Kevin's Watch

Our office didn't have a delayed opening, but I was late anyhow. As usual when traffic's bad, Metro canceled my usual bus in order to try to get back on schedule. It's always such a treat when that happens. I'll be looking at the real-time app on my phone, and it'll say the bus is X minutes away...and then *poof* the bus disappears from the app. And it never shows up. And then I'm late for work.

Savor Dam wrote:

Linna Heartlistener wrote:...ali, I enjoyed your description of the day you just hung out writing and then got a text from Batty reminding you to put air in the tires. I thought the writing sounded like a satisfying day for you, and that last part was great.

If you have not read any of ali's fiction, I recommend giving it a try. To minimize any mismatch of perspectives, I think Seasons of the Fool would be a great place to start.

Thanks for the plug, SD!

Linna, yes, finishing the first draft is always awesomesauce. This book needs a fair bit of editing, but that's always the case with a first draft. And I don't mind editing.

Other than the Disappearing Bus Incident this morning, it's been a pretty good day. I'm writing a series of posts for Indies Unlimited next month on vanity publishers, and I wrapped up the last interview this afternoon. Some other folks are writing posts, too. We are going to beat this horse to death! But we should end up with a lot of useful information. I'm pretty excited about it -- it's almost like being a journalist again.

Annnd there's this other thing that's been going on here lately. A few months ago, Travelin' Guy got nominated for a job with the Justice Department. When it appeared that he probably wasn't going to be able to take me with him, I pushed him for info on the hiring schedule for the Denver office. Yes, that's right -- it's been a year and a half, but we still haven't staffed the place up. It looks like *finally* we will be hiring some more lawyers within the next month or two.

Anyway, T.G. withdrew his name from consideration for the Justice job this week, but he said he'd be willing to help me get a transfer to Denver if I wanted one. I kind of waffled when he said it (we were emailing, and I'm just wary of committing stuff like that to writing), but I've been thinking about it since then, and I've decided to tell him that I want to pursue it. Because haven't I been saying I want to move back to Denver for the past bazillion years? And here the Universe is handing me the opportunity, which I would be an idiot to let slip by. So stay tuned -- I may have some extremely good news here shortly.

Fingers crossed, Ali!

I've had a lousy week. And I'm being audited tomorrow. And I have to work on Sunday. And next week would suck even if it didn't suffer from having the equivalent of two Mondays. I suppose an optimist could argue for the case of having two Fridays instead of two Mondays, but I'm a realist, and next week is going to suck.

So Ali, get that good news. I want to share it vicariously.

Friday thank god.

--A

Sorus wrote:Fingers crossed, Ali!

I've had a lousy week. And I'm being audited tomorrow. And I have to work on Sunday. And next week would suck even if it didn't suffer from having the equivalent of two Mondays. I suppose an optimist could argue for the case of having two Fridays instead of two Mondays, but I'm a realist, and next week is going to suck.

So Ali, get that good news. I want to share it vicariously.

You were being audited today and have to work on Sunday? boo.


I had a decent day today, and now I am tired.

Yeah, I failed the audit by 10 minutes, which probably won't have any serious consequences, but was still stressful as all get-out. Sometimes it feels less like a job and more like some bizarre psychological experiment.

Last night C and I went to our first ever dinner party not with family. The people are what I would call "posh" but it was very relaxed and we had a great time. I just hope I don't have to reciprocate as I only have 7 dining chairs, only room for 5 people (at a pinch) to sit in the front room/sitting room/lounge and I'm not a great cook!

Life has relaxed a little now. I wish in a way that life was more normal and that I just went out to work. Then I could leave it all behind me when I came home, not have to worry about catching up with stuff just because I had a night out!

Monday again, bloody bloody Monday.

--A

Monday is my cleaning day. Or rather, my cleaning morning, if I get round to doing it.

I feel lousy. Hope I'm not coming down with something; this is going to be a long and stressful week and that's the last thing I need.

Meh.

--A

So I talked to T.G. and he's talked to the partners in charge in Denver, and it turns out that even they don't know what's going on in terms of staffing yet. But the word is out there. And it would be pretty sweet if I could know something by the end of this month. My lease renews May 1st, and it would be cool if I could know by the end of this month whether to go month-to-month (and pay more per month) or re-up for another year and take the hit if I have to break the lease. Urgh.

Also, I'm officially sick of winter. We had an ice storm Sunday night; we were supposed to get freezing rain today, but I think it stayed too warm; and tomorrow night we're supposed to get 4-8 inches of snow. This "wintry mix" crap needs to stop. And if we get six inches of snow tomorrow night, I am *not* coming in to work. It's somebody else's turn this time.

I'm feeling pleased with myself. I've actually caught up with the weekly work and can now concentrate on a few things I've not had time to do, like getting 3 new publications ready, creating a couple of surname indexes and sorting out some work for a new volunteer! Aren't I lucky?

Well, despite an awfully slow yesterday, it is Friday again. At this rate I'll be dead before I know it.

--A

Sammy our dog has been poorly. He was first diagnosed with arthritis in all four feet. Recently he had an operation to have 6 teeth removed, and I must say he smells a hell of a lot better now. He's got used to the missing teeth and is eating normally again. He also has now lost both his dew claws through damaging them, at different times, and has had to suffer bandages and sticky wrappings of green with black paw marks, tiger skin and then leopard skin hues! While they were doing his teeth they took a bit of the bone from where he lost his first dew claw for a biopsy to find out why he had sores growing between his toe nails and why his nails kept breaking and flaking.

We now have a diagnosis. He has a deficiency in the part of his immune system that looks after his nails. Tablets were prescribed and we duly collected them (they had to be ordered specially and I won't bore you with the 3 figure amount that they cost). He has to take 4 tablets 3 times a day at 8 hour intervals.

Sammy won't take tablets straight from our hands so we had three days of forcing the poor dog's mouth open and dropping the tablets down the back of his throat. Then I had a brainwave. I use processed cheese that is in a tube. We now squeeze a little cheese onto each tablet and, hey presto, no more problems, although he did managed to lick the cheese off one of the large white tablets today leaving the thing in my hand! This trick might work if anyone else has a pet that needs to take tablets.

I noticed today that the sores on his back feet are beginning to dry up so hopefully the treatment is working.

Poor doggy. Hope your dog feels better soon.

Thanks Ms Mary. I have a feeling I'm going to have to stock up on cheese! He's 12 by the way, and back to acting like a two year old!

Poor guy. Have you tried Pill Pockets? Not sure how available they are on your side of the pond, but there's probably something similar - can often get them directly from the vet, and they really do work. My eldest cat is 16 and semi-feral - she had most of her teeth removed a couple of years back and adjusted quite well.

I've never heard of these, Sorus. What a good idea. The white pills are quite large, but the orange ones are smaller. He has to have two of each. The cheese is still working. He was absolutely begging for them this morning!

Whatever works. Medicating pets can be a frustrating endeavor. One of my old cats was on 3 pills per day towards the end of her life, but she'd always be front and center when it was time for her 'treat' - and right smug that she received more treats than any of my other cats.

Sorus wrote:Medicating pets can be a frustrating endeavor.

Tell me about it.

--A