I needed a few laughs

see more crazy cat pics


see more crazy cat pics


see more crazy cat pics

Why do Mondays suck?

Blah. Today totally tasted like a Monday. It's weird that even with no job/school/etc I still hate Mondays. Itchy's not back from vacation yet either so I really shouldn't have a concept of what day it is. But I do. And today was definitely a Monday.

I've had this wicked pain in my left temple ALL day. I woke up too early after going to bed too late. I tried to nap but the pain prevented that. I seem to be extra sensitive to everything today. Noises seem louder, smells seem stronger, etc. I've changed my shirt 3 times today. Nothing seemed to 'fit' today. Just irritating.

The people across the street got a new car alarm. It's gone off over a dozen times today. Good thing it's really loud. I wonder if Broom is over there...

The cats are behaving strangely too. Cuddles is acting very needy. He NEEDS to sit in my lap. Nothing else is acceptable today. He's there right now. Making it difficult to type.

Patches is lethargic. More than her usual laziness. She's not even begging for food. I don't think she's left the couch in a few hours. Not even when our local stray cat, Brown Tabby, came over looking for food.

I'm going to go ahead and blame it on Monday.

Comments

I get this handy little email once a week that lets me know how many hits my blog got for the week. Either a lot of people are reading my blog or one person is checking my blog for new content (cough*obsessively*cough) a lot. Maybe people stumble here by accident. Perhaps they are looking for a monkey trainer. They could be looking for a really great seashell necklace. Who knows? I don't really care. Everyone is welcome. Read away.

Now, like I said, there are people reading this stuff. So why aren't there people commenting? I read a lot of other blogs. Other blogs get comments. I leave comments on other blogs all the time.

It's not that big of a deal. I guess I just have blog envy. I'm curious though. Because of that, I made a poll. It's on the right. Vote. It's your civic duty, like being a juror.

Being too lazy is not an option. I figured that if you are too lazy to comment, you are too lazy to vote.

Also, just because I think polls are fun, I do believe that I will have weekly polls from now on.

I'm all stocked up

Is there a full moon this weekend? Nope, I just checked. But man oh man are the crazies out in full force.

This past week we've had a new weirdo in the neighborhood. He'll be in fine company with Stick Guy and One Leg. I've been calling him Broom. I agree it's not very creative but he didn't give me much to work with. He's very blah, the kind of person you couldn't pick out of a crowd. Except for his broom. He's had it with him every time I've seen him. And every time I've seen him he has been yelling at my car.

Broom walks up to the car, yells at the car for a few moments, and then walks away. I don't understand what the hell he is saying. He hasn't hit the car with his broom. He doesn't yell at the other cars in our driveway. There's no pattern as to when he shows up. The first time was at night, the next time was in the morning, and today it happened in the afternoon. He seems pretty harmless. I kinda like him. It seems as though he hates that car as much as I do.

I've had little interaction with Broom. I mean, would walk out to see why someone was yelling at your car? Yeah, I don't. But today I was already outside. I was digging in the trunk for some oil (the car leaks oil-big surprise right? so we keep extra in the trunk and add it when needed). He came up and started yelling. Yeah, I was startled. Totally jumped. Apparently, he didn't notice that the trunk and the hood were open or that I was standing out there. Or he just didn't care. Either way, when I appeared from the back of the car he got scared. He took off running. I didn't even say anything to him.

As if that isn't enough crazy for the week, I've had the lovely Survey Lady come back today. She was here about 2 weeks ago and wanted me to participate in a community health survey. Normally, I would take the survey. I have lots of opinions and love to share them. But she was rude and she wanted to come in. No thanks. If you want my opinion you should be polite, not ask to come in, and I'd really prefer that you just put the survey online and let me take it on my own time. Anyway, she walked up to the door (we have a screen door) and pressed her face to the screen. I was in the kitchen and saw her so I asked her if I could help her. She didn't answer. I walked over to the door and asked again. She asked if I wanted to participate. I said no. She stood there, silent, making it pretty clear that she wanted a reason. I walked away from the door. Then she raised her voice and demanded to know why. I told her I was busy. She asked if anyone else was home (Itchy was, but he was in the other room studying). I said no. Then she had to nerve to ask if she could come in (umm, WHO lets you in to their house?). I told her that I was not going to take part in her survey. She tried to make me feel guilty by saying that "it's really difficult to complete the surveys if people won't participate". Yeah, I suppose it would be. Given that participation is key to a survey. Too bad. Not letting a stranger into my house. Kthxbai!

