Gamer weekend

I was trying hard not to get sucked into the new release of Warhammer. I kept telling myself the game wasn't all that throughout beta. It was fun but nothing compelling. That worked all the way until about the 3rd day after pre-release. :P Galahad and I were still sharing one account since the older PC doesn't run it that well. However, then a friend offered me a free account (hehe ty btw!!!), and the rest was history. He gave me the code Sunday morning, and since we didn't have beach workout (too much partying Saturday night for most of the class), we created the 2nd account and went to town.

Of course we had all of the proper accoutrements like pocky, wasabi peas, tequila, etc...

Anyway, next thing I know, it's 9 pm and time to watch True Blood. Sunday was all gone. ;)

Costa Rica!!

Yay!!! We bought tickets this weekend to go to Costa Rica. I'm so excited about a real vacation. I'm running around like a whirling dervish -- figuring out where we should go, what to do, which car to rent, etc.

I had to laugh at a line in a movie this weekend about this woman who made a plan to make plans. Wtfever. ;) It's less stressful (and therefore more fun) to have a good idea of what to do beforehand. Also, I like to be prepared and know what to pack. Like water shoes or not? Hardcore hiking boots or regular ones? Bikini or board shorts? It's not like I have every day mapped out or anything. I'm just getting ideas.

I'm sure I'm driving Galahad crazy with all of my questions. And that was just to pick a rental car (which I still haven't reserved yet). ;)

I suppose I ought to brush up on some Spanish, but somehow not knowing the language has never stopped me from traveling abroad.

1st one down

Kitten came back today without her collar. Sigh. I'm so curious where they all go. Like maybe some big bully cat is beating her up and stealing them. Or she catches them on the same branch in some tangly bush each time. Or maybe she trades them for lizards at the kitty pawn shop.

Crazy cat ladies

My cat keeps losing her collar when she's out gallivanting during her morning outdoor time. She's gone through more than I can count now.   Because cats apparently have a knack for getting into trouble, they're called safety collars and will break away under duress so the cats don't hang themselves.  I originally bought her a collar with a bell on it to warn the birds which she kept catching and eating. That lasted exactly one day until she figured out how to work with the bell and still catch them.

Then one day, I was talking to a neighbor of mine asking if my cat was a nuisance. Rumor had it that someone's cat had been. I had no idea what I would have done if the lady said yes, since I can't really control in which yards my cat hunts and keeping her strictly indoors is out of the question. Anyway, she asked which cat was mine and then said she thought she was a stray and had just fed her that morning. Little beggar. So now I try to keep collars on her to let people know she's well-loved, taken care of, and not a stray.

Anyway, I rarely shop at Albertson's anymore, so when I do go, I stock up on collars. The cashier who rang me up asked how many cats I had after he rang up 6 collars. I told him just one, but I was 87% sure he didn't believe me. And since I don't like their organic food (or lack thereof), I didn't buy much. Of course when he gave me that look, that old game came to mind.  What 3 things could you ring through the checkout that would raise an eyebrow?  I bought 6 cat collars, hair conditioner, and tortillas, and I wasn't even trying to look crazy.

Death

One of my close friends died today after a very lengthy battle with cancer. She brought much joy and laughter into my life, as well as teaching me many things and helping me grow into the woman I am today. She will be sorely missed.

So wendyful to be home!!

Ugh, I was on another business trip last week, which was already too long before I even left. Apparently, I didn't quite understand the meaning of too long just yet.

I flew Spirit Airlines for a 40 minute flight, and they of course lost my bag, after charging me $10 to check it. When I inquired at the baggage claim what might have happened to it, I was answered with, "How would I know? I wasn't there".

I called Galahad when I left the house to let him know I caught my flight and that Kitten was very quiet and sad when I left. He called me when he got home to tell me she wasn't sad, she was hurt. FFS! I'm the worst mom ever!! How did I not notice that when she came home?? She had a huge puncture wound in her inner back leg abdominal area, as if she jumped down onto something sharp. Galahad took a day off of work and took her to the holistic vet. They didn't stitch her up since it wasn't a fresh wound by then, and they didn't want to seal in any bacteria.

Spirit continued with the shittiest attitude ever, that is when I could actually manage to get someone on the phone. I still had no idea where my bag was or if it would show up at all. There I was on the second day of my business trip in my same jeans, socks, etc. At least I had been able to borrow a shirt from someone who was not too much bigger than I. And the hotel gave me a complimentary toothbrush and tube of toothpaste.

