Naarah's K'Vetch

Vote!

2008-11-04T11:30:00.002-05:00

Link to Current Poll Results

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T11:41:00.002-04:00

Tycho!

2008-10-25T15:20:00.003-04:00

Just some pics of Tycho I took earlier today.

Yes, yes I did buy him little doggie bat/devil wings.

Our Zoo is Worth Keeping

2008-07-23T19:27:00.002-04:00

Summer Reading List....

2008-07-07T22:16:00.001-04:00

Stolen from Liv's Blog:

The "Big Read" thinks the average adult has only read six of the top 100 books they've printed below.
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ for fun!

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (parts of it…. In college for class… does that count?)
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare --why are these lumped together? No, seriously, why? I’ve read some.
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (ugh. HATE this book)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (Read it, but didn’t like it. So. Very. Creepy.)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (“Angels and Demons” was much better!)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

So, I’m clearly above average. Cool.

Black-footed Ferrets Give Birth

2008-06-23T08:03:00.003-04:00

The black footed ferret, an endangered species, native to the North American Prairie, gave birth at the National Zoo on June 20th.

From the National Zoo's Website:

The National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center (CRC), in Front Royal, Virginia, has been breeding endangered black-footed ferrets for 20 years to bring them back from the brink of extinction. This year, 21 females were bred at CRC, four by artificial insemination and 17 by natural pairings.

So far, four ferrets have given birth to litters, including Georgia, the ferret featured on our web cam. She gave birth to a kit, resulting from artificial insemination, on June 20. Look for the newborn on the cam. It does not yet have the dark markings of its mother.

CRC staff were not sure which ferrets were pregnant. Ferrets are induced ovulators, which means they do not ovulate until they breed. When we artificially inseminate them, we give them a hormone injection the day before to induce ovulation. Ovulation usually results in a pregnancy or a pseudo (false) pregnancy. As with giant pandas, their hormone levels change as if they were pregnant, whether or not they are. Also, their appetite will increase, they will gain weight, and show other changes in behavior.

The National Zoo has even put a webcam up HERE.

Meet the Mutt and other events

2008-06-21T11:47:00.002-04:00

Ironically, my last post was about "designer dogs." Well, if you haven't heard, Rob and I have one. A dog, not necessarily designer, though. We were told he's a yorkie-poo, but I think that they're full of it. He's definately got terrier in him. Maybe a little schnauzer. Possibly poodle, but who knows?!? We're ok with that, though. He's our little mutt!

He came with the name Buddy, but that's not really his name. Anytime you end up calling your dog "puppy, puppy, puppy" it's b/c he doesn't really like his name (same goes for cats, and you end up calling them "kitty"). Well, Rob and I were talking the other day, and Tycho Brahe came up. Yes, we are such big nerds that 400 year old astronomers come up in conversation. We decided Tycho is a perfect name for him! So, little Buddy's name is Tycho "Hoover" Barkhe (pronouned Bark-ey). Yes, we are such dorks. "Hoover" b/c he snuffles the carpet in hopes of "vacuuming" up any food we may have dropped.

Pictures of Tycho are in my flickr set here (click on the photo to get taken to my flickr photos):

Rob and I also went to the zoo on Weds and saw the cutest thing ever! Baby Peacocks! Yes, baby peacocks are friggin' adorable! See for yourself! If you click on the photo, you can see more pictures from our zoo trip, and yes, more adorable baby peacocks!

:

It's a mutt, not a designer dog

2008-04-17T20:44:00.003-04:00

Here's my gripe of the day: shorkies. WTF is a shorkie, you ask? Apparently a $600 shi-tzu/yorkie mix. Know what I call that? A mutt! It's a mutt! It's not a "designer dog," it's a good, old fashioned mutt. Goldendoodles, Cockachons, and Pugapoos are not purebreds, I don't care what you call them or how much you charge for them! I have nothing against mutts. My parents dog, Phoebe, is a mutt. She's 3/4 Chihuahua and 1/4 miniature poodle. But she's a mutt (an absolutely adorable mutt, mind you!) Mixing breeds to help get rid of breed-specific ailments I understand. But I think most of these breeders are just making shit up. In the pet store I saw a book on labradoodles. Labradoodles are now their own breed! It just bugs me that people are trying to get purebred money for mixed-breed dogs. 20 years ago if your neighbor's horny beagle schtooped your chihuahua and you had puppies, you'd put an ad in the paper that read "free puppies to good home; chihuahua/beagle mix." Today you'd ask $750 to be the first on your block to own a cheagle.

If you'd like pretend to be a mad-geneticist, you can find a list of all the current designer dogs HERE.

I'm a big enough dork that when I get a dog, I think it'd be appropriate if I got a Dorkie. ;)

Orchid Show

2008-03-16T14:19:00.003-04:00

So, yesterday I drove out to the Michigan Orchid Show. I love orchids. I don't have much of a green thumb, but I'm trying! They used to hold the show at the mall where I work, which was good, yet bad. Awesome, b/c I got to spend the weekend staring at oodles of beautiful flowers. Bad, b/c I spent lots of money on them. I only bought 2 orchids yesterday! Amazing, I know! Only two! (well, and some potting material and fertilizer). One of them isn't in bloom yet, but I can't wait until it is. The flowers are tiny and have a lemon-scent! They're buds on it, so in a couple of weeks..... The second is a gorgeous phalaenopsis with several stems full of blooms. This trip also served as a great opportunity for me to bust out my new camera. That's right, I finally broke down and bought my new camera body. And now I'm really, really broke. (thank goodness for employee discounts! There are small perks for being a retail slave).

So, here are some pictures from the show. Enjoy. Sorry, I don't know the names of all the orchids. Sometimes when I go to the shows, I'm smart and I do things like photograph the tag so I know what flower it is later. Oops. They're still pretty. I'll be smarter at the Ann Arbor Orchid Show coming up in April.

These are in the Paphiopedilum family. They are more commonly known as slipper orchids.

Cute tiny, tiny little flowers. Each flower is less than an inch tall.

This is one where I really really wish I photographed the tag. It's so alien!

These are a cattleya-hybrid.

More tiny orchids. They small delicate flowers fascinate me. Each of these flowers was close to a half-inch in size.

Phalaenopsis orchids. Also known as moth orchids. These are the most common and what you see in greenhouses (and sometimes grocery stores).

And finally, my orchid! This is the phal. with all the blooms (alot of still buds). When my little one blooms, I'll get pics of that too.

The Scariest News I've Heard in a Long Time....

2008-01-28T10:23:00.000-05:00

.

New Kids on the Block Stage Comeback

.

2008-01-19T22:10:00.001-05:00

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Lady Madame Naarah the Indefensible of Divine Intervention
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

2008-01-13T19:39:00.001-05:00

Funny enough, since Hillary and Kucinich are the only dems on the ballot (at least I think Kucinich is still on the ballot), I was going to vote for him. :D Yeah, yeah, I'm a bleeding-heart, tree-hugging, socialist. And proud! :D

86% Dennis Kucinich
85% Mike Gravel
84% Barack Obama
83% John Edwards
82% Hillary Clinton
82% Chris Dodd
82% Joe Biden
71% Bill Richardson
37% Rudy Giuliani
21% John McCain
18% Tom Tancredo
15% Mike Huckabee
15% Ron Paul
14% Mitt Romney
6% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

12 Days

2007-12-21T10:53:00.001-05:00

Rob showed me this and I thought I'd share! Enjoy!

The Countdown to Christmas Begins

2007-11-26T17:45:00.000-05:00

How many shopping days left until Christmas? Friday signaled the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. For you it may mean lots of insanely great deals on the product you want. For me it means sixteen hour work days and cranky customers when an item sells out (read the ad people, it says "limited quantities available.") So, yes I did work 16 hours on Friday. And 12 on Saturday. And now I'm the one whose tired and crabby and just counting down the days in between my rare and precious days off. I should love this time of year. It's every retailers wet dream. The throngs of people waving credit cards and money burning a whole in their wallet. Well, that's the way it should be. But Michigan's in an economic slump and no one actually wants to spend money. They want the most for the least amount of money. And they're not willing to spend extra money on anything. And that means I've got my district manager breathing fire down my neck wanting to know why our add-ons are so low and we haven't sold any protection plans or memberships. I'll tell you why -- Michigan's economy sucks. So, I'm expecting a fabulous holiday season full of tough sales and snarky customers. Ok, so maybe I'm a tad cynical. Or maybe I'm just exhausted and I need a nap. Either way, here's to Christmas. Now go spend some money.

Golden Compass

2007-11-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

Just finished the book. Awesome. I'll probably pick up the next in the series this week. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the movie. Which led me to the website and the "what's your daemon" quiz.

Season's Greetings

2007-10-21T17:31:00.001-04:00

Happiness Lost

2007-10-09T19:58:00.001-04:00

Felicity died today during surgery. We took her in for her spay, a standard procedure at any vet's. She had a heart attack when coming out of anesthesia and couldn't be revived. She was only with us for a week, but she stole our hearts the day we brought her home.

Felicity sleeping on the way home.

Rob and Felicity.

Felicity exploring a tunnel.

Felicity playing.

A Road Trip of Ferrety Proportions

2007-09-30T12:39:00.000-04:00

For those of you that didn't know, Rob and I went on a road trip yesterday. We drove nearly 700 miles round-trip (an hour and a half past Cincinnati and back). Why, you may ask. We decided to help out with a huge ferret rescue. The quick and short of it is that a very large scale breeder in Ohio could no longer take care of his breeder stock due to old age and failing health. This month he surrendered his ferrets to Ferret's Dream House Shelter in Lynx, Oh; all told, somewhere between 600-800 ferrets. Though we could not adopt many, Rob and I drove down with a donation of Totally Ferret food and the intention of bringing home a new friend. We brought home two sables, a young female about 6 months old and a male about a year old. Donations are greatly appreciated, and if you can help in any way, please.

