Day 2

Three point four miles, at a slightly faster pace than yesterday. Only today, it was all in one session. Yesterday I had to break about halfway through to have lunch with Athos. Not only are my feet, hips and knees screaming obscenities at me, but my shoulder muscles burn (holding straighter posture - and arm exercises too). I'm not a huge fan of pain, so I have to ask myself: I'm doing this . . . why? Oh, yeah, because I'm damned tired of having trouble bending over to tie my shoes. I should probably add some stretches to the routine, too, since I can't touch my toes without bending my knees. (Tight hamstrings.)

On the other hand, this is giving me the excuse opportunity to watch some movies I haven't seen in years. Nothing of what you could call major artistic merit so far, but fun movies nonetheless. Yesterday was Buffy the Vampire Slayer; today was Don Juan DeMarco. Anything from Captain Blood to one of the versions of Cyrano de Bergerac to the The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Howard's End could be next. (No, not really Captain Blood. But only because we don't have a copy!)

Time for some more ibuprofen....

Some people have NO sense of humor

Oh, give me a fuckin' break! He was talking to *adults*, not kids. You'd think 20 years on the job would count for something, but not at Macy's.

Day 1

Well, I did just under 3.5 miles in 90 minutes. Not too bad for someone who hasn't been walking all that much lately. Good news is, I didn't drop dead, and barely broke a sweat - which tells me I need to increase both speed and incline on the treadmill the next time. LOL The bad news is, this has made me realize that I need new walking shoes. If I remember correctly, these are the ones that got saturated with swamp mud while helping a neighbor fight a fire awhile back, and I ran them through the washer so they'd be wearable again. Somehow I don't think that did anything good for their cushioning ability. My feet hurt....

Reality check

We got more snow here today. Not a lot, just two or three inches of fairly fluffy stuff, but enough that clearing it off of the pavement was a good idea. Technogeek took care of most of it when he got home tonight; I probably should have started on it earlier in the day, but from inside it didn't look like much at all. Well, that "not much at all" adds up fast when you're trying to shovel it off of an area that will take six parked cars with room to spare! Technogeek got the sidewalks and about 3/4 of the parking pad before he gave in and dragged out the snow blower. It hadn't been started since sometime last winter and was a bit balky, so while he was arguing with it, I took the shovel to the area in front of Athos' workshop.

Friends, I learned something this evening: I am in much worse physical shape than I thought I was! It's time to get serious about both weight loss and exercise. I've been intending to do it, just hadn't managed to get around to it yet. You know, the "I'll start tomorrow" routine - but tomorrow somehow never comes. Well, tomorrow is damned well going to be tomorrow, because I'm tired of wearing my fat jeans and having trouble carrying a large bag of dog food from the car to the kennel. (I used to be able to sling 50-plus pound boxes of meat around without too much trouble, back in the day.)

So starting tomorrow, I'm going to hit the treadmill and the weight machine, and see if I can't get this 50 year-old body back into some sort of reasonable condition before Spring. While I'm not going to post my starting weight (too embarrassing!), I do intend to post regular weight loss totals. According to the BMI charts, I have around 50 pounds to lose. I don't anticipate being able to lose all of it by, say, early April, but if I can manage at least 30 lb. by then, I'll consider it a victory!

What makes my current situation particularly galling is that less than a year ago, I was 25 lb. lighter, and to find myself right back where I was before . . . well, frankly, it pisses me off. I'd fought hard to lose that weight. Mom's illness and death and eating mostly restaurant meals for a couple of months really started the downhill slide, and not working away from home has done the rest. A year of being mostly sedentary has not done good things for my health.

So, blogger friends Jean and Dori (and you few bored souls who stop by here occasionally), if I haven't posted any updates recently, please call me on it. Dori recently participated in the National Arthritis Foundation's annual Jingle Bell 5k Run/Walk (she talks about it here) and - even though I have no claim on any of her accomplishments - I have to say I'm awfully proud of her! Now maybe I can do something to make her proud of me.

Now, if you'll pardon me, I'm going to go take some ibuprofen for my aching back after shoveling snow earlier....

"The Winter Stalker"

I've always thought there was something a bit creepy about the whole "he sees you when you're sleeping" thing. Apparently, I'm not alone....

