quickie update

This has been a long quiet week. I think it's cause I went without my lupus medicine for too long (4 or 5 days get a refill). I also discovered my Smart Phone, the Dash, is a week off when it gives the date, so hopefully I didn't actually miss a week of chemo. Anyway, I think both of those things contributed to the last few days being "in bed" days, and, today was a cheesy Sci Fi Channel movie day. One even had The Hoff (David Hasselhoff, for those of you NOT in the know). The theme today was snakes. In fact, the one I'm watching now is about snakes of fire. oooooooooo. And yet I'm writing to you. See my devotion.

I've got to get Ozzy groomed this week, if I can get out of bed (I actually missed going to the State Fair with Josh and Alex cause of it), cause they're having pet photo day at our favorite Walgreens, and everyone we saw in the store the last time we were there either gave us a flyer or reminded us. Don't want to miss that. Must make my little Ozzmann look his best. Speaking of which, I could use a grooming, too. I should probably schedule that for this week if I can get it. I'm getting pretty shaggy, too.

I need to check on flights to Phoenix and see if I can afford to bring Ozzy back with me in November. It'll affect the length of my stay, fer shur. Oh, and I'll also have to get him an approved carrier if he goes with me. God, everything costs money. 

My lawn guy, Matt, for some reason has not shown up for the past few weeks. I hope he didn't get hit in the floods that parts of Oklahoma got a few weeks ago. But, I still need my yard cut, and I wisely hung on to a flyer that I almost threw out and now have a guy that will come every ten days, for $30 per. A little more expensive, but we'll see how he does. I wasn't 100% thrilled with Matt, so I'm hoping the service will be worth $5 more and one more time a month.

Well, this hot movie (couldn't resist the pun) about fire vipers is calling to me, so I think I'll go now. Just plain old quite and uninteresting around here right now. But the weather is in the low 80s in the daytime and in the 50s at night. It really is beautiful, I hear.

More anon.

Rock Band and Ben Gay

I got a very excited call from Annie today. The poker gang and a few others had gotten together for a birthday party for Laura Jo and they were playing Rock Band on Sharon and Victoria's Wii, which I think they just got last night (RB, not the Wii). Annie was asking me how to bring everyone into the game, which, since they didn't have RB for the Wii when I had it, I couldn't help much with, but had a lovely chat with Annie when she left the room and we could both hear. 

By the time she joined the party again, there was whooping and hollering and laughing, and it sounded like they were having a great time. I wish I could have been there with them. I let Annie go so she could have her time in the mix. I called her back a little while later just to see how it was going and to give a tip or two, and it sounded like they were figuring out things pretty well. It might have gone smoother with me there, but I was the one losing out more than them without me.

Since they were playing Rock Band, I decided to break out RB, too, sorta to join the party. I hadn't really gotten very far in Hard, so I knew I had a lot of work to do. But, surprisingly, all the work I had done in Guitar Hero has paid off and I went right through most of the songs and got in the songs I really prefer playing. There were a few that I had to play a few times, but mostly I made it on the first time, and if I had played it before, I bettered my score. In fact, I had at least one five star song. 

Here's where the Ben Gay comes in... well, Icy Hot to be exact, but the smell the same. I played literally all day, and my hands just get to aching and it makes me slow, and actually my brain gets slow, too, but I don't want to stop, so I've discovered that if I take my pain pills, then a little while later use some Icy Hot, I can keep playing for a while longer. It's actually my mind wandering that signals that I have to stop. I'll play til my hands cramp, but if my mind keeps wandering then I just make too many mistakes.

I had a great time, and it was so much fun playing the Hard songs, cause there is so much more style and flair in the songs, but there are definitely songs I have to take into practice mode, and I can't wait. When I get these solos and hard sections down these songs are going to sound so cool and be so fun to play. 

I told mom that I liked Medium because I didn't have to think, but I'm getting there in Hard, Not quite yet, but it's not the struggle it was. I do think the Ben Gay smell adds a charm all it's own, too.

Michele and i go to the movies

It was such a fun day today. Michele called and we went through all the movie possibilities. We didn't see The Women cause, ta da, she reads the blog and was kinda thinking of something more action-y anyway. We did finally decide on a movie, with the parameters mostly being that it has to be playing at the Warren cause that's the best movie theater ever. She was looking for Hellboy II, which I didn't find anyway, but if I did I would think it would be in Norman, which is only like 5 miles away. She was looking at theaters 25 miles away. Aren't I the selfish one. But I have this great theater RIGHT HERE!

