yet more political crap...

Well, everything *was* fine…

No, I mean *really* -- like just this morning. Things were all pretty good.

Now things are weird.

Yet more political upheaval in my life and career. Yay.

Let me briefly explain my feelings about political upheaval:

I hate it.

I do not simply hate it, I abhor it. I avoid it. I will lock myself in my office, hide in the bathroom, or throw a blanket over my head and sit in my car to hide from it. I will duck behind potted plants, pretend to be inanimate objects, and claim to not speak English to get away from petty political shit. I have not participated in political shit since primary school, when a girl named Michelle decided Renée and I could not be friends with Tamara or any of Tamara’s friends…who were also some of Michelle’s, Renée’s, and my friends. There was upheaval, drama, and allegations of stolen friends and lipglosses; notes flying back and forth, name-calling, and it was *brutal*.

I frankly had a hard time keeping up with it; I had to resort to taking notes to stay current with everything.

Butsoanyway.

Upheaval appears to be back. I cannot get a moment’s peace away from these bastards and their petty crap, it seems. I would go into great, exhaustive detail, but I cannot right at the moment; for purposes of sympathising with me, let’s just say that Someone Important just took another position (‘just’ as in just today…or yesterday, probably), and already the emails, telephone calls, and IMs are flying about who is allowed to be friends with whom, and so forth. They are probably storming the buildings as I type to claim their rightful space, and so forth.

Just shoot me.

I am *so* looking forward to this time next year, when I can start packing with a clear conscience and a partially-finished Magnificent Octopus; it’s my plan to be out of town before my signatories’ ink is dried.

Bwaah.

.

Change the way you comb your hair and watch what you walk under...

Today went *wonderfully*. Not simply wonderfully, it went fantabulously well. There is a three-party system that oversees a lot of what we do; they were all there (in a representational sense), and they were muchly pleased.

And there was much rejoicing.

Yay.

Let me take a moment (‘cos I may not have one later!) to explain why Chrissy was trapping cats in a dirndl on Saturday night: Chrissy is German, and there was a Trachtenfest (probably horribly misspelt) at the German-American Club. For me Chrissy did without beer – but she did make with the dirndl-action, not that I can blame her; some dirndls are cute!

Not that I knew what they were called before Saturday, either; before then, I just thought they were a different type of corset. :-) I do not get out much, as one may have already surmised.

And I did get a phone call from the Trap-A-Cat Rescue group lady type person as I was driving home; she said that it was probably just fine to release some of the females last night, that often if the area is safe and the speuterers are pinched for space, they will hold females for only twenty-four hours. So ok. I am just sad a little bit that I did not get to say good-bye to the little black cat that looked so much like Squooshable. It is because I am a sap like that.

Next hurdle is a presentation on Monday, and then a minor undertaking, and then a trip mid-April. And then more crap. And then more.

And I have to take a new hair-style.

No, rilly – I do. If I want to keep it long, that is. My current style does not come off well with my…ummm…current audience at Job II. I have already toned-down the eye makeup, and I was well in-check today, but I perceived a difference in attitude after our mid-morning break, when I came back with my hair pinned up chignon-like. Most of the people there were (and are usually) of a type to (I think) expect my hair to be up or cut short. So I need to come up with something.

I want to go back to dyeing my hair black most all the time, but that does not appear to be an option on the horizon for a little longer…like after I am permanently hired somewhere. Or something.

I am *SO* amazed at having free time this evening; I have so much to say, and cannot remember half of it now!

Let’s see…

Nope, nothing.

Maybe I will remember it all later; I still have to finish my poker post saga, anywayz.

.

I hate to sound bitter...

...but there are times when i am desperately tired of giving
everything and getting nothing. Right now is one of those times. Today
had better go well, or i am going to run off and become a shepherd. Or
something.

My voice is my passport; verify me.

Ok, this was funny. As we were huddled around a laptop that we were
trying to get to perform despite our router problems...
Boss: What is this damn thing DOING?
Tech Guy: That's not your problem, that is just Microsoft asking you
to validate your copy of Windows.
Ancodia: always something...just validate it and let's get it over with.
Boss: What the hell is that for? Click 'no'. I want to go home.
Tech Guy: It just checks to make sure you are running Windows, and not
some copy.
Lab Mate: Maybe we shouldn't have bought those bootleg OSs from China...
Ancodia: Yeah, better click 'no'; didn't you notice it booted up with
the Lindows Rista logo?
Boss falls on floor.