Unhappy kitty , part deux

I had to take her back to our veterinarian and have her ear rewrapped after it swelled back up and she kept leaking blood and serous fluid everywhere. The first bandage should have been in place long enough to do the trick, but not, apparently, on this pissed-off feline. If looks could kill, I would have been reduced to a puddle of protoplasm in the vet's office this morning. I am not her favorite person today!

Unhappy kitty

...had ear surgery this week. She's been unamused by the bandaging and the drain and having meds instilled into her ear canals twice a day. But she's also been more snuggly with Athos and myself, which is a plus. Normally she's very much Technogeek's cat and doesn't have a lot of use for the rest of us if he's around.

Sunday ramblings

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! We just had a small gathering, Athos, Technogeek and his significant other, Jezzi, and myself. We opted to have a somewhat eclectic feast and blended one of our favorite European cuisines with more traditional American fare and generally had a good time. Squidboy was in port for the holiday but was unable to come home; when we last spoke with him, he'd thought he would be joining the family of one of his buddies for the day.

I didn't post an update when it happened, but we had to put "Cancer Cat" to sleep not quite two weeks ago. Until today, weather and work schedules hadn't been amenable to getting her grave dug, but Athos went out and took care of that before lunch, and we buried her. I thought I was cried out. I was wrong. We've lost "furry family" before (too, too many times!), but her death hit me particularly hard, and I'm not entirely certain why that was. Maybe it's because she was the very last of the pets who moved halfway across the country with us back in the late '90s. Maybe it was because she and her sweet little "twin from another mother" (who we lost last July 5th) almost always slept with me, usually on my pillow. Maybe it was because she had such a distinct personality. Whatever it was, she was unusually smart for a cat (my veterinarian will confirm that!) and beautiful and loving and I miss her terribly....

Christmas is less than a month away, and I have no clue what to get people! Oh, I have vague ideas for a few, but for most of the folks on my list . . . nada. Worse yet, I absolutely hate shopping in crowds. And I have lots of holiday baking to do. The next few weeks aren't going to be much fun....

On a final note, Mule Breath has his "Sunday Funnies" feature up again. Well worth the visit, especially if you enjoy seeing the TSA lampooned. One of my favorites:

More TSA abuses

Popehat has yet another good one up, The TSA’s Junk Gets Fluffed. Go read if you care about what the TSA is doing to the traveling public. Personally, I refuse to fly until the goons are restrained.

I probably shouldn't post this....

...and give Techgeek any ideas, but it's too good to pass up!

This douchebaggery needs to STOP

I was going to start off with something about normally defending the right to free speech, but this kind of behavior is completely indefensible. From station KTUL in Oklahoma:

Funeral Protesters Now Targeting Oklahoma Children's Funerals

Protesters from a Kansas church who have gained attention through picketing at the funerals of fallen military servicemen are now turning their attention to protesting at the funerals of children to retaliate for their tires being slashed at a McAlester serviceman's funeral last week.

You can find the rest of the article here. Their spiteful behavior towards fallen heroes is disgusting enough, but they're really scraping the bottom of the pond now. One of these days these assholes are going to do this to the wrong family, and someone's going to get hurt - badly. I can only hope it's one of the adult WBC scumbags that it happens to.

Folks, if these hate-mongers are going to be protesting in your area, show up and help keep them as far from the grieving family and the funeral sites as possible. If they show up in your business, refuse them service and request that they leave. According to freelawanswer.com:

Legally, . . . you can absolutely refuse service to anyone you want, for any reason you want. Just put a sign on the door to that effect. You know, like "Managment retains the right to refuse service to anyone for any damned reason they pull out of their ***."

...so long as you are not discriminating in violation of the law. (There's also a discussion of the topic on the boards at straightdope.com specifically regarding businesses and the WBCers.) Raise your voice: Let your state lawmakers know that protesting at funerals is unacceptable and that the law needs to be changed to reflect this now. Do whatever you legally can to make life as difficult for these people as possible while they are off their home turf. Heck, have them arrested for trespassing where possible - anything to let them know that their message of hate is not welcome in your community!

Really cool engineering

I hadn't seen one of these before. AMAZING technology! I'd love to have one, could we afford it - our current dinner table is too big for just Athos and myself, but if we have three or more extra bodies for dinner, it's too small, and we need something more like this! The manufacturer's website is here.

