Lucky 13

Tovah turns 13 today. She’s a pretty girl – no? I’ve loved all our cats, but she does have the bestest markings of any of the girls.

Like Kylie before her, we got her sight unseen. I came home on day one to find that she escaped from her dedicated space to see her on the stairs looking down at me.

Tovah is a variation of the Hebrew word for ‘good’ – which as a kitten was exactly what she was not.

Tovah wanted to be Kylie’s friend. Kylie would have nothing to do with it. Kylie and Tovah pretty much co-existed, but friends they were not. I would catch them snuggling when it was cold, but other than that led separate lives. Tovah is experiencing the same big sister thing now with Sophie.

Tovah is, or was, a talker. Full conversations could be had with her. Since we’ve gotten Sophie, she’s much quieter, but not seemingly mad at us for getting a little sister. Just peeved at Sophie and her constant attacks.

Tov is all about control. Born in a barn she didn’t have much human interaction those first formative weeks, so we rarely get to hold her and she isn’t a lap cat. She loves to sleep with us and likes to sleep ON my arm. This way she knows I’m there but she can control where the hand goes. Smart girl. She only comes on top of us while we are in bed so she can attempt to strangle us knead our necks. It’s some kind of soothing thing for her….and for us. I can fall asleep as she does it to me.

Unlike most cats, she isn’t about the food or treats. She LOVES water. Fresh water. Fill her water bowl and she comes running. She also fancies herself to be an outdoor cat – which she is not. She gets supervised outdoor time in good weather. All she really wants to do is chew on our ornamental grasses then come back in.

Tovah is a pretty happy cat. She has a great purr, and even when it is not in full volume, she likes to keep it on what I call a ‘maintenance rumble’. All the girls hold a special place in my heart, but Tovah will always be extra special to me. For her special day, we’ll give her some outdoor time. No special wet food this year – mostly due to the poisoning thing still going on. I’m not above giving her tuna water though.

…but we try to make every day a special one for Tovah. She does it for us.

The New Adventures of New Christine

…no, not the Julia Louis-Dreyfus show. It’s the tale of a Los Angeles Times sportswriter.

It’s a nice article.

It’s Keepin’ Me Way-ay-ay-ay-ting

Why is it that tooth pain is seemingly worse than other pain?

Denton and I were to take the kids to see ‘Suessical‘ today. I had forgotten and scheduled a dentist appointment months ago. With the new job, I didn’t feel I could take off in the middle of the day for a cleaning.

As I re-found out about “Suessical“, I wasn’t sure which would be the most uncomfortable: cleaning and possible filling replacement or adults singing in children’s voices in weird-ass rhyme. I’m calling it even.

So that the kids weren’t disappointed, I sent Denton alone. G-d, he is SO the better uncle. …and he didn’t go alone, my sister went too. He’ll be fine.

Back to my original question though. The filling I might have needed replaced, but they now didn’t have time to do, became necessary when while during the cleaning the filling actually broke! I almost swallowed it, but sat up in time.

So now I knew drilling would be the topper of the day, after they already jabbed pointy metal things into my enamel and under my gumline. I told them they better numb me to the roof.

I have only had novocaine once before…for my crown. All my other eight fillings were done without numbing. Hence my fear of the dentist. As I was led back to the ‘procedure room’, Dr. Dorothy asked what was it about the act I hated: the noise? the sound?

My immediate response was: “THE PAIN”. But in a split second I knew that was the wrong answer…and the answer to this original question. It was the anticipation of pain.

Often we go to doctors for treatment or just check-ups. Rarely do they cause pain. With a dentist, it’s almost a forgone conclusion. My dental history doesn’t help this situation.

The process was quick and really quite painless. The iPod barely helped with the noise. Dr. Dorothy likes to talk. So with her yammering away about things I might need to know about, the noise from the drill and the Smithereens playing in my ears, I eventually just powered down.

There’s no up-shot to this story.