Well, Survey Lady came back. About an hour ago. Fool. I have no idea how long she was standing at the door though. She didn't knock. She just stood there. I think she might be afraid of the cats because they were both at the door and she was standing pretty far back. Anyway, once she saw that I noticed her she asked me to take her survey. Nope. She again tried to explain that it was a community health survey and they need people to participate. I told her I was busy (it's true, I'm working on a new header for the blog). She said it would only take a few minutes. I said no thanks. Then she TRIED TO OPEN MY DOOR!

This got my attention. I was immediately out of my chair and at the door. The door was latched so she couldn't get it open. I told her I would not be taking her survey and that she needed to leave. I shut the other door and locked it. I'm pretty sure she left. I'm not opening the door to find out. Honestly, I think the survey is probably over. I mean, they were stopping traffic on the main road two weeks ago to get people to comply. They have to be done with it by now. This lady is totally a weirdo.

So that was my interaction with the crazies. No other crazy folk need to stop by, I'm all stocked up on crazy. Two in one day has exceeded my limits. I only have tolerance for one a month. I should be good until June.

On a completely different subject, I am irritated with the grocery store. Why do they only have WHOLE milk? And only gallons of it. Where is the skim? Don't you realize that I don't want to cook? The plan was to eat lots of cereal. I need milk for this plan. Preferably skim milk. I'd even take 1%. But whole milk? A gallon of whole milk? Who drinks that? Thanks for ruining the plan IGA. Thanks a lot.

It's hot in here

Yeah, so this week has been boring. The most exciting thing I did yesterday was, umm, oh yeah, putting on pants. Pretty sure no one cares to read about it.

Itchy and I are on vacation. Separate vacations. I'm vacationing here on the island and Itchy got to go to the States. To most people it would seem that I got the better end of the deal. I do not see it this way. This island is boring and hot. Who wants to go to the beach alone? I mean I could go read on the beach but after the poisoning it just seems like it would end painfully (the blisters are just starting to heal). Swimming in the ocean isn't a good idea when you can't swim well. People drown here all the time. That's why we swim in pairs people. Common sense.

I thought about going and doing touristy things. Maybe a little early xmas shopping. But it's really freaking hot out.

I actually planned on doing a little photography project. It sounds interesting in my head. But Itchy and I loaned our camera to a friend. She was going to Africa. Her photos will be much more interesting than what I can do here. Hopefully she will give me permission to post a few of the pictures she takes. I could do a little "what my camera did on Spring Break" report. I'm sure she'll think I'm crazy.

I've found a lot of fun things to do on the internet machine though. I'll probably post some of it later. Not later today though. Apparently Blogger will be shut down this evening for maintenance. I'm sure it's because of all the traffic my blog brings to the site. Anyway, I'm on vacation. From cooking and cleaning.

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!

So in honor of Earth Day I thought I'd share this website with you. Electro City is a fun little (free) game sort of like The Sims. It's more environmentally based though, making it a fun Earth Day activity.

It's pretty interesting. I know it's not realistic, but it does give you an idea of what are choices do to the environment. I got an A in energy management, an A in popularity, and a C in population. Of course, I had an A+ in environment so who cares about the population. It just seems I kept the town small. I'm going to try to get a huge population and we'll see what happens.

Go play. It doesn't take long and you can pretend to be a giant.

Parades

For the love of...

