update

I can't sleep tonight, so here is an update.
This is the email I got from Nikon in reference to my phone calls yesterday.


Hello Ms. Perry,

Thank you for contacting Nikon Technical Support.

We are currently waiting for a part we need in order to finish the repair of your equipment.

This part is expected to arrive on October 12th, 2010.

Any other information you might need, don't hesitate on contacting us via your account at our website, or at our toll free number 1-800-NIKON-UX (1-800-645-6689).

Regards,
Nikon Team.

Thanks for using Nikon products!

Frustration

No work today. The phone is quiet and no one I phone is available to speak with about work or interviews today.

Still no camera. I phoned the service facility to give them what for and it looks like my camera is still at Nikon repair in Melville NY, on hold for parts. This the camera they received on September 9. They can't give me any estimate on when the parts will arrive from Japan or how long it will take for the work to be done after that.

Meanwhile, paying bills and checking my credit card charges, I found out I've been having two monthly service charges at $12 each that are from FTD florist for something I NEVER signed up for. My credit card provider has said they have contacted FTD to put an end to this business service account and refund my money for the last four months, so that's one thing fixed. The charges were under the title of "rewards" and "shopper discounts" so I had assumed they were monthly fees for using my credit card.

Still waiting

I thought it would be routine maintenance.
Nikon Service has had my camera since Sept. 2 and I still can't find out when I'm getting it back. Nearly three weeks now without a camera and every time I phone Nikon, I get a different story from everyone I speak to.

The Photography Gods do not love me this month.

Drivin n Cryin still looking for their stolen gear

Andy Browne WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP! We recovered 3 items in an Atlanta pawn shop this afternoon, but nothing else since. PLEASE fwd this stolen equipment list (link below) to all your local pawn shops, music stores, friends in bands, rehearsal spaces - anyone you can think of in a 200 mile radius of Macon, GA that might come across musical instruments. Yes, the police have the identification of the guy who pawned these 3 items. But there is nothing to indicate he is operating alone. The DNC trailer is a black Quicksilver Racing 5x10, tag #TL9H396.

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=5912085821&topic=15178

Attention Macon GA!

from Drivin' n' Cryin'

PLEASE READ!! ATTENTION MACON, GA!! We had our trailer, with all the gear, stolen last night from the La Quinta motel at X-169 in Macon, GA. Please contact Ken Green at 404-309-3057 with ANY information. And PLEASE repost this message!!

in the still of the night

Some times I miss having the freedom of movement, on restless nights, to engage in noisy activities or projects (but not loud enough to disturb the neighbors) or turning on lights where I need them, or taking off in the car for errands, observations, etc.

The lack of sleep is much less of a bother when I can be doing other things with myself.

dispensing with her belongings

Cindi took me to FurKids on Friday, where I donated all of Doris' unused food, cat litter, etc. as well as the pet carrier and bed I had. I needed to remove all of these reminders of her to move on and I didn't want it to go to waste. I've saved some unused flea treatment to bring to Aud, since it's expensive stuff and she's got multiple cats. Now it's just a matter of getting that to her house and I'll be done with that part of the process. We both still tear up every time we think of her. I don't think we'll ever know a cat as good as her. She seemed so unique.

road trip today

Watching Sunday Morning. Checking email. Preparing to travel to Pell City, Alabama to visit MonsterMustDie's mother today. His stomach is already rolling like a hurricane with stress. I can hear him groaning while he's updating online auctions.

wet

Had a very good time at Vinophiles last night. Chatting and tasting new things with good people. The rain started minutes after we arrived and Perri and Walter's house, with quite a lot of lightning & thunder. Lights flickered. Candles kept the house from going dark. The storm seemed to energize the entire evening in spirits as well.

It is still raining this morning, though not with last night's intensity. I still need to walk through the house and finish re-setting all of the clocks and timers.

It's been a crazy, stressful week of loss, discomfort, and family concerns. We are without use of our kitchen sink and dishwasher until Monday at the earliest. That's when a plumber is supposed to replace a section of the large old cast iron pipe that has rusted through, leaving our crawlspace wet, nasty, stinky, and propagating vermin.

