An incident at work

I don't generally write about work, just because... well, it's work. I admit, my job has a lot more stories in it than many, but for the most part those stories go onto the pages of the newspaper.

This is one of those stories that isn't going to be much more than a sidebar to the real story, so I'll put it here.

My boss has an injury that needed attention, and his surgery was scheduled for Wednesday of this week. Now, you might think that while the editor is away the reporters will play, but it was more a case of "let's hope we get it out and it's good" with one of the reporters as the lead/boss for the day. We got through Wednesday ok, and didn't know if the editor would be back the next day.

Thursday morning I got up early and headed out to the high school for what was promised to me would be "a short meeting with a couple of important events." I go to the high school once a month to find out what the school is doing that might be good to put into the paper. It leads to a few good stories and keeps us in touch with the school. Anyway, I got to the meeting and the outgoing principal (who is staying on as a consultant, sort of, complicated story) was there. He's a very enthusiastic guy, and wanted me to make sure I got a story about the upcoming tests... in one week. In fact, he was so enthusiastic about this story that he made sure I had interviewed THREE people before I left the building that morning.

The meeting jammed me with so much information that I was dizzy when I left. I got to work feeling overwhelmed, which is never good in the first place. And the editor was still out.

Understandable, but the acting editor had gotten a call from the school district spokesman alerting us to a field trip by one of the elementary schools to a local lake. The acting editor wanted a photo page, and since my schedule was the lightest, I got to go.

If I have clear directions and there are signs on the road I'm taking, I can usually find my way to a place. I got sort of jumbled directions to the lake, because everyone who grew up here just knows where it is. I found my way to what I thought was the entrance. Then I went down a dirt road for what seemed like a very long time, then came to a fork in the road. The left road looked more recently used, so I took it. And realized that I was certainly lost. Very lost.

I noticed a man through the tall grasses, by a truck. I could barely see him, but I was sure it was a human form. So I stopped my car and got out. And heard a very very very loud humming. Very loud. I've been in enough orchards around here to know what an active beehive sounds like. And as I again caught a glimpse of the man through the grasses I realized he was a beekeeper. I retreated into my car only to discover that about a dozen mosquitoes had made themselves at home. I'm lost, very near a beehive, with a car full of mosquitoes. At least I had my cell phone.

Ha. What good it did me. The guy who'd given me directions didn't have a clue where I was or how I'd gotten there. At this point there was only one course of action, and that was to reverse course. Cursing and slapping at mosquitoes, I turned the car around and headed back the way I came. Now, I was on a dirt road, single lane, hardly worthy of the name road. So when I saw a pickup coming the other way I pulled over to let him pass, but rolled down my window to ask for directions as well. The gentleman in the truck laughed when I said, "I'm totally lost! I'm looking for the students!" and said to follow him, he was headed out to catch up with them.

Whew! What luck!

So I followed the truck... down the right-side fork... and much further along I spotted the school bus ahead. Yay! It was stopped right in the road, next to a large tree. With an SUV behind it. I pulled up behind the SUV, noticed people talking to the guy in the pickup, who had pulled off the road next to the SUV, so I waited. After a moment a woman and a man came over to me and said there was a large puddle ahead, and I could ride on the school bus if I didn't think my car could make it. I asked how deep. They said it was about a foot. I have faith in my technology, I said I'd give it a try. They seemed surprised, but then... I hadn't seen the puddle yet.

The bus started up and went forward, then the SUV and I saw the puddle for the first time. It was a little longer than the bus, and yes, about a foot deep for that entire length. There was no way to go around it as it appeared to extend out into the grass as far as I could see. I took a deep breath and urged Cody the car through. No sweat. The pickup pulled in behind me and I could see the driver grinning from ear-to-ear in my rear view mirror.

We got to the location, and the children got off the bus. I stepped out of the car, glad to get away from the buzzing mosquitoes for a moment. I got my camera out and got started at my job, taking pictures of the children as they milled around. I finally got someone to tell me what the whole thing was about, and took mental notes. Then I followed a group of students into an area of heavy bushes to check out a birdhouse.

That's when the children woke the swarm.

I have seen what I thought were lots of mosquitoes. Heck, earlier on my trip I'd been impressed with about a dozen of the suckers in my car (impressed and distressed). I'd never seen a swarm before. The mosquitoes were thick and nasty and the children had their hoodies pulled up around their faces. They were doing the mosquito dance, trying to get them off.

I have always been remarkably tasty to mosquitoes. If the person sitting next to me got three bites, I'd get nine. This was no different. They mosquitoes were feasting on the children, but they were dining in style on me. I got a few pictures and retreated back toward the school bus. As I came out of the grass I heard the teacher exclaim, "Oh my G--!" I asked what was up and she told me to look down at myself.

I was wearing black jeans and a green polo shirt. I now appeared to be wearing black, green and brown camouflage. There were so many mosquitoes on me that I couldn't even panic. It was just too much to take in until much later. One of the guys said he had some mosquito repellent and rushed to get it while I attempted to get the things off my bare arms. When the guy came back with the repellent I got thoroughly sprayed... and as the students noticed that somebody was getting protection they rushed to line up to get sprayed as well.