So we decided to go see Burn After Reading. I kinda felt a little like I might have talked her into seeing it cause I kept coming back to it, but I only had ten minutes to make Babylon AD, so that was out. But that's the one we picked, and it was good! The weird thing was that the movie time was exactly the same, with the two hour time difference, so we were in the theater watching the movie at the same time, a thousand miles away. That's so cool, and weird.

I took the opportunity to go see it in the balcony. It's a 21 and older balcony, and seating is reserved. You get your assigned seat, and they escort you to your seat, where you have very wide seats, built in sets of two, with a free standing small oval table in the middle that extends to about the third of each seat. There is a wire cup holder on the right hand of the right seat, I don't know about the left, but there is a small button that is there to call the waiter. I ordered a BLT and baked potato soup and a root beer, which came in a glass. When I was done with my lunch they came and took my plate and when I wanted a refill I pushed the button and he brought me one straight away. It really wasn't as distracting as I thought it might be. The tables have little LED lights attached so you can read the menu if you want dessert or something else strikes your fancy, and the waiters are moving through most of the movie, but the aisles are very wide - I stretched my legs out and couldn't touch the back of the chair in front of me, and it's stadium seating so the drop to the next level is pretty extreme. And the screen is huge!! I think I heard it's the biggest in OK. I'm definitely taking any more visitors I have there for a movie and lunch (a matinee is cheaper - $12 vs $18 and the dinner menu might be different although my lunch was only $10). I was in the last row and considered it the best seat in the house.

When I walked out, Michele called me before I reached my car and we talked about it all the drive home (I beat her to my garage) and then after we just kept chatting. It was great. But, I got a call from mom so I had to let her go and see what mom wanted and then she and I chatted for a long time, which was also great. Nothing major, just visiting. Then, after a bit, Josh called and we chatted. We have been talking about me getting Direct TV as a way to cut my expenses, and now, after talking to MIchele today, I know for sure that Direct TV has LOGO channel, so I told him I definitely wanted to do it. I also told him that I ordered an iPod, then eventually the price came up. He said, ever so lovingly, "I oughta smack you," (Makes me chuckle when he says that). And then we went on to have a long discussion on finances and he eventually saw that I did think about it before I impetuously bought it,, weeelllllll, sorta. He wanted me to just send it back and get my money back. I was thinking about it and promised that I would think about it until I got in bed and checked my email and remembered that I had it engraved with my name. Uh, oops. No oops. I'm excited about getting it. What I hadn't thought about, that Josh brought up, was he thought there might be some connectivity problems with my SoundDock and the Alpine iPod player he's supposedly putting in my car. Well, those are two very good concerns that I hadn't thought about. I was only thinking about earbuds, but he want online and found out that it seemed that it would work with the car system, so that's a good thing. It is only 32 gig and my other one is 80 gig, which I have more than half filled up, but I'll admit to having stuff on that to just fill up space, like a dork at a disco. I can pretty easily whittle down to my favorites and still leave room for some pictures and movies and music videos, I think.

His first response was "Can I have your 80 gig?" So Josh. That's my boy. I was shocked to find out that he didn't already have an 80 gig. If there was ever anyone who needed an 80 gig one it's him. He's got stacks and stacks of cds  and only a 30 gig ipod. That's just not right and I probably will give him the 80 gig one, cause after I get the Touch, I won't want to play with the 80 g anymore.

So I watched Wrestling in the midst of all these phone calls, Friday Night Smackdown, and when that was over I checked the DVR and picked "It's Me or The Dog." I really like that show. I watched 5 half hour episodes, and one or two of them dealt with separation anxiety. Watching Cesar Milan this never hit a nerve, but she did. She was telling the people how to keep their dogs from being anxious while they are away, and they are supposed to make little trips in and out and make no notice of the dog when they get back in. When they come in from being gone longer, the dog gets no attention until he's calm, and above all, the dog must not sleep in your bed. 

