someone will go hungry at my house.  I know excess food/leftovers isn't economical, but there's something unclassy about running out of food for your guests.  And I'm all about class (in case you're wondering: not really).  Again, quite cold tooling around out there in the bay, but my ugly jacket kept me warm.

Vacay By The Bay

I meant to be back blogging, but our intarwebbery connection is all kinds of funky so I've not been able to log on enough.  I'm not sure what's going on; the current theory is that there's something wrong w/the wireless adapter in my laptop, which is the pc that was used to set up the wireless for Kevin & my pc's.  I hope to resolve that soon.  Being w/o a connection to world wide webbery is like having withdrawal symptoms.  It's not pretty.

Kevin & I had a lot of fun in San Francisco a coupla weeks ago.  He had some conference to go to there for a couple of days, so I tagged along and we added a couple more days.  We got there Tuesday afternoon and left Saturday morning.  Kevin was conferring all day Wednesday and part of Thursday, so we only had Tuesday evening, Thursday afternoon and Friday together there.

Kev often moans and groans about how I sleep in.  What can I say?  I'm not a morning person.  I've tried and tried to be a morning person and I stink at it.  I don't even mean especially early; 9:00 AM is pretty darn early for me.  So anyway Kevin expressed his concern, on several occasions pre-vacation, that I'd end up snoozing the days away in SF.  Well, not to worry.  I did snooze in a bit on Wednesday and Thursday, but I packed  our time together full of stuff.

Tuesday evening we walked down to and waddled along Fisherman's Wharf.  Checked out the sea lions.  Had dinner.  Then dessert at some chocolate store which I can't locate on the web at the moment.  Walked around some more.  Then back to our hotel.  Our hotel, btw, was very much businessperson-oriented.  It's the one Kevin's company encourages them to use bc they have some kind of membership thingie w/the hotel, plus there's a reduced rate for the conference attendees, etc., etc..  I'd never stayed in such a focussed hotel.  You go in, there are staff there at a front desk, but you can pretty much check yourself in at a kiosk.  The rooms are very small and very utilitarian.  Double bed.  Shower, no tub.  Our view was of an alley; I doubt other views were much better.  Desk with all kinds of hookups.  Fridge with bottled water and a bottled water station with refillable plastic bottles on each floor.  A lounge area with pcs and printers.  Wireless everywhere.  Sun deck on the roof.  Small gym.  Separate entance to the restaurant next door.  Even though it was very streamlined and businesslike, I kinda liked it.  You come, you go, you do your thing, you call the guy at the front if you need anything and they take care of it, etc.  I like that, which is weird bc I also like staying at cozy little B&Bs.  Anyway.  Moving on.

Kevin conferred all day next day, all through dinner.  True to my nature, I slept in a bit.  Before I headed out that day, I called the Marine Mammal Center that oversees the care of the sea lions at Pier 39.  The day before when we had been watching the sea lions, there was one youngish sea lion all by himself, far away from any other sea lion.  He didn't move much, which wasn't unusual bc they were all lying around like lazy layabouts.  But something didn't seem right with this fella.  When he did move, he moved differently from the others.  He moved using his rear more than his front.  The others moved by raising their front and using their front appendages to go forward.  This guy kinda moved like a half-inchworm (i.e., like he was half inchworm, not that he was a half-inch worm).  I figured the Center must know about it bc it seemed quite obvious that there are a lot of people and agencies concerned about the sea lions, but then I thought, what if everyone wondering about that sea lion figured someone else must have said something, but no one did?  So I called.  And yes, they were aware of and were watching that sea lion.  The woman I spoke with very kindly answered my questions, providing a little insight into caring for those sea lions.  IIUC, it's very difficult to get to a sea lion that's out there on the floating docks.  It's much easier if they beach themselves, but they kinda have to get themselves in a good position to receive help.

