Murray is in Atlanta this week

Murray (a.k.a. "Baby Maurice" in the Bistro days) is in Atlanta this week, until Friday, and staying at Larry Riccio's house. With any luck, I'll be able to work in a visit with him and Larrue before he heads back to New Jersey.

bad kitty

Our neurotic (and alergic) grrrl cat scratched herself bloody this morning. Luckily, she allowed me to dab some kitty anesthetic on the spot, above her eye, and hasn't scratched it since. She won't let me near her chin, which is her usual scratching place. I guess below the nose, she smells the medication coming but above that spot she's not as likely to flinch.

She keeps fighting my attempts to make her pretty...

But, then again, if you're among the people who saw her as she was when she first staggered up to us then you'll know she's improved so much that she's hardly recognizable as the same cat.

F.Y.I.

So do day our neighbor came over and explained the recent history of the house we live in. When we signed the lease here, our landlord had said that the house was sold to a friend by the previous owner when her job moved out of state. This, according to the neighbors, is not true. In fact, the house was previously occupied by a couple, Jodie and Jeff, and their children. He became a meth use, went nuts, was arrested in Georgia, then arrested in Kentucky, where he's been in jail for a few years. She took the kids and moved out while he was in jail, leaving no forwarding address. Today, she phoned one of the neighbors to let them know her ex-husband was released from prison today. His mother is giving him money to get on his feet again and he is, no doubt, going to be knocking on our door looking for his wife and kids in a few days. In whatever condition he might be in now.
Oh, lovely. I've had more than my share of threatening psychos in this life. John has had little or no experience with these, umm... awkward, situations. He sees no true threat in this. I can guess a sea of possibilities and none of them, however small, will be pleasant.

Watchmen

03.06.09

:)

what I learned this week

One shot of Jägermeister in a PBR is called a Happy Meal - a popular drink in East Atlanta.

cost: 5 bucks

Satan's Ice Cream Truck

Goths eat ice cream too.

communication restored

Got my new cell phone in the mail from T-Mobile yesterday. They sent me the phone in "Heather Grape" rather than the "Purple" body I ordered but rather than wait for an exchange, I decided to accept this one. It's not as fun (vibrant) a color but as long as it's not pastel I'm okay with a more grown-up (muted) look.

Looking forward to eating Northern Indian food with friends tonight.

Vinophiles group is carrying on with their July meeting after all this Friday. Someone has volunteered their home in the final hour and the theme for this hot summer month is (not wine) Pale Ale. At the risk of sound too full of ourselves, I can't help but think MonsterMustDie had some influence in the decision for this month's theme. We hosted last month's meeting and while I joined in sampling several Oregon Pinot Gris brought by members, he sipped on his favorite brew and proclaimed the joys and variations and subtle differences in beers with his love of hoppy IPA's. Coincidence?

Some jokes get odd reactions at weird times.

must check the calendar

Is this a holiday?

So far, I'm the only one here at work today.
I got here this morning to find all of the lights off, no pressmen, and the boss has not be in yet either.
Is there an official holiday here that I was not informed of?
My dilapidated cell phone came apart yesterday so I decided to toss it in a recycle envelope and order a new phone. Thus, if there is something going on today, no one could have told me about it anyway unless they emailed me.
I suppose I could phone the boss at home, but then he might just tell me to go home (and not get paid for the hours lost) so I'm here keeping the lights on, answering the phone and checking the fax machine and email.

Post-Holiday Pause

It is a painfully slow day at work. No pressman is in today and the phones are still mostly silent from the holiday. I took my car in for routine maintentance this morning so I don't have the option of taking a long lunch to break up the day. Boss is busy catching up on paperwork and billing, so I believe his day isn't quite so monotonous.

I finally invested in a new camera this week. Still haven't taken the plunge for the flash and other additions for it but those can wait until I learn to use the camera well enough and have the lens and body paid off. Part of learning the camera is figuring out how to work around and through so many automated features and settings. Anyway, I should posting much better photos online soon, with much more prompt turnaround.

Other than the silece at work, I've had an active week.

Wednesday, I met Monster and his friends after work at the Bone Garden Cantina to celebrate Sam and Theresa's birthdays.

Thursday, I ended up unexpectedly in East Atlanta for the evening, which was probably much less expensive than my initial target of making it to a party at Trader Vic's that night. What started out as a quick stop before heading out to the birthday party for Rob (where my presence would have probably been lost as another face in the tiki-cocktail sipping crowd) ended up as an all night walk around the village with friends I haven't seen enough of lately.

Friday, July 4th, Monster and I went to a two-grill party at Daniel and Sam's house.

Saturday, Monster actually committed to going out late and meeting the late-night pals for dinner at Ru San's, where he actually had nori rolls and a shot of sake, before going to see Hancock. We almost had him joining everyone at Cafe Intermezzo afterwards, but he was spent by then. I was very happy to enjoy an evening out without having to leave him at home in front of the TV.

Sunday was spent sleeping in late before going to brunch with the GothFather in the afternoon.