she’s doing fine…*really* well.
I’ve been busy as hell though (and tired as hell, but enjoying my cat being Bunny again more than you will ever comprehend).
I have Bunny on aluminum hydroxide, low protein diet, sub-q Ringer’s Lactate (100ml/day) and Pepcid AC, but they don’t know just how much kidney function she has left. She’s gaining weight back, moving pretty well and I’m keeping her hydrated (irritating her mostly as she’s pretty well hydrated as it is… I make “cat soup” with her food. I put warm water over it and she drinks it… easier for her anyway as she really doesn’t have much in the way of teeth.)
She’s talking to me again (you know things are bad when she actually meows) and snuggling a bit with me in the mornings. Also she is coming out to sit with me when I am at my desk.
All those things much more normal than before.
The numbers are back from her follow-up visit (vet called me the other day) and her renal numbers are MUCH improved-no backsliding at all. He said that usually after that much artificial support at the hospital you see a bit when you get onto home care… not the bun (but alas, renal failure didn’t just go away. dammit) but she is very anemic which is a side effect of the kidney decline. May have to start giving her shots for the hematopoietin that she isn’t generating enough of…
She’s way more herself, but I see the anemia manifesting as lots of sleep (even for a cat) well, maybe not more sleep; but deeper sleep. I get to watch her dream.
That in itself is charming and gut wrenching at the same time.
(Though the vet seemed happy she was dreaming and sleeping well.)
Her appetite is fabu (still eating a full can of cat food a day (mostly the renal failure diet, but I’m splitting it to 75/25 with Turducken/Grammy’s Pot Pie so she can rebuild muscle with actual protein and maybe get in a little red blood cell action).
Anyhoo, not that I count, but I haven’t cried in 4 whole days (yay me.)
The house is a mess, but I don’t feel like setting it all on fire anymore. Mostly am just reorganizing and throwing out old things (not into the landfill either). I actually did some things on my to do list (which was turning into a wishlist) instead of laying on the bed staring at her or just sleeping near her the whole weekend.
In other news, I will be trying my hand at cassoulet this coming weekend. Because I haven’t been able to get to the grocery store for weeks now, my fridge is bare (save for cat food) and I think I’m craving proteins.
I’ll blog it, natch.
G’night posterity.
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Its in French!
Scam Alert
Bonjour,
Je vous prie de bien vouloir m’excuser pour cette intrusion qui peut paraître surprenante à première vue d’autant qu’il n’existe aucune relation entre nous.
Je voudrais avec votre accord vous présenter ma situation et vous proposer une affaire qui pourrait vous intéresser.Je me nomme Mlle.KONE FANTA j’ai 22 ans et la seule fille de mon Père Honorable KONE SYLA, qui était un homme très riche, négociant de Café/Cacao basé à Abidjan la Capitale Economique de la Côte d’Ivoire, empoisonné récemment par ses associés Après la mort de ma mère le 21 Octobre 2000, mon père m’as pris spécialement avec lui.
Le 24 Décembre 2003 est survenu le décès de mon père dans une clinique privée (PISAM) à Abidjan.
Avant sa mort, secrètement, il m’a dit qu’il a déposé une somme d’un montant de (850.000 euros) Huit Cent cinquante Mille euros dans un compte bloqué dans une banque de la côte d’ivoire le but dêtre transferé en mon nom comme héritiere.
Il me recommande aussi de chercher un associé étranger qui pourrait honnêtement me faire bénéficier de son assistance pour sauver ma vie et assurer mon existence.
– faire une demande de transfert de mon compte bloqué sur son compte et servir de gardien.
D’ailleurs, je vous donnerai 25 % et 5% serviront aux dépenses éventuelles qui seront effectuées.Je vous serai reconnaissante de pouvoir bénéficier de vos conseils utiles .
NB : Je vous recommande de traiter cette affaire avec subtilités et confidentialité vu la dégradation de la situation socio politique dans laquelle nous vivons présentement.
Que Dieu vous bénisse
Mlle.kone fanta
obscure references
I haven’t seen any guesses in the comments… should I put the answer to the obscure reference below the cut? (or does that show up in an RSS feed anyway (I don’t think it does but I can neither confirm nor deny those allegations.))