So I waddled up a big long street -- I think it was Market St. -- up to where it meets Van Ness.  I was going to see a play thereabouts, but wanted to stop somewhere for a nice dinner and then stop in at the main library branch for a program before going to the play.  The dinner pickings got slimmer the further up the street I went.  There was always a donut or fast food place, but I was on vacation and wanted someone to wait on me, dammit.  But first things first: it was early evening and it was cold.  I rummaged in my tote bag only to find that I had left my coat at the hotel.  I was not turning around, but figured it should be easy enough to find a place to buy an inexpensive light coat.  Not true; light coats were hard to come by.  I finally found a cheapo place called Gold Diggers that had about 5 light coats, one of which fit me.  It didn't match and I wouldn't have bought it otherwise, seeing as I didn't like it, but it kept me warm.

I took my mismatched self over to The Market Street Grill at the Hotel Whitcomb aka the Ramada.  It was pretty nice for a Ramada; looks like it's an old hotel bought up by the Ramada chain.  I felt fairly underdressed, but the few others there (it was early for dinner: five o'clock) didn't look very fancy, although their clothes matched.  I enjoyed my meal so much I that I decided to linger and skip the library program.  I started w/a mushroom bisque that had a small piece of seared salmon and a grilled shrimp in the middle of the bisque.  There was also a thin swirl of something white -- cream? -- in the bisque.  I decided right away to eat a little of everything so I would have room for a little of everything.  Next was a chicken pepperdalle (sp?).   Wide, sturdy homemade noodles, chicken, tiny vegetable cuts, raisins (I think), and some other yummy stuff in a thin to medium white sauce.  Finished up w/a nice pot o' tea and something chocolate and decadent (okay, I almost finished that).  I had a table near the window, allowing me to people-watch the leaving-work crowd when I wasn't enjoying my book.  I enjoyed being waited on, including the waiter flourishing the napkin onto my lap.  That works.

Having skipped the library program, I did take a few minutes to waddle through the main branch.  Quite overwhelming, compared to my little libraries.  Then I noodled over to the theatre, which was a small affair, at least physically speaking; don't know about its reputation, draws, etc..  Small is often very nice.  Pretty much every seat is a good seat, you can see the actors' expressions, it feels intimate, etc.  The play, 'Take Me Out', was fun.  Obviously, I'm not a big theatre person bc I hadn't heard of it even though it won the 2003 Tony Award for Best Play (along w/a coupla other Tonys).  I'll further embarrass myself as a non-aficionado of the theatre by noting that one of the most memorable things about my night at the theatre was that there was NO line at the womens' restroom during intermission (me and one other woman used the bathroom during the break), but there was QUITE the line at the mens' room.  Women take soooo fucking long in the bathroom.  If you're peeing, just get in and get out.  There's nothing to agonize over in there.  You can smooth your top down over your butt once you're out of the stall and that way you can even stand up tall and straight as you look at yourself sideways in the mirror as you perform the smoothing ritual.  You know what I'm talking about.

Okay, that's enough vacation chat for now.  More later, but bottom line: we really enjoyed our time there, short though it was.  Pictures will be up after I figure out what my freakin' internet problem is.

Dum de dum

I feel like I've been really busy lately, but I don't feel like I have anything about which to blog.  Not that that's going to stop me, so be forewarned: this post will likely only be of interest to people who are me.

Cats are fairly well these days.  Dolly continues to yak on an occasional basis, approximately a couple of times each week.  Whenever possible, she's been getting her thyroid medicine directly by mouth lately.  She had been getting it crushed in her food, but we're concerned bc she doesn't always eat all that food.  Now, we do put it into a tiny bit of food, but she still sometimes doesn't finish it.  Sometimes she's just too antsy to get pilled.  She needs to be sitting fairly still or in a mood such that Kevin and I can array ourselves so that she'll go to her bed for comfort.  Then one of us will give her the thyroid medicine or her transdermal flagyl in her ear.  I don't think she's losing weight, but it'd be swell if she could just break 7 lb. and then we could spend the next 10 years trying to get her to 8 lb.