I stayed another half hour or so, maybe forty-five minutes, getting as many pictures as I could manage. Then I got back into my car with it's half-dozen surviving mosquitoes and headed back to base. The puddle looked twice as large on the return trip.

Later, I talked with the spokesman who apologized for sending me out there. He had also headed out to the area, seen the puddle and decided not to risk his SUV going through it. He figured the group had gone elsewhere and called the school to find out where. He was told, "the reporter-gal in her little car made it through the puddle!"

I counted about 37 bites on Saturday morning. I went through about 48 hours of torture trying hard not to scratch. I just figure I got out of it better than a lot of those poor kids. I have had years to practice self-control so I don't scratch at bites and I'm not extremely allergic like a couple of the kids. And I was able to get some serious medication into me quickly that reduced the agony.

Sadly, the adventure with the mosquitoes drove out some of the school stuff from my wimpy noggin. I had to remember it the next day and get all the stories written a bit late. None of it has published yet. I just have to say that Thursday was not my finest day as a reporter.

A Sunday Review

This week's movie was The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Chapter 15: Daredevils of the Desert (1917) - I always like it when Indy is overwhelmed by the women in his life... which happens... oh, all the time. I thought this one had enough twists and switchbacks to make it fun, then add in that incredible finale. Not bad.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Jan 4th
• Justice League International #5 - Yay. The team saves the day. Whee. Still not very impressed with this one.
• Stormwatch #5 - Trying to figure out if I'm impressed or not. Eh. Not bad, just not my cuppa.
• Peanuts #1 - I never thought I could possibly love a non-Schulz Peanuts, but there are some decent little stories in here. I do tend to find the ones by Schulz best, even before I look to see who did the story.
• Jan 11th
• Mister Terrific #5 - Probably the best issue so far, which isn't saying a lot, but it was entertaining and touching. It laid it on a bit thick though.
• Green Lantern #5 - Sinestro has too much to answer for, so I felt this was handled pretty well. Kind of distressing ending.
• Resurrection Man #5 - Not enjoying the aspects of Mitch we're learning about now. But then, we never got enough from the previous series. This is one of the few winners for me in the 52.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold #15 - I enjoy a good Mister Miracle story, and I like it when Batman figures out the obvious. So, fun.
• Doctor Who #13 - Again, really really rough artwork detracts from my enjoyment of the story. Other than that, a fairly fun story that riffs off Casablanca.
• Northlanders #47 - Strange ending to this one. This is one of those stories that I'll have to reread from the beginning once the whole tale is done.
• Jan 18th
• Green Lantern Corps #5 - Ok, this is just strange. The lanterns were fed by the planet, not by the central battery? My head hurts. I've just about had it with the changes in the new 52, not that *this* change was beyond someone coming up with before the universe got altered.
• Tiny Titans #48 - Aquaorange! And Aquacow! And Aqua-ohs! I love this book! More Tiny Titans, yeah!
• Young Justice #12 - So, Talia creates Clayface out of spite, but Tula is on the splash page, thus raising my hopes before dashing them. Hrm.
• Fables #113 - Ah, this one I know enough about the overall storyline to mostly understand it. Intriguing stuff, but I wanna see what's happening in Oz.
• The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #2 - This is a very very strange take on Oz, but it's surprisingly enjoyable anyway. Not the best, but it has its moments.
• Jan 25th
• Justice League #5 - Still don't like Aquaman's design in this one, but it's a decent enough story. I'm not really keen on the group facing Darkseid before they are even a group, but whatever.
• Aquaman #5 - Intriguing. Aquaman in the desert, yeah, it happens. Put any normal human in the same circumstances and see if they do any better (aka, fallen out of an aircraft with a piece of shrapnel in their leg). Nice little hook for the next storyline.
• Green Lantern: New Guardians #5 - Ok, they're in a big thing with a whole bunch of familiar worlds, and the Orange Lantern is the enemy of the folks that live there? This one is pretty strange.
• Usagi Yojimbo #143 - Soy Sauce! Not my favorite condiment, but I really enjoyed the story in this one. I love how this book is both entertaining and, at times, educational. More like this, please!
• Feb 1st
• Justice League International #6 - Lots of set-up and settling. The best bit was with the Iron General and the hair lady. Eh, it's ok. I find Booster annoying and Guy really annoying... but Booster might be the key to fixing the 52 universe, so I'll keep reading.
• Stormwatch #6 - Sorry, Paul. I like your writing, but I just zero interest in any of the characters, and not enough interest in the whole 52 universe to keep reading this book.
• Doctor Who #14 - And now we know more about the whole story, and I don't really feel like reading much more because the artwork is just driving me up a wall. Again, not a bad story, although it's getting predictable, but I'm not into that art style.
• Sergio Aragones Funnies #7 - A couple of touching stories in this one, as a magician is inspired and inspires others and Sergio visits a working artist. There was also a srange one with little people. Overall, a really fun issue.
• Dark Horse Presents #8 - Beasts of Burden "The View from the Hill" - Wow. I really like the Beasts of Burden and want way more of it. But only if it stays at the same level of quality, so I'm not going to be demanding. But wow, this was good. I keep expecting to be let down, and I'm not.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