I'm not sure who would have more separation anxiety if I actually did those things, me or Ozzy. One of the people was a teenager and the dog not sleeping with her was hard. In most cases the dogs had taken over the bed and in one case kicked the husband downstairs to the couch, so I see the point there, but I like sleeping with him in the bed. In fact, lately he's been sleeping on the floor. I couldn't tell if it was cause he wanted to go out and just gave up getting my attention, but I think it's because I sleep on my side sometimes, and when I reach for something like water on the nightstand, he's snuggled up to my stomach and, well, he gets squished and growls at me. I try to do it without the squishing, but he's a very touchy sleeper. When he's sleeping, he DOES NOT like being touched, either by me or Sheba and has quietly growled at both of us at one time or another. 

I know he cries at peoples houses, or here when mom was here and I was gone, and I don't want him to be distressed. He even cries when I'm taking a shower. But I'm just not sure that I could do those things. I enjoy the happy greeting I get. I know he gets worked up, but he's having fun. He definitely doesn't like being on the other side of the door from me. But if I'm going back to AZ for the wedding in November, am I taking him or just making it easier and leaving him with Josh and Alex, if they'll even take him. I think I'll talk to Alex about it and maybe work on desensitizing him with some short visits without me. Maybe that will help. I can totally understand if they can't take care of him - they're both working hellacious hours and he's going to be a big whiny baby, so that may be the reason I have to take him, but I know I can get some good advice from Alex. I'm so glad Josh and Alex found each other cause I really love her a lot, and rely on her a lot more than I think she knows. She is so good for him and I couldn't have imagined a better mother for my grandchildren. I don't know how we got so lucky but I'm glad we did. And her whole family came with her!! What a deal!!

Anyway, that's been my day. It started with Jan calling to talk to me before I was quite awake enough, and I've talked to all those people, including my Kathy as she was waiting to go see Michele in the airport, but nothing from Jan. Maybe tomorrow. And maybe we'll finally see that rain they've been predicting for the last week or so. I love rainy days. That would be nice.

rain, rain, and more rain coming

I know that most of the central states are going to be in the same, or worse, predicament, but I think in the next few days we're going to be getting a load of water from the current hurricane. My uncle Tom lives in Galveston and I hope has evacuated by now. I leave the communicating about that stuff to my mom. Oklahoma got 1700 refugees from the Louisiana hurricane so they just basically left the shelters stocked and set up for the next wave.

Where I live has really well designed drainage, although I must admit that the city has been doing a lot of utility work with big pipes and you know how that can mess things up, but I don't really anticipate problems. The rather good sized creek that is between me and the service road that I use to go to "town" has now had the river bank at the sides where the road meets the dirt enforced with concrete. They have really reinforced that in the year since I've been here. My little neighborhood never has had a flooding problem, and unless the city did something to change the dynamics, I think we'll remain high and dry. It's usually the north side of OKC that gets the flooding, when you hear about it on the news. So if you hear about OKC flooding, I will call home if I have any problems. Most likely it's not me. We've been very fortunate.

There wasn't anything really good on TV tonight, and I did a lot of practicing the past few days in Hard on GH, on one particular song that was what it took to let me get out of one section and into another. It was "Cherub Rock" and I didn't like it in Medium and it took me three days of very dedicated time in the practice section to finally squeak through, but I finally did tonight. Then there was the finale, which was "Pride and Joy," one of my favorites, but boy, did it ramp up in Hard. So, back into practice and I made it through after a bit of work. Which left me in the Japan section, section 7, I think. I didn't like any of these songs in Medium and was barely getting good in them when I started in Hard. But, I've learned to just go into Practice as many times as I need to, pain pills help (cause my hands sure do hurt sometimes), but Icy Hot helps too.

I made an impulsive decision tonight. First of all, I put myself on a budget - no more carrying around my credit card. It's got too much available credit on it, both to spend and to risk losing. So, I'm going to take out a certain amount of cash at the beginning of the month and live on that. That's my budget. I pay certain bills with the credit card and I pay for them out of my checks that are auto deposited. That's the plan.

Well, I got this e-mail from Apple about the new iPod, which Heather already has, as a gift from Bill. She let me play with it a little and it is really nice. I like the action and I like the features. It's a great step forward in technology. I thought about going to Penn Square Mall tomorrow and looking at them and buying one, but if you buy it online they will engrave it for you for free, and the shipping is free also, so I did it. I bought myself one. I used my 80 gig one so much when I was in Phoenix that I was pretty surprised. I really relied on it. This one is only 32 gig, but I don't think I could have afforded any larger. I'll just be more choosy because I want to put videos on also. I have a few DVDs that come with downloadable versions and I'm going to go back and find them and put them on, too. I could have used something like that when my cable when out night before last. 

