I'm working on a few things

I have all these ideas about what to write about but nothing is sounding right. I have started a few posts, saved them, and then decided that I don't like the way they read. Since I am incapable of coming up with something clever, I'm not even going to try. I blame Itchy. See, I usually feel like writing in the late evening. It just flows better. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because my chores are done and I can focus better. Either way, Itchy has a test on Monday. It requires him to stare at a bunch of power points. Which means that he needs the computer. There is only one computer. His studying is apparently more important than my blogging. Whatever. Don't worry, there will be funny stories again in a few days.

Did you know that I like animals?

Not just cats either. I like dogs too. In fact, there aren't many animals that I don't like (obviously, I don't like snakes- they are icky and gross). I do believe that animals should be treated humanely and that they have rights. I hate PETA and HSUS. I also can't stand the law that just passed in CA.

Today, Los Angeles signed into effect a mandatory pet sterilization law. Animals will, by law, have to be surgically sterilized. There will be exceptions of course. Those exceptions are exactly what makes this wrong.

They want to become a No-Kill city. It's a great goal (low-kill is a better, more appropriate term though). I completely support fewer animals being needlessly killed. Wouldn't it be great if all shelters could be low-kill? Animals wouldn't need to be killed just because there just isn't room.

However, mandatory spay/neuter laws are not going to achieve this. The people who are willing to comply with these laws would have had their pets sterilized anyway. What about the people who never take their pet to a vet anyway? Not even for routine care. They are already ignoring mandatory licensing of pets (pets need to have an up-to-date rabies vaccine to be licensed and only licensed vets are legally allowed to administer rabies vaccines). So what makes you think that these people are going to change their ways and become pet-law abiding citizens?

Then, of course, you have the back yard breeders. These people have no business breeding pets to begin with. They think puppies/kittens are cute. They are in it for the MONEY. So as long as you have the money, you are the right person to adopt from them. Back yard breeders rarely have the know how to produce a quality litter. The 'purebred' (but he has 'papers') you buy from them will likely have a bucket full of genetic problems. Think that the law will stop the back yard breeder? Nope. Probably not. They will have to have a vet working with them (vet checked puppies can be sold for a lot more). But this vet will probably be outside of the mandated area. The breeder will have an alternate address to 'comply' with the law.

Worse yet we have the puppy mills. Nothing like a factory farmed puppy! Ah, can you smell the parvo? Puppy mills are EXEMPT from this law. They are 'Professional Breeders'. Do I really need to spell out why puppy mills are evil? I can send you links if you are interested in why you should NEVER buy from a puppy mill. So now the puppy mills, who do not have to spay/neuter their money makers, are producing low quality puppies. Lots of them too. The money makers are not genetically screened. The puppies have had little to no human contact prior to adoption, yet the 'Professional Breeders' have done no temperament screening. They don't screen potential owners either. Hand over the money and we'll throw a puppy at you.

Dogs from puppy mills are much more likely to end up in a shelter. Owners end up with a dog that has medical issues they can't afford to treat, behavior issues that they are not prepared to deal with, or a breed of dog that simply doesn't fit in with their lifestyle.

With a responsible breeder, you know what you are getting (no surprises about how big they are going to get, how much they eat, how much exercise and grooming they require). Medical issues are going to happen, but a responsible breeder does genetic screening prior to breeding to lessen the chance that they will produce unhealthy puppies. If something goes wrong and you just can't keep the dog anymore, for whatever reason, a responsible breeder will take the dog back. Even years down the road. Puppy mills will not.

Where do you think those dogs end up? The owners don't want to/can't keep the dog anymore. The puppy mill won't take it back (it has probably been spayed/neutered-thanks to the new law- and is now unusable to them). Guess what? That dog is now going to the shelter. Isn't that ironic? The very thing that this law is trying to avoid (less animals in the shelter means less animals killed at the shelter) is happening because of an exemption to the law.