A Sunday Review

This week's movie was The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Chapter 14: Espionage Escapades (1917) - This is the ridiculous one. It starts with bumbling spies in Barcelona and Indy being put into an utterly silly situation that gets rapidly more silly. Then Indy meets Kafka and we get a total bizarre and freaky story. A bit too much. Again, the documentaries shine.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• Dec 7th
• Justice League International #4 - And... Booster's team of misfits fails to save the world. Figures.
• Stormwatch #4 - So, the group wins the day by talking to some ancient city, thus setting up another storyline for the future. I'm not sure what is going on here. I'm not sure what I expect. I'm not sure we're going to be keeping this book.
• Dec 14th
• Mister Terrific #4 - There is something just *off* about this book. It's like it's going through the paces, but doesn't quite want to be there. I was really looking forward to it, now I'm just disappointed.
• Green Lantern #4 - Lovely cliffhanger. Nothing less than what Sinestro really deserves. Pity he's going to survive it. He's practically the hero of the book now, so he can't die.
• Resurrection Man #4 - Lots of fighting, and the unkillable guy gets killed. Not sure what to make of it. Not sure I should be reading this sort of comic late at night, either, but here I am.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold #14 - Don't know why, but this one really made me happy. I never really thought of Ragman as a character who protected a neighborhood, but it works.
• SpongeBob Comics #6 - Mermaid Man shows up (sort of) so it's a good issue.
• Doctor Who #12 - An almost wordless Christmas tale, with some hilarious moments and a few touching moments. I liked it. Artwork was a little rough, but it was good enough for what it was.
• Grimm Fairy Tales Presents the Library #3 - Not entirely what I expected from this book. True, there is some formula there, but the creators are having fun with it. And the Wicked Witch is nicely frightening, as are the flying monkeys. Good stuff.
• Dec 21st
• Justice League #4 - Can't stand Aquaman's look, but the response to GL's "what can you do that we can't?" was pretty nice. Lose the jewelry, Aquaman. Sheesh. Yuck.
• Green Lantern Corps #4 - Ok, so the lanterns belonged to a planet, and the Guardians took them away. That's annoying. But more annoying is how Martian Manhunter has been retconned in the new 52. I think I'm ready to go back to the real DC Universe now.
• Tiny Titans #47 - Arthur Jr is so cute. And I love his announcements of each of the sea creatures he called up to visit him. SO CUTE!
• Young Justice #11 - Not a lot of Aqualad, but there's set up there. I want this series to go on for a long time, which means it'll be canceled soon.
• Fables #112 - There is too much of this book to catch up on. I hope we can start getting the trades soon so we can. I understood the gist of the story, but I didn't really understand the circumstances.
• Sergio Aragones Funnies #6 - The Kachina Dancers story was really chilling and neat. I also liked the Christmas set up story and the railroad tale. As usual, if you like Sergio's artwork, you need to get this.
• Dec 28th
• Aquaman #4 - I like that Aquaman cares. That's the Aquaman I know, the one I'm a fan of. He cares about the creatures of the trench, even though he accepts what he has to do. Not sure about the dog, though.
• Green Lantern: New Guardians #4 - I still don't have a lot of interest in this storyline. But I'm still reading it. I'm not sure why.
• DMZ #72 - What a ride this book has been! I enjoyed the trip, overall. Didn't understand all of it, but I understood enough. And, it's a pretty good way to bookend it... literally.
• Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz #4 - I didn't remember most of the adventures depicted in this issue, so my memory of the book is clearly not that great. But wow, very fun. I loved how Eureka was playing with the fish.

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This week's comic book related review is Amelia Rules: The Meaning of Life... and Other Stuff by Jimmy Gownley. This made me cry. Again. This book often brings tears to my eyes. It's really really good stuff told in a simple and dynamic way that makes you just want to reread it and then give it to a kid so they can see that they aren't alone either. It's just really good stuff. Did I mention it was good? Seriously, go out and get Amelia Rules.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

Wednesday already?

I meant to post daily. Ha. When you write for a living, it gets hard to write for a blog.

I'm trying to teach myself Gregg shorthand. I tried some time ago and didn't get too far, but now I've got a really good reason to learn it. I cannot count the number of times I've been in an interview and thought "I really need to know shorthand so I can get this down a little faster." So I'm working at it, and have got into the first lesson and am already a little confused. But there is actually quite a bit of help available online, so I will use what I can find and hope for the best. At least I'm really really motivated now.

I figure it will take me at least a year to learn it, based on what I'm reading. Maybe my motivation will help, but it doesn't sound like something that can be rushed.