Testing here:
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Packing List: AT Gear (the important stuff for 1 week)
Pack: JanSport Juno 73 Pack – yes, its a big pack. They asked us to bring a larger one and really it fit pretty well and carried all my stuff (much to the guide’s chagrin since I abhor a vacuum and must fill empty spaces…) I was probably at 32 pounds with all my and the group gear. Funny story at REI, when we went to go get mom’s pack, we told them of the requirements and he really tried to steer us to a 3000 cu in pack since the 4500 one is really huge. I was hesitant to go smaller, while I did agree with him, 4500 is huge, I didn’t know what kind of bulky group gear our guides would be giving us and I didn’t want to be flouting their requests already. We ended up saying thanks but no thanks to the guy and eventually coming back to find her pack on our own. Its starting to be an issue with REI folks actually. They are very nice and very smart, but they don’t seem to get that some of us have weird requirements (like me and my men’s hiking boot things and our listing for a large pack for this trip) and that sort of bothers me.
Pack Rain Cover: Osprey Raincover XL at MRO, this weighs about 8 oz and squishes down nicely into its carrying case (moreover you can get it BACK into its own case which is downright amazing.) Also, serves double duty as a rain seat that you tighten around yourself while you sit on the ground with the upper part curved around your shoulders. handy when you are under a tarp but still sitting on the ground.
Clothes: (all my clothes lived in a Sea to Summit waterproof bag (8L) to prevent them from getting wet and also served as my pillow at night.)
–>2 shirts (cool max Champion brand from Target on clearance last year) *Necessary* since I sweat and it was warm on the uphills, but cool after you took off your pack. When it was rainy, getting things to dry was a bitch and a half (and the quick dry only made it a bitch to dry off in the sleeping bag with me)
–>Rain Pants that also zipped off to shorts, but walking in these shorts was a clammy affair. I primarily used these over long johns or over my other shorts to keep warm/dry (and the fact that my legs were cold indicated that it was *cold* as I frequently run around in shorts and a wool sweater all year round here in Nor Cali.)
–>Shorts (cool max) I got these at Target and these were FANTASTIC. I need to get a couple more pair since these suckers ROCK.
–>Socks I took 3 pairs of SmartWool (or the REI brand, buy 3 and get 10% off) and swapped socks every day. Some people advocate changing sock mid-day, but I found that if I took of my shoes mid-day that my feet hurt on the afternoon trek. Your mileage may vary. I slept in one pair and alternated the other two. The happyhappyjoyjoy thing about SmartWool is that it does NOT get stinky or gross. Hooray for natural materials!
–>Undies: Ex Officio magic undies-quick dry and anti stinky.
–>Long Undies: I did a combo of SmartWool (top) and Polarmax Tech Pants long undies and while they were both ok, I really should have gotten SmartWool on both ends, the SmartWool was much more comfy. I slept in my long undies at night, both for warmth (though my sleeping bag was double plus good! especially for having been on sale for $69, but I’ll discuss it later…) I was a squicky about my skin on skin since I was pretty gross. It helped me to sleep (mom said this as well after one night that she didn’t sleep in hers.)
–>Rain Jacket: A Marmot shell that I zipped the fleece out of
–>Boots: Merrell men’s Mesa ventilators (because I have yet to find a pair of women’s hiking boots that are wide enough for me… jeebus, girls, how do you walk around on those little popsicle sticks without falling over?) though the one’s I linked to aren’t exactly it, they are ventilators which probably also helped with my feet not getting hot in combo with the SmartWool socks. I can say that I had exactly ZERO problems with my feet (and frankly I thought I would have problems with them since my feet are sort of diva-high-maintenance-Bitchy-McSnipe-esque as far as feet go. Needless to say, I was very happy- the cold I had, well, that’s quite another matter.)
–>Gaiters: I got the ones made of the same material that my Mistral pants are made from… good stuff, but I am actually pondering some Outdoor Research ones.
