P365 Day 174: Here's to you, 2009

What better way to end the year than with Paul? And a rum 'n' Diet Dr. Pepper? And maybe a few rounds of Super Mario Bros. Wii? I'm sure there's a ball dropping somewhere in Charleston, but I'm content here at home.

@NPRnews tweeted this earlier: If you could summarize 2009 in one word, what would it be? They later published a Wordle collage with 500 of the (most common?) responses they received.

It's hard for me to narrow 2009 down to one word: Winter was horrid, spring was OK, summer was Memphis, fall was filled with expectations. Moods changed with seasons. I learned my limits. I started P365. Little things — both good (the shuttle launch, the summer in Memphis) and bad (Joe's illness, my medication merry-go-round) — stick out in my mind. So where does that leave me? I guess my one word would be survived. Because I did. Hey, you did, too.

So here's to surviving 2010 (two-thousand-ten? twenty-ten?) just as well — or better — than we survived 2009. May yours be filled with hope and joy and family and friends and good surprises and love.

And for those of you who decide to document your year in photographs, may you always have an unobstructed view:



Much love to you all,
ks

P365 Day 173: Ratchet things up a bit

This afternoon, I heard furious banging in my kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Paul shaking the crap out of something. Over and over again. I wandered his way. There were paper towels spread out, covered in ratchet sockets. He was holding a blue box over the sink. It was sloshing.

"Whatcha doing?" I asked. Truthfully, I knew I probably didn't want to know.

"Oh, the ratchet set fell in the washing machine ..." he replied.

"And you didn't hear it?"

"Well ... no. I mean, it fell in a couple of days ago and I forgot it was in there."

So our clothes got washed with our (new, used once) ratchet set. The sockets, obviously, have dried out. The driver (is that what it's called?) hasn't. And the nice little carrying case? Well, I'm not sure we'll ever manage to shake all the water out of there.

Yes, my professor is a little absentminded.

Exhibit B: We were watching TV tonight when a Korbel "toast life" commercial came on. "Man, we still don't have any plans for tomorrow night," I lamented.

"What's tomorrow night?" he replied.

Happy New Year's to me, right?

P365 Day 172: Spelling and singing

Woke up this morning to a knock on the door and another sticky note from the UPS man (we didn't answer the door fast enough). And I had two (!) packages waiting for me: One in my mailbox and another in the leasing office.

First up is my awesome Christmas present from Johanna: a necklace made of Scrabble letter tiles with beautiful graphics on the other side. (I flipped one over just to prove they're Scrabble tiles.) It took forever to break into her package. The necklace was in bubble wrap in a jewelry box that was so covered in Scotch tape that I didn't even know where to begin. And all that was in a mailing envelope! But the anticipation was totally worth it. I love it.

Oh, the tiles are F, L and V, so I can't spell anything except lvf — which should be a word if it isn't already.



The second gift was part two of three of Paul's Christmas gifts to me. It's the Ben Folds Rockin' the Suburbs sheet music songbook. Oh, that I had my piano here with me! But I have my keyboard, and I'll get to use the real piano when we go to Memphis next week. I can't believe it's been nearly a year since we saw Ben Folds in concert. Amazing experience. RTS is my favorite solo album, so I'm going to love playing the songs.



Oh! As a bonus, Drew messaged me about the custom song he ordered from Dubious Ranger last month. It's awesome. You can stream it from his website or download it here. (Just don't stream it too much because it's eating up my bandwidth.) :D

P365 Day 171: Q-Tips ahoy!

Gratuitous Joe-kitty bath time! (In ten seconds, she'll be fighting back because bath time is over.)

I slept in this morning, made a few pre-trip phone calls (pet sitter, doctor, etc.), and finished another six pieces of jewelry. I also got super-excited when Paul left to run errands because we had a UPS sticky note on our door saying we had a package. Paul looked really excited when he came back with the package and I was just sure it was a Christmas present(!!!). But, alas, it was just two HDMI cables he ordered, which I do not find exciting at all. (-.-) Seriously. What's so exciting about the 25-foot cable snaking from our office to our TV?

