Adventures in the Colonial 'burg: April 2009

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Sleepy Dante

Dante is all worn out from his teeth cleaning. On the drive home, he was constantly falling all over the place, as if he were drunk. The first thing he did at home was drink two bowls of water, and now he is out like a light. His breath no longer smells like rotten fish, though, and I can let him give me kisses without feeling like I need to wash my face!

I had something...

You know, I had an idea this morning when I woke up way too early to write about. For once, I thought, I could write about something real instead of just the daily mudane happenings in my life. Alas, that is not going to be the case, as I cannot remember what it was. Of course, there is plenty of other things to discuss, such as the swine flu.

But first, I will muse on how it feels when Dante is not around. I dropped him off this morning for a teeth cleaning (yeah, his teeth are as bad as mine), but it was too early to go to the office, so I came home and slept a little more (20 more minutes), and now I'm preparing to go in. But it's weird because although Dante makes little noise at home, and when he's not, I feel like he's a much noisier dog. I think it's because he does like to move from place to place for where he naps, so there's those little noises which are gone, that one never notices. Kind of like the days after 9/11/2001, when no planes were flying, and we realized that we were used to the quiet jets soaring through the upper atmosphere.

But on to the swine flu. Could this be made any more hyped than it is? I mean, the panic here is worse than SARS, avian flu, and west nile virus...Oh yes, and mad cow. I know people are dying (and the first US death happened finally), but with the number of deaths in Mexico, as Jon Stewart put it, "it is the least likeliest thing in Mexico to kill you." I know it's nothing new, but I think the media is being way too irresponsible here. I understand it is something we should be aware of, but you know, the regular flu can kill. From the CDC website, "about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes", and that is just normal, ol', run-of-the-mill influenza. Get some perspective, people.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

More dentist

I dedicate this post to Melinda, at whom I am mad. I'm not sure if she realizes (or for that matter, cares) that we are fighting right now. The reason?

After all her time not going to the dentist, she gets to return with ONE CAVITY! I, on the other hand, don't wait ten years, just a measely 8, and I have to get a root canal (already done), a crown on the very same tooth where I had the root canal, and about five fillings.

So I've had the root canal, and today I get the day off of work (well, until lunch) to get my crown and some of the fillings. In three weeks I will get the permanent crown and the rest of the fillings.

I won't go through the day thinking terrible thoughts about Melinda, as I would never want to be so cruel. The only reason for that though, is because I have a dentist which has cable, and I can watch the Food Network for the entire visit. That almost makes it worth it.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Mini "heat wave"

Poor Dante had to deal with my stubbornness this weekend. On Saturday, it was pretty warm, and yet I was thinking, "as if I will turn on the a/c in April!" I went running errands and after getting home, I realized that the high that day was 97. I finally turned on the air (especially because I was going to use the oven), and Dante seemed to relax.

Now, last year we had a fantastic slow rise for the temperatures, and presumably it will cool off (not yesterday and not today, but maybe by Wednesday) somewhat, but this is the time of year that I usually love here. It's after the heat goes off, and before the a/c, so the windows can stay open and fresh air can flow. It could be worse, I guess.

On another note, they just mowed the lawn here this morning, so I'll be so happy when I head out to work (sadly at JLab today), as I drive through the complex, breathing in that freshly cut grass. It's like crack.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Hoping for something, anything, and getting nothing

I was expecting a phone call from someone, and I didn't know why. He just emailed me asking me for my work number and a good time to call. So I started thinking about all sorts of possibilities, and I had grand ideas of what it could mean. "Is it a job thing?" "Could I be getting some great offer for something exciting?"

No, it was a computer security problem. Not mine, but I use the machines that had the security breach, and the reason nothing was sent via email was because of a desire to keep this quiet. So it was just a "make sure all computers that connect to this one are checked for any breaches" call.

