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Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
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6:40 pm - Thieving bastards...
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| Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
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1:16 am - Kitten Cam week 6
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We're getting to the last of the kitten cams. :( Jester and Wilbur go to new homes next week so I'll get one more video for week 7 done before they leave, then we need to find homes for the other two.
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| Friday, July 17th, 2009
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4:08 am - Kitten Cam week 5!
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I'm a couple of days late in filming this -- we're up to day 40 -- but here's week 5. :)
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| Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
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3:06 am - Kitten Cam week 4!
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We're up to 31 days old and boy are they getting rambunctious! :)
current mood:  tired
current music: Xena: Warrior Princess (DVD Audio) - Xena: 2-13: The Quest
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| Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
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12:49 am - Kitten Cam week 3
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| Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
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9:28 pm - Kitten Cam week 2!
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| Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
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1:15 pm - Kitten Cam!
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Something for those who want a little "awwwww" in their day. :D I filmed this yesterday while doing my daily checkup on Calico and the kittens.
current mood:  good
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| Sunday, June 7th, 2009
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12:44 pm - We have baby kittehs! :D
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Calico (our newly adopted stray cat I rescued from camp a couple of weeks ago) finally popped out her sprogs this morning! Yayness! I walked out the door at 5:45am to head for work and noticed one little light-colored blob on the concrete in her pen outside, with another on its way. I woke Amy up to keep an eye on her and then when I got home from work, we had an itty-bitty kitty committee of 4 awaiting me. All are light white and orange stripes. Sooooooo cute. The only thing I regret is that after being off work for a week when I had plennnnnty of time to kitten-sit, she opted to deliver today while I was at work. Not fair! I wanted to watch.
So anyway, we have kittehs! :D We've intended to have them fixed and vaccinated and then just have more outdoor cats here on the ranch, but with their light coloration they'd not last very long around here...something would catch and eat them. :( We'll have to find them homes instead. Amy has a friend at work who wants one, but the other three we'll have to ask around. I'd like to keep one along with Cally if we stay stateside, but I'm trying not to get too attached to even her since we're still hoping to head for New Zealand.
current mood:  excited
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| Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
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12:54 pm - Goodbye Shadow.
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| Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
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2:31 pm - Babies, babies everywhere!
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:-)
I finally felt up to processing my latest photos today -- had a bug the last few days that wiped me out -- and found a handful of pictures I took of Amy and her new niece Harley. I had to post the cutest.
Everyone can go "awwww" now. *lol*
:-D
current mood:  amused
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| Monday, March 9th, 2009
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5:55 am - We made it home alive.
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Amy and I just got in the door after approximately 22 hours of near-continuous travel. We departed Savannah at 7:30am central time yesterday and arrived at the house about 35 minutes ago (it's 5:45am). :p In that gap only about 2 hours were spent in small 10-15 minutes chunks getting gas, eating lunch/dinner, and unloading the girls when we got to Galveston.
Ugh, that was a lot of driving. Especially since Amy and I had to do all of it...it was our rental.
That being said, it was definitely worth two full days glued to the road to be at the wedding. The ceremony was lovely and I'll try to remember to write more later after I see how my photos turned out. :)
Later today or tomorrow I have to go see about a Texas driver's license so I can do a job interview with the state. More ugh.
For now, I hope Yele and Amaria make it to work on time and in good form, especially since Mari still had to drive the leg to Corpus Christi and that was almost as far as our final leg back to Marble Falls. Amy and I are completely shattered and having showered (she just finished hers) we are promptly crashing for a MUCH needed extended sleep. The rest of whatever will have to wait until I'm conscious again.
current mood:  exhausted
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| Thursday, March 5th, 2009
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7:01 am - Away for the weekend...
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We're bleary eyed and trying to wake up, but Amy and I are off shortly to head to GA for the weekend. We'll be back on Monday. Whee. :)
current mood: tired
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| Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
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6:44 pm - Busy, busy, busy, busy...
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I'm not sure if it's the tootsie roll or the queso I ate, but I am in hyper-focus mode. *lol*
Played pm/phone tag most of the day and relief of all reliefs have organized a carpool to get us to Savannah. Hurrah!
Auckland FINALLY approved my graduation. I sent in the application to graduate in absentia this afternoon and am waiting to hear their response to my request to have my diploma sent early. From the information I found online, they typically don't send them out until after the graduation ceremonies, which will be in May. That's too late for me to get the diploma and still file for my visa extension before the deadline. If they won't send it earlier, I'm going to have to convince the NZ consulate that a photocopy of my application to graduate is the best I can do to prove my NZ degree qualifications. :p I guess we'll see. At least this is progress! I would've liked to graduate first class honours, but alas, I only managed second class honours with merit. As best I can convert between scales, though, my final GPA was damn close to a 3.5. I can live with that. :)
Mom sent me a Valentine's card. That was a very lovely surprise today. :D
I've averaged 2-3 job applications/day for 3 days now. Tomorrow I think Amy is taking me up to the new state prison at Burnet to apply for some of the many clerical positions they have open.