For more information about the rescue and how to donate, visit: www.ohioferretrescue.com.

If you'd like to see the original Peta video showing the conditions of the breeder go HERE.

HERE is a nice video from a Michigan ferret rescue that shows both the original video with the horrible conditions that the breeder ferrets were put through and some of the ferrets that they rescued.

OMG! Ohio has hills!

Yes, we were so far out in the middle of nowhere, we were in Amish country.

Following Lori's truck back to the site where the ferrets were being housed.

The big boy playing in his carrier on the way home.

The little girl taking a nap. Road trips are exhausting!

Finally! Civilization! And a Sonic where we stopped and had one of those drinks you always see advertised on TV (and can never get b/c the closest Sonic is in Cincinnati!)

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr......

2007-09-17T11:02:00.000-04:00

So, my DSLR is back from repair. I slapped a lens on it and took it for a test run yesterday at the zoo. Out of over 200 pictures, not a single one is sharp and in perfect focus, thus the original problem I sent it in for is not yet resolved. And on top of that, I now have dust on my sensor, which was not there before I sent it in for repair the first time. So, do I call the repair dept and tell them not only is it not fixed, they screwed it up worse, and they need to take care of the problem pronto? Or do I call and tell them to eff off b/c I'm not paying for a repair that not only didn't take, but they made worse, and no I don't want them to try to fix it b/c I'm going to put my money towards new equipment? Either way I'm out my good camera. However, when my $300 point and shoot is taking better pictures, there's a problem and I need a solution. I don't really have the money for new equipment. I really want the new Canon 40D, but that would mean starting a whole new system. I'd be using tax refund dollars to help fund it. But it's still a huge investment. Argh. What to do, what to do....

I'm in the wrong profession

2007-09-16T10:40:00.000-04:00

So, according to careercruising.com, these are the jobs that I'm most suited for. Well, according to my likes and dislikes and all. Talent apparently has nothing to do with it b/c animator and cartoonist are on there and I can't draw worth a damn. Still, fun.

1.	Director of Photography
2.	Set Designer
3.	Costume Designer
4.	Special Effects Technician
5.	Animator
6.	Desktop Publisher
7.	Potter
8.	Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator
9.	Craftsperson
10.	Fashion Designer

Beyond this list, Artist made it to #13, Jeweler to #34, and Lawyer all the way at the bottom at #40.

If you too are bored and would like to know where you'd be better suited in life than you are now (no where on the list was retail store manager/corporate slave!):

1. Go to www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.

Have fun. (stolen from Shannon)

Autumn overnight

2007-09-13T09:02:00.001-04:00

Dang! It got cold out! I sitting her wearing a sweatshirt I'm so cold. Where did summer go?

Here's what's been going on:

* I got my camera back from repair. I'm still not 100% sure it's working right. Hmmmmmmm.....

* Still haven't found a way to go and see John Heffron perform in November. I'll live.

* I've consoled myself with the above issue by buying overpriced tickets to go and see the Lion King in Detroit. I bought tickets with the first presale. Now the second presale is going on and for some effed up reason if I had waited to buy my tickets until now I could get better seats for my money. Life conspires against me.

* Went to the Detroit Zoo last week. Got to see the polar bear swimming. It was way cool! (thus the cool picture over there to your left).

Now I am off to a managers meeting / T-Mobil training. Oh. The. Joy. Four looooong hours of T-Mobil training. Wow. I work for a camera company and I'm going to go learn to sell cell phones. We have a T-Mobil kiosk right outside our door. This is pointless.

Excuse me while I bitch

2007-08-15T11:05:00.000-04:00

So, I'm online just surfing and through some links I find out that comedan John Heffron will be at Royal Oaks Comedy Castle in November! Sweet! He's a local comedian who hit it big with Last Comic Standing. Rob and I saw him in Ann Arbor a couple years back. Effing hilarious. And I can't go. It's not the money that's preventing me from going this year (only $20 a pop). Here's a hint: the show is in November. What's the big holiday in November? Thanksgiving. Good. We're doing good here. And what follows Thanksgiving? Black Friday. Every retailers wet dream and every poor retail slave's nightmare. Opening at 6 am and being there until 11 pm. I'll be drawed and quartered for taking off early that weekend. Last year on Black Friday I worked open until close and did it all again on Saturday. *sob* Just thinking about it makes me want to cry. The only positive spin to put on this is that, since I work on commision, I'll be making some money. Nope. Doesn't make me feel all that much better.

Camera Woes

2007-08-13T15:01:00.000-04:00

*sigh* My DSLR is in for repairs. I feel so lost. And naked. It's having backfocusing issues (for those non-camera geeks, that means it's either focusing just in front of or just behind the subject, therefore the subject is not in focus). I sent it in for repairs. I have no idea how much this is going to set me back. I get a discount and all through work, but still it won't be cheap and I'm broke. My worst fear is that they can't fix it. This normally shouldn't be a problem. BUT, my DSLR is a Minolta. And Minolta stopped making cameras a year or so ago. Sony took over their DSLR technology and is using Minolta's body and lens mount. They claimed, at first, that they would take on Minolta repairs and fix them. However, Sony is rumored to not actually accept any Minolta repairs and is instead offering a joke of a discount on a replacement model. I don't want to replace my camera. I think the Sony replacement sucks. It has digital noise issues (again, for non camera geeks, that means grainy picutures). I like MY camera. And I'm going to be whiney about this. I have to call the repair department when I'm back at work tomorrow and get a status check -- at which point I'll either get a repair estimate or told sorry, it can't be fixed. *sigh* This blows.

UPDATE: August 15, 2007: It will cost me $280 to fix my camera. And that's the employee price. That hurts.

Heather's Visit

2007-08-03T21:56:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks back, my best friend from college, Heather, came to visit me! :D We had a great time! It was like all the time and distance between us (she lives in DC) was never there. We did a little shopping(my Aunt from AZ was unexpectedly in town, and we met up with her at the mall for some girl time). Then I took Heather to the Ann Arbor Art Fair and we got some cool art and stuff. Then we went to the Silverleaf Ren Faire (in Battle Creek). All in all, we had a great time. And now Heather is back in DC. :(

Here's some pictures from our trip to Silverleaf (which, btw, is an awesome Ren Faire!)

Oh yeah?!? Well, take that!

Human Chess.

A little Celtic drumming.

By Merlin's Beard!

Ded Bob and his newly acquired bob-zombies.

Bob says: "oy vey."

Falconer with a red-tailed hawk.

Falcon with traditional mask.

Fireworks at Kensington

2007-07-15T12:34:00.000-04:00

On July Fourth, Tammy, Tom, Carrie, Paul, and my hubby Rob and I all went to Kensington Metro Park to see the fireworks. We had a nice time. To see Tammy's pictures and a more complete tale of the evening's events, visit her blog HERE.

Here are my pre-fireworks, Naarah's just screwing around with her camera pictures.

And here are the actual fireworks pictures:

Gumby 2/12/92-7/03/07

2007-07-08T18:28:00.000-04:00

Alot has gone on the past couple weeks. But one is most important me. My family's dog, Gumby, passed away on Tueday July 3. I know he was old. I know he was sick. And I'm glad he's not suffering any more. But it doesn't make it hurt any less. I've known Gumby nearly half my life. That's more than I can say for a lot of people. And unlike most people, I loved the dog unconditionally, the way I know he loved us. So, this is in memory of Gumby. We'll miss him dearly.

Oy Vey

2007-07-02T17:04:00.000-04:00

This just pisses me off!

(New York) City May Seek Permit and Insurance for Many Kinds of Public Photography

Some tourists, amateur photographers, even would-be filmmakers hoping to make it big on YouTube could soon be forced to obtain a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance before taking pictures or filming on city property, including sidewalks.

New rules being considered by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting would require any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour to get a city permit and insurance.

The same requirements would apply to any group of five or more people who plan to use a tripod in a public location for more than 10 minutes, including the time it takes to set up the equipment.

Read on here......

BNL Concert

2007-06-17T08:53:00.000-04:00

Friday night Rob and I saw Barenaked Ladies at DTE Energy Theater (or as they called it "DTE Energy Knob"). It was a fun show and we had a good time. It was a nice, long concert -- they were on for about 2 1/2 hours (including their three encores!). Here's some pictures from the event:

Pictures

2007-06-11T22:16:00.001-04:00

Picture of the kittens. Well, most of them. Some are quite shy. :D

The Gods are Laughing

2007-06-11T19:04:00.000-04:00

So, I think Sunday the gods looked down on me and said, hey, wouldn't it be ironic.....

Here's the scoop: Weds, a very nice couple comes over and adopts Sokka and Katara into their lives. They're a very cool couple and we like them a lot. And now I'm cat-free and can finally give my allergies a rest.

Sunday, as I'm sitting at my computer, I look out the window and see several little kittens playing. "Hey, Rob, look at the cute kittens." Awwwww. Turns out those adorable kittens are living under our home. Mom and at least SEVEN little kittens. Under MY home. No longer such adorable kittens. Mom is very sweet and she's adopted us. This morning she was waiting for us to come home on our porch. Her kittens are definately feral and are wary of people. We're going to try to win them over with food. Then grab them, box them, and take them to a shelter.

