The Oatmeal

I love The Oatmeal.


Check out how many germs are on YOUR cell phone.

Too Cute!

Yay! More Simon's Cat!

Catching Up

Well, things are settling down a little around here. I got my car back. It needed a new instrument cluster. I really don't know what this does, but apparently it's kind of the "brains" of the car and if it goes out your car won't start. I think it is kind of like the hard drive of the car. It stores all the electronic information like the theft alarm, odometer, key recognition, mileage, all that stuff. The mechanic was kind enough to find a "gently used" one to replace mine with. I'm sure a new one would have been many more dollars, so I'm fine with that. The car is 11 years old and has 180,000 miles on it after all. Well, it USED to have 180,000 miles. Now that it has the new instrument cluster it only has 155,000 since the mileage can't be changed on them and they put in the used one.

On Monday, my parents moved out of the beautiful home they built. I'm sad that they are leaving it, but totally understand that they don't need a house (or house payment) that big for just the two of them. It's a really neat place and I hope the new owners will love it as much as my parents and grandmother did. They are moving into a rental house until they find a place to purchase.

The big ole fly in the ointment is that they can't get into the house they are renting until next week, so they are temporarily homeless. Greg and I have their kitties at our house, but our place is way too messy for human guests. I know it's frustrating for them to have to move out of one place and not be able to settle in right away someplace else. It's like moving twice in a week! I would hate that.

I can't say that the visiting cats are enjoying themselves much, but they are doing fine. They both came out for pets and brushing this morning and only a few small hisses were aimed at the dogs.

The dogs for the most part couldn't really care less that there are two more cats in the house. They think it's awesome that there is kitty food down where they can eat it though. Since I found Kissa sleeping in the bathroom sink downstairs this morning (note to self: clean downstairs bathroom sink so the cat doesn't get all dirty and gross from it), I think it's safe to move their food to the bathroom counter, where my cats eat.

Wow, Thanksgiving in two days. Where has this year gone? This year I'm thankful for so much. I know I complain a lot on here, but I really am very lucky. I have so much to thank God for giving me.

We are going to have a very quiet and low-key Thanksgiving by staying home. Greg still isn't feeling that well and gets tired very easily. I think it will be much easier for him if we just celebrate at home. We might meet up with friends for dessert if he's feeling up to it, but I expect it'll be a quiet night at home. Boring, but okay with me.

I'm working Friday, so that's good. No Christmas presents this year, so I don't need to go shopping. And I don't have very much time off to take now that I spent the best part of three weeks off taking care of Greg.

Hope you all have a terrific Turkey Day and remember all the wonderful things in your life.

Speeding By

I'm not sure how we got to the middle of November, let alone two days away from Thanksgiving. Sheesh, time sure flies.

Here's a Thanksgiving funny for you:

I Want My Car Back

I totally hate it when my car is in the shop. I feel so out of control without my own vehicle. Control freak? Me? Naw.

So I asked for a cheap rental car and boy did I get cheap. I got a Chevy Aveo with no amenities at all. It is an okay car, but it has a lot of blind spots for such a little car. It also has the loudest road noise of any vehicle I've been in.

I feel like such a car snob because I looked for the button to put down the window until I realized the window had a HANDLE. My Expedition doesn't have that many amenities, but it does have power windows.

The windshield wipers are stupid on this car, too. I confess I was too dumb to figure out that you lifted the little arm UP to turn on the wipers. Silly me, I thought the twirly thing next to the picture was how you turned on the wipers.

Yesterday was a crappy day because I had to get the rental car and Enterprise forgot to come and pick me up at the appointed time. So I was two hours later to work than I had planned. And I'm waaay behind at work with a pile o'crap to do. And I thought the windshield wipers didn't work, so I was using the cleaning function the whole way from Vancouver to Gresham and had gotten a little steamed by the time I got there. Then, to add insult to injury and totally top off my Monday, I went to Wendy's for lunch on the way to work, ordered a diet Coke and it came all mixed funny and tasted horrible.

Don't mess with my diet Coke, people. I've already had a bad day. Honestly, how hard can it possibly be to get the right mix ratio on a fountain soda?

Oh, and the mechanic called and said "hmm" a lot while asking me to describe (again) what was wrong with my Expedition. This can't be a good sign. Well, the only sign I think was involved here was lots of dollar signs.

Sorry, just wanted to whine a little. I realize in the scheme of things these are itty bitty problems and just blips on the radar, but I was annoyed. And I needed something to blog about.

Better

Greg went to the doctor on Thursday and was given a clean bill of health. Well, on the meningitis, anyway. The infectious disease specialist said all of his labs came back with normal results and the infection is cleared. He is off the antibiotic pump as of Saturday. The neurosurgeon gave the almost all clear. He did really have back surgery, so he has to take it easy on lifting and stuff for the next two months.

So that's all good.

Greg went to see his naturopath about getting some good bacteria back in his system and we spent an obscene amount of money on those drugs. I can't wait to see what this hospital bill will total. What do you all think? MRIs, chest x-ray, CT scan, emergency room visit, spinal tap, 5 days in the hospital, daily blood tests, cultures, back surgery, and two weeks of out patient antibiotics. I'm guessing when all is said and done we'll be lucky if the whole bill comes in under $100,000. NOT the way I would plan to use that kind of money. Thank the Good Lord we have good insurance. Hopefully it will all be covered. Please, God! Let it all be covered.

Of course, nothing can be easy around here. Now that I have Greg back to mostly normal, I was really looking forward to MY life getting back to normal. Unfortunately, my car broke down on Friday night, so I am momentarily without a vehicle. I totally HATE not having my car. Keep your fingers crossed that it is something cheap to fix. The tow was covered under road side assistance through our insurance, so that was at least something good.

Oh, except the man who just had back surgery had to push the Expedition out of the drive through at Panda Express. In the pouring rain.

Yeah, so not good on his back.

Needless to say, I'm pretty grumpy about it all.