I know it was a semi-impulse.... ok, an impulse buy,  but I did it anyway. I've already decided not to buy Rock Band 2 because I'm working so hard on the Hard section of GH, and because I've seen the new guitar that comes with the new Guitar Hero and I really want that, and it comes out in October. I've already started getting together old games and books and videos to take for trade ins to get the price down. But, that's it. I have too much work to do in the Hard level to get the new Rock Band 2. I'm not good enough in Hard yet to pick it up and just have fun, and Medium is just to boring now. So, that's where I am.

I had a couple of calls from Michele lately, and today. She and I have decided that we're going to go to the movies "together" by deciding on a movie and going on the same day, then we can call and talk about the movie, just like if we had gone together. We've done it already, kinda. I say kinda cause I went to see Batman and she saw Mama Mia, cause we had each seen the other. But it still worked out great. I went to the movie excited and not at all lonely, and looking forward to talking to her after I got out. I think it's a great solution. I think our next movie will be "The Women." It was her suggestion today, which kinda surprised me cause we've been talking about so many action movies we haven't seen and this is definitely a chick flick. 

Oh, and one more thing. I've been watching "It's Me or The Dog" with Victoria Stillwell, and I'm so hooked on that show. She's the British Cesar Milan, only in black leather and tights, driving a red jaguar convertible. She's got a different style if you only watch one or two episodes, but she's really teaching the same concepts and philosophy. And, it's so much fun to see how the Brits live, to see in their houses and lives, and to see her reaction to their dogs behavior. I recommend it. But then again, a woman in black leather and tights teaching how to show domination - what can I say?

I guess that about covers it for the past few days. Tomorrow, I'm sure, will be another day of get up, practice GH, watch TV and go to bed. I'm trying not to spend money (iPod aside) so I've been laying low and eating out of the cupboard even though I should be eating a high protein Atkins-like diet. I'll eat what I've got for as long as I can, then go to the store. It's all good (can't really say "in the 'hood" - that just feels silly with where I live). More anon.

my fine use of time

I've probably spent the last hour or more trying to get the wallpaper from WWE's Pay Per View (which was tonight - I didn't order it cause I'm trying to watch my pennies. However, it was already agreed that if mom were here we would have ordered it), which you can see here, onto my Mac. It's easy on a PC, and it's not that hard on a Mac, but there's sizing to do to make it fill the screen properly since I have a small notebook laptop. I had to do a lot of cropping. He actually has boots and the date of the event is above the title, but I deemed both of those things to be unnecessary. I find the pose very dramatic.

 I like Batista (the guy in the picture). When he's not in the ring he's a very sharp dresser and a very soft spoken man. I was surprised to turn on Iron Chef America tonight and find him as one of the judges, and he did a good job, not making a fool out of himself as some of the celebrities do. They did have a little fun with him, making comments about giving him bigger portions, but he took them gracefully with a smile, and enjoyed what must have been a surprise ingredient for him on his first time there - snails. He said he had never had them so I can't imagine that he picked that particular show to be on, but he was very positive about all the dishes. 

Of course, once he gets in the ring, he gets his nickname, The Animal, cause he just lets loose with all the "million dollar muscles" and is just a powerhouse and fun to watch. You know, I read all the results for the show tonight and I don't remember if he won a title. I know Triple H did (my other big time favorite) so I guess he didn't. He was either in that match or the one with CM Punk, who was cheated out of even being in the match by the evil deeds of the most evil one, Randy Orton, who Is also a favorite, on the dark side.

Enough about wrestling, well, not for me but probably for you. I was playing GH hero today, doing on Hard what I used to do on Medium, starting from the top and playing every song until I get to the song I can't play. That's the only way for me to get any better in Hard. Josh had called me and invited me to their house for dinner and to watch the game, so I was waiting for Alex to call, which she did, to see if I wanted to go over to her parents' house for a little bit. It turned out that we went over there for dinner. 

