Ms. Kitty

It was a warm summer day, and Kaycee was barking at inanimate objects as usual. I had noticed that for a few days now, she had been drawn to this certain spot in the corner of our carport and I figured this might be worth investigating. So I opened the door, and at first glance I saw nothing, but I continued to scan the area until a white blob with eyes caught mine. She was huddled in the corner, behind boxes and foam packaging that were awaiting the recycling fate. Faith renewed in our dog, I called over to Laura that Kaycee had indeed found something tangible, and the white cat that Laura had spotted as pregnant, was pregnant no more. Ms. Kitty had decided to have her babies in our carport.
We knew now, that we would have to keep her close, so one day we could thieve her babies in order to give them a shot at a good life. The plotting began, and we starting feeding Ms. Kitty, who was quite hungry. With 2 little kittens to feed and protect, her hunting had been limited, and she had a big appetite. We fed here morning and night, and with each feeding, she growled and hissed, but would still walk up to the food dish as we filled it. She somehow knew not to bite the hand that feeds her, but she always had a little warning to give.
Ok, so now we have her staying, but how to get her kittens. The plan was to grab them when they were around 4 weeks old. We knew that she left the carport on occasion, and we would have to keep checking until she was “out” for the day, and pick the little guys up. 4 weeks came quick, and now it was our turn to hunt. We kept checking at all times of the day, but she wouldn’t leave! It was like she knew….knew, that we were after her babies.
After the 3rd day of checking, it was early in the morning on a Saturday, and I went to check and no sign of momma. SIEZE the DAY! I hurried into the carport and the kittens that were bold when momma was near, ran and hid from me now that mom was away. Crap! I’m going to need help. So I ran into the house, woke Laura up and said, honey, I need help. Ms. Kitty is gone and the kittens are hiding from me behind some drywall. With lightning speed, Laura was down the hall faster than I was and heading into the carport. We knew time was limited and Ms. Kitty could return at any moment.
We grabbed the kittens…..ok, now what.
Laura had prepared for this day, so we had a litterbox, kennel, food and old towels. Since we had been puppy fostering, we had a pen, but it didn’t have a ceiling, so we knew that they would eventually need to go into our bathroom. Oh well, we would deal with that later, the good thing was we have the kittens. So, our cats go back into their room, Kaycee gets to go outside, Gabby remains the queen of the house, (top dog has its privileges) and we are off to a day of puppy adopting with Pound Puppy Rescue.
Now its time for the real challenge….. trapping Ms. Kitty so we can get her fixed. Now that we had taken her kittens, we thought she would bolt, but she stayed. Stayed for the food and lodging, so we now hoped she would be hungry enough to be trapped.
We rented a trap from the humane society, and god some mackerel to bait the trap. BTW, that crap smells something fierce. The trap went out and there she was, weary of the metal structure, but still hungry. I left her be and went to deposit the remaining smelly mackerel in the garbage out front. As I was in front, I decided to take a peek to see if she was approaching the trap. I was surprised at what I saw. It looked like she was in the trap. No that couldn’t be… I just set it out minutes ago. I raced around to the back to peek over the fence and see if it were true, and behold my eyes, she was in the trap. Well that was easy! I thought for sure it would take quite a bit of luck and coaxing to get her to take the bait. So off the the vet we went the next morning.
When it came time to release her, she was reluctant to leave the trap. I actually had to coax her out with food (clearly the motivator for her) and as soon as she was free, she took off.
I figured she wouldn’t come back, but to our surprise, she did that night, and the day after. Laura and I discussed the best way to wean her from the feeding, now that she was back to being normal and single again. But again, nature surprised us, and as if she instinctually knew that her time with us had come to an end, she has disappeared. We see her around the neighborhood, but she hasn’t returned to the carport for food. Laura and I saw her chomping on something meaty in the neighbors yard, and it looks like she is back to being a stray cat, able to be promiscuous without concern, and roaming the streets hunting her meals.
It was like she knew when to come to us, and when to leave. We are fostering her kittens, and they are healthy and growing stronger each day. In about a week, they will be ready to go up for adoption. You can see how cute they are by visiting Laura’s flickr site.

a lesson to you all......INVESTIGATE

Well, last night was a rough night, and the morning was proof that life sometimes fucks you up the ass without permission. So most of us probably have car alarms, yes? And the purpose of the car alarm is to alert you when something/someone disturbs the car. This is the point where one would go out and INVESTIGATE the reason for the alarm. I think most of us are so used to hearing them go off that we have become accustomed to ignoring the sound. THIS IS A MISTAKE. This is the exact time one should go and INVESTIGATE the source. I bet by now you are getting the idea that this is something I did not do, and you are right!
So here is what happened……..after a very restless night of sleep and not well rested, I leave the house to go to work, and as I get into my car I notice this large gaping hole in my dash where the stereo should be…and then the night before comes rushing back to me. There I was…somewhere around 9ish, watching a very good episode of Big Brother, when I hear a car alarm go off that sounds exactly like mine. It sounds like it’s on the other side of the house in the neighbors lot, so I ignore it. It keeps going off……and I think “fucking turn your car alarm off”…..yeah, there was my mistake. Because it wasn’t the neighbors car alarm……it was really MY alarm, and because I did not go investigate when it went off, I instead sat there enjoying Big Brother while my car was being broken into and someone stole my stereo and cd’s. Let this be a lesson to you all…..always investigate!!!!!