On the plus side, I got to go out for a morning of letterboxing with my favorite boxers on Friday. We got 4 boxes up at Morgan Creek. The Wonder Whippets went along as well as Friday, Maiden's Newfoundland puppy. Aside from Friday wanting to play and the girls decidedly NOT wanting anything to do with him, it was very relaxing and just what I needed. Too bad all the efficacious effects of the morning are now gone.

So Sweet!

One of my co-workers was sweet enough to make me this really cool purse. She had made a couple for a charitable giving auction we had at work before Halloween and I spent an inordinate amount of time talking to her about how cool they were and how I was going to bid on one for the auction. I thought they were great and talked them up to everyone I saw. I helped her pick which cover should go with which bag and everything.

I was SO disappointed when I didn't get to go to the auction (Greg was in the hospital and all) and my proxy bid (thanks, Char) didn't win.

So today when I went back to work, she presented me with one of my very own. Wasn't that sweet? I was so surprised and so very touched that she thought of me. She knew it had been a rough week so she and another co-worker came up with the idea to make me one.

So I put it on my desk when I got home tonight and went to get my other purse to transfer the stuff over and look what I found when I returned:






Apparently, Cleo thinks it's a really great purse, too. I can't decide if Elizabeth will think this is funny or be insulted that I "let" my cat lay in it. But really, she was already in it, it already had cat hair on it, why not let her stay? Besides, if I turfed her out, she'd just get in it again when I turned my back.

I will try and post some pictures of my really cool bag at some point when there is not a cat in it.

Oh, and please notice in the background of these pictures the black EMPTY cat bed behind her.

Oh, Hell No!

It's the time of year for met to rant on about how I hate it when stores put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. You can read about it in at least one post every November I've been writing this blog.

I was in JC Penny's at the mall tonight (on the way to the library) and they not only had all of their Christmas decorations up, they were playing Christmas MUSIC.

It's just wrong, wrong, wrong.

I heard one guy tell his kid, "No, you can't have the Christmas candy, you still have Halloween candy left."

This is not a sentence anyone should ever utter a week after Halloween.

I'm just saying.

Whew!

We've had quite the couple of weeks

Greg had a spinal cord stimulation trial that started on October 20th. It was to see if a permanent implant of this machine would help his pain levels. He was doing pretty well with it, and while he was uncomfortable because of the insertion procedure itself, he was finding some pain relief.

Then they took it out.

Then everything went to crap.

So they took it out on Tuesday the 25th in the morning. By Tuesday night he was complaining that he felt feverish and icky. Wednesday he was achy, feverish, and starting to have chills. His pain was bad enough that he was only getting up to use the toilet.

Thursday he took himself to the doctor that had done the implant. The doctor said he didn't have a temperature, but scheduled a CT scan for later in the afternoon at Southwest Washington Medical Center to check for any abscesses or anything else abnormal in the area.

By the time we left to go to the hospital for the scan, Greg was feverish and having trouble tracking in a conversation. I could tell he was really sick. And not just a cold or flu sick. Something was wrong.

He survived the CT scan, although he said it was very painful to move around the way they needed him to move to get the right pictures. He asked for a bed so he could lie down while we waited for the results. They came back negative with nothing showing in the spinal area. The pain doctor said he was free to go and to check in with his primary care doctor if he had fever or chills. Since I knew he had both right then, I was pretty worried. Luckily, the really nice radiology tech was kind enough to offer to arrange for a room in the ER for Greg. I took him up on it because I just knew something was really wrong. It just didn't make any sense to try and take him home and wait for an appointment with his PCP the next day when there was a whole hospital full of doctors right there.

We got a room in the ER pretty quickly and had a doctor there checking him out within a half hour or so. His temperature was 103 (and at 11 he had no temperature) The doctor did some blood draws and sent them off to be read and ordered a spinal tap to check for meningitis. Sure enough, it came back positive.

Yeah, that scared me too. Just a word to the wise, don't look up stuff on the internet when you are waiting for a diagnosis in the ER. It'll scare the crap out of you.

The ER doctor admitted him to the hospital and he was snug in his new room by about 12:30. Unfortunately he was also vomiting and very feverish and in an enormous amount of pain. They hooked him up to about a zillion machines and started fluids and antibiotics.

I don't know if you all know much about meningitis, but it is an inflammation of the membranes (the meninges) that cover the brain and spinal cord. It is very painful because of all the nerve endings that are effected by the inflammation. There are two main forms: bacterial and viral. In Greg's case, his was bacterial, which is a very serious form of the disease. If it isn't caught and treated early it can cause all kinds of problems and often death. This is different than the REALLY scary version that you hear about that kills teenagers, but it is still very serious.

The hospital stay is a post in itself. What an experience. For a while they weren't sure if he was contagious, so we all had to wear masks and stuff. Luckily, they figured out pretty quickly that he wasn't, because those masks are darned uncomfortable.

On Saturday they decided to do an MRI and another CT scan. The MRI showed an abscess in the spinal column. They decided to do surgery to drain it. Apparently with a little bag of pus back there, the bacteria was basically throwing a frat party and the antibiotics he was getting were doing little good.

He started feeling much better on Sunday once he recovered from the anesthetic and surgery and all. They released him on Halloween and sent him home with a line in his arm and a pump that delivers antibiotics automatically every 4 hours.

He's home now and is doing fairly well. His pain is down but he still has a bad headache and feels pretty weak and lousy. I've been home with him all week taking care of him. I'm a terrible nurse, but he's been very patient with me.

I'll fill in more later. I'm heading for bed.

Halloween Fun With Dogs

Yay! I can start putting up all the fun Halloween photos I find.

Watch out for the Zombie Poodle!


Spider Dog!


Look at these nails:


Taking breast cancer awareness to new heights!


And just because no dog picture post should ever be without Whippets:

Just Wait, Thing Will Change

Big changes coming up soon in my life. Not looking forward to them.

Yay! Another New Simon's Cat!

Anyone who has ever brought a new kitten into the house will understand this one!

