Seven.Caged.Tigers

The family crap I mentioned but a little yesterday is shaking out. I’d hoped it would, but one never knows!

My grandfather, the one going into hospice, is getting worse by the day. He passed out and fell yesterday and when he came to he complained of back pain. They gave him a CT and found no evidence of stroke or heart attack. I suggested to my mum to tell the docs/nurses when she sees them that he tends to pass out if he gets overly anxious, emotional, or stressed out. Since he’s not sleeping I would think that might cause some amount of stress…

I’m so ready for this weekend. The temps rose to the low eighties yesterday. Considering two days earlier it snowed, it seemed like some kind of miracle. Of course, as all folks know about Michigan weather it can change in a blink of an eye. It’s supposed to thunderstorm a bit today and tomorrow morning there’s a chance of snow. On May 1.

[shudder]

First off, I knew that John Kerry was coming to Ann Arbor last night. I was warned against driving my normal route home. Of course I’m an idiot and just tried to go that way despite the problems…

Well, I’m pleased I chose my usual route. Just as I got on the expressway I saw a huge number of motorcycle cops driving down the road. They had the expressway closed off and were stopping at each exit to make sure no cars got on the roadway. Anyway, I saw them and then I saw the two “Jobs First” massive buses. I assume he was on one of those. It was kind of neat to see the vehicle the man who will be president was riding in.

Second off, there’s a bunch of nasty stuff going down in my family. I refuse to speak to ANY of it aside from just saying that my Grandfather is getting worse by the day. So bad in fact that he has now been assigned to hospice care within the facility he’s housed. From what I know, his posture is getting horrible, he isn’t sleeping, and he’s incontinent among other things. Funny thing though–the hospice nurse who will be in charge of his case is a girl I graduated High School with. She apparently lives not too far from where I live. She’s a nice, intelligent girl so I’m confident in the care she can provide to him.

So very depressing all this family crap. So depressing. I just wish everything would be flower and kittens for a while longer…

It’s been a while since I last posted the link to my dear Maxie-poo. What a sweet kitty. Really he is, the picture is a tad bit disturbing but we love him. I submitted his visage to My Cat Hates You some time ago. It’s been up for quite a while and I still get a good chuckle out of it.

The best thing, though, was that I had two subsequent pictures. The first was Max in normal idiot-eye form and the second was Max in the form above. Right together, in a row. I didn’t get the pics developed for quite some time and was rewarded with a hearty laugh because of it.

What a good kitty.

Will wonders never cease.

It is apparently SNOWING at home right now. You read that right. I work about 25 miles south of my house and the temps are still pretty cold here but I’ve yet to see a “real” flake this morning. But at home, well, at home it is truly snowing. Almost May and mother nature has once again gone insane.

It’s all part of Michigan though. I never expect to actually understand why our weather is so wonky. I know it has to do with the Great Lakes, but still…come on… It used to snow up until the final day of classes when I lived in the UP. But considering it’s latitude that never came as a shock. But in southeast Michigan we’re lucky to get a real winter much less snow in almost May!

Insanity I tell ya…insanity.

I made it back from Florida with only a minor burn to show for it. Kristin, Karyn, and I all had a great time. The weather was sunny and warm and the things we did were outstandingly fun. We did a few tourist-type things–Islands of Adventure/Universal Studios/City Walk and we did a lot of driving and even managed to get a trip down Silver Springs in. I’m seriously exhausted and am actually RELAXING at work. Go figure.

There’s no question that I needed the break. Now I have to wait until June for another time off–a whole week then. And then in July I’ve taken two whole weeks. I can’t wait for summer.

So I look like I was in Florida. My hair bleached out nearly immediately and my face is tan (unless of course you count my burned and peeling forehead). Maybe this summer I won’t look like a transluscent freak of nature Yadda, yadda, yadda. I don’t have anything much to say aside from I had fun. A lot of it.