Responsible breeders and those that show their pets (tons of overlap in those groups) are being punished. Responsible breeders can apply for exemption. Which is great. They will fill out the paperwork and do whatever is necessary. They love the breed that they are breeding and want to make it better. Why make it harder for them? The people who show their pets will also be exempted. If they show their pet by the age of 4 months. Umm, this sounds lovely, but the reality is that AKC shows (as do most others) have a minimum age of 6 months to participate. How does this exempt them? Their 4 month old can't participate in the show for 2 more months.

Not to mention that they are taking away the decision to do what is best for your pet from you. You no longer have any say in it. Yep, you can't decide what is best for your pet. You law abiding people are too stupid to make those decisions.

Since the government seems to know what's best for out pets, maybe now they can help us all find a healthy, poison free food for our pets. Wouldn't that be great?

Remember the auction?

Itchy and I went to an auction a few weeks ago. I wrote about it. Go back and read about it if you haven't already or simply can't remember.

Anyway, Itchy and I won a door prize at that auction. Most of it was not useful but we did receive a gift card for Subway. We were excited about it. Well, Itchy was. I have issues with Subway. But I'll eat there if I it means I don't have to cook.

We decided that we would go use our gift card tonight. We walk there amongst a group of stupid and annoying Kittitian high school students (what they were doing at school at 7 pm is beyond me, but it was probably not good). When we get there, we are the only ones there. Thank goodness (this ties in with my issues). But being the only ones there means that we can't even see any employees, we can hear them though. Itchy makes noise to get their attention. A not-so-happy employee comes out to help. We place our orders. The options are limited. They only have 2 kinds of bread. They only have one kind of cheese. The lettuce looks wilted. The black olives look more brown than black. The tomatoes look a little less than ripe, but still edible. I saw no green peppers. Whatever. We can deal with that. We just picked what looked ok.

We wait at the cash register to pay. Itchy tries to hand her the gift card. She says no. Itchy asks if they take gift cards. She says I don't think so. She yells to another employee who confirms this and she tells Itchy no. Good thing we brought money with us!

So we won a gift card that we can't even use until one of us goes back to the states. What a great prize!

Break

It is the last day of mid-semester break. Itchy's school gives the students a 3 day weekend about half way through the semester. Since Itchy only has school for half the day on Mondays anyway, this didn't really seem like a long weekend. Add to that, that he has to do homework and it's really just another weekend.

We did what we do every mid-semester break. We make plans and then decide we really don't want to/can't afford it. Our first attempt to make plans for this weekend was to go to a different island. A local airline had a 2-for-1 special. So the tickets were really cheap, but the taxes and surcharges were really expensive. Ok, we can't afford that. Never mind, we'll just stay here. We made other plans. We were going to go to the beach on Sunday and then climb the crater on Monday.

We stayed out much too late on Friday night. It's our fault. We should have just taken our car. It was fun though, for the most part. There was one person with us that I get really tired of really quickly and he was no exception on Friday night. No, it was not Itchy. I *like* hanging out with him. Anyway, we got really tired and had no way to leave on our own. We were people watching for the most part. Just watching most of those people at the bar gave me the "Eye KIV". Yes, my eyes got an STD just from watching those people. I'm not going to get into the details here because you imagine for yourself.

Saturday we slept in late. I love sleeping in. I'm also really good at it. We went to IGA and Rams. There are no child labor laws here, so we had a 7 year old bagging our groceries. Ok kid, I appreciate the effort, but seriously, could you go any slower? Please just let me help. I used to live in America. We bag our own groceries there all the time.

We did go to the beach on Sunday. Good old Cockleshell beach. It wasn't that hot out, but it was mostly sunny. I had a very scary snorkeling moment. There wasn't much going on in the water, a few blue fish, an angelfish, and lots of starfish. Then I spotted Spongebob. Who knew that the pineapple was here at Cockleshell beach? It made me laugh. I looked up to make sure that there weren't any boats coming or going and that's when it happened. I saw a sea snake. It was swimming on top of the water and then dove down. I hate snakes. Really hate them (the absolute biggest fear that I have is a snake in a cage). I looked down to make sure that it was swimming away and there it was, touching my leg. I had a mini-panic attack and swam as fast as I could back to shore. Terrifying. I was done with the ocean after that. We left soon after. We were nearly in a car accident on our way home (that's for another post though).