10 Signs You Might Be A Zombie

Still having trouble deciding which Team I'm on (Zombie or Unicorn). I did find this helpful list on line. I'm pretty sure I have at least 5 of these. But then I also have a red dot in the center of my forehead, which might just be a zit coming on, but what if it is a horn poking through?

I'm so confused!

We all go through life a little clueless. Sometimes we don’t learn things about ourselves until they’re brought to our attention. For example, what if you’re the loud guy at the party. But you’re really not aware of it until a few friends bring it up over dinner. You’re shocked, embarrassed but now aware and can remedy the situation.

Now imagine your a Zombie. It’s an awkward social dilemma, in most part because your friends are less likely to bring it up. Probably for fear of your reaction and the chance they would be eaten. So how do you know if you’re a zombie? Here are 10 signs you could be the walking dead

10. You Died Recently – Think back, did anything drastic happen to you lately? Car crash? brutal attack? Bite from someone who may or may not have been dead? If so, and you’re still walking around then you could be a zombie.

9. Really Bad Body Odor – Deodorants and expensive soaps just not cutting it? Do you find that you’re putting on extra perfumes or colognes to keep from offending others? There really is nothing strong enough to battle the stench of decaying flesh. If this is the case you could be a zombie.

8. Inability To Run – Having problems on the treadmill? Find yourself doing a 30 minute mile? Is it even hard to keep up with the elderly people on the sidewalks? This could be caused by the deterioration of leg muscle and hardening of tissues. This could be the reason for your shambling gait. If you’re unable to chase down even the smallest of children, you could be a zombie.

7. Appearance Problems – Do you exhibit signs of physical decomposition such as rotting flesh, discolored eyes, open wounds, exposed bone, green skin, or loss of hair? If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms please consult your mortician. You could be a zombie.

6. Inability to Speak – Conversations getting more and more difficult? Do you find sentences being reduced to one or two words? Is it easier to grunt or moan rather than express your true feelings? If so, you could be a zombie.

5. Lack Of Sleep – Instead of being nuzzled up in bed, do you find yourself walking the streets all hours of the night? If it’s 3 am and you’d rather be causing terror in a park than catching 40 winks, you could be a zombie.

4. New View On Movies – Do you suddenly catch yourself cheering for the ‘other guys’ when watching Night of the Living Dead? You could be a zombie.

3. Inability To Be Killed – Are villagers having a hard time killing you? Can you only be destroyed after having your head removed? You could be a zombie.

2. Wardrobe Malfunctions – Have you been wearing the same clothes for weeks or maybe months at a time? Think about it for a second, was this the outfit you wanted to be buried in? Are they now just a shredded mess of fabric hanging off your rotting bones? If so, you could be a zombie.

1. BRAINS! – Find your diet has changed? Is gray matter the first thing you look for on a menu? There is no doubt about it, you’re a zombie

.

Team Zombie or Team Unicorn

Which team are you on? Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

I'm reading this book called Zombies Vs. Unicorns that is an anthology of zombie and unicorn stories. It's really good. These two authors were having a "heated exchange" about the merits of each of them and decided to put together an anthology of stories.

Here's the Intro from the book:

Since the dawn of time one question has dominated all others: Zombies or Unicorns?

Well, okay, maybe not since the dawn of time, but definitely since 15 February 2007. That was the day Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier began a heated exchange about the creatures’ relative merits on Justine’s blog. Since that debate the question has become an unstoppable Internet meme, crowding comment threads and even making it to YouTube.

Here in the real world Holly and Justine are often called upon to defend, respectively, unicorns and zombies. The whole thing has gotten so out of hand that the only remedy is . . .

Zombies vs. Unicorns. The anthology.

That’s right, you have in your hands the book that will settle the debate once and for all.

For Justine it is a question of metaphors: Which creature better symbolizes the human condition? The answer is obviously zombies, which can be used to comment on almost any aspect of our existence. They are walking entropy. They are the dissolute wreck of consumerism. They are the eventual death that faces us all. They are a metaphor for slavery, conformity, and oblivion. What are unicorns? Fluffy, monochrome, sticky tedium.

For Holly, however, unicorns are majestic beasts that are at once symbols of healing and fierce killers with long pointy objects attached to their heads. They were hunted by mythical kings, their image emblazoned on standards by noble families. And they continue to fascinate people today (often in sticker-and-rainbow form, she admits). Besides, between a unicorn and a zombie, which would you rather be trapped down a mine shaft with?

They spend a lot of time having arguments like this one:

Holly: Seriously, you don’t like unicorns? What kind of person doesn’t like unicorns?

Justine: What kind of a person doesn’t like zombies? What have zombies ever done to you?

Holly: Zombies shamble. I disapprove of shambling. And bits that fall off. You never see a unicorn behaving that way.

Justine: I shamble. Bits fall off me all the time: Hair, skin cells. Are you saying you disapprove of me?

Cherie Priest: But Holly, if you ask nicely, a zombie will give you a piggyback ride even if you are not a virgin. And that is why zombies win.

Justine: See, Holly? No one holds with your zombie-hating ways.

Holly: But the horn of a unicorn can cure diseases! Possibly the diseases you might get from accepting a piggyback ride from a zombie.

Justine: Oh, I see, so you’re all for the use of unicorn products. Are you thinking about having a unicorn coat made for yourself as well? I wonder how PETA feels about your unicorn-exploiting ways. . . . Not to mention that zombies don’t have diseases. I’m appalled that you would spread lies about them.

Clearly, we had to gather the finest minds in our field to answer this urgent question.

Because Holly can’t stand to read about zombies and Justine would rather eat her own eyeballs than read about unicorns, we have kindly ensured that each story is marked by a zombie or unicorn icon. No unwary zombie fan will accidentally start reading a unicorn story or vice versa.

We can all rest easy.

Especially those among us who love to read about zombies and unicorns, who now have a book crowded with stories about both creatures by the best talent in the field.

If you’re strong enough to read all the stories, you will know by the end of this anthology which is better: zombies or unicorns!

Justine: ZOMBIES!!!! (I win.)