–>Camp Shoes: MRO had Nothinz on sale for half off… I was going to go the cheap flip flop route, but I yielded to peer pressure, and it wasn’t a bad decision. Croc knockoffs would have been just as good… plus mom bought them so even better. ;)
–>Hat: mine looked like a regular baseball cap, but is actually a winter runner’s cap with little earflaps that can fold down for the cold… and I used ‘em, too. Brrr.
–>Knee brace
Tent: this was group gear and they brought it for us… It was an REI Half Dome tent ca. 2004. Very good tent, we were rained on pretty heavily and we stayed dry. Roughly 6 pounds and made of heavier material than the new UL ones they have now.
Boffo! A good one…
Sleeping Bag: Sierra Designs Rosa, on sale as previously mentioned, kept me nicely warm. It has a little feet liner at the bottom that I haven’t seen before that was really nifty as well as the dual zipper that let me stick my feet out even when the rest of the bag was zipped up. As for the ‘narrower through the torso nonsense’, well, I ain’t, to put it very bluntly. I also sleep on my side, so I’m pondering the Big Agnes bag that is built for us side sleepers, though I like the fact that the Rosa is lighter and synthetic (goosedown loses warmth if it gets wet and takes forever to dry). Still making my decision on this one. I would like a smaller bag so that it doesn’t take up a crapload of space in my bag so I can use my UL 45 pack in the future.
Sleeping Pad: Thermarest Z Lite. I have a Thermarest that I used for years and its heavy and a pain to deal with (inflate, un-inflate, etc.). I like the fold up design of this and I can bunch up parts of it to work as a pillow or under my knees when I lie flat (as I can’t really sleep on my side with my current sleeping bag). It also is nice and light, easy to manoeuvre (putting down, picking up). I did beat it up on trees when I walked though since I put it up on the top of my pack (having removed the pack lid with the pocket previously.)
Eat-y things:
–>Spork:I had a red one (which I left at home… duh) so I bought a blue one at MRO. Not bad, but I think I like mom’s Foon.
–>Cup and Bowl: I liked the bowl (its easy to open it up and lick it clean), but the cup wasn’t as fun. I didn’t bring a plate. I might consider bringing this cup or more likely this one that I use all the time anyway even though it weighs a bit more.
–>Camelbak: 2L…worth it.
Personal Patch Kit: Its an Outdoor Research ultralight organizer with little things like nail nippers (for fighting off bears), Tylenol (lots), Sudafed (even more), skin goop, toothbrush, toothpaste, baby wipes (for every other day wipe down) and other little snickety things that would get lost in the wilds of my pack.
I think they tried to talk me out of it, but it was one of the things that I held firm on (instead of using ziploc bags for everything).
Misc Items:
–>Gorilla Tape
–>Bandannas (x2)
–>Trekking Poles: I wasn’t certain how I’d work with these and mom definitely was skeptical. But they saved my butt all week. I balanced myself with them, pushed myself up mountains, took the weight off of my knees (which I will discuss later) and pretty much earned their keep (and I bought cheap-y ones in case the airlines destroyed them in my duffel I checked, so I’m guessing even lighter weight ones would be even better.) Also, if I decide on the other tent I thought was cool, it would use the poles instead of tent poles for double duty.
–>Treo in waterproof case that also had my ID and insurance card (in case of bears… they are deathly afraid of HMO’s, you know) and earphones. I probably could have lived without my Treo on this trip because I was so sick, but otherwise, I think I would have still wanted it with me.
–>Garmin eTrex Vista for fun and to see our altitude, to mark waypoints where we stayed etc. because I am a big geek. I would take this again in a heartbeat.
–>Journal small spiral binder (4×5) for notes + pen
–>Camera: My old Sony waterproof 2megapixel one so I wouldn’t worry about killing my good one on the trail.
–>More ziploc bags for trash, daily snacks, messy things, stuff that went in the bear bag at night, etc.
–>LED headlamp: A Energizer one which I didn’t use much as I observed the hiker midnight rule (a.k.a. going to bed when the sun went down… about 8 pm or 9 pm. Giggling from other tents went on long after… it really was one big slumber party. ;)
Food:
Now, I don’t know that I can fairly assess my food situation for this week. I caught a cold and was stuffed up and MISERABLE (not to mention other issues that some of us girlies have to deal with directly) so I really didn’t eat much this whole week. (Nor did I want to…)
No, really.
