Artoo!

Hello. My name is Fermicat. I'm 44 years old, and rockin' my new Star Wars phone. Too nerdy? I don't care. Santa brought me the Motorola DROID R2-D2 and I love it. I even got a clear cover so the R2-D2 design on the back surface remains visible.

I developed an obsession with The Empire Strikes Back when I was 14 and apparently never quite got over it. Fast forward thirty years. When I saw that there was an R2-D2 version of the DROID 2, that finally settled the question of which smart phone to go with.

It is almost unbelievable what these phones will do. (Yes, it is my first smart phone. Can you tell?) I've had a blast downloading apps. Compass? Check. GPS tool? Check. Route tracker with offline topo maps? Check. Interactive sky map? Check. Scientific calculator? Check. Barcode scanner? Check. Pandora? Check. Forum reading app? Check. IMDB, movies, sports tap, shazam, twitter, Earth, photoshop, NPR news widget, traffic reporter, trip advisor, navigator? Checkcheckcheck... Hell, I even downloaded a lightsaber. And with a little luck, I could probably shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level. That'll come in handy if I ever need to escape the Death Star.

The Force will be with me, always. Or at least until my contract runs out.

Merry, Merry!

Happy Christmas from Fermi and her cats. PDM, too.

Night Owls Rejoice!

A total lunar eclipse ushers in the winter solstice tonight. Will be visible throughout USA, although a bit on the late side for us east coast people. Main part of the show starts at 2:40am EST, maximum of eclipse 3:17am EST (blood red moon! cool!), end of totality 3:53am EST. Always a good show.

Here is a bad photo of the February 20, 2008 eclipse (with Regulus and Saturn as part of the dance) I shot with my old point-n-shoot camera hand held behind my binoculars:



It is tempting to stay up tonight and try again with the DSLR. Or maybe just set my alarm to catch the peak. Hmmmmm.

No cookies for you.

Trader Joe's finally let me down. No Candy Cane Joe Joes? No Dark Chocolate Stars? For whatever reason, TJ's doesn't have my favorite holiday cookies this year. Bah, humbug! That just ain't right.

Almost Forgot

It's Friday again. Merry Weekend!

Time/Money

The usual extent of my do-gooding is to give away money. We enjoy supporting various causes that we care about and think are worthwhile. We make it a point to do this regularly. It is satisfying to some extent, but kind of feels like a cop out sometimes. It's easy for us to give away money. We are fortunate to have a very comfortable surplus. It is not so easy to give away your time, so I usually don't.

But for some reason when the latest opportunity arose (a charitable activity sponsored by my department at work), I decided to give my usual amount of money but also volunteered to do a share of the actual work involved to make things happen. I've gotta say - even though this is a very busy time of year and I had to carve out a couple of my evenings to work on the thing, it was a good experience and I enjoyed doing it. The doing was a bit more satisfying than the donating. I think I might try a bit more of both in the coming year.

It's a boy!

Good thing we haven't named New Cat yet, 'cuz it turns out he's a neutered male. Oops. Sorry, New Cat. Poor guy almost got tagged with a girlie name. Now we're back to the drawing board.

Crazy Cat Lady?

This little sweetheart got lost and wandered into our yard weekend before last. Lucky break for her. She is/was obviously somebody's housecat. Totally sweet and tame, very cuddly, very healthy, very hungry, and apparently homeless. And it seems like no one is really looking for her. We've checked. Thoroughly. No signs posted, no collar, no microchip, no want ads, no sign of anyone who cares. If one of my cats turned up missing, I'd make sure everyone within a mile radius knew about it.

So it is what it is. And we have another cat. *sigh* But I am NOT a crazy cat lady. I swear. Perfectly normal, in spite of the four and a half cats.



So...... what should we name her? We can't call her "new cat" forever.

To Hell With Georgia!

It's rivalry week. Get yer hate on!

Yes, LL, this means I'll be rooting for Boise State next September, because my two favorite teams are GEORGIA TECH and WHOEVER IS PLAYING GEORGIA.


"What's the good word?"

TO HELL WITH GEORGIA!


"How 'bout them dawgs?"

PISS ON 'EM.


Carry on.

Lap Fungus

Maybe I should see a doctor about this strange growth on my legs.

Only the good stuff.

Two good things about the game this weekend:

1) A USAF C-17 flyover.





2) Honoring the REAL 1990 National Championship team. The one that had zero losses and didn't need five downs and a questionable call to get their 11-0-1 record. No other team was undefeated that year. I was there for the season, and was in the stands at the Citrus Bowl. That 1990 team rocked! They were honored at halftime and Coach Bobby Ross addressed the crowd. Hmmmm, maybe we should have had him in the locker room firing up the 2010 team.