I can't decided which team I'm playing for. I'm wishy washy. Sometimes I want everything to be all sweetness and light and unicorny, and sometimes I just want to shamble around saying "brains" and eating everything in sight.

How about you? Zombies or Unicorns?

We've All Been There

Just Random Thoughts and Stuff

1. I really hate it when the dogs stick their cold wet noses on the underside of my arm above the elbow. They do it to get my attention and is very successful, but it drives me crazy!

2. I've just discovered Pandora. So cool! I have a station for all my major music tastes, for each mood. I have Celtic Music, Musicals, 80s, and Hair Bands. I'll do a country one sooner or later, but I haven't been in the mood yet.

3. There's only one way to rock.

4. I really, really, really, really, really, really hate the new insurance we have. Everything is a battle with them.

5. I love this time of year when you need your heater on in the morning on the way to work and the air conditioner on in the afternoon on the way home.

6. It's very jarring to go from listening to Guns N Roses to Sarah Brightman. Whoops. Wrong button!

7. You gotta fight for your right to party.

8. I haven't been letterboxing in way too long and am starting to have withdrawals.

9. My friend Julie's mom died last weekend. I really liked Dee and she will be missed very much. Stupid cancer.

10. I ran into a friend from high school at my last IAAP meeting. Small world!

11. While looking for something else, I found my drivers ed certificate. And I passed!

12. It sure is getting dark early. It's only 7:30 and already almost fully dark.

13. Did you know they make diapers specifically for dogs? They have a little hole for the tail and everything.

14. Meg Cabot is an awesome author.

15. I guess that's all for today. Goodnight!

This Just Might Be the Best Simon's Cat Ever

Cleo TOTALLY does this to me on a nightly basis.

Signature PJs

I found the cutest pajamas ever at Penny's the other day. I'm pretty sure they were designed with me in mind. They have FLAMINGOS on them!



Probably not appropriate to wear out letterboxing on the trail, but definitely to be worn at the next letterboxing sleepover.

P.S. For those of you who don't remember, my letterboxing trail name is Midnight Flamingo. That's why these are so awesome. My very own signature PJs!

Whippets in Slow Motion

This is super-cool. The video is from the NAWRA Whippet Racing Nationals, August 28, 2010 in Squamish, Canada. It was shot with a high-speed camera to get a super-slow-motion effect. In real life the Whippets are going ten times as fast as they appear in this video!

My dogs aren't in this video at all since they are retired, but it's amazing to watch the grace and beauty of these animals doing what they love to do best. I think my favorite part is the bit at the very end when they all try to stop.



I'm not sure who shot the video, so I can't give credit here, so forgive me for not doing so. Fabulous work!

Baby Pictures

My parents scanned some baby pictures of me for a game we are doing at work. I thought I'd share them with you all. Can you believe I had all that blonde hair?

Happy Birthday, Samudra!

Our little elephant is growing up. He's now 3 years old! And he's got the cutest little tusks now.

New Music

I have a new favorite group - Celtic Thunder. I love Celtic music and totally picked up one of thier CDs because of their name (which I think is really cool). I was pleasantly surprised to find they do a variety of music - Celtic, rock, folk, Broadway and more. I think they are great.

Here is a video of one of my favorite songs of theirs, called "Heartland." Don't feel bad if you can't make out all the lyrics....the chorus is in Gaelic.

Multnomah Greyhound Park Racing

One of the WWRC members posted this video of the 2003 race at the Multnomah Greyhound Park on his Facebook page the other day. I can't get it to embed here, but here is the link to see it.

So cool to see them run! Sophie was just 3 here. She was not thrilled about trying to be corralled at the end of this race.

The whippets start at about 1:50 on this video.

A Rant

You can ignore this post if you want. I'm just going to complain.

I am SO tired of how my life is inconvenienced to make things harder for criminals. I just bought a CD at Borders (40% off - score!) and it took me 5 minutes to get the stupid thing open because of the plastic wrap and protective sticky covering, etc. I'm tired of not being able to get cold medication without asking a pharmacy employee to hand me boxes from behind the counter. I don't want to get carded to buy cough medicine. I'm tired of having to have someone unlock a cabinet so I can buy spray paint. I'm REALLY tired of how difficult it is to take a plane trip anywhere. If I want to take a diet Coke on the plane that I brought from home so I didn't have to pay $5 for it, darn it, I should be able to! And I want my computer to run faster because it doesn't have to have all the stupid virus and other programs on it to keep people out.

The really annoying thing is that we've put all these processes in place and yet the criminal acts have not been reduced all that much. I have yet to hear a news report that says crack production is down because criminals can't get to the cold pills that have whatever it is they use in them. I still see a lot of graffitti around that looks like it's been done with spray paint. Yeah, maybe the terrorist attempts on airplanes have been reduced, but really, how many of those have there been in the whole scheme of things?

I don't know what the answer is except for everyone to just keep their hands off other people's stuff. History has proven that that is not going to happen any time soon, so I guess I just need to suck it up and live with it.

Land of the free, my ass.

This is How I Feel Today

Fantastic weekend. I logged 76 finds and I don't think all the boxes found are listed yet. And I haven't done the hitchhikers. Probably hiked 10 miles all together, and did a lot of uphill. I'm sore, itchy, and completely letterbox sated. Sated for the moment, anyway.

Many thanks to my great friends the Gischer's for hosting us and providing such a spectacular weekend. Thanks to Alpha Leader and Bravo Leader for carting us around. Thanks to Lemon Drop and Mariner fan for playing Slackajawea. No thanks to the stupid mosquitoes. Especially the one that bit me on the thumb.

These are the weekends I live for!

Update

Yes, I know. I haven't written more about my trip. I suck.

Here are two links that update you on the little polar bear I posted a video on. That ought to count for something, right?

http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/2011/07/01/little-polar-bear-orphan/
http://blogs.sandiegozoo.org/2011/07/11/little-polar-bear-lessons/

Hidden Treasure & Hop It

Yay! TWO new Simon's Cat films!

Alaska!