By the way, if you didn't catch tonight's Mythbusters ("Mini Myth Mayhem"), try to find it online or catch it Jan. 4 at 8 p.m. EST. Among the "mini myths," Tory, Grant and Jessi tested out a scene from Shrek: that you can make a candle from earwax. It was one of the most disturbingly engrossing things I've seen on TV. I was following the #grantchat on Twitter — Grant was tweeting live during the episode — and read this one aloud to Paul: "GI: Earwax candle is my new most disgusting myth ever. Worse than meatman. It's the smell." I think that did it for Paul. He suddenly had the urge to leave the house and go to the grocery store. I stuck around and watched. Morbid curiosity. And something you have to see for yourself.

P365 Day 170: Finally making progress

I'm making progress on jewelry presents! I finished six pieces today (though only five required any effort), including two bracelets, three necklaces and one pair of earrings. I still have a few things I can make, but I'm reaching a stalemate: I need a certain type of sterling chain and Hobby Lobby — the one two and a half hours away — was out of stock when I went earlier this week. Guess I'll have to wait until I get to the Hobby Lobby in Memphis to stock up.

And I might have some extra funds with which to go shopping — I received a letter from my doctor's office that I have $132 in unclaimed funds that will be turned over to the state if I don't call their office by Dec. 31. (WTF?) Not sure how that happened, but I'm certainly not complaining. Funds are still tight around here — I mean, I'm still unemployed and everything — but maybe I'll have enough to go to Sephora for some lipstick.

So the agenda for tomorrow is to keep working on little jewelry things, call the doctor's office, and line up a new pet sitter for while we're in Memphis (our old pet sitter moved to Oregon). Oh, and wrap presents. That's going to be a challenge because some of the presents I bought have hooks and corners and angles and other features that wrapping paper wasn't meant to handle. I guess the easy way out would be to buy gift bags, but where's the fun in that?

P365 Day 169: In which I gain emo street cred

I got the second of Paul's three gifts to me today: an 8GB SDHC card! That means two things: One, my cats will be subjected to twice as many — more than 3,000 — photos than before, and, two, the Wii will become home to my old 4GB SDHC card. I already spend too much money on XBox 360 add-ons (those $1.99 Rock Band DLCs sure add up!), and now there's a legit reason to spend money on Wiiware. Ack.

I need to take a picture of the first of the three gifts Paul gave me, 'cept it's a necklace and I don't want to take a pic when I look like crap. And boy, do I ever look like crap. I barely got out of bed today. Paul cooked me dinner and I held Joe-Kitty until she climbed on my face (literally), scrambling for the top of my head and leaving huge scratches down my cheeks.

But, hey, those scratches are emo street cred — and I get brownie points because of my glasses — so all I need is some black hair dye and a whole mess of eyeliner and I'll be ready for my first Fall Out Boy concert. No, wait. They broke up. (Ashlee Simpson is the Yoko Ono of Fall Out Boy.) Hmm ... well, I'll be ready for my first My Chemical Romance concert. Have they broken up yet? And since we're on the subject of emo kids ...

... I feel like tacos.

P365 Day 168: It's Christmas!

Paul and I had a pretty low-key Christmas. No gifts (we exchanged them already, except for a couple of packages he's waiting on from Amazon), no tree, no lights, no fancy dinner. No wreath, no holiday music. No fuss. This is the antithesis of the Christmas celebrations I experienced growing up.

We had dino nuggets and Totino's Pizza Rolls for lunch (livened up by a Yankee Candle Christmas Eve votive — "traditional holiday scents of a warm hearth, sugared plums, and candied fruits"[!!!]), and the remainder of the Pizza Rolls and ramen soup for dinner. I didn't feel much like going to the beach, and he didn't suggest it.