another survey... read if your bored

Name: Cori

Single or Taken: Taken

Sex: Female

Birthday: 11-29-67

Siblings: half sister

Eye color: blue

Shoe size: mens 7.5

Height: 5'7"

Innie or Outie: innie

What are you wearing right now: Jeans, t-shirt, brown doc martens

Where do you live: Campbell, California

Righty or lefty: Right, but eat with left

Can you make a dollar in change right now?: nope

Who are your closest friends: Dru, Diana

Do you have a BF or GF?: GF/Partner

Best place to go for a date: depends on the date

Where is your fav place to shop: REI

Favorite:

kind of pants: Baggy skate pants

color: midnight blue

Number: 333

Boys Name: Brendan

Girls Name: Tegan

Animal: Cat

Drink: triple tall white mocha, iced or hot

Sport(s): skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, soccer

To play: hockey, dodgeball, football

Football Team: Green Bay Packers

Basketball Team: not my thing

Hockey Team: olympics only

Baseball Team: A's

Month(s): September

Movie: Gone with the Wind

Juice: Orange

Finger: middle

Breakfast: at present...eggs and turkey sausage

Favorite cartoon character: Pink Panther
----------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever

Given anyone a bath: Yes

smoked: yes

Bungee: no

Made yourself throw-up: no

Gone skinny dipping: once

Eaten a hot dog: yes

Put your tongue on a frozen pole: yeah, but nothing dramatic happened

Loved someone so much it made you cry?: of course

Broken a bone: no

Played truth or dare: yes......dangerous game

Been in a physical fight: only as a kid

Been in a police car: no

Been on a plane: yes

Come close to dying: no

been in a sauna: yes

been in a hot tub: yes

swam in the ocean: Yes

Fallen asleep in school: no

Ran away?: no

Broken someone's heart: yes

Cried when someone died: no

Cried in school: i dont think so

Saved AIM conversations: Yes

Saved e-mails: Yes

Fallen for one of your best friends? yes, and I would advise against it. never get together with your best friend.

Made out with JUST a friend? Yes

Used someone: probably in my youth

Been cheated on? Yes
____________________________________________

What is...

Your good luck charm: dont have one really

Best song you ever heard: Xavier by Dead can Dance

Stupidest thing you have ever done: not beleiving in myself and skipping college

Last thing you said: "Your fine" said to our dog Kaycee who was whining at the sliding glass door

What is beside you: my keyboard and guitar

Last thing u ate: Blackened catfish

What kind of shampoo do you use?: Redken for men

Best thing that has happened to you this year: Because im a dork, I totally fogot about getting engaged back in March!! I had formerly said my motorcycle. OOPS, im a dork!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you had...

Chick Pox: no... so stay away

Sore Throat: yes

Stitches: only from my wisdom teeth.... does that count?

Broken nose: OUCH.....NO

Believed in love at first sight: not really

Have picnics: yes

Like school: NO, NO, and a big NO

What schools have you gone to: DeWitt Clinton, Stephen Tyng Mather High, DeAnza, Foothill, West Valley, Northeastern

Who was the last person that called you: Jose, my coworker

Who was the last person you slow danced with: cant remember

What makes you laugh the most?: anything really, I can find humor in strange places

What makes you smile? Laura, my animals, life in general and a really beautiful hike.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who is the last person. . .

You Kissed?: Laura

Who broke your heart: a few and not all were GF's

Who told you they loved you: Laura

Is your loudest friend? unfortunately, my name would come up if my friends were answering this. I think Im the loud one :)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you/Are You:

Do you like filling these out: periodically

Do you wear contacts or glasses: Glasses

Do you get along with your family: NO

Stolen anything over $50: probably as a kid.

Obsessive?: No

Compulsive?: no

Anorexic?: HELL NO, love my starch too much for that

Suicidal?: no
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Final questions...

How many people are you sending this to: nobody

What did you do yesterday: Worked and cooked dinner, then watched Hell's Kitchen

Hated someone in your family: yes

Gotten any awards: yes

What car do you wish to have: volvo cross country

Where do you want to get married?: Hawaii or Vermont

If you could change something about yourself, what would it be?: be smarter

Good driver: Depends who you ask

Good Singer: ABSOLUTELY NOT

Have a lava lamp: no anymore

How many remote controls are in your house: way to many

Are you double jointed: in my thumbs

What do you dream about?: winning the lottery

Last time you showered: this morning

Last time you took a bath: few months ago

The last movie you saw at the theatres: cant remember, but the theatre was empty, I remember that

Chocolate or white chocolate: Dark chocolate

Root Beer or Dr.Pepper: Root beer

Mud or Jell-O wrestling: Jell-O

Vanilla or chocolate: vanilla

Summer or winter: SUMMER

Silver or Gold: Silver

Diamond or pearl: none

Sunset or Sunrise: sunset

Sprite or 7up: sprite

Orange juice or apple juice: Orange

Cats or dogs: cats

Coffee or tea: coffee!!!!!!!!