Predictions - Nowhere to go but up.

I got one lousy game right last week (thank you Stanford). Can't get much worse, so maybe things will be better this time around.

Upset specials: once again, my very own Yellow Jackets are underdogs at home against ThugU. We owe them one, and payback is a bitch. Jackets pull off the "upset" in a battle of the untested QBs. Not sure why South Carolina is an underdog against an awful Florida team, but I think Spurrier has this one covered.

Here's the week's predictions (underdogs first with pt spread, and home team is in CAPS).

GT(+4) 28, Miami 24 - Tevin Washington gets it done. GO JACKETS!!! Plus we honor the 1990 National Champion team (the only one that was UNDEFEATED and didn't need a 5th down to win a game)

South Carolina(+7) 24, FLORIDA 21 - not sure it will even be this close, but whatever.

NORTH CAROLINA(+3.5) 17, Virginia Tech 31 - NC has let me down for the last time. Think you can win? Prove it. Then I might pick ya next week.

TEXAS(+6.5) 21, Okla State 35 - don't really care, but had to pick something

Georgia(+8.5) 21, AUBURN 24 - Hate Georgia, and Auburn has had a week of distractions, but I still don't see the upset happening unless something really weird occurs. Hope I'm right!!!

ND(+4) 10, Utah 21 - don't like ND, and don't think they are very good this year.

Fun in a Leaf Pile

Romeo makes a bed in a pile o' leaves last Saturday. He knows how to have a good time, and take comfort wherever it presents.

RIP Friday Nights

For the third time in less than three years, our current Friday night hangout has closed its doors forever. Is it us?

Two years ago our regular many-nights-a-week hangout died a sudden death.

I looked for, and didn't find, a post about killing our second choice bar. It died just about a year ago.

And now, a third one is toast.

I don't know what to think. Or what to do on Friday nights. Maybe, in the interests of not causing another small businesses to fail, we should start a new tradition of not patronizing the same business every week.

It's weird. What do you think?

And now, a cat.

Been awhile. Was overdue.

Predictions Come Early This Week

My team plays on Thursday, so the predictions had to be nailed down early this week. Full disclosure: I am a Georgia Tech homer and I don't bet against my team. That frequently comes back to haunt me, because I have BAD sports mojo. Someone once spotted me 50 points and my team lost 51-0. No kidding.

Which brings me to this week's upset specials. First up - my very own Yellow Jackets. We're due for a breakout game, and I am hoping we get it this week, in spite of being 15 point underdogs and not having put together four complete quarters of kick-ass ball so far this season, even though we are eight games in. My other upset entree is NCState over Clemson. I've seen both of those teams play in person and I think NCState is the better of the two.

So here goes:

The Real Tech(+15) 31, FAKE TECH 28 - probably just wishful thinking on my part, but I hope the Ramblin' Wreck waxes the Hokies, who are still complaining about our blocking techniques a year after we beat them in 2009. Man up, Turkeys. And LOSE!!!

NC State(+4) 28, CLEMSON 24 - Seen 'em both, and this is my verdict.

North Carolina(+10) 17, FSU 28 - NC let me down last week, so eff 'em. FSU takes care of business.

Arkansas(+3) 14, SOUTH CAROLINA 21 - SEC, whatever. Don't really care.

LSU(+6.5) 21, Alabama 24 - Les Miles pulls some new trick out of his ass, but Saban's team finds a way to win in spite of Miles' deal with the devil.

Arizona(+7.5) 24, STANFORD 35 - Go Nerds!!! Trees rule!

Bad Choices

I'm one of those unenthusiastic voters this year. Voted anyway, renewing my license to complain about the results. The top of the ticket (governor) was particularly unexciting. It was like going to a restaurant and being offered a choice between a vomit milkshake, a turd sammich, or rancid sewer scum souffle. *sigh*

I also didn't appreciate the confusing wording of some of the ballot questions. I ended up voting NO on one of them simply because I couldn't figure out what it meant, and that was after reading it carefully about ten times.

At least today signals the end of the incessant robocalls, endless mailers, and idiotic attack ads. Or maybe not. The Georgia governor's race is likely to require a runoff, insuring that the madness continues for another month. Lovely. Too bad we'll still have the same bad choices on the menu, and they won't smell any better on November 30.

Happy Halloween!

Dusting off my old halloween cat collage, enjoy:

Can't lose, right?

My team cannot lose this weekend (due to an open date), but I've still made some of my usual lousy predictions. I didn't publish last week's due to travel - vacation, followed by a road trip to Clemson - but I did about like usual.

Upset specials: Georgia over Florida (still can't understand why UGA is the underdog when UF clearly sucks this year, but whatever...) and Wake Forest over Maryland. UM's record looks good until you realize they haven't really played anyone yet.

