Posts

Showing posts from November, 2008

Children...

Those of you that had children in their early years can relate. You know when you're on the phone for a long or serious conversation and your kid is quiet and behaving when you start the conversation then they go batshit when you get on the phone? Yeah, my cat does the same thing. She was sleeping all curled up and cute by her scratching post when I called Doona tonight. Five minutes into our conversation, she was on the dining room table. I couldn't yell at her because I was on the phone so I squirted her with the water bottle. A few minutes later, she was on the counter and there was another round of silent squirting. Really, who wants to admit that their kid's a demon? I know I don't. After many rounds of angry but silent faces and squirting, George finally gave up and fell asleep on one of the dining room chairs. That's when I confessed to Doona what a bad girl George had been for most of the time we were talking. George looked like a little angel while s

Thanksgiving

The burning question seems to be whether we kept Shorty out of the kitchen on Thanksgiving. The answer is no. But, we tried. Steven and my Mom had things well in hand when I got there around 1. I only needed to do one quick trip to the store for pineapple and green beans so they did a good job at shopping, too. The turkey was in the oven, the sweet potatoes ready to put in the oven and the white potatoes were peeled, cut and ready to cook. Steven and I were snapping the green beans when I declared, "I'm thirsty". That's Shorty's cue to make me a holiday cocktail. To do that, he had to go through the kitchen and Steven yelled at him to get out. I told Steven we needed to give him a cocktail pass so he could make his own drinks (and mine). After he made my first Diet Coke and Brandy which must have had nearly 1/2 ounce of Diet Coke, I decided to make my own drinks and his. The guests arrived. Lots of family, friends from Wisconsin and The Rocket Scientist an

Book Review - Executive Privilege

Image
Executive Privilege by Phillip Margolin My review rating: 3 of 5 stars Margolin does a good whodunit and Executive Privilege is no exception. It's just not Gone, But Not Forgotten which is the first Margolin I read and the best. The story tracks three different people (an FBI Agent, a PI and a lawyer) involved in investigating serial murders of young girls. All paths lead to the killer being in the White House. I did guess the ending about half way through but it was still an interesting read to see how the story got there. View all my reviews.

Book Review - Are You There Vodka?

Image
Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler My review rating: 3 of 5 stars I've had no previous exposure to Chelsea Handler's comedy act or shows. I picked this to read only based on a review I read. This was an amusing collection of real life tales. Some are more fantastic than others so I suspect a little of my modus operandi, "never let the truth get in the way of a good story". View all my reviews.

Book Review - Special Topics in Calamity Physics

Image
Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl My review rating: 4 of 5 stars My friend Stacey loaned me this book after raving about it and telling me she thought I would really enjoy it. I approached it with skepticism since I can't trust her judgment since she said Kushiel's Dart was fantastic and I couldn't get past the first 50 pages. I have to give props to her intuition on this one, though. The story revolves around Blue Van Meer and the events of her Senior year in high school. Traumatic events as she discovers a favorite teacher hung in the woods. That's not a spoiler, btw. Raised by a nomadic, academic Dad, Blue is incredibly well read and versed in culture. So much so that she relates to everything that happens as a reference to a book, film and other publications. Told from the first person, Blue provides splendid description with literary references - footnote like entries that further flesh out the story. At 500 pages long, this isn't a quick re

My Christmas Season Has Officially Started

Everyone has different markers for when it becomes the Christmas Season. For some, it's Black Friday when they start serious shopping. For Shorty and his siblings, it's when the tree gets put up. I think a few of them did that two weeks ago. They are not well people. For the stores, it seems to be the Fourth of July. Or, maybe that's just my cynical view. My season starts when I pull out the Christmas tunes. Last night, I loaded my shuffle with the Christmas playlist and am tuned into White Christmas by Bing Crosby as I'm typing this. Happy Holidays!

