Domestic tranquillity update

I phoned Jeff last night after going a little wacky at the mall (total haul $100, shoes and tights) and said, “Don’t feel like cooking.  How do you feel about the Keg?” which plan met with enthusiastic endorsement.  Out of respect for mOm’s diet I’m going to skip the usual trough report.

My plants arrived!  Gai Lan, peppermint and Thai Basil.  I’ll be repotting them this weekend. I just gave them a little water.

I have a mild two inch scratch from Eddie, having helped clip his back nails.  No other injuries were reported.

There are at least fifteen blossoms on the strawberry plants out front.  I must go water them.

I send good thoughts to: mOm, Granny, Tammy, Katie daughter, Kopper, LTGW for the unwitting suggestion which finally broke the dam on the homily, the Luddite, Jeff and kitties of course (although one side growl for the unbelievable amount of hall-running they did last night), Tom and Peggy (get over here for dinner!), Glenn and Maggie (ditto!), Tom U. (ditto!), Mike, Heather, Jarmo and the gang that’s going to Indiana Jones tonight, Patricia, Tom McM, Carolyn Porco, everybody at JPL, all Dunnett fans, and all filkers everywhere.

Oh, I ordered a Zoom H2.  I couldn’t help myself; after almost a year of drooling on Lady Miss B’s H2 I gave in to the dark side and ordered it.

I have cancelled my planned trip to Denvention – I’m going to be needing every penny for France.

I am thinking of a certain pregnant woman, and confecting an especially airy and happy nest of thoughts for her.

A particularly happy and grateful shout out to Jeff, who has shouldered my tech support issues with the understated competence of a true professional.

Oh, and a big hug to the HR department at work.  I approached them and said, calmly, “I want to kill a co-worker.”

Response:  “Really?  Have some chocolate and tell me about it.”

End result:  15 minutes later, I’m back at my desk, snickering, and feeling much better.

Oh.  Nobody in my department – somebody else.  The folks in my department entirely rock, I love them.

Mike drops by

So last night Mike asked what I was up to (the first time the phone rang with my new ring tone, Elvis Costello’s Pump it Up) and I said Nothin – so he came over and watched Shoot Em Up with me and Jeff.  I fed him mango and beer – and home made garlic bread.  I liked the movie the second time.  Keith will be annoyed that we watched it with Mike, because Keith frankly worships Mike and enjoys every opportunity to spend time with him.

Last night’s meal was salad with tuna.

Now that we’ve figured out it’s impossible to ruin garlic bread on that barbecue, we’re eating it a lot.

Walk to work

I said more later…. here it is. So I’m walking down from the bus loop. That’s the Arts and Sciences building to the right – not shown, and the TASC building is right ahead.

Okay… now that you’ve seen it, the lovely woodsy walk, you have to ask yourself… What’s this like on a foggy February morning when it’s pitch dark out still and everything is covered in two feet of snow and nobody has shoveled, plowed, sanded or salted.  Yeah – that’s when those railings really make sense!!!

We are waiting for the Phoenix!

We have been whiling away the hours until we get word of the safe – or not – landing of the Phoenix on Mars by doing laundry, drilling holes in things (I finally got the other anchor for a guitar strap drilled into the Seagull – I only bought the hardware 8 months ago and Jeff got the kitchen phone attached to the wall), getting Keith caught up on Battlestar Galactica, going for a brief walk in the gorgeous summer-style afternoon, and taking the occasional crack at finishing the homily.  I also unpacked two more boxes.  Can you spell displacement behaviour?

Gizmo has no opinion except “Sun good”.

Juno

Jeff and I watched Juno last night and I loved it.  The script, the acting – a wonderful movie, and Ellen Page and Michael Cera make my Canadian heart explode with pride.  Also, it makes fun of Unitarianism.

Yesterday I prepped my MacBook for working with Windows software by installing a virtual machine.  We’ll see how this plays out… Jeff’s going to help me with an XP install  With any luck I won’t have to turn it into a Vista machine.  The long term point of this is to allow me to work from home, as the contact management and call center software is all Windows and internet based.

My payroll problem has been straightened out.

Gizmo and the downstairs dog, Meadow, are getting to know each other.  Meadow is so anxious for someone to play with that it’s very cute.  Gizmo’s body language says it all.  Scornful, not the slightest bit scared.  Eddie made tracks like his little black tail was on fire as soon as he poked his head through the door and saw the dog.

I have now entirely s-canned my original homily, as well as the two subsequent attempts, and I’m staring at the screen with disbelieving horror… can my normal fluency have deserted me for this most important topic?  Can I restrain my usual desire to turn everything into a gag?  Will I find myself in the pulpit on Sunday next, eyes like dog’s balls, stammering, incoherent and bereft of a single cogent sentence?  Stay tuned.  On the plus side, there will be jazz at the service, most likely.

I would just like to tell the universe, briefly, that I’m tired of getting what I need and would like to get what I want for a change.  Okay, back to the homily.