Phone or in person: in person


Are you Oldest, middle, youngest or only child: only

end time: 10:15pm.

gratitude

I make no excuses nor do I carry any shame in the fact that I like to hear a little gratitude when I offer up unsolicited extensions of kindness. It doesnt have to be longwinded, but a thank you always will suffice. Where does this come from? well, today was a very hectic day at work. A particularly hectic day for me and my boss. My boss who makes lots more money than I do, and yet probably doesnt receive much more whippings than I, when things go awry. Everyone was so busy and it was clear that he nor I was going to get a lunch because we were both covering for others that were out sick or had the day off. (end of the month, who the heck approved that?) So, I decide I am just going to leave the office and get a sandwich to bring back because I am starting to get weak from hunger and stress. Thinking that he is feeling the same, I decide to seek him out and say "im going to subway, do you want me to pick up up a sandwich?" He looks relieved and immediately says' yeah, how about a Italian BMT?" I say ok and off I go. I get back with sandwich in hand and put it on his desk. I let him know that his sandwich is on his desk and his reply?........ "ok" .........thats it?! "ok" how about "thanks" or "thanks so much" or "how much do I owe you" but "ok"? I understand we are busy, but no one should be too busy for a thank you. The only time one doesnt really need to thank someone is if you perform the random acts of kindness where contact is not available. Such as.....I have on occasion, whimsically paid the toll for the next few cars behind me on a bridge. totally different circumstance. but this lunch thing totally got "me britches in a knot" I was watching Oprah one day ( yes it happens, the diva has touched even I) where she suggested keeping a gratitude journal. I started to do this and found that there were far more things I was grateful for than I had even realized and paying respect to that which I had, was very satisfying.

so, what I want to get out there is pay respect to kindness, with a simple thank you. it seems that we are so quick to judge and point out many imperfections in others, but so slow and hesitant to pay respect for the positive aspects we all have. I dont mean this to sound all fluffy and shit, but really people, dont take things for granted. and all this blogging from a silly interchange involving a sandwich!

666 Bwhaahaahaahaa

I seemed to chuckle at the date today, but not everyone shared my humor. Some people at work were downright bothered by it. anyway, thats not what I wanted to blather on about. This weekend we went to Half Moon Bay.

We went with some of Laura's other graduates from the Dog Trainers Academy. She graduated on Friday!!!!! CONGRATS BABY!!
ok, back to the bay. It was beautiful, for Half Moon. upper 70's , sunny (whats that) and barely a breeze. The perfect day to get FISH TACOS!!!! (course anyday is a great day to go to the flying fish)

There was this really funny sign that Laura pointed out...

which probably led to this array of jellyfish that were washed upon shore.

It was really cool, but got you in the habit of looking where you stepped.
We walked around town for a bit after the beach and then settled down to eat some tacos. Yummy!!!!
Sunday was spent watching movies, finally saw the Davinci Code. I give it a 3. Good, but not great, entertained me.

arrrrgh, this immigration shit is giving me a headache!

I am not sure exactly how this whole hubabaloo revolving immigration came about, but it's now really ticking me off that so much time is being spent on it, and theres this flurry of talk about how we need to deal with the immigration situation. Let's be real, what Bush and "Arnie" are really saying is "how do we keep those mexicans out". They fluff it all up under the guise of "immigration" but you dont hear them talking about the vietnemese or the polish that migrated here and dont have their green card, or any other nationality. It's all focused about protecting our "mexican border". I agree that if you are going to be here, then you need to be legal. But what is wrong with saying ok, ....everyone here, get your ass in gear and lets apply for the green card, and as long as you are in the process, we wont deport you. If you dont get the green card and are caught, well deport you. I dont agree with this load of crap that they want to make it a criminal offense! what the hell is that and how does that fit into our philosophy of "land of the free". I just dont think the whole prosecution thing is necessary. This whole spending time and money and sending national guardsmen to "protect our border" is not a efficient use of our forces or resources.

Dont get me wrong, I am certainly not an avocate of being anywhere illegally, I just take issue with how we decide to deal with it and WHO we are really profiling when this country says "immigration laws"

caffienated thoughts

First off, the title has nothing to do with the content. It's merely what brought on the thought process.

Im different and I have always felt different. It can be exciting and admiral, or it can be lonely and frustrating, it just depends on the circumstance and the day. As far back as I can remember, I always knew I was different. When I was a little kid, I didnt like to play with dolls and dress up. I wanted to play with Lego's and play in the dirt. This made me different then most of the girls. I accepted this and never really thought much of it, other than, "im just different". As a young adult, even though I had found friends that liked to do the same things as me, they became interested in boys, which yeah I liked to play with boys, but they wanted to plaaaaaayyyyyyyy with boys. This held zero interest in me and again I though, ok, I am just different. By my senior year in H.S. I figured this "difference" to be that I was gay, and I felt a weight lifted. Ahh, this is why I feel different then everyone else I know, and found this youth group in Chicago where I met lots of people like me, and hung out for the first time feeling like I belonged. But......again the feeling crept up, that I was still different then these people. This feeling was coming from the fact that I did not "party" like all of my other friends and I was always the sober one, taking care of my fucked up friends. This lasted through most of my 20's, where I was still "odd man out" amongst my group. I ended up with more gay male friends, because I loved to dance and go to the clubs. Even within my lesbian clan, I was still the only one who liked dance music and was not singing kumbya (however you spell it) and fawning over Melissa Etheridge. Nothing wrong with her, but it wasnt the music I was drawn to, and that I was passionate about. So, I was the token lesbian at the boy clubs, dancing to the music, who didnt drink. My other lesbian friends were playing softball or drinking at the savoy playing darts. And so it has been for all of my life, I usually am different then most people I know. I have a few friends that understand me well, but what I have been babbling about is that I am old enough to know that I will always be different. I will always think differently, and it's not something that I can shake. I have embraced it most of my life, and enjoyed my interests but come to find my fate is not ever being in the majority.