I know, FINALLY! She's posting about her vacation! Sorry for the delay. As usual I have a list of excuses. I had a zillion things to do when I first got back, both at home and at work. Then Greg and I both got this stupid respiratory infection that laid us flat the whole 4th of July weekend and beyond (Greg still isn't over it - I'm better because I went to the doctor). Then I was REALLY behind at work and not feeling totally up to par.

But that is all in the past, right? You all forgive me now because I am finally posting about my trip, right? Right?

So, to the trip. Greg & I took a 14-day Alaska cruise on Holland America's Amsterdam. We took the train up to Seattle the Thursday before we were to embark, which was kind of fun. It takes about the same amount of time to take the train as it does to drive, but with the cost of gas and then parking the car for two weeks it was a lot cheaper. Because one person in our party *ahem-not me* insisted on packing his entire wardrobe, we had 4 big suitcases and two carryon bags. Here's a tip for all of you that plan on taking Amtrak. They have a 50 pound limit on each piece of checked luggage and they freaking MEAN IT. And no sneaking one bag in at 45 pounds and the other at 55 pounds. 50 pounds. No argument. Luckily, we got there early enough that we could rearrange our suitcases and move things like bottled water around. There is nothing like neatly packing your suitcase at home and then having to rip it all apart to move 7 pounds from one bag to another in the middle of the Vancouver Amtrak station.

I'm not really complaining. It is all part of the experience and it wasn't a huge deal, just annoying.

So after the uneventful train ride we took a taxi to our hotel downtown. We stayed at the Sheraton, which was really nice. Friday morning we took a taxi over to the pier. Fun fact - For some reason taxi drivers get cranky about 6 pieces of heavy luggage (even though none of them were over 50 pounds). And they don't think a trip from downtown to the pier is worth their time. A fare is a fare, isn't it?

We had a terrific bording experience. We got to the pier about 11:00 and we were checked in and in our room by 11:30. The a/c was being worked on and the cabins were really stuffy for the first couple of days, but we got a fan and eventually it cooled off.

Here is our itinerary:
Fri June 10 Seattle
Sat June 11 Cruising Inside Passate
Sun June 12 Ketchikan
Mon June 13 Cruising Tracy Arm (Twin Sawyer Glaciers)
Tue June 14 Juneau
Wed June 15 Icy Strait Point
Thu June 16 At Sea
Fri June 17 Anchorage
Sat June 18 Homer
Sun June 19 Kodiak
Mon June 20 Cruising Hubbard Glacier
Tue June 21 Sitka
Wed June 22 At Sea
Thu June 23 Victoria
Fri June 24 Back to Seattle

We did a lot of things and had a lot of fun. It would make this post REALLY long if I told you about everything we did in these two weeks, so I will just summarize each area we visited and provide a few pictures. I think I'll do semi-individual posts for each area.

Ha! Now you have to wait for me to write those.

Soon

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I got back from vacation and before I could recover from that, I got walloped with a nasty respiratory infection. I spent 4 1/2 days in bed and am just now poking my nose back out into the world. I watched a lot of GLEE, but that's about it. I still haven't finished unpacking!

Anyway, I will post some stuff soon. Here's a teaser for you:


This is the baby polar bear that was found orphaned in Alaska somewhere. I got to see her at the Anchorage Zoo. Cute, isn't she? She is moving to a zoo in Kentucky sometime this month because they have too many bears to take care of already at the zoo here.

It's Coming Up!

What movie is this from?

“Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. “Mankind.” That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom… Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution… but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: “We will not go quietly into the night!” We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!”

North To Alaska

Secrets

I think I just uncovered a secret that cell phone companies are not going to be happy I found. I have had a T-Mobile pay-as-you-go account for about a year now. We used to pay about $90/month for 1,000 shared minutes and we never came close to using them, so we ditched the monthly plan. With this pay-as-you-go plan, I have no contract and pay .10/minute for my calls. A $100 prepaid card gives me 1,000 minutes and lasts me 9 or 10 months. I thought that was an awesome deal until I went and got my smart phone. Yes, I've joined the 21st century and now am the proud owner of an LG Optimus.

So here's the really cool part. For $1.49, I get unlimited internet access with all the data I can use for 24-hours. From anywhere I can get T-Mobile service. A buck-fifty! For all the internet I can use!

And here is the REALLY, REALLY cool part. I can use wi-fi and get on the internet and IT DOESN'T COST ME A THING!

Why isn't everyone exploiting this?

Are You A Hoopy Frood?

Don’t forget that Towel Day is May 25th! Do you know where your towel is?

For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, this should clear it up:

The original quotation that referenced the importance of towels is found in Chapter 3 of Douglas Adams's work The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

“ A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in "Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is." (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)”

— Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Borrowed From A Friend

The world did not end yesterday; it was just being rebooted. Please be sure your security software is up to date. Run a full scan of your life and remove any malicious files which may be damaging your joy, stealing your hope, or slowing down your blessings. If you need more instructions, please refer to the users manual, readily available or put your hands together, bow your head and contact tech support.

You Can't Go Home Again

One of my favorite things in high school was being a part of the choir. I have wonderful memories of singing, retreats and even a tour to Victoria, BC. Our choir teacher, Mr. Baker, was one of my favorite teachers. He taught us all so much and solidified my life-long love of music that was begun in the womb (thanks Mom!).

A few months back Mr. Baker announced that after 31 years of teaching he was retiring after the 2011 class graduated. A group of alumni got together to put together a big celebration and alumni concert. That all happened this weekend.

I haven't gone to my 10 or 20 year high school reunions mostly because I didn't want to see most of the people I went to school with (that and I didn't want everyone to see I'd gained so much weight). This was totally different, I actually LIKED the people I was in choir with so I was excited to go. And I really respected Mr. Baker and wanted to be a part of his celebration.

There were representatives from every year he taught at Rex Putnam except for 1994. It was really cool. We gathered in the new auditorium that was built after I graduated and sat in the old familiar semi-circle...sopranos on the left, bases and tenors in the middle and altos on the right. He got the rehearsal going with a rhythm game we always played in school with him clapping out a beat that we all echoed. It was the perfect way to get all us back in the groove since every one of us remembered it.