I've spent the day contacting shelters looking for help. I can't keep (at least) eight cats. Rob and I have talked and we're willing to neuter and vaccinate mom and foster her until we can find her a home. We know older cats have a harder time finding homes than adorable little kittens. And mommy cat is very sweet. She loves to be petted and has even let me attempt to pet one of her kittens. A couple of the kittens are fairly brave and should be easier to get. And a couple are really, really shy. They're going to be work to catch. I'm going to try to get some pictures tonight when I go back out to feed them. Wish me luck finding them homes.

grumblegrumble

2007-06-03T04:35:00.000-04:00

In case anyone wants to know, it's 4:35 am. That's right AM. And I'm up. Nobody else is. But I am. Why? Inventory. Days like this I hate my job. I am coming straight home and taking a nap. :P

Pirates!

2007-05-25T10:11:00.000-04:00

Rob and I saw Pirates III last night. I won't ruin it for anyone and give away any spoilers. :P I will just say this: Rob and I enjoyed the movie, but we're conflicted about the ending. Once more of you have seen the movie, we'll talk. :P

Just Stuff

2007-05-23T21:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our two year anniversary. We spent the day at the zoo. For the new warthog exhibit being so widely advertised, we didn't see it. We got a membership, so we'll go back! :) We had dinner at Carrabas, then collapsed for the night. I only have a little sunburn. It was nice day (I'm purposely ignoring the multiple interruptions of my day by my work).

Today Rob and I went to the Farmer's market in Ann Arbor and picked up some irises for our garden. :D I love irises! We had a little visitor in our garden while we worked. Of course I photographed him.

Countdown to Vacation

2007-05-21T08:48:00.001-04:00

In a little over twelve hours, I will be out of work for the day and my vacation will start! Woohoo! A week away from work!! :D And the Pirates of the Carribean starts Friday! What a great week it's going to be already.......

No Excuse

2007-05-15T07:59:00.000-04:00

Yeah, there's no excuse for me having done this. And yet I did it. And now I'm sharing it. So, be brave and click on the goat.

Enjoy.

Is it Tuesday yet?!?

2007-04-22T15:15:00.000-04:00

I've had a week full of "Mondays." Every day was as miserable and suck-tastic as Mondays are stereotyped to be. And it hit full force yesterday when after the bird show I fell down a couple of stairs and twisted my ankle. It was a lovely sight, all swollen like a grapefruit. The doctor told me to stay off of my feet and keep that foot elevated and iced. I actually burst out laughing. At my job. Off my feet. HAHAHAHAHAHA. And I'm moving this week. Yeesh. So, I'm resting and icing the ankle today, and I'll just have to hobble around the rest of the week. It's not as bad today, but I've kept it iced and haven't been doing much other than editing photos I shot last week. I need to get them finished and to the client. I love being able to batch edit! That made the first half of the pictures editing easy. To top my week off, I've spent it wheezing, sneezing, and attached to my inhaler. Nope. I'm not sick. I have allergies. To my cats. If I told this my mother she'd be gloating right now. As it looks, we may have to find a new home for them. My allergies are bad enough that Rob is concerned. Neither one of us want to re-home them. But seeing as how important breathing is...... sigh. So, if anyone would like a couple of sweet kitties, let me know. I'd like to find someone we know to take them, this way we can visit them and know how they're doing.

Here's to hoping this week is better......

WooHoo!

2007-04-14T23:47:00.001-04:00

I put on a pair of jeans today that I couldn't fit into two months ago! Wheeeeeeeeeee!!

Hi. Remember Me?

2007-04-13T09:17:00.000-04:00

So, yeah, it's been a long time. I've been busy. No excuse, I know. But still.

I have to leave for work soon, but I thought I'd drop in a write a note.

Here's the news in my life:

1) Mom found out about the cats. Disowned me for about a week. Dad could care less, and I believe he finds this whole event funny. The more she said things like "ugh. she's an ugly cat." The nicer looking the cats got to my dad (for example, Katara went from being a nice looking cat to a pretty cat!)

2) We found a place to move. No, we didn't buy a house. We're renting again. We couldn't find anything we liked in our price range where we wanted to live. So, we're renting somewhere else. We're moving on Weds, April 25! Help moving gratefully appreciated!

3) I bought orchids at the orchid show at my mall. I bought more orchids than I should have. And they're not happy. I think my apartment is too warm, too dry, and doesn't have enough tempature variance for them to be happy. As long as they can hold on just a few more days.... I'll repot some of them and hopefully they'll be happy.

4) I am completely off of Effexor. YAY!!! It was a miserable and intense week once I stopped taking it. I'm not going to go into all the fun details. Let me just share a piece of advice: if your doctor suggests Effexor for depression for you, tell him NO! The stuff is addiciting and the withdrawl symptoms are hell to go through. You know anything nicknamed "brain shivers" isn't going to be good. Since being off of it around 2 weeks now, I've lost 5 pounds and am in better moods (ok, the welbutrin I'm on instead is helping with that, I'm sure. But I feel so much better! Whoever thought to put an angsty teenager with self-image problems on a drug whose side effects include weight GAIN...... grrrrr..... 50 pounds gained since I started taking the stuff).

5) Did I mention we're moving? To a bigger place? In Belleville.... just about 3-4 miles down the street from where we live now. And we're moving on April 25...... (hint, hint.... help appreciated)......

6) The bird show is April 21. Oh. Joy. Stop me from being so overwhelmingly happy. (can you feeling the sarcasm?)

That's it. I gotta run off to work now.

2007-03-17T08:59:00.000-04:00

Dook! Dook! Dook!*

2007-03-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

I'm a weasel! **

What animal personality are you? LINK

* "Dooking" is the happy laughter like sound that ferrets make, usually while weasel war dancing.

** Seriously, what are the odds, me, a weasel? No, not the girl with a ferret on her back?!?

P.S. If I'm not feeling weasely, I may also be either a Rooster or a Zebra. But I'm partial to Weasels. ;D

And so it continues

2007-03-02T23:14:00.000-05:00

Well, Rob and I went back to the house on Weds with his family and mine in tow. This time we spent a lot of time checking out the house. We found a number of potential problems that we missed the first time through. Some could be easily remedied, others might be potential long term problems (ie, are the "soft" spots in the floor upstairs from a poor carpet padding job or is it soft wood?), and one big problem: will our bed fit? Yup, Rob and I figured that that the way the rooms were configured, we'd barely be able to squeeze the bed in, and nothing else in the room. This is more of a problem for me, seeing as I am a clothes fiand have dressers full of clothes. So, our search continues. Sunday we are viewing yet more homes.

Ugh. We're just not sure where to go. We are a tad financially strapped and are limited on how much we can spend. Our credit is ok, but not great, so our interest rate is not fabulous. We can afford a home, but at the same time we don't want to be "house poor." Should we maybe find a new place to rent for another year and work on our credit? Should we buy a house now why the buying is good? Argh! It all makes my head hurt.

I'll post on how the viewings go on Sunday.

2007-02-24T10:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Rob and I viewed some houses. Interestingly enough, our favorite from our drive-bys was our favorite after actually viewing it! If the house had a basement, we would have stopped there and been like "this is it. We're done. This house. Perfect."

So here's how the viewings went:

House 1 (Westland): Good sized house, nice large eat-in kitchen with a sky-light, and plenty of square footage. According to the description, the house has "newer paint, carpet," etc. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Whatever. The paint was peeling. There were no switch-plate covers. They were just exposed. The house had a funky smell (though the owners did have a cat and a dog and god knows how many kids), and my favorite, at every place where a door opened into a wall, the doorknob had punched through the wall. These are all small things, mind you. But they're a lot of small things. You can buy cheap plastic switch plate covers at K-mart! How hard is it to slap on a coat of white to make everything look nice? I can only imagine that if the superficial hasn't been taken care of, what else is wrong? Rob and I liked the size, but not for what they wanted. What they wanted for the house is a joke. If they'd knock $30,000 off, then we might seriously consider it and put some sweat equity into it. But at what they're asking, there's no way.

House 2 (Westland): The house we like. It's small. 920 sq. ft. But all of the space is used efficently! It's a Cape Cod. The upstairs where the ceiling slants down and there's usually dead space, the owners put in closets! Ok, so they're short closets. But it's such clever use of space. And, well, Rob and I are short people. LOL. The house opens up into a large sunny living room with hardwood floors. One of the first things I noticed was the crown molding. The house had such character. And it came with all the appliances (that's $2-4K in savings). This is the house we're considering at this point. Yeah, we're going to look at other houses, but so far, in our price range and everything we get, it's a great deal. Oh, and the garage is huge! We could set up another room in there! ;)

House 3 (Westland): Tight little ranch. "Vivid" paint inside. Loved the basement. Otherwise, not so much.

House 4 (Wayne): Adorable little bungalow. Has even received a Wayne Beautification Award. But man is it tight! Hardly any closet space (what was wrong with the people in the 30's-50's who built these houses? A closet as wide as I am is just not adequate! The house felt claustraphobic. Yet it technicall had more sq. ft. than house #2.

House 5 (Wayne): Ummmmm.... no way to get in. The doorknob was taken off the front door and in it's place was a padlock. No realtor's box to get in. Nada. So, we saw the outside and moved on. Don't think I'll bother actually trying to see it. Noisy area. Train and Plane.

House 6 (Ypsi): Ok, everyone who saw the pics of this one originally, said, oh cool! This house looks great! And from pictures, it did. Nice large porch. Roomy house with basement and garage! But in need of lots of work. And the only bathroom was upstairs! (how bizarre!) It would just take more than Rob and I care to put into it. And it would probably continue needing work done constantly. Someone who is wants to buy it for a rental property will probably end up buying it, is my guess.

So, here's pics of House #2. Taking pictures of the houses has made me really appreciate wide-angle photography. I was using my Canon Pro 1, which has a wide-angle lens of 28 (which is wide for a digital camera), and let me tell you, I could have used even wider. Still, I think the pictures will serve our purpose and help us acurately remember what we looked at.

