Seven.Caged.Tigers

Instead of my usual khaki and Gap attire, today I get to wear jeans. I’m so happy to be relaxed–though I am still wearing Gap, but that goes without saying. Anyway, the reason for the dress down day was that it is College of Engineering Clean Up Day. So as such, we all are charged with gutting/cleaning/tidying our own areas. My office is now neat as a pin. No. Really. I actually did clean it all up for those of you who doubt just how clean my office could POSSIBLY be

This weekend will hopefully be at least somewhat relaxing. I will probably get to see Matrix Reloaded (finally). Also, on Saturday night I’m headed to Memphis Smoke in Royal Oak in celebration of Christina (JT’s friend Jim’s fiance) and her birthday. She’s so young. I feel so old. Sunday will be nothing but laziness. I’ve promised myself that reward.

I just found a site that will feed me with all sorts of apocalyptic fiction for a long time in the future. Check out EmptyWorld.

In other news, Dewey loves everybody. See?

Hate me now. My diet is clearly working. I’ve still lost *just* 25lbs, but I’m also wearing a pair of J. Crew size 8 khakis. They aren’t exactly meant to be form fitting, but nothing about them looks bad as far as I can tell.

Yesterday was normal. Nothing special. I worked, came home and exercised and ate dinner. I did get to talk to Kristin. It was nice to converse since it has been a few months since we last talked. We’re planning on getting together some time in the not too distant future–after her season as volleyball coach is finished. We may even invite the husbands along.

Click Here For Comic

That comic is scary, but true. The news media has blended together the September 11th happenings and the war in the Middle East. It seems that such things are easier to digest when people and events are in cohoots. Bad, bad, bad media. Saddam Hussein did not have a whit to do with the WTC. Period.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

My three day vacation has been pretty relaxing. Sure I had to occasionally do a bit of cleaning, but overall it has been pretty even keel. I like that. I love that. I’ve gotten in a lot of movie and TV watching and video game playing. Yeah I’m a nerd, but I’m married so some guy fell for me even with that quirk.

One thing about the weekend I wish is that it was actually warm. I think the warmest it’s gotten has been like 59 degrees or something. I’d hoped to get some sun time in, but alas–it’s all been house time. But I’ve managed to wound myself not once, but twice. I lost my cap (again) and I also broke my baby toe on my left foot. I can’t wait for JT to get home and see me all screwed up. Maybe it will give him the hint that he needs to supervise me a bit more often

Today is Memorial Day. The parade goes directly by my house. I’m not watching this year. It’s pretty small. The neighborhood is all pretty obnoxious. Last year, I almost didn’t get a spot on my own front yard. People invade, set up chairs, and then yelp when you say “this is my house, I’m sitting HERE.” The parade doesn’t start until noon, but by quarter to ten there were already people on my yard. I don’t know them. ANY OF THEM. They just put chairs out and “reserve” spaces. I feel like just going out there to be an ass and picking the middle of the crowd and saying “I’m sitting here. Period.”

Then again, it wouuldn’t be any fun without somebody to share with the glory.

Shipshewana was lovely. The weather wasn’t exactly idea, but with wind and sporatic drizzle most all of the crowds were kept away. The vendors on the other hand were more than happy to serve us brave shoppers. Much of my family was there–a few cousins, aunts, and uncles. And with a little urging from them I spent money. Not a lot, but enough that I will have to live a bit frugally for a while. So what did I buy?

- Jewelry: 2 pairs of earrings, 1 necklace (14k gold)
- Wrapping Paper: 5 rolls (including one M&M roll specifically for JT’s family)
- Silk Flower Arrangements: 2 large ones (one red geranium, one yellow daisy)
- Candles: 5 (three for myself, two for gifts)
- Decorations: 3 small pots of silk flowers for my window sill above the sink, one swag for above the closet, three red bottles for my bedroom
- etc, etc, etc…

As you can see, I had a grand time. I love Shipshewana.

No worries. After the quick cap repair that will be happening today (it fell out Friday night while at a lovely restaurant in Detroit called Fishbone’s), I will be going with much of my family to Shipshewana. Don’t expect me around for a few days, but expect plenty of talk when I finally get back. I promise to have fun.