I now have a new interest, that AGAIN, is not a popular one. Because I am not an A student, med school is out, and being a medical examiner is out too, but, I am good with my hands, and am fairly mechanically inclined, so I decided to take some auto mechanic classes.

They have some intro courses at DeAnza which can get me started. I figure it's a good way to find out if I want to learn more and pursue this further, without investing a lot of money. I know I am probably going to be the only woman in the class, but I feel up to the challenge. I feel confident I can handle myself if any adversity comes up. Coffee sure gets my mind racing to all kinds of obscure topics.

ticked....

This weekend was an adventure for me. Saturday I went bike riding over at Wilder Ranch, and it was definitely wilder this time. Because of all the rain, this winter/spring the brush had grown crazy, I could not see the path below my feet. The trees and brush were about 6 feet high, so I was hoping that I wasn’t going to just end up in a swamp. Now of course doing this, I wasn’t thinking about the bugs that are in the brush, I am just thinking, “Geez, don’t let me dump into a swamp”, and Diana was probably thinking, “please don’t let a rattlesnake jump out at me”. So we kept going forward, found the trail up the cliff and carried on our merry way.We go to the beach and there was a dead seal that had washed up onto shore. I kept smelling this rancid fish smell, but didn’t know why, until I almost stepped on the thing. On our way back, we saw 2 snakes, and I almost ran over one. Thank god I was able to stop, and it ended up slithering through the rim of my front tire and off into the grass.
After our adventurous ride, I got home about 4:30pm. I am telling you the time because as you read more below, it will become apparent how much time had passed and why I was so mortified.
OK, it’s now about 9:30pm and I need to take a little pee. I drop my drawers, and I spot this black thing moving, and think “oh, a bug” I am not real concerned until I go to flick it off my shorts, and I realize that this is a bug that I have never seen before. The floodlights come on over my head and suddenly, the image of riding though dense foliage in Santa Cruz comes back to me. TICK. This might be a tick! I call for Laura, because I have never seen a tick in real life and still am not sure what it is. I show her and she’s like “yep, that’s a tick alright” I am mortified. Not just because it’s a tick, but because it was big, and I found it in my crotch, and it was there since I have been riding hours earlier! Laura gets concerned because she now is thinking if I had one, I brought a whole crew home and we have dogs/cats. I jump into the shower and scrub down, so she can inspect all the areas I cant see.
I was ok , but definitely traumatized for the evening. I of course start feeling itchy, and think that every time I do, Im going to find tick. The next day I was fine, and to tell you the truth, I am glad it happened, because I now know what they actually look like, and I don’t have such a huge fear of them anymore.

chickens... really

do you ever have one of those "aha" moments where suddenly everything becomes clear and you know you can never go back to before the "aha' moment happened? Well, that happened to me this evening. As I was out getting dog food for our "dainty" eater Kaycee, I stopped off at the local starbucks for a black brew. They had a paper out on one of the tables as i stood waiting for my beverage, so I started to read the headlines. It went something like "Google branching out into eggs" or something to that nature. it peaked my interest, and reading on, it was about how large corporations are doing their part to not purchase caged eggs and how Google was going to start buying only "free range" or cage free eggs for their cafeteria's, not wanting to support cruelty to animals, and what happens to chickens that are in large farms. It went on to say how they can put up to 6 chickens in the same small 24" pen, and they dont let them peck their own food or out of the pen for up to 6 months after aquiring them. I am sure there are many statistics I have left out, but my point is that I had NO idea about this. I try to be a fairly "eco" conscious person if I can, and this is a example of how ignorance is bliss. Before I had this information, I could eat an egg from anywhere, not really think about it. But after reading what I did, there is no way in hell im going to eat an egg that is not marked cage free. I will make that little extra trip to the natural foods market where I can get free range eggs. I just did not know that they treated chickens like that, though after thinking about it, it's not surprising. I just am perplexed that I didnt realize it before and glad that I took a look at the story.

Me? Social?

some thoughts I have been chewing on……
I have long since thought of myself as a typically “mildly social” person. I really enjoy my time alone, and require a fair amount of personal space, and have never been one to have a gaggle of friends around me all at once. I am not a “party” person, nor am I a hermit. I just enjoy 1 on1 time with my select friends, and occasional outings with my “casual friends” (more then an acquaintance, but not quite a good friend.) As of late, I have had a bit more alone time on my hands, and have been finding out that I really am a bit more social then I had thought. I enjoy emailing people much more, and talking to people much more then in the past. Maybe it’s a comfort level that I have reached, or something else. Now, I don’t want to have a extremely social life, I enjoy time with my partner alone and our select friends, however, I have noticed that my feelings get a bit hurt when I don’t hear from my friends in a while or from my close friends. I start to get that out of sight out of mind feeling and don’t feel quite right. This got me to thinking, because I have always thought in my head that it wouldn’t matter if people talked to me or not, if they said we were friends and we got along, then all is good. Admittedly, I am not the best communicator, and a little flakey because I seem to go along thinking that everyone “knows” how I feel anyway, so why the need to say I treasure the friendship? I m getting off track. Ok, back to the thoughts at hand, what I am trying to say is that friends and the people in my life are much more important then I had thought, and though having time to myself is great, I also crave the coffee run, or the email, or the little text messages just to let me know that I came across their mind. Maybe that’s a getting older “needy” thing, but I see nothing wrong with that. We all deserve to be thought about.
Tangent**
Speaking of being though about, what the hell is up with Chris and American Idol? I cant believe they booted that guy off instead of Katherine.
What the hell is wrong with people?