This is a picture of the outside of the house we like. So sue me, I was so busy taking pictures of the inside, I didn't take on the outside. It looks better in summer anyway. :P

Backyard, as looking at it from the garage. We think that's an A/C unit in the lower right hand corner. No idea if it's in working condition, though.

Backyard. That's the garage to the left.

View of the kitchen. That's a double oven that's cut-off on the right-side of the picture (and why a little wider angle lens would have been sooooo nice).

Living room as seen from the stairs. Look at that crown molding! Lovely! The entry you see to the right is the kitchen.

Living room as seen from the far wall. Front door to the right. The entry to the left leads to a bathroom and another room (previous owners used a master bedroom).

Downstairs bathroom.

Downstairs "master bedroom."

Upstairs bedroom.

Upstairs bedroom.

Laundry! Cleverly hidden as a closet upstairs! There are two actual closets to the right.

Upstairs bathroom.

Well, that's it.

I have to go off and go to work. Tomorrow is inventory. I have a headache already. :P

Let the searching commence!

2007-02-15T21:00:00.000-05:00

Well, Rob and I are approved for a mortgage. And we just got back from meeting with the realator. Saturday Rob and I are going to drive by a couple of the houses that we saw online and liked. So, the searching begins! Wheeeee! A place of our own. We're pretty geeked.

2007-02-12T22:29:00.000-05:00

Your Element Is Air

You dislike conflict, and you've been able to rise above the angst of the world.
And when things don't go your way, you know they'll blow over quickly.

Easygoing, you tend to find joy from the simple things in life.
You roll with the punches, and as a result, your life is light and cheerful.

You find it easy to adapt to most situations, and you're an open person.
With you, what you see is what you get... and people love that!

What's Your Element?

So, yeah, update and stuff

2007-02-11T20:12:00.000-05:00

So, it's been over a month since I've posted (closer to two, since my last few posts weren't really posts).

Things have been insane. Here's the summary:

Oct. 2006: I get promoted to the Laurel Park Ritz Camera.

Nov and Dec 2006: Work. Work. Work. And everything that is the hell of working retail during the holidays. But the paychecks are niiiiiice.

January: Work finally slows down. Too much. My paychecks go back to sucking. Our volume has gone to hell, the store looks like a tornado, half the staff doesn't know diddley-sqwat about the lab, and orders aren't being done on time. Now that the frenzy of holiday sales are over, I start cracking down. My old store in Ann Arbor gets closed for good. I inherit Joel and Steve. One employee decides he doesn't have any interest in the lab and therefore gets his hours cut. He quits. Oh. Boo. Hoo. I'm so distraught. (can you feel the words oozing with sarcasm?)

February: Lazy employee quits. I'm not complaining. But now I'm short-staffed and need to hire someone new. I hate hiring new people. The only apps I'm getting are 16 year old high school students who we can't hire b/c we work with chemicals (OSHA restrictions). This bites.

So, now we're up to speed. Yay.

Our lease is up in the end of April. We're hoping to start moving at the end of March, which is quickly approaching. We were looking at different apartment complexes, but were coming up empty with ones that would allow ferrets. So, we were considering a trailer. We could get one on the cheap, and it'd be our own, so we could have our ferrets. But, as Rob says, trailers are an albatross. There's no equity. You loose money on them. Not like it's too much different than renting an apartment, where you get nothing back when you move. So, after some consideration and talking to several people, we have decided to try and get a home. We're in the process now to see how much we'll qualify for. We're excited. And nervous. We know we can't afford anything big. We were thinking a nice small ranch or bungalow, probably in Wayne county: Canton, Van Buren Twp, Belleville, maybe in Ypsi (yes, I know, that's in Washtenaw.) So, we're not going to get our hopes up yet. We're keeping our options open.

That's it.

Happy New Year

2006-12-31T10:38:00.002-05:00

Wishing everyone a year full of love, joy, prosperity, family, and friends.

x0x0x0x0x0x0

2006-12-24T22:29:00.000-05:00

2006-12-20T18:24:00.000-05:00

Happy Hanukkah!!

2006-12-11T11:12:00.001-05:00

Iran Opens Holcaust Conference

The conference, "Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision," was initiated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has described the Holocaust as a "myth" and called for Israel to be wiped off the map. Even before it opened, the gathering was condemned by Germany, the United States and Israel.

.......

"If the official version of the Holocaust is thrown into doubt, then the identity and nature of Israel will be thrown into doubt. And if, during this review, it is proved that the Holocaust was a historical reality, then what is the reason for the Muslim people of the region and the Palestinians having to pay the cost of the Nazis' crimes?" Mottaki said.

.......

BBC Video Link

Gifts that Give

2006-12-06T10:50:00.000-05:00

This year, give a gift that gives twice!

The World Wildlife Fund Gift Center

Shop to Help Animals

Shop to Benefit the Rainforest

NOVICA -- What the World Creates By Hand

Ten Thousand Villages -- Fairly Traded Handcrafts From Around the World

North Shore Animal League Online Boutique

Shop to Stop Hunger

The Pink Ribbon Store

Shop to Help a Child

Shop to Benefit Literacy

The Michigan Humane Society

Fine Artists Helping Critters in Need

The Smithsonian Store

Shop in Israel

The NPR Shop (Thanks Tammy! I can't believe I forgot this one!)

The PBS Shop

And many more, I'm sure. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Soap and Water and a Cat -- Oh My!!

2006-12-05T18:06:00.000-05:00

Let me backstep a little bit....

Last week Rob and I adopted a friend for Katara. She was driving us insane, always active and wanting to play non-stop. She need a kitty-friend to play with. The vet's office where we take Katara (and took Trip) have kitties for adoption. They had offered us our pick of kitties after Trip died, however we had decided to adopt Katara. Last week, I went to the vet's to drop off a sample of Katara's (she had a yucky intestinal parasite). As always, I said hi to the adoptable kitties in the front window. I noticed one of them, Squiggy, was all alone. His brother, Lenny, had been adopted out, but Squiggy was there by himself. Rob and I talked and decided to let Katara meet Squiggy to see if they got along. The did as well as two stranger cats can be expected to do on a first meeting (some sniffing, some hissing, some running away). We brought Squiggy home and named him Sokka.* Sokka and Katara were standoffish at first, but are getting along great now. Sokka is a wonderful big ole lump of marshmellow fluff. He purrs the instant you pick him up and collapses into kitty happiness. Like Katara, he too is talkative (Rob and I get quite the talking to in the morning, when the food dishes are empty!) His meows are great -- he trills. It's adorable! Only problem is, Sokka sheds like mad and has some dandruff issues. Research has led me to believe this is due to the dry air (all the heaters going on and no humidity). One remedy: kitty bath! I went out and picked up a nice moisturizing oatmeal shampoo. And thus, Sokka got a bath today. And really, it went better than I expected. No scratches. Just a wriggly, whiney, unhappy, and very wet kitty! Katara even came over to the bathroom door to find out why her friend was crying. She's such a good kitty! She started purring when she saw that he was ok (though we're sure half of that was relief that it wasn't her getting the bath!) Now Sokka is off hiding and grooming himself. Every hair has to go back in place now.

Sokka getting his bath.

A tee-d off Sokka getting towel-dried.

Katara and Sokka snuggling last night.

*Yup, that would Katara's brother on The Avatar.

I'm at it again!

2006-12-03T19:07:00.000-05:00

Vote for Token the ferret as the cutest holiday snow ferret!

VOTE HERE! VOTE HERE! VOTE HERE! VOTE HERE! VOTE HERE!

Retail Slave

2006-11-25T22:34:00.000-05:00

I hate Black Friday. I hate super-long mall hours. I hate know-it-all customers, who, by the way, DO NOT know their ass from a hole in the ground. I cannot wait until Monday. I have Monday off. I am going to sleep all day. My feet hurt. And I need a shower. And I get to do it all again tomorrow. At least it's a short day.

2006-11-22T17:29:00.000-05:00

A week in review

2006-11-05T09:43:00.000-05:00

So, it's been a busy week here in the Sampson household. Where to begin? Well, probably with the pictures. That's Katara, our new cat, a petite red patch tabby. After the whole ordeal with Trip, the adoption people and the vet's office were great to us and offered us our choice of kittty when we were ready. We choose this little girl and brought her home on Sunday, Oct. 29th. Her name was Chiclet, but that didn't fit her. "Her Royal Highness" is better suited. She's about a year old, but tiny, only about 4 lbs. She loves a good lap and head scritches. In the morning she's playful and wants me to play with her. Her favorite toys are her balls, a laser pointer, and the cat dancer. Though this morning she spent a good 15 minutes mesmerized by the ice cube I put in her water. ;) She's a very loving kitty. Rob and I had a hard time choosing. We spent days going over the adoptables on the website and talking to the foster moms. Chiclet was one of our top choices. Though when we went to the adoption event, Flash almost stole our hearts. The minute you pick him up, he turns into a lump of purring mush. But, Katara* (Chiclet) is my girl. I am her person. Rob is a little jealous because he is the cat person, yet he's her second choice. He can be sitting on the couch with her and she'll be half-asleep and when she hears me open the door, she gets up and comes running to mommy. :)

On Saturday, Oct 28, we had another bird show. It sucked. Mom sold one lovebird. I talked to several other breeders, and no one was really buying anything other than finches and canaries. Crappy times.