Why do these people love parades so much? I sort of understand the ones during carnival. That's a big deal in the Caribbean. I don't fully understand what Carnival is celebrating, but I just look at it as an extension of Christmas. I'm all for celebrating but do we need a parade for everything?
Last night there was a parade. In front of my house. For over an hour. It took ONE "float" an hour to move less than a mile. The float consisted of a s-l-o-w moving tractor pulling a flat bed. On that flat bed was a shack. With a live band. And speakers. Oh so many speakers. The band had their fans up there too. They were shouting. Let's see, there were about 200 or so people walking in front of the "float" screaming and trying to sing along to the music. I think my favorite part was the 20 some cars and vans driving behind the "float". All honking. It was hard to tell if they were in the parade or just wanted to get around it.

I went outside to see what the hell was going on. I wanted to know that they were actually moving and not just sitting in our driveway. Once that was confirmed I asked the security guard next door if she knew what was this was all for. She had no clue. She just said that it was annoying her and the guests at the embassy (who knew they actually had guests come to the embassy?). We both agreed that they could try to move a little faster.

Now, I was lucky enough to get a preview of the parade earlier in the afternoon. Granted they were missing the mob of people and the honking cars. I had no idea that I'd be so lucky to see it a second time. I wish I could have taken video of it for you. I know you all would have loved it.

I'm almost certain that they think yesterday was New Years Eve. They completely ignored the actual holiday, so maybe their calendars are off? Just judging from the songs that I heard, I'd have to say that they were celebrating the new year. The song basically went Jesus, Jesus, blah, blah, blah, renew, reduce (?), rejoice, it's 2008. Sounds pretty New Yearsy doesn't it?

Cults = Sects

Have you been watching any of the TV coverage about the FLDS polygamist compound? The one in Texas where they took like 400 children into foster care? The whole thing is just sad. I couldn't care less that they choose to believe what they do. I'm all for freedom of religion. Believe what you'd like, but let me believe what I want. Don't force it upon others. Don't use it as an excuse to do bad things. Like raping little girls. Or forcing these girls to marry men 4 times their age. There is no way in hell that a 13 year old girl is CHOOSING to be married to a 42 year old man. Or having his children. The abuse that must go on there is just astounding.

Now, we all know it's a sad state of affairs. I feel badly for them. I'm not a horrible person (well, I don't think I am) but really what the heck is up with those women? Have you seen them? The mile high hair. The unibrows. They all have on the SAME dress, just in different shades on pastels. Here's a picture in case you don't know what I'm talking about. Just look at the woman that is front and center. No one has tweezers that they can share with her?

I looked into it a little and found this. It's an interview with a woman that escaped from a "sect". It basically says that the dresses they wear are just a cover for their religious whites. Yeah, they are wearing a whole other outfit under those things. The pastel dresses have to be long sleeved and ankle length in order to cover the entire religious garments. They live in Texas. Can you imagine how hot they are? They are required to wear pastels because dark colors are a sign of Satan. Except for red, because Jesus wears red. Duh. The colors designate families. Each husband (there can't be many, can there?) is given a color and then all of his wives have to wear that color. No doubt there are little girls praying that they marry John and not Larry because John's wives get to wear light blue and Larry's wives have to wear darker blue.

This escapee also explains their trademark hair. The higher they can get they hair the more righteous they are. By this logic, Aqua Net can buy you a ticket to heaven. Good to know. The unibrow must be a symbol of the unity they feel with Jesus.

Like I said, I realize these people are most likely suffering from Stockholm's Syndrome. I get that they don't see a way out. They've been brainwashed and abused. I feel bad that religion is being used to hurt them. It happens all too often. But these women have been given a way out. I hope they take advantage of it.

I was posioned

Yep, you read that right. I was poisoned yesterday. I nearly died. It wasn't food poisoning this time (thankfully we didn't go to Ginger House). This time it was the sun. The freaking sun poisoned me. It was extra strong yesterday. Even Itchy got burned.

Yesterday Itchy and I went to the beach. It was an end of the semester celebration. It was a beautiful day. Our friends met us there. We were having fun. There was drinking, swimming, and lots of laughs. Good times. At the end of the day we packed it up and headed home.