Also pretty cool:

"I have evolved thumbs..."

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

We have two "mitten kittens", and this cat looks an awful lot like one of them. But it's his brother who's learned how to actually use the thumbs to advantage. The other cats come to get him to open doors that they can't. We've often commented that it's a good thing his thumbs aren't truly opposable, otherwise he'd take over the world....

And speaking of egotism

Alvin Greene, one of the country's . . . ah, 'most unexpected' political candidates, is back in the news - and in court for showing pornography to a college student. He threatened to sue an area newspaper if they reported on the legal proceedings. (Sorry, dude, but criminal cases tend to be a matter of public record, and therefore fair game for newspapers.) For some reason, he seems to think he's a viable candidate:

“I’m the next president,” Greene said. “I’ll be 35 … just before November, so I was born to be president. I’m the man. I’m the man. I’m the man. Greene’s the man. I’m the man. I’m the greatest person ever. I was born to be president. I’m the man, I’m the greatest individual ever.”

"[T]he greatest individual ever"? Um, no. Seriously, can you really be comparing yourself to people like Mohandas Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Jonas Salk, William Shakespeare, Jesus of Nazareth, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, Saladin, Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Siddhartha Gautama, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and JFK?

And then there's former boxer and notable humanitarian Muhammad Ali: "The Greatest" is still his title.

Food for thought

Erin from Our Little Chatterboxes posts details of her recent encounter with the TSA, one which apparently meets the legal specifications for a sexual assault. I wish her luck in her search for justice. She says:

I will leave you with this thought: “It is acceptable and encouraged that a TSA government official can do something to an American citizen that US military personnel cannot do to a member of the Taliban.”

Think about it.

Think air travel security has been bad? It gets worse!

Johnny Edge has a post up about his recent encounter with TSA officials. Anyone who travels by air, or may be considering traveling by air - or anyone who gives a damn about the fact that our civil liberties are being eroded - ought to read it. It begins:

This morning, I tried to fly out of San Diego International Airport but was refused by the TSA. I had been somewhat prepared for this eventuality. I have been reading about the millimeter wave and backscatter x-ray machines and the possible harm to health as well as the vivid pictures they create of people's naked bodies. Not wanting to go through them, I had done my research on the TSA's website prior to traveling to see if SAN had them. From all indications, they did not. When I arrived at the security line, I found that the TSA's website was out of date. SAN does in fact utilize backscatter x-ray machines.

Having been denied use of the available metal detector, the writer declines both a groping and the nude-image backscatter scanner and is (eventually) escorted out of the security area, only to discover:

He informed me that I could not leave the airport. He said that once I start the screening in the secure area, I could not leave until it was completed. Having left the area, he stated, I would be subject to a civil suit and a $10,000 fine.

It gets better. The writer had checked the airport's website to see what screening procedures to which he might be subject:

I told him that I would submit to a walk through the metal detector, but that was it; I would not be groped. He told me that their procedures are on their website, and therefore, I was fully informed before I entered the airport; I had implicitly agreed to whatever screening they deemed appropriate. I told him that San Diego was not listed on the TSA's website as an airport using Advanced Imaging Technology, and I believed that I would only be subject to the metal detector. He replied that he was not a webmaster, and I asked then why he was referring me to the TSA's website if he didn't know anything about it.

There's audio confirmation for most of what the writer relates (the video's not good because the cell phone was out of his immediate control for a good portion of the encounter), although I imagine that after this goes viral the TSA will require proof that all recording devices are turned off before a person is allowed to enter the screening area. After all, it's easier for bullies to deny what they're doing when they can prevent evidence to the contrary coming to light.

So will I be flying commercial while the virtual strip-searches and gropes continue? Not unless hell freezes over.

Bestest friends

Veteran's Day

To all of our military members, past, present, and future:

Thank you and God bless you.

Saying goodbye

It's tough saying goodbye to a friend with whom you've lived, cuddled, shared tuna sandwiches and homemade cheddar cheese soup, and battled over possession of the softest pillow for 15 years.

No, I'm not talking about my husband.