Alas.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Getting things done

I like days like this sometimes. They are rather mundane, where most everything I do has no major impact on either my life or work. Well, that's not exactly true, but they are administrative. Things like resetting passwords at Fermilab, sending around to colleagues my changes to our manuscript, submitting jobs to the computer cluster, and things like that on the work end. All things that need to get done and have a feeling of "yes, that is taken care of," but no real feeling of accomplishment.

On the personal side, I bought my ticket to New York for helping C move down. With the taxes added, the one-way fare was (are you ready?) $39.60. Seriously, I was shocked! I also reserved Dante's place at the kennel, and am preparing all of the things for moving to a new apartment. It all puts me into a mood of wanting to take a nap, and I really haven't done anything.

The feeling is one of "I have all sorts of things still to do, but they were all waiting for these other things to get done," and now I have to start the other things. But the sun is shining, and it's just almost too gorgeous to work anymore. This is the worst part about spring.

That and the allergies.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

"He just wrote it..."

So I never mentioned going to see In the Heights...We went on Saturday night, after successfully winning the lottery drawing they have for $26.50 tickets (front row, which is nice but not as ideal as one would imagine, considering the angle you're at). The show was good (eerily like Rent, but instead of poor homeless people and people with AIDS in the East Village, it was poor Latinos in Washington Heights), and it was a fun evening.

What was weird though, was while we were in line to get the tickets we won, the girl in front of us started talking to us about how good the show was and all that. Two things she said with regards to the guy who wrote the musical have stuck in my mind.

Her: "It's so great that he wrote this, and when you hear the story about him writing this, you can't help but think it's amazing."

Us: "Really, what's the story behind it?"

Her: "He just wanted to write it, and he did!" (first thing to stick in our heads)

Us: "Oh."

Her: "I mean, he's like, my age!" (second thing)

First of all, what an amazing story about the guy who wrote the musical. (I do think there may be more to the story.) Secondly, I don't know how old she is, but Jesus, the author (Lin-Manuel Miranda) is 29, just a few years younger than me and about Corbett's age, so shut the hell up, Miss "I think I'm all that!"

Monday, April 20, 2009

I hate driving

I used to love driving. In fact, I couldn't get enough of it. I remember how much fun I had just driving around Dallas when living there, and even moving to St. Louis, going on drives was soothing. Now, though, I despise it. I am certain it comes from having lived in New York. When I was there, I enjoyed getting a rental car to drive to my parents', or for whatever reason. It was a novelty. Now, though, when it's an essential part of my life, I cannot handle it anymore.

First of course there's the maintenance. There's the worry of something (else) happening to the car. The fact that if I want to go anywhere other than the DMV or 7-11 from my place, I have to hop in the car. It's an effort that I don't want to exert. In New York, if we needed eggs, it was a quick walk down a single block, and now even though the grocery store is just a mile away, getting in the car makes it seem like another state.

I drove back from New York yesterday. It was the last time I drove up there, and in May I will do this drive one more time, with the truck full of Corbett's belongings. I'm not sad about that, even though I'm sad about not really going up to the city regularly. The problem with this drive is that it just hurts the hell out of my back (I did also have a lot of boxes to bring in from the drive, but really that just made the back issues slightly worse, my back is always sore after driving that much).

I think to my (our) future, and although I don't think it is liikely we'll end up back in NY, I am ready to ensure that wherever we live, the least amount of driving will be required. Here I live close to the campus, but of course on days like today, when I have to head down to JLab, another hour in the car (roundtrip) is required. Sigh.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Strike 2

I am quickly becoming the worst dog owner ever. We are again in New York, and Corbett's mother, sister, niece (Ally) and nephew (Dylan) are here. They got here Wednesday night, Dante and I got here Saturday night.

Most of Sunday was spent out in the city, having a good time despite the horrid winter weather that we are having here. We were going to do an Easter egg hunt, but we got there too late and all the eggs were gone (this returns to Dante, I promise). As such, we promised the kids they could have their own hunt in Corbett's apartment.