But, hey, it could be a whole lot worse, you know? Plenty of people don't have what I do: a loving husband, a Fred-Kitty and a Joe-Kitty — on Christmas Day and every other day of the year.

Hope you and yours have a merry day, however you choose to celebrate. ... And, if I may suggest, go with your gut and skip that second meal of Pizza Rolls. You're going to regret it later. I know.

P365 Day 167: And in this analogy, your leg is chum

If you see a shark fin swimming around you, it's a good bet you're in for a world of hurt.

And if you see a little Joe paw ...


... you better believe there's a pointy-side-up Joe-Kitty in dangerously close proximity.


I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas eve surrounded by the ones you love (pointy kitties and all).

The bird necklace — finished

I finished Mom-in-law's bird necklace, but I lost my necklace display case. (D'oh!) Here's the box and insert (and Paul's thumb!). It only shows two of the four clouds, but you can see the heart toggle clasp I added at the top. ^_^

I hope she likes it.

P365 Day 166: Big change of plans

I'm back from Hobby Lobby! And despite what I said yesterday, it took two and a half hours each way, plus a few extra minutes to navigate through a mega-mall parking lot in search of the store. Based on the traffic I encountered, I have concluded the entire city of Florence, S.C., waited until Dec. 23 to begin Christmas shopping.

But I came away successful! I now have gifts for 90 percent of my family — jewelry for some, statuary, etc., for others. The procrastination sign is also a gift — though I thought it apropos to include in this pic because it completely applies to my own gift shopping and making.

In other news, some stuff has come up and I'm going to Memphis with Paul in early January. That means my parents aren't coming to Charleston after Christmas. (And that means more time to make gifts!) Still a few kinks to work out: I need to resched my doctor's appointment (!) and maybe change my trip to visit Carrie. No time to explain tonight, but I am going home for the holidays ... just a little belatedly.

So, to all of you, I hope you make it home, too — whenever and wherever that may be. Sort of like this song (after the hats part):

P365 Day 165: A little birdy told me ...

I'm running a little late with the jewelry-making this holiday season. I thought I had an extra week because Paul's going to Memphis Jan. 2 and I'd planned on him taking my gifts with him. But I found out last night that Mom and Dad are driving to Chas. on Dec. 26 to visit us, which means I've got to fight my depression and lethargy long enough to finish some pieces before then. (Ack!)

I'm driving two hours to Florence, S.C., tomorrow to pick up supplies at Hobby Lobby. (Oh, I miss the days of living five minutes from a Hobby Lobby in Memphis!) I don't even have all my gifts planned out yet, so I'm hoping inspiration strikes sooner rather than later.

This is the start of the necklace I'm making my mom-in-law. It's a silver mother-of-pearl bird that will be on a sterling silver chain with blue glass "clouds" spaced on the sides. I've had the bird focal for a long time, but didn't know what to do with it. When I suggested it to Paul as a gift for his mother, he thought it was perfect. Now that I have an idea in my head, it shouldn't take too long once I measure the chain and attach everything. (Fingers crossed.)

You know your abstinence-only sex ed has failed when ...

Have you guys seen this? From Fail Blog:

P365 Day 164: But can it tell "that's what she said" jokes?

A few years ago, I bought a Timex Expedition watch. As you can see, it's huge (that's what she said!), but it can do everything (ooh ooh — that's what she said ... again!). I bought it because of the sheer number of features crammed into one magnificent timepiece. My practical side knew I was never going to need three alarm clocks on my wrist, but I rested comfortably in the knowledge that if I ever rammed my car into a snowdrift, this little guy would be there to keep me company.

Eventually, I decided it wasn't practical to wear such a big watch everywhere, so I opted for a more petite, girly, shiny pink Fossil. With a dial. And hands — tiny hands with tinier glow-in-the-dark strips. You don't miss Indiglo until you don't have it anymore.