Not to brag about vacation time BUT…

In November I took a week off for my sister in law’s wedding. I went to Florida. I’m taking another three and a half days off right now for another trip to Florida. In June, I’ve planned a random week off for the hell of it. I think I’m taking eleven days off in July. The first day of August will start and I’ll still have six days of vacation left. And then in September I’ll have eight. October ten. November twelve. December fourteen…you get the picture. I can’t even figure out how in the hell to use my time up, but I can try!

FYI. I’ll be gone to Florida until Monday so if you need more for some strange reason just hold your britches.

JT and I went to the movies on Friday night and saw Dawn of the Dead. It was a VERY good horror flick that far surpasses most of the crap you get in the theater these days…

Here’s a quote that I love:

Kenneth: Is everyone there dead?
Steve: Dead-ish.
Kenneth: Is everyone there dead?
Steve: Yeah, in the sense that they all sort of fell down, and then got up, and they’re eating each other.

Not too long ago, I was complaining that we actually had snow accumulation in Michigan. Well, all that has changed. Since Thursday of last week, temps have topped out over seventy degrees. Over the weekend, they actually got into the eighties! I’m so happy…so relaxed…so pleased with it all. From what weather.com says, it’s not supposed to last. We’re going to get back down into the sixties and then–gasp!–the fifties.

I guess I’m happy that I’m going to Florida tomorrow then. That’s right, you read my words accurately. I’m headed to Florida with a long-time friend (since age 6) to visit another long-time friend. We’re gonna do some beaching and also some Universal Studios-ing. Basically, we’re a couple of relatively low-key gals in our old age. I can’t wait…

The damn water main broke AGAIN at work. Seriously, I’ve never seen a city with as bad a water supply system as Ann Arbor. You’d think that a place with so many wealthy folks and such a wealthy University would get their act together. In the past year alone we’ve been sans water in my building at least three times for an extended period. Not just that, but there have been countless other water main breaks in the vicinity that have fortunately not affected my workplace specifically.

They were supposed to work on it last night, but we were told if they didn’t get it done by X time the workers would go home. Sure enough, it didn’t get done and sure enough we don’t have water (still). So where do we pee? In a building quite a walk away. Where do we get food? Take out, of course. What do they have to fight fire? Not water…because that’s not available. There is water quite literally flowing down the road in a river down the street outside my office windows. It really is an incredible sight.

But the University never shuts down. Never. They didn’t even shut down for the massive power outage last summer. Not officially of course. And since my departmental administration is never affected by such water main breaks, the department never closes. Basically if the Dean is happy then there are no worries. Uh. Wrong. There are buildings with basements with a good deal of water damage. Apparently the underground caves and caverns with power and water pipes are also filling up. I’m just waiting for it to do some real damage to some of the more treasured buildings (mine is not included in that bunch). Maybe then we’ll get something done.

Funny thing is that the food is still being served in the building next door. Of course the toilets don’t even work so I’m not sure where they are getting the water. FWIW, I did buy a frozen Mac n’ Cheese meal and some Combos for lunch so I’m set even if nobody else is…

Now time for some fun Googlisms…

lambchops is trusted by
lambchops is trusted by 401 members
lambchops is fairly hazy in my memory
lambchops is not dead
lambchops is a reality every day
lambchops is a little boy who gets squashed flat when a bulletin board falls on him
lambchops is afraid
lambchops is lazy and promises to work on this site more in the coming months
lambchops is suuuch a fox
lambchops is ranked 193 and has played for 5h3m in 120 days real name
lambchops is riceheroni
lambchops is ‘turned on / by women who ask rhetorical questions’ and he is himself careful to direct his own only at the reader — which requires training

I particularly like the part about me (or not) being suuuch a fox.

Click Here for Article in Free Press

I’m really pretty disturbed by Britney Spears. Of course, I will have to admit that I’ve never been a fan of her brand of manufactured music. Nor have I ever thought that looks could carry an artist. Nor do I respect folks who lip sync and can’t write their own music. But with that said, she’s been popular for the last five or so years for a reason…and that reason is the kids who buy her crap.