Our oldest cat, the diabetic to whom we've been giving twice a day insulin injections for over 4 years, has been battling cancer for the last few months. How long she's actually had it, we're not sure; we only found out about it in late August, when she had to have some dental work done and our vet sent a sample of suspicious-looking tissue from her upper jaw to the lab. We've tried to keep her as happy and pain-free as we can, but now the tumor is interfering with her ability to breathe, eat and drink, and our vet agrees that it's almost time to let her rest. With the help of some heavy-duty pain medication, we're hoping to get her through the weekend as comfortably as we can.

She frequently used to sleep on my pillow, wrapped around my head and using me as her pillow, her purr lulling me to sleep as she contentedly drooled into my hair. Over a month ago, she stopped doing that and won't stay on the pillow if I place her there. Now she either sleeps near my feet, or somewhere off the bed entirely. I miss having her close while I drift off; even the raspy snore she'd developed was comforting (if not exactly sleep-inducing), in that I knew she was still alive and breathing.

We've all been watching her closely for the last few weeks as the tumor has continued to expand in both her nasal passages and her mouth. Her breathing's become quieter as she's shifted from breathing through her nose to her mouth, and when she's sound asleep, she doesn't rouse as easily as she once did, so we find ourselves checking to make sure she's still with us.

I do find myself half hoping that maybe she'll just peacefully drift off to sleep and . . . away, so that I don't have to make the decision again. I've had to make it too many times over the years, for too many pets. I hate having to say yes, it's time to put my little friend to sleep, I die inside a little myself every time I have to say the words, but I know it's the last act of kindness I can do for them, when there are no other options left, no other way to ease their pain or prevent them from suffering.

It's hard, saying final goodbyes and holding them as they cease to breathe, as their hearts slow and stop. But harder still is finding them when they're cold and lifeless, knowing that I wasn't there with them in their final moments.

The time is coming soon to part ways until we rejoin at the Rainbow Bridge. But not today. Not today....

Ghost deer?

A friend who lives "up nort' " sent me the link to a WPT video on white deer. I've been trying to figure out how to get the video to embed, but haven't been having any luck, so you'll just have to go here to see it.

Beautiful creatures!

Oh, and if you see one? Don't shoot it, they're protected by law.

Quote for the Day

"Isn't it amazing that the vast majority of American politics can be fully described with YouTube clips from Blazing Saddles and Monty Python?"

-- Badtux the Thought-food Penguin

'Nice' vs. 'decent'

I finally found author Steve Dublanica's blog Waiter Rant, and he has a good post up on the difference between nice and decent, and what we're teaching our children by example. An excerpt:

Nice is overrated. Nice is very often a lie. We’ve all been stabbed in the back, exploited, and robbed by people who look “nice.” Con artists are often “nice.” Nice is easy.Decency is hard. Over the years I’ve run into people who weren’t exactly nice but were decent. Even though they appeared unpleasant at first they would do the right thing, very often at expense to themselves. Nice and decent are light years apart. Nice is just smiling and showing a minimum of social graces. Sure it helps make life go a bit smoother, but decency would do far, far more.

My therapist once apologized for maybe not being nice enough on occasion. I told him to save the nice for outside of his office; inside, I expected honesty. (Painful though it sometimes is.) I'll take decent or honest over nice any day....

Attention campaign coordinators

If you defeat my telemarketer trap, that pretty much guarantees I won't be voting for your candidate even if I initially liked them, it's on there because I'M NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR FUCKING POLITICAL CALLS as much as it is to stop the telemarketers! There are other candidates available (maybe in your party, maybe not - that's for me to know and you to sweat) from whom I can choose. Your particular candidate, however, is shit out of luck so far as my vote is concerned. And I DO vote. Every damn time there's an election. I think I've missed only two or three since I turned 18 and registered for the first time. I may be only one voter, but I'm betting there are more like me out there than you know.

So, fellow voters, why don't we start a movement to allow us to opt-out of political calls the way we can telemarketer calls?!? Campaign signs and billboards, along with our mailboxes, TVs, radios, newspapers, and magazines allow politicians plenty of opportunity to get their message to us without rudely pulling us away from whatever we're doing, be it cooking dinner, using the bathroom, taking care of our children, etc. It's not so much thwarting their right of free speech as it is of enforcing a little common courtesy.