After more than 24 hours with no sign of life from my bag, I blew off some evening meetings and went to buy some toiletries and new clothes to wear for the next 4 days. I truly hate shopping, but luck was with me, and I ended up with a semi-decent wardrobe in a few short hours. Did I mention yet that I also had a roommate (who was very cool thankfully) so I even needed to buy pajamas?

It felt so good to be able to unpack on my 2nd night there, and then wake up and put on fresh clothes! Of course I had the obligatory migraine and the not sleeping well the 1st two nights. Our meetings were endurance marathons starting at 7 am and going until past 10 pm or so.

By Friday I had had more than enough schmoozing and PowerPoints and desserts at every meal (okay maybe I sekritly still loved those!). I was worried about Kitten. I knew he was taking great care of her, but I still needed to see her and spoil her while she was hurting.

I still had the migraine from Tuesday morning. I also had about 14 hours of sleep total since then, even though I require 7.5 - 8 a night. Plus, my father-in-law was still in the hospital from last week. I really, really wanted to go home and not stay the next 2 days as originally planned. On Saturday, I checked airfares on Southwest to see about buying a one-way ticket home. I most certainly didn't want to fly Spirit again, although my luggage did magically show up finally, with only a tag stamped Nassau, Bahamas giving me any clue as to what happened. I never did get a phone call.

I finally got in touch with my manager and let him know that I had to leave early and miss the Saturday night party due to family obligations. It's kind of hard to explain to my mother-in-law that I can't help out because I'm at a company party. Thankfully my new manager is turning out to be quite a good guy.

Man, I was never so happy as to see my little Kitten Saturday night. :)

Good to be home

Friday was definitely the best day of my trip, and not just because it was a Friday. :p We got to talk about Nerd Stuff that actually pertains to my job. Plus Nerd Stuff is infinitely more interesting than blah blah buzzword blah blah. Bingo!

Thursday night a co-worker and I went down to Veselka for dinner. mmmmmmm. And then of course across the street to the chocolate place. OMG, so yummy! I bought a little present for Galahad, obviously. :)

Anyway, I was so happy to come home to warm weather and sunshine.

Go-kart racing aka Team-building

FFS at what some people consider fun! I've been to many idiotic team-building exercises, but I would have to say this was one of the worst. I thought it might be fun, but apparently people on my team are shitty drivers who think brute force is more appropriate than finesse. The go-karts were fun to drive even though it was about 45F in there, and my hands were cramping from the cold. It was lots of fun until the first good hit by someone sent me careening into a wall. By the 5th or perhaps 8th hit, I was pretty much at my limit of fun. One of my co-workers was not as fortunate as I. He got hit hard enough that his helmet flew off, and they instantly shut off all the cars with the Master Kill Switch. Because he's not female, it wasn't appropriate to burst into tears (which is what I would have done). He left the track clutching his ribs. Nice cohesion, synchronicity even!

Bodies

A few of us from martial arts class (yes I include myself even though I attend only the conditioning classes) went on a field trip with Sensei to see Bodies the Exhibition. I was wary at first because of the human rights issues of these bodies being from China. The Chinese government said they were all legitimate. Oh okay well that makes it all better. Perhaps I was trying to rationalize it, but I decided that I would be better able to honor these dead people by seeing them than if they had just died in vain.

The Frugal Frannie in me was able to procure a discount for us and brave the lines since I didn't want to pay the web service fee. It turns out there are no lines on Friday night, for which I was relieved.

OMG, that was the coolest (and I say that figuratively since it was actually very warm in there -- all the lights I'm guessing) exhibit! Sensei is a great instructor and showed us every little tendon, nerve, ligament, etc.  He also went on to explain to his violent students (haha just goofing, I mean the ones who actually punch each other in class) all of the pressure points and which nerves & muscles are affected.

This is going to sound gross, but I got so hungry at first while walking through there. It all looked like salmon jerky. :( That is until we got to the intestinal room. Holy hell that put me off for a bit. By the way, did you know that the appendix is ridiculously tiny? I had no idea how small it was. It's about the size of my ring finger, and I have long, skinny fingers. Because these were all Chinese people, they were small-framed and coincidentally enough, all about my size. That made it even more fascinating because I could line up my body part next to theirs and see what it would look like inside.