And I do mean crap in the most descriptive, disgusting, and bone-chillingly nasty way possible.

But now the woman is caught. She wants to be all racy and sexual and rebellious, but her largely adolescent fan base is disconnected from such an image (as it should be). At the Detroit show reviewed above, it is clear that the whole thing was rather strange and absolutely surreal. Indeed, if that show is any judge of things then her career is headed out the door and down the street.

The most popular morning show in Detroit got tons of calls from parents on the topic. Parents who spent the money on these tickets and who sat with their children in the audience. Fathers who simultaneously drooled at what was happening on the stage and covered their 10 year old’s eyes. I’m sorry, but come on. She knows who her audience is and to do THIS crap is to completely screw yourself in the future. Apparently tickets were easy to come by for this show, and now that she’s managed to completely alienate half of that crowd it’s likely that there will be visibly empty portions of the Palace (if she’s so lucky to dance/lip sync there) next time.

In any case, boo to Miss Spears. Boo.

Hmph. I don’t know. I’m just bored and tired and, well, feeling as though I’m getting old. I guess that starts to happen once your birthdays become a repetitive thing. Seriously, the cool birthdays taper off pretty seriously after you hit 21. At 25 you’re a quarter of a century old. At thirty you’re closing in on middle age. At 40, you’re (of course) “over the hill.” But what about 27? That was my last birthday…

27…2+7 equals 9. 9 Was a good birthday. I don’t remember what I got, but I’m betting it was pretty damn great.

Clearly, I’m in an odd mood. Just deal with it. I’ll return to sulking privately now.

Oh, and for the benefit of those of ya’ll out there who hate my seriously liberal rants here ya go.

Well, I’m back with my nose to the grindstone after a holiday weekend. Not that I got any days off, but still…it seems as though I was gone for longer than two days. In any case, I am ready for Florida. I’m ready for a dose of sun and fun and hopefully a few good beaches…

If I have one major complaint about Michigan (aside from the schitzo weather, the bugs, and the bad roads) it is that we don’t have any beaches. You’d think that with the Great Lakes we’d have something more than a rocky, dirty mess. But that’s not the case–we have rocks, we have dirt, we have black flies, and we have ice cold H20. But no beaches–oh yeah, and we’ve got a ton of wind of the Great Lakes.

Anyway, I can’t wait for vacation.

uh…cat.

A link in honor of my dear, psycho Sara.

I’m not writing because I actually have something of use to say. I’m just writing to say Happy Easter. Not that I’m religous…but still…it means family time and I like family time.

In any case, the weather in Michigan is slowly but surely looking up. Yesterday it was in the mid-50’s. That allowed for us to do some work on the yard. Still, though, we have to thatch the entire back yard. I hate thatching–especially by hand. Maybe next weekend we’ll rent a thatcher that will definitely help out with the whole process. My flowers are coming up–crocuses are blooming and the daffodils are on deck. And my iris patch is getting huge. I can’t wait to see what it looks like this year.

And if not for the damn moles our yard would be great. We’ve done everything from flooding them out to trapping them to poisoning them to killing off their food source. We got a suggestion of a pitchfork–that might be next if the damn things don’t go away soon. I’m gonna roll my ankle on one of the mole trails if things don’t get better ASAP.

There are just folks with whom I fundamentally disagree. Not that it’s a problem, but I am always forced to rethink everything when something different is put in my face. But I don’t think I’m going to change based on this one. See, there are (of course) folks out there who want nothing more than to be rich in their lives. Not emotionally rich, but money rich. Not that money is a bad thing, but I don’t think it defines a person or has an bearing on happiness.

My idea of happiness has more to do with being comfortable, happy, and healthy. All other things rank well below that. By comfortable I mean that I don’t want to “want” for anything. I also want to be stable in life, work, and family. Money can’t do any of that for you so I don’t think money should EVER be the SOLE goal of ANYTHING.