And then recently, I found the Expedition — it's poor battery long dead — and decided to resurrect it. Twenty minutes and five screws later (oh, I'm not even going to bother with the joke this time), and my Expedition was good as new.

So what are the features that warranted me turning over a significant amount of my hard-earned cash to Timex? Well, obviously, it tells time — but not just one time. The Expedition actually handles three time zones; mine are set to Charleston time (Eastern), Memphis time (Central) and GMT ... as if I'll ever need to know GMT at the drop of a hat.


But time-telling is only the tip of the iceberg. (Are those more dangerous than snowdrifts?) The Expedition also has a compass that detects magnetic north and true north, something I'll never realistically need, especially since I never leave the confines of my apartment. But it is fun to play with, and again, if I do end up freezing and lost in a blizzard, I can at least follow my watch north. To the North Pole. Where Santa lives.


It has three alarms, a chronometer, a timer, a hydra timer to remind you to drink water at set intervals (I turned this feature off after four days of driving my office mate crazy), and an occasion reminder. I currently have it set to remind me that Friday is Christmas and that I have a doctor's appointment Jan. 7 (cool, huh?):


And to top it all off, it's waterproof. That's super-important, because once that snowdrift starts to melt, I'd be in a world of hurt if my watch/compass/timer/alarm flooded.

By the way, I'm only half-kidding about the snowdrift. I've lived my whole life in the South. School is canceled pretty much at the threat of winter precip, but I've always had this irrational fear of running my car off the road and being lost in several feet of snow. (?!) Paul will attest to this. The fear has started to wane over the years, and I'm now to the point where I only keep one blanket in my car and one knife in my glove compartment. Gone are the days when I wouldn't leave the house until my purse was packed with a first-aid kit, fruit snacks, gloves, and myriad other things that "might be needed if we get caught in a snowdrift." Really.

Honestly, I'd be horrible at survival skills. I can't even make it through one episode of Survivorman or Man vs. Wild without yawning. But at least with my Expedition weighing down my left wrist, I'm one step closer to conquering the evils of a wintery death.

P365 Day 163: Cover your eyes! It's incoming!

Ever had a day where you just want to cover your eyes and forget the world exists? Yeah. Joe-Kitty knows where I'm comin' from!

I've tried to keep my P365 posts from becoming too Kate-centric, but it's time to air out a little personal info, both as an apology for the way I've been acting lately and the way I might be acting for the next few months. The winter solstice starts tomorrow, and winter has always been a very difficult time for my mental health. My moods fluctuate wildly and quickly, which means I frequently have to adjust my medication based on how I feel and how Paul tells me I'm acting. (Thank goodness he's looking out for me!) My anxiety and agoraphobia really set in around Thanksgiving this year, and I've taken to leaving the house less and less — no more than once a week, or even longer if I can help it. I'm taking a lot of Klonopin, about four times the dose I was taking when I was in Memphis (and I'm taking it every day instead of just once in a while).

It was so much easier when I had a job because I had a structure to my days. I woke up before six (!!!), checked the news wire, stayed busy at work, came home and played some video games, got up the next day and did it all again. But last year, with no full-time editing gig, my brain went a little haywire. I'll spare details. It was a very hard winter for me.

There are things I'm looking forward to this winter — such as watching the Olympics on TV, though I'm a little sad our finances are such that I had to break my 2006 promise that we'd be in Vancouver in February 2010. There are things I'll cry about, such as the anniversary of the passing of my grandfather (December) and grandmother (January). And there are a lot of things I'm scared about; we are waiting for news on no fewer than five proverbial irons in the fire this winter. And all of that's just overwhelming.

I'm hoping that P365 will bring at least a little structure to things — I'm on day 163 and I have not missed a day yet ... and I don't plan on starting now! But I'm scared, too, because I know Paul is busy this time of year and can't look out for me as much as usual, and I'm worried that I'm going to fluctuate even more in the three weeks between now and my doctor's appointment. I'm doing everything I can to keep myself on an even keel.