My oh my how high school has changed

Today I went to Mountain View High School to speak on a PFLAG panel. I have been on the speakers bureau for about 2 years, but really only speak to students about 4 times a year because of conflicts with work time. But everyonce in a while, like today, I take an "extended lunch" and speak to youth about awareness and what it's like to be Gay.

First off, this school was immaculate. well kept feild, beautiful views of the hills, and over all very clean. There were flyers up everywhere from issues such as a protest against animal testing to a rally against immigrant discrimation. *wow*. The class was a gender studies elective course and had sophmores through seniors. I couldnt believe that they had such an elective course, let alone all the freedoms you get in class now. They were allowed to have food, beverage, and even chew gum! almost everyone had an ipod.

Now when I was in high school, I went to a 3 story brick building (this was back in Chicago) and we werent allowed anything in class. The only protests we had were race driven. Basically there was a huge riot my freshmen year between a number of black and white students. I stayed away from school during that week, not wanting to involve myself in the crazy melee. I definitely felt old coming out of that class, since everyone that was in it was born in or after 1989. nothing like a dose of reality to bring you to the present. All in all, the questions were great and so were the kids. They asked good questions, and seemed genuinely interested in what we had to say. I think thats why I stay on the bureau, because I always get something out of it when I go and I love hearing what our youth in thinking in present day.

So as I was making dinner tonight, (which consisted of Tuna, a branch of broccoli and celery w/cream cheese for those of you interested) I had the news on. There was this story that came up about how consumers that have bought SUV's and Trucks are striking back at the mfr. of those vehicles, barking that they dont get efficient enough mileage. This is all sparked because of the insane gas prices. Excuse me, but since when does ANYONE buy a huge honkin vehicle for the economic fuel efficiency?????? If the gas prices werent so high, then no one would be complaining that the manufacturers dont regulate the efficiency of the larger vehicles. Yeah that would be great if they did, but when little sweet pea is sitting in their Escalade, do you really think they give a rats ass about the environmental impact their ride is having? NO! they are thinking about how "cool" they are looking. People got on fine without the era of the "personal bus" to cart around the 1 or 2 kids they might have. My feeling is, if you are looking for economic choices, you dont buy an SUV. If you do want one, thats fine, but dont whine about the manufacturer not making a economic enough vehicle. It's the classic MacDonalds hot coffee syndrome. You know the coffee is hot. it says it's hot on the cup, and yet, in America, you can sue and win for burning your mouth on that hot coffee.UGH.

thats my rant. I feel better now. Also a little hungry. That tuna and broccoli didnt last so long. totally have a hangering for fruity pebbles. oh well, i guess I will just brush my teeth, since that always seems to kill my desire to eat, because my teeth are clean.

Lounge comes to FM in San Jose

Living here in the Bay Area, one would think that there would be more of a “night club” scene. Not that I go out anymore, but with a good night club scene, comes DJ’s and with DJ’s come tours. Most of the hotter DJ’s I know travel to Chicago, Miami, New York, L.A., and Phoenix. I really don’t understand Phoenix over San Francisco, but I guess there’s a reason. Anyhow, I finally caught a radio station that actually was playing some Lounge this morning,. Now granted it’s only listener supported station, it’s at least on the radio. 91.5FM, out of Cupertino. Don’t know how long it will last, but it’s nice to hear.
I mostly listen to all of my Trance, Tribal, Lounge and Chill on XTC or DI.FM online.
I also don’t know why Dance music isn’t as popular here in the states as it is abroad.
Hope everyone has a good weekend!!!

It's not unusual....

Those were the words I sang as I danced upon the
stage. With brown curls and 70’s sunglasses, I was
ready to do proud by Tom Jones.

It was our 10 year anniversary at work, and all in
all, it was pretty neat. They rented out
The San Jose Improv and hired a comedian to keep us
laughing. So how did I get on stage? Well, a day
before our celebration, my coworker came to me and
asked if me and Leah would back her up, and that she
was going to do Karoke number at the celebration. I
was like sure, all I have to do is stand up there with
you and dance around a little right? Agreed. So
with less then 24 hours to coordinate 3 people on
stage in front of coworkers, we thought a little wig
and glasses out to really add to the hilarity of the
situation. Celeste was singing “It’s not Unusual” by
Tom Jones. I wasn’t too familiar with the song, so I
had to learn it Friday morning before we went up. It
came off without a hitch and we ended up singing too.
We ended the number by doing a “gansta” pose.

great saturday afternoon hike

What can i say, I liked the name of this bird. We went hiking to Castle Rock State Park today. Go here to see a few more pictures....

s p y d e r

I must admit that I was a complete stubborn knucklehead, because I blew off softball practice so that I could get a fun hike in. It has been raining for days and days, the feild was going to be wet, and I am having my own issues with the team I am on, so I made an executive decision to go hiking.
It was a beautiful hike, with lots too see and explore. This was probably the most ideal hike because it involved climbing, hiking, majestic views, cool forests that were sooooo green, and good inclines to remind you that you have calves.