So in the evening, Corbett and his mom went to the store to get some things, while his sis, the kids, Dante, and I remained at home. Ally and Dylan were getting excited about "the hunt," so we put them in the bathroom and hid the eggs (Dante was diligently following us sniffing each egg, knowing there was chocolate inside). Of course, we realized that this was cruel, because we wanted to wait for C and his mom to return, so we told them they had to wait.* Luckily, this was for about three minutes, and Corbett and his mom got back, and will all the excitement, the next 30 minutes was a blur.

Minutes 0-2: Corbett and his mom enter with the groceries, Dante and the kids greet them, and we put the groceries away.

Minutes 2-10: Easter egg hunt! All the eggs are found, and happiness is enjoyed by all.

Minutes 10-25: Corbett's sister calls her husband while the mom takes a bath, and Corbett and I basically ignore the kids while they proceed to eat all of their candy.**

Minutes 25-30: Corbett creates a new game called "Strangler" (no energy to explain this), and we run around playing this game. When his sister goes out into the hall to hide from Dylan (who is the strangler at this point), something dawns on me; Dante isn't getting all caught up in the excitement.

In fact, as we quickly realized, Dante was not in the apartment, nor in the hallway. I run and grab my shoes and his leash and collar (I take his collar off inside the apartment, so while he has a microchip, he had no tags on him), and run downstairs. I found him on the third floor, sniffing through someone's garbage that was left out for the night (that's how we get rid of trash in this building, we leave it out at night for them to pick up in the morning). I called him and he immediately came back in.

What must have happened was he went outside to greet Corbett and his mom, and with all the commotion was left out there, only to wander off because we never opened the door to let him back in. One day he'll make it all the way out because apparently I just don't think about him anymore.

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* Note, these kids are so ridiculously well behaved that they will just sit there, very little whining, and accept their lot in life. It's great when you want them to sit there and be quiet, or if they can't get what they want for whatever reason, but at the same times it is odd to see a 5- and 7-year old so mature.

** This is not relevant to this story, but it did make for a three-hour sugar rush pychotic period later in the evening, making me never more excited to go to bed.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

I'm still alive

It's funny how I get drawn to this every so often, and there are times when posting here never enters my head. Hmm. Well, not a lot has been going on, really. Life is (for the most part) back to normal. Let's look at my excitement in list form, that makes it more fun. Really.

1) Sonya and I went shopping Sunday. It was a much-needed journey outside of the 'burg, involving a gorgeous drive across a bridge-tunnel, an H&M, Target, and a Banana Republic outlet store. Oh yes, and Burger King, a lot of sneezing (it's allergy time), and gossip with the S-girl. Fun times.

b) I'm heading up to NY on Saturday, to see Corbett and his mom, sister, niece, and nephew, all who are visiting as of tonight. The catalyst for the trip was an invitation to BNL to give a seminar, so Thursday & Friday will be out there, but the rest of the time will be in the city.

iii) I got invited again to give another week-long lecture series in Korea. Hopefully the trip can be packaged with the Lattice conference, which is in Beijing this year (and this will clear up any questions as to whether or not I'll go to Beijing). We'll see.

That's it for now.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Dream time

Last night, I was staying in a hotel (it was very fancy, I have to say) with my boyfriend (I assume it was the C-man, but I never really saw him), who then broke up with me. So I was there alone, and so Sonya came by to cheer me up, but setting a series of puzzles around the hotel and later my apartment. I can't remember all of the puzzles but they were the sorts of things you would see on a video game. The final puzzle made me very angry, because Sonya had left several rats in my apartment as well as globs of peanut butter (I had to figure out how to get the rats through a hole she had drilled in the wall). So I ran to the hotel where Sonya was still staying (where was Chris? I know not.), to yell at her, and she had gotten together all four girls from the Facts of Life plus Valerie Bertinelli to hang out with me. I then was happy, and just snuggled with Valerie while discussing how I loved her on One Day at a Time, and we discussed various episodes of the Facts of Life.

I ultimately forgave Sonya for the rats, but I don't know whatever happened to them.