Jemma finally emailed me back today assuring me she's not dead. *lol* I hadn't heard anything since July-ish and I emailed her several weeks ago asking if she was still alive. Glad to know it was only a lack of email access issue. I also got an expected email from Robin (Mrs. E.) yesterday to which I promptly replied. I've intended to email her since I got back stateside but kept forgetting. Bad Shan! And continuing on the roll of unexpected contacts, Tim called me last night with questions about air travel. He's never flown commercially before and is off on a trip to Pittsburgh to see his new gf at the end of the month. It was sweet and I gave him the best rundown I could on buying tickets and what to expect when flying. Nice to have my little bro find my plethora of completely random information useful on occasion. Or maybe it was just an excuse to give his sister a call. Who knows. I won't complain. :)
Okay, back to this programming project that's been nipping at my heels since November. Gotta take advantage of the focus groove while I can. Well, as much as I can with a herd of cows mooing (loudly) for dinner outside my window. Bucky and Fay went out to feed the alpacas and whenever he shows up outside the cows think it's chow time. *lol*
Zoom, zoom..............
current mood:  busy
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| Sunday, February 8th, 2009
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1:15 pm - Made it to Texas.
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I just realized I forgot to post an entry to say we made it safely to Mable Falls. So, here it is.
We stayed Monday night in Tucson with Eve and then made one hell of a long drive on Tuesday. I think we clocked around 15 hours of actual driving time and got in about 5 am on Wednesday. I don't want to do that again -- not in a moving truck anyway -- for some time. The truck was really uncomfortable to drive for long stretches (absolutely no lumbar support) so Amy and I traded off about every two hours, the off-duty driver catching a nap and some much needed stretching on their down time. At least the weather was beautiful the entire trip, minus the snow/rain the first 3 hours to Portland.
It took us about 20 minutes to unload on Wednesday and then we took the truck to Austin to drop it off.
Many thanks to those friends who were so gracious to give us a bed and feed us as we came through. :) It was really, really appreciated and hopefully we can return the favor someday. I was excited to meet my Gingababes' squeeze, Kate, and she was as lovely as I expected. Definitely a good match for Ginger. And damn can that girl cook! Mmmmmmm.
Amy's in training as a barista at the Starbucks in Marble Falls. She already knows about half of the stuff from reading manuals when she was in Seattle, but the actual hands on drink preparation is new. They're hoping to have her fully trained and ready to roll full time by next week. Until then she's on 4-5 hour shifts. A bit of a bummer but hey, it's better than nothing. We're just going to have to stretch a bit until she gets full paychecks again. This week I've got to hit the street (or paper rather) and start applying to jobs as well. So far I've spent my time here unpacking.
The weather has been gorgeous, though really, really dry (they're in the midst of a nasty drought around here apparently). Breezy and in the mid-70s...muuuch better than Seattle this time of year. Unfortunately, it's just going to start getting hotter and heading more downhill from here. :p Amy and I like running out after it gets chilly in the evening after dark and sitting in the hottub on the porch for a half hour or so. That's been nice. She also took me on a trek around the property. Her dad has 5 cows, all but one with calves, and two alpacas running around. So far I'm still finding the loud dinnertime mooing funny. We'll see if that lasts. ;) We went to Amy's brother Danny's house for a BBQ last night. It was my first introduction to him and his gf, his gf's mother, his gf's sister, and his gf's neice. *lol* Amy's other brother, Jason, lives on the property out here so we've seen him and his gf for dinner every night since we got here.
No sightings of snakes or scorpions yet, though Amy's mom said she got stung by one in the bathroom the other day. :\ Well, I take that back, I did find one dead scorpion drowned in a water bucket on the woodstove. But it'd been there awhile...it was pretty mushy. No live sightings. In any case, it's going to take some time to get used to checking the bed each night and shaking out my shoes anytime I want to put them on. Joy.
Still no news from Auckland. I'm getting a bit depressed about it. :( I've still got time, of course -- my current visa has another month on it and then I get 90 days after that -- but I'm chomping at the bit to have some progress on that front. I need to email Dillie too...*makes mental note*
Instead of panic and owing > $500, yay for tax returns this year. Mom forwarded my Panera W2s so I filed both the federal and Iowa on Friday night. I'm only getting a refund for taxes from working one month last January, but my holiday bonuses were on one of those cheques and it was a much larger amount than usual. I'll get pretty much everything back and it should be enough to get Amy and I out to Savannah and back for Melissa's wedding if we rent a car and drive over. :) Once Amy gets her W2s from Starbucks we'll file her federal too and hopefully have a bit to put towards Jordan Con. We'll see how much she gets.