And then there's always one thing to which I can look forward: Winter doesn't last forever. Spring is just three months away, and then things start fresh and calm down a little for the nine months till next winter.

Every year I say it: Winter changes everything. But maybe that's not really it at all. Maybe it's that winter changes me, and I'm walking into this winter in the worst state I've been in for at least the last decade. But I'm not alone in this world. My hubby and friends and family look out for me. That's a big comfort.

There are things that won't change. The biggest one that affects my friends is that I still won't answer my phone when you call, though I might return your call if you sing me a voice message. (The singing part is crucial because it makes me smile. Take, for example, the voice note e-mailed me today in which a friend sings that he's settled in for a Sunday afternoon so he can watch a Scrubs marathon.)

And now I'm going to go do the Joe pose — cover my eyes and block out the light for a little while. One day at a time, right? (P.S. If you've made it to the end of my post, thanks for letting me air that out. Santa knows everything, and I promise he'll leave you an extra candy cane on my behalf.)

P365 Day 162: Tiny tacos!

Paul and I used part of our Christmas Chili's gift card to get mini tacos (!!!) tonight. They're new on the menu, and they're really good. OK, well, the crispy shrimp tacos and the smoked chicken tacos are good. I don't know about the other ones.

We also knocked out some shopping tonight: I bought Paul the Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Wii, we ordered a three-foot cat tree for our girls (like they need any help sharpening their claws), I used some Ulta coupons to buy girly things, and I bought one of two watch batteries I need. Paul says he's figured out what he's buying me for Christmas but he has to order it. I've tried, like, six different ways of tricking him into telling me what it is, but he hasn't fallen for anything yet.

As long as somebody — anybody — buys me this, I'll be happy. (I've dropped the hint to everyone in my family. Someone is bound to bite.)

P365 Day 161: Waterlogged

[Edit: Here's more info about the flood.]




I thought I was going to go out tonight. Paul and I had planned on seeing a movie and getting some Christmas shopping done. Then everything flooded.

Three inches of rain is no big deal when you live on a bluff (Memphis). But when you live in a city that's at sea level, everything's different. Most of the streets on the peninsula were under various levels of water, and Paul came home early from work while the roads were still passable.

This picture is out the back of our apartment, on the Wando River side, a couple of hours after low tide. High tide is right about now, but it's too dark to see how much the water has risen. No matter to us; our apartment is a couple of feet off the ground. No idea, however, if the cars in the parking lot are flooded. Sigh.

At least it's not snowing. As much as I love a good snowball fight, I never could wrap my head around how poorly Memphis drivers handled snow. We never (ever) have to worry about that here.

P365 Day 160: My guy brought home Five Guys burgers

We had Five Guys Burgers and Fries for dinner tonight:


And they never skimp on a serving of Cajun fries (that's one large serving, which we couldn't finish, even between the two of us):


Legit excuse for the blurry photo: I completely ran out of space on my 4GB camera card, and (this is horrible!) I haven't backed up the last 1,500 pictures I've taken. My last backup was in May. So I'm busy cleaning off the card tonight so I can start fresh tomorrow.

By the way, have you heard about this 4-year-old who was caught wandering around his neighborhood, drinking a Bud Light and wearing a girl's dress, which he apparently stole from under a neighbor's Christmas tree? Bizarre. (And only in Tennessee.) Latest word was that he did it because he wants to be like his inmate dad — who he thinks is a hero, according to the boy's mom. Wild.

P365 Day 159: I guess it's not too late to buy stamps ...

Paul and I got our first 2009 Christmas card yesterday! Yay! Last year, we participated in a Something Awful Christmas card swap, but I completely forgot to join this year. In fact, I haven't sent a single holiday card. Not even one. Is that bad?