The others are okay.  Nosey broke 15 lb. recently!  I'd be  happy if he stayed at 15 lb. although he could certainly regain his prior 16-17 lb. fighting weight. Smudgie's Smudgie...just getting older (along w/Dolly, his littermate).  Clara will get some dental work soon.  She was radically uncooperative during the last vet visit so blood was not taken.  At least not in the usual manner.  Edison remains an active kitten.  He'll be 1 yo this summer.  Right now, he's climbing all over the desk, stepping on the answering machine, walking over buttons...there, he's knocked down the calendar...and now my empty water bottle has fallen prey to his advances.  Health-wise, he scoots around on occasion, which usually indicates unexpressed anal glands.  Yay.  And look!  Here's a link bc I know you want to read more about unexpressed anal glands in cats.  His butt looks fine, but the glands could look normal yet still be unexpressed.  Well, the vet manually expressed Edison's glands during the last visit.  Normally, Edison still has this tiny little kitten meow.  I heard him yell and thought, 'Wow, he can be loud'.  Then he got even louder!  Poor thing.  I feel bad, not bc he was getting treated, but bc he doesn't understand that it's for his own good, it hurts me more than it hurts him, blah blah blah.  Well, he still scoots around -- though with less frequency -- and I'm not entirely convinced that's his problem, or at least all of his problem.  He doesn't exhibit pain behavior when scooting.  I hope it's merely inconvenient for him.

Speaking of cats, it's so bizarre that Jim Richards, DVM recently died from injuries sustained in a motorcycle crash.  He's the director of Cornell's vet college's Feline Health Center, the editor of their newsletter (CatWatch), an expert on a bunch of cat-related stuff, etc. etc.  It's bizarre bc the accident was a result of him swerving to avoid a cat that had run into the road.  He was only 58 yo.  Although I didn't know the guy, I felt a sense of loss anyway.  Kinduva sense of loss to the cause.  He wrote a regular Q&A column in CatWatch, which I've been receiving and reading for years.  His writing sounded very friendly and easygoing.  It also seemed obvious that he loooooved cats.  The picture by his column showed him with the CatWatch cat (first, Dr. Mew, who died; then his mother's cat, Elizabeth became feline editor) and he always looked so happy in the picture.

I was just chatting tonight at work with a co-worker and a patron about cats.  The co-worker is allergic to cats, but finds them beautiful, serene, soothing, etc.  The patron has a cat.  We all talked cat.  Cat chat is so friendly and enthusiastic.

Speaking of work, it seems like the stars have been thoroughly misaligned lately bc I've had some less than positive experiences.  Yesterday, a patron stormed out, throwing her library card in the garbage on the way out.  Today, I sent two teens from the library for the night for running in and in & out of the library.  One said, 'Bite me', so now he's banned for the week.  WTF is with these kids who do and say stuff right in front of me or any other staff and then, when you call them on it, they say, 'I didn't do nothin''.  I mean, we're a few feet, sometimes inches away from each other and we're looking directly at each other.  I'm tempted to ask them just exactly how stupid do they think I am.... 

I'll admit that I don't always remain as calm and collected as I would like.  I've been into the Jeeves & Wooster series lately; I'm thinking I might benefit from using Jeeves as a model of cool reserve when having negative experiences.  Now, how exactly would Jeeves respond to 'Bite me'?  Sometimes people are so adamant that they returned such-and-such a book...and then they find it under the car seat or it fell behind the sofa.  That sort of thing happens to everybody wrt all kinds of things; most people realize that; I don't know why some people get so het up about it and take it almost like an accusation of personal failing.  Things get lost.  Sometimes they're found, sometimes they never turn up.