After a quick vocal warm up (played by his youngest daughter who wasn't even born when I graduated and is now a sophomore in college), we launched into the A-Choir trademark - The Lord Bless You and Keep You. I sung that song a million times during the 4 years I was at RPHS and it remains one of my favorite songs to this day. I didn't even bother to pull the music out for it.

We had a 3 hour rehearsal that just took me back 23 years to his classes at school. It was almost like I'd never left. We ran through a couple of pieces we did every year and then started learning a couple of new songs. Boy, was I out of practice sight reading. I was never great at it, but I could at least keep track of where I was!

After a break and then another practice on the risers we had a dinner over in the school. Boy, has that changed! They've done so much remodeling that it didn't even look like the school I remembered. The cafeteria is in a new place, there is a new gym, a whole new wing of administrative offices. I guess it's true what they say "you can't go home again." It was a really weird feeling to be back in that building I spent four years in and not really recognize it.

I spent a lot of Saturday alternating between feeling really old (those kids that are graduating this year look so young and are so full of life!) and being really glad I wasn't in high school any more.

It was a great day and although my voice is sore today I'm so glad I participated to the fullest.

One of the alumnus's daughter caught this video of the closing of the concert last night when we all sang The Lord Bless You and Keep You, our signature closing. You'll catch a quick glimpse of me if you look. My grateful thanks to the person whose daughter took this footage and I hope you don't mind that I linked to it!

Off to See the Wizard

I'm literally off to see the Wizard. You are probably all green with envy, right? I know, groan, bad puns, but I HAD to say it! In about 5 minutes I'm leaving to meet up with Maiden, do a little boxing on the way to Eugene and go see Wicked. I'm so excited! I can't wait to see it and put it all together.

Leah, you were so right and I was so wrong about this musical. Thank you for making me see the light!

Happy Administrative Professional's Day!

Hope you all had a great Administrative Professional's Day on Wednesday. I know many of you don't actually have a job where that is your title, but everyone supports someone.

I was spoiled rotten here at work, even though I wasn't at work on APD. I got gift certificates to Starbucks, Barnes & Nobel and Borders. And flowers. And lovely cards telling me how wonderful I am. It was really very nice. I felt like such a princess!

I wasn't at work Wednesday because I had a flat tire on my way home Tuesday night. I had attended a seminar at OMSI (SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best - it was excellent) and was heading home on I-5 when I heard this really loud bang. Freaked me out. I figured someone had a) hit me, b) shot at me, or c) my tire had blown out. I pulled over as soon as I could and hopped out to take a look. Sure enough, flat tire.

I wasn't really paying attention my location before the blow out, and I wasn't where I could see any signs, so I had to guess where I was located. I have road side assistance included with my car insurance, so I called them and tried to describe it. Unfortunately, the call center for the road side assistance is located somewhere else, so they had no clue what I was talking about. When I told them "Oregon, I-5 northbound, just north of the Interstate Avenue exit" it got translated to the mobile repair company as "I-5 northbound, just north of the Interstate bridge." Which, as you Oregonians and Washintonians all know, if you are north of the Interstate bridge on I-5 is in Washington, not Oregon. Luckily, they were able to find me. I'm pretty sure I was the only 2000 Ford Expedition on the side of the road with a flat tire on the northern 5 mile stretch of I-5 in Oregon.

Anyway, the repair guy came in about 20 minutes and changed my flat for me. In the Expedition, the spare tire is stored under the back end of the truck and you have to do some fancy gyrations to get it out. It's great to store it there because it is totally out of the way, but it is a pain in the butt to get it out or put it back. I was back on the road in less than an hour. Best of all, I didn't have to pay anythign for it. Yay insurance!

Since I had the spare on, I decided not to push my luck and drive to Gresham with it on and went to Costco in Vancouver to see if they could fix my tire. It had a hole the size of my pinky in it, and I was sure I was looking at buying one, if not two, tires. Lucikly, they were able to repair it, put the regular tire back on, put the spare away and made sure all my tires were filled. It took a while though, so by the time I was done it was after noon and I decided to take the rest of the day off. Not much point in driving to work for a few hours. Gas is too darned expensive!

So there you have it. That was my APD. What did you do?

Over!

So I made it through Lent and kept my goals. I drank enough pop today to make me sick (even though the vending machine was out of diet Coke and I had to have diet Pepsi instead....yeeech). And I've been playing on my computer (read: Facebook) all night. I feel so naughty!

Hope everyone had a good Easter. Greg wasn't feeling well, so we had a quiet day. I watched most of Jesus Christ Superstar. Do you think that's enough of a religious celebration of Easter? I have to say, whenever I picture Jesus, he looks just like Ted Neely. Okay, that might be blasphemous. Sorry if it is, but he just looked the part so well!

Did you read about the modern trial of Jesus? I thought this was really interesting. I wish I was smart enough to talk knowledgeably about it. Since I'm not, I'll just say it was interesting.

What's New?

So not a lot is new around here, but I felt like I should post something. Not that anyone is actually READING my blog any more (or if you are, you aren't commenting!), but whatever.

So it's the middle of April already. I've survived two budget hearings, already got my tax refund back, and have finally gotten rid of the last of the cold that lingered around forever. I also have a new nephew. That was kind of exciting. You won't believe the amount of angst shopping for premie diapers caused me.

What else? Went to the 2011 Spring Flinger letterboxing gathering and had a fabulous time. Taken the dogs to the CASEE center a couple of times between rain showers and let them chase the frogs (we even saw a turtle last time we were there).

I've stayed away from the evils of diet Coke since Lent began and also stayed off the computer at home after 5. It hasn't been easy, but when you make a promise to God, it gives you good incentive to stick to your goal.

I've got one more budget hearing to go (hopefully it won't go to two more) and that headache is over. This year has been a lot better for me, as the budget team has been reconfigured and the responsibilities were distributed differently. I actually got to be just an admin!

I really, really want to go see Wicked in Eugene in the next couple of weeks. Got to find someone to go with me though.