Sunday, we need to travel to visit MonsterMustDie's mother to check on how she's managing. Family and friends have phoned and emailed him about her condition deteriorating mentally. Seems her memory is completely shot now and it is up to his cousin, her neice, and her friends to come in and clean out her fridge, get her to pay bills, etc. Medications are piled up in her cabinet without being taken. I don't know what the condition of the house is like.

saying goodbye to Doris

Today is Doris last day. She took a turn for the worse yesterday and we both believe she's had enough. The lung cancer has taken most of the life out of her at this point. I can't talk about her without getting weepy. Best kitty ever. We have greatly enjoyed having her around and will miss her terribly.

"ensure" for cats

Doris can't really handle solid food any more but I found a Whiskas product called CatMilk. While Sandra and Chaz were visiting us last night, Sandra looked at the label and ingredients and assured me the ingredients were, essentially, nearly the same as Ensure brand shakes - so I think I've found a very good temporary solution to her inability to eat. She can get the CatMilk down easily and it is designed for easy digestion in cats. Keeping her fed will probably increase the time she has left her. I plan to vary the liquid diet by trying to get her to take chicken broth and other smooth soups. Sitting on my counter waiting to be tried are cans of chicken broth, beef consomme, and cream of chicken soup. I will also try liquifying her catfood in the blender but I don't know how successful that will be. She is already rejecting even the softest canned foods.

She has created a new schedule for herself now. She spends all day sleeping on the sofa and refuses to wake up or move from her perch until her normal evening feeding time at 6pm. She hops down just long enough to have the CatMilk brought to her, laps it all up, and then goes back to the sofa. Around 9pm, she goes to John's office and curls up there most of the night. In the early morning hours, she goes downstairs to use the litter box and stays downstairs until we get up in the morning, at which point she comes up for a dish of liquid food. Then she returns to the sofa for the rest of the day until around 6pm.

inevitability of life

Unfortunately, but not a surprise, Doris has lung cancer. She is home from the vet. We will keep her as comfortable as possible for as long as she has left.

Doris

Things are not looking good for Doris Katz now. The mystery ailment seems to only be getting worse. Shes down to liquids only in her diet, which for the moment means water and milk. I'm thinking of thinning some food into liquid or feeding her low-sodium chicken broth also. She does not seem to be in pain, so that's a mercy. She sleeps all day now, only getting up to drink a bit and say hello when we come home in the afternoon. Our local veterinarian seems to strongly believe that, at her probable age, she has cancer somewhere. With the eye out, one might guess it is already in her brain so I see not treatment option if that is what we're dealing with. But we don't really know for certain, so I have made an appointment for her with a specialist in Decatur. The soonest they could see her is Tuesday morning. Hopefully, she will get through the weekend okay on liquids. Then we might be closer to knowing what, if anything, to do for her.

She pooped.

No work today. No job leads either, so things were pretty quiet here at el Rancho, except for the ongoing health issues with our senior room mate, Doris Katz. She is still on antibiotics for the eye thing of mysterious origin that has her white blood cell count very high. She had not pooped for two days but was till eating until last night. Today we could not even get her to choke down her pill, so I took her in to the vet again. It was nearly time for her first follow-up on the mystery illness anyway, so they took a new blood sample - just a small one since she's a bit anemic of late- and checked her vitals. Still no fever. Blood pressure is normal. The doctor tells me that digestive issues are not a normal side effect of the medication she's on so this is something new.
Good news is that she was so scared, with all the jostling around and prodding at the veterinary office, she finally pooped there on the office floor. We were all relieved that problem is, for the moment, not an issue. She is still not eating tonight. I gave her a bit of soft food that made her gag but she did choke down a few bites.

Tonight, MonsterMustDie and I went out to dinner with a group of good friends to Young Augustine's. Very good meal, as usual. We started with an order of duck fries for the table. I had the enormous plate of fish and chips. Kisa Bastet's hubby had to help me finish the plate - I did not want to take leftover fish home since it probably would not make very good leftovers by the morning. MonsterMustDie ahd the carnita & kimchee tacos. Gilli had the brussel sprouts, which was another generous plate and looked delicious. Kisa had the shrimp-scallion pancakes and her hubby had the pork belly sliders. Kel had the short rib grilled cheese sandwich. Other people's selections are rapidly disappearing from memory now. Time to shut down and call it a night.