When you're at the zoo....

As many of you know, Rob and I have ourselves a little zoo at our apartment: ferrets, birds, ratties. Well, now we've added to it. Where in the world are going to put more critters? God only knows. But we've squeezed them in. Now you're asking yourself, what did we get and why? Well, Rob and I were at PetCo picking up supplies and they had some abandoned critters up for adoption: guinea pigs, rabbits, gerbils. Long story short: we rescued three little black male gerbils and two male quinea pigs. I don't have pics of the gerbils, they're all black and my camera doesn't want to focus on them. :-P When I finally get pictures, I'll have Rob post them. He's thrilled to have the little guys. He's named them: Muad'dib, Duncan Idaho, and Gurney Halek (also known as "nibbley" because he likes to taste fingers that may wander into his cage). For those less nerdy people, these are all characters from Dune. (shhhhh! don't tell anyone that I haven't read it. They might take away my nerd status). The piggies are Montgomery and Mortimer. Monty is a little younger, more friendly, and very vocal (he also likes the way Rob's fingers taste).

Mortimer peeking out from underneath my sweater.

Montgomery striking a pose.

Now, I'm off to watch "Rudolph." Yes, I watch Christmas cartoons. Besides, I'm from the "Island of Misfit Toys." :-)

Not the Only One

As many of you know, I'm Jewish. And I'm tattooed. Those two don't often mesh well in people's minds. Well, ok, I'm not exactly a religous Jew, but I'm a Jew nonetheless. Today Rob and I stopped by Spiral Tattoo to show Diane, Bev, and Leo our healed tats, but also to get my tongue pierced (yes, I've done that too. That's another post, though; this one is about tattoos). Rob and I were talking with Bev and Diane (both very cool ladies), and they mentioned that they saw an article in Skin and Ink about Jews with Tattoos. They found the article for us, and I flipped through it. I was hoping to find it online. Well, I found better: Tattoo Jew. There's even a group online at tribe.net.

For more information on tattoos and the Jews and even why it's "forbidden":

Tattoo Jews

Tattooing in Jewish Law

Post Edit: Piercings are accepted under Jewish law, as is plastic surgery.

Happy Un-Birthday to Me

So, I did the birthday thing on Tammy's Blog.

Your Birthdate: July 5

You have many talents, and you are great at sharing those talents with others. Most people would be jealous of your clever intellect, but you're just too likeable to elicit jealousy. Progressive and original, you're usually thinking up cutting edge ideas. Quick witted and fast thinking, you have difficulty finding new challenges. Your strength: Your superhuman brainpower Your weakness: Your susceptibility to boredom Your power color: Tangerine Your power symbol: Ace Your power month: May

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

See that folks? My strength is my "superhuman brainpower." So, don't go boring me with your inferiority. :)

He's Back

So, if you haven't been to Tammy's blog yet and seen Magical Trevor , you must go. And once you've enjoyed this whimsical cartoon you must see the entire series. Yes folks, Trevor is back. Enjoy!

Magical Trevor I

Magical Trevor II

Magical Trevor III

Reader assumes all risks by clicking on the above links and Naarah assumes no responisibility if you find yourself humming Magical Trevor to yourself for the next week.

Harry Potter

The movie rocked! Really. They needed this director for the last film. :-P They left some stuff out, but they had too, the book was so long. All in all, though, I think they did a great job. Hurrah! Rob and I lloking forward to the dvd so we can see the director's cut. :-) So, for all of you out there who haven't seen the movie: go see it!

Girl's Day Out

Mel and I both had today off (*gasp* !shock!) and went shopping with her roomate, Shannon. So, we drove up to Birch Run. Yup, we drove all the way north of Flint to go shopping. For the outlet mall shopping experience, mind you! Oh, and Shannon drove. :-) And my oh my, she puts my car to shame. It's so neat and clean and spotless. Spotless, I tell you. It's just wrong! I mean, look at my car, it's chock full of stuff: kleenex, a blanket, water bottles (full and empty), empty soda bottles, recycleables, paperwork (yes, that's where all my manager's meeting minutes go... to the void that is my car). We had a good time. Mel and I both needed the girl's day out (we should do this more often. Spend less money, but hang out more often). I got some new dress clothes for my new job, a couple items for the kitchen, a shirt for my dad, a chrismahanukwanzakah gift for Rob. And the great thing about going to Birch Run during the week before Thanksgiving? The place was empty! Wow. We could park where we wanted. The bad thing about going to Birch Run the week before Thanksgiving? Damn, is it cold outside! And snowing! It was snowing. And not snowing the couple of lame flurries that Ann Arbor got. Sticking to the cars snowing. The snow puts Mel into a holiday shopping mood. It just makes me want to move somewhere warm. ;-P

Tomorrow will not be as fun. We have our last manager's meeting of the year. I don't want to go. Really don't want to go. But, since I'm still a manager, the right thing to do is go (yet the little voice in the back of my head is saying: "stay home. sleep in. read a book.") I really ought to listen that voice more often; I'd be happier. But, since this is my last managers meeting, I will revel in that the entire time.