I’m the kind of guy who goes to a doctor and they always find ’something else’. Go for an eye exam and they find some weird virus that now precludes me lasik surgery and wearing contacts again. Or the ruptured appendix where they find cancer. That kind of thing.

Today, it was just a receding gum that needs graphed or to lose the tooth in a few years. YEA!!!! Periodontist, here I come!!!

WORK is a 4-Letter Word

…or so says Morrissey.

I hesitate to crow about my job. Isn’t the blogosphere usually where people just gripe about work and co-workers?

I’m really liking my job, my co-workers, my clients and even my boss! Thank you jebus.

The travel is very tolerable. I’m learning some new things – including sales. Well kind of. Part of my job is to expand services to my existing clients. There is a certain amount of salemanship in this. I think I can expand services by almost 20% this year. I think.

David, my gay boss, and I get along really well. He’s loosening up somewhat…or maybe I am. Perhaps we both are. When we travel together, it goes well and there’s a lot to be said for that. But he’s from the newer boss school of asking if he’s providing everything I need to be successful. Unthinkable at my old place – even though that’s what they tauted should happen.

And speaking of my old workplace……

If there was any validation that I made the right choice in not going back, I received it yesterday and today. The old old department, who offered me a job, well…the boss is leaving. Yes, that could have left me in a prime position to take the Director role. She had to have been looking when we were negotiating my terms two months ago, but she would never cop to that with me. The reason I left there in the first place was not knowing the succession plan.

The kick in the balls though (actually there are two of them), was her telling people that I was ‘a fool for not taking the job – which would have him sitting pretty for my job’. FUCK YOU, honey. Naturally, she told people who she knew would relay this to me.

The reality is, she could have confided her plans to me. We had been ok in the area. But I wouldn’t want that job in its current state. The interesting pieces (not necessarily fun), the ones I ran, are being cherry-picked by other departments before she leaves. I would have been left with all the crappy pieces….the ones she couldn’t fix. (btw…that was the 2nd kick in the nuts.)

But had I just come back in another role, I don’t know that two months later there’d be a promotion to Director. And she couldn’t guarantee it either.

I made the right choice. On umpteen different levels.

Good Day, Mr. Giuliani

You have been served!

My soon-to-be 2nd husband had a great commentary on his show last night.

Go back and crawl in your hole until the Iowa caucuses, Rudy.

Like would-be Hubby Keith, I’m so tired of politics being run by fear. Bush has successfully done it since 2001. Rove & Co. have done this almost flawlessly (whether you agree with it or not). Rudy is now taking on their tactics. The GOP vortex is sucking him into the true axis of evil.

I’d like to think that people are on to this. If the voting public is, someone needs to alert Rudy’s strategists. No apology necessary Mr. Giuliani, because none will be accepted…..you fucking putz!

You can read or watch the commentary here. I suggest you watch it. The last two minutes, to me, make the entire thing.

As for my 1st and (so far) only husband – well, it’s his birfday today, so as a present, I won’t leave him just yet for Keith. It’s ok, he knows about my lust for Mr. Olbermann. Who doesn’t?

Canadian Tiffany

I will cop to watching and liking How I Met Your Mother (hey, don’t make fun, I mean, it’s not Medium). It can be funny and Doogie Howser can play the straight cad pretty well……well…for being a homo. And Willow is in it.

Though this YouTube won’t make a lot of sense if you hadn’t seen the episode, but I’ll try to set it up for you in about 50 words or less:

Robin, a character, refuses to go to a mall with her friends…and won’t say why. As it turns out she was a Canadian one-hit wonder back in the ’90s, who sang in malls. As her friends saw the video she made, they asked if it was the ’90s, why did the video look like the ’80s. Her response was, “the 80’s didn’t come to Canada until 1993″.

Seriously though – watch the video. The writers and creators of the show pretty much nail everything that was wrong with music (and video) in the late 80s. Personally, I love the reference to ‘Canada Day’ and all the regional dialect. The addition of ‘the robot’ is a really nice touch too.

..and if you couldn’t figure it oot (ha!), yes, I had nothing to really blog about today. Sue me.