Workin' Nine (a.m.) to Five (a.m.)...

I am STILL at work. We have yet another huge thing tomorrow, and we
are having router issues. I am currently alone in the Creepy Basement.
Sigh. The one person who was still holding on to the female cats from
Sunday decided some of them were recovered enough to release, so he
did that by himself today. I am not sure if i am upset because i am a
sap, or because it really is too soon, or what. I cannot believe this
had to happen when i am so drowning. Pfft.

Breakfast!

I am in a meeting, and just wanted to let it be known that Breakfast
has shown up to eat, according to Harry! Yay!

Culture-fair testing

Today's mini-test (it is unfair to call it a quiz because of the
length) is going fine, i think. As i always do when i am feeling
hostile because i have been asked to do something i shouldn't be doing
at the spur of the moment, or when i am bored (joining these
conditions is another way of saying 'practically always'), this test
is themed...i pick out something obscure that i can get a lot of terms
from, and make multiple-choice questions with one correct answer, and
the rest theme-based answers. Mine are remarkably simple tests,
provided one has either studied or is familiar with (and recognises)
the theme. Oddly, before today i had yet to have any undergrads
notice this; when *i* was a confuzzled undergrad, easter egg-style
tests were hardly uncommon, but perhaps that was due to my major.
Butsoanyway, i am assuming from one student's occasional snorting that
my method has been discovered, at least by one student...out of over
fifty. After three years. Sigh.

It is nice to be appreciated, on any small level.

Not unusual, though...Meg routinely gives pre-tests that are virtually
identical to her tests, and the chirren are so apathetic that most do
not even DO the pre-test... Scary, that.

Bye, bye...

Just released the males. They were all doing ok, and seemed to
recognise Home. I am sad, though; one of them was Rhett Butler's
bruvver. I cannot take any more, though. I just cannot.

Still no Breakfast...

And this is becoming depressing. I do see Blacktoe, though. Maybe
Breakfast is hiding. No Mehitabel at all, but i think she had her
babies. I am mainly posting by cell cos i am spending so much time
anymore on work computers and/or network that i am resorting to cell.
Sigh. My latest disaster is having one week to make a presentation
look remotely decent. I have not gotten actual, decent sleep in a few
days now, and we are releasing the males today after my class. Bwaah!

Rejection.

I was not met at my car by Breakfast this morning. I left food and
water and am hoping the little cat will forgive me quickly. And damn,
does my left knee hurt today.

I love the smell of tomcat in the morning...

It may not be the smell of victory exactly, but it is at least the smell of a tiny success.  None of my cats were FeLV/FIV positive in the random testing, they all survived, and I managed to end the career of two moms-to-be, one who looked *just* like Squooshable (three kittens), and one grey tabby who is about as tiny as Cookie and malnourished; at NINE kittens, she was the rescue group's record-setter.  One of the ladies in this group said that as small and marginally-nourished as she was, she probably would not have survived the birth -- or if she did, she would have died trying to keep up with feeding nine kittens, 'cos she clearly is not managing to find enough food to feed herself.

They are all recuperating in the garage of another volunteer who works at my university (or I attend and work at his, as the case may be), and I absolutely *MUST* get some sleep.  I will have to tell you later about the whole escapade, down to Chrissy trapping in a dirndl. 

No, I can't make this shit up. 

She *did* change, but the point is...

:-*  g'night!

And they're off...

I just dropped off my fourteen kitties. Woof! Or Meow... I have to
pick them up this afternoon. Argh. I have not slept yet...

Ancodia: 3 Cats: 1

Just so you know.

Grr...

Two girls that volunteered caught Breakfast and then decided to
transfer her to another trap (why???) and so Breakfast escaped. Harry
said they did not tell him what they were doing, that is why he did
not tell them to stop. I am pretty angry about that. As soon as i can,
i am going to get out of here and try to get Breakfast again (fat
chance, i know). Why is it so hard for some people to follow
directions?

Kittyhunt!

I have to work this morning, and Harry is helping by taking the
morning shift in organising this. I take back almost everything bad i
have said about him...

Thinking positively...

This time tomorrow, i will have a pack of feral felines waiting to be
speutered. We hope.

Yes, i do still believe in Santa...