Inkwell is getting bigger. He's at 9 pounds now, and getting really annoying. He has woken me up at about 3:45 a.m. the last two nights. For his troubles he's been ejected from the bedroom. And he loves attacking my ankles. He's literally an ankle-biter.

Inky also likes playing catch in the morning. He brings me one of his toys and drops it at my feet, then waits for me to grab it. Whenever possible he tries to get some blood while I'm retrieving the toy. Then I toss the toy across the room and Inkwell attacks it as quickly as he can manage and then, after subduing it properly, brings it back to drop at my feet. Admittedly, he only does this a half dozen times before getting bored with it, but it's still fun when it happens.

I haven't got a topic for my next column yet, and it's due tomorrow, so I need to come up with *something*. Ah, deadlines. I do love the swooshing sound they make as they fly by, but the heavy slap on the back of the head I could do without.

A Sunday Review

This week's movie was The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Chapter 13: Adventures in the Secret Service (Austria and Petrograd, 1917) - Two stupid royals and Indiana Jones, then Indy hanging out with the Bolsheviks. This one had a ton of suspense, lots of drama, lots of power. I enjoyed it. Again, the extra documentaries are incredible. I just with that I could see the original series as it aired, with the framing sequences.

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All the Paths of Shadow by Frank Tuttle. A young mage is tested to her utmost abilities as everything goes wrong all at once during a rare meeting of all the kingdoms of the land. I always like a strong female protagonist, and this book has got the goods. Add in a snarky familiar that I sincerely doubt most people would guess at, a real-world analogy that could go oh-so-many directions, and some genuinely terrifying moments and yeah, this one's a keeper. In fact, like a lot of young adult novels I've read lately, this one had me checking to see if the sequel was out yet. No, not yet, more's the pity.

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This week's comic book related review is Ruse: The Victorian Guide to Murder by Mark Waid, Mirco Piefederici and Minck Oosterveer. We got the original Ruse series from CrossGen, but waited for the trade on this Marvel edition. I think that was a wise choice. It wasn't a bad story, but it definitely read well in trade format. It's a good adventure, and I'd forgotten how much I like Emma and her burden of responsibility. Without the extra strangeness of the whole link to the CrossGen universe, this book has a lot of potential for really good stories. I hope we get to see more.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

Mowed the yard

Eric did the first mowing of the year, so I was just taking my turn, but man I was exhausted after. I really need to start exercising regularly again.

The kitten is hyper tonight. Which is fine, but a little unsettling when he's attacking anything within reach of his paws. Gently, but startling.

It was a nice day today, weather-wise. A good day for a mow. A good day to get lots done. Still more to do before sleep.

Today's Doctor Who Comic

Full Frontal Nerdity shows off an amazing marketing idea.

And so it goes...

Let's see... turned in my big global warming story today, it was in today's paper. I'm not happy with it because there is about a billion more things to say on the subject but none of it matters in the least. I'm also afraid some of my bias on the subject leaked through. But hey, Rod made a great graphic for the article. *sigh*

I went out and took a picture of a haircut today. I also visited the high school this morning for an update on what's going on, and now I've got another story to write. I met with some dairy officials today, too. Nice folks, and I'm not as worried about the articles I have to write for the dairy special section now.

I'm going to a conference in about a week, and I had to submit one of my stories to be discussed in it. I can't remember which one I picked now, but one of the ones that my editor told me to put in my "contest fodder" folder. Then I noticed that the WNPA contest deadline is next week, and now I need to pull together my entries. My folder has two feature stories, a photograph and my column. I don't know if anything else has been pulled for possible inclusion by anyone else, but it shouldn't take too long for my stuff to get submitted once we're ready. I do not expect to win anything.

Inkwell is still bored. I try to entertain him as much as possible when I'm home, but he continues to nip me if I try to play with him, then gets upset when I stop playing because he's nipped me. I must be doing something wrong. Either that or Inkwell just isn't that smart.

Tomorrow is going to be a hard day. At 7 in the morning I'm at a local breakfast spot to meet with one of the state politicians. Deadline is 10 a.m. and I have at least five stories to write between the time I get to the office (probably a bit after 8 a.m.) and the deadline. At 1 p.m. I'm due at the high school for a student of the month photo. Then at 3 p.m. I need to be down at the high school of the town south of us to take photos of a softball game. All is well until 7 p.m. at which point I will be back at the local high school for a big dance show. I have to get a photo page out of that, so I need to take a billion pictures, which I'm terribly bad at because I hate getting in other people's way, and a photographer needs to be in the way to get good shots some times. Blah.

My Saturday has apparently been pre-planned by hubby-Eric. I hope he remembers to fill me in on what I'm doing at any given time, because I've started to learn that reporter's skill of dumping anything that isn't right in front of me as something that needs to be done for deadline out of my head. I have very little memory anymore. If it's not on my task list or my Google Calendar, it might as well not exist.

Well, I guess I'll go play with the cat again. He looks a little sad. But then, cats apparently evolved with that trait to make you want to be around them despite their obnoxious little quirks.