And now for the other big news: I have a new store: Laurel Park. Yup. I finally got it. I've heard quite the stories in the past week about how their previous manager didn't manage. I so wanted to say "I told you so." But, I was being offered a promotion, so I kept my yap shut. There's ALOT of cleaning up after the previous manager that I have to do. I can't find half the paperwork. Her idea of a filing system appeared to be "pick a folder, any folder." I asked my District Manager for a filing cabinet. She told me that I had a banker's box. Ohhhhhh. That'll last. :P Anyway, the sales have been great. The staff needs a little shaping, but I think they're fairly good. They just need some discipline (and an attention span longer than that of a fruit fly would help some of them). Problem is I'm short on help. I'd love to steal Joel, but he's managing my old store. *gasp*shock* If that store closes in January, though, Joel and Josh are mine! Joel just re-hired someone who used to work for Ritz way back in the day. We're going to share him. So, that will help me through the holidays, at least. I just hope he has a good memory. Training at this time of year is a pain in the ass. It's less training and more sink or swim.

That's about it. I need to go and dressed and head off to work. I have a pile of paperwork to wade through....

*Yes, Rob and I are uber-nerds. Katara is the name of a character on a cartoon: The Avatar.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T08:09:00.000-05:00

VOTE!!!!!

2006-10-25T08:54:00.000-04:00

This may be the most important race this year! Your vote is needed! No, no! I'm not talking politics here! I'm talking guinea pigs! And their race to show that they are the cutest Halloween pets out there! So, what are you waiting for? The piggies to turn into zombie-vampire pigs? Now, we wouldn't want that would we? Then go vote for Cloud and Sugar -- the sweetest Halloween treats!

VOTE HERE

Evil Little Game

2006-10-24T15:20:00.000-04:00

Found this horribly addictive game courtesy of Tammy

Disney Pics

2006-10-23T14:22:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Disney's Animal Kingdom!

The Tree of Life.

The Tree ofLife is covered in carvings. This is a close-up of part of the tree.

Wouldn't even know you're at Disney! This is Disney's Mt. Everest as seen from one of the bridges, crossing from Discovery Island to Africa.

Close-up of Mt. Everest.

Mt. Everest is really a roller coaster ride. It's fairly new to the park. It was fun! Rob didn't know that at one point the coaster goes backwards (in the dark with strobe lights going!) It's a fun ride and at the end you get to see the infamous Yeti!

The Park has a few paths that you can walk and experience the wildlife of that area. In Asia, there were these Fox Bats (fruit bats). They sleep in trees, not in caves, so we could see them. They're so cool!

What is that? That freaky thing? That freaky thing is a naked mole rat!*

The gorillas came right up to the glass. They are such amazing creatures!

In Asia they had a bird show called "Flights of Wonder," where they showed off different bird species. This is Pogo, a Citron Cockatoo.

I got called on stage with another girl to take the "photo of a lifetime." They chose two people from the audience who had cameras (who? me? have a camera?) They had a great-horned owl fly from the back of the audience to the stage on a perch behind us.

Ok, so this is the picture I got. Ummmm, now that I think about it, I should have taken video, but hindsight is 20/20, so whatever. :P

This is a cut-out of the previous photo. See that blur? That's the owl! I actually got the shot! :P Ok, so he's blurry. And I had the camera on continous in sports mode.

One of the birds they had to show us was a Harris Hawk. He's so beautiful!

DinoLand USA at Disney. It's basically a carnival for kids (sponsored by McDonalds)

The parade at close was awesome!

*"Naked Mole Rap" from Kim Possible.

Back Home

2006-10-22T19:16:00.000-04:00

We're back. We're in one piece. And we have all of our luggage. Yay.

More to come when I'm actually awake.

(Not A) Vacation

2006-10-19T09:38:00.000-04:00

So, Rob and I are off to sunny Florida today for his cousin's wedding. Usually, I'd be excited to leave and go somewhere warm and beautiful, even if for a short while. However, I am just not excited about going. It's 9:30 and I haven't packed yet (we have to be at the airport around 1:00). Too many stressful things have been going on. I know, I know, you think that would mean that I'd want to get away. However, this vacation IS one of the stressful things. We actually changed our tickets to come home early because Trip was sick and we didn't want to burdon Mel with taking care of him any longer than necessary. Monday was supposed to be our Disney day. Now, it's been moved up to tomorrow. However, IF we go, we have no way there, other than to figure out Orlando's public bus system. (our hotel is 20 miles away and has no shuttle to Disney, as hotels closer to Disney usually have). Not to mention tickets for Disney are obnoxiously expensive (as are Universal Studios and Sea World). We thought that since Animal Kingdom closes at 5:00 (and the Park hopper option is an extra $45/ticket), that we might go to Universal Studios instead, figuring they'd be open later. HA! They close at 5:00 too. Well, why don't you just sit by the pool and enjoy a relaxing day in the sun? You ask. Because it's supposed to thunderstorm tomorrow. There's no winning. See you Monay. :P

Goodbye, My Dear Trip

2006-10-16T21:15:00.000-04:00

Trip took a sudden turn for the worse this morning. His breathing became extremely difficult and shallow. He became inactive, stopped eating, and just slept. We put him down this afternoon. We will be burying him in our friend Joel's yard. He has a spot in his garden next to an Easter Lily that is starting to bloom. For such a small kitten who was with such a short time, he leaves a giant hole in our heart.

Update on Trip

2006-10-15T09:10:00.000-04:00

Well, we brought Trip home with us last night. The little guy's test results do not look promising. But we're willing to try. And Trip is willing try.

Here's the details:

First, his lung fluid test came back looking like either fluid due to cardiovascular disease or FIP.

Second, his blood test for coronna virus came back positive, but not extremely high levels. So, yes, he has a coronna virus, but there are many types of coronna viruses.

Third, his blood protien levels are normal.

Fourth, the fluid in his lungs continues to increase. The first night they pulled 50 cc out, third night, 70 cc (aprox. 2 oz), and last night, over 90 cc. The fluid is in and around his lungs. The around his lungs is what's concerning the vet. It's actually crushing his lungs and causing his difficulty breathing. After pulling the 90 cc out last night, one lung fully reinflated, however the other did not.

There is no absolute test for FIP while the cat is alive. However, by adding all of this evidence up, the vet has come to the conclusion that he most likely has FIP. It's the fluid around his lungs that has especially drawn them to this conclusion. The vet said that in her 11 years of practice, she has only seen the wet form of FIP once, and unfortunately, it looked a lot like what little Trip has.

Based on the vet's call to me yesterday, telling me his breathing was more labored, he had more fluid in his lungs, and he wasn't eating, and that we should come in, I was expecting to see a lump of a kitty and was preparing myself to let the vets euthenize him. But as soon as they brought him in and lifted the lid off his oxygen cage, he saw us and started purring. Soon, he started eating, which he hadn't done all day at the vet's! He was breathing so hard though, each breath labored, and painful to watch. The vet pulled the 90 cc of liquid out of his chest and we took him home. He is currently happy and comfortable. He's been grooming himself, eating like a little piggie, and even playing! We have him quardoned off in the bathroom and hallway so he doesn't go running all around and over-exerting himself. Last night Rob and I spent our evening in the hall with him. He nuzzled up against us, purring, batted at the pages of our books, and enjoyed little head scritches. This morning when I opened the bedroom door, he came bounding over to me. He is giving me such hope! His breathing is still labored, though. We're still hoping it's pneumonia. We're hoping the vet is wrong. We're hoping the antibiotics will clear this all up and he'll go on to live a long life with us.

Trip, sitting up and atentive.

Trip testing out his bed.

Sleepy Trip.

sob

2006-10-11T15:35:00.000-04:00

Today Trip went to the vet. Last night Rob noticed that Trip was breathing abnormally heavy. We tried listening to his breathing and I heard little gasps. This being my first cat and knowing relatively little about them, I look up respiratory problems in cats in the book and online. I decide that kitty needs to go the vet. I called this morning and they squeezed him into their schedule. And it's a good thing too. Trip is really sick. His lungs are full of fluid. The vet said that it's pretty serious. She can't figure out how this got past Planned Pethood. They check all their animals and make sure they're healthy. She thinks that this has been going on for a while, b/c it's so severe. She has no idea how they overlooked it! She called Planned Pethood and they're taking care of the bill. But that doesn't make me feel much better. My new friend is really sick. The vet thinks it's either really bad pneumonia, or worse, FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis), which is usually fatal. I'm pretty much a zombie right now. Trip's at the vet's office getting oxygen in their ICU. They're sending out samples of the fluid in his lungs and his blood to be analyzed. I should know tomorrow late afternoon or Friday what's going on. In the meantime, I'm going to sit here in shock. Poor little Trip. :(

Meet Trip!

2006-10-09T21:21:00.000-04:00

The kitty arrives!

2006-10-09T08:51:00.000-04:00

So, yesterday morning I picked up our new family member from the adoption people. :) I had to work that day, so the little guy came with me. He was great! He followed me around like a shadow and kept getting underfoot and I kept tripping over him. Thus, we are pretty sure his name is Trip. He was all content until I had to print pictures and the air compressor went on. Then he got scared and hid between some boxes in the back. As long as I knew where he was, I was ok with it. Then it was time to go back in the carrier and on the way home. He kept pawing at me through the bars, so I put my fingers through the bars and he started purring. :) Then we got home, and I think it was sensory overload. First he was taken to the adoption place at PetCo where there were lots of people and cars, and then to my work with scary machines, and now home. He decided the best thing to do was go under the couch and go to sleep. I only dug him out once to make sure he knew where the litter boxes and food were. Then he came out once to take a drink out of my glass of ice water. LOL Silly kitty. This morning I found him hiding under the couch still. I decided I should lessen the sensory overload a little. I moved his carrier with the fleece and his food and a couple toys to the bathroom. Then I put him in there. He's happier. I sat down with him and had a happy purring kitty in my lap and then up against my legs mewing up at me while I was putting on my makeup. I think we'll keep in the bathroom for a couple days. Yeah, it's small, but it won't overwhelm him. That, and I can double check and make sure any potentially bad kitty hiding spots are covered up (like, say, under the oven! I discovered this morning that there's a kitten sized gap under there!) My alleriges have been doing ok. I've broken out where I've gotten clawed, and I can't blame him. He didn't like being dragged out from his hiding place. Other than that, no wheezing, no sneezing! Yipee! I'm still going to use Allerpet on him, though. He has the softest fur! He is the softest cat I've ever felt! He's great! And I'm sorry but I don't have any pictures to put up yet b/c we were busy at work and the poor thing was exhausted from his long day. But don't worry, I'll take some photos. :)

Now, the question is, how do I tell my parents I have a cat? They hate cats. Oh, by the way mom and dad, watch your step, you're likely to find a cat underfoot?