I am going to return all the Nutro food i have, probably tomorrow or
Sunday after the speuterfest. In other words, in my copious free
time. I bought Royal Canin for all my cats, and i am going to be one
pissed off girl if that turns out to suck. Sigh. Tomorrow is yet
another Big Thing at Job 2; something like an expo. I am waiting for
word on extra traps for Saturday, also. So much is going on that i can
barely keep up. And i still have to post my stuff from last week.
Augh...

Amen to that...

I am a little worried about the cat food recall; I have mostly these days been feeding everyone Nutro, abut canned and dry only...except for Romeo, who has been eating pouches of senior fish stuff that *was* recalled.  I am not happy, and of course I have stopped feeding it to him.  I am thinking of just going with Purina for everyone, because clearly my paying more didn't keep my babies safe, did it?  And Purina is not involved at all in this recall -- I checked.  I am going to have to do more investigating in my copious free time.  Sigh.  But I liked the letter below:

From HubPages:

We Demand Satisfaction!

So many people have been affected by the Pet Food Recall and so many pets have been affected by the junk, companies use in their pet foods.

When a consumer purchases a bag or can of pet food we should be able to trust the name of the producer. We should not have to dig through the list of ingredients hoping too figure out if what the company uses in the food is poison to our little friends.

Pet food can't be trusted just by the name of the product, the name of the pet food maker, or where the product is purchased (the vet's office or high end pet supply company).

This recall has shown us that the SAME stuff goes in some off-brand name pet food and the high dollar stuff as well.

Our pets are meat eaters yet 75% of most pet foods are made up of grains. It is the grains in these foods which caused the recall. Pet Food Producers don't plan to REMOVE the grains...just change suppliers for a less Toxic run of the same junk.

I feel there should be something done to make these companies clean up their products!

I have thousands of comments and emails from pet owners (parents) whom have lost "Abby", "Baby", "Bruiser","Max" and lots of "Buddy" named pets. I've spent hours reading the remarks from my readers and going to bed with tears on my pillow because of what these people and pets have been through. It hurts! Why have the pet food producers done this to me? Why have the pet food makers done this to all the people and their pets who read my articles???

I want to do SOMETHING! I am not sure WHAT I will do...but, I WILL do something.

If YOU want to do "something" too. Send to me your name, address, and phone number to my email at " asksusanpeters@hotmail.com" . Please do NOT post your private information on the comments section of my articles. When, my voice, OUR voices (signatures) are loud enough, I'll let the people know!

Let's do SOMETHING.

Thank you,

Susan Peters

Like shooting fish... In an ocean, with spitballs, that is.

When i brought Rhett home yesterday, he was so happy (or something)
that he threw up. He seems ok now, though. I phoned the vet, and he
told his tech to tell me that he would bet that it was nerves, and it
appears he was correct. Poor Rhett! At least he is better now, and
that is what important. I have to figure out if i am going to board
him or what when i am travelling next month.

I am currently organising my volunteers for this Saturday's feral
trapping thing, and it is like, well, herding cats. Most of the five
people either have never done this before, or don't have anywhere to
store any cats, meaning that i have to store them. Bear in mind that i
have NO idea what i am doing. None. No idea how to organise this at
ALL. So i phoned Chrissy and worked out a trade of sorts -- she will
help me organise and tell me what to do and all, and i will take as
many of her speuters as i can and let her stick them in with mine and
say they were trapped at Eviljob, so Chrissy can get them done for
free (this program is supposed to be for people who cannot get rescue
discounts, and so forth; people who are not 'professionals', which i
think is a total load of shit, but i do understand how they don't want
people say, accepting donations because they are a non-profit group
and then getting the speuters free). I understand this group's
intention in their restrictions, but i have my own reasons, plus
Chrissy needs the help. And deserves it, after all she has done to
help me. Ok... I have to get some sleep. Or try to.

Cos I've seen -- oh! -- blue skies through the tears in my eyes...

Ok, so i have a lot of catching up to do... I am in Las Vegas right
now, heading home. I know i was in Reno, but since i thought i was
getting cheated, i talked and drank for five hours with a dealer who
told me that i was not, i played with a guy who talked just like
Brenes (de chark ees hongree!), and met a person i would really have
to sit down and describe with greater care than i can manage on this
freaking cell phone, played a shitload more poker, actually played
slots (i found two that i love so much, i want to find one to buy for
my home!), and then Meg started in with her crap about how if it were
not for me, she would have been playing at Bay 101, and it was getting
close to time to go anyway, so i left. I still have to rescue my
babies from storage on time, so it is not as if i could go do anything
huge, now. Sigh. I am sure there is more that i am forgetting,
but...