In fact, everyone was going out of their way to make sure I actually put food in my mouth and ate it. To be perfectly honest, I could go for a while and not worry about missing a meal. They should have worried if I didn’t drink water (which I managed to clear out my Camelbak just about every day even though it was nice a cool out side, no problem with water at all.)
It hurt to eat stuff since my throat was raw, my taste buds were not functioning (well, no nose, no taste) and the one or two times I even remotely felt hungry was when we were walking and it went away after about 3 minutes. It wasn’t a big deal.
Here’s what I actually took (more than other folks because of my persnickety stomach)
Contrast that list with what I actually ate that week:
No breakfast, but then again I never eat breakfast (though I didn’t even want coffee… weird. Most likely I just wanted to stay in my sleeping bag a little longer rather than get up to get hot water…) The rest of the trip was lots of water, but I didn’t notice not eating much at all. I think everyone else was more concerned about the food situation than I was.
Frankly, it was just another chore.
What I didn’t take (that I would need to take on a solo trip):
JetBoil: We used a group feedbag situation that involved the guides having the stoves. That sometimes meant that I had to eat earlier than I wanted and didn’t have hot water when it would have been nice to have (later at night before I went to bed to warm up a bit.) I have an insulate-y sleeve that I should have brought for my Nalgene bottle so I could have kept some water at temperature.
Tent: Outdoor Research NightHaven Shelter with footprint. I like the fact it is 2 pounds and you use your trekking poles.
More Gorilla tape and the other little things like a lighter,water filter, a tarp and light rope that the guides took.
All in all, most things were good… but marshmallows and hot chocolate would probably be on the list somewhere as well.
AT:TUE
6/12
The morning dawned somewhat dewily on the tents.
I got up and got mom some coffee back in the tent and organized our stuff out of the bear bag (actually more accurately named “the mouse bag” as it was to keep the rodentia out.) and moved the rainfly off to a sunny patch to let it dry.
I tried to eat a Larabar (normally my favorite thing) and had to quit halfway through it since swallowing brought tears to my eyes. I put it away for later.
The lead guide came over to talk to me this morning about me being sick.
She was concerned that on the day we crossed Wilburn Ridge that my being seriously slow could be a problem if weather got bad. Exposure out on the ridge if there was lightning was a seriously dangerous prospect. People have died… and neither she nor I wanted that.
I understood her point of view. The danger was real, my cold was potentially going to get worse and she needed to know if she needed to get me out.
I told her that I would go and go and go. I wouldn’t stop, I wouldn’t be as fast as everyone, and realistically I couldn’t promise any speed increases, but I wouldn’t ever stop or give up or whine about it. I also told her that despite all that, if she thought I might put someone in danger that she should tell me. I wasn’t about to ask anyone to get hurt on my account.
We decided that we’d see how I did that day (it was a shorter day) and that there were still places for me to hike out that weren’t exposed in front of us if worse came to worse.
Needless to say I felt even more horrible after this talk.
What if I were ruining everyone’s trip-especially mom’s? I know how much she looked forward to this (I had, too.)? What if I became that problem child that no one ever wants to deal with? The guilt of yesterday hit harder, my cold wasn’t better, I felt worse everyday, and now, I was a problem.
Glorious.
I also knew that my mom was concerned. She blames everything on me being overweight (middle east strife, global warming, etc.) but I’ve always been awful on uphill stuff even when I was in somewhat reasonable shape, so while me losing weight wouldn’t be a bad thing, it most likely wouldn’t make me any faster slogging up a hill.
The good news was, Tricky, the lead guide wanted me to continue (as did I) and was pretty positive about me doing it. I didn’t think she’d lost faith in me yet. (and there was no way I would be the one who said quit. They really would have to kick me out bodily. I’m stubborn as hell, yo.)
We packed up after gathering in a circle to do stretches all around and moved off to the area near Wise Shelter.
Tricky and Almanac switched duty each day for lead/sweep. So today, I had custody of Tricky. It was kind of nice to be able to have the guide all to myself (even if I wasn’t able to hold up my side of the conversation as well due to breathing.)