Mark got this new bbq called the green egg and he's still trying to figure out how to use it, but he grills a mean steak, I'll tell you. It was excellent. And Kathy made some homemade fried rice and I've never had better, not even in a restaurant. It was soft yet crunchy from the frying. They sure know how to cook at that house. Poor Paige and Kelsey are in the same Accounting class and they have their first test tomorrow so they were kinda stressing about it, but Kelsey had kind of a break through and things were beginning to make sense for her.

Josh didn't come over after work cause he wasn't feeling well, so we left around that time. Alex took him some leftovers and he had the game on when we got home. We spent a great deal of the time talking about Direct TV, which they have just gotten, and I think I'm pretty sold on it, but I may just have to wait a little bit, cause the start up is just a bit expensive.

So that was my day. It was a good one. Ozzy got to go visit friends, I got to see the Moreau's, who I haven't seen in ages, got some yummy dinner, and did some good practicing on GH, which I will do again tomorrow. I need to get into a regular routine again. There are two new guitar games coming out, and I'm not very good on Hard yet. I don't think I'll buy either on of them until I'm better on Hard. Oh, unless I see the new GH guitar - I saw a picture of it in a magazine and read about the improvements. If I see it I'll just have to buy it - it's so cool looking that I just know that I'd play better on it.

Since I can't really see the screen anymore I guess it's time to say goodnight and sweet dreams.

alone again

This won't be long cause I'm tired, but mom and I made it to Albuquerque on Friday and got a nice room, and spent most of Saturday in it cause mom has cause a nasty cold in her head and chest. Heather and Bill got in that night. Heather was keeping me updated on her progress by texting me every now and then. I met them at the elevator and, having checked them in earlier, gave them the room key. The hotel did a great job - they gave us adjoining rooms. In fact, their room was actually nicer than ours.

We ordered dinner at Chilis and the kids went and picked it up then we all crashed. I didn't get to sleep very early, probably because of the coffee and Pepsi I had when I was driving, so when it was time to get up I was still groggy, but we all went down and had a free breakfast, including Ozzy, who was on his usual typical good behavior. There was a nice gazebo and little garden area by the pool that I didn't know about our earlier trip that I used this time that made it a lot nicer. There were a lot more people that on our last visit, so Ozzy had a lot more protecting to do in the middle of the night, but overall he was his usual well mannered self.

We all packed up after breakfast and moved stuff from my car to Heather's and said out farewell's and then Ozzy and I headed home. I don't know what it is about the trips home for me, but they haven't been good. I should have done what I had kinda planned on and kept the single room an extra day and just slept and relaxed because around Texas I started getting a migraine that didn't go away but just was bad enough to make me sleepy. I realized when I got home I had no more relpax and had to jump through hoops to get some. I couldn't have taken any on the road because they put me to sleep. 

Anyway, I found myself drifting in the lane, so I turned up the AC (Ozzy was shivering), opened the windows, turned up the music, got out at one of the stops and went inside and got some food and a cold drink, and still would drift over onto those grated spots on the side of the freeway. I decided I was better off in that lane than drifting into a car. I started looking for motels, but they all looked like dives, scary dives. The one nice one I saw I saw as I was leaving the area and who knew how long it would take me to get back to it. I was closer to home now than NM. 

I was just outside the metro area and it finally happened. I fell asleep, went over the grated area, into the grassy center at an angle a bit, but not too far. It jolted me awake and I pulled the car back onto the freeway, in my lane and as I was doing it I glanced at my speedometer and it was reading just under 100. That one scared me spitless. Ozzy too. Scared me enough to keep me awake until I got home, and well into the next day. The next city that I came to paved over the grated areas so the side of the road is even. I don't even want to think about what would have happened there, and thank god I didn't hit a fence, much less a car. We always wondered what would happen if I had a migraine while I was driving that trip - now we know. I don't make good decisions when I have a migraine and I have trouble with the light and staying awake. 

I told Josh all of it, and all of the things he came up with, getting a hotel, having he and Alex come get me, pulling in somewhere to sleep - I did think of, they just didn't penetrate the migraine. Josh's fist comment was "You know better!" and he's right. I have no excuse. I'm just thankful to be here and to have not hurt myself and Ozzy or anyone else on the freeway with me at the time. It was a very foolish thing to have done, but I just can't think when I have a migraine. I shouldn't have left NM - I was groggy and didn't want to get out of bed - I probably shouldn't have. This is really going to hurt my argument for getting a motorcycle.