Jimbo's Journal

Yesterday was a long day. After work I drove down to Schaumburg for a chiropractor appointment. I was on my way there and was at a stoplight on the corner of Roselle and Golf. There are frequently people walking around this huge and busy intersection collecting money for charities and such, so I wasn't surprised to see a guy walking around with a reflective traffic vest on. As he started approaching my car I noticed that on the front of his vest he had a picture of the current president below the words "Obama Sucks," and under the picture "LaRouche.[com/org?]." As he got closer, I flipped him off (even though Obama isn't high on my list right now) and he nonchalantly walked away pretending not to have noticed. After my appointment, I grabbed a "World's Greatest Burger" at Fuddruckers! Mmmmm.

I didn't get home until about 7:00 and had to leave by 7:30. While I was home I heard a VERY strange noise. It was seemingly coming from my bathroom, and it sounded somewhat like squeaky animals or rodents (or even birds) in the walls. This completely freaked my cat out and freaked me out more than a little.

I went to my LoA meeting. One of the women wasn't there, but another one was - a friend of another. I didn't much care for this new person and kinda hope she doesn't come back (I know, I'm awful). She was extremely skeptical, as I was/am, which is fine, but she cited how it was "against her religion" and that she "believes in Jesus and angels" but not spirits and channeling. I'm trying to be open-minded and accepting, but she came across as way too close-minded and ..... Republican-like (LOL). Anyway, it was a lot of fun despite this; we joked around and had a good discussion.

I got home at almost 9:30 and was just sitting around winding down when I heard that noise in the bathroom again. The cat again freaked a bit and I was dismayed and a little annoyed. It seemed to be coming from the vent in the ceiling of the bathroom, though I can't be at all sure. I was tempted to take off the cover, but I had visions of a mouse or rat launching itself onto my face. AAACCCKKKK!!!! If this persists, I may go upstairs and ask my neighbor if she hears anything strange or has any information.

I was half-tempted to call in sick today, to use one of the sick days that I'll lose at the end of the year. But my dedication (Ha!!) won out, and here I am sitting at my desk ..... not working but instead posting to LJ. :-)

I like Pringles. Apparently, so does my cat. I actually have know this for a while. I gave her a couple Pringles crumbs and she ate them. But just now I had a stack of four on the coffee table. She came up and grabbed one in her mouth and took off with it. She quickly dropped it because she didn't have a good grip on it because she had tried to "sneak" up and grab it. So I got the Pringle back. I gave her a little piece.

Took Kahlua to the vet yesterday afternoon.  I borrowed a pet carrier from C at work, which proved very useful.  My alternative would have been a cardboard box.  Kahlua didn't like it at first, but I think she got used to it fairly quickly when she realized she had no choice.  She DID NOT like the car ride, and cried most of the way.

  When I let Kahlua out of the carrier she seemed a bit tentative.  Vet weighed her at about 10lb, which she said was a little too high.  She didn't like getting her temperature take .... understandably.  She did sneeze once and the vet took a sample of it to test.  In the meantime, Kahlua decided to alternate between investigating the room and hiding in a cubby hole under the table.  Vet said her white cell count was high, but we decided to wait and see if she kept improving and if not only then get some meds. 

Kahlua again cried in the car on the way home.  All in all it was a fairly painless experience.

My kitty has been behaving strangely all day.  The last couple days she has been sneezing a lot.  She is constantly clearing her nose and shaking her head.  She seems somewhat lethargic.  This morning (Sunday) I became worried when I didn't even see her the first few hours that I was awake.  I finally found her hiding under the bed.  She goes there sometimes but not all that often.  Tonight I found her there again.  When cats go off and hide, that makes me extremely nervous.  I think I am going to bring her to the vet after work tomorrow if I come home and she's still behaving weird.

I didn't sleep very well last night.  I don't think it had anything to do with the beer I had at dinner.  It may have had more to do with the fact that I had come home and my cat, who didn't like that I had cleaned the crap out of her litter box, and decided to pee on the couch, a fact that I didn't realize until it was too late.  (Nice run-on sentence, huh?)  So I was kind worried that she'd do it again, etc.  

Anyway, I woke up about 3am-ish (?) and my mind immediately reminded me that I had a software "meeting" today.  These things just stress me out WAY too much lately; I feel such a weight on my shoulders, responsibility and extra word ( wasn't this supposed to help me make things simpler and easier?).  So I basically lay around restlessly until the stress (and nature) made me repeated get up to use the bathroom.  Repeat until 5:30am, when I finally got up.  Needless to say I felt pretty crappy from stomach-upset and lack of sleep.  I really felt like calling in sick, but .... duty calls.

The "meeting" actually went fairly well.  Better than usual, maybe?  I went out to lunch with Scott, the software guy, and we went to Panera.  We met a friend of his, who is apparently also in purchasing.  He works at a MUCH larger company, which is part of a HUGE corporation, similar to one I used to work for.  It was somewhat gratifying (no offense to him) to hear that others have had similar bad experiences in the corporate world.  He seems to think he is about to be laid off, and much of the workforce is being outsourced to Mexico.  At least I never had to deal with that specifically.  We compared experiences a bit about the obligatory 3% annual increase demands, being treated like a number, etc.  I kinda wondered if this was someone I should try to plug for more information and contacts, but I didn't.  I am still largely intimidated in these situations by someone who is older and more experienced.