the animals shall mingle

Well, unfortunately, I only have a few words to update my blog with. I have been focused on myspace lately, and have neglected my blog. ok, enough about that.
our cats and dogs are starting to mingle a bit more now. Since I have taken the baby gate off of the cats room and really forced them to interact with the dogs, things have been going better then planned. Kaycee is weary of the cats and Gabby respects them, so she could care less. Turlow is the chicken shit of the bunch, but he will hold his ground if food is involed. Sydney makes slight squeaky meows, but she doesnt seem to stop her movement in order to pass the dogs.
In other news, I totally wasted 40 bucks on a game. I went to Fry's the other night, (never get out of there without spending something) to look at what games they might have for gamecube. Since we have gotten the 50" hi def tv, my computer games have taken a backseat. I mean, how can it compete?
So, I go to the gamecube section, and I find two games for 9 bucks each. They both look slightly cheesy, but they involve guns, killing bad guys and hey....it's only 9 bucks! Then my eyes are attracted to a cute little character, that looks like a mini robot. "he cooks, he cleans, he annihilates" it reads on the back. this looks tooo cute to pass up. I have lego Star Wars and this looks just as cute. So, I throw caution to the wind, and get the game, brand new and all.
I get it home, excited to play, and pop it in. The music starts and already I am feeling pangs of regret. It is really cheesy, like 7 year old cheesy. I think, just give it a minute, so I do. It only gets worse from there. I start to play and within 4 minutes, take the game out and think, well, i'll be cutting my losses on this one and selling it back to EB in a few days.
so my advice to myself...... dont buy games full price on sight alone and my advice to you..... dont buy Chibi-Robo

unsettled

Strange bit of weather were having here, some might call it earthquake weather, but I say there are some strange things happening with mother nature.
Rewind to yesterday. It rained, beautiful and menacing clouds decorated the sky and then about 4pm, when I looked outside my office window, blue sky was all I could see, minus the clouds off in the far distance. 5:00 rolls around and I leave to go home. I am driving under a sunny sky, and when I hit about 6-7 blocks from the office, I notice that the ground is wet as if a downpour had just left. I think, well, thats weird, because when I look up, theres still that sunny sky and clouds way way off in the distance. I look to the side of the road and I see white, as if it were melting snow. My light turns red and I look to my right to see a car with white on top of it's roof. Is that hail? so, I go to roll down my window to investigate further, this white stuff on the ground, and sure enough, its clusters of hail. I think to myself, when the hell did that happen? Oh well, light turns green I go to roll up my window and it sounds sick as it trys to roll up. Then it just stops halfway as if something is obstructing it. Great, my window just died, and it might hail, or rain, or be sunny, I just cant tell. About 6 blocks later, the ground is dry as if it had not rained in over 4 hours. I am perplexed, and weaving into the other lane trying to futz with my window to get it to roll up. To no avail, it was stuck and somehow had managed to come out of the track. Not sure how that happened, but it was out of it's track. Looks like its time for me to take apart my door tomorrow.
Fast forward to today. Laura is taking a friend up to S.F. to retrive a Tin Tin statue, so I decide to go for a hike (its still sorta sunny) before I start to tear my car apart. The hike was good, because I went all the way to the top of the PGE trail, which is sorta steep. Round trip took me about 3 hours, and it was muddy in spots...
but that made it even more fun.
Ok, now time to fix this window of mine. I take the panel off, and all the trimmings, and I see this.........

This is something that you dont want to see. I had to take the window completely off it's holders, and lift it freely to guide it into both tracks.
I get it into the track after about 15 minutes of swearing and jimmying. ahhhh, sigh of relief, I test it out before I put on the panel, and it works. GREAT.
not so..... The door panel doesnt go on as easily as it came off, and did I mention that I was listening to the radio the whole time I was doing this whole chore? Yeah, well I was, and apparently that was a bad idea, because when it was all said and done, I wanted to get some coffee to salute my troubles of the day. I went to wash my hands and came back out with my wallet to go to Starbucks. I turn the key and all I hear is rrrrrr.....rrrrrr click click click click. Great, my battery is dead now. I cant go anywhere until Laura gets home and I can jump start it. I do have the motorcycle, but i cant carry the coffee home on the bike. Perhaps I will just play some video games and kill some bad guys now.

softball and skinned knees

This year I have decided to get into the spirit of womens softball, and join a team. Yesterday were tryouts/practice to see what team would be best suited for all of the nubees. Me, being a semi active girl on the mountain bike and hiking trails, had not actually played softball in about 10+ years. Needless to say I was a bit rusty.
It started out ok, until I was going for a ground ball (for those of you interested, I HATE the infield) while playing shortstop. Well, I stopped short instead and decided to kinda trip and land on my knee, skidding into the sandy dirt. I felt more embarrased for falling, and my ego was bruised, but I wasnt about to stop now. My knee burned, and I could see the skin was a bit shaggy around the wound, but blood or no blood I was going to carry on. Honestly, it just felt like having my eyebrows waxed. Again, i was more embarrased of falling then feeling any type of pain.
This all came to a halt though, once I got home and had the task of cleaning out my skinned knee and pouring the peroxide over it. Lets just say I swore a lot and the dogs looked at me with concern. But, once it was somewhat clean, it was off to Santa Cruz for a little bike riding to finish the beautiful day.

and for those of you interested in my little scrape, go here:

skinned knee

Brrrrrr....rrrrrr!