Now, we were going to go climb the crater today. We talked about it last night and decided not to because we'd have to get up early. We would just hike up to the bat cave instead! But this morning we decided that we probably shouldn't. Itchy has a sore back and I have a sunburn. Besides, Itchy has homework. Maybe we'll climb the crater next semester.

Email anyone?

Well, the saga has finally and painfully come to an end. I can email people again! 64 new emails! Since Sunday night. Maybe this isn't a good thing. I haven't even started to work on that yet. I'm hoping for a lot of junk.

Since I know you are all DYING to know how this came to an end, here ya go. I called Mr. Tech Guy at 1 pm. I got through to a real live person! We will call this guy Rob. Rob started out by asking what he could help with. I explained what had gone on over the last week. Rob remembers my emails (right). Rob explained that many, many people were having this problem. Rob said that he can fix this, no problem. Then he asked for my UCard number. What!? I haven't seen my UCard in about 6 years. I sure as hell don't know what my UCard number is. Rob suggests that I call the UCard office to obtain my number. I explain that I'm calling from overseas (which, he would know, if he actually remembered my emails) and would like to avoid unnecessary phone calls. Rob says that without that, he really can't help. Isn't there something we can do to get around this? Rob has to transfer my call to Supervisor Diane. Great. Thanks for all the help Rob.

My call is transferred. I am on hold for about 10 minutes. Then I get to talk to Supervisor Diane. Supervisor Diane is sorry for all the hassle. Thanks Supervisor Diane, can we just get this over with. I JUST WANT TO CHECK MY EMAIL! Of course, I did not yell at Supervisor Diane, that would just be rude. Supervisor Diane needed my driver's license number, social security number, and my student ID number (which is WAY different than a UCard number, but it is printed on your UCard). Now, I haven't had to use my student ID number in years, but I somehow remember it. It's a late President's Day miracle! Supervisor Diane enters and verifies my numbers and then asks me my security question. I hear typing. Supervisor Diane resets my password and TA DA! I have email again!

I thank Supervisor Diane, she apologizes again. Then she explains that because of all the problems that they have had with this "new mandatory password changing program", they have implemented a new system so that passwords can be reset online. Genius! What a wonderful idea. If that system had been in place 6 days ago, I wouldn't have gone through any of this.

So I have email again. If you have been waiting for something, umm, it could be a day or two.

ETA: Supervisor Diane suggests that I call the UCard office to get my UCard number, "just in case".
ETAA: Yes, Rob told him he was transferring my call to Supervisor Diane. She also answered the phone, "hi, this is Supervisor Diane". I wasn't trying to be weird.

Lunar eclipse

Did you see it? Pretty cool stuff. I'm a nerd so I watched it. I know it was way too cold for some of you (Sunshine and those who are still nick-nameless, which I am working on). We had mostly clear skies and a temp around 70 degrees. It was chilly, but with jeans and a long sleeve shirt, it was ok. The eclipse happened at around 11 pm (AST) and was really pretty. I'm pretty sure we saw Saturn too. We were lucky enough to get a pretty decent view from our very own driveway, even with the neighborhood lights. Even the landlord's kids (whom we hate) came out to see it. I doubt they know what they were looking at, but they saw us staring at the sky and came out for a look.

I think the cats were jealous. It's either that or we have a problem with separation anxiety. While Itchy and I were sitting outside enjoying the view the cats were inside making all sorts of noise. Both of them. Loudly. I'm sure they could hear us talking. They knew we were out there. So they sat at the screen door and yelled.

Sorry if you missed it. You'll get another chance in December 2010! Speaking of things that will happen in 2010, my email should be working by then. I hope. Mr. Tech Guy replied to my email (asking for a private phone number to avoid being on hold). Basically he said no. They've had a few problems with the number of people changing their passwords. Their phones have been busy, but try calling again. Bob Loblaw. I called this afternoon, was on hold for 5 minutes, and hung up. I am easily discouraged.