Livejournal vs. Blogger?

2006-10-07T08:11:00.000-04:00

I was in the mood for change, so I created a livejournal account. I'm thinking of switching.

Which layout do you prefer?

Naarah's Livejournal

2006-10-04T22:05:00.000-04:00

So, when I went to see my doctor last week, she wrote me a script for Welbutrin. I'm already on Effexor, but I've been really down lately. Between having to give up the fuzzies and not knowing whether or not my store will remain open, it's been stressful. I didn't want to increase the Effexor. If I forget to take a pill, I get withdrawl that day. It's strong stuff and I'd like to get off it. In the meantime, though, I'm taking both. And they're working! I'm full of energy, silly, and more positive than I remember being in a long time! I wish I had been given this to try in the first place before Effexor (which has worked for years, admittedly). Anyway, I'm handling things much better now. Wheeeeee! A positive outlook is a good thing!

In other news, our ferret foster mom e-mailed me today. Our kids are doing well. They're being themselves and getting into all kinds of trouble! They figured out how to escape out of their play area! Ah! My clever little kids! Rob and I are going over there on the 14th to see them and to pick up the boys for their vaccinations (I'm sure they'll be thrilled about that part.) I'm sad to not have them here, but I'm thrilled to have found a foster ferret mom who is enjoying their company and antics and who is taking such good care of them. Still, I can't wait to get them back! The next six months are going to go by slow without them. I hope the ferrets and the new kitty get along when we introduce them. I'm sure the ferrets would love to have a "big ferret" to play with!

Well, I should start thinking about sleeping (if I can get to sleep. Oy. I'm a little wound up on these meds). Happy dreams!

Kitty!

2006-10-03T20:56:00.000-04:00

This is a picture of Yoda, our soon to be new kitty! Yay! We pick him up on Sunday. (I didn't take the picture, this is off the Planned Pethood website, the adoption organization that we are adopting him through). Rob and I thinking we may change his name. Any suggestions?

2006-10-01T17:13:00.001-04:00

You are 46% normal

You're not normal. In fact, you are a weirdo. Although you still have the potential to fool people into thinking you are normal. They will certainly be in for a rude awakening none the less.

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

2006-10-01T16:22:00.000-04:00

So, our apartment is now furry critter free. It is most sad. The people, Barb and Dave, who are ferret sitting for us are very nice. They have an awesome ferret set-up! They have three ferrets of their own: Jimmy, Rolly, and Queen Mary of Fert. :) Morgan will be thrilled to have new ferret friends, though I'm not sure how Penny will take it. After all, she is Her Royal Highness, Penelope J. Weasel. We let the ferrets sniff each other through cage bars yesterday. In a few days, Barb is going to try real introductions. I did really well yesterday with all of it. Then we came home, I saw the empty ferret room and I broke down and started crying. My kids are gone. And yes, they're my kids. I have pictures of them in my wallet, and one tattooed on my back. They are my kids. The home feels so empty. Yes, we have all the birds, but it's not the same. Which is weird, b/c the only pets I grew up having were birds. And I love my birds. But it's just not the same. I can't explain. So now, Rob and I are considering getting a cat.* This is probably the oddest thing anyone who knows me will hear me say. I'm not a "cat person." I'd classify myself as a dog-ferret-bird person. But cats can be cool. Especially when the purr. And Mel had this awesome cat, Jelly, that was such a lover. All he wanted was head scritches, to sit in your lap, and purr. There's something inately relaxing about a cat's purr. So, here I am, contridicting everything I've ever told someone who has birds, and thinking about getting a cat. This would mean a few things: 1) The birds would get the former ferret room (which we were planning on anyway); 2) When we move, we'd have to find a place where the ferrets could have their own room and the birds have their own room, which is more expensive; 3) My mother would disown me. Hmmmmm.... so not all bad. ;P So, there's a lot of thinking and decision making to be done.

*Our apartment complex allows cats. And only cats. And birds.

wet

2006-09-27T20:51:00.000-04:00

Rob and I had today off. We went to Parmenter's Cider Mill. I took pictures of the ducks. Then it started thunder storming and raining pretty heavy so we took cover.

Today was day one of ferret bath day: Token and Pixel. Saturday they're going to their foster home (sniff.... sob.... sniff... sob.....). I thought that they should go their temporary home all nice and clean. The boys, however vehamently disagreed.

Token all snuggled up in a towel after his bath.

This is one extremely unhappy, wet ferret.

Smiling

2006-09-19T09:25:00.000-04:00

I filled up the gas tank last night and my total caqme to $15 (yay for $2.05/gallon!) :D

The Tiger's Win!

2006-09-16T12:16:00.001-04:00

Rob and I went to the Tiger's game last night with my parents. We had decent seats and had great time! This was the second time we went to a game this season (I took my dad in July as a combined birthday/father's day gift.) I didn't feel like bringing my big camera, so I just toted along my little compact and took some fun pictures and video.

The view from our seats.

The fountains going off after a home run.

Tigers win!!

Post-game fireworks.

The Fox Theater as seen as we were leaving the stadium from the upper deck.

Detroit skyline from the upper deck.

Detroit skyline from the upper deck.

sigh

2006-09-08T22:41:00.000-04:00

The apartment is oddly empty. The rats are gone. The piggies are gone.* The gerbils are gone. The ferrets are still here, but not for much longer. We have found someone who will foster them for us for the remainder of our lease. And even with the birds, the apartment seems dishearteningly quiet. There is no sound of clicking water bottles or the scurrying on a wheel that have become part of the background noises in our lives here. It's kindof lonely. And really sucky.

*Tammy is fostering the rats and piggies. We're still looking for a perma-home for them.

miserable

2006-08-30T11:45:00.000-04:00

When it rains, it pours. And it never seems to pour anything good. :P

When we moved in to our apartment 3 years ago, we listed ferrets and birds on our lease. Apparently, ferrets are not ok. During a routine maintenance inspection, the ferrets were "discovered."* Ok, and all the other critters discovered too. We were told they have to go. So, Tammy and Tom are helping us out by fostering the pigs and rats until we can find new homes for them. We found someone to foster the ferrets until we can move. They won't let us out of our lease and won't let us go month to month without penalties. We moved here with the ferrets, they're our kids, we're not giving them up. They're family. So, we found somone on our ferret group who lives out between Battle Creek and Eaton Rapids who will foster our ferrets until our lease is up in the end of March.** Needless to say, I am not taking this well. I have spent the past couple days crying. I'm miserable. This really sucks.

*What's to discover? They were listed on our lease!
**I wish they were closer. I know, beggars can't be choosers, so I'm sooo thankful that someone is offering to help us out! If they were closer, I could visit my kids. I'm going to miss them so!

Circus Pics!

2006-08-22T15:16:00.000-04:00

It's Ren Fest Time!

2006-08-22T13:49:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year again! The Michigan Renaissance Festival is upon us! Rob and I are planning on going with Tammy and Tom and a sundry of other scalywags the Sunday before Labor Day. Looks like we have a pretty large group of us going! Should be a lot of fun! If you'd like to join in the festivities, contact either one of us. I'm not sure if we're all meeting up ahead of time somewhere and car pooling or just meeting at the Festival itself. But we'll figure it in enough time. :D That weekends theme is the "high seas adventure" so be sure to wear your pirate outfit! yaaaaar!

so. very. tired.

2006-08-19T20:56:00.000-04:00

Geez, it's not even 9:00 and I feel like it's well after midnight. I am so crashing into bed soon.

Today we went to the Kelly Miller Circus with Tammy and Tom. It was very cool. It was an old fashioned big top circus under a tent and all. And we were allowed to take pictures! So yes, Tammy and I took pictures. And no, I'm don't have them uploaded yet. I'll get around to it. I have to fix the pics in photoshop. I didn't want to use my flash, so I had to up my ISO to 3200 to shoot existing light, and the pics are noisy. For all of you non-camera geeks out there: I'll have the pictures up in a few days.

Then we took my dad out to dinner for his birthday, which was actually Thursday. Happy Birthday Dad!

While we were at the circus, I turned my phone on silent so I wouldn't be disturbed. Apparently, while I was gone, the film processor at work decided to "blow up" in a manner of speaking, and leak chemistry everywhere. I tried talking the boys through what to look for (chemistry levels low, hoses being detached), but we couldn't locate the leak. I called Mel who knows the machines better than me, and asked if she had any ideas. She calls me back -- from the store!!!! It was her day off! Ugh! I feel so bad! It wasn't my intention for her to go to the store! I just wanted her input. But she went in b/c she thought it was because of a leak she thinks she caused yesterday. Yes, Mel was at my store. She was helping me out while Joel is on vacation. And the machines gave her a lovely welcoming present by deciding to have almost every problem possible. Grrrrrrrrrr! Mel is a lab goddess! Hopefully this leak is under control. (Mel -- I owe you ice cream for coming in to help me! I'll take you to Stucchi's or something as soon as I have money again!) If the lab is not back to working order I may just curl up and cry. We have inventory tomorrow and I just can't deal with both.