So there it was, 25 degrees and we are walking around the Portland Zoo. We had a lot of fun despite the cold. The polar bears were the only ones that seemed to be out and about.
It had been a while since I had actually been out and about during the cold weather. I survived, but it was sooooo dry, and I really had forgotten how cold the twenties really are.
You can go to my flickr page to see some more shots of the trip. (I could add a link, but I'm lazy, so just click on Spyder's photo's)
Saturday we had a really tasty breakfast out in Troutdale at the Black Rabbit Inn, then we drove around to these frozen falls which were absolutely beautiful. Sunday we spent the day downtown Portland, did some shopping and had lunch at the tasty Broadway Bistro. I had a GREAT turkey reuben sandwich which hit the spot of my frozen hungry belly. If I wasnt so lazy, I would include a whole batch of pictures and have witty sayings next to them, but I will refrain. Laura has some excellent photo's, so also stay tuned for hers to go up on Flickr too.

Happy Valentines Day

So for those who thought I might actually post a real entry, ....... you are mistaken.
This is my general shout out to everyone who reads this today,
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
Love the one your with, and if your not with anyone, love yourself, and if you are trying to get with someone, happy hunting and good luck!

Oh yeah, for anyone interested in seeing the Pink Panther, GO SEE IT! Great laughs, and if you grew up with the Pink Panther as I did, it is even that much better. Steve Martin is perfect for the role.

Quick coffee update....
I dont have headaches anymore, and my starbucks card still has 30$ bucks on it from Christmas. I drink mostly black coffee and only "cheat" on the weekends. I still need to up the water intake, Laura is way ahead of me on that one.

the party is at San Tomas and Payne

So every day I go to work, I see these pigeons lined up on the power lines, just sitting there. It's like a big morning meet and greet, and only on this corner along San Tomas expressway. I am not sure what they are plotting, but apparently this is the conrner to do it.

withdrawl time

I am on a quest to limit my starbucks intake, and the signs are developing.
headache........I have a light one. (I do drink black coffee at work, but 1 cup of coffee does not equal the usual 3 shots I would get at starbucks with the white chocolate in the morning and night.)
yawning.......check. I am doing it all the time.
grouchy.......ehhh, not really. just bitter that I dont have the metabolism to support my habit.
I do suspect that after a while, I will get used to it and my body will calm down.

sleepy eye

So over the weekend, netflix gave us "Red Eye", which we both thought would be a great thriller.
WRONG
this was more like sleepy eye. Took a very long time to get going and only the last 15 minutes was worth watching. They should have just made this a 15 minute short, and it would be decent.

Now that I have that off my chest, my random chatter of the day:
This morning my breakfast consisted of a bowl of raisin bran, 2 shots of espresso and water.
Lunch will probably be a taco bell chicken burrito supreme, minus the tomatoes. NO NACHOS!! they are a killer to the calorie counting that I am trying to do. (I think I will keep an online diary of my food, since I keep losing my notebook)
If you havent guessed, I am trying to actually see what I eat, since I inhale it so quickly, and dont even realize the stuff I eat.
So here I am, now deciding on the spot to proclaim to blogland, my daily eats and that I will drink more water, even if I have to force it down.
Of course the week I decide to start this, I have 2 supplier lunches (one of them at my favorite mexican restaurant), and we are going out with some friends to Thai tomorrow. My "included in package" gym trainer is going to look at me like I am crazy. When I joined the gym by our house, they give you 2 free sessions with a personal trainer to get evaluated and develop a routine for your goals. Part of this is that I have to write down everything I eat for the next week before the next session.
Stay tuned for dinner.

jobs vs. gates

If asked, I would say I am a PC person. Though I have used a MAC at work for over 5 years and become quite fond of it, I have always had PC's for my home use. I like the game selection better, I like the hardware options better, and having built many PC's, I am familiar with the guts of the PC. But recently, I have really been bothered by explorer in particular. It has crashed my computer 2 times, and the software problems I have are annoying.
Last year I cleaned up my drive and didnt really use my computer at home except for music recording and the occasional visit to the internet for some much needed game cheats when I would get stuck. I started getting mysterious runDLL. errors, or just missing DLL files which made me very annoyed. I am starting to feel my patience running very thin with the PC, and in particular, explorer. I dont use it anymore, and have disabled it from my window's components, but every once in a while, I know it is still doing damage to my computer, secretly stalking me, waiting for that moment to just piss me off.
I am thinking of moving to the mac, (dare I say thine enemy's name) because the PC just sucks! In my 5 years on my MAC at work, I have NEVER encountered as many software issues as I have with the PC. Now granted there have been some hardware oopsies, and user oopsies, but over the 5 years I have spent with the mac at work, I never encountered anything I couldnt fix with a little power down and a rest, or cashe dump. I cant say the same for the PC.
So, after my little rant, those of you who read this thing.....whats your opinion?
gates or jobs?

favorite foods of 2005

These are in no specific order, and are all foods that make my mouth water at the thought of them.

1: Indian Food, specifically vegetable korma, chana masala, naan, onion/spinach pakora, spicy sweet chutney and papadam.
2: Pizza, NY style either from Escape from New York Pizza in S.F. or Pizza my Heart in the South Bay.
3: Fish Tacos, best place is in Half Moon Bay
4: Chicken Fajitas from Maria Elena's in Alviso. They also have the best salsa that I have ever tasted.
5: Carmelized Brussel Sprouts, this is Laura's recipe and they are the best brussel sprouts I have ever tasted.