The library's Socrates Cafe will be ending soon.  I must admit that it has not been what I would have liked it to be.  I've tried to get people to talk philosophically about things.  Sometimes it works and it's been interesting, but the discussion often gets sidetracked.  Very often, I should say.  I'm sure there are things I should have done and could have done to make it a better cafe, but I did my best and that's that.  It's been roughly a year since the thing started and I'll be happy to take a break from it.  I think that some of the regular participants have different yet valid interests and expectations from the cafe.  Those interests and expectations don't always jive with a good philosophical discussion.  I think it's a social thing for some people, whether they realize it or not.  I was very pleased to see some new faces show up after the cafe was listed on meetup.com.  But then they didn't come back.  Distance was a factor for several people (who came from LI and upstate NY!).  I'm sure some people probably didn't like me or my style or the group or the setup or whatever....  I'll guess that  some people -- many of whom I was pleased to meet and would have liked to welcome back -- were dissatisfied with the discussion.  One guy who was some kind of scientist around brain chemicals was really into identity and mind, but there was a huge gap between this guy's interest in and grasp of philosophy of mind and that of the regulars.  That guy never came again -- which is too bad bc I think it would have been very interesting to talk with him -- but I can certainly understand that.

Ya know, sometimes I think I worry and concern myself too much about how things with which I'm involved go for other people.  E.g., I know that I was not perfection in dealing w/the lady who stormed out of the library.  I know that I've not done all I could to keep cafe discussions focused.   I know that I'm an imperfect human.  And the other folks involved are imperfect humans, too, who bear some responsibility for how interactions play out.  I don't always cut myself some slack for being imperfect and I really should.  Not that I think I'm perfect; that's not what I'm saying.  This might count as meta-worrying.

On to happier things:  Kevin and I are going to San Francisco soon!  Kevin's got a conference to go to out there and I'm tagging along.  Very happy that it's in SF bc we've wanted to go there for some time now.  I want to see the neat houses, nearby wine country, funky shops, museums, local history, lore and legends, etc. etc.  I hope it's fine weather.  Kevin claims he'll actually have to do some 'work' at this conference.  <snort>  If his claim holds up, then I'll have several days to myself while he's conferring.  I plan on having a very enjoyable time.

Speaking of other happy things, I'd just like to say that Hellmann's mayo really is tops.

Okay, well that's all I want to say about that.

Oh, back to work.  So, yeah, I think I mentioned before how I've got to work more to pay for school.  That is, if I want to finish before reaching NRA.  Unfortunately, the library doesn't have more hours to offer.  I mean, the physical building is, like, this big.  It only requires, at a minimum, two people to run the joint.  I'm looking into adding hours by working at a neighboring town's library.  The county's public libraries are all on the same system, so I'd only have to learn that library's particular practices.  I hope that works out bc (a) I like it; (b) it's very convenient; (c) it's flexible around classes; (d) I like the people I work with; and (e) all of the above.  I don't relish the idea of finding a new job altogether...job searches can be such the bore.  'What are your strengths?'  'What are your weaknesses?'  'What kind of tree are you?'

A co-worker recently left the library to go work at The Seeing Eye.  So kewl.  I wish there were such a place...but with cats!

For someone who allegedly didn't have anything to say, I think I've said quite enough for now.

This And That

Ah, been feeling kind of iffy there for a while.  Didn't feel much like blogging, either.  Then I segued into just feeling plain old ornery.  Definitely didn't feel much like blogging then.  Now I'm feeling a bit more upbeat and ready to resume regular programming.

I picked up my mid-life crisis the other day.  It's a red Mini Cooper S convertible.  My very first brand spanking new car.  Can't believe I don't have a picture of it yet to post.  I'm enjoying driving my new car, although I haven't had all that much occasion to drive it.  I drive to work, but that only takes about 5-10 minutes and doesn't require that I go above third gear.  I'm hoping that there might be another beautiful autumn weekend so we can go for a nice long drive with the top down.