Hey Itchy!

Yeah, I'm calling you out. I know you read this once and a while. You complain that the LOL Cat picture in my previous post isn't funny or appropriate enough and that you could have found a better one. Really? This coming from a guy who can't even pull off a simple joke.

So where is it? Huh? I know you don't actually do much at school, so where is it? Did you email it to me at my broken email account? I mean, if you listened to me at all you'd know that that account is broken.

I'm waiting.

Who is in charge around here?

Is it Lori? Wrong. Itchy? Double wrong. Sorry but no, the correct answer is Patches. Yes, Patches. Thanks for playing (sound of audience clapping).

Seriously, a cat is in control of our house. She sleeps on my neck at night, making me hot, uncomfortable, and unable to move (she's a big girl). She dictates what time I get up in the morning. When she wants me to get up and feed her, she licks my eyelids, nibbles on my ears, plays with my earrings/nose ring. It's impossible to sleep through.

If she wants to play, she brings you a toy. You had better throw it for her (loves to play fetch). She screams from the other room if she wants attention. She doesn't stop until she is acknowledged. If she wants to be fed, she'll follow me around yelling until I feed her.

She ruins anything fun that Cuddles might be doing. She bosses him around and steals his food. She will only play with him on her terms (can't really blame her for that, his idea of playing is biting her on the back of the leg). If he has a good napping spot, she takes it.

Now, some of this is annoying. She gets away with it because 1.) she's cute and 2.) she knows that she's cute.

Don't worry, the cats won't gang up and take over. Cuddles wants nothing to do with this kind of power. He's not that kind of guy. He's much easier to live with. He just wants a little food, a lap to sit on, and his kitty bed. Cuddles respects me, not so much Itchy, but definitely me. He listens to me. He is grateful for what he has. He lived in a shelter, he saw how bad it could be.

Perhaps the best example of the control that Patches has is what happened today. It is not the first time it has happened. She stole Itchy's chair. Twice. He got up from the dinner table to get more food and she jumped up and sat there looking annoyed that I didn't set a plate for her. When told to move she just stared blankly at Itchy. She moved eventually. Then, after Itchy got done with the dishes (yes, he does the dishes sometimes), he went to sit in the computer chair but Patches beat him to it. She got to the chair about 30 seconds before he did. She decided to nap there. Feeling bad for Itchy, I gave him the TV chair (it's the lesser chair).

At least she didn't kick him out of a chair this time. Yes, she has kicked him out of a chair before. She sat there staring at him, whining, until he moved. She really *wanted* to sit in that chair.

So either she thinks she's people or she thinks that she can control everyone in the house.

The saga continues

It's still not working. I called Mr. Tech Guy today, in the afternoon as I was instructed, waited on hold for 20 minutes, and then gave up. I had other things to do this afternoon, so I could not call again. I have sent Mr. Tech Guy another email requesting a different number. He says he understands that calling from overseas is an expensive hassle. I can tell from the tone of his email that he *really* cares. Perhaps he can provide a direct line that someone will answer. Wouldn't that be helpful?

Update

So I still can't check my email. I did get a response from the tech guy though. I guess that's something. I have been told to wait until 5 pm local time (theirs, not mine) and then try again. Sometimes these things take time. If it doesn't work, I'll need to call their office. There are too many security issues to do this via email. Yeah, cells phones are so much more secure. Their office is conveniently open from 8 am to 5 pm. He tells me that they are 'less' busy in the afternoon, so I should wait to call then, as to avoid being on hold.

Great. So what you're telling me, Mr. Tech Guy, is that not only do I have to keep waiting, but that after I wait, and this doesn't work I have to wait until TOMORROW AFTERNOON to call you. Just great. Here's a little something for you Mr. Tech Guy. Enjoy.


moar humorous pics

ETA: It's after 5pm local time (theirs, not mine) and it doesn't work! Ugh! Why does this have to be difficult?