Swimming With The Sharps...

I just met my first real, live card cheat. I could not figure out how,
but i will go to my grave knowing that this son of a bitch is doing
SOMETHING. I finally left the table, and was sitting at a blackjack
table watching to see if i could figure out from there what he was
doing, and then after two more people left, he left as well. He is
right now at another table, and i am going to sleep.

Invasion

We have been invaded by a convention of gynaecologists, and they cannot play, but they are pretty well-funded and think they can.  :-)  This is a good thing. 

Note to Self:

Getting significantly buzzed off plum wine and then playing poker is
generally a bad idea. Sigh.

I am still alive :-)

I haven't had much time to post... I am down after having gone up
right away, and am waiting for a seat to recoup my losses. Meg is
playing a small NL tournament, so wish her luck. Christ...wish me
luck, as well; i need to do some serious butt-kicking. Harry is
feeding Breakfast and the other cats, and looking for a job that is
part-time. Mom is pilling Romeo for me, and in general everything is
ok. Meg and I spent the weekend shopping and playing up in Tahoe, so
at least i got to do a little more than last year. We went to Mt Rose
and Northstar, and it was awesome. Oh! And! Guess who is here? Of
course... Mr Papagiorgio. Ugh. Ok... I had better start looking
pathetic so i get a seat... :-)

I'm here...

Got to Reno yesterday, and it was largely uneventful. Trying to get
Meg to go to Tahoe with me, or into the city; i think there is a
Warhol exhibit. She was playing live action, and i think she said
single-table satellites start today, so we shall see. Squoosh, Rhett,
and Cookie are doing great, according to Dr Vet's boarding room staff,
so that is one less thing to worry about. Yay. I will probably make
Meg happy and start playing later this evening...but i am going
shopping tomorrow. Period.

I believe you have my stapler?

As it gets closer to time to leave, I am getting more stressed-out.  Last Friday, I was upset over a fight about office space.  In a nutshell, here it is:

I gave up my office at Job II.  Yes, voluntarily gave it up, in order to 'room' with...

Gah; I can barely bring myself to type it...

Sophie.

Yeah, Sophie.  Sophie needs someone to plant their hot ass in her office so that she does not lose it because she is never there.  She is never there because she has laid claim to a larger workspace in another building...yet she still wants this space because the address (with respect to listing one's current employer and so on) is more appealing.  To explain it in a really brief nutshell, it is really, really similar to a situation where Sophie can say 'I work for X', which is impressive, by virtue of the fact that she has an office in Building X when she does not in truth work there; she works at the less-prestigious Y building around the corner. 

This is very hard to explain, you'll just have to trust me. 

So I am stupid, and I agreed to help her.  Or, rather, I was conscripted...or at least pressured into doing it by someone higher-up in my program.  Let's not go into what a wuss that makes me, just accept the fact that trappings and titles do not mean a great deal to me; I just need a place to park my ass and work.  Well, on Friday I was told that I cannot move all my shit into Sophie's office.  And I was really ticked off.  I am better now.  What will happen, I do not know.  But that is what happened on Friday.

Butsoanyway.

I have almost everything taken care of, except for the actual packing.  I have reservations for Squooshable, Rhett, and Cookie to be in storage, and Mummers will come feed Romeo and Weebie and dose Romeo once a day.  I have farmed out all my crap to be handled for a little over a week, and blah, blah, blah. 

Now I am just hoping that I do not die on the fucking airplane.  Bwaah.

I hate flying, and I hate going through the airport, and I hate the TSA; they really suck.  And if they lose my luggage, I am going to go psycho.  Bastards.  I also have to remember, now that I think about it, to get the prescription my doctor gave me for Valium filled, 'cos I think my Xanax has grown too old. 

Ok; I probably need to go to sleep. 

Taking Care of Boydness

Okay, so I am a bad Blogger, I never have enough time, and blah, blah, blah.

We all knew that already.

But I am prepping to leave, and want to make amends and all that, so I am trying to catch up before I leave.

Ok, first things first; here is my post about the little birdie:

==============

Butsoanyway.