Maybe I’m the strange one, but I hope not. I guess my reason for thinking this was has more to do with my humble beginnings. I was one of the “rich kids” where I grew up. But “rich” there is more like middle class elsewhere. My parents were gainfully employed and in the context of a place where my peers didn’t necessarily have running water or sewer systems that was “rich.” I see my parents, and while they aren’t well off, they are happy. I don’t want money to run my life. I don’t want it to be my singular reason for making choices. Those three things I listed above–comfort, happiness, and health–are my motivations.

Screw the money.

I got this from TheLoveBelow who found it from elsewhere. It’s kinda an interesting little survery…

[Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says] “Attributes:” (Core CSS by Keith Schengili-Roberts)

[Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?] Box of HP Soft Gloss Laser Paper.

[What is the last thing you watched on TV?] 24 last night on FOX

[With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?] The fan whirr from the ceiling.

[When did you last step outside?] 6:45am this morning on the way to work.

[Before you came to this website, what did you look at?] My lovely diet Vanilla Pepsi.

[What are you wearing?] Um. Gap. Go figure. A pair of Clean Cut Khakis, a black twinset, and a pair of Steve Madden shoes.

[Did you dream last night?] No. Don’t think so.

[When did you last laugh?] Like 2 minutes ago while on the phone to the man.

[What is on the walls of the room you are in?] Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and lots of white paint.

[Seen anything weird lately?] Um. Not yet.

[What do you think of this quiz?] Different, very different.

[What is the last movie you saw?] I don’t know–I saw bits and pieces of Armageddon a few nights ago.

[If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?] My college debt.

[Tell me something about you that I don’t know:] I lack a sense of humor–it’s all sarcasm.

[If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?] End war and rid the world of nukes.

[Do you like to dance?] Hell no.

[George Bush:] Power-hungry asswipe with no regard for individuals or education.

[Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?] Madeline Grace

[Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?] Not sure…still thinking on that one…

[Would you ever consider living abroad?] Naw. I’m a homebody.

I finally got the Dew-man into the vet. I just wanted to make sure he is healthy–at 20lbs, how could he possibly be healthy? In any case, he is. No thyroid issues or diabetes, just big fat lazy cat syndrome. But on the upside, he did get a chance to flirt with all the nice vets and techs. They all loved him (go figure) and oohhh-ed and aahhhed over how calm and loving he was.

Whatta cat.

In other news, I can see. My eyes are officially 20/15. It’s an incredible thing. I’ve never been able to see past the tip of my nose and now I can see BETTER than perfect. It is surreal. I can’t help but recommend that anybody interested in LASIK check out the CustomLASIK option. I’ve been so happy…

Not feeling so well. I tried to pass out this morning. Not that it was on purpose, but there’s nothing like being in the shower and watching the world close in on you. Everything blacked out and sound was horribly muffled. I was fortunately done soaping and shampooing but still had to stumble out of the stall and flop on the floor. Eventually things got a bit better, but still–I’m not quite right.

Come to think of it, I haven’t passed out like that since Junior High before I knew I had some sugar issue (ahhh…the joy of genetics). My tummy is a bit upset and the office looks a bit as though I’m peering through a microscope. It’s just not fun. I’m betting I’m getting sick or something.

I just hope that if I am getting woozy from a virus that it’s cleared up by the time Kristin and I head to Florida for five days…Florida, oh Florida. Never in a million years did I, growing up in po-dunk Michigan, think that within twelve months I’d be in Florida twice, Las Vegas, and Chicago–all by way of airplane. Anyhow, that didn’t have much to do with much. I just wanted to check in and complain a wee bit about not feeling well…

Well, uh, well…

It actually snowed yesterday/last night. It started out as rain and then began to sleet. Finally, the snow fell in massive cottony flakes. It was the most incredible weather thing I think I’ve ever seen in April. Then the wind picked up–so hard in fact, that the flakes stuck on our dish and our TV went out until we figured out the issue and JT headed outside with a broom. That’s NEVER happened–not even in the dead of winter.

Anyway, the law of averages would say that this summer should be beautiful. I hope it is…