He Likes the Spankin's

Mix it into conversation; it makes every chat more lively, trust me.

I found out tonight that a friend's beloved cat passed away this weekend. I'm so sorry he's gone; he was truly a friend and my heart is heavy tonight at his loss. He was a fine animal, a good friend, and a loving member of the family. My thoughts are with his family in their loss.

Fat Boy was always up for a petting, or more specifically a spanking. He would fall off the couch in an effort to get closer for some more lovin's. And then look up at you and expect love on the floor now. Over here, and scratch behind the ear, and then some more spankin's.

He was such a sweet cat, except to his sister, Midget, who he regularly chased, bit and sat upon with his large bulk. And later, sometimes moments later, you would find them curled up together licking each other and sleeping in a big furry white, black, and grey pile. Because that's what brothers and sisters are for, torture with a grooming chaser followed by a nap.

I can remember when he first came home, after flying half way across the country to live in his new home. At first that consisted of one room, mostly under the bed in that room, for upwards of two or three weeks. He was a small ghost of a cat, moving so fast you could hardly see him. The Boy and the kitten-who-would-be-Fat-Boy met each other and grew to love one another. Fat Boy would often be found sleeping with The Boy, if he wasn't laying on his mom's legs so she couldn't move in the middle of the night.

The last time I spent time at my friend's house, I watched some Food Channel while Fat Boy curled up next to me and purred. I gave him some spankin's but only when Mom came home did he get the really good lovin's. He was so happy to get his lovin's, you could almost see him smile.

Good-bye, sweet Fate, you are already much missed.

How Normal Are You?

You Are 50% Normal (Somewhat Normal)

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

What do you want to drink?

When out to eat, you invariably get asked what you want to drink. And more than anything right now I want to have a Coke, nice brown fizzy drink, filled with sugar and caffeine, two of my favorite things. Two things that I have given up to follow this new healthy plan.

So when the nice waitress asked what I wanted to drink, I said "I want a Coke, but I'll have a water, please."

So when she comes back, she brings me a water and a Coke and two straws. "Oh, I'm sorry, I can't have the Coke, I meant I wanted one but I really can't have one."

The waitress was cool with it, she said she'd drink it and then took it away.

Later, she comes back and says that she didn't mean to tease me, and perhaps I'd like a diet Coke.

"No, thank you, I can't have the caffeine. And I can't have a Sprite because it has the sugar... so the water will be fine, thanks."

All in all it was a pleasant experience, except the moment I wanted to leap across the table and pour the Coke, ice and all, down my throat all in one gulp. That was a bit startling, and even so, it was kinda funny.

So must be careful what I ask for, I just may get it...

Lyrics in my head

Surrounded by stories
Surreal and sublime
I fell in love in the library
Once upon a time

- Love in the Library
Jimmy Buffet

Morning Commute

This morning, as I do every morning, I turned off of the turnpike onto a state highway for the last leg of my commute. The parkway was a bit slow. I was running a bit late to work already and I knew this would just make me later. But what can I do? I continued along and then out of my rearview I saw this motorcycle zooming along in the right hand breakdown lane. Then another car saw him and decided to follow suit.

I have been in a few fender benders, had a couple speeding tickets (many years ago), and one careless driving ticket (long story about a U-turn and no turn signal). And as Girlzoot will tell you, I’ve run my share of red lights (they were PINK!)(well, except for that one on Leetsdale, it WAS red). In general, though, I take my safety and the safety of others around me seriously. Besides, I know that if I do something so flagrant, I’ll get caught, there’s no question.

Something else that has been bothering me: no one in their car is more important than me; we all have somewhere to be but that doesn’t mean you have to break the law or be a jerk. Besides, what would happen if there was an ACTUAL emergency and someone needed the lane, or everyone had to get over for an emergency vehicle? But that wouldn’t happen, not for just a moment while I’m driving over here in this completely empty lane… not to me… I’m so IMPORTANT…

So this morning I’m thinking that I would just get caught if I pulled anything that stupid. And as I pull around the final curve and make ready to pull into the right hand turn lane and what do I see but the little car, the motorcycle, and three or four other cars all pulled over to the side getting ticketed by two police officers. I felt such vindictive glee as I made my turn and went to work. Was I wrong to be happy at another’s misfortune? Well, they kind of brought it on themselves, now didn’t they?

And I’m still smiling.

