I picked a helluva time to give my tickets away...

Had stuff to do today, so I did not get to see Tech finally get their first ACC win. And against #4 Wake Forest at that. Maybe they play better when I'm not watching?

Ouch.

You know your team sucks when (a)it is the end of January and you have yet to win a conference game, and (2)your team is featured in a "Who Stinks Worse" article in the local fishwrapper. Ouch.

It was small consolation that the author concluded that UGA is in fact worse (but only barely). I still have fun at the games. But it would be nice to beat an ACC team at least once. Still waiting...

On the plus side, I do far better in the NCAA pool when Tech is not in there clouding my judgment. I came in 2nd last year. Damn Memphis!

Rather than phoning it in...

...I'm going to go see all of you and write on your blogs.

Boredom + Photoshop =

Happy Friday, everyone.

Paint it chocolate.

So, we have a holiday weekend and PDM and I finally sat down and had a parley about the wall color in the new-and-improved downstairs tiny bathroom. He wanted blue. I wanted burgundy. Combining the two into purple was a non-starter. We settled on a chocolate brown color. It really does seem like we are smearing melted chocolate on the walls. Makes me hungry, it does. And it looks pretty good. It definitely needs at least one more coat, which it will get tomorrow, even though both of us plan to go to work on a holiday. I'm coming home at noon. Assuming I get my ass out of bed at a reasonable time. The alarm is set and I have high hopes.

PDM has teachery stuff to accomplish. I am going to do my monthly testing. Normally I would just stay late and do this slightly after hours, but they are treating a patient with active TB on my machine and I really, REALLY do not want to contract TB. Therefore I will be doing my stuff on a holiday, and only after I sanitize the equipment my very self with a chemical of my choosing. Not that I don't trust the cleaning staff, but this is ACTIVE TB. Like I said... not really wanting to get it at this time, or any other. Pretty sure it would cramp my style.

Yes, I have been watching Firefly, and possibly this has affected my writing patterns. What of it?

Close Encounter

Overstimulated Kitties, Little Miss Neurotic, and the Letter P

The cats got a bunch of new catnip toys for Christmas. They are officially overstimulated. Did I mention that many of these toys are filled with catnip? Good times...

Little Miss Neurotic (Moxy) has licked herself a bald spot between her shoulder blades that doubled in size overnight. That earned her a trip to the vet today, and got me out of work early -- just before they brought in a patient with active tuberculosis! I'd call that perfect timing. I'd rather not be exposed to TB any time soon. The Moxinator got herself a round of antibiotics and a cortisone shot. We'll see how it goes with her. If she won't leave it alone, we may be pulling out the e-collar. The horror.

Thanks to Kat, I've got another meme to do. This one is the “Brought to you by the letter…” game. I'll let Kat tell you how it works:

"You leave a comment on this post, and I’ll assign you a letter. You write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on."

Kat assigned the letter P, which turned out to be harder than I thought. But it all worked out. Here are ten things that make me happy AND start with a P.

Physics - I liked it enough to major in it three times and to make it my career.

Planets - I don't know how anyone can look at the Voyager or Cassini mission photographs of moons and planets and not be in awe. Or how about Saturn, eclipsing the sun with the night side illuminated by its own ring system? Wow.

Pandora - I've been exposed to dozens of artists and hundreds of songs through Pandora in the last year and a half. In that same time period, I discovered exactly one new song by hearing it first on the radio (not counting NPR, which is also a decent source of exposure to new music, especially on the NPR Music website). Pandora is by far the most effective way to find new music that you'll love on our blue planet's world wide web. By "new", I mean new to me, not necessary a recent recording.

Pinot noir - I like almost all of the red wines. This variety boomed in popularity after being favorably mentioned in the movie Sideways. It's a good movie, but don't take every line in it so seriously. I still drink "fucking Merlot". Seriously.

Peppercorns - the finest of the seasonings. My favorite. Freshly ground (coarse, of course) pepper will perk up any dish.

Peaches and pecans - that's Georgia food, y'all. There is nothing like homemade peach ice cream on the 4th of July. Except maybe a big slice of pecan pie.

Planting - I love gardening. From picking out the plants to getting my hands in the dirt, there is no better way to ground yourself than plant and take care of a garden. Can be herbs or veggies, a wild cottage garden or a small container garden. I will always have a garden of some sort.

Paul Johnson - Georgia Tech's first year football coach who made football on The Flats fun again, PLUS he beat Georgia for the first time in what seemed like forever. Superman wears Paul Johnson pajamas.

Photography and Photoshop Elements - I've always enjoyed photography. I may have gotten this bug from my Dad. Now I have his old cameras, along with a small collection of vintage models that are fun to play with if you can find the film. Digital photography makes it easy and cheap to experiment and try new things. And since I got Photoshop Elements, I can rid my photos of many of the flaws and limitations of both camera and photographer. And maybe even make some art. Or lolcats. There is room in my life for both...

PDM - saved the best for last! He puts up with my crap AND he cooks for me. Plus there is that crazy little thing called wub.

Fat Catblogging

Less whine. More wine. Sounds like a good plan...

This bottle was a gift from a friend. Thanks, Kara!

THWG!

Good times.

Always Look at the Bright Side of Life

It's not just a Monty Python song, it is a great way to look at things.

If I was going to have a New Year's resolution, that would be it. It's easy to play. You can almost always find something positive about a situation if you think about it for a second or two. For example, on Wednesday night before my team got humiliated on national TV, I took this really cool photo of the atrium at the team hotel. And I had a great time before the opening kickoff. Which we kicked out of bounds, giving the ball to LSU on the 40. And then the second quarter happened and things got totally out of hand. But hey -- it's a really cool photo. And I drank enough that the actual details of the game are pretty fuzzy (also a positive under the circumstances, although I do remember LSU throwing long and trying a fake punt when they were up by 35 in the 4th quarter -- not too classy). But I'm over it now. Tech had a great 9-win season (including breaking the drought against Georgia) and I'm looking forward to next fall already.

Stuck in traffic? I'll be glad I'm not the one that had the wreck. Pulled every which way at work? Job security! Hate studying? At least this is the last test, and it will be all over by summer time. Tech basketball sucks? That's the only reason you were able to buy all those tickets. Cat kept experiencing a life threatening urinary blockage? Good thing he was adopted by those crazy cat people who knew what to do for him and could afford to get him the surgery to fix it!

So that's it! I'm not going to start working out or try to lose weight. I don't smoke, so I don't need to quit. I got out of debt years ago so that's off the list. I couldn't have a better job than the one I have now. No, this year I'm going to try not to be such a crabby assed bitch. Be more positive. Yeah.

Back to Work

That first full week of work in January is always a bummer. I worked every day that wasn't an actual holiday, but even a couple of days off over two weeks is a treat. Our schedule today is packed, and I expect to be slammed with work this week.

What makes getting back to work worse this year is that it is also time for me to start studying again. The last of the three tests that I must pass to become board certified is coming up in late spring. I am so not ready to hit the books again. Seems like I just got over the last test! All I can do is try to chip away at it a little bit every day until it becomes a habit. At least it won't ruin my summer this time. Gotta look at the bright side...

Catblogging is Back!

Gotta get the new year started on the right paw.

Epic Fail

It was Tech's worst bowl loss ever. I hate it when I'm right...