Okay, time to wrap this up. Amy ought to home from work in a few minutes and some friends of hers are coming from Austin for lunch. More later.
current mood: busy
current music: Warm 106.9 Online
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| Monday, February 2nd, 2009
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9:30 am - We're on the road again.
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Xena Con wrapped last night and with a big XOC pizza party in Sarah & Phoebe's room, we gave it a resounding goodbye for this year. More on the con later...it was WONDERFUL! :D
Now it's time to get back on the road. Amy and I are up and around and going to start loading our stuff back into the truck shortly, the head out for Tucson (and hopefully get there a little after dinnertime). Whee!
current mood: busy
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| Friday, January 30th, 2009
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2:13 am - We made it to LA.
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Our butts are sore, our backs are killing us, and we haven't had a proper night's sleep in a week, but we made it to LA safe and sound. Badges have been picked up already tonight so as of noon tomorrow the Xena madness shall begin! Whee! I think the best part, though, will be Lucy's concert tomorrow night. *squiggles and squees*
And for something completely different...
I'm whipped and the brain isn't firing very well, but I figured I'd take it anyway and didn't manage to do too bad on this quiz. I'll try again later when I'm more fresh and see how I do then. :)
71
current mood: exhausted
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| Tuesday, January 27th, 2009
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12:02 pm - And...we're off!
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We got the truck at 7:30 this morning and it took about 3 hours and a half to load. Amy's in the shower now and as soon as she's dried off, we'll toss the last couple boxes in the truck and hit the road. I'm whipped, but it feels good to have the loading done.
Tonight we're at Ginger's in Portland, Wednesday night in Sacramento, Thursday-Sunday nights at the Travelodge at LAX, Monday night in Tucson, and finally Tuesday we'll wind up in Marble Falls. We should have internet along the way to check email once a day, but other than that we'll be pretty scarce. We have some looong driving days ahead.
More later...from Texas! :)
current mood:  productive
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| Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
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2:48 pm - An update of sorts. :)
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We're now counting down our final days in Seattle. Tuesday morning we load up and head south. We've got some of the packing done, but most of it will get boxed on Sunday and Monday.
I made the stupid, stupid mistake of having the post office start forwarding my mail this week instead of next. I didn't think I had anything else I needed in Seattle when I filled out the change of address form, and then two days ago it dawned on me we don't have our Xena Con tickets yet. *bangs head on desk* So, we've got Amy's mom on lookout for the envelopes and we've emailed Creation to find out if we can get in with just our printed invoices. :p I'm mostly worried about the Lucy concert/bus tickets. We may end up having to ask Amy's mom to overnight the stupid things to us at the hotel in LA.
We're debating what to do about a vehicle in Texas. Right now the cheapest option looks to be going to Michigan to collect Betty and a load of my stuff. I definitely would like to have some of my things that're currently stored in Kalkaska, but coordinating travel times and stuff may be problematic. Especially since it's been so cold up their way -- cold enough that Dad hasn't been able to work outside and he needs to put the passenger seat and some trim in Betty before she can be driven away. I also...well, I don't know how mentally prepared I am for a live confrontation with my parents over my relationship with Amy. Amy wants to go with me (and frankly I want her to go) but she'd be juggling days off work. I guess we'll just see what we decide. We'll discuss it in depth I'm sure on the way to Texas.
I emailed Auckland again about my graduation status. Got another reply stating I was still inelligible and that my email had been cc'd to the department contact to try and find out why. I'm getting a little annoyed about this. I finished my requirements with flying colours...let me get my diploma already so I can start the visa extension application process.
Amy and I finally made the drive up to visit Vancouver on the 11th. It's a lovely city, but winter weather being what it is around here, the cloud deck was low and we couldn't see the surrounding mountains. :( We poked around the metro area a bit, ate lunch at Horseshoe Bay, and then took a driving tour of downtown. We tried to go see Bedtime Stories at the big cinema near the cbd, but it wasn't showing until later and we decided to catch it at a cinema in Washington on the drive back to Seattle. The border guard re-entering the states was a pain and rude as usual. He gave us a good scrutinizing when we stated our relationship as "partners." We also got grilled as to why we were driving a car with Colorado plates when we claimed to be from Seattle. Apparently, 25 and 40 year-old women not owning their own car(s) and using a rental to go for a Sunday drive is now suspicious. *gasp* It couldn't possibly be because this summer owning a car was too expensive and we had to start relying on public transportation. No, no, surely we must be transporting a dead body, illegal drugs, a terrorist in the trunk, or heaven forbid, prescription drugs to sell to senior citizens on the street! :| I hate US immigration, be it on land or in airports. Damn Homeland Security is just as obnoxious for citizens as it is for visitors.