Tomorrow

I have a nasty little article to write for tomorrow. Something I'm not at all happy to have to do. Writing about global warming in an even-handed way is going to be tough no matter what tactics I use.

I have a good five or six articles to write this morning before deadline. Not as bad as yesterday turned out to be, but hopefully I'll get done with more than 5 minutes to spare, unlike yesterday. A lot depends on whether or not my coaches have put up their information.

The kitten is restless, and has become a literal ankle-biter. We keep telling him "NO!" but he's not getting the picture. Anyone know how to discourage a kitten who is in the equivalent of his teenage years from biting? He doesn't break the skin or even bite hard, but it's worrying.

The heat has been draining me the last two days. It's not even "hot" by local standards, but it came on suddenly enough I haven't been able to adjust. It is supposed to be in the low 70s today with rain. Days like these make me miss Seattle.

Today

Two hour city council meeting with no serious problems last night. I had been worried, but it all came out all right. More or less. One issue I thought for sure would be brought up and would be hotly debated was brought up, but not in the way I expected. It *might* be good news for the future. Hard to say.

The kitten is not loving his new diet, but he's also not complaining nearly as much about food anymore, so I'll call it a wash. Mostly he's just bored. And the change in the weather has been a little bit of a shock to the winter baby, who has discovered the coolest places to rest in the house already. And we've only had the one really warm day so far.

Speaking of, last night the clouds rolled in while I was in council, and when I went into the parking lot to do a post-meeting chat with a few people, we saw lightning striking down south in the Horse Heaven Hills. An hour after I got home the storm hit us with some smattering of heavy rain and a few lightning strikes. The cat was disturbed, and the fire alarm system beeped angrily, but that was it.

Except for the morning writing, today's schedule is pretty light. I have to write up the council meeting, yesterday's Rotary, one sport (two stories, boys and girls) and the police reports. Then I've got some calls to make, interviews to set up and whatever else gets thrown at me. A normal day, in other words. Nothing special on my calendar except that it's National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day today.

The Google Doodle for today is fun.

Yesterday

Beautiful sunny day yesterday, so I opened all the windows and let the air flow in. And the cat enjoyed sitting in the windows watching passing cars and people. He also saw the stray cats in the backyard... maybe not for the first time, but the first time *I* witnessed it.

By evening, the temperature inside the house was close to 80 degrees, so I ended up turning on the AC for only the second time this year. Temps are supposed to be higher today, so I'll be sure to check in on the cat and make sure he is doing well.

Covering City Council tonight. Not looking forward to it. I expect it to be another long and nasty meeting and hope to be surprised like the last two meetings. But after the March 26th Bedlam Meeting, I'm not sure what to expect with this group.

Ah well, on to work.

eBooks and pricing

I've determined, through watching my habits buying ebooks the last few years, that I'm willing to spend about $3 to $4 on a book that's been out for awhile, and up to about $6 for a new book in ebook format.

Regardless of how books are priced, I guess that's my limits. I don't see many exceptions to that coming about any time soon.

Inkwell... is a dog?

Ok, no, of course not. But this morning I opened the front window shade and he spotted some birds in the yard. And started barking at them. It wasn't a meow, it was staccato and bark-y sounding. And he kept it up until the birds flew off. Inkwell was *very* agitated by the birds.

I also weighed him this morning. He's now at 7.2 pounds. And all that weight was on my windpipe the night before last, as he spent most of the night warming my neck. Last night I was apparently wearing him like a hat on top of my head.

Hyper Cat - Inkwell Update

Ok. So. He seemed to recover from his initial sickness, then from his surgery, then he started to get sick again. More sneezing, more weepy eye. And worst of all, he started to have little episodes when he apparently couldn't breathe and was wheezing on the floor. He looked like he was about to upchuck, but would just be taking deep, gasping breaths.

Eric and I discussed calling the vet, then decided I would. And the morning I planned to call the vet, he vomited all over the floor. That was a kick in the butt for me, so I got him in that day and he went through the full examination. No fever (and boy did he think we were strange when we took his temp). The vet asked to test him for feline leukemia and FIV, explaining that if he had them, he would have a short and painful life but we could try making it as comfortable as possible.

Recalling that this was the same vet who warned me about the possibility of kitten parvo, I decided she was preparing me for the worst. I agreed to have him tested and sat in the examination room with Inkwell while we waited for results. Inky climbed up on my shoulders and wouldn't get off even when the vet came back into the room.

Inkwell did not have either disease, so we figured it was still the cat herpes and he is likely just too young to fight it off completely. So I was given pills to give him once a day, a powder to go in his food twice a day, ear lotion to go in his ears once a week and eye drops to go in his eyes twice a day.

It's been a week, and he's doing much better at the moment. He doesn't much like the ear stuff, but as it's once a week it's not a pain to give him yet. The eye drops are the worst problem and he tries to get away when I get the drops out. The powder and pills go in his food and don't bother him at all. And it's been working, his eyes are clearer and he hasn't sneezed much at all the last few days. So I think he's much better.