Outside The Norm, As Usual

I check out the Nielsen ratings every once in a while to see if any of my favorite shows are there. They hardly ever are. Here's last week's results: Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Nov. 17-23. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation. 1. (2) "Dancing With The Stars," ABC, 19.63 million viewers. 2. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 18.45 million viewers. 3. (3) "NCIS," CBS, 18 million viewers. 4. (6) "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 17.59 million viewers. 5. (7) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 16.33 million viewers. 6. (4) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 15.91 million viewers. 7. (7) "The Mentalist," CBS, 15.84 million viewers. 8. (11) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 15.46 million viewers. 9. (11) "Two And a Half Men," CBS,

I'm Not Completely Helpless

Ya know, pre -The Rocket Scientist, I actually managed to get around on my own. I roamed all over the place just like I do now with him. Successfully, I might add. This past weekend, he was not available to be my driver. Yet, I was able to drive to and from poker on Friday and to and from Tucson on Sunday. Based on the many comments I got, this was apparently quite surprising to a lot of people. "You drove yourself?" "You didn't get a ride with someone?" "Where's your boyfriend?" (A quickly corrected assumption.) Even TRS commented on it. I quote: "Your drove! Wow! I thought you would have hitched a ride with somebody." The typo is his. Geez. I'm starting to get a complex. It's bad enough that everyone looks past me to see if TRS is with me because they like him so much; now they think I'm incapable of going anywhere at all without him. (Or my backup driver, Steven.) It's almost enough to make me dump him as m

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

George's front claws have gotten razor sharp again. I know because she delights in swatting at my legs, hands and arms and they actually catch in my skin. After getting stuck one time too many tonight, I decided it was time to trim them. Oy vey . One would think I was torturing her. I know she tortures me while I'm doing it. She bites and scratches and blocks one paw with the other. It's a struggle. I've tried wrapping her in a towel to do it. Yeah, that doesn't work at all. The whole time, I speak soothingly and tell her that she should be very happy that her Mommy isn't paying the vet to yank her nails out to her knuckle. I don't think she appreciates it. What's my reward for getting it done? She's a maniac. She runs to the scratching post, uses the couch as her scratching post, jumps up on the couch into my face, gets on her back legs and bats at me and generally is insane. The manic periods are broken up by glaring lectures (from afa

Constructive Criticism Just Isn't Appreciated

My parents are hosting Thanksgiving this year. They have for most years in the past and there are many family traditions associated with the event. Some of them we haven't had for a while: my Mom clogging up the garbage disposal (an activity that Shorty took over for a few times), the burning of the forgotten rolls in the oven and Grandma yelling at us to turn off the TV. Some are still around: last minute trips to the grocery store, Steven and Shorty yelling at each other in the kitchen about cooking techniques and timing, the fight to get to sit at the kids' table and my battle to get there at the last possible minute to help with dinner but not get trapped there all day. Shorty decided this year (and he did it once before) to cook the turkey on Wednesday, carve it then reheat it on Thursday. Steven and I don't like the idea at all. The house lacks the turkey smell and I think the turkey dries out. Plus, it's fun to pull pieces off the carcass every time you wal

Too Funny!

Movie Reviews - The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man

Cheryl wanted to watch The Incredible Hulk last night while she was doing my hair. Cindy and I didn't object so they ordered it from On Demand for $4.99. I think they got ripped off. This was the Edward Norton version and, while it was better than the Eric Bana flick a while back, it wasn't all that entertaining. First, they went through the whole back story of Banner becoming The Hulk in very quick flashbacks. If you didn't know the story, you would have been lost. Second, there was no explanation of how Banner got around with no money or ID after he becomes The Hulk. He wakes up in another country (actually continent) then somehow makes it from Guatemala to the United States. How? Third, they somehow made everyone into cardboard characters. Despite having read a lot of the comic books, I didn't care about anyone in the story. There was no chemistry between Norton and Liv Tyler. I just pretty much found it boring and disappointing. When I got home from Cindy

Couldn't Resist

Image
I got this from El Capitan .

Book Review - Rules of Deception

Image
Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich My review rating: 3 of 5 stars This was a good fish out of water spy story. The main character loses his wife in a mountain climbing incident then finds two claim checks for packages intended for her. Collecting the packages leads him into a major intrigue involving Iran, Israel and the U.S. and exposes him to his wife's "other" life. Perhaps too many characters but an interesting plot with the requisite spy, double agent, traitorous leaders, etc. that you find in spy novels. View all my reviews.

My Department Rocks!