A note on Bedtime Stories... I LOVED it! \o/ Usually I avoid Adam Sandler's films. His typical flavour of comedy is too vulgar and unwitty for me to appreciate it much. This time, though, he did it right. :D I probably wouldn't have watched the movie at the cinema had not Lucy been in it (couldn't pass up the chance to see her on the big screen!!), but Lucy's awesomeness aside the movie rocked. It was cute and charming. It was funny and sweet. And that guinea pig, Bugsy...WANT! All around a very enjoyable film and we had a delightful time seeing it on the big screen. Definitely a movie I'll be buying when it comes out on dvd.
Tonight I finally meet Amy's friend Michael. We're meeting him and another co-worker of hers for dinner and a movie. Saturday is the big going-away party and we're meeting a bunch of her co-workers at Jillian's for pool and food. Megan and Luke are away for a couple of days. They'll be back Saturday and I'm babysitting him one last time on Monday night.
I guess that's all to report for the moment. I need to go get a crock pot of chilli started for Amy to take to work tomorrow. More later.
current mood: busy
current music: Streaming Soundtracks
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| Monday, January 19th, 2009
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4:25 pm - Harry Potter thing going around...
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| Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
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2:40 pm - What's new?
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Not too much, actually. I've finished my big holiday babysitting stint with Luke. I'll still have him the occasional evening this month when Megan goes out, and I think she needs me for the day on the 19th, but I won't be chasing him routinely anymore. I must say...keeping up with a two-year-old is freaking exhausting!! *lol* It's less the physical chasing and more the mental alertness making sure he doesn't hurt himself or beat the wrong thing with a truck, etc. Sheesh. He's such a sweetie, though, despite being a handful at times. One of the best behaved and most polite little boys I've ever run across. Megan does a good job with him. I'm really going to miss the little tyke when we move. He's wriggled into my heart. :(
In other news, I finally submitted our registration withdrawal from Anni. I'm still really, really bummed we can't go. I was all excited about that for ages seeing as we were going to be in Washington and all. Oh well. My consolation prize was we decided for sure we're going to find a way to Jordan Con now, so I sent in our registrations for that.
A friend of ours in Arizona wants us to stop over and see her on our way to Texas, so we've adjusted our travel plans to reflect that (no more suicidal drive straight through from LA = much joy! *lol*). We'll have everything packed and ready to load by Tuesday morning (Jan. 27). We're scheduled to get the truck at 7:30 am, will load as fast as we can manage, say our goodbyes to Megan and Luke, and then hit the road for Portland. I need to do a followup confirmation, but I'm pretty certain we'll be crashing with Gingababes that night and I'd like to get down there in time to have the evening to spend with her and get to know Kate. :D Wednesday we head for Sacramento, staying the night with Amy's friend Sharon. Thursday it's on to Los Angeles, getting there in plenty of time to sort out parking for the truck before everyone gathers for the pre-con XOC episode party. Friday-Sunday are the Xena Con, then on Monday we'll head for Tucson, staying with Eve. Tuesday it's the last leg to Marble Falls and depending on how late we get into town we'll decide if we're unloading then or Wednesday morning. The truck has to be turned in by 4 pm or so on Wednesday and we've got to take it to Austin.
Hopefully, when we get to Texas everything will be in order for Amy to start work shortly, and if I don't get a job with Amy's mom I'll be hunting for something (aka anything :p) to get some income until we figure out what's going to happen with New Zealand. I still haven't heard back from the graduation office at Auckland about the status of my diploma, but it's only 7 days into the New Year for them so I figure I'll give it another week before I start emailing. I've got to have that diploma in hand before I can start applying for our visas, so I'm a little antsy for them to sort it out.
As a side thought...
Hey Texan Tower folksies! Any of you guys in the San Antonio/Austin area game to have a party for those of us who can't make it to Anni? :D If I'm going to be in Texas for the next few months you bet I intend to actually enjoy having a group of friends handy. *lol*
Other than all that, not too much to report. I'm trying to find a way for Amy and I to make a day trip to Vancouver, just for the heck of it (I've wanted to see Vancouver a long time), before we go. We also keep wanting to get out for a hike at Discovery Park but thus far the weather hasn't cooperated. It snowed again here Sunday night, but thankfully it was all melted by morning. :p Amy and I met up with Triste and Atreyu for dinner and a movie on Friday and had a great time. Part of me is thinking I ought to email my Aunt Helen and see about meeting for dinner while I'm still here (she and my cousin Rob are in Gig Harbor), but I dunno. Meh. Anyway, I need a shower and to get on to the next project. More later.
current mood: busy
current music: Warm 106.9 Online
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