One last thing for today. This site: Plugged In is crap.

The creators need to go back to the dark, dirty hole from where they came. Their reviews are offensive and their idea of music is LAUGHABLE to say the very least. The fact is that all music has something to say and an audience to appreciate it. To speak about Marilyn Manson, nine inch nails, Beck, Pantera, and others as though they are untalented hacks is short-sighted. Why don’t they just admit that they do not in fact like rock and roll or alternative forms of music unless is has the god stamp of approval on the cover.

Pure shit I tell you. The whole place reeks of it. I need to go take a hot shower now.

How did this week speed by so quickly? It is amazing. It seems like I was just waking on on Monday morning dreading the work week ahead. And now, here it is Friday morning and I’m about to have two entire days off. There is a problem though…those days will speed by at the same pace as the week. Can’t my vacation days last longer?

With that said, JT has been gone every single evening this week. It is starting to get old. He gets invited to a Tigers game. He goes. He gets invited to a movie with a co-worker. He goes. Why can’t I have any friends within a reasonable distance?

One last thing. Congrats go out to Jeremy Curry for landing a job in Northville. It was a long time in the coming, but you are deserving of the position. YEAH!

This morning–well–didn’t go so well. See I had a dentist appointment. Basically it was the dentist following up on the root canal and then fitting me with a temporary cap and molding me for a permanent gold cap for my molar (as my sister exclaimed “bling, bling!”). Anyway, that was all fine and dandy. It took a long while of drilling and filling to finish the process but after an hour and a few minutes I was done.

So I went to the counter to check out. The way my dental insurance works is that I have to pay up front. Unfortunately, I only have about $250 left of my yearly coverage after all of this recent work. Anyway, I get my total. $1114. Now, I expected it to be a lot of money…but that is ridiculous. Even more ridiculous? That I had to pay it up front and then my insurance will reimburse me. Too bad they won’t cover much of it at all.

It isn’t like I couldn’t have had the procedure. The pain was horrible. Had I kept the tooth intact and with nerve it would have eventually caused me more trouble and in the end costed more money. But for that single tooth, the charges have already reached the two thousand dollar mark. Damn. I never knew how expensive dental work is.

In other news, I just learned that my sister Cheryl is headed to the London debut party for the new Led Zeppelin DVD and CD sets. I’m jealous as hell to put it bluntly. She’s promised me that she’ll get me autographs. And if you’re reading, sis, I expect nothing less. You know I love ‘ya. I must tomorrow live vicariously through you as you schmooze (is that how you spell it?) with TRUE celebrity.

Lucky dog.

As I mentioned, I’m home and I’m alive. Nothing about my flight to or from Chicago was harrowing. The only really troublesome thing was that O’Hare was oppressively hot. I sat waiting patiently for my flight in a sticky vinyl seat sweating my non-existent balls off (to put it bluntly). I finally asked the woman sitting across from me if it was just warm or if I was alone in my assessment. Well, she completely agreed.

Turned out that she was originally from Michigan but has lived in Tucson for an age. She was on her way to NYC to visit her son. We chatted…she was a nice woman. Finally, after speaking about a zillion times of her son (of whom she must be very proud), her granddaughters, and her daughter in law (who was just hit by a car while jogging) I asked what her son does for a living. Well, her response shocked the crap out of me. She replied “executive producer of NBC Sports.” Really very matter of factly…as I sat there amazed I couldn’t believe I just ran into the mother of this guy who is obviously incredibly special. She went on to say that he worked his way up from the ground level as a go-for. I guess it worked.

In other news, the cats are certifiably insane. Actually, just the two boys (Max and Dewey). Yesterday as I sat on the couch and unwound from my long weekend I heard this HORRIBLE noise echoing through the house. Suddenly, the two of them jumped on me (scratching one of my arms) and flew into the corner. I had no clue what was going on aside from the fact that both were panicked (and Sara was unaffected). So after opening my eyes I looked to see the damage. Aside from the flipping of a bowl of potpourri, my house was in fine shape. Dewey and Max on the other hand were not. They seemed wounded as they huddled in the corner. Well, one look told me exactly why. Both of them had simultaneously gotten wrapped up in large gift bags (neatly folded in the basement). I think the handle was around their next. So of course they were running each running to escape their own EVIL BAG. Dewey was the most frightened of the lot. He is never scared, but he just sat in the corner shaking as JT and I laughed our butts off. It could EASILY be the funniest thing they have ever done.