While I was making the climb of the first hill, she gave me some pointers about tackling hills and general trekking pole usage (I was getting the hang of them, but I was still learning, so pointers were much appreciated).
Basically, I needed to slow down and conserve my puny resources. So I started to retrain myself on my pace.
Mr. Potato Head is pretty ingrained and muscle memory is not an easy thing to redo, so I spent the day working up new walking song… or rather, a walking uphill song.
I ended up with a mishmash of imagery.
The accompanying sound is a combo of a drastically slowed down baby elephant song that sounds like a foghorn.
PEAAAAAAA-Nut.
Repeat ad nauseum.
But, by the next hill, I only stopped once to drink, because regardless of whether I can still breathe while going uphill, I’m still a klutz and will fall down if I try to drink from my camelbak tube, use trekking poles and walk at the same time.
Let’s be realistic here. Some things you can’t solve with PEANUT.
At times, I was even in front of mom. (To be fair, she was stopping every 5 seconds to Hoover up the wild strawberries along the trail. I’d give her even odds with a hungry black bear duking it out for the strawberries. I can’t win here.)
It became even more clear to me that breaks were irritating. I’d show up at the group break about 5 minutes after they flopped down (drastic improvement here, folks-still with the snot and the cold and the cramps, that was persistent) and not want to stop.
Still not hungry, though. I’d watch them eat and I’d drink some water and take pictures then we’d go.
Granted, this was an absolutely easy day on rolling trail, but I kept up, I didn’t stop and I made it to camp right about the time everyone else did.
We set up camp just north of Wise Shelter (oh yeah, did I mention we were hiking North to South? No? Oh, well now you know.). The meadow was surrounded by rhododendrons, there was a river running just north of us (that we crossed over on a very cool bridge on the way there), took advantage of the privy and mom and I sat down in the tent for a bit.
Well, she sat for a bit. I passed out and woke up about 2 hours later when I got cold.
I had a fever at that point, even I could feel it, so I took out the sleeping pads and bags and went back to sleep.
I have two pictures of this part of the day… one of the alien from inside the tent and the other one of the roof of the tent. There is evidence of me walking around, but I was generally as elusive as Sasquatch.
I could hear all the fun going on all around me, and I sort of enjoyed the half day vicariously listening to everyone talk about the snake they saw at the river, mom coercing Sassy into finding firewood for a fire, Almanac starting dinner and the following gem of a conversation.
(Rustle, rustle, rustle)
Miscellaneous people: What’s that rustling? Is that a bear?!
Almanac (in mom voice): Who’s there!
Sassy: Its just me, Angela. (she was in the bushes looking for firewood)
Teabag: Oh, all bears say that!
And forever more, all bears are named Angela.
Then, additionally, Sassy flushed a couple of robin babies.
One looked sort of like a 20 year old boy refusing to leave home (effectively ready to go, but not yet kicked out) and the other one had the crazy baby robin feathers and not quite ready for prime time.
Mom:Its a fledgling.
[I couldn't ID the voice]: looks like a baby.
Mom: its a fledgling.
[I couldn't ID the voice]: a what?
Mom:A FLEDGLING.
(I could hear the “whatever” in the silence.)
I emerged briefly for dinner, and while it tasted fine, it was black beans and rice, and my throat was seriously trying to kill me for eating this. I barely managed to swallow the little I had and keep it down. That was an unpleasant meal. I wanted more of the chicken soup.
I took more drugs and went back into the tent.
After they started a fire (I could hear mom grousing about being talked out of packing marshmallows – “But they are light!” she grumped.) and a game with the group of “2 truths and a lie” I went to sleep.
There had been a brief discussion about my continuing the next day and we decided to to let the weather decide. I had reiterated that I wasn’t quitting, and that short of a thunderstorm, I would go until they told me I couldn’t. There was one last place I could hike out at Massie Gap and we’d see how that went.
Jeebus what a horrible night.
I dreamed that they kicked me out, I dreamed that they magically found a horse trail that I was able to skirt the ridge, I was half mourning Rhododendron Gap that I had built up in my head as a magical fairy place (must have been all the drugs, I’m not usually sentimental over bushes.)…
I’m sure that this was brought on by the sudafed/tylenol cocktail that I had been pushing trying to make myself somewhat less comatose, but the sentiment remained.
