ahh, blogs

I saw this on one of my favorite blogs. I share it with you along with the blog address. I think I am one of the "only" to which they are referring....

http://quotation-marks.blogspot.com/

pity me

Okay kids, I'm an idiot. For those of you who may have already been of this opinion, this will solidify it for you.

So as I'm finishing up for the night, I've got one more task to do: FIBs. All that involves is spinning some blood in the hematocrit centrifuge, heating it up, spinning it some more...blah blah blah. A trained monkey could do this, right? Well, maybe a trained monkey, but not me. I get to my last spin step, put all 8 tubes in the centrifuge, close the lid and hit go. As soon as I do, I hear glass smashing and breaking and gears grinding. WTF??? I turn off the power, wait for it to stop, and then realize I never put on the screw-on protective lid thingy. DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!!! All 8 tubes shattered beyond all recognition. I had to take the entire rotor off the thing to get all the little bitty glass pieces out of that thing. Arrgh!!! Good side: the centrifuge looks like new.

Now I'm sitting waiting on the last spin again. Wish me luck guys! I hope you enjoyed my miserable last 30 minutes at work.

can I trade in this model?

I've decided my body is a dud. Not necessarily because I'm overweight or not as pretty as Hollywood and the media would like me to be. I think I was given a dud. As a child I had too many concussions (partially my own fault). My allergies have always been haywire. I've got a bum knee that soccer and cross country didn't help. But now? Now it's all gone to hell in a handbasket. And where in the world did that phrase originate anyway? Since August 20th, I've had too many things go wrong. The stupid hospital visit, painful ears, bronchial nastiness picked up on the plane back from Paris. Now! I already talked about the human pin cushion in a prior post. That danged pneumonia shot...! The arm I got it in is swollen, red, and hot. I've run a general fever since Friday (it's been much better today), and I can hardly move my danged arm without wincing in pain. Thank the good Lord for Tylenol 3 and the left over prescription from the hospital stay. When will it end???

kismet?

So I was having feelings of emailing my former choir director and asking (basically begging) for my old singing job back. I miss the good music, my church, and my friends in the choir. That and I really need the money. I gots bills to pays! (yes, bad grammar on purpose) So I talked with a mutual friend (known him longer, likes me better) about how to approach it and if it was even a good idea. We chatted about it, she said she thought it was a good idea, and I have no problem eating a little crow even if it's not deserved. I just miss singing!

Anyway, as soon as I hung up the phone with the friend, put the phone in my pocket, and had time to think about looking in the microscope, my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize, but I answered it anyway. Turns out it was another choir director asking if I was available for All Saints' Day and Christmas services. WOO-HOO!!! Of course I said I was. Then I asked when I needed to show up for rehearsal. I'm so bloody excited I can hardly stand it. She said she can't offer me a full time singing gig now, but she hopes to be able to soon.

Now I've got to go to bed. Stupid pneumonia shot made me sick and gave me a fever. No, it didn't give me pneumonia, I'm just "susceptible" to maladies from immunizations.

human pin cushion

OMG! Two posts in one day! Will the madness ever end?

So check this out: yesterday I got my flu shot. Today I got a pneumonia shot, blood drawn, and an IV for a contrast MRI. I feel like a human pin cushion! One shot in each arm, and both needles to take stuff out or put it in in one arm. At least I didn't have to pay for the MRI. Ah, the joys of being a guinea pig for research. ;-)

And yes, I am STILL doing laundry. Tee hee!

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

I FINALLY hooked up the washer and dryer! Today, my one day off this week, will be full-o-laundry. My Lord, I'm happy. Now I just gotta get the scaredy cat used to some of the noises the washer makes. When it does the spin to rinse thing, it sounds like a UFO taking off. Okay, granted I have not a clue what a UFO sounds like, but if I did, I'm sure it would make this noise.