While I was away at comicon, the kitten found the laser toy my sister brought me and has apparently hid it. He also was very pleased to see me when I got home, and blissed out on me with the purring massage early this morning.

Home Sweet Home

I'm home safe and sound, and resting now for work tomorrow. I'll try to write up a short con report in the next day or so...

Going off the grid

When I leave for Emerald City Comicon tonight, I don't plan on taking my computer with me. For the first time since I got a laptop, I will not have access to my regular system for more than 24 hours. We'll see if I go into withdrawal, shall we?

The next you should hear from me will be Sunday night, letting you know I got home safe, or Monday morning, letting you know I got home safe and fell right into bed.

See you at ECCC!

Inkwell clearly has been watching this

Happy Pi Day!

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A Sunday Review

This week's movie was The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Chapter 12: Attack of the Hawkmen (Feb 1917) - Indy returns to Europe and ends up with a group of American flyers facing off against the Red Baron. Good stuff in this one, but better stuff in the supporting documentaries. I liked the results of Indy's mission in the second half. Things go boom!

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A comic book related review for this week is Brody's Ghost Volume 2 by Mark Crilley. Brody starts to train for his new mission. A guy and his ghosts. There were more than a few moments I had to stop and say, "Oh no, don't do that," but overall it was good stuff. In fact, I'm thinking I'm going to have to pick up the next volume as soon as it comes out instead of waiting for a bit. Looks like it was solicited in the December Previews...

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Another comic book related review for this week is Sidekicks Save the Day! (Batman: The Brave and the Bold). This is based on an episode of the TV show, and if I'd realized that I probably wouldn't have bothered getting it. It's just a rehash of the show. Nothing special. It really doesn't add much, and the art seems to just be screen captures from the episode. I'd skip it, unless you're a completist.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

The myth of the eight-hour sleep...

A BBC Article talks about how sleep used to be divided into two roughly four-hour blocks. Seems like it might be the root of some insomnia problems.

Wizard of Ows

So Eric and I had a big day yesterday even though Eric has a bad case of the crud, and we finished the day off by going to see the local high school in their final performance of "The Wizard of Oz". Because the play was double-cast, Eric also saw it last weekend while I was attending a school board meeting.

Our timing was a bit poor, and we rushed through dinner before heading to the play. Inkwell hardly had time to complain that we weren't feeding him off our plates before we left.

The play itself was very well done. Good performances, decent music. The only problem I had with it was the volume of the music was often too loud for the singers, a common problem in high school productions of anything, I've noticed. The music has to be loud enough for the performers to hear, but ends up being too loud for the audience.

After the intermission, I felt a headache coming on. Really bad. I mean, one of those headaches that makes you want to curl up and die. Not quite a migraine strength, but enough to make you completely miserable. I found myself wanting nothing so much as to just go home, despite wanting to see the rest of the play.

I stuck it out, barely, and Eric hustled me out as soon as the bowing and cheering was over. I don't actually remember much after that. I got to bed, the kitten came and curled up against my head and purred away some of the pain, then I was asleep. I had the vague notion that Eric came to bed really really late, or really really early in the morning.

I woke up about 6 a.m. and wondered why the kitten wasn't crying for breakfast. I still felt horrible, so I stayed in bed for another half-hour, waiting to be attacked by a hungry kitten. I started to worry when he didn't appear, so I got up and dizzily walked out to see if he was ok. He wasn't anywhere in the bedroom, nor on the landing or in the upstairs bathroom. I looked down the stairs. No kitten scrambling up to meow at moving human. Eric's room had the door closed, so I opened it and peeked in...

...and the kitten jumped up from Eric's laptop, crying and stretching. Eric had accidentally locked the kitten in his room overnight. Inky raced to me, and I picked him up to carry him down the stairs because I was certain he would trip me if I let him walk. He struggled out of my hands anyway, and sure enough, tried to trip his dizzy mommy as she stumbled down the stairs. Fed the cat, then I went back to bed. Inkwell joined me a bit later, after finishing his breakfast and using the litter box. I found it too difficult to get back to sleep, and went to get my morning pills.

A bit later, I went to get some hot cider and the kitten tripped me. I fell, but against the couch so I didn't do any damage. This time. I'm now moving about very slowly, trying not to break anything.

I did enjoy the play, but I seem to have a sinus issue and I am going to take it easy today.

Inkwell is much better today. Hyper cat again. I checked his incision and he doesn't seem to be pulling on it too much, so I think he's healing. I'll try to get more pictures, but I'm non-mobile at the moment so I'm notaswqs *GET OFF THE KEYBOARD, INKY* ahem. So I'm not going to be able to get good action shots of him.

Anyway, that's life at the Gjovaag house today.