Ok; so there's this crowd around the bird, and they are talking to it, some are crouched down poking it, and as i walk over, i see one guy push the bird with his foot. So BB and i walk over and get told that the bird flew into a window on one of the upper floors (people said everything from third floor on up). BB had to go, and one of the girls out there who knows about my cat-saving attempts there asked me if i could 'do something'. Bwaah. So i told them to leave the bird alone, and went back inside to get a box as i tried to get the number of The Bird Lady in the area (whom i know of from a few years back when some huge-assed pet bird that spoke got loose from its home and flew into Mom's back yard when i was there). I finally found a box the right size, and also found that Bird Lady has de-listed her number, not that i can blame her on that one. So i get back outside, and there is a *new* group around the bird, and one girl is down on her knees, POKING the bird, saying -- and this is a direct quote -- 'come on Birdy, you can do it! FLY!'

as if the bird were going to say, 'oh, that's a splendid idea; I hadn't thought of that! Bye, now!' and take off. Sigh.

Not knowing what else to do, i tried Chrissy and she picked right up. At first we were going to meet at Dr Superhero's, and Chrissy would drive the bird over to Bird Lady's house (Chrissy knows her, but didn't have her phone number either, and i was so stressed out about the kittens' neutering that i didn't think to phone Dr Vet, or even Dr Superhero to ask if they had it). Then Chrissy phoned me back and suggested that instead of taking about an hour and a half to do all this (plus her travel time), that I could just take Boyd (I named the bird Boyd) to the Wildlife Refuge placey thing that was 1.5 – 2 hours away (which ended up being about the same time or less as all our other options).

As I was taking Boyd out to my car, Breakfast (followed by the infinitely more cautious Blacktoe) came up to ask if I was giving them a box lunch. I said no, apologised, and raced out of there.

Chrissy kept phoning me back to give me more directions, because I had no damned idea where I was going. And all this time, I actually was figuring that I was hauling around a dead Boyd, ‘cos he wasn’t making any noise.

Ok; to make a long story short…

I know. Too late.

So I got out there, and they took Boyd right away! And he was alive! Felt him (or her?) all up, and declared Boyd unbroken. But Boyd the Bird was still stunned, and they said Boyd might have a cracked breastbone, and Boyd was definitely underweight. So they kept Boyd and were going to let Boyd just hang out in a dark cage, and they were going to feed and de-worm Boyd. They said that, unless Boyd has something wrong that was making him (her??) fly stupidly, Boyd should be released in a few weeks, and they will release Boyd somewhere where he (or she) will be happier and will be able to find more food, with a lot less buildings around.

So basically, Boyd is taking a vacation at a country club right now.

=============

Okay; there is other stuff (LOTS of other stuff), but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

.

I am having one of the worst days of my young life, Mr Page...

Today has sucked. It has really, truly been a lesson in no good deed going unpunished. I would go into huge, wallowing detail, but I am just tired right now.

Untruth in Advertising

I am fifty minutes into Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain, and i have
yet to see a bloodthirsty cannibal. And this is some of the worst
acting ever. And how in the shit did Jenna Jameson get top billing for
thirty seconds of 'acting' (note the ironic quotes)? Well, at least i
have my RDA of CanCon. :-P

Ok... This is good.

Everything is going pretty well. It has been stressful making sure i
am home every four to six hours to check on Cookie (and Rhett also,
but Cookie's surgery was more serious) and make sure her ears and paw
pads are not hot, her mouth is pink, and her stitches are intact,
nothing is red, smelly, or oozing. Cookie tries to sniff me when i
sniff her; she is so cute! And i also (FINALLY!) heard from (yet
another) animal rescue group who has tentatively said that they will
help me the weekend after i get back from Reno. This would be
fantastically fabulous. Maybe one of them could catch Mehitabel, who
is pregnant as hell right now.

Well, i can dream.

I have three traps, including the craptacular bucket trap that i
bought before i was told (by Wildrun) that they stink. And they do.
Butsoanyway. I will buy a few more traps, out in sorta-nearby farm
area, where the tractor store Bonnie told me about sells two
traps--one large, one small--for the price of one. The lady i spoke
with today said not to buy any, that she would see what she could
borrow around town, but if she can get some help for me, i will donate
all the extra traps, and just keep my lucky trap (the one i caught
Cookie and Rhett in). So yay!

In Other News, i am really branching out in this rescuing-thing! On
Tuesday, i rescued a bird that flew into a window at Eviljob! As i was
coming out of work, i saw a crowd of people around a bird that was
just sitting on the ground.

I'm running out of space, so i will continue in another email...