tv good, tv bad

There was a lovely scene in last night's CSI: panning from basement to casino floor we saw south east Asian immigrants doing laundry, Hispanics in the dish room, African Americans in the kitchen and whitey blowing his money on the slots.

On another show a mosquito figured, having bitten a victim and possibly a murderer. When they showed the mosquito up close though, it was clearly a male and of course was not at all swollen but slim and trim like all (non-blood-feeding) males.

Oh well, 50% ain't bad.

collectors

The morning news teaser story today was about a lady who had 40 cats and 20 or so dogs in her house. The cats were in carriers (several to a carrier) along with their food and feces. The SPCA or pound or whoever said that most of the animals were sick and would die.

Then the anchor said that folks who abuse animals in this manner are called collectors. It made me wonder exactly what makes them do what they do. I can barely stomach the amount of cat hair, poop and pee one cat makes, let alone 40. Do the people start out being lonely and then slowly degenerate to crazy?

excuse me

They're doing some god awful drilling somewhere above or near my office. The drill is squeaky. It sounds as though a large group of mice ate a boatload of bean burritos.

home despair

The GE gave me a present yesterday. It was a very sweet and thoughtful gift but it made me a little sad--it was a spinster gift! I live alone in a house I bought last November. I know how to fix a couple of things but mostly I'm clueless and lacking in a large number of tools, so when things break I can either ignore it, rig it up or pay someone to fix it for me. My gift was Dare to Repair, a book written by women for other women who don't a lot of know-how but want to fix their own stuff. I've already looked through it and changed the direction of some ceiling fans that were circulating in the wrong direction (counter-clockwise for hot weather) and am wondering if I'm really going to tackle the leaky kitchen sink.

The book is good--not as detailed as other home-fix-it tomes--it reminded me of Our Bodies, Ourselves for houses. Our Houses, Ourselves?

back in h-town

The university isn't officially open until Thursday, but we've opened the library today and tomorrow for the students who live on campus (and others who are willing to come here for their library needs). Nothing much happened here other than a lot of wind. Several branches were down in my yard but when I got home my lawn guy was already cleaning everything up. Thanks for all of the good thoughts!

freakin'

The next hurricane is on its way to the Texas coast. If you haven't checked your map or atlas lately, Houston is 30 or so miles inland. In terms of hurricanes, that isn't particularly far. Annika and I are making plans to skedaddle if we need to evacuate, and I'm figuring out where to stow things in the house just in case there's flooding, etc.

In other, slightly funnier news, I was on my way to the doctor this morning when I get held up in traffic. The museum district borders on the medical center and I was almost to the corner where I needed to turn....but I sat there through several lights. Finally I realized that an installation truck (read: semi) was blocking 1+ lanes of traffic. I turned off to go around and then slowed to let a lady cross the road. The jack*ss behind immediately leaned on his horn and earned himself a finger. My gosh, his appointment must've been much more important than mine, huh?

dusty treasure

The GE and I made the long, long trek to Pasadena yesterday to see his mom, stepdad and grandfather. GE's mom lives with Popo (grandpa) in his house and it's filled with old people stuff. For me, that translates into treasures and fun, so I came home with a few items to add to my household. My favorite is a tray painted with orange and yellow poppies that will match my bright yellow kitchen.

Now that I think about it, most of my knick knacks came from my grandparents and great-grandparents, so you could say that my house is also filled with old people stuff. I've had a ceramic cat my great grandma painted since I was a little kid, but the Chinese figurines are relatively new additions. I like having little reminders of my family around.

needed: cane and yappy little dog

Saw & heard ...and you will know them by the trail of dead last night. Except for a lot of unnecessary drink spillage and a guy who just kept spitting on the floor, I had a great time. I was in a good group of friends, the club was full but not packed, the bartender was nice (but didn't get free drinks, alas) and I enjoyed two of the three bands. It's fun to get out on a school night occasionally but boy am I paying for it today. It's official: I'm an old lady.

more stories about cats

I was looking at Mimi Smartypants' blog today and she links to a very lovely picture of a ham & cheese pita. Let me summarize the viewing experience by saying it looks very similar to a lady's naughty bits. This prompted me to say to Jane in a little kid's voice, "Mommy, what is that?" and reply "That's my ham pocket!"

when dinner is all i need

I had to go home early yesterday to rest my shaken bones, but I'm feeling in fine form today (after 9 hours of sleep, who wouldn't?). I was sorely missing the GE due to our bizzy schedules this week, so I scooped him up during his dinner break and took him to mission burritos for a fix. We were sitting there partially entwined and a guy walked past to a neighboring table. I'm not huge on pda so I was feeling a little embarrassed but the guy looked like seeing us was making him happy so I felt all warm and gooey for a second.