P365 Day 158: It's eat or be eaten

No dinosaurs falling in tar pits around here. Nope. Just a little T-rex with a big head and tiny arms who has most unfortunately fallen into a pool of French's Honey Dijon and soon will be consumed, along with his white-meat brethren, as a tasty dinnertime treat. Who said playing with your food was bad?

P365 Day 157: Hidey spidey

One of the benefits of having two cats is that there's a swift and sure death to any unwanted vermin in our household. How much bug is left behind, however, is completely up to whichever cat is playing exterminator that day. And if it's particularly unlucky day for us, the parts they do eat get regurgitated on the rug. (That's usually Joe's doing. Fred is too lazy to eat bugs; her general M.O. is to sit on them until she gets bored or they die of suffocation.)

That's where this gets weird. Our catnip-filled orange spider has gone from eight legs to five (well, five and a nub), but I have yet to see even one green "spider" leg come out of either end of either cat. Pardon the visual.

Paul gave his last exam today. No rest for the wicked, however; he's going to be spending his Christmas break doing research, and will be traveling to Memphis for a few days right after New Year's. No idea whether I'm going with him. After spending Thanksgiving in Memphis, I'm content to just ride out the hustle and bustle from right here at home.

Wrapping it up (UPDATED)

This video makes me all sorts of Holiday Happy! Watch the whole thing; they spend half the video in the living room, but they also walk through the bathroom and kitchen. No spoilers. Just watch.



I've updated to add new video of Louie's reaction when he gets home:



Good stuff. :-)

P365 Day 156: Button-mashing and TV-watching

Yay! A picture of my TV screen! But it's not just any picture; no, it's a picture that symbolizes all the reasons I suck at New Super Mario Bros. Wii — namely, that Paul (Luigi) has the wherewithal to run around while I (Mario) stand stupidly at the start of the level taking pictures of my TV screen.

In all seriousness, the game is a lot of fun — especially in multiplayer mode — but as with most video games (Rock Band excluded), I feel like I drag Paul down by jumping at the wrong times and running into random baddies. Damn him and his awesome hand-eye coordination!

Oh! That reminds me of this video, which I've been meaning to post for days. It's called "Ode to Minions":


In other news, today I started following HitFix.com blogger Daniel Fienberg, who is counting down the top 31 TV shows of the past decade. (Today — No. 19 — was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and you can see a list of Nos. 20-31 at the bottom of today's post.) What got me interested in following it, though, was reading his list of parameters for the ranking. In it, he says:

If you know me, you already know what my No. 1 is going to be. It's the same No. 1 that most of my most trusted colleagues will also have chosen. There's a reason for that. That show is the best show of this decade or, very possibly, any decade.

So, from what I gather, a lot of critics have been blown away by one TV show. To you more TV-minded folks out there, what is it? Paul and I theorized it might be Lost. Are we on/off the mark?

P365 Day 155: Spirited away

I picked up my pre-order of The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks last night. GameStop was mad busy, but things went fast once I got to the register.

In fact, as the guy was handing me my bag, he exclaimed, "In and out in under two minutes!" Ohhh, how much I wanted to say, "That's what she said!" but I was surrounded by impressionable little kids. Phooey. Instead, I replied, "Wow, that's the fastest gift shopping I've done all holiday season," not telling him the gift was for, well, me.


So far, the game play is fun and accessible, and I'm enjoying it as much as I enjoyed its predecessor, Phantom Hourglass, which Paul and I both played beginning-to-end twice.

Even Fred thinks it's finger-lickin' good:


In other news, Mom has asked for the link to my Metawishlist so she can "give the list to Santa." I kind of hope Santa buys me something from the Outrageously Expensive category.

P365 Day 154: A little love from home

A package from Mom and Dad! What could it be?


A Christmas nightgown for me (a family tradition), a shirt for Paul, hot cocoa, cappuccino mix, an Advent calendar (also a family tradition, and this one with a note: "Start catching up!"), homemade sugar cookies, and toys for Fred-Kitty and Joe-Kitty. How thoughtful!