So that catches you all up on what is going on in my life. Not very exciting, but there you are.

Car Back

I got my car back! Yay! There was a problem with another one of the spark plugs.

I can't tell you how much better I feel having my own car back. It was very uncomfortable not having it!

Who knew I was such a control freak?

What's the Date, Again?

I drove home yesterday and ended up driving in a SNOWSTORM! There was over an inch of snow/hail on the ground by the time I made it to my house. WTF? Isn't it April? Weird, weird weather. This morning there was still snow on rooftops and in the grass.

Since the weather isn't getting any better, I splurged and ordered these boots:


Aren't they great?

Cars

I hate it when cars have problems. I totally take it for granted when they work and all I have to do is put in gas, change the oil, and rotate the tires. When they have to go into the shop to be worked on, my life turns upside down.

Take yesterday, for instance. My car was missing and acting like there was a spark plug problem (I only know this because I've had sparkplug trouble before). So I took it to our mechanic. The mechannic we (used) to use is over in Hazel DellTo do this, I had to go into work late, rent a car, and pay for having the stupid thing fixed. It was a giant pain in the ass.

Then I had to gas up the rental car, return it, get a ride over to the mechanic's, wait around to pay for it only to get in the car and HAVE THE PROBLEM NOT FIXED! Yes, that's right. It was exactly the same as when I took it in. Still missing and shuddering and not working. Let me tell you, I was steamed. I think the air might still be blue over there in Hazel Dell from all my swearing.

The mechannic let me use his car, which was nice, but I want my car back! Grr.

Okay, thanks for letting me vent. I haven't heard from him yet today, so we'll see what happens. Stay tuned!

My Happy Place

Lent Update

Well, I've been on the no soda, no computer at home after 5:00 for 4 1/2 days now and have managed to survive. Can't say I've gotten a whole lot of other stuff done yet, but I haven't spent my evenings after work playing on the computer either. Early days, folks. Early days.

A Treasure's Trove

I found the coolest thing today. I was at the library and on a whim looked up letterboxing. They had one book, The Letterboxer's Companion, by Randy Hall, which, of course, I already have. Out of curiosity I thought I'd go and see what other books are shelved near by 796.14. I found this interesting book called The Official Solution Book to A Treasure's Trove by Michael Stadther. The pictures on the cover looked interesting so I flipped through it. I saw some images that I thought my amazing carving friends might like so I decided to take it home and see if anyone had it yet.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at it further and discovered this was the ultimate letterboxers fantasy. This guy created a story called A Treasure's Trove in a children's book, illustrated it with clues hidden in the illustrations to 12 tokens that were hidden across the country that could be exchanged for one of 12 animals in the story made of precious gems. The 12 gemstone animals were worth over a million dollars together! Now that all of the tokens have been found he can tell the full story of who, what, why, and most importantly, WHERE!

This is AMAZING! I have yet to look at the actual book but the Solution book tells where all the information is hidden in the pictures. I am in awe. This guy is an amazing artist and has a very intricate mind to come up with some of the stuff explained in this book.

No one let Maiden anywhere near this book. She will start making clues so hard my head literally will explode. I solved this clue of hers last night. Yeah, that's right. It leads to a letterbox! A very cool letterbox that I was first finder on, I might add.

Anyhoo, I'm off to look at my book and marvel some more.

It's Time!

It's time to decide on those Lent activities for 2011. I am going to do the no soda thing again this year. It really is bad for me and I continually hope that by giving up diet Coke for Lent I will be able to give it up forever. Not yet.

I'm also adding an additional challenge to this year's Lent. I am making a goal to not use the computer at home after 5:00 p.m. I'm wasting too much time on the computer doing stupid stuff, so I am cutting myself off. I have to specify that is just at home because I have Budget Committee hearings starting soon and I don't imagine anyone will be thrilled with me if I tell them I can't use my computer after 5:00 for religious reasons.

So don't expect to see me on the computer in the evenings. I will be putting my time to better use...somehow. I will still check in the mornings and I can play in the afternoon if I want, but not after 5:00.

2011 Iditarod

It's that time of year again! I get to bore everyone with the Iditarod updates. This year I am rooting for a Kiwi named Bob Storey. Bob is 65 and a Rookie for the Iditarod. OMG! I can barely take the dogs to the park and this guy is doing his first Iditarod race at SIXTY-FIVE! Go Bob!

New Simon's Cat - Sticky Tape

Yay! A new Simon's Cat film!

More Letterboxing

Today I went with some of my bestest letterboxing girlfriends out for some more boxes. We:
**saw the world's narrowest bridge (also the world's narrowest animal crossing)
**saw the world's tallest totem pole
**saw the school they used in the Twilight movie
**found the world's lamest geocache
**got 9 wonderful letterbox stamps
**read in the bathtub

Here's the world's narrowest bridge, also known as Nutty Narrows.




Isn't that cute? We didn't see any squirrels using it, but I think we all entertained the locals by taking pictures.

(Info copied directly from Wikipedia)

The Nutty Narrows Bridge is a bridge dedicated to squirrels in Longview, Washington. It has the title of the "World's Narrowest Bridge" and also the "World's Narrowest Animal Crossing." The Nutty Narrows was named by a local councilwoman after the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Before the bridge was built, squirrels had to avoid speeding traffic by running across street to eat a nutty feast at an office building and back again to a park with large trees.

On March 19, 1963, Amos Peters, after seeing many squirrels be flattened, decided to protect squirrels and give them a way to cross a busy thoroughfare without getting killed by passing cars. The original sky-bridge was built over Olympia Way near the Civic Center in downtown Longview.

Designed to look like a mini-suspension bridge, the 60-foot-long (18 m) span and made of an aluminum piping covered with a retired firehose to create the roadway. The total cost for the bridge was $1000.

We also went to the Kalama Totem Poles where we found the world's tallest totem pole.





from Cowlitz County Deptmt. of Tourism brochure...