My cat was also feeling needy yesterday. I petted her and cuddled with her and played feather with her for a long time and when I left for dinner she was still cussing me out for leaving. When I got home she curled up next to me while I watched tv. I think our equilibrium is all back in order today because she only cussed me out until I gave her canned food. Cuddle fest 2005 is officially over.

crunch

In the lane to exit, screeching tires, frantic braking...but the girl behind didn't brake quite fast enough. There was minimal damage to our cars, though, so we made sure we were okay and continued on to school/work. Boy I love driving in H-town.

tres leches

My supe had us over for dinner last night and fed us mass amounts of chicken mole (not me), beans, rice, squash and salad. I had a decent first helping and a smaller plate of seconds. Then she brought out the tres leches. For those who haven't partaken before, this is a sinful dessert involving cake and all kinds of creamy milky goodness. She served us big, big portions. I ate it all. I groaned through the night and had dreams about cucarachas, but I'm not sure I learned my lesson.

truism

A boy can get a lot of mileage out of a nice bouquet of flowers, especially when they're orchids.

you know that thing

Last night I was watching A Very Long Engagement (part of the way through I started calling is A Very Long Movie). I knew I recognized the actor playing the uncle but couldn't figure out where I'd seen him before. Seemed pretty likely that it would have been in a French film but that didn't narrow it down much. Finally I realized he played several people in the City of Lost Children. Then I was able to relax and enjoy the movie. Really the only thing I didn't like about it was the fact that the Manech guy looked too much like Josh Hartnett. I'm a bit tired of those puppy dog actors. What I loved about the film was Jodie Foster. Really, the parts with her and the parts with the actress playing the hootchie girlfriend were the best.

My netflix queue is empty again, so please comment with movie sugg's if you have them.

anarchy in the usa

Last night I finally dragged my sorry butt out to volunteer with Food Not Bombs. A few of my pals run this particular arm of the group and they're anarchists so things are sort of free form. Let me tell you, it's invigorating to make food and tote it downtown and then serve it to people who otherwise wouldn't get a meal. Or if they did get a meal it would be lunchables because that's pretty much what the shelters are accepting right now. With FNB they get vegan or vegetarian food made with love. It was also much fun to pretend I was anti-establishment (pretend?) and hang with the anarchists for an evening. I highly recommend it--they meet up between 8 and 8:15pm M,W,F right in front of the Jesse Jones library downtown.

-->in answer to a comment by Mark, the only "real" news story that I can find about the military recruiting hurricane victims said that the Army posted their recruitment contact number at the job fair.

not so frowny faced

I don't know if it is the stuff I'm donating today, the fact that I'm volunteering tonight, or the two bowls of ice cream I ate last night, but I'm feeling a bit more upbeat today. It could also be that the weather is starting to cool off. I believe it got below 70 degrees overnight for the first time all summer. As my colleague/friend said, "Ooooh, time to break out the sweatshirts!"

Indeed. Gotta love fall in H-town.

tiny bits of string

What to say, other than that this week has been one of devastation. Now all we can do is rebuild, both physically and emotionally. Don't forget that people will need help for many weeks. If you haven't volunteered or donated yet, it's never too late.

In other news, I finally watched Sex and Lucia. Oh my god. So good, but if you rent it, be prepared for full-on nudity, both male and female.

Also, I made a bunch of deviled eggs for a barbeque that was canceled, so if you see me clutching my chest, I'm probably just having a cholesterol-induced heart attack.

little things

I've been gathering together things to donate to all of the folks flooded out of their homes and stuck here in H-town and figuring out how else I can help. I know one thing that isn't helping--arguing with patrons over printing. It's hard for me to understand how someone can get that upset about one print job, upset to the point of loud talking/almost shouting, some finger pointing and stamping away when it becomes clear that I'm not going to do what he wants.

Me, I am dealing with things by eating a lot of cake.

7LB and TB

I was telling the GE that I had taco bell for lunch yesterday. His gleeful response: "You're a stoner!"

I remember discovering TB back in college. Little bundles of fatty beans and cheese wrapped up in a spicy sauce... It's still my favorite fast food chain. Then when I was in grad school they came out with the 7 layer burrito and that's been what I order ever since. When looking for something in my drawer yesterday, I discovered at least 5 packets of hot sauce, mixed in with ketchup packets from Wendy's. Luckily, almost everything food-related closes down on campus over the summer, so I bring my lunch and eat healthy, but now that school is back in...