And then it started to rain.
Dear Eden,
See you in about 3 weeks =)
-fredlet
Booked my ticket today for PIT and hence the AT the Saturday following the flight.
My dried out husk will emerge (smelly) from the trail a week later (if mom hasn’t wrung my neck from my Katzitude) and after a shower (or ten), I’ll wend my way back to Pittsburgh, see Eden and then fly home.
=)
(Let’s hope US Air/United doesn’t fuckbleep this flight up as badly as they did last time. I have lots of bad things I could say about them, but the timing isn’t so tight this time… though if they screw up this then I can’t promise that my side effect of shorting out all electronics near me won’t go apeshit like what happened to my Treo and mom’s house in Tx., but on a larger scale.)
Are you tired of me yet?
I am.
Loads of stuff going on, but I don’t know what I really think of it til I’m mostly through it.
Primarily I am making sure Bunny eats enough (and enough of the right stuff) at least I don’t wake up obsessively looking at her every hour of the night to make sure she’s still breathing…
Job situation is better, but then its a new job, so usually the really horrid stuff doesn’t emerge til later… well, most of the time, so I’ll enjoy the honeymooon.
People situation, well, suffice it to say, I think the end of a era happened. I should just be happy with the good memories, but as I am a fixed fire sign, I tend to not let go of things very easily. Ah me.
AT in a few weeks, and I’m not nearly in shape, but I’ll just suck it up and be slow and try not to be Katz about the whole thing. Mom and I are both really looking forward to it.
Anyhoo, a few people know the whole scope of my last few weeks, a lot of it is unfit for the general population and some of it has changed enough to be a non-issue even though it was enough then to bring back my dreaded ulcer, though it subsided fairly quickly.
But that’s enough, I have loads of work to do this weekend (!) but I think its probably a good thing to keep me occupied for now.
Worm sign.
SPICE MUST FLOW
How geeky are you?
(the comments are the funniest part…)
A game
If you want to play.
I have a category over there called “Obscure Reference“. When I have that selected in the tag, if you want to guess what my obscure reference is, just email me or put it in the comments.
I’m just sayin’.
(and there is no obscure reference in this one, I just put it here for completeness.)
Still loving my KitchenAid…
add to the love the fact that I have slept, that I got to SLEEP IN, that I have had 2 days in a row off, that I have been able to read for at least 12 hours of those last several days and I still have another day off.
Oh bliss.
Anyhoo, banana bread is in the oven (yes, I should have made it yesterday so it could settle in, but I didn’t feel like it) and I am out of the shower… if I could have a maid service once every two weeks so I didn’t have to go on these cleaning binges* as well as tidying binges** (and possible win the lotto*** so I don’t have to work anymore), things might be just about perfect.
*Cleaning involves mopping, moving stuff out of the way, vacuuming and actual cleaning products. This is not a weekly occurrence though done more than once a month.
**Tidying involves putting away all the folded laundry, de-cluttering the area where the mail lands, putting away things that are out and shouldn’t be. This is done at least once a week or in small bursts every other night in various areas to spread it all around. I find this to be a crucial process otherwise I might die from being trapped under an avalanche of clutter…
*** I don’t know if this would be a popular thing. I might drive Eden round the bend. I’ve been chatty kathy since I’ve gotten rest. She might want to clip my string.
ponder. ponderrific. ponderosa. ponder. ponder.
On rain:
“The Bay Area has endured record-breaking weather the past month. San Francisco had 25 days of rain in March, breaking the previous record of 23 days set in 1904. Oakland, San Rafael and Santa Rosa also broke rainy-day records in March.
San Francisco also nearly broke the record last month for the rainiest March, with 8.74 inches of rain. The record of 9 inches was set in 1983.”
[via SF Gate]
I had just moved out to California with mom in 1982, so 1983 was well into the school year. It was an El Nino year and it made itself very well known.
I didn’t know what the hell an El Nino was, I just knew that as I was walking to and from school (because a bus pass at that point was too much moola for my allowance to afford) that I was fekkin’ drenched.