I don't think I've written about our corporate Challenge Cup competitions since were humiliated in softball by Print Manufacturing. Ouch, that still hurts. Since then, we won the trophy back from MFG via a Gameworks Pentathlon, defended it in a bowling match against Distribution and today we were back at Gameworks to battle Finance/Accounting. We've been busy. They picked the events: Pop-A-Shot Basketball, Football Throw, SkeeBall , Deal or No Deal and Motorcyle Racing. Gameworks is currently undergoing a complete renovation to all Sega games so some of our options weren't available when we got there today. We swapped out Football for the 3 Point Basketball and Motorcyle for Daytona 500 Car Racing. The plan was to play 4 people from each team in match play to an eventual champion. First place was 5 points, second was 3 and third was 1. Deal or No Deal was the exception as it was all based on who got the most tickets for one game. The only event that they sc

Book Review - Love the One You're With

Image
Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin My review rating: 3 of 5 stars This was a nice chick-lit book. Ellen, the main character is happily married to her best friend's brother and he's close to perfect. Suddenly, she runs into her old boyfriend. The one that she had a passionate, all consuming relationship with that ended with a broken heart. They start talking and things lead to...well, read the book to find out. While I didn't always approve of some of Ellen's actions, I appreciated her dilemma. What would you do if the one who got away came back? I've sometimes pondered that thought. There are some that I hope to high heaven never darken my doorstop again but there are a few that I think I would be OK seeing again. Actually, I would consider dating again. OK, maybe only one. View all my reviews.

Enough Civic Duty For A While

One of our programmers got called for jury duty last month. He ended up being out of work for a week for the trial. Earlier this month, one of our project managers got called for jury duty and was out for two days. Unfortunately, it was immediately after her vacation so she was out nearly two weeks in all. It was my turn this week. I got called to appear at Superior Court in Mesa. I called in at 4:30 on Tuesday afternoon to see if I needed to appear on Wednesday. I was instructed to listen to the whole message so, of course, I did. It listed out three groups as needing to call on Wednesday at 10:30 AM to what time they needed to appear. Then, it listed out a bunch of groups that were dismissed. Of course, I was in the first set of groups. I went into work yesterday and tried to get a lot of stuff done before I called. My boss was IMing me at 10:31 to see if I had to leave. We're in the middle of doing the 2009 budget, I have a software release that was scheduled for that day and I

Movie Review - Quantum Of Solace

My first response to the movie - "Huh?" Wow, what a not well written plot that was. Kind of like the sentence I just wrote. The Rocket Scientist is a big Bond fan and has read the books. He liked the film but said it was a setup movie to introduce the group of bad guys and show Bond's progression towards becoming "Bond". I would have been content to wait for it to hit HBO.

Nocturnal Activities

I know George is up and about during the wee hours of the morning. Usually, if I wake up in the night she's on the bed or the dresser so I didn't think she was all that active. I learned differently last night. I didn't sleep well so I was awake on and off. More on than off. Perhaps that affected George's sleeping pattern, too. All I know is that she played with her basket of toys, dumped over the bathroom garbage again (cotton swabs - the new kitty toy!), chewed on her feather on a stick and rummaged through my makeup basket to pull out the new eyeliner again. The latter is most interesting to me as I bought four new ones but she only goes after one of them. It's the silver glitter one so The Rocket Scientist surmised she's all about the bling . Just like her Mommy. All total, I'm guessing she roamed about the house for five or six hours while I attempted to sleep. I know she snoozes a lot during the day because, if I come home for some reason, I ca

I'm So Naive

I actually believe people when they say they are going to play nice and then I'm disappointed when that doesn't happen. I should know better with some people by now but I guess I don't. What can I say? My cat even pulls things over on me so people can have a field day. The latest George antic? I don't know why I thought she wasn't on every surface in the house since I can't keep her off the table and the counter. But, I thought the bathroom counter was safe from kitty trips. Not so. The other night, I went on a shopping spree at Ulta and hadn't put away all of my purchases before going to bed. When I got up in the morning, my new mascara was in the sink and one of my eyeliner pencils was on the floor. Fortunately, unchewed upon. I'm sure George would say it's all my fault. Just like the people who disappoint me - it's my problem, not anything they do. In George's case, she would say (if she spoke) that if I would only get up and p

Oddly Not Satisfying

Steven's and my football team whupped the pants off The Rocket Scientist's team, 98.62 to 41.52. I thought I would be really happy about that but I'm actually not that excited. Could be because it wasn't even close. His team had a really bad week. My bench QB could have beat his team on his own. Now, if I'd started only Cassel and we won, I would be excited because TRS was such a smarty pants about it all. Man, that would have been obnoxious to win that way. But, cool at the same time. Oh well. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Moving on to the present, we need to decide whether to start Favre against the Titans or Cassel against the Dolphins. I'm off to study stats...