Before the lunch conversation, I place my order and the total for the bowl of Forest Mushroom soup and a drink came to $6.66.  The soup was positively divine.

Do any of you cat owners want one of these Litter Lockers



I have one that I don't use.  FREE - I'll even cover shipping.

I might even have a refill.

After writing my football team off (for the rest of the season), I stopped by PETCO. I think I accidentally threw away the litter box scoop, and I desperately needed a new one. Since Kahlua had ripped the sisal rope off of her scratching post quite a long time ago, I've been looking for a replacement - something tall. PETCO had this one, regularly priced at $99, on clearance for half price. At checkout I also had a 10% Entire Purchase coupon that I had gotten in the mail. Through some miracle of PETCO mathematics, their computer rang it up at $22. Together with the scoop, I wound up paying, I think, just over $21.

Kahlua seems to like it.

 
(click to enlarge)

I promised a_kosmossome kitty pictures, but unfortunately I haven't solved my camera problem yet. But here is a video that I uploaded last month (actual video is about a year old). 



.... and here are some older pictures.

I don't want to get up most mornings either.


Sleepy Kitty 


My Kahlua does this, too, though usually on my computer monitor. 

Cat Wants Cake

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=23715606

Sleepy kitten (reminds me a bit of lifepart3's kitty, Mao)
 

( Large pictures behind the cut )

I finished A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire Book 3) last night.  Incredible book.  So much shocking stuff happened which I won't get into because drmagoo hasn't read it yet.  It slows down a bit at the end, but ... still.... WOW!  On to Book 4: A Feast for Crows.  This one is much shorter at only 700+ pages as opposed to Book 3's 900+ pages.  I haven't even started Book 4 and I'm already craving Book 5 which isn't out yet (I don't think).

I bought and watched Pirates 2: Dead Man's Chest last night so that I could be ready for Pirates 3: At World's End.  I think I actually liked it much better this second time than when I saw it in the theater.  I think my expectations were so high that I felt a bit let down, so I'm trying to avoid that this time ..... which is hard because the trailer for P3 looks SO FRICKIN' AWESOME!!!!!!  *sigh*  So, yes, I still think P1 was better than P2, but that's OK.  (Topic of ranking episodes of trilogies to be discussed later ... or at TUS).

I had a dream last night that I got a second cat.  My neighbor had brought me a cat claiming that it was my Kahlua's mother (which would essentially be impossible to know).  It was a stray, but not the stray that had been in the building last week.  This one was mostly white with some grey on the extremities (ears, face, paws, tail, etc) and most of her ears were missing (from fighting?) - I don't know if that signifies something.  She seemed to get along very well with Kahlua.  As I've said before, I would like another cat, but I don't think now is a great time for one for various reasons ..... but, of course, this makes me start thinking about it again

I was leaving for work this morning and I heard a cat meowing.  I opened my door and there was a cat scrunched on the top step right outside my door crying.  I went back in to my condo and got a saucer of water and one of cat food and put it out in the hall.  I knocked on my neighbor's door to see if she knew who the cat belonged to, but she didn't.  I picked up the cat and showed him the food.  I went back in to get my keys and book and when I came back out he was now on the second step and crying again.  It was heartbreaking.  I hope nobody trips over him and hurts himself or the cat.  I really had no idea what to do.  I didn't want to just let the cat into my place because I didn't know how my kitty would react and then the owner wouldn't be able to find him.  Hopefully he'll be gone when I get home.

So I was moving one of my stools and I had it tilted at an angle while I was carrying it.  Just as I was about to set it down, Kahlua jumped up onto the seat.  Except the seat wasn't there anymore.  Her legs did a little scramble (like Wile E Coyote when he discovers that there is no ground under his feet), and she fell the two feet back to the floor.  I couldn't stop laughinng for about 2 minutes.  I may have to try to reproduce it for the video camera at some point. 

So I'm sitting here surfing the net when I hear a faint voice.  I assume it is someone talking outside.  Then a couple minutes later, I hear it again.  It turns out that my cat somehow dialed my cell phone.  She must have hit the button on the headset twice (no small feat, you have to kinda hold it down each time).  Crazy cat!  Then she never even said hello!  How rude!

I'll be leaving my kitty alone for two days again, so when I was at the store yesterday, I got her some "better" cat food.  I bought 3 different cans of 9 Lives canned food.  I forget the name of her normal dry food, but every once in a while I'll give her some soft food from a can or pouch/bag.  She never seems to eat the whole thing though; she'll eat about half of it and then won't touch the rest (dries out?).  So I look on that website and it says "Feed an adult 6-8 pound cat or a 3 pound kitten one can twice a day. Adjust as needed for your cat’s age and activity level."   I read that as TWO cans per day.  Holy Crap!!!  My cat would never eat two cans per day.