During college, my parents sent care packages to me in my dorm when I was studying for finals. Paul gives his first final tomorrow. This came just in time. :-)

P365 Day 153: Truth in advertising? Yeah, right.

I snuck this pic inside Wal-Mart tonight. Notice that no lanes are open. (There were three open in the whole store, and two of those were 10-items-or-less lanes.) I knew this commercial — which I've seen again this season — was a lie:



Also, they don't have any Zhu Zhu Pets. Harumph.

P365 Day 152: Winter? What winter?

Want a bottle of water? Got to get past the bouncer first.

I hear it's in the mid-30s in Memphis right now. It's 68 here in Chas. at 11 p.m. I actually had to turn the air conditioning on last night and most of today. (I turned it off before Paul got home so he wouldn't complain about the electrical bill — shh, what he doesn't know won't hurt him.)

I'm not complaining about the temperate weather (though I do love cold weather!); I'm only complaining about whatever is blooming outside. I've taken Claritin and Benadryl and I'm still a sniffling, sneezing, coughing, I-could-do-an-ad-for-Nyquil mess. Paul's not faring much better.

Also, I haven't had a chance to get much use out of the beautiful scarf Grr sent me earlier this year. So, yeah, there's two reasons to bring on the cold.

What say you, Mother Nature?

Google Wave

Anyone need an invite? I have some extras.
http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html

This might turn out to be a particularly interesting/amusing endeavor for anyone who has told me via IM that I take too long to reply because I'm self-editing too much. You'd be able to see me say exactly what's on my mind before I think better of it, delete and start over.

If you want an invite, leave me a comment or drop me an e-mail. And if you're already on Wave and we're not friends, by all means, fix it.

P365 Day 151: Party supplies

Well, I decided not to go to the party, which means it's been eight days since I've left home. (Wince.) But it looks like they're going to have a great time with the Wii (Mario Party 8 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii) and the Xbox (Rock Band 2, The Beatles: Rock Band, Lego Rock Band and Street Fighter). They're having catered barbecue — and it's Memphis-style barbecue, none of this crappy, yellow Carolina stuff — so I'm sure it's going to be fun.

I think I'll go bury my nose in a book.

P365 Day 150: She'd give a thumbs-up if she had thumbs

Fred says, "Yay! Day 150!"

I've tried to limit the number of cat pictures this week. If I failed, it's because I hit a little patch of depression and haven't left the house for a week. (I go back to the doc Jan. 7 and hopefully will sort it all out then.) Tomorrow, I'm rolling a week's worth of going out into one day: the grocery store, the bank, and a party for the students in Paul's department.

It made national news, so I'm sure most of you heard that the Arlington, Tenn., mayor made a stupid Facebook update last week saying that President Obama is a Muslim who purposely timed his speech to cancel out the Peanuts Christmas special. The town is distancing itself from him now and he's made a statement in return. (See here.) Arlington is not a bad place, so it's sad that its mayor is making the whole town look bad. I've just got to shake my head at some things. I thought I'd left the land of bad politicians when I moved out of Memphis and to South Carolina, but then the whole Governor Sanford thing came out. Guess there's no place where politicians just "get it."

P365 Day 149: Breakfast for dinner!

Paul made Belgian waffles for dinner. They kind of fell apart — I hope the waffle maker isn't breaking ... I love that thing! — but they tasted fantastic anyway. Oh, that green thing in the back is the waffle-taker-outer, but it started as a spoon thingy from Rice to Riches.

In other news, I found this report on ArsTechnica hilarious (and a little sad):

The failure to identify a control group should probably tell us something: This is little more than a press release on some research in progress. Still, even before the results are in, the process of setting up the experiment turned out to be rather informative. The study, you see, is on porn consumption, and it looks like the researchers will be stuck working without anybody to act as a negative control. "We started our research seeking men in their twenties who had never consumed pornography," said Simon Louis Lajeunesse. "We couldn't find any."