Three In A Row!

I had to leave for chick poker before the race was over. I listened to it in the car but I missed a bit. It was being recorded at home but I asked Morgan to put the race on when I got to their house. Perfect timing - it was on the last lap and I got to see that Jimmie won his third consecutive championship. I was good with that so we turned it off. When I got home tonight, I watched all that I'd missed. It was sweet seeing Jimmie win and I have to give props to Carl Edwards as he did everything he could do to win. He won the race and led the most laps. You can't do anything more than that. Jimmie and Chad just didn't make any mistakes. What an awesome Chase run. I can't wait for next year!

So Nervous...

The final race of the season started and I'm a wreck already! Jimmie started 30 th and he said he was going to take it slow to get up to the front. He's not so I hope he's very careful as he moves up. Carl Edwards is the only guy who can beat Jimmie and he's up in the front already as he started fourth. I know it's not at all sporting but I would feel a lot better if Carl cut a tire and went down a lap right away.

Pig Night

Image
I got out of work around 3 on Friday to head over to our CEO's house and keep Sugar Daddy busy as he built up coals for our fire pit. He had to put wood in every 20 minutes. I actually helped while drinking my beers. Saturday's night dinner was sitting out on the counter, wrapped up and waiting for the butcher. There were also three huge packs of beef that we were cooking, too. The nice thing about having warehouses is you can get plenty of wood pallets to burn. We went through this stack, the small one behind it and most of the stack in the back. The flames got incredibly high and hot right after we put the wood in. It would cool off just in time to add more fuel. They actually have a brick fire pit dug out in their backyard. We've cooked the meat for the holiday party for as long as I can remember. Stinson worked on cilantro and I chopped carrots and onions. We cooked the meat with a bunch of spices, tomatoes, yams, cilantro, carrots, onions and apples. I gave Sugar Dad

The Story Behind The Puppies

Mike sent me this link with the back story of the puppy cam

Baby Time!

Andrea, Sugar Daddy and I went to lunch with our friend Maria and her baby. He's not so much a baby anymore because he turns 1 next week. He's the biggest kid I've ever seen. How big is he? His wrists look like cankles and his cheeks are almost as big as mine. He's adorable, though. We kept him somewhat entertained with giving him his lunch and him dropping things for me to pick up but the adult talk finally got to him and he got bored. Maria took him out of his high chair but he wasn't content to sit on her lap. He's not quite walking (he actually scoots on his butt to get around) but he will walk if he can hold on to your fingers. I took him for a walk around the restaurant and we stopped at a table of ladies who thought he was cute. He'd actually been watching them while they were eating so he was quite willing to say hi. Quite the flirt there. We walked until he was done - I interpreted his sitting down on the floor mid-stride as being done. I

Busy Butterfly

I have to miss boy poker tonight. I'm going to be at our CEO's house helping with cooking a pig and other meats for tomorrow's holiday party. Yes, we do our holiday party in November with the thought that people are less busy and therefore more likely to attend. I won't be going to the party, though, because we have a club event tomorrow night at the same time. I tried to talk my driver into making a stop at the party first for dinner but the thought of having to talk to my co-workers did not appeal at all. I want to go to the club event tomorrow because I'm missing the one on Sunday for chick poker. And, I want to watch Jimmie win the Championship. I need more hours in the day and more days in the week to meet all of my social obligations.

I Still Hate Football

Our fantasy team just can't get worse. Our two first picks are injured (Brady and Bush), our opponents seem to have especially productive games against us and we are overthinking our starting lineup. Last week, we lost by two points to Mary who had three open positions in her lineup. That was humiliating. But, we could have won if we'd started Hines Ward. We didn't because he was hurt and so was Big Ben so we thought he wouldn't get a lot of points. He did, we lost and we're bitter. This week, we're playing against The Rocket Scientist. I was torn because we're out of the running but he's not. So, while I always want to win, I don't necessarily want to hurt his chances. We started our best lineup and left it up the cruel, cruel football gods. TRS and I went to the Vine last night to watch the game. I was explaining my ambivalent feelings to him when he said, "Yeah, I almost benched three players to make sure I beat you this week."

Time Waster

I could watch this for hours. Update: Well, crap, the link is no good anymore. It was a web cam showing 6 puppies playing. They were are adorable with their fighting and biting and basic cuteness. Further Update: It works if they have the camera on and they're streaming. I just checked and four of the puppies are sleeping and the other two are gnawing on each other. That's pretty much what George does to me...maybe she is part dog.