I have an "itten" on my lap

So yesterday was the big day. Thursday night at about 8 p.m. we locked poor Inkwell in the upstairs bathroom, making sure there was nothing to eat there. I put some toys in with him, and the little cat condo I bought for him so he had somewhere to curl up. Then I left him there, meowing in confusion, to spend the night in isolation from any possible scraps of food he might find.

Friday morning he was up and meowing early, especially when he heard us moving about. I only went in long enough to make sure he had water in his dish, then left him there. Poor thing was probably pretty angry with me at that point.

Just before 8 a.m. I went in and got him in his travel box. He only meowed a few times, clearly perplexed and clearly disturbed, but apparently resigned to his fate. I brought him into the vet's office and, admittedly, had a bit of a hard time letting go. I was told I could call around 10:30 a.m. to find out how he'd done.

Work held little interest for me. I've clearly bonded with Inky enough that I was deeply worried for him. I called at 10:30 only to learn he hadn't gone under the knife yet. Eep.

Just after noon I got a call. There was a problem. They were working on him, but one of his... er... kitten balls had not descended, meaning the neutering process might require putting him out completely and opening him up like a spay. Yikes. $40 more for the process, would I approve it? Sighing deeply, I agreed, then I waited to hear.

The next call went to my Google Voice, and I'm still amused by Google's transcription of it:

"I just want to let you know some good news that the doctor was able to reach that test to call through the regular incision and Let's grow dumb. So it was just the regular cat and we didn't have to do anything in the afternoon."

I think 'test to call' should be obvious, 'and Let's grow dumb' is 'in the scrotum'. It also missed a word in the second sentence after 'cat'... 'neuter' and 'anything in the afternoon' was 'anything in the abdomen'.

Relieved, I went about my day... which involved a UFO report, mystery donuts, peanut butter fudge, a phone call I'd been anticipating for three weeks and baby goats with senior citizens.

I got to the vet late in the afternoon, and was shown how to clip a cat's claws without harming the cat. I just need to get the clippers that I put on Inkwell's Wishlist. Then I took the little guy home to see how he reacted.

When I lifted him out of the carrier and put him on the floor of his own home, he stumbled a little, walked in a circle to make sure the sight was real, then walked (a little bow-legged in the back legs) over to his food dish and looked up at me. As I hadn't been told not to feed him, I went ahead and gave him a portion of food. Certainly no loss of appetite!

He then stumbled over to the litter box to do some business, then over to the sliding glass door. He spent some time gazing out into the back yard while making the tiniest sounds imaginable. Almost squeaks, but more mournful.

He got bored of the sight after a bit and found his way to mommy's lap, where he curled up to sleep. He stayed near mommy for some time after that, not leaving except to get food. For once he didn't eat everything in his dish at once, which was good to see and worrying at the same time. He played a little, attacking his feather toy, and seemed close to normal.

After consulting with hubby-Eric, we decided to let him in the bedroom for the night so he could have comfort. He mostly behaved. Apparently he farted in Eric's face at some point, but he didn't wake mommy up until it was breakfast time. He has spent most of the morning in my lap, purring when he wakes up. He completely immobilized my left arm for nearly an hour while I watched TV and played on the internet.

He spent an hour curled up against my left arm, in various positions, this morning.

He's definitely not feeling 100%, but he's also not showing any significant signs of distress. He isn't licking his incision much, and while he's active, he hasn't gone completely nuts (so to speak). We'll just be paying attention to him as we go about our day, and hope he settles back into routine soon enough.

Inkwell's Page - Inkwell's Wishlist

Inkwell Pictures

Just some pictures of the kitten for you to view if you want.

Exhaustion and Kitten Claws

I have to admit, I'm handling the job way better than I expected to when I first got hired. I still don't feel like a reporter, but I am usually making it through the day, which is nice.

Last week I was off-kilter for the entire week. I just feel like I've finally got back on track, and I hope I can keep that going. It's really uncomfortable to feel like you are out of sync with what you are doing. Despite the discomfort, I think I managed to get through the week ok. I still felt slightly off yesterday, but began to feel my stride again toward the end of the day.

It's fascinating to realize how much writing I do each morning. On Monday I had three articles to write, one of which was mostly written and two with blank pages. I also had a couple of briefs to write, one expected and one completely unexpected. Churning everything out was hard, but I figured out how to prioritize (not one of my strengths) and got it all in. Then only the briefs got published yesterday. Go figure.

I still have a terror of interviewing people. I really suck at it. This morning there was a media call with the local legislators, and by some quirk of fate I was the only person to call in. I had exactly two questions ready since I was hoping for other journalists to ask all the questions. I somehow still made a decent little article out of it.

Kitten Update

As of tonight, Inkwell will be exiled from the bedroom at night. He pulled his usual playfulness early this morning, jumping on me and trying to get me to play with him at 4 am. Unfortunately, when I went to brush him away from my face, he took it as a sign I was ready to play and swatted me back with an open claw... right across my nose.

I was shocked by a cat scratch across my face this morning, but not as shocked as Inkwell when I gave him a flying lesson as a result.