I had, perhaps, one too many drinks. I felt a little drunk. I slept on the ride home. We made it almost all the way home and then I threw up. Ugh. I hate throwing up. It's awful. I took a quick shower and felt better. I was tired but felt ok. I slept for an hour. Itchy and I were going to meet with our friends for dinner. Itchy woke me up and I was really, really tired. I told him he should go without me. He didn't want to do that. He was tired too. He was also starving. We decided to eat at home. About the time we made that decision, I started to feel like crap.

I was nauseous. Really nauseous. I thought it was either from the alcohol or the lack of food. I hadn't really eaten anything all day, just a granola bar for breakfast. I tried to eat a few crackers. Yeah, that didn't work. I'll spare you the details, because it's gross, but I couldn't keep anything down. Not even water. Who can't keep water down? Oh yeah, that was me. I had horrible muscle cramps, a terrible headache, and Itchy claims that I was hallucinating. Everything hurt. I had a fever but was freezing.

Itchy was so good about it though. He tried everything to make me feel better. Nothing was helping though. I finally gave up. I just couldn't take it anymore. I went to bed. I hardly slept at all. By 2 am I was contemplating going to the hospital. I wanted an IV. If it didn't hurt so much to speak, I would have woken Itchy up. But it did so I just laid there. I finally fell asleep at like 3 am. I woke up a little while later and was able to drink some water. I got better from there.

Today, with the help of my good friend Tylenol, I am feeling better. My legs still hurt from all the cramping. The sunburn is terrible. I have blisters on my nose. SPF 45 my ass. I think my sunblock expired. It will be replaced.

Yawn

I really don't have anything to report. Life has been boring. I suppose I could tell you about how I spent all day doing laundry. Or about how the laundry room floor was covered in dog shit. Or that just after I finished the last load of laundry that I discovered one of Itchy's shirts under the couch. But that all sounds boring.

Maybe I could tell you about how hot it is. No, that isn't interesting either. What to hear about my cats? Hmm, no one ever does.

See, lately all I have done is look at all the pretty things online that I want. Itchy will be going to the States soon. Which means that he can bring things back with him. Things that I can't get down here on this island. This is exciting. It'll be like my birthday when he gets back, only better because this time he'll give me presents. Granted, the presents will be things like good conditioner (the sun, humidity, and seawater do awful things to my hair) and new workout pants. Not exactly the presents that most people would want but once you can't have them those things become luxury items. Itchy and I also have an anniversary coming up so maybe he'll surprise me with something a *little* more exciting than toothpaste.

Limited internet access

My computer time is going to be very limited over the next week or so. Itchy has finals and needs it to study. The blog may not get updated very often. I'll probably go through some internet withdrawals.

We've got to make a grocery run today. Both stores. Ugh. We still don't have the stove/oven problem resolved. I'm going to go ahead and guess that it won't be fixed until May. I'm totally out of meal ideas. It seems like we've been eating the same stuff all the time. We've also been spending more on food since we've been forced to eat more convenience type foods. Honestly, I don't like to cook. Before we moved here I hardly ever cooked. It was all convenience food. And some fast food. We also ate out a lot. Now, I cook everyday. I totally prefer the homemade food. It's a pain in the ass, but it's just tastes better (for the most part, sometimes my experimentation goes badly). I'm so sick of microwaved food.

Ghetto car

I've mentioned before how much I hate our car right? Ok, well I hate it. It hates me right back. It's definitely a ghetto car. I feel like the subject of a Jeff Foxworthy (redneck comedian) joke. If you have to duct tape your bumper on, you might have a ghetto car. Ha ha. Only I didn't even have any duct tape so I had to use glue. And it wasn't my bumper it was a light. You know those lights on the side of the headlights? The ones that are turn signals? Yeah, those. Tonight I had to glue the one on driver's side in place. I did the passenger's side a few months ago. That car has so many problems. I'm amazed that the rain hasn't just washed it away by now.

First of all, we bought it from a security guard at the school. We thought he was being honest. In a wonderful example of our naivety, we believed that he was a good guy just because he worked for the school. That was the first problem.