Home team is in CAPS and underdog is listed first with (+pt spread).

Mich St(+4.5) 21, IOWA 28 - Iowa is simply the better team

Georgia(+1.5) 17, Florida (at Jax) 14 - would love to see the Dawgs go down, but not counting on it

Missouri(+6) 20, NEBRASKA 21 - Mizzou is good, but I see Nebraska winning a close one

USC(+7) 20, Oregon 35 - Kiffin gets waxed

Duke(+14.5) 14, NAVY 31 - wasn't sure about the Middies beating the spread, but I am thinking they will

Wake Forest(+7.5) 24, MARYLAND 21 - the Demon Deacons will get it done

Beer O'Clock needs to come early today...

...because this is what work has been like all day, and it just keeps getting worse:

Big Ol' Jet Airliner

No, I'm not going to a Steve Miller concert. But I am going to California tonight for a visit with my sister in Encinitas. Mom's coming too. As usual, it is taking me hours to get my sh*t together and pack a bag.

I'm not taking PDM, which means only one thing for him: Booze and Hookers!!! He talks a big game, but in reality it will be more like "Beers and Burrito de Puerco!"

Football Picks - Can I Go 4-2 Again?

Once again, I was 4-2 straight up last week (but only 2-4 against the spread). I do get to claim bragging points for being one of the few to predict the 'Bammer upset, which made me feel all smart and stuff, and for once my team beat the spread.

This week's upset specials are UVA over UNC, who hasn't won in Charlottesville since I was in high school, and Okie State over Texas Tech just because. UNC may be due, but I ain't seein' it this year. Then again, I've been wrong before (at least two times per week).

Middle Tenn State(+20) 10, GEORGIA TECH 35 - not sure about the 20-pt spread but hope springs eternal and we need a big win before the toughest part of our schedule kicks in next week

VIRGINIA(+6.5) 21, North Carolina 20 - may be wishful thinking, but I'd like to see the 'Hoos get a win

Southern Methodist(+4) 10, NAVY 28 - got a soft spot for Coach Johnson's old team

Texas(+8) 20, NEBRASKA 42 - big time revenge game that'll have people literally seeing red

MICHIGAN(+3) 17, Iowa 28 - Ricky will rock this game and RichRod will be unhappy

Oklahoma State(+3) 35, TEXAS TECH 31 - for no particular reason at all

There are stars in the Southern sky

We'll be under those stars tonight for the Eagles in concert at Piedmont Park. Hope they play this song.

PDM is doing it the hard way.

Apparently all you need to improve your instructor ratings is a nice tat. On the other hand, maybe that only works for chicks...

Not so fast there, Adams...

In the waning days of his eight years as our governor, Sonny has finally said something I agree with. Will wonders never cease?

Given our state's budget shortfalls and cuts in education, why on earth should UGA start an engineering program that directly competes with Georgia Tech's College of Engineering? Tech is consistently ranked among the top five engineering programs in the nation. If the state needs to produce more engineers, existing programs could be expanded to serve more students for far less cost than creating one from scratch.

Football Predictions - No Guts, No Glory

OK, so back to 4-2 straight up and 3-3 against the spread last week. My upset special did not happen, and Georgia let me down (not really, I just picked them to allow my mojo to help them lose). And Tech didn't beat the spread, being lucky to get out with a win. That was then, this is now.

This week's "no guts, no glory" upset prediction is South Carolina over Alabama. Sure, it isn't likely to happen. Probably no one will beat Alabama this season. But if ever there was a chance, I think it is this weekend. SC 21, Bammer 20

Everything else:

Clemson(+2.5) 24, UNC 21 - another upset pick, probably more likely than Bama losing

Virginny(+8) 17, GT 28 - love that koolaid, plus it is Homecoming and we are due to lay the hammer down on someone.

Tennessee(+8.5) 20, UGA 24 - Tempting to pick UT for the upset, but Georgia has their back against the wall and is playing at home. Plus, I hope my bad mojo has its usual effect.

Florida State(+7) 14, MIAMI 28 - Sure, I want FSU to win, but I will be shocked if I am wrong with this pick.

Southern Cal(+7) 10, STANFORD 28 - Go Trees!

Mox

It is Friday, so here is Moxy. She is rooting for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and the Atlanta Braves this weekend.

Go Jackets! Go Braves!

A Fun October? Signs Point to YES.

Two home games, both starting at the respectable hour of 3:30pm. One away game (time unknown) coupled with a weekend visit with PDM's brother. A week off work in between games. A trip to visit my sister in the San Diego area during that week (paid for with frequent flyer miles rather than actual money). New stuff (good stuff!) to watch on the tube. Comfortable temps, but without the yard making heavy demands for maintenance yet. I'm thinking October could be a lot of fun.