And now I'm going to bed. I'm about to fall asleep on the keyboard....

Eeeeek!

2006-08-11T18:25:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited I'm bouncing! I had my first sale off of Etsy today! Woohoo! Yay! This is the picture that sold: LINK

Wheeeeeee! *bounce* *bounce* *bounce* I'd say I feel like a professional now, but really I feel more like a 10 year old on Christmas morning! *bounce*

Cedar Point II

2006-08-06T19:12:00.000-04:00

The rest of Josh's videos:

The Gemini

The Millenium Force

Enjoy!

Cedar Point I

2006-08-05T22:50:00.000-04:00

First, let me clarify: I did not make the trip to Cedar Point. I am putting this online for my co-worker, Josh, who went to Cedar Point with Dustin (also a co-worker) a couple of weeks ago. Nerds that we are, they took video on the rides! (shhhh! That's not allowed!)

To view the Raptor video, go HERE.

The original footage is much nicer. I don't know why it uploaded so crappy. :P But it took over a half hour just to upload that video! I'd hate to think about how long a higher res clip would take to upload. Oh well. Enjoy the video. In the next couple days I'll put Josh's video of the Millenium Force and Gemini on youtube.

EDIT: The link works now. Really. Truly. Youtubes resolution is low, so sorry about that. Blame youtube. :P Otherwise, enjoy the ride!

Enh.

2006-07-28T18:17:00.000-04:00

That's it. Enh. It's been that kind of week. I've woken up with a headache every day. Every day, damnit! Today, my day off, it was so bad I stayed in bed most of the day. I had wanted to go downtown A2 to the Social Security office and finally change my last name officially, and then do some window shopping. But nope, I've been here, at home, all day. Whopdeshit. Oh well. I have complained in the past that i never get a day off that actually is a day off where I have nothing to do, so I guess today was it.

I've been playing alot with my new macro lens. I love it! It rocks. Check out the fun pictures:

This is Zanzibar eating a cheerio. Yum! Cheerios!

Baby parrotlet. Picture taken a week ago. Just getting into their "fraggle" stage. Seriously, they remind me fraggles at this age! And yes, that's baby bird food all over him.

Same parrotlet, picture taken about an hour ago. OMG, it has feathers!

Penelope J. Weasel waking up as I go in in the morning to medicate Morgan. Isn't she adorable all sleepy-eyed and cute?

Speaking of Morgan, he is making great progress! His foot is normal sized and healing wonderfully! I'll get a pic of it when it's looking even better. :D

Well, gonna eat some dinner now. 'Night.

Update....

2006-07-20T10:05:00.000-04:00

So, here's what's going on:

First, and most important in my book: Morgan's foot is better! Yay! His foot is practically a normal size now! Oh, it's still ugly (scabby, and such), but the little bugger is healing! He's his normal wiggley, squirmy, hyper self again. He hates being in the isolation cage and misses playing with Penny J. and romping in the digging box. He has a second check-up with the vet on Saturday, so we'll get a better idea in a couple of days what the pro thinks, but in our ferrety mom and dad opinion, he's doing fantastic! :D

Yesterday, Rob and I went to the Ann Arbor Art Fair with Tammy and her friend Paul. We didn't see all of it (ummmm, less than half). Surprisingly, I'm not burnt. In fact, I have a nice tan going on! *gasp* Yup. The pale girl is now the color that the rest of you "normal" people are year round. LOL We didn't buy much. No $$. We did get a cool hanging lizard fan pull. And I bought a pair of Birkenstocks on clearance. (it's been about 5 years since my last Birkenstock purchase... I'm due for a new pair).

Last week, of course, was the party. Sorry I didn't update on that. We were sorta busy with Morgan. We had a good time. Tammy took some pictures using a green screen so she can put us all in guinea pig cages or have piggies attack us. Should be funny when she finishes them. :) Rob and I didn't get home til after 2:00 -- we stayed up to watch Pirates (the 1st one) on Tammy and Tom's wide screen TV. The entire time Winslow Pig was staring at us. I think he was wondering why all the bi-pedals were there and not paying attention to him or feeding him. He was too funny!

Well, I have to get ready for work now.....

setting up shop

2006-07-15T22:09:00.000-04:00

I should get a medal for being so motivated! Wow! This is so unlike me. ;) I mean, first I finish Joel's website, then I finish mine, then I set up shop on Etsy. Go me!

So, check out my shop and wish me well and much success! fireandlight.etsy.com

updated!

2006-07-14T22:58:00.000-04:00

*whew* Finally, I have gotten off my lazy ass (actually, sat on it in front of the computer) and have updated my website. This actually consisted of me starting from scratch. :-P My previous web host was craptacular and I wasn't able to log on and edit or check e-mail. Yeah. That's a great to run a business. So, I changed servers, re-uploaded everything, and while I was at, edited my site, which consisted of changing my background, editing some pictures, and adding some pictures. I still want to do some more editing, but I'm close to being done. :) Now, I'm off to sleep. It's late and I work tomorrow.

website: http://www.fireandlightstudios.com

Done!

2006-07-13T08:27:00.001-04:00

Joel's website is up and running:

www.jbphoto-online.com

Why should I care, you may ask? Well, first off, I built it. So :-P Second, check out the model's page. Mmmmmmm.... eye candy... (think Matt's Friday culture and hot guy entries)

Best viewed using Explorer. (I tried it with Firefox, and not all the features work right. :P Probably b/c I used MS Frontpage to build the site. Stupid Microsoft).

In other, unrelated news...
Google is coming to Ann Arbor.

Poor Morgan!

2006-07-11T22:16:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I get a call from Rob just as I'm leaving work. Morgan is sick -- needs to go to the vet now! His foot is turning purple and is swollen to twice it's normal size. He's called around to the local emergency vet (Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti), but neither one treats ferrets. They reccommended us to an emergency vet in Novi. We take Morgan in, they check the foot, do x-rays. Morgan has some kind of infection in his foot. It's causing blood flow problems. They kept him overnight on an IV and anti-biotics. We got to take him home today. His foot is still swollen. He's on anti-biotics and pain killers. Poor baby! If the swelling doesn't go down, he may lose his foot! :( We're so worried for our little baby. He is such a sweet little ferret! He snuggled in my shirt all the way home! He's going to see his regular vet on Friday for a check-up.

Morgan's foot. Yup, they shaved the leg.

Morgan poking his head out of his temporary cage. We have to keep him separated for a couple weeks so he can rest and get healthy. Penny isn't too happy about being without her cage mate and little bro.

Happy Birthday to..... ME!

2006-07-05T20:49:00.000-04:00

Yay! I had two days off! And one of them is my birthday! That's today! :D

Yesterday, Rob and I took my parents to see Superman Returns. I enjoyed the movie. Thought it well done. And in case you didn't recognize the guy who plays Richard, Lois Lane's boyfriend, yup, that Cyclops from the X-Men movies. See? Looks like he followed the director and ran from X-Men III also. So can not blame them! After the movie we went to dinner at Uno's. Yum! Spinocolli pizza and a pomegranite daiquiri (strong! and after spending the day with my mom, you'd need it strong too!)

Today Rob and I took it easy. We went over to the eagle pond park in Sumpter. I didn't really see any eagles (ok, I did see one flying around, but nothing that was close enough to photograph). I did get some cool shots of a blue heron, though. I haven't downloaded anything yet. I'll post after I do. Then we had dinner at China Gate downtown A2. Awesome food! Yum!

So, that was my day. Hope everyone had a great Fourth!

This is disturbing

2006-06-30T22:45:00.000-04:00

A friend sent me this and I wanted to share. It is disturbing. It is a video detailing a rally by the National Socialist Movement. It is scary to think that there are people out there who believe in this, who are so narrow-minded. Anyway, here's the LINK.

EDIT: The first few frames of the video are in Hebrew. Sorry, I can't tell you what it says, as I don't know any. Just be patient through that part.

Pics

2006-06-27T09:45:00.000-04:00

Dixie, the Red-Lored Amazon.

The piggies' new cage! That's Montgomery you see. He's thinking about stealing Mortimer's carrot. Mortimer is hiding behind the ramp. Yesterday Monty went and explored the second level! Yay!! Of course, I help encourage that by putting the greens up there!

weekendy stuff

2006-06-27T09:14:00.000-04:00

So, Friday the DM came in and we talked about the "plans" for Ann Arbor and Laurel Park. I'm still not satisfied with the answers, but we'll see how everything plays out. Two of her reasons for giving LP to Dominique instead of me are BS, in my opinion: 1) Dom wanted out of Ann Arbor, it's too far for her to drive; and 2) I'm not organized enough. 1) Wah. Wah. Fucking Wah. I drove from Farmington Hills to A2 the first 6 months I started working here. Don't like the drive? Then you shouldn't have accepted a position in Ann Arbor. Suck it up. Or move. 2) Ok, those of you who know me personally, say, yeah, Naarah's not all that organized. That's true. At home, I'm a mess. But when it comes to work, I'm very organized. I have a calendar for work, a folder for all my work stuff at home (which I carry with me), and at work everything has a place. If I find something out of place, I find out who didn't put it back and give them hell. She used the backroom as an example: that it's better, but there's still stuff on the table. She didn't have anything to say to me, though, after I explained to her that stuff on the table were training materials and photography magazines. So :-P As Dustin said, if you want me to be more organized, buy me a desk!
Ok, so what about your store, Naarah? Well, the lease is up in November! Fuckin' A! That soon. Shit. She's been told that we're looking at moving to the ArborLand area. Ok, that could be good, that could suck donkey balls.