The second problem was the learning curve that came along with driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road. That's right, we've got right side drive and we drive on the left side of the road. Even the controls for the turn signals and the windshield wipers are on the wrong side. Holy confusing Batman! At least the first time you drive anyway. The very first time that Itchy drove the car home he was a little too far over to the left and he hit a huge gutter. We have these massive gutters. Think at least 1 1/2 feet wide and oh, 3 feet deep. Filled with toxic street run off. That had to have done some damage. My first time driving it wasn't nearly as awful or damaging.

It's been nothing but problems since then. We've had a few accidents. Our landlady's boyfriend has hit our car twice. The first time he busted our headlight. The second time only left a small dent. He has never even acknowledged what he did. Our neighbor saw the first hit and I saw the second. He's a jerk.

Itchy hit a truck one night which resulted in the passenger's side mirror off and left a huge racing stripe. He has backed into a pole (dented the rear bumper). The passenger side door now sticks when it opens. The rear bumper is dented from the 'stuck in sand towing' incident. It not all us hitting other cars either. Plenty of other cars have hit us as there are many other unaccounted for scratches and dents. But really, no one is going to leave you a note. It's all hit and run.

It hasn't all been cosmetic issues either. I wish it were only cosmetic. We've had to replace the tires, starter, battery, transmission, radiator, and a few other things that I am now forgetting. We've had to fix the leaky steering fluid (didn't work), the A/C (which doesn't work now because we had to disable the fan because of a loose bearing), the engine cooling fan (now runs all the time, instead of only when needed), and the muffler (needs to be welded again).

You'd think that with all the new parts and the extensive work that has gone into this car that it'd be in great shape. It's not. It has stalling issues. It stalls when you turn left. It stalls when are stopped for too long. It stalls before we even leave the driveway. It stalls as you are going around the roundabouts. I can't even tell you the number of times that we have to shift into neutral and restart the car while we are coasting down the street. It happens EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

We can't buy a new car. We are leaving in a year. We've put too much money into this thing. What if we bought a new used car and then had to start putting money into that? How many transmissions do we need to replace? It just has to last for another year.

ETA: Geez, I can't believe I forgot this stuff. These two tidbits are perhaps the funniest of all. Our car is so ghetto that it starts with a plastic spoon. Or a pocket knife. Or our friends apartment key. Or anything else that will fit into the ignition. Which explains why it has been stolen twice. Not just once people, TWICE. Our car is so uber ghetto that everyone wants it. Except us. We weren't all that sad when it was stolen.

Name your price

I finally won something! OK, not really. I needed to find a rental car and a hotel for my upcoming trip. I looked at my options and things were looking pricey. Why does everything have to be so damn expensive? I don't need a fancy hotel. My only requirement is that it is clean. Well, as clean as a hotel can be. A pool is of no use to me. A free breakfast would be great, but if all you're putting out there is stale muffins and watered down juice I'll pass.

Itchy suggested that I try Priceline. It seems like a good idea. You name a price that you are willing to pay and they try to find something that works. My first and second offers were rejected. Unbelievable. No one wants to give me a room for $30 a night? Ok, fine how about $10? Nothing. My third offer was accepted. I feel like I won something. I have to pay for it so it's not like winning at all.

So now I have a place to sleep. I'm looking for cheapo rental cars next. I'm also starting to think that flying that first part of my return trip will be cheaper than having someone drive me. I'm looking at all sorts of options. Good times, I tell ya.

Just so you know

I didn't fall asleep until 6 am. I laid on the couch waiting to be tired. At 6 am I finally started to feel sleepy. I fed the cats and went to bed. Itchy was, of course, hogging the blanket as he slept in the middle of the bed. Didn't matter though, once my head hit the pillow I was out.

It was a long night. I don't want a repeat.

Thin walls

Our walls may be made of hurricane proof concrete, but they sure as hell don't block out sound. We live on a busy street. The constant sounds of speeding cars and annoying children walking to and from school is our background noise. It does get annoying and I often wish that we lived in a more tranquil area. We don't though and we aren't going to be moving. I guess I'll have to deal with it.