Well, Fuck Me Gently With a Chainsaw

The other day week, Becky was lamenting on how girl cliques have started earlier and earlier in the life of a female. 5 year olds, to be specific. FIVE.

Though she was looking for support I had a hard time conjuring up a positive thing to say. Not because I didn’t want to, I love Becky and her daughter. I couldn’t because I’ve been watching in horrid fascination at my oldest niece, who turns 16 today, and what she has been going through since attending high school. Well….high schools!

I’ve written and deleted most of this post at least a half dozen times. The specifics of how she is treated and allowed to by the school is more than painful. Not only in a public school, but a private girls school – which is where things went from bad to worse. I don’t think I’m just saying this as an uncle either.

The most accurate thing I could think to say to Becca was that Mean Girls doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what it is like. If you must assign a movie to this kind of scene, it has to be much closer to Heathers. Even that might be too kind. At least they had corn nuts.

The great thing is, my niece is extremely intelligent, has a great sense of humour and has developed somewhat of a tough skin. Her entire high school experience has to be shit – and that’s saying something.

She also has extremely supportive parents. Ones who are willing to do whatever is necessary to change the situation – including putting the house they just bought and have yet to move into back on the market, just so she can attend another school.  …and they let it be their daughter’s choice. She opted to go back to the public school because she did not want to be ‘the new kid’ again. Fair enough.

I see this as a positive in so many ways. First that she is making the decision and not her parents. More importantly, she can also use the mindset of leaving that school to navigate the next two months. She could, in theory, find something completely and utterly liberating: giving the school and student population the big FUCK YOU.

Can you imagine if we lived this way? I mean – really lived it?

The school is going to lose a high-ranking honor student and state level athlete. Clearly they don’t care. The kids haven’t allowed her to be part of the group and have been mercurial at best – but now she doesn’t have to try to foster those relationships.

She can go about her routine for HER and not give a fuck about what anyone thinks, says or does. She has the opportunity to give these wenches (and I’m being really nice here) the proverbial bird! And she can do it daily!!!

Not only that, I think she’ll go back to her old school with some of that attitude. Two more years of high school – sure. But she has a few friends there, not many. But now she has the thought process of – ‘who cares’, but in a healthier way – not a Heather Chandler kind of way.

Shopping with Blobby

Yet another installment in the drudgery that is everyday shopping. The camera-phone makes it a bit more fun – though I get looks whenever I take pics of products. Like I care what people think!

Within the last two months we have gotten ourselves a Fresh Market and a Whole Foods stores. I’d been to both in other cities and they seemed good on the surface – but I cannot say I spent any time in either of them, as I was picking up certain items and not shopping shopping. …if you know what I mean.

If I have to pick where I’m going to go, it’s going to be Fresh Market.

On the surface, Whole Foods seems to have it all. It’s bigger, it contains a lot more food and has set aisles like a traditional grocery store. ….and it has the blandest prepared foods I have ever eaten in my life.

Everything is pretty and expertly done. The staff is great. I’m sure I’ll shop there when I’m preparing a really nice meal and want some ingredients you can’t get most places. But for those meals they so beautifully prepare, they might want to spend some time adding flavour. This includes desserts – which I swear they stock in most every section of the store.

Fresh Market is much smaller, but has a great fresh meat and fish selection (just like Whole Foods), but it’s a lot more manageable to get in and out of. The desserts are decent, and whereas their prepared food section is much more limited, it’s pretty good.

The better thing about Whole Foods, at least in terms of this blog, is the wide selection of Shopping for Blobby segments I can get out of it. On my first trip, I already snapped the next 4-5 months of entries.

I should build up to my favourite, but I’m not going to. It’s right here.

$19.99 is a good price for Emu Eggs….don’t you think?

What the Hell? Is this to make the world’s biggest omelet or something?

I do love the sign though: ‘Locally Grown’.