The Persistence of Scent Memory

I accidentally disturbed a very large leaf footed bug yesterday while doing some weeding and I cannot get the memory of the odor it released out of my head. This is worse than having some cheesy 70s song stuck in the brain - at least in the musical case you can replace the stuck song with another less obnoxious one. The scent is probably not how you are imaging it if you haven't run into one of these. Think of a sweet, yet rancid, strong, cloying scent and you are on the right track. Kind of like a vase of decayed gardenia or a rancid almond. A note of something almost pleasant, twisted and overpowered by an "offness" that is hard to describe. A very odd odor.

Anyway, that scent has been stuck in my olfactory memory all day. Lucky me.

Moderately Bad Football Picks?

I've gone 4-2 for the last two weeks now, so I can't say my picks are *really* bad. Last week I was also 4-2 against the spread, which is my best week yet. The name change on this post has probably doomed this week's picks to utter failure, because that's the way my sports mojo works.

My upset pick of the week is NC State over VT, 21-17. NCSU is the real deal -- I saw it in person last Saturday.

I've got everyone else winning and covering:

WAKE FOREST(+10) 10, GT 21 - I think the actual spread may be much higher, but lets not get crazy and throw in my bad mojo.

Florida(+9) 13, ALABAMA 24 - I don't think Floridy has any chance this year.

CLEMSON(+3) 20, Miami 28 - this one was tough. I want Clemson to win and have seen them play well, but I haven't yet seen them play good and tough for all four quarters. If Clemson can't bring it for the entire game, Miami will take this one even with Jacory "Interception Man" Harris doing his usual stuff to help the Clemson defense.

COLORADO(+4) 17, Georgia 31 - another tough one for a different reason. I don't like either of these teams. You all know how I feel about UGA. You may not know that Colorado has been spouting off lately about how they were the "consensus national champs" in 1990. Twenty years later they still manage to piss me off (and apparently do not understand what the word "consensus" means). How about the fact that they had one loss, won another game because the refs gave them a fifth down, and won their bowl game due to a bad call against ND? Also, the Coaches Poll begs to differ! Georgia Tech went undefeated in 1990. The Buffs can kiss my grits. Too bad someone has to win this week's match up, but since Colorado is awful and Georgie's back is against the wall I am going with the stupid Dawgs on this one. Blech.

Texas(+4) 17, Oklahoma 24 - I don't really care who wins this one, but Oklahoma is playing much better football than Texas so I went with the favorite.


Goooooooooooo Jackets! Sting 'em!

Just for Dave: POUNCE!!

Dave wondered about the absence of action in my cat photos last week, so this one is dedicated to him:



That is genuine motion blur on the cat. I did not doctor it up in photoshop.

For the record, Silvio did catch the chipmunk he pounced on. Then let it go and caught it again. And again. And again (FUN!). The game finally stopped when Zima showed up and ate it. And then promptly threw it up.

I won't even go in to how Zima chewed one of its legs off before it was dead and I had to get PDM to come out and humanely kill it. Because that part of cat ownership really sucks.

The Strange "Logic" of Health Insurance

I recently had a cancer scare. It's OK, it didn't turn out to be cancer (as far as they can tell), but we had a tense couple of weeks until we found that out. I thought all that was behind me until I received the bill. Yes, I have the best (read "most expensive") health insurance that I can get through my employer, but they use pretzel logic and who knows what else to determine what they'll actually pay for.

In my case, I found a lump in my breast. Big lump. Painful. Obvious. So I went to the breast imaging center to have it checked out like you're supposed to do. My insurance paid for the diagnostic mammogram, which didn't detect the big obvious lump. They made me pay for the ultrasound exam that did actually verify that I had a solid mass. O-kaaaaayyyy, whatever.

Standard procedure in my case called for a core breast biopsy. Again, my insurer kinda sorta stepped up to the plate. They paid for everything involved with the actual procedure involved to obtain the necessary tissue samples from the breast lump. And then proceeded to charge me for the full cost of the pathology test. The whole point of the procedure was to obtain tumor samples to test for cancer, and they decide to pay for the extraction of the tissue but not the test?!? That makes NO SENSE at all. WTF? Do they not realize that paying for cancer treatment would FAR surpass the cost of paying for an early detection biopsy? Apparently they do not give a crap.

It wasn't all that much money out of pocket, but the principle of the thing bothers me. If something serious happens, just how much would they really pay for? Makes me wonder.