New Biggest Loser Contest

My Biggest Loser team decided to carry on with our monthly bets even though the official contest was over. We all weighed in last Thursday but there was a slight problem. None of us could remember what our last official weight was so we were all guessing. I actually had mine right but we had to wait for our Kronos Rep to email the numbers to us. In the meantime, Dave was convinced that he lost 1.5 pounds and that he was the monthly winner. I suspected I gained one pound and Sugar Daddy thought he was flat. He ended up losing one pound. T was sure he lost something but he didn't know how much. Turns out, he lost four pounds so he was the winner of the month. I did gain one pound but, considering I stopped working out and went to Vegas and Key West in that month, I was OK with that. I've since lost that pesky pound. Dave? He actually gained three pounds. We can't decided if he's a liar or if he's delusional since he was adamant about his alleged loss. And

New Game

George and I are playing fetch. Now, my regular readers who know that George is a demon may think that I'm the one who's fetching. Not true. I found one of her crackle balls under the chair (along with a mouse and three water bottle caps) and tossed it for her. She's been continuously running after it then bringing it back to me. She's either dropping it at my feet or next to me on the couch and looking at me with a "toss it again" demand. I think my cat is turning into a dog.

Almost Perfect Weather...

This is the best time of year for living in the Phoenix area. The day temperatures are around 80 and the nights are in the neighborhood of 60. You can run around all day in shorts but the nights are cool enough to throw the doors open and enjoy the fresh air. I actually wish it were just a tad colder. I can't wait to have my first fire of the season but it's still a little too warm. I love coming home from work and throwing on a 3 hour log and watching the pretty flames. Seems quite romantic but not so much when you're all alone. Not that I'm completely alone now. It's going to be interesting to see if George can make, and retain, the mental connection between hot fire and the fireplace. I cleaned ashy paw prints up this weekend again so she hasn't heeded the "Mommy doesn't want you in the fireplace" message. Oh, and the biggest reason why this is the best time of the year here? All your friends in the cold climes start be- yatching abo

Thank The Sporting Gods for NASCAR

I hate football. My Packers lost today. My fantasy team is down 12 points...to a team that was short three players! Man, that is the depth of suckitude . I did miss only one game so far in Pick 'Em (so far). But, that one game was Green Bay so it makes me very sad. But, I had a great afternoon because Jimmie Johnson won today! The 48 team totally rocked. Jimmie won the pole, led the most laps in the race and won. The only driver left with a chance to win the Championship is Carl Edwards as everyone else has been mathematically eliminated. Jimmie needs to finish 36 th or higher next week and it's all over. Can you say three-peat? (BTW, I hope Pat Reilly doesn't read this because I think he's trademarked that word.) It will be awesome to have my driver win three championships in a row, especially since I get so much flack for supporting him. If I had a dollar for every time someone told me he wasn't that good...I could probably cover my mortgage for a month.

BevMo! Rocks!

BevMo ! is having one of their 5 Cent wine sales. Buy one bottle, get a second of the same for only a nickel. I love that sale! We went there last night and I got 16 bottles of wine, a gift bag and bottle of booze for our holiday party joke contest and a 12 pack of Rocket Scientist beer (Sam Adams; apparently winter is for domestics, summer for imports). My total was only $128. That is incredible, especially since I selected some very nice wines in there. I waited until nearly the last day on their last sale thinking I might actually have the willpower to not load up on wine. Who was I trying to kid? By the time I got there, there was only one Riesling choice left. This time, there were several and I loaded up. I also picked up some sparkling and a few other whites. The darkest I got was a Rose which is not really very dark. I should be set for several months. Yay .

Book Review - The Drunkard's Walk

Image
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow My review rating: 2 of 5 stars This book too me FOREVER to get through. I was expecting more of a sociology tome and instead got a math lesson. Math, ugh. I don't do math. If you're into the history of math, statistical theory, etc., this would be interesting for you to read. Me? If I don't hear or read the name Bernoulli for a year, I'll be happy. View all my reviews.