Honorable Mention......
Favorite coffee drink: From Starbucks, 2 pumps of white chocolate in a tall cup with 3 shots of espresso and the rest filled with ice. cold, concentrated and caffienated.

Expanding on Laura's idea

I felt like updating my blog, but no good ideas of my own came to mind, so I am going to build on Laura's idea of Top songs for 2005. These are actually my top 10 albums of 2005. They are in no particular order, but they all have significance and have gotten the most rotation in my cd player, mostly because I like every single song on the album.

1: Avril Lavigne - Under my Skin (usually I dont pay attention to the words of a song, but this is the exception)
2: P.O.D. - Satellite
3: Third Eye Blind - Out of View
4: Coldplay - Speed of Sound (I want to play guitar to just about every song on this album)
5: Armin Van Buuren - A State of Trance 2004
6: Travis - Invisible
7: James Lauer - Winter Mix 2004
8: Markus Schultz - Cold Harbour Sessions 2004
9: Paul Oakenfold - Bunkka
10: Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies & Punisher Sountrack (this is a tie for the last spot, because I play them equally in my player, but I only like about half of each album)

I didn't list a lot of my Trance albums on here because I listen to them all day at work, and listen to

Digitally Imported

all the time which cover a lot of my Trance favorites, plus there are too many to classify.
Maybe tomorrow I will list my favorite 5 meals of 2005.

The porcelain puzzle

What this puzzle involves is a bathtub, a human on the toilet, and 1 very curious dog. There is this ritual that has formed in our household, that whenever myself or Laura has to use the bathroom, no matter where Kaycee is in the house, she will gun for the bathroom, awaiting the inspection.
What she does is after you have sat down to take care of business, Kaycee will walk right on past you with purpose in her step, and proceed to stick her head in the bathtub and look around. Sometimes this is a quick check, and out she'll go, or sometimes it is a painstaking look around, surveying every inch of the tub.
This doesn't seem to happen when you are brushing your teeth, or in the bathroom for some other reason, it only occurs once you have sat down on the toilet. Without fail, she is there, looking around that tub.
I don't know what it is she expects to find or what she is looking for, but it has become quite the joke in our household.

Elmo and the potty

So for those of you who havent heard the scoop, let me sum it up for you.
A mom in Dallas decides to get her toddler a teaching book put out by Elmo/Sesame street for potty training. Her book ends up saying something very different then what it's supposed to say, and has the potential of really scaring the little children. Me, I think it's kinda funny, but I can see how a youngster might be traumatized by this event, and maybe even withhold going to the bathroom.
for the full story.............

Who wants to die?

weekend recap

So since this weekend was full of rain, I thought i would recap on the weekend's events. Saturday was productive, even though the day started off without power. We woke up and didnt know what time it was, because the power was out. Not sure when it went out, and when I found my watch, it was 8:30 am. we called PGE and they said power should be restored by 4ish. We contemplated a movie, but any of the ones we were going to watch didnt start until noon. It was 10am and with no power, and nothing to do, we decided to be productive and take the tree down.
So the lights went down, (except for the ones on the roof I couldnt get too because of the crazy rain and wind), the tree went to the streets and christmas went into the garage for hibernation. About 1 hour into the dis-assembly of christmas, the lights came on. Yippee, we have power, which also meant, the portable heater could go on and Kaycee could lie down next to it again. She loves to lay right next to the heater, (sometimes we have to fight for it)
New Years Eve was mello, because of the weather and our friend Lisa was moving up to Portland the very next day. We had planned a party, but with Farkle in Hawaii, and Lisa moving, we cancelled it and decided to just have it be a regular evening with a movie.
New Years Day was productive as well, ran a lot of errands, and had fun hanging around the house playing games.
The next day an indoor day, but by then I was bored with it, and restless. Everything I wanted to do involved being outside, and it just rained non-stop all day.
I thought I would schedule a tattoo appt. but I didnt like the attitude of the chic working the counter, so i didnt schedule anything. Then moved on to play my guitar, but writers block ensued and I got frustrated, so I decided to continue my game Indigo Prophecy, and the stupid cop kept getting anxiety attacks and quit the force, causing my game to end, all because I didnt control her breathing. This irritated me, so then I thought I might try my luck at lemon bars again, but this time they tasted spectacular, but the consistency was nothing short of gooey. I have officially declared myself the worst baker I know. I can cook the salty stuff fine, and have been dubbed a great short order cook, but when it comes to the sweets, that's where it all goes wrong.
The evening ended with NEW episodes of Surface and Medium, which was exciting.

Happy New Year everyone!

I really dont have anything to say. It's january 2nd, and I am waiting for this tattoo place to open up so I can get an estimate on a tattoo I want to get. But, it's raining and I just dont want to go out into the rain.
The weather here has been crap, and my hiking plans have been replaced by playing computer games and watching the news about all the fallen trees and power outages.
I have to say though, even with all the bad flooding and rain we have had here in California, people take it with stride. Watching the news, there was a mother of 2 children who got evacuated and had to go to the red cross shelters that were set up for new years eve, and she had a smile on her face and an "oh well attitude" . Then there was this guy who lived along the Russian River who just lost his home to a flood, and he was like: well, I've lived here 6 years and every year it's a threat, but it never flooded, but this year, I didnt take it seriously, and it destroyed my home. you just have to carry on with life.
The mentality is so different here, I still get sidetracked by it from time to time.
well, it's now time for me to venture out to peirce ink to see about pricing that tattoo.