Aftermath

Respecting the 24-hour rule, I can now say a few things about the game on Saturday. Apparently, my team just isn't all that good. I didn't see much to encourage me on Saturday. Usually, I can find a bright side. Not so much this time. It is possible we made our opponent look better than they are. They looked very good to me.

I cannot remember EVER being that hot during a football game. Maybe you don't notice when you are winning, and we usually don't drop a home game in September. At any rate, the Atlanta area set a heat record for 9/25 and I believe it. We were in the sun until the middle of the second half, sweating our asses off. The concession stands in our area ran out of bottled water around halftime. The EMTs had their hands full with dozens of cases of heat exhaustion. I got a raccoon sunburn on my face (everywhere except where my sunglasses covered). We were behind the entire game and it was miserable. The only bright spot was the almost comeback when we brought it within 3, but that didn't last.

But you know, that was last week and tomorrow is another day. We've got another game on Saturday. PDM and I will cook another awesome meal, and have people over, and hopefully our team will get it together and kick some butt! And no matter what happens, we will enjoy this season of college football. I'm not a Tech fan because they win. It is in my blood. They are my team, no matter what.

How Silvio Spends His Friday Nights

Crashed out on the couch.

Even More Bad Football Picks

Last week was my best yet. 4-2 straight up and 3-3 against the spread. Maybe I'll still trend up this week.

As per usual, underdogs listed first with spread and home teams are in CAPS.


Virginia Tech(+2) 21, BOSTON COLLEGE 17 - easy money, if I actually wagered any

North Carolina State(+9) 28, GEORGIA TECH 38 - Go Jackets!!! Win! Cover!

Wake Forest(+19) 21, FSU 45 - yes, I think F$U will crush Weak Florist like a bug

ARKANSAS(+1) 24, Alabama 35 - easiest decision ever

South Carolina(+1) 24, AUBURN 21 - why not?

NOTRE DAME(+1) 14, Stanford 17 - Trees rule.


I'll be at the Tech game at noon gettin' another weird sunburn. Last home game my cleavage got burned. Among other things. Dang. I think I will be more careful with the sunblock this time. And maybe wear a hat.

Still Behind the Tech Curve

Apparently, RSS feed readers are passe. This was news to me. I still check my trusty feed reader many times daily. Unfortunately, my RSS aggregator of choice is Bloglines, and they are getting out of the RSS feed business. They seem to think that people don't need RSS readers now that they have Facebook and Twitter. I disagree. Which means that I need to find a new RSS service to indulge my several-times-a-day habit.

Any recommendations? The obvious choice would be Google Reader. I'm just not sure I want to turn over yet another piece of my online self to the Google monster. They already know far too much about me. Are there any other decent feed readers out there? I really liked the Bloglines user interface, and would prefer something similar.

More Really Bad Football Picks

Last week's bloodbath: 3-3, and 1-5 against the spread. Only marginally better than my first week (thank you very little, GT).


This week's strategy: WAG


GEORGIA(+2.5) 30, Arkansas 24

Brigham Young(+8) 24, FSU 35

TENN(+15) 17, Florida 28

Clemson(+6) 14, AUBURN 21

TEXAS TECH(+7.5) 31, Texas 28

Maryland(+13) 10, WEST VA 24


First team listed is underdog, home team in CAPS. I'm going out on a limb for a Texas Tech upset. Why the hell not? Also, I picked UGA to win so they'll get another dose of my bad mojo. It worked last week.

What you lookin' at?

He's back, on a two-to-three day rotation, and that is all we get.

Tomcats... You can love 'em, but you can't trust 'em.

That said, I have a serious weak spot for ole Romeo. He's the bomb.

Off-Label Use of Party Platter?

Arguably it is rather cat shaped.

Really Bad Football Picks

This year I decided to share my weekly picks from the prediction contest on a message board I frequent. Meant to do this last week, but got busy and didn't get to it. I'll just give you the Cliff Notes version: I sucked. 2-for-6 and I was wrong about beating the spread on one of those two. (Basically, it doesn't matter what you predict for the actual score - the points come from the score differential compared to the spread.) VT, you're dead to me.

This week, I tried a new tactic: the George Costanza method. Whatever I think will happen or wish would happen, I picked the opposite (except for the Tech game, of course - can't bet against my Jackets). This way, I will either be happy that the games worked out my way, or I will do well in the contest. Win-win for me.

Here goes: Week 2

GT 35 Kansas(+12) 17

UGA(+2.5) 3 USCe 2

FSU(+8.5) 17 Okla 20

Mich(+4) 9 ND 24

Miami(+9.5) 21 Ohio St 28

NCState(+2.5) 14 UCF 10


Now I'm going back to watching the Thursday night game. I'm rooting for MSU, which means they are DOOMED. They'd be in the lead right now if they had stuck with their running game. And the kicker catching his own kickoff was badass. Our kicker has never done that, although he has tackled the returner an alarming number of times. Carry on!