I woke up pretty quick at the slash and recall picking up the kitten, who is getting hefty, and tossing him across the bed and to the floor on the other side. A little flying lesson for Inkwell. I didn't realize the cut was bleeding and I was still mostly asleep, so I rolled back over and fell asleep again. The kitten jumped back up on the bed and decided not to mess with my face for the rest of the morning.

When I got up to use the bathroom I saw the damage for the first time and cleaned off my injury. It was considerably more gory-looking than it was actually gory. I took the picture to show why Inky is exiled. I also had a little tale to tell my co-workers.

Inkwell is getting his surgery on Friday. He'll be dropped off early and picked up late and when I get him in the afternoon he'll be an it. Hopefully the result will be some good behavior changes.

Inkwell's Page - Inkwell's Wishlist

Word Nerd

My latest column has already resulted in a "private" response from one of the "gentlemen" I was writing about. I was really amused by it. It was both funny and pathetic, partly because he couldn't seem to make up his mind whether I was a victim or one of the bad guys in his rather limited worldview.

My Feb 17th column (yes, I know the byline is wrong) also got a response from the subject of the column, but it was a positive "thank you."

My Feb 15th Column got LOTS of responses, including my first ever actual paper letter. It really hit a chord for a lot of people. I got a rather long note in e-mail as well.

I also wrote a column on Feb 3rd about Inkwell. Yeah, kitten on the brain.

I should probably do a quick page that lists all my columns that have been put online, just for those two or three folks interested in it. For the record, I already have my next column written, it just needs some serious polishing before it's published. It's about the woman who was my best friend growing up.

Inky...

Hey, if you aren't interested in the kitten, just don't click for more!

Inkwell Update

Inkwell loves the dishwasher, and will jump up on the door if we let him.

The kitten is adjusting to life with two nerds, and seems to be surviving our odd habits. He has continued to sleep in our bed, with mixed results. But he's so cute, it's hard to deny him a place in the bed when he clearly just wants to curl up with us.

Inkwell's Page

Hey, I'm a nerd, of course I set up a website for my cat pictures. Click the kitty to visit it.

Good Grief

I've been talking about nothing but the cat for several weeks now. Perhaps I ought to update you on the rest of my life?

First off, I'm still a reporter, somehow. I'm constantly terrified of being laid off, but I'm apparently slightly decent at the job. I need to improve more. There's a lot of room for improvement. So it goes.

I haven't read much of my comics for the last few weeks, meaning that I'm essentially two months behind. I'll catch up, but it'll be awhile with my concern about keeping the kitten alive and happy trumping the comics. I'm getting one or two read each night, haven't even started my little reviews yet.

I got my media credentials from Emerald City Comicon, but was unable to get the interviews I wanted. I will not get to interview George Takei. *sigh* Probably for the best. I would have a lot of work to do to work out the set of questions I wanted, and then I'd have to practice not gushing like the fangirl I am when I met him. I also didn't get the Chris Lloyd interview, which I had hoped to ask some Wizard of Oz questions in. So those were busts.

Beyond that, my life is as predictable as a reporter's life can be. I took pictures at a wrestling tournament yesterday, go to regular meetings each week and the occasional irregular meeting. I just got a terrifying glance at the seamy underside of local politics this past week and am worse off for the experience as far as my faith in humanity goes, but a bit better off in terms of knowing what I'm dealing with around me.

I had to replace the front tires on my car. I was driving around a corner and felt the wheel jerk under my hands, and then it felt like my car was driving through molasses. I stopped at the Les Schwab, and sure enough, flat. It hadn't quite blown out, but close enough to worry me. We had known the tire needed replacing, just didn't think it was quite that bad. So that's another thing we have to pay for. Money is getting tight again.

Weather has been good. Cool, but not too much freezing. We've had some fog and some rain, but I find them refreshing (unlike natives to this side of the mountains).

My new alarm clock woke me up at 5:34 a.m. this morning with a kitten paw up the nose. I'm never going to get to sleep in again, am I?

Wake up Call

My alarm is set for 5:30 a.m. to give me time to get online and wake up before getting to work. That means that for the last week I've gotten up at 5:30 and fed the kitten before doing much else.

Weekends I can sleep in. Well. Until now.

This morning as I slept I felt a *thump* against my head. It was soft but sudden, and I woke a little at it. Then it happened again. *thump*

Now moderately awake, I looked in the dim light of morning at the bed. There was a black shadow wiggling in a familiar manner. Then... *thump* I woke up a little more. The kitten was getting into a hunting pounce, then "attacking" my head by bumping me, then running in a circle and getting back into his hunting mode. Once more, *thump*!

I looked at the clock. 5:32 a.m.

I got up and fed the little alarm clock.

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Here are a few fuzzy pictures of the fuzzy kitten having fun around us:

Inkwell discovers Eric's yogurt cup.

Inkwell blurs as he attacks a toy mouse.

Inky displays his hunting success, carrying the kill around the house.

Inkwell gnaws on his furry victim.

Inkwell displays his laser eyes while protecting his kill.