This evening I was really wishing that our walls were a little thicker. Our landlady is apparently a teacher. She works about 3 blocks from our house at one of the schools (why she needs 3 cars is beyond me). I don't know if she is a good teacher or not. If her children are any indication, I'd have to say that she isn't very good. Anyway, this evening one of her students and the student's father came to our house, parked in our driveway (totally blocked us in) and proceeded to scream at our landlady. Then she would scream back. I couldn't catch all of what was being said but I still heard too much. The details aren't important.

I really don't think living in the same building as your landlord is a good idea. I prefer to mail my rent check and have no contact.

Insomnia

It's about 3:30 am. I'm wide awake. I was sleeping quite soundly just a few hours ago. This is a great reminder that we need to buy Tylenol PM. I'm blaming Itchy. It's his fault.

Itchy went out to dinner this evening. I didn't get to go with because it was school/potential job related and they had a limited guest list (really only for 6th and 7th semester students). Whatever. I didn't really care. While Itchy was there he was invited to go out to a bar afterwards to watch basketball. It was the NCAA tournament final. Of course, Itchy wanted to go. I didn't. I didn't care to watch more basketball. I would have had to change into clothes suitable for leaving the house and I would have had to do something with my hair (I looked like shit today). No thanks. I told Itchy to go. He said he'd be home at midnight.

Well, I went to be at 12:15 and he wasn't home. I fell asleep pretty quickly. I woke up (just a little, not enough to carry on a conversation) at 1:15 to the sound of Itchy unlocking the door. What the hell? I don't even get a text that he'll be late? I know he doesn't have minutes on his phone, but there was no one there that would have let him borrow their phone? I don't buy it. Itchy takes a shower. This wakes me up even more. Itchy then comes over to tell me that he needs to go eat and he'll be in bed in ten minutes. My phone starts beeping because the battery is dead. I get up to shut the damn thing off. Now I am wide awake. I try to go back to sleep. Not working, because the living-room lights are keeping me up. At 2:40 Itchy finally comes to bed. Ten minutes my ass. It all went down hill after that. He was laying ON the blanket which made me feel trapped UNDER the blanket. I can't sleep like that. I had to get up.

Have you ever been at the point where you are just so tired that you can't fall asleep? I'm there now. I'd turn the tv on but Itchy is sleeping and he has school in the morning so I don't want to wake him up (I know, I'm being way to considerate). This sucks.

ETA: I'm not mad at Itchy. Really. It just pisses me off when he isn't considerate enough to call when he's going to be late.

Boycott

Anyone else planning on boycotting the Olympics this summer? I am. I'm not watching any of it. I will not purchase any merchandise. I will not support the sponsors either. I will support the athletes and countries that choose not to compete (not sure how, but I'll do what I can).

Now, I am not a huge fan of the Olympics to begin with so this isn't a huge loss for me. I probably wouldn't have watched much of it. I probably wouldn't have bought any merchandise either. Although, I'm sure it will be cute this year. China will, no doubt, plaster pandas on everything that they can. Pandas are adorable. They make the merchandise much cuter and much more sell-able. Avoiding the sponsors will be tricky. They are everywhere. It's big name companies. Coca Cola, McDonald's, Johnson & Johnson, Visa, etc. I'm joining the many others that will be boycotting them.

I know this will not change anything. It makes me feel better though. The Olympic committee made a huge mistake by choosing China for the 2008 summer games. They were advised against it. They thought it would bring a positive change to the country. They have been wrong thus far.

There are entire villages that are going without water so that the Olympic sized pools can be filled, cleaned, and refilled. Their factories are being shut down, putting thousands (?) of people out of work, to reduce smog levels. I'm pretty sure those people NEED those jobs. Chinese officials have been shipping the homeless out of Beijing to special camps (Nazi concentration camps anyone?) to give the city a 'cleaner' appearance. Beijing has begun killing hundreds of cats everyday after ordering citizens to give them up due to fears of disease. Most likely not a humane death either, based of the fact that thousands of dogs were clubbed to death by government officials about a year ago. All of this to give the city a 'cleaner and greener' appearance.

