February 2006

What a week it’s been and it’s only Thursday. My sister was home from Moscow for a couple of days and we got to hang out with my dad and his girlfriend on Tuesday night for dinner. My mom and my sister called last night to chat. Earl has been on two out of town business trips this week already and has promised to bless me with his presence tonight. In honor of this I am cooking supper as we speak. In our new crock pot that smells like it’s burning.

I don’t think you’re suppose to sit with a crock pot while it does it’s thing. I’m going to sit with this one for a little while to make sure it doesn’t go up in flames. When I first started it up it gave off this smell that was similar to the time an old boss dumped a cup of coffee on his desk, directly into his monitor.

At least dinner should be good; on the menu we have pork chops and sauerkraut basted in beer, mustard and brown sugar. Side dish includes lots of veggies*. Hopefully the charred electronics smell won’t be overpowering.

I’ve discovered that lots of veggies helps one stay healthy! I’m having fun wearing my “medium” clothes these days.

This afternoon when I arrived for lunch I heard a familiar, yet unwelcome sound coming from the kitchen. It was the gasping and wheezing of Tom’s water fountain. I forgot to fill it with water this morning before leaving for work.

Tom is the poster cat for “The Pampered Pet”. He gets his meals served two times a day in stunning stainless steel. He also has a water fountain that encourages more drinks of water by providing a playful water stream for him to sip from. His third such contraption, this one resembles a mushroom with water that slides down all sides so that he has a choice as to where to lick the water from. He usually opts for the back, closest to the wall. Apparently he is a private drinker.

The water fountain is relatively maintenance free; you have to clean it and change the filters periodically. You also have to keep the reservoir filled with water so it doesn’t run dry. It has the same type of motor found in a small aquarium pump.

I filled the water and found that it was still making that incessent slurping noise that was really getting on my nerves. So I had to take the whole thing apart and clean out the intake. Unfortunately Tom has a habit of chewing his kibble and then discarding it in the bowl part of his water fountain so there’s was some soggy Meow Mix obstructing the water flow. Once I had that under control everything was working fine.

Tom thanked me by making litter burying motions with his left paw towards the fountain. I guess he thinks that stuff is hot shit.

My work schedule is a little wonky this week as several group members are in training, leaving a skeleton crew behind. Naturally, I’m one of the bones. Because of this I really couldn’t get out and about for lunch today in case of a telecommunications tragedy, so I opted to sit in the lunch room at work, enjoy my serving of Progresso soup and do something I haven’t done in a long time.

I read the newspaper. I actually touched a newspaper, turned the pages and read the articles.

Normally I catch up with the day’s news online. I read the funnies, catch up on the latest world happenings and browse entertainment, all with a few clicks of the mouse on some strategically bookmarked web pages. It works well, I feel somewhat informed. But reading the newspaper was a fascinating exercise. For example, there’s a column where people write in with their medical concerns and a doctor responds, right there for all the world to see. Today’s medical problem had to do with a reader concerned with their ears turning red when they become embarassed. Apparently this affliction is causing them social distress and they want to know what they can do to prevent it. Instead of having the reader deal with the issue that is causing them embarassment, he opted for “better living through chemistry” and suggested she contact her family doctor for a beta blocking drug that she should take before she becomes embarassed. “Please wait before you insult my behavior, I need to take my Embarassax so my ears don’t turn red.”

Had I not read the newspaper today, I would not have known that 300 violent sex offenders are moving into one of the number of local prisons in this area. Now there’s something to look forward to, especially during my summer bike rides. (Earl and I use to live right down the street from this prison, and the prisoners would always yell and carry on while I rode by on my bike. The area where they air out the prisoners is right near the road.)

So while the news is not as immediate as the world wide web, it was a welcomed change of pace. I look forward to doing it again, maybe in a year or so.

Earl and I spending the night in the lovely city of Rochester, N.Y. We’re meeting up with our friends from Buffalo and heading to a local bar here for bear night. We’ve never been to bear night in Rochester before but it should prove to be a fun experience.

Beforehand we’re going to have dinner at the local P.F. Changs, the only one in Upstate New York. It’s the little things like this that make us happy.

I have my camera primed and ready to go for this evening. I hope to have lots of pictures to upload onto Flickr.

Sunshine

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

The sun brought me out of my hibernation mode today. For what it’s worth, I could see my shadow. I don’t know what happens when a bear sees his shadow on Groundhog Day, but it can’t be all bad. Not on a beautiful day like today!

All I know is that the bright sunshine today has done wonders for my mood, my outlook on life and my disposition. They say we are returning to winter starting this weekend. I don’t care.

I’m enjoying the sunshine today.

As an aside, I’ve gone from my “large” clothes to my “medium” clothes. I’m quite pumped about that.