Real entry coming tomorrow…I PROMISE:

Are you damned?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

You’re coming back! And if you are a Hindu you are going to have very specific characteristics:

“The slayer of a woman and the destroyer of embryos becomes a savage full of diseases; who commits illicit intercourse, a eunuch; who goes with his teacher�s wife, disease-skinned. The eater of flesh becomes very red; the drinker of intoxicants, one with discolored teeth….” (Garuda Purana)

I’m back…and I’m a hellion:

the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Take the Dante’s Inferno Hell Test

Work beckons me to attend a conference on the outskirts of Chicago. As such, I’ll be MIA until the weekend or early next week (if I don’t get to updating over weekend). With that said, think of me when you watch American Idol. And if you want to get the newest look at me after the 20-25lbs of weight loss, just look below. And be warned…it’s a close up (not too close!). I really should have take a full body before and after, but I didn’t have any idea whether or not the diet was actually going to work. So, I didn’t want to capture potential failure on film if you get the drift.

Well…uhhhh…wish me luck in Chicago. I own’t be in the actual city and as such won’t be able to enjoy shopping or fooding. But I’ll definitely be up for some relaxation and a few days off of the rigors of the normal workday. Plus, it’s a ‘tech’ conference–whatever that means–so I should be learning of so new technologies and gadgets. And I like gadgets and new technology. A lot.

Bye, bye weekend. Ya know, you expect to have some level of relaxation over your days off. Of course, I did enjoy the Friday-night viewing of X-Men 2 (including my sheer delight at personally getting cutters sent to the BACK of the line where they belonged)…but aside from that it was chaotic as usual.

Saturday was busy. First, I headed to Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi and picked up another two pairs of jeans to go with my newly svelte figure. Then, I had to trudge over to a Country Club in Northville for a bridal shower. After a few hours there spent talking, eating, and watching gift opening I headed over to Barnes & Noble where I (as usual) got in trouble. Saturday evening was a toss up. I wasn’t positive whether I wanted to go to the bachelorette party, but I went anyway…mostly because she chose JD’s Key Club for the locale. And in all honesty, JD’s is one of the few bars I can even halfway stomach.

Sunday was also pretty crazy. Again, JT and I headed to Novi…but this time he had to get some hockey equipment. He’s playing roller hockey on Mondays for much of the summer with a college friend. We returned home and then commensed to working on the yard. First things first…to drown the mole out of his hole. After a few hours of trying, we dug up a dirt part of the yard and discovered that in fact he burrows feet under the ground and sometimes straight down with the roots of our long gone Chinese elm. JT spent time thatching the yard. Joy, oh joy. I know. What excitement.

But last night we got the pleasure (finally!) of watching Six Feeet Under. I adore that show. It’s just enough twisted that it pulls me back every week. What in the world would I do without HBO? I might just die. No. Really. Anyway…it’s getting great and as the end of the season nears I wonder who is going to die. Somebody is going to die. But who?

Hell has frozen over. Officially. See, there was no question at all from ANYBODY that Josh Gracin should go home. His songs were bad…really bad. So bad in fact that the audience wasn’t at all ravved up. I mean even the absolute WORST performances usually get people clapping. Not Mr. Gracin. Well…last night shock of all shocks Trenyce was in the bottom two. I expected that. But what I couldn’t have possibly ever imagined was that Josh Gracin would be completely safe and RUBEN of all people would be in the bottom two.

Fine, he wasn’t eliminated…but let’s examine the motivation here. Ruben is hands down, the best out there. He should win and if America had more than one brain cell he would win. I guess America just thought that everybody else was voting for him or something and that Gracin needed a get out of jail free card. He did not. He sucks. Period. Anyway, I suspect America’s little teeny-boppers think he’s all brave and macho and hot. Personally, I think he’s a moderately talented hack with a few too many pounds who looks like a pud. But then again, he’s in the military. Whoopty doo.

So for the sake of the world and American Idol, do what Ryan Seacrest suggested and VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE! See what happens when you don’t? Gawd.