Since You Asked...

I haven't posted for a while because I've been extra super busy at work. Near the end of the summer, I find myself working extended hours and lots of Saturdays. I get tired and lazy in the little time I have off, too.

That's not to say, I don't sit in front of the computer any at all, because I do. I just tend to sit here passively clicking links for those WWW tidbits I cannot live without: mainly strange news stories and lolcats.

Anyway, I have truly been lazy about my little blog here, and I was reprimanded for it! That almost made me feel like a real blogger, so thanks to my dear friend Lindsey for calling me out on that.

I have not been doing much to write about here. I am surviving the heat wave that is tormenting the city. I'm working a lot.

Ah at work I'm considering applying for a job in the marketing dept. I'm really struggling about whether or not to apply for it because it would mean a pay decrease, but I think it would be a job I would enjoy more. Mainly it seems like a no-brainer... I'm sure they'd hire me and thankfully I don't really have to worry about the pay difference, which is minor anyway.

I guess part of me feels like maybe I should work on an academic career instead, if I'm going to focus completely on just having a job I enjoy, but the pay difference with that kind of move would be major, at first anyway.

Anyway... I have until Monday to apply for the job. Naturally, getting a new job would be something I would post about here, so I guess I'll we can all just wait and see.

I'm kind of excited about it, though. That's the truth.

Hmm I saw my dad tonight. That's always fun. Not really. Never mind. My grandparents were around, too. They all talk at the same time, about different things. It's always stories they've already told about five or six times. I tell you the whole thing makes me dizzy and tired.

I have recently seen some movies. I watched Hot Rod, which was goofy, but not quite the kind of goofy I really really like. There's worse things to do during a heat wave though than sit in a cool, dark room and watch a goofy movie. And eat popcorn.

My Billy is getting slim! He's lost forty pounds so far. A very trim 220, which looks nice on his 6'4" frame. Hubba hubba. I'm proud of him.

fruits of my recent labors:





and nothing else is here because i'm lazy right now!

i do plan to check out Ms. Honea's blog soon, in spite of my laziness, because I know her to be an exceptionally bright, remarkably sweet, and very kind person, and I've known her practically all her life. She's family.

Back to Work...

It's not easy to return to work after vacation, but here I am.

Bill found a free entree coupon in the Flyer for Rio Loco, which gave us a great excuse to visit our friends there, eat too much, and drink beer and sangria.

It was also nice to see what the old neighborhood looks like. We moved from downtown just in time, because an Italian restaurant is opening across the street from our old condo. If we were still living there, we'd be eating far too much! Good for downtown though, a new Italian restaurant was needed there. I used to complain about it often when we were living there.

Bill's working on the Roomba in his lab (the basement). I am not sure what the outcome is going to be... You can hack a Roomba (http://www.gorobotics.net/The-News/Hobbyiest/iRobot-Releases-Roomba-Serial-Port-Interface/), you know. I'm pretty excited about Bill's project because I love robots. We're still in the brainstorming stage, but we hope to have something together in time for Halloween.

Check out some Roomba hacks compiled by Techblog.

Sunday

Started the day with a yummy breakfast, and we watched Tideland. I really love Terry Gilliam movies. I enjoyed it.

We went hiking today at Shelby Forest on the 3 mile Woodland Trail. It's a nice trail, not too challenging, but no cakewalk, either. I swear something growled at us, though. That part was a little scary.

I also saw a snakeskin kind of tangled in the roots of a huge overturned tree.

I had to remove a tick from Bill after lunch, when we first noticed it.

After the hike, we went to see You Kill Me, which was not bad.

Other than that, not doing much, been reading Murakami's short stories: After the Quake.

I honestly don't want to go back to work tomorrow.

Vacation

Vacation was nice. I'll post some photos on buzzkitty.com soon. We spent part of our vacation starting the tree house. There are photos at http://www.buzzkitty.com/treehouse.


Since I've been back home, we've mainly been taking it easy. We made sushi for dinner Friday night.

We walked to Bosco's for dinner and Studio on the Square last night to watch Eagle vs Shark. Very sweet little movie. We enjoyed it.

Meet Higgins

Yesterday morning, after returning home from delivering Bill to work, I saw Higgins sitting in the middle of the street crying. Poor kitty. I know he's Higgins because his name tag says so. There is a phone number on the name tag as well, but when I call it I only get voicemail. I've put some food out for poor Higgins, he's skin and bones and has this nasty green gunk inside his ears. He wants desparately to come inside the house, but my cats wouldn't hear of it. He's been hanging out on my front porch. Puyi enjoys hissing at him through the screen door.

Some other people on my street have been calling Higgins' house also without any luck. Googling the phone number has given me the name and address of Higgins' mistress, who lives just around the corner. I hope she checks her voicemail soon and rescues Higgins. The picture is kinda cute, right?

I'm off to the lake in a few hours. Time to pack!

Vacation Starts Tomorrow!

At last! My vacation begins in about six hours. I can't wait! Work is driving me insane!

All I've been up to lately is reading Dance, Dance, Dance (Murakami) and watching Deadwood (Season 3) on DVD with Bill.

Also I've been doing quite a bit of after hours and weekend work. I'm pretty sure that project has come to an end, though. I have earned some extra cash, I hope to get my check soon. I'm not sure what I'll buy with it. Maybe furniture.

Starting tomorrow I hope to be more productive and more relaxed. Next week, I'll be on the banks of Greer's Ferry lake in Heber Springs, AR. I'll help, as well as I can, Bill with building the treehouse. We're also going to try out the nicest restaurant the area has to offer, or so we've been told, Cafe Klaser. Mostly we just intend to relax. Boating, swimming, dozing, not working, etc.

I really enjoy spending time at "Camp Hazel" because it's very remote, you can't get a cell phone signal, and it's beautiful. Something about being there makes me feel very content and relaxed.

Busy as a Bee!

It's not CCD that's been keeping me away...

I've just been working a lot lately. Extra work is keeping me busy in the evenings, and it's busier than usual at work now as well. I just have to mention, though, I wasn't too busy to send Fortean Times another link... I sent in a link about the man who attacked a peacock, which is strange enough (and SAD!), but what makes it perfectly fortean, is that the man claims the peacock was a ... vampire! Why he is the Peter Cushing of Peacocks!!!


I had a nice Fourth of July, too. Spent it with good friends, and I watched Mary Poppins with one of my favorite two year-olds. Also, at home with Bill, I watched more Dr. Who and an episode of Deadwood, which is a pretty strange combination. Take a moment and imagine the Tardis landing in Deadwood...




Now, admit it, that was fun!

Well it's beyond bedtime, and I'm not even going to have time to read a few pages of Dance, Dance, Dance tonight before I doze off...

Don't worry if the hive empties out next week. Bill and I are going on vacation soon. I'll be relaxing at the family compound, which is very remote (no phones, no Internet, barely even cellular signal there), for a while. I can't wait! We might even work on the treehouse, or maybe just float around on the lake and kind of do nothing...