1. Last I checked, eggs weren’t ‘grown’. But to be fair, I do not have a degree in animal husbandry.
2. Last I checked, emus weren’t indigenous to Cleveland Kenton. Being flightless birds, I know they didn’t flap their wings over the Pacific, land in California and make their way east. Maybe they were ‘grown’ here. They can run 50 kilometers per hour, so it might not have taken that long to wind up in Ohio.

I’ll have to check the prices on Skate Wing next time I’m at either of these places.

Virginia Tech

I have honestly been avoiding most media when it comes to the Virginia Tech shootings. When you’re traveling for work, it really isn’t that hard. Sure, during meetings you talk about it, but if you are not near a television or on-line, you are also not inundated with over the top reports of what happened and the what-if scenarios.

When I got back from my work travel, I still avoided whatever I could. I don’t think it is a hole-in-the-ground approach. I am not in denial.

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I will again: I blame the 24 hr news cycle. The overexposure is exhausting.

I’m amused by the media who lambastes NBC for broadcasting the video that the shooter had sent them. It’s just sour grapes on the other media’s part – isn’t it? NBC got the exclusive. All of the others, print included, would have reported it just as NBC did, had they gotten the package. They were all happy to do it afterward in hopes of boosting ratings or sales.

After watching the Sunday Morning Old People’s Show, I decided to visit the NRA site to see what they had to say. (click on image to enlarge.)

Exactly what facts will have to be known before they can comment? It was semi-automatic weapons with hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Even sold ‘legally’, there is no use for a weapon like this for public use. I’m not even convinced there is a need for it in military use….but that’s another debate.

While perusing some blogs over the week a few arguments struck me about gun-control. It is like cockroaches, in that we’ll never be able to get rid of them entirely at this point. A gun-owner blogger who didn’t belong to the NRA due to their ‘right leanings’ said there is no reason for any gun-owner not to have a license. It might be a tried and true expression, but I had never heard it – he said, ‘even people who cut hair are required to have a license’.

I don’t see how the NRA can sit there and seriously debate how killings like this should not change how we allow guns and owners. As someone else said, ‘now they can tell Charleton Heston they did pry the gun out of their dead cold hands.’

Beware Evil-Doers Everywhere!

“Guess who was on my flight?” asked my boss. I never have a quick enough response to questions like these. I immediately want to go with someone like ‘Charo’.

David was asking me this while I waited in the hotel lobby for him to arrive, as he flew to DC a day after I arrived. Later in the day when he’d do this same routine to others, he got responses in the form of Jerry Springer and Geraldo.

While those answers were odd and a tad bit scary – it didn’t compare to the real thing: Karl Rove!  ewwww.

I told David before he met me, he’d have to delouse or take a bath in Purell.

A number of questions popped into my mind:  why was in he in Cleveland?  Why was he flying commercial?  Why was he flying a air-express jet that holds only 80 folks – tops.

I couldn’t answer the first question – except to say he was probably up to some evil-doing.  What specifically, only the dark lords would know.  The other answers would be – I guess he doesn’t rate for a military jet, though one would wonder, why, since he actually runs the country.

But if you have to fly commercial from Cleveland to DC with a non-stop option, you only have one choice.  And with only 80 people (tops) on the flight, you have a smaller chance of someone trying to off you.

One person asked David how tall Rove was.  Surprisingly he is only about 5′8″.  Evil seems so much taller on television.  It’s the old Far Side comic where in a presentation to dogs, a slide is shown of a cat’s back going up to make the cat look bigger, and the dog instructor says ‘trickery trickery’.

If there was any redemption to this travel, on the flight home, we shared it with Sherrod Brown, our new Democratic senator.  While waiting for our luggage, David mentioned to Sen. Brown that Rove was on his trip to DC.   Amused, Brown asked why Rove was in Cleveland….as if David would know.

Sherrod also relayed a story on how he introduced his wife, Connie Schultz, a Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner, to Rove. Karl turned and asked them when she was planning on going back to the PD.  Brown then said to David, “he just knows way too much”.

…and no offense to Sherrod, but I didn’t need a U.S. Congressman to tell me that.