I've heard/read (New York Times) that Olympic officials are shipping in some 25,000 pounds of protein for the athletes due to fears of contaminated food in China. Great. You are sending the best of the best to a country that doesn't even have a safe food supply. Sounds like a great idea.

China puts lead in our children's toys, poison in our pet's food, and antifreeze in our toothpaste. They are one of the leading sources of pollution. The human rights violations are astounding, just unbelievable. They have no concept of animal rights. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The Olympic committee made a hell of a mistake when they chose China as the host.

Online prizes

Do you ever sign up to win things on the internet? For example, you go to do some online window shopping and the store has a promotion to win a free trip, do you register to win?

I usually do. I love free stuff. I think I would like to win things. I can't really remember the last time I won something, so I can't say for sure that I like to win things. Since I spend a lot of time online I seem to find a lot of giveaways. I imagine that this increases the amount of junk mail that I receive. Well, given that my permanent address is actually my mom's house, I guess it increases her level of junk mail. But let's face it, not all junk mail is bad. Catalogs are fun to look at and magazines can an amusing read. Bills are icky. Who would only want to get bills? I'd prefer an Ikea catalog anytime.

Welcome to the 80's

Itchy and I have gone back in time. We're currently living without a remote control for the cable box. Gasp! I know, I know. Who even has a cable box these days? It's like 1985 all over again.

Maybe I am just unaware of how these things work, but really, who has a cable box? I guess things like TiVo and Direct Tv have boxes but those are DVRs. Not the same thing. Regular cable shouldn't have boxes anymore. It's just suppose to be a cord from the TV to the wall. Not a cord from the wall to the box and then another cord from the box to the TV. It's just messy and ugly. Who wants extra cords? Since they do nothing but get tangled I don't.

Did I mention that we have to pay extra for this cable box? Our cable is included in our rent. When we moved in we did not need a cable box. Then one day we were informed that we would need a cable box. Our rent would be going up to cover the cost of the cable box. Great. We do not get extra channels. It does not improve the quality of our picture. It does nothing when it's raining as the cable still goes out. What exactly are we paying for?

To top it off, the remote broke. This is annoying. We have to get up (well almost, the chairs are pretty close to the TV) to change the channel. I don't care if this makes me sound lazy. You try not using your remote for a few days and we'll see how you like it.

Finally

I don't know if you all saw it, but researchers are now saying that getting more sleep can help you lose weight. Finally, a weight loss technique that I get on board with. I can totally sleep more. I wonder if sleeping longer at night or an afternoon nap is better? I'm willing to do either or both if necessary.

What day is it now?

Last weekend totally threw me off. I have a routine. I know what day it is by the chores I have that day. Not that I always do them, but I know what I *should* do that day. Get me out of that routine and I have no idea what day it is.

Itch had a vet conference last weekend. It started on Thursday. I went to a few of the lectures but not all of them, since most of them were for those who registered (paid). Thursday night they had a Welcome Reception. Free food and an open bar! They even provided entertainment, kittitian style. Given the table that we sat at (front and center) that was not enjoyable. First of all, we had seen the Deja Vu dancers before. It's 2 overweight girls in leotards failing about. This particular time (we've seen the before) they had a 3 part series. The last part was one of them doing the limbo. Of course, audience participation was required. She picked Itchy. Ha ha. He did it because that how he is. And it was only the top notch so not like he really had to bend much.

They also had the Masqueraders perform. Basically, a group of men from 12 to 70 (estimates) dance around wearing this ridiculous ribbon outfits. Did I mention that they don't shower for weeks prior to their performance? That smell is overwhelmingly unpleasant.

The rest of the conference was much less exciting. Lots of smart people talking about drugs and fluid choices. Itchy went to much more of it than I did. We did go out with a few of the doctors after the reception. Fun was had by all. It was unfortunate that we did not see them again. I also met a reproduction specialist from Florida. Had little time to talk to him which was sad because I'd like to hear his opinion on the mandatory spay/neuter laws. I mean, he said he was against it (obviously) but I'd like his reasons.

Waiting paid off

I finally made a decision and booked my flight. It will be a summer visit. No freezing my ass off. Nope, not this time. It will be nice out. The nieces will be on summer vacation. There will be nice long summery days. It should be great.