I thought all winters in Cali were going to be like this and I was kinda depressed about that.
The subsequent years weren’t too rainy, and we even dripped into drought at one point, but I still to this day expect that winters will be rainy as hell here.
This winter it really is.
Seems like old times.
On Cali’s emissions reduction plan:
You know, this may peripherally be about reducing emissions in the atmosphere, but its really about getting more money.
For a while, getting a hybrid had to savings to it (tax rebates, etc.) in addition, you saved some gas. Now, California will tax you for owning a hybrid to make up for the gasoline tax that they lose. Doesn’t give me any incentive to buy one. Not only are they not as efficient for general driving around (40 mpg stated, but not always achieved), they have no space inside for stuff when you need to haul things (like your laptop and an umbrella), you can get as good a gas mileage on a lot of cars that don’t have the problem with their batteries pooping out and NOT being under warranty after a while.
You don’t even get the benefit of using the HOV lanes or the commute lanes on the bridges unless you pay an exorbitant tax for a sticker to let you drive there.
Ever see “Popeye”? The taxes are about the same.
(Don’t get angry Fredlet, there’s an angry tax…)
So, excuse me for thinking this isn’t about the environment. I’ve seen too much here in California to think its about people actually doing the right thing.
Oh, and speaking of someone doing the right thing…
“DeLay Announces Resignation From House” [link]
Thank you Tom.
This may be the only thing I’ve EVER agreed with you on…you lumpy sack of donkey shit.
“DeLay was the driving force behind President Clinton’s impeachment in 1999, weeks after Republicans lost seats at the polls in a campaign in which they tried to make an issue of Clinton’s personal behavior.”
Hello, pot? This is the kettle. You’re black!
“His trademark aggressiveness helped trigger his downfall, when he led a drive to redraw Texas’ congressional district boundaries to increase the number of seats in GOP hands. DeLay was soon caught up in an investigation involving the use of corporate funds in the campaigns of legislators who had participated in the redistricting.”
Mmmmm… gerrymandering.
I make this trailer park look GOOD
I scored a 73% on the “How Texas are you?”
Quizie! What about you?
(later that same day…)
Eden 57%
Karl Elvis 48%
Greg 43%
Kramer 95%
forthcoming squee…
I’m wrapping up this job at the current company (training the new guy and making sure all my chickens are taken care of) and I haven’t even unpacked from San Diego last week much less had time to write the requisite squee.
I promise I will.
The sound heard issuing from my lips lately (a la Prince of Tides at the end of the movie):
“WeetaPieCon…WeetaPieCon…WeetaPieCon…”
You have been warned.
Psstt…
see that Next Blog>> button up in the top right hand of this window?
When you click on that repeatedly, does it make you feel like you are Jessica 6 on the automat of people (no, not carousel…I’m way past renewal. My crystal is black… as black as my mercenary little heart.)?
OK, this having to act like a grown up is irritating.
So, reading about other people’s writings about what they are doing (and their kids are doing) for summer vacation just reminds me that I have lost track of the way I used to parse out the year.
Primarily it was geared toward vacation time,
The big one being summer… camp, riding the bus all over the place on one day pass… part of the fun being with my friends, part of it being off with everything I need in my purse/backpack of the day. Sometimes I’d end up back in Texas for a big stretch and Six Flags, Kermit and driving around places in the Southwest with my grandparents would figure prominently into the equation.
Then there was the doldrums of school which I fully participated in (teacher’s pet and all that) until winter vacation arrived and I could get at those presents… there was more than that, but still.
The other day I was driving past a school and vaguely wondered why there weren’t more kids running into the street like idiots and it took me a while to remember it was July and that there are historically fewer kids in school now. A person at work mentioned her kids were in camp and I managed at the time to restrain myself from saying out loud, “Oh, its camp time isn’t it?”
I’m lost on the seasonal thing.
…and these wrinkles by my eyes aren’t doing much for my ego.
Birthday is less than a month away at this point… and aside from all that rot that I just wrote above, I think that the real indicator that shows my age is that I am starting to slightly dread that date rather than 100% declaring it a world holiday and everyone treat me like the queen that I am…where’s my hassenpfeffer?!!