We spent a long time in there studying every facet of the human body. And of course, us being us, we started in with the jokes. That made me feel as if we weren't actually honoring the dead, but that is who I am. I remember getting dirty looks when I laughed during my grandmother's wake. I also upset my own brother when I laughed shortly after our mom died. He knew I wasn't laughing at that, but emotionally it still hurt him.

I give everyone permission to laugh when I die, although try not to laugh too hard at the method in which I die. :) Man, I hope it's not too embarrassing like choking on a health-promoting supplement. I always push the envelope on that, too, by swallowing 5 or 6 at once. Just know that I would be laughing if I died that way. What can I say? I love to laugh.

Trying a new site

I've had a website on geocities for several years now, but for the past few years I've really only updated the blog page. Since I messed something up on my theme and Yahoo got difficult about allowing FrontPage to upload, I've decided to try my blog somewhere else. Some other fkr took my moniker, so I've had to use my backup one for the link. Damn those wendygirls. :p

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Kitten really started a debacle here in our community.  She & this other neighbor cat can't seem to get along.  So every week or so, he chases her home and they both hiss & yowl.

Arch Nemesis

Today, another neighbor (heretofore known as Duck Lady for reasons which will become obvious) witnessed yet another catfight.  Of course Kitten is a little ninja girl, so she was inside a hedge, while her Arch Nemesis was standing outside of it like a sore thumb (or a bright gold cat), looking very guilty.  Duck Lady yelled at Arch Nemesis until he ran home.  He's a very sweet cat when he isn't around Kitten.  Then she started in on me, telling me all kinds of horrible things would happen to Kitten because he is a Serial Stalker!  Apparently she's caught him pouncing at her pet wild ducks.  I know my little girl, and although I was concerned for her, I knew she was fine because she's a ninja like that.  :)  I kind of brushed off Duck Lady while we both looked for Kitten, who of course vaporized the second Arch Nemesis had his attention distracted.

I left to run errands knowing (& hoping) that Kitten would be waiting for me when I got home, which she was.  Yay!!  I checked her out and she was fine aside from needing lots of hugs.  I went over to Duck Lady's house to apologize for being snippy with her, thank her for caring about the well-being of Kitten, and to let her know that Kitten was fine. On my way, I got intercepted by Joe (Arch Nemesis' owner). He’s all kinds of furious at Duck Lady for calling him at work to bitch about his cat. Apparently, she made him drive 30 miles back to put the cat inside. Duck Lady is a little overzealous about animals but means well. She has 1 or 2 house-cats of her own that never see the cruel, scary outside world. Joe was practically spitting, he’s so mad.  He’s ready to sue her and feed bread to the ducks. Hehe, he actually threatened that. They’re on some special duck food diet apparently. He said if he were 10 years younger, he would … and then trailed off … mumbled something about prison, then said not that he’s ever been in prison before. He’s kind of a rough-edged guy but not really that scary. Plus, he has a point. The neighborhood yentas do seem to go out of their way to harass him.

Anyway, he tells me that some other neighbor guy complained about a brown cat carting off a mouse AND mousetrap from his yard. He swears it wasn't his cat, so I went over to the direction he pointed. I knock on their door. No answer. Then, I hear Joe yell “Sweetheart”. He’s forgotten my name already. It’s been 3 minutes. He says maybe it’s actually the house next door.  So I go next door to knock and secretly congratulate myself on being so brave today. This tiny little woman answers. Hehe, okay she’s probably my size but shorter. I ask if she lives there cuz Joe specifically mentioned a man. She says yes, and I felt dumb at this point. So I started the story about the mouse & mousetrap, wondering now if Joe misremembered it. She says she’s an animal lover and would never kill anything. It turns out she & her son have been feeding Kitten cuz they thought she was a stray lol. They apparently love her (who wouldn’t?) and even gave her milk this morning. I wonder if that was before or after the fight. :P  I thanked her for being nice to Kitten and asked her to talk to her neighbor if she gets a chance, if only to let him know Kitten isn’t a stray. Fuck, I guess I should keep buying collars, even though she's lost 5 or 6 by now.

At some point, I was able to talk to Duck Lady's husband to ask him to let his wife know that Kitten is fine.  I tried very hard to keep this from escalating into some dumb neighborhood drama that shows up on the news.  I know most of you are wishing for the news because it would be funny if it weren't my neighborhood and my cat, but I ask that you think peaceful thoughts for Kitten.  The last thing she needs is to have Animal Control coming around.