The four totem poles feature mythical forms, symbols and creatures of Pacific Northwest Native American culture. The poles were carved in the early 1960s by native American artist and craftsman, the late Chief Don Lelooska. the tallest pole, at 140', was carved from a 700 year-old Western Red Cedar. Easily visible for miles, the totem poles give a sense of long-ago Native American lore and tradition to the beaches and recreation areas along the modern scenic Columbia River. Marine Park is a beutiful and relaxing family day-use facility and provides walking and picnicking adjacent to the historic Columbia River.

I didn't take pictures of Kalama High School, which was used as the Forks High School in the movie Twilight. It was pouring down rain by then. Here's a picture I borrowed off the internet:

It's a neat looking school.

I also don't have pictures of the world's lamest letterbox, because it was just too boring to take a picture of it. It was a small, magnetic key holder with a pre-made "log book" in it with nothing filled out on it and absolutely nothing in the box. Huh? Why bother?

I won't post the pictures I have of people looking for boxes in case I give away a clue, but we found 9 boxes that were just terrific. Some of them hadn't been found since SEPTEMBER! What a shame since they were spectacular.

We went to the coolest library in Longview. The box is in the children's area and we spent a long time playing around here it was so neat. Here we are in the bathtubs they provided. They were surprisingly comfortable!



There was a mini-Nutty Narrows inside the library. Cute!


So there we have it. A wonderful letterboxing day with wonderful friends.

Letterboxing

Fabulous!

I just got home from seeing Broadway Rose's production of Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was a fabulous production. Joesph has always been one of my favorite musicals. Julie & I saw it at Lakewood Theater a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it, but this production blew that one out of the water. It was fun, frivolous, well cast, had great costumes, and lots of laughs. Oh, and some very inspired bananas.

Anyone in the Portland area reading this really needs to invest $30 and go see this show before it ends on March 6th. It's well worth the price of admission. You won't be sorry!

Home Sick

Well, that stupid cold moved in and made itself all comfortable. I was home sick today. While I felt like crap and slept most of the day, I did have some perks. I was in bed with my whippets (for healing touch), iTouch (for games), iPod (for music), cell phone (to run everyone at work while at home) and my new netbook (for keeping up with Frontierville). Now if I could just get rid of the graham cracker crumbs in my bed, I'd be in heaven!

Great

And a big fat sarastic THANNK YOU to everyone who came to work sick and gave me their stupid cold cooties. I tried to send you all home, but did you listen to me? Now I have a cough and a stuffy head.

Thanks for sharing...not.

Mine!

Greg's new bed is here and installed. He's painted the room a lovely gray color, replaced the trim, put up a headboard, installed new nightstands and lights, got new sheets and a blanket, and, most importantly, IS SLEEPING IN HIS NEW BED! Which means the girls and I are back to normal. I actually slept pretty well last night and Carmen & Sophie were in the same spots when I woke up, so I think they slept well, too. G said he actually slept some last night too, so happiness abounds in our separate bedrooms.

It sounds so cold to say that we don't share a bedroom, but after sharing for a while, I remember why we went to this arrangement.

He still has some things to do (like window treatments and redoing the closet) before the room is completely finished, but it is at least functional. I'll see if he'll let me in his room long enough to take some pictures to post here.

Progress is a good thing.

It's Time to Chill

Okay, world. It's time for everyone to take a chill pill. People are going freaking bonkers out there. Mailing puppies in priority mail boxes at USPS? "Euthanizing" sled dogs (whatever you do, DON'T read the details on this atrocity...you'll have nightmares)? Backing out of driveways on to busy streets without looking? Meeting police responding to a 911 call with a rifle in hand? Walking on freeways? Are you people freaking crazy? Not to mention the rising gas prices, budget cuts, unrest in Egypt, bad weather across the US, a cyclone hitting Austrailia....it's like there is a full moon out there 24/7 with Mother Nature in a very bad mood.

Everyone take a deep breath. Take two extra seconds to think about what you are doing. Hug your dog/cat/kid/spouse/fish. Walk in the woods. Go letterboxing. Do a puzzle. Unplug from your electronic world and just breathe. We'll all get through this. Let's not try to kill each other in the meantime.

On the plus side, Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring! Yay, Phil!

Oh Gods of New Beds...

...have pity on us poor mortals and make Greg's new mattress come in today. I don't think I can share my bed much longer!

That sounds silly, doesn't it? G & I have slept in seperate rooms for years. Because he's getting a new bed and gave his old one to his niece, we've been sharing again. No one is especially happy about this. The dogs are pissed because they always sleep with me and are kicked out of THEIR bed and banished to their (heated) dog beds in the office. I'm annoyed because he's a bed hog and a cover hog and listens to the radio really loud. He's annoyed because he's a very light sleeper and every noise or move I make wakes him up. None of us are getting much sleep. Not only that, I'm wearing black shoes with blue pants today because I got dressed in the dark. Woe is me!

Huh. Guess I don't share that well anymore!

Smells Like Nirvana

This thought drifted through my mind yesterday as I left work and enjoyed a few brief minutes of sunshine and spring-like weather. It smelled like Spring and for some reason the Weird Al "Smells Like Nirvana" song started playing in my head. I love Weird Al. I dragged Greg to go see him in concert at the Clark County Fair a few years ago. It was a great show.

Anyhoo, I was happy for a few minutes of sunshine. It's been so wet and soggy and grey lately. It was a definate lift to the spirit.

Today is my sweetie's birthday. He is on the downside of his 40s now. Seems so weird to think that in 3 years he'll be 50! Yikes.

It's also my dad's birthday. Happy Birthday Dad! I won't say how old he is here, but he doesn't seem any older to me than he did when I was a kid. How does he do that?

Everything else is same old, same old. Yawn.

How We Spend A Sunday Afternoon

More Sloths

Getting tired of the sloths yet? Here is the Potty Training a Sloth video.

Potty training at the sloth orphanage from Amphibian Avenger on Vimeo.

What I Want for My Birthday

I've decided what I want for my birthday. I want to adopt a baby sloth. They are so danged cute! The Tranquility level will be plenty, thank you.