Fun on The Flats

Opening Day was a success - good friends, good weather, good game.

Came home to beer brats and more football on the tube. Glad the season is finally here and there is even more reason to look forward to Saturdays (plus the occasional Thursday night). Go Jackets!

Brace For Impact

It's game day!

What is it with guys and the remote?

Even Silvio hogs it.

Way to go, Panthers!

Georgia State University won their first ever football game tonight against Shorter. Congrats to former Georgia Tech coach Bill Curry and his GSU Panthers!

And a big HOORAY that it is finally college football season at last. I spent a pleasant evening channel surfing between multiple games.

Nesbitt 4 Heisman

John Heisman was the head coach at Georgia Tech from 1904 to 1919. No Georgia Tech player has ever won the trophy named for him. Maybe this year?



Side note: the first player (other than Nesbitt) featured in this video was my favorite GT football player while he was on the Flats -- Gary Guyton. He has a good thing going with the Patriots now. My current favorite is Roddy Jones. He is a senior, so next year I will have to pick another one.

Paging Dr. Lou

It's not college football without Dr. Lou. Here he is courtesy of Lucas Cox.

The Agony of Defeat

Yesterday I covered the thrill of victory. Today I bring you this poor guy. The real comedy gold is with the ESPN announcers commentary as it plays out.

Are You Ready?

College Football starts this week. I'm more than ready, and will be celebrating all week on the blog. For starters, here are some highlights from one of our best games last fall - Georgia Tech's upset win over Virginia Tech on October 17, 2009. It was very satisfying.

Cats Are Back!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

They skipped Zima's favorite: "butt-n-the-face"

It's not our favorite...

Not A Cat

A change of pace for today. Happy now, LL?

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Vacation, had to get away.



Really missing vacations right about now.

This photo is from the Primitive Trail in the Devil's Garden section of Arches National Park. Great hike. Not a soul in sight, which is the way we like it. I posted a bunch of photos from Arches on Flickr this weekend.

We don't have any plans for the next one, and that makes me antsy. I like having something to look forward to, even if I have a long time to wait until it happens. I haven't been able to pin PDM down to anything more specific than one football away game weekend trip in October. Working on him for something in mid December. Don't know where, but I am open to suggestions. Probably not too far from Atlanta, if I want to have a reasonable chance of convincing him to go. PDM doesn't ski, so it needs to be somewhere warm and sunny. Maybe Jekyll Island again, or somewhere in Florida.

Mox on the glider

She has it all to herself, thanks to our insufferable heat wave that never ends. Too hot for porch sittin' if you are human. I think the only creatures that like this weather are the cicadas.

Silent Roar

One of my photos from the Philly trip. You can see more here.

Wanderer

We haven't seen him since his brief appearance on Tuesday night. *sigh*

Lost and Found

Romeo went missing for four days. I didn't think I would ever see him again. Had already combed through the local animal rescue websites without finding him, but what I saw there made me even more sad and depressed. (Who gives up a 14 year old cat for adoption?!? Who?)

He came back this evening like nothing ever happened. Shrugged off the extra affection, but accepted the triple food ration.

Such is life when you love a tomcat.

Misbehaving

"But Mom, it was empty!"

Solo

The last night of a business trip is my alone time. By this time, I've seen everyone I wanted to see, and socialized with my co-workers who are here on several occasions. Brain is full. Body is tired. And I've got one more night alone before I go home to PDM and the cats. The last night of a trip is my time for indulgence.

After my last session, I came back the room and took a long nap. Got up and went for a long walk around Philly, solo. After sundown, I enjoyed a room service supper and a bottle of local wine that I bought at the Reading Terminal Market (which is a wonderful place). Pretty good wine for east coast winery.

I fly home tomorrow. PDM tells me that Stray Cat Romeo isn't eating very much this week. Maybe he misses me. We'll find out tomorrow! On Friday, it is back to business as usual.

Dork Central

If you've ever been to any type of "physics convention" then you know what I mean. The rest of you can only imagine. And reality is so much worse...

Traveling Again

Q. What's dark, ridiculously loud, and kind of stinky?

A. The last row of a MD-88 aircraft.

I'm in Philly until Thursday, for a frenzied week of continuing education activities (oh, joy). The 7:30am start time doesn't thrill me, nor do the long days, but it will be fun to see some old friends.

Bored Now

Summer doldrums. Hot. Sticky. Boring. Ho hum.

Damn you, Safety Guy (v. 2.0)!!

This time he took the panini maker.