The dealer guy did stress the reduced visibility (i.e., increased blind spot area) of a convertible and that is taking some getting used to.  I find I go a lot slower when backing up and that I avoid backing up whenever possible.  When I park at home, I pull in and turn in the drive so I'm facing out.  When I next leave, I don't have to back out.  I used to do this before bc I'm not all that keen on driving backwards if I don't have to.  I'm just doing it more now.

I've been working a little bit more lately bco people leaving.  One guy retired.  The director left to become director up the road at Rockaway Township.  And another person is ill.  This is a good fit for a part-time job for me.  I come in, I do my thing, I leave.  It's close to home; sometimes I squeeze in a very little exercise by walking home.  I don't often walk to work bc it's uphill and I often bring something or other in to work, e.g., supplies for Socrates Cafe, in addition to my own stuff, e.g., books in case it's quiet and I have a chance to study.  It's not so bad walking home downhill with just my stuff.  The vast majority of patrons are lovely.  A small minority are less than lovely; I try not to let them bother me, although I don't always succeed.  I have met some interesting people here.  Seems like most people have a story to tell and I generally like to hear their stories.  A chance remark about someone's funky tote bag or the books they're taking out or their handmade shawl often leads to some interesting peek into their life.

I often enjoy hearing people tell their story or a part of it, especially when you can tell they enjoy sharing it with someone who's really listening.  I also like asking them questions about what they're sharing, especially the parts that seem so foreign to me.  Even though the answers will probably never be of practical use to me, it's interesting to hear them.  I always enjoyed listening to Minnie talk about her life, things like how her girlfriend's father received the telegrams for the area and Minnie and the girlfriend would deliver them, sometimes on foot, sometimes on horseback.  Or when cars first came to town.

I once made the aquaintance of a couple of sisters.  They live out of state, but, at the time, their elderly parents still lived in NJ, in the next town.  They knew I volunteered at the cat shelter and they asked me to help their parents adopt a cat.  Their mother was at the earlier stages of Alzheimer's and they thought she might find a quiet, sweet lapcat comforting.  So Dr. and Mrs. W and I went and found them a lovely, beautiful cat.  Mrs. W eventually went to live in a nursing home and the cat stayed home with Dr. W.  I had told him the shelter loves to get updates from adopters.  He was kind enough to call once in a while with an update; sometimes he had a cat question.  I went over a couple of times to help him with the cat.

The point of all this is that I didn't know Dr. W very well, I only knew him from this business with the cat, but he was one of those people with whom I always enjoyed talking.  It was always a pleasure to answer the phone and find that it was Dr. W calling.  It was always a lovely conversation, even if it sometimes turned to unpleasant topics, e.g., the progression of Mrs. W's Alzheimer's.  I guess what I mean is that it was always a quality conversation.  Now, I'll guess that many, perhaps most, of a person's conversations are light and fluffy or short and to the point; those conversations are important in their own way and serve important ends.  But there was just something so delightful about conversing with Dr. W; I think it was that he was interesting and interested.  I don't think I talked with Dr. W more than 10 times before he died of a heart attack at age 83.  That was over a year ago.  And yet, to this day, I still miss him and feel sad that I'll never have a lovely chat with him again.  Odd how I could feel that way about someone I didn't know all that well.  But maybe I knew him better than I think.  Obviously, he gave off very good, positive vibes.  He was an openly loving husband, father and grandfather.  He and his wife had many longtime friends.  They enjoyed many activities.  I think they enjoyed each other and people in general.    So maybe it's more that he was a quality person as well as a quality conversationalist.  Gawd, I'm tearing up just thinking about Minnie and Dr. W and typing all of this.

On a happier note: fun times this past weekend.  Saturday was The First Annual Reinkenfest (sp?).  Kevin's right hand guy at work, Dave, threw a party named after himself...his name is Reinknecht.  Or something.  Anyway, last time we went to one of his shindigs...yummy!  Dave was a chef before he couldn't hack the physicality of the job.  He's only in his thirties, but the poor guy's a wreck.  Anyway, he's still all into cooking and puts on a delish spread.  We missed much of it bc I had to work and Kevin was at a wedding rehearsal thingie, but it was still fun to hang out w/Dave, his wife Cindy, their cat Buddy, and their friends.