After work tomorrow, Rob and I will try to Serenity at the dollar theater in Briarwood. Rob's really been looking forward to this movie. I think it looks like fun.

And course, very important news: Harry Potter Goblet of Fire opens in theaters on Friday!!! Yes, I'm a nerd. I fully intend to see it on Friday. And yes, I'll be wearing my Gryffindor scarf.

Nananana

Nananana
Hey Hey Hey
GOODBYE

Come mid-January, I am outta here!

That's right folks, I gots me a letter from the jewelry store, and they want me on in January. Why not now? They're so busy right now with the holiday season, they won't have time to properly train me. So, at the end of January, they're going to meet with me and finalize the offer.

So, to be smart, I am not officially putting my notice in at Ritz until I have my final offer from the Jewelry store. (That means shhhhhhhh! This can't leak out to Sandie or my staff!)

So, next time you see me, I'll have a smile on my face.

Sayonara Ritz Camera!

Turning the Holidays Upside-Down

When a holiday such as Christmas is so commercialized that WNIC has started their 24-hours of Christmas music weeks before Thanksgiving, and Target has Christmas decorations next to their Halloween decorations in early October, you think, man, it can't get any more insane. And yet, I've come across The Upside-Down Christmas Tree. Yes folks, we haven't run a holiday into the ground until we turn it upside down. What's next?

Kilpatrick, Shmilpatrick

Everybody's bitching and moaning about Detroit re-electing the hip-hop mayor. You know what, Detroit, if that's what you want, fine. I don't live there. I don't go there. Detroit has dug itself into a hole and it's residents just keep on digging. Besides, compared to Coleman Young, Kilpatrick is great. And how many years did Detroiters keep electing that old bastard. But seriously folks, if you think things are screwed up in Detroit, how screwed up must they be in Hillsdale, MI (yup, here in our own home state) where an 18-year old high school student was elected for mayor. Read about it here.

Another Beautiful Day!

This weather is so strange! And so warm! And so beautiful! It is so un-November-like. I love it! I've been taking advantage of the nice weather and enjoying so time outside. Thursday Rob and I went for a walk at the Ford Lake Park and today we went to Parmenter's Cider Mill with Tammy. Of course, I don't go out on such glorious days without a camera! Here are some shots I got:

Ford Lake Park:













This is a grasshopper Rob found. Isn't he cool?!? I love super-macro!!















Milkweed.












Swans and a bridge.















A "drooling" swan.












Shells and rocks on the shore.












Sunset over the lake. Rob and I were walking back by this time.












A cool spider on the bridge.


Parmenter's Cider Mill:











Female wood duck.












Male wood duck. He was less shy than his girlfriend.












Mallard drake -- not shy at all.












The mallards would come right up and take bread right from our hands.












My last shot. Beautiful, aren't they?

Cooler Than Thou!

So, I too took this are you a nerd, geek or dork quiz that Carrie and Rob took. I have discovered two things: 1) That, like both Carrie and Rob, I too am all nerd; 2) According to the results of their quizes, I am cooler than either! Proof: I am 60 % Nerd, 34% Geek, 34% Dork; Carrie is 91 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 47% Dork, while Rob is 73 % Nerd, 56% Geek, 52% Dork. This a lot of nerdiness all the way around! (FYI: the percentages are based on how a nerd/dork/geek would answer the questions. So, according to my results, I answered 60% as a nerd would, 34% as a geek would, and 34% as a dork would. Get it? No. Must not be nerdy enough.)

Here are the official results:

Pure Nerd 60 % Nerd, 34% Geek, 34% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful. Congratulations! Take the THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

So, what does all that really mean and say about me? Who cares. I'm going to go take a walk and photograph the fall colors with my relatively new, very spiffy, Canon 8 mega-pixel camera with a wide-angle L USM lens........

Zippedy Do Dah

There's a blue bird on my shoulder...

Quite literally, actually. He doesn't have a name, yet. But he's really cool. He's a lineolated parakeet. No, I'm not making words or birds up. They're very neat little birds. I got him at the bird show. Now I know you're saying, Naarah, you're supposed to sell birds at the show, not buy them! Well, I didn't buy him, so :-P. I traded for him. We actually sold/traded all of the birds that we brought. Mom sold/traded about half of hers. And we were really the only people there actually moving lovebirds at all. And there were LOTS of lovebirds there. I guess the difference are my mom's are not only beautiful birds, they're nice. That really makes a difference.

So, back to the little lineolated fellow, here's some pics I took this morning (ok, so he's not so much on my shoulder in the pics, but here he is anyway):

Yesterday I had to sit through a very long, and very boring, and supposedly most very important manager's meeting. Sandie started it off rambling about how in Africa every day a gazelle wakes up and it must run faster than the slowest lion in order to survive; and every day in Africa a lion wakes up and it must run faster than the slowest gazelle in order to eat and thus survive. Which are we, lions or gazelles? I'm a mongoose. What? I can't be a mongoose? I have to be a lion or gazelle? Can I be a mongoose-lion? (and if you don't get this, you need to watch more Invader Zim!) Long, very long ass story short, we need to start our days running. Yes, I'd love to start my day running: running as fast as I can away from Ritz!!!