ETAA: Nope it's still not working. Losing patience. Dreading the $$ phone call.

Why?

My email is broken. It makes me sad and angry. Mostly angry. It's not like it was one of my junk email addresses either. It's the important one. The one I use for legitimate reasons. Not to register for some stupid website or give to people that I think are just going to send me forwards.

They made me change my password. They told me that if I didn't I wouldn't be able to access my account. I had 5 more days to get it done. Fine. I'll make up a new password. I'll do what you say. And I did. I followed the directions, made up a new password (that they approved of, of course), and this is what I get? Thanks a lot! Bastards! I haven't been able to check my email in over 24 hours now. It's killing me. Slowly. Painfully. Don't they know I have emails to reply to? That everyone important is in THAT address book?

They can't help reset my password without me calling them. Umm, I'm overseas, it's going to cost a fortune. Think automated phone system and long periods of being on hold. Give me a break. I sent them a polite email asking what the deal is. Asked them to send it to a different (junk) email address. Still no response. They probably didn't have to work today. All hail the dead presidents!

I'm going back to sulking.

Slacking already?

I didn't expect it to happen so soon. I really didn't. I thought I'd be able to write just a little everyday. I knew that eventually I would slack and take days off, but this soon? The laziness surprises me. Well, kind of. It's not that I didn't have anything to write about.

I found out last week that someone has stolen one of my ideas. I had this great idea. It was going to make me a ton of money. Someone apparently had the same idea. The difference between me and this Someone is that Someone has money and I don't. Someone is in America where you can actually get things moving, I'm on an island with no one who could have helped me. Well, good for you Someone. Way to go. It's a great idea. I'll probably even buy them from you. In 2 years, when I have money. I guess for now I'll just focus on my other great ideas. I've already sent out an email about one of them.

I went to an auction on Friday night. That was fun. It was for the 7th semester students to raise money for their "We're finally leaving the island" party. Itchy and I couldn't afford anything. Well, maybe one of the drawings in the silent auction or the guitar lessons, but we didn't want either. We did win a door prize though. Nothing too great, but Itchy loved the Subway gift card (yep, we have a Subway and a KFC on the island). I thought some of the other items in the basket were really funny, but I must be a perv because Itchy didn't see it the way I did. I know what people use a "personal massager" for. Add in the bottle of lotion and the candle, and well it made me laugh.

Of course we had football today too. Itchy's team is undefeated this season and I believe they clinched a playoff spot. I was so proud today, Itchy caught a touchdown pass. Not like this hasn't happened before, but he was playing really well today. I offered to make pancakes for him, but he declined. I didn't even complain that much about helping set up.

Sorry about the slacking. I should feel bad about it.

Comments

Yay! I have comments! Sounds like someone (cough *Sunshine* cough) wants to be acknowledged. Apparently, there are people who are jealous that I have not written about them. They want fancy nicknames too. They have given me suggestions. Some will be used but really, some of the suggestions are way too long.

Sunshine is obvious. She's been Sunshine for years. Sunshine has 2 adorable kids. Let's call them Moonshine and well, let me think about that one.

I'm willing to take suggestions for the rest of you, but keep them short.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my cat's birthday. Patches turns 4 human years old today. We gave her strawberry ice cream. It's her favorite. It's one of the only things she begs for. I don't encourage begging and generally don't like it, but she is too cute when begs. That little turn of the head gets me every time.

I did not have a party for her. I did not invite other cats over. I did call her birthday girl all day. I did take her picture with her birthday ice cream cone (it's adorable) complete with candle (not lit).

What's up with the towels?

Yesterday I noticed a new trend. Maybe someone can explain this to me.

On my way to the gym I saw a guy (early 20's) wearing a wife beater and super baggy jeans (boxers showing, of course). This is not unusual. What was different was the white towel that he had hanging out of the back of his super baggy jeans. Not a small hand towel. A large bath towel. Tucked into the waistband of his super baggy jeans.