Sunday was the wedding of Kevin's sister, Karen, and her longtime beau, Andrew.  It was at the chapel at Drew, where Karen went to undergrad.  Karen and Andrew met at Yale as chemistry graduate students.  Coupla dorks.  Nice dorks, though.  They've been together since then, through his advisor moving here, her postdoc there, his postdoc here,...some twelve or so years in all.  They live in CO now.  Nieces Mary and Samantha (daughters of Kevin's sister, Joyce, and her husband, Stephen) were flower girls and were, as usual, adorable.  It was a beautiful fall day and the wedding colors were autumnal and everything came together really nicely.  I have a bunch of pictures from that, too, which I'll eventually post.

My friend Eileen is getting married later this month.  This mini-rash of weddings necessitated the purchase of a new outfit.  I had rifled through the few remaining suits I have (most of them went to the Salvation Army) only to learn that: (a) I have suits that are now too big for me and suits that are still too small for me, but no suits that are just right; and (b) I wore some nice duds to work back in the day.  So off to the store I did go.  I focused on getting the suit first and then I'd find a blouse/shell/whatever second.  I settled on a purple jacket and black pants (duh; of course black pants), then I start trying on shirts.  I'm checking myself out in the 3-way mirror with this black (again with the black) lacy/shiny-over-solid-black thing when another customer saunters over and says, 'I love that blouse.  I tried it on the other day, but it didn't fit right.  That looks nice on you.  Hope you don't mind me saying so, but you'll need to wear a push-up bra with that.'  Thank you, Dear Stranger, for that unsolicited opinion about my rack.

I did, in the end, get a new bra but not a push-up and not bco what that lady said.  Honest!  I had done a major clothing purge earlier this year, including a bunch of bras, further including all black bras.  Obviously, I couldn't wear a white bra under this thing, so off to the lingerie store I did go.  I've often heard that the majority of women wear the wrong bra size and I did not disappoint.  Actually, I had the right size, but the wrong cup size.  I'm still trying to figure that one out.  How is it...?  But if I...?  Anyway, Lisa there set me up with some effective gear for that outfit, as well as suggesting some less structured hardware (picture linked is technically SFW) for everyday wear.  I was considering describing the fit process, but I'm finding that the only way I could describe how she got me into a bra was by likening it to when you're filling up a plastic grocery bag with your shopping and you're not sure if you can fit any more stuff in the bag so you grab it by the sides at the top and give it a little shake and a jostle to see how the stuff in there settles and is there now room in there for more stuff or is there just about the right amount of stuff in there?  Is that a helpful visual?  I don't know.  She noted that the bra I was wearing 'did nothing' for me...it 'flattened' me out and didn't 'help me' at all.  It was a front closure bra which I liked bc it's easier to put on than trying to close those stupid hooks and eyes on yer basic back closure bra behind my back with my arms twisted almost upside down.  But no more front closures for me!  Oh, and underwire!  I must wear underwire!  It will help push things front and center where, so I'm told, things belong.  Again, I don't know.  All I know is that things are going to change around here, starting with my bras.

Well, that was a nice break from studying.  Actually, I have to go to work for a few hours.  Tonight is Socrates Cafe night at the library.  It's been going on for a few months now, with very uneven attendance.  Sometimes no one shows up, sometimes five people show up, sometimes one person shows up.  I'm not sure how it's going to work out in the long run.  From what I understand, different libraries have had varying success with adult programming.  At some libraries, it seems you could advertise a staring contest and people would come.  I've only been here a year and a half, but I understand that it's always been difficult getting adult participation in programs here.  Don't know why that is.  I'm tempted to say that it's got something to do with the demographic, but...hmmm, I don't know.

Well, like I said, break's over.