I swear, I think Safety Guy's purpose in life is to confiscate any electronic appliance that makes people comfortable and/or happy. I'll never forgive him for taking my crappy old heater. Unless he brings me a new one. Then all is forgiven. Not holding my breath.

I can haz CDO?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

It's too hot to post my own cat photo. Plus... GUILTY.

100

Good thing it only "feels like" 97F. How do they figure that? Soaking wet and standing in front of a fan?!?

And now... a cat.

Call of the Wild

Romeo left a dead chipmunk (in pieces) on our doorstep. The "gift" makes it official. He's our cat.

Zima's out there right now helping him dispose of the legs. I could actually hear her crunching the little bones with gusto. There's also a head, an unidentifiable organ (stomach? liver?), and some entrails left over. Hope that stuff's not still there in the morning.

Thirsty

You know how they tell you not to go grocery shopping while hungry, because of all the silly extra food you'll buy? Yeah, well you probably shouldn't shop while thirsty either. I did, and this is what I came home with:

1 6-pack IBC cream soda
2 8-packs of mini Cokes
1 12 pack of fresca in cans
1 container of lemonade mix (makes 8 quarts!)
3 cans frozen limeade concentrate (6 more quarts!)
2 6-packs of Sweetwater beers (sch'wheat and blue)
4 bottles of wine (3 red, 1 white)

What was on my list? Lemonade and wine.

I did much better with the food. Purchased items not on my list? Four ears of corn, because it was fresh and really cheap. And fish sauce, because we used up our last bottle last week. Can't make Thai without fish sauce. I like to keep our spur-of-the-moment options open. We have a somewhat different list of staple items than normal people...

Hanging in there.

Solstice

The days won't get any longer than today, but hotter days are still ahead. Enjoy your summer!

Ours now.

Meet our fourth cat, Romeo. We started feeding this stray, because he was hanging around our house every day and we felt sorry for him. He is friendly, not feral. He has not been fighting with our cats since we started feeding him. They tolerate him surprisingly well.

We're slowly winning him over. He is liking human contact more every day. The idea is to get him tame enough to take him to the vet for some basic care (yes, including the Big Fix at some point). He is stocky, not skinny, but might have worms or other health problems. We'll see.

He'll be an outdoor cat for always, most likely. But no less loved. I think he is happy that he finally found someone to love him. He certainly seems more comfortable and relaxed these days. And I am already attached, even though I can't really be demonstrative with him out of an abundance of caution.

Redecorated

Lots of new options for templates on Blogger. Couldn't resist. And so much easier than painting the house.

A few short shots.

1. Work is really trying my patience. Oh what the hell. My patience lasted about five minutes, and then I just about exploded. *sigh* Whatever. I'll get over it. Because I like having a job.

2. Fermicat's law of occasional banking: If you let a few checks sit around your house for months and then finally take them to the bank, you will find another check in your mailbox the minute you get home. I shit you not.

3. Old comedy shows contain jokes that are REALLY DATED. Tonight's show seemed like a blast from the distant past, but it was only five years old. Wow. And now they are showing stuff from the late 80s. OK, that schtick is really old. Funny, but old.

Not a Fan

Any hopes of this sports fan branching out into soccer (I refuse to call it "football" because I am southern and American) have been dashed this weekend, and not just because the greatly hyped USA vs. England game ended in a 1-1 tie. No, anyone who has watched even one minute of the World Cup can guess what has me so put off by the experience. Need a hint? Ok.

BbzzzzzzzzzzHHHHMMMMMMMMMMbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzBZZBBZZZZZZ...

Those damn plastic trumpets blew it for me! (Howdya like that pun?) I am not alone in this opinion. The noise from these vuvuzelas is a constant, annoying, irritating din that JUST. NEVER. STOPS. It goes on and on and on during the entire game without any breaks and hardly a change in tone. The din makes me CRAZY. It sounds like an angry hive of giant bees. Can't stand it. And I won't be watching any more games thankyouverymuch. Unless the networks invent a vuvuzela noise filter that cancels it out on their broadcasts. Then... maybe. But then there is that whole "1-1" thing. So maybe not.

Lodge Cats

Some comfy cats at the lodge in Utah where we stayed on vacation. Ah, I miss vacation...

They also had buffalo.

The Peep Toe Rebellion

Like most places of business, my employer has a dress code. Some of it makes sense, and some of it doesn't. For example, you can wear a short skirt, but not capri pants or city shorts or skorts, all of which are more modest than a short skirt. Unnatural hair color is not allowed (but seen all over the place), as are "prominent visible tattoos" (which the chairman's secretary sports very visibly on her upper arms). Red nail polish is on both the approved and the prohibited list! The kicker is that the dress code isn't evenly enforced, at least as far as I can tell. I see gross violations on a daily basis. So when our administrator wants our department to toe the line, it causes a lot of resentment when we see other departments getting away with a lot of stuff that doesn't fly in our neck of the woods.