Tales From Key West - The Street Festival

Image
My favorite event at Meeting Of The Minds is the Street Festival on Friday afternoon. Dawnie and her gang are usually the ones who stake out our primo spot just a bit away from the stage but this year Rick and Julie did it for us. Rick also packed a cooler with some beers for us so we weren't hostage to Margaritaville's Landshark only beer sales. Nice cooler! Dawnie and Pam with BEER! The show started with Tropical Soul out of Pennsylvania. They are very fun and their fans always give us Beer signs to hold up during one of their songs. TC Mitchell usually joins the band and it's a great start to the afternoon. Tropical Soul. There's one in every crowd...and I find them (or do they find me?). Naughty Nuns work their way up to us. TC with Boat Drunks. Next up was The Boat Drunks out of Illinois. I've seen them lots of times now and they do a good job of keeping the party going. One of their members retired earlier this year (we call him White Pants) and he made

Book Review - The Glass Castle

Image
The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls My review rating: 5 of 5 stars A guy at work loaned me this book a while back but I didn't get to it. I finally had to read it when it was chosen for our book club this month. Wow! I wish I hadn't waited. This book is truly jaw-dropping amazing. It's a true story which makes it all the more incredible. The story is of Jeannette Walls' life growing up with an alcoholic Father and what must be a mentally ill Mother. There's just no other explanation for the woman's behavior. Walls and her siblings lived, and survived, a childhood of unbelievable poverty and instability. What's especially incredible is that 3 out of the 4 kids who lived to adulthood actually are responsible, successful adults. View all my reviews.

Book Review - Cold Day In Hell

Image
Cold Day in Hell: A Novel by Richard Hawke My review rating: 3 of 5 stars I think I found this book by browsing through my "read" list, seeing this author and wondering if he had another book. A quick search and, voila, he did. Good mystery book about a late-night TV show host accused of serial killing. While the guy's on trial (and locked up), two more people are killed in the same gruesome way. Is he innocent or is there a copycat? Good characters, interesting plot turns and a not very obvious (which is how I like it) ending. I read most of this on planes and airports going to Florida and it was very good at keeping me occupied. View all my reviews.

I'm Alive!

I finally feel like I'm back in the world of the living. It's taken a lot of sleep to get there. Election night was a bummer. I really wanted to stay up and hear McCain's concession speech but I didn't make it past 8:30. Last night, I was out before 9 and slept pretty soundly until 7:30 this morning. I found out this morning that I missed a text message at 9:15 and the phone was right next to my bed so that was a quick, deep sleep. I say "pretty" soundly, though, because every time I moved, George came running to see if I was ready to play. I had to play dead or push her away before she would give up on the idea. She did manage to amuse herself while I was comatose by bringing toys into the bed and shredding toilet paper.

Little Plane Pictures

Image
Loading the luggage. One passenger gets to sit in the co-pilot's seat. Bye to Key West airport! A view of Key West. Coming in to land at Ft. Myers.

Travelling With Celebrities

I had three legs on my trip to Key West. Phoenix to Atlanta, Atlanta to Ft. Myers then Ft. Myers to Key West. The first two were on Delta and on big planes. The last one was on Cape Air and the plane was a 9 passenger prop. They ask your weight and manually weigh your carry-on stuff before you board. Kind of different. It's because they have to adjust the ballast based on passenger and baggage weight. When I checked in at Ft. Myers, the woman wrote my name down and put the various weights by it. I looked down and saw K. McGuire written down on her list. I asked, "Is that Kelly McGuire?" She pointed over to a guy sitting on the other side of the counter who was, indeed, Kelly McGuire. Kelly's a singer-songwriter out of Galveston and he's in my music links at the right. I plopped down next to him and we chatted about the upcoming week and his recent gig in Rocky Point with Mark Mulligan and crew. At one point, Dawnie called me and I was all casual, "

Sickness Abides

One memento from my trip that I wish I didn't have: the cold from hell. I'm miserable. So much so that I called in sick today. I could barely move when I got up at 7 because my body was sore, my head was completely foggy and my ears totally plugged. I read the paper then went back to bed until 11:30. Took a shower, caught up on email then went back to bed until 4:30. I finally have some energy but I doubt it will carry me past 8 tonight. I'm not the only one with a bug, though. Our friend Jim from Minnesota had the flu in Key West. He had a raging fever one day and was clammy for several more. He was dragging the rest of the week. Being a trooper, he tried to ride it out and medicated with some alcohol. He blames another passenger on his flight down. The Pirate Captain came down with a bad cold towards the end of our trip. Same symptoms as mine but he refused to take drugs. I've been taking them all day because I can't stand my ears being plugged up. So