Itchy and I discussed the possible reasons that he would do this. The only thing I could come up with was that he has an ass sweat problem. It is really hot here. Itchy said it might be gang related. Perhaps telling the cops "I'm clean". Get it? He has a towel so he must be clean.

While at the gym I was watching Tempo (it's like Caribbean MTV, back when MTV had music videos). I saw 2 videos that had multiple people with ass towels. Then today, while I was walking to IGA, I saw 2 more people with towels hanging out the back of their jeans. So what's up with the towels?

We went so far as to look it up on the internet (yes, we are nerds and yes it does remind me of "Office Space" when they look up money laundering in the dictionary). Itchy got some reference to "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". I got an ebay auction for an Xbox that came with a towel in case "he crapped his pants with glee and had to clean it up with a towel".

I doubt that these people have read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (I doubt they do a lot of reading) and it's unlikely that all of these people are crapping their pants. Maybe they are. But why would they be so obvious about it? I mean, I think they'd try to be more discreet. At some point someone is going to ask about the towel. Do they really want to have that conversation?

If you want to see an example, one of the videos was KMC's Carnival Clap (sounds like a STD doesn't it?). Maybe it's on YouTube.

Is this a wide spread trend? Is it only in the Caribbean? Am I the only noticing this? If any knows the answers, let me know. Until then I will just have to assume that these people have over active sweat glands on their asses. Eww.

Just for clarification

Itchy noticed in the "About me" section that I chose 'Non-Profit' as my industry. I don't have a job, so how in the world do I work in the non-profit industry?

It's simple. I work but I do not get paid, therefore I work in a non-profit. If cooking for and cleaning up after Itchy does not qualify as a job, then I don't know what to tell you. Obviously, you've never lived with him. He's always hungry and is quite messy. It's a full time job. Add in the fact that the cats believe that ONLY I can do things for them, and well, you see, I totally work in a non-profit industry.

Ugh, locals!

One of the reasons that living on an island isn't as great as it sounds: the locals.

Sure, they may be entertaining to some extent but that wears off after a week. Just in time for your vacation to end. Lucky you.

I have been here for more than a week and have much more than a week left (see ticker at bottom of page). The entertainment value of these people is long gone for me. Every once and a while I encounter someone that makes me laugh (Tokyo!) but man, most of these people drive me crazy.

It's almost as if they have no common sense at all. The lack of education is astounding. These kids walk to school at 9 am, leave for lunch at 11am, back to class at 1 pm and are done by 3 pm. I'm lucky enough to live near a school so I hear them coming and going all day long. Now in those 4 hours (quality over quantity, right?) they teach the basics: your car will explode if driven over speed bumps too fast, it's ok to play in the street, it is required that you will stop whatever your doing (whether it means ignoring a customer, blocking traffic, etc) to say hi to someone that you know/looks familiar . Now some of the locals are taught more 'specialized' skills. Things like pumping gas and, perhaps the most highly sought after skill, the fine art of aloe massage. Why with those skills they'll be a "second world" country in no time!

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. I really do. It's just exhausting though. Don't worry though, they hate us as much as we hate them.

Have you ever been to Tokyo?

I was recently asked this question. Out of context is doesn't seem like an odd question. Given the circumstances in which it was asked though, it was definitely weird.

It started with a misunderstanding between Itchy and I. We were going out to a bar to watch the Superbowl. I asked Itchy how much money he had, he said $100. Itchy thought that I asked how much money we should bring. We got to the bar, ordered a bucket of Carib, and then realized what had happened. I offered to come back to the house to get money so that Itchy wouldn't miss the kickoff, since Itchy loves football way more than I ever could.

Now, I must tell you that our car is the biggest pile of crap (I'll save that story for a different post). I can't start the stupid thing. It hates me almost as much as I hate it. Itchy rarely has problems. However, my plan was to leave the car running while I ran into the house, thus only having to get it started once. The other thing you should know is that I live next door to a Chinese embassy.