"Save The Date"

I was going through my work emails today and I found a “Save The Date” request. I checked it out and realized it was for our Christmas party last December. (Ok, so this means I need to clean out my inbox more often, I know, I know) In years past we have had lavish parties at the Historic Boulder Theater, a stunningly beautiful venue. This past December was no exception, we had a lovely dinner along with magicians entertaining us with slight of hand and silver coins, and, of course, a live band.

During this evening of fun and frivolity (company-sponsored, of course) I spoke briefly with someone I had become close to in the past few years. Over the course of the last few seasons we had drifted apart and now, at the end of the year, I was facing a stranger that I once knew. It was awkward; I was both flattered to be sought out yet a bit stand-offish since we had not spoken since Halloween. By the end of our conversation, I was a bit confused and just wanted to go back to somewhere I can only visit in memories.

At the end of the evening (which came early as it was a Sunday and everyone had to be at the office the next morning) only the dancers and a few others were left out of the huge influx of people. And I got my set-list from the violist, and I left without looking back.

And today, I found that email, and realized, I haven’t heard from or spoken to my old friend since that night almost four months ago. And that makes me sad for what was, and I’ll probably be a bit melancholy today, but somehow it doesn’t bother me as much as it did last year this time. I suppose time does heal, and distance yields perspective. Yet on windswept days where the sky is clear and the mountains seem close enough to touch, I miss him.

Quote

If you press me to say why I loved him, I can say no more than because he was he, and I was I.

-- Michel de Montaigne

I am a Dragon

My buddy Shaych took this test...

You scored as Dragon.

You are the Dragon. You store a lot of knowledge about everything. You are generally one who is good with personal growth and can regenerate yourself after a bad experience.

Dragon 83% Crow 83% Eagle 75% Wolf 75% Stag 67% Deer 67% Bear 58% Bull 58% Dog 58% Fox 50% Salmon 50% Ram 50% Horse 50% Snake 25% Which animal totem best suits you? created with QuizFarm.com

Healthy Choices

I decided to start the Body Type diet this week. I’m a T-type, which means my thyroid is my dominant gland. So all of last week entailed getting as much of the foods that I couldn’t have any more. In my twisted logic, it meant that I could have all the Coke with caffeine and sugar (mmmm Coke…), cookies, crackers, fruit juices, chocolate, and refined flour starches. And I did. And now that I overindulged, I’m actually doing quite fine on the scheduled regime.

I started last week having eggs for breakfast (hard boiled) and that went well. I like eggs, and hard boiled are so portable! Lunch today was a single piece of organic rye bread and 4oz of tuna and 1T of light mayonnaise, and a cup of green beans. It seems so strange to be eating a sandwich and a bowl of cooked vegetables. I suppose I’ll get over that!

One of the cornerstones of the plan is the special herb tea. The Raspberry Leaf tea is yummy actually, and I look forward to a nice cup of it this afternoon. Of course, I’m going to keep Traditional Medicinals in business buying 2-3 boxes a week… but that’s the price you pay. I’d like to find some loose, Whole Foods didn’t have any.

And speaking of Whole Foods, I have NEVER seen it as busy as it was Sunday afternoon. All the little carts were gone and I had a big huge one and kept running into shelves and stuff, it was a bad scene. One of the lovely Whole Foods personnel got me a smaller cart after a bit, such nice people.

I also got some awesome help from Ashley in the supplement aisle. I had this 2 page list and she got me all sorts of good vitamins and minerals and other stuff (amino acids, essential fatty acids, etc). I’m going to double check the bottles against the list tonight to make sure I’ve got everything I need, but I’m really happy to have the start I do with Ashley’s help.

And I think I’m going to move in next to the splendiferious seafood counter at Whole Foods. I am definitely getting some Scallops for next week (and I probably will shop up by my office instead of down in Denver).

To tell the truth, I’m actually excited about starting to eat healthier. And the fact that I have the opportunity to shop at lovely natural food stores only adds to my joy. I am pleased to say that this is a plan I think I can stick to, and even enjoy the journey. After all, everything tastes better fresh (and organic)!

New Technology stuff

I like technology. It's fun, useful, and makes me sound interesting when I talk about it at length.

I came across this press release and I just had to share it. I'm so excited about this platform independent realtime speech technology. Hope you get excited too!!

P2P Revolution

Let me know what you think!