The only downside is that I had to squeeze my trip in between 2 of Itchy's trips. One of his trips got cut a little short. Sorry about that Itchy. I really do feel badly about it. The poor cats will be so confused with all the coming and going. They like the routine. One or the other of us will be gone for just over a month. That's practically forever to them. We'll have to bring them presents so that they forgive us. Maybe Patches would like that new wallet that we saw today? Yes, I think she would. Itchy, I can send you a link and it can be from you!

My indecisiveness paid off this time though. Usually, if I ponder over a purchase it ends up sold out, price goes up, my size isn't available, etc. This time though, it worked out in my favor. I had been checking airfare for weeks. Everything was way too expensive. I was doubting whether or not this trip would even happen. I'd find cheap flights within the states but once I added on the flight off/on the island they crossed the line of what I could afford.

I've got to say though, I do not understand why some airlines are so cheap and others are so expensive when they are flying the same routes. It boggles the mind. It's not like there are any 'extras' on any flights these days. You get a chair and a free beverage. Sometimes the chair reclines a tiny little bit. That's about it. You want something else? Maybe you should drive. Sorry, I'll get back to the flight finding.

Yesterday, I found a flight that I could afford. Not the most ideal dates, but hey for a $200 difference I'll deal with it. Not only that, but on the surrounding dates I would have had different connecting airports. I can deal with different connecting airlines. Even when I have to book them all separately. And then check in at each airport. And go through security each time. But different connecting airports? I don't think so. Especially not in a city like New York. Even I'm not that crazy.


So the flight is booked. I'm working on getting the rides to and from the big city. Now I just need to figure out the details of getting everyone off the island. Since I can't do that until we know where Itchy will be continuing his edumacation, I guess it has to wait until January 2009. Itchy's got a plan though and I like it. A lot. I think, depending on the circumstances, that we will follow through on that plan.

It was awful

It was just as awful as I thought it would be. I started running this week. After nearly dying on the Hash I knew I had to make changes. I figured this was a good week to start seeing as though we would only be at the gym twice. I'd be able to ease into it. Run two days this week and then 4 times next week. It sounded so doable. The thought of running again today makes me feel sick.

Did I mention that it was awful? Running is not my idea of a good time. I really don't like the gym at all but I know it's something that I need to do. Unless, of course, I suddenly stop craving junk food. Mmm, junk food. Oh yeah, running. I got distracted. I am starting the Couch to 5k program again. I started it months ago but quit during week 3. There were no available treadmills that day so I had to use the elliptical. After that, I just decided that the elliptical was just as effective. That doesn't really seem to be true. So now it's back to running. I'm starting at week 5. I just did what I could yesterday and then chose the week that best matched.

Now, I know how boring it is to talk about working out, dieting, and the things that go along with it. This blog will NOT is not going to be all about that. I'll try not to write about it too often. I just figured that since I made fun of Patches (making lifestyle changes and joining me on the road to weight loss) I had better make myself accountable.

I have what the professionals call 'perma-fat'. As in, it's permanent fat. It's not going away. No matter how hard I work, no matter how much I starve myself, I can not seem to lose weight. I started really working out Jan 07. 10 pounds fell off immediately. So fast, in fact, that it made me wonder if I had been wrong about my starting weight. The next 5 pounds took about 10 months. That's 1/2 pound every month. Most people lose a pound a week. That caused me to lose all motivation. When the scale doesn't move at all, it's hard to convince yourself that going to the gym is worth it. But Itchy made me keep going (him and the fact that we had paid for a year long membership- I'm too cheap to not use it). I haven't lost any weight since then. But I haven't gained any either so I guess that's good.

I have 10 pounds to lose to get to where I want to be. Running is suppose to be good for weight loss. I will also continue to do weight training, as everyone says that muscle will help increase my metabolism. I am making an active effort to eat less. Well, at least trying to stop eating when I feel full. You can expect some whiny posts because even typing this makes me want to quit. I'll try to keep it to a minimum for your sake though.