So I pull into the driveway and see some Asian man standing there. Crap, I wanted to leave the car running. Now there is some old wierdo standing there, in my driveway, looking for something. Ugh, do I leave the car running now or not? The car has been stolen twice already (another post altogether) so I figure eh, what's the worst that can happen? You want the piece of crap, you can have it, just don't turn left or the engine will die. I grab the keys, leave the car running (nope, doesn't needs keys), and go towards the house trying to avoid the old Asian man.

He, of course, comes running up to me. Great. I ask him if he needs something. He says, rather loudly, "Have you ever been to Tokyo?". Umm, no. Are you looking for the embassy? He says "no, no, but you have ever been to Tokyo?" He's tells me that he's been to Tokyo and that I should go too. k?thxbai! He offers me a brochure. His brochures look hand made. Who gave this guy a pen? Were they worried he'd shove it in his eye? I decline the brochure (Itchy was mad about that, he really wanted one). I tell Tokyo that he should get going, no one here wants to know more about Tokyo. He says that he was just wondering why no one was answering the door. I tell him that it's probably because no one is home. He shrugs and walks to his Nissan SUV.

I run into the house, grab the money, and am on my way back to the bar. I pull out into the street and Tokyo pulls out ahead of me. Want to guess what his bumper sticker says? "VISIT TOKYO".

How do you pay your bills?

I know, I know. You have jobs. You work in exchange for a paycheck. You then use that paycheck to pay bills. That's not what I'm asking. Do you mail your payments? Transfer funds online?

I used to. I'd pay what I could online (pretty much everything) and then mail my rent. It was easy. It was fast. I miss it.

Here on the island, we can't mail our payments. They don't understand online payments. We have to stand in line. Itchy and I went to pay our electricity and internet bill today. We had to stand in line for about 20 minutes at each place. It's annoying. It's hot. It smells (the locals don't shower often/at all, they must save a fortune on their water bills). Did I mention that the electricity building is located RIGHT next to the Chicken Outlet? You can only imagine the smells that come out of there.

So it's not a huge deal. But it is one of the things that I took for granted before I got here. Paying bills is no fun no matter where you are, but consider how easy you have it the next time you pay a bill online.

Busy day

Well, busy for me. Probably not busy by most people's standards.

Itchy is the commissioner of the flag football league. It means that he has to set up and take down the field (measuring, setting up cones, picking up the cones after the game, etc) for every game. They play every Sunday. He can not do this alone. I, by default, have to help. I do not like helping.

Setting up the field should be easy. It is not. The lines have to be straight. All 100 feet of the tape measure gets tangled. The wind knocks everything over. Itchy forgets how to do this EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Then I get annoyed with him.

Not to mention that this requires me to get up at a specified time. No it is not that early. That's not the point. I don't like waking up to an alarm (or Itchy telling me I have to get up NOW). Unemployment has spoiled me.

It's a good thing that I like to watch the games.

After football, I made pancakes. It's a tradition. If Itchy's team wins their game, I make pancakes (not for the whole team).

Then I had to watch the rest of the Band of Brothers series. I watched the first 5 yesterday so I had to watch the last 5 today. Great series.

Umm, after that I made dinner. And I did the dishes.

Since then I've been sitting around feeding my internet addiction.

What do I do with all this free time?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing and it's wonderful. I never really liked working. I don't think anyone actually likes working. If you didn't HAVE to work, would you?

Today is a great example of doing nothing. Today was a rare day. Not so much that it was a Saturday, we get those every week (even though Kittitians do things wrong all the time, they haven't messed up the days of the week. Yet.). But today was the day that Itchy didn't have to study. We could have done something but we didn't. We tried. We even went to IGA on Friday night so we wouldn't have to go today. We wanted to go to the beach. When we finally woke up (noon, yeah go ahead and hate me) it was cloudy and cold.

We sat around all day doing nothing. Itchy tricked me into doing the laundry (you owe me!) but other than that it was a whole lot of nothing. I'm not complaining about it. I love days like this. It's fun to hang out with Itchy.

Tomorrow I have stuff to do. Not a lot, but it does involve getting up before noon and me actually being productive and helpful.

First Post

So I started a blog. This is it.