Good:
-Potentially high traffic.
-A move means a Frontier (digital lab).
-A move to a higher traffic area may mean higher levels and more cameras.
-The store won't close and we won't all be out of jobs.

Bad:
-Where exactly in the ArborLand area? In ArborLand? By Whole Foods? Where? Because if it's across the street, then you can cross it off your list now! Unh-uh! No way. Across the street are ghetto stores! It would suck to be there! We'd be better off sticking it out where we are now and see how traffic improves once the changes to our center are made!
-Adray and Circuit City would be immediate competition! Ok, so we've got CC beat on knowledge and Adray beat on customer service, but they've both got my store beat on selection. So, unless you make my store a mini-ultra and make sure I have all the stock, fuggedaboutit.
-Moving in November would suck donkey balls. Right during the Christmas rush. Oy. Now that'll be fun.

So, that was Friday.

Saturday, Rob and I were considering going to the jewelry show in Novi and taking my mom. However, mom's latest medications were making her the bitch from hell (even she admitted to picking unnecessary fights and being unreasonable!). And Rob and I really wanted nothing to do with that. Besides, she didn't feel like going. So, we didn't! Ok, so I missed out on getting some jewelry. Eh. The show will be around again. Rob and I had a nice, relaxing day. We went to the Ann Arbor farmer's market and got lots of fresh goodies: organic greens and carrots (for the piggies), snow peas, shelling peas, strawberries (the real kind of strawberries, not the overgrown, on-steroids kind from the supermarket), and some lamb (yup, they have meat there too). Rob has decided he wants to be a "Greek vegetarian:" eating fish and lamb.* ;) Then we had pizza and gelato for lunch, came home and relaxed. It was nice. Later that evening we built the piggie's larger cage and watched In Good Company.

Sunday was a bit more hectic. We went up to Grand Rapids for a bird trade for my mother. 16 lovebirds for a red-lored Amazon. All I can say is hallelujah! Less lovebirds. The Amazon's name is Dixie, and she's very sweet. We stopped and got a carry-out of Pietros to take home. The. Best. Italian. Food. Ever. By the time we got home it was 9:00 and we were exhausted.

*Reference from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

PARTY!

2006-06-21T10:59:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! Come celebrate with me and Tammy on July 8th! We're celebrating our birthdays! I'm not ashamed to say I'll be 29 (for the FIRST time, thank you very much!)

Place: Tammy's
Time: 2:00ish -- until everyone leaves and/or gets kicked out

There'll be friends, food, alcohol, and fun! If there's sun, we might even put the volleyball net up!

Please join us!

(Maps and directions will be forthcoming via e-mail)

Monday, Bleh!

2006-06-19T08:09:00.000-04:00

This past week has just been one big fat reminder as to why I hated managing for Ritz Camera in the first place. I got a "bonus" for reaching store goals last month, but you'd never know it by looking at my check. You see, they pay us such crap that they had to set up a "guaranteed rate" for all managers. This only affects managers who make below a certain amount. Me, being in one of Ritz's shit stores (we're like the black foster child -- nobody wants us, nobody gives a fuck about us. I know that is sooooooo not politically correct. But we are way beyond being the red-headed stepchild!), I make below this amount. So, they add money to each paycheck to guarantee that I'm at their "minimum." The problem with this is that this money is a loan. Yup. So, when I make a bonus, like I did for May, I have to pay Ritz back. So, my bonus goes bye-bye. If they have to keep "loaning" me money, then at the end of the year, they'll just take it all back out of my Christmas bonus. Mother-fuckers. I think that they want to guarantee our rates is great (but in my opinion, it should be a hell of a lot more than it is!). But don't rape my bonuses! How fucking hard is it to pay us what we're worth?!? Hell, half of what we're worth. It's still more than you're paying us! This is one reason I'm livid about the Laurel Park store. I'd be making enough there that this rapage of my paychecks wouldn't happen. Our pay is partially based on our sales (commissions) and the money the store brings in. Laurel Park is a high-traffic store that has more product than my store! I'd be making more money! I wouldn't have to drive around with no air conditioning in my car because I can't afford $200 to fix it! Want to know what to give me for my birthday? Money. I need to fix my car. Feh. And now I have to go and get dressed and drag my miserable ass to my miserable job.

In the news....

2006-06-16T19:59:00.000-04:00

The Ann Arbor News recently did an article on how the Cranbrook Village Shopping Center (where my store is located) has, well, died, and how the loss of Mervyn's is affecting the retailers left there. If anyone is interested, here it is. If the plans go through for the center -- a bookstore, rumored to be Borders, and a speciality grocer -- then the center has a chance. Right now, though, it has a 50% occupency. Most of our business is destination traffic. We don't get a lot of browsers or potential traffic. There's no reason to come to the center -- there's no stores. I'll believe it all when I see it. Mervyn's has been closed for 5 months and there's no activity going on at the other end of the center. So we'll see.

Wicked

2006-06-12T09:40:00.000-04:00

Yesterday a whole big group of us (me, Rob, Joel, Barry, Mel, Shannon, Tammy, and Paul) went to see Wicked at the Masonic Temple. I really enjoyed it. It was a HUGE rewrite of the book by Gregory Maquire (which, if you haven't read yet, I so extremely, highly recommend doing so!) When I first heard that they were turning the book into a musical, I couldn't see how. The book is so dark. And musicals, by their very nature, are not. So, they gave it a makeover. And surprisingly, I'm ok with it. It worked. We had an understudy in the main lead, Elphaba (aka "The Wicked Witch of the West") and she was amazing! If only I had such a voice! Wow. My review is a big thumbs up. If you can still get tickets, go see it.

Bend over and prepare to get fucked!

2006-06-06T19:14:00.000-04:00

So, today was a manager's meeting. Here's how it went:

Al, the store manager of Michigan's only ultra store is moving. Clarence, the manager of the Laurel Park store is taking over his store. Oh? Really? Then who is taking Laurel Park? Dominique. What? What the Fuck? Excuse me mother-fucker? That's right folks, you heard it, just hours after I heard it for the first time. Our delightful DM did not bother to tell any of us that 1) the biggest mother-fucking Ritz in the state has an opening for a manager and that 2) a high-traffic mall store has an opening for a manager. No, her current managers were not given the option to bid on a bigger, better store. No, she made her choice like an elitist country club and fucked us over.

:-P

2006-05-29T20:55:00.000-04:00

Ella and I saw X-Men: The Last Stand today. Let me sum up my opinion of the movie for you: those big fat fuckity fuck fuck fuck fuckers!! I'm erasing it from my memory and pretending that it doesn't exist. What? Don't I have one good thing to say about the movie. Yes. I have two in fact: Kelsey Grammer was an awesome choice for Beast. He fits the role perfectly. And Hugh Jackman is hot. But that's a given. Otherwise, the movie sucks, don't bother seeing it. It's not worth $8.00 and 2 hours of your time.

Back Home... Again

2006-05-25T14:22:00.000-04:00

Well, Rob and I are finally back from our anniversary trip to Niagara Falls. We stayed on the Canada side in the Brock Hotel. We had a lovely view from our room:

The first day there, we walked along the Falls drive. It was cold and drizzly. Hmmmm... kindof remniscant of our wedding day. ;P That night, because it was Victoria Day, they set fireworks off over the falls.

The next day we did all the fun, touristy stuff. We purchased a Great Gorge Adventure Pass. The Journey Behind the Falls and the Maid of the Mist were lots of fun. We got soaked!

Then, Tuesday night, we saw Cirque Niagara. Oh. My. God. So cool. It was absolutely stunning. Not a bad seat in the house. Well, actually tent. Yup, the circus was in a tent. Like the old days. It was a fairly small and intimate setup. The only real difference between the pricey seats and the "cheap" seats were that the pricey seats were padded folding chairs and the "cheap" seats were fold down benches (think what you sat in your high school gymnasium for pep rallies and stuff). Ok, so the benches were narrow, but the seats were awesome. The show was awesome. If you make it up to Niagara this year, this is a must see! And don't bother paying for the expensive seats. Just bring a pillow to sit on for the benches. (sorry, no pictures of the circus, they were very strict about no photography. The don't want the horses spooked by flash, or an acrobat falling flat on his face or anything).

After Cirque Niagara, we parked back at the hotel and walked along Falls Dr. and took in the beautiful falls lit up at night. It was quiet and peaceful. Not many people were out, the city was lit up, the only sounds were that of the rushing falls and the clean smell of water permaeted the air. It was gorgeous.

Weds, our final day there, we went to the Niagara Falls Aviary, where we saw all kinds of neat birds from around the world and feed Rainbow Lorikeets. One of the areas was a nocturnal exhibit, and they had bats!! My pictures didn't really turn out, it being so dark and all. But still -- bats!! How cool! And while in the aviary, one of the birds (I later found out to be a Sisa, thought my shoelaces might be food, or maybe nesting material, and proceeded to tug on them). He was very friendly and I got some nice pics of him.

Our last Niagara stop was at the Butterfly Conservatory. The Conservatory was actually part of a large botanical gardens! If I had known this, I would have reserved a whole day just to see the butterflies and the gardens. As it was, we spent a great deal of time watching the butterflies! As soon as you walk in, there were butterflies everywhere! I swear, more than at the butterfly houses I've been to before!

And now, after a long drive, Rob and I are home, relaxing. Tomorrow, life goes back to it's usual routine.

No Big Surprse

2006-05-25T12:18:00.000-04:00

You scored as Paganism. Your beliefs are most closely aligned with those of paganism, Wicca, or a similar earth-based religion. You may also follow a Native American religion.

Paganism

79%

Buddhism

75%

agnosticism

63%

Satanism

63%

atheism

58%

Islam

42%

Judaism

38%

Hinduism

38%

Christianity

17%

Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
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