I can see the need for many of the provisions if an employee has patient contact, or works in a lab, or does other dangerous or messy jobs. For those who spend their days toiling behind a desk with a computer, some rules appear to be quite arbitrary. At any rate, when the person who enforces the rules doesn't strictly adhere to them, they lose any moral authority they had in being the person to say "no". And that is exactly the situation in my department.

Thus... the peep toe rebellion. Sure, we are supposed to wear closed toe shoes. But this is the deep south in hot weather. And the admin has been seen upon multiple occasions wearing peep toed shoes. With no hosiery. Also a violation. Hah!

So I've stopped just walking on by the rows and rows of cute shoes in the shoe store that don't exactly fit with the dress code. I won't do a flagrant disregard of the rules and wear completely open toed shoes. But if a toe or two happens to just peek out of my shoes, I ain't sweatin' it. I'm a (tiny little) rebel.

Odd Eyed CatBlogging

Zima and her pretty eyes wish you a happy weekend.

May Showers

We're having a lot of them lately. Typical weather for this time of year in the deep south. The rain didn't stop us from hosting our PDMPMDP* yesterday. It was a lot of fun. You don't have to take my word for it - just ask Dave.

I also had a birthday during the day-before-the-party cooking and cleaning blitz. We took time out to have mimosas in the afternoon, and PDM took me out for a very nice dinner late that evening. He also gave me a new toy for the DSLR. It is lens extension tube that allows you to take macro (close-up) photos using your standard lenses. Pretty cool (the photo above was shot with it). The cats gave me a "I aim to misbehave" t-shirt. They're big fans of Captain Malcolm Reynolds.

*Party Down Marty's Pre-Memorial Day Party!

Long Weekend CatBlogging

Moxy can't wait to party.

Flunky

My stupid car flunked its emissions test. Because the on-board computer was "not ready" to report on its pollution whatsits, or whatever. Even though I haven't had any work done recently and have not recently disconnected the battery. Well happy birthday to me. I am so thrilled to have to take my car to the shop tomorrow to discuss resetting the computer, or whateverthehell.

Den of Danger

Every day or so I walk over to the mailbox to check on Pythagoras. I hate to report that I haven't seen him in over a week, although I did find a snake skin while tidying up the flower bed there.

Today I saw something far more ominous in the snake den -- a female black widow spider. She's big. Real big. And apparently has been there for a while. Some disorganized spider web stands started appearing in and around the rock pile a few weeks back. I ignored it. Spider webs are a penny a dozen around here. This one has gradually grown larger, until this afternoon when I saw the really big black widow sitting right smack in the center of the chaos. I went for my camera, but PDM spooked her into hiding before I could get a photo.

It makes me wonder what is lurking just below the visible when I am out blissfully elbow deep in plants, taking care of my gardens. I've already been stung by a wasp that I didn't see hiding in my daffodils. I've also literally had ants in my pants. Wonder what trouble I'll get into next? Hopefully something easily identifiable with a readily available anti-venom.

The real reason LL doesn't have cats?!?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Well... he does live in Bat Country.

Motion Blur

This is what happens when your subject moves. I kind of like the effect.

A Weekend Unplugged

Spent a three-day weekend up in the mountains. No internet, no TV. Never missed the tube at all, and the only time I missed the internet is when we decided to go hiking on a different mountain and I didn't have a Georgia map with me. We ended up finding a rudimentary map of the area on the back of the park brochure that was good enough and didn't have any trouble getting to the trailhead (other than dealing with some dickwad yokel tailgating me the last several miles).

We had some (mostly) quiet R&R, along with a few nice hikes. The cooler weather worked out just fine. Much more pleasant for hiking, and was just chilly enough to make it worth building a fire at night. Saw a few critters, including a rat snake in the middle of the trail, and a couple of lizards. The night sky was amazing. I'm thinking I should unplug more often.

Photo: Gold Mine Creek cascades down the mountainside along the Big Rock Nature Trail at Fort Mountain State Park.

Friday CritterBlogging

Here is a big critter we saw on the trail between Takakkaw Falls and Yoho Lake in Canada last summer. He was so quiet we almost missed him.

Bugs

Can't have Critter Week without bugs.



Katydids sing to us on summer nights. And they're kind of cute.



Mantids look scary, but they eat other bugs. Cool by me.



This one's looking at me.



Cicadas make a huge racket on hot summer days. This one just molted and is drying its wings. They are large bugs, which is really fun when one gets in the house. Fun for the cats. Not the humans.



Bees are always welcome in the garden.