Also: Greatest luggage ever.

P365 Day 148: Living out of my suitcase

Joe's eyes are usually shooting daggers anyway, but none more so than when she thinks we're leaving her out of something fun — toys, treats, whatever. Here, she's made herself at home in my suitcase. Never mind that she hates traveling. Had trouble getting her out of there, too. She dug her little claws in and wouldn't let go. No worries, though; I'm used to everything being covered in black, white and/or orange fuzz.

Tigers are playing tonight. It's not being televised, so I'm doing my best to follow the game on Twitter. I'm F5-ing like nobody's business.

P365 Day 147: Tastes ... Italian

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is as good as it tastes. Paul and I had a great time jumping around and trying to (not?) knock each other off ledges and such. Now our Christmas gifts to each other are out of the way (me: the Harry Potter set, him: SMBWii). Paul's department is having a pre-exams party for the chem majors Tuesday, and we're taking the Xbox and Wii with us. I'll make sure to wipe the spit off the case before then.

I called my doctor's office today to work out my prescription mess, which I mentioned yesterday. Turns out my doctor is just off for the week, not forever. No idea why the pharmacist was so cryptic when she left me a voice mail. Anyway, his staff said he'd write my scrips for me Monday afternoon. Now that wasn't so difficult, was it?

P365 Day 146: Just hidin' out

Joe has a fort. I want a fort. Why can't somebody build me a blanket fort (yes, that has its own Wiki entry), where I can read and nap and eat s'mores? Hmph. Being an adult sucks sometimes.

In other news, I got a voice mail from the pharmacy today. The tech said she'd faxed my refill request to my doctor's office and got no reply, and when she called, the office was closed (for good). I didn't have time to sort it all out before 5 p.m., so I'll have to figure out tomorrow whether it's all a big misunderstanding or my doctor has skipped town or something. (If so, that would be the second time that's happened to me. I had an internist in Memphis who just left for Florida one day, no forwarding address, no instructions, no referrals.)

If I can't get my prescription thing sorted out soon, I'm giving you all my business, L.

Lists and lists (jumping on the bandwagon)

Following in the footsteps of (edit: Grr had it first), Smacky and De:

Websites I check daily
Gmail
Twitter
Google Reader (~100 feeds, mostly blogs, news and humor)
My Life is Average
My Life is G
... did I mention Twitter?

Magazines to which I subscribe
Game Informer
Science
Chemical & Engineering News

Things I can't live without
The traditional list as seen here:
My husband
Red pens
Eyeglasses
Broadband
Piano
To which I must now add:
Fred and Joe
My camera (P365!)

Places I have lived
Various parts of Memphis, Tenn.
Charleston, S.C.

... and a bonus ...

What I want for Christmas
Anything on my Metawishlist
A Memphis Tigers Snuggie

P365 Day 145: What was in the box!

Oh! I completely forgot to post what was in the box! (Thanks for reminding me, Smacky.) Paul and I waited until 12:02 a.m. to open the gift — the suspense was killing us! And, as predicted, it was not a puppy.

Our first Christmas present of the year had a crocheted beach bag, a Yankee Candle Christmas sampler and snuffer, a set of Santa towels, a very generous Chili's gift card, and a fireman bell ornament. (My uncle just retired as fire chief in the city where they live.) Fortunately I was able to thank them right before they left on a two-week cruise. Retirement must be nice.

OK, time to log off and batten down the hatches. There's a tornado watch and a huge storm coming through Chas. — big enough where county offices closed early and colleges canceled classes. And things around here flood really easily (here's a pic someone Tweeted this morning), so we're not going anywhere anytime soon.

Surprise!

P365 Day 144: And the environment chokes

Guess who forgot her reusable shopping bags when she went to the store tonight? This girl. Oops.

I did, however, find my jump drive lodged into a groove in my car's console. So I can quit worrying that somebody got their grubby hands on my spreadsheets and edits.