I had to get up early because the electrician was supposed to be here between 8 and 10am. I rolled outta bed at 7:54am, threw on jeans and a sweat shirt and called it a good day. (Now the jeans are in the washer!) He was here by 8:30 and gone by 9:30. He switched out the outlet in the utility room from a three prong to a four prong. I asked if he had a dolly in his truck which he didn't. Then he pulled the macho thing and said he'd move my washer for me (it was still stuck in the roomie's old room--long story). When he tried to pick it up, I just stood aside with a smirk. This thing's an Asko, meaning it has its own built in water heater. There was NO WAY he was gonna move it on his own. He finally let me help him after I told him the situation. He smiled and said he was trying to be macho. What a sweet guy! We got it moved to the other end of the house and hooked it up. When we turned on the water at the source, it spewed all over the wall. Eek! We switched out the hose to the spare, but it did the same thing. At this point I was ready to crawl back in bed. Instead, I paid the nice man and went to Home Depot. I had to return the plug I'd bought a couple of weeks ago trying to hook the dryer up on my own. So I returned it and bought a new washer hose. Would you believe I had $0.01 left from the trade? Crazy. When I got back home I screwed on the hose, turned on the water again, and --lo and behold--there was no leakage! I started yelling "it works! it works!" as I ran through the house. Poor cats. Scared the crap out of poor Corn.

And now, if you need me, I'll be doing laundry. :-)

why oh why

Why am I having this major craving for a man in my life? I think it has something to do with the shortening of the days, the slight chill in the air in the mornings, the fact that I'm totally over the ex. Took long enough. He really threw me for a loop. At least I can admit it freely now. Anywho, I went out tonight with a "friend" who I would love to be more than a friend. He has, unfortunately made it absolutely clear that it will never happen. I'm not pretty enough for him. He didn't have to say it out loud for me to know. Typical for me. Why do I fall for the egocentric guys? I don't mean to; it just happens. Maybe it's because I know there is no chance. Ergo, I can't get my hopes up and then have them dashed to pieces.

No more Harp on an empty stomach for the naughty mouse. That and Aqualung make me all

misty.

during research...

I am trying to figure out what kind of beetle invaded my house last night on the internet. Do you know how many varieties of beetles are in Texas??? A gabillion! Anywho, I've got it narrowed down to a few--luckily there aren't that many freakin' humongous ones around. Just in my house.

Anywho, I found this picture on one of the sites. I will post it for your amusement.

now I've seen it all

Last night as I left the abode to venture to Home Depot, there was this super ugly big black beetle on my screen door. I tried not to disturb it, but it fell to the porch as I closed to door. Lo and behold, it was waiting for me when I got home. Furthermore, it ran inside when I opened my front door. Ugh! Icky bug in the house! That's okay. I have cats that love to chase bugs and play them to death, right? Ya, let's make that no. I called the cats to come and do their thing. Thomas, poor stupid cat, comes running over and sees the bug. As he's thinking about making his move, bug rattles its little wings and moves toward him. Thomas runs away like a baby! Damn cat was scared of a little bug. *rolling eyes*

to make the day even better...

Ya, so I keep having to blow my nose. Mucinex causes that. It's supposed to be good. Once today when I honking the nasal horn, the boss started laughing at me. I looked at him questioningly. He said it sounded like I was blowing my brains out of my noise. Thanks boss.

And now Thomas is trying to show his dominance. Damn toothy cat.

Tuesday schmuesday

So here we are at working twiddling our thumbs waiting for the couriers to arrive. This has been one of the crappiest weeks in record. Maybe it's the fact that Paris was so awesome that I'm just in "back to the real world" mode. Maybe it's because I can't get rid of all the icky gooey crap in my sinuses. Could be the dreary weather or the "date" last Friday night that never materialized. Whatever it is, I'm ready for it to stop. Either that or I wanna got back to Paris. The real world stinks. Really, I mean I do work with poop--it's stinky!

btw--If anyone is game, I've got to get my washer and dryer hooked up, and I'll need help moving it. I've got loads of laundry to do!

final day in Paris

Okay, I'm a little late in getting this posted. My apologies.

Sunday in Paris! What a beautiful day. Mother and I slept until almost 11am! I guess all that walking around the previous few days really did us in. Luckily we decided to sleep in on Sunday when most of Paris is also sleeping late or closed. After we finally hauled ourselves out of the hotel, it actually was difficult to find a place for lunch. We saw a Mexican restaurant which we hastily dismissed (just wouldn't be the same...), and we eventually happened upon a lovely little bistro. We each got a salad (Mother--Nicoise, me--Dauphinoise) to try to keep things light. After that we just wandered around the 6th arrondissement taking in the sights. I nice lazy day. After a lot of wandering we went to Sainte Chappelle, the "chapel" built by Louis IX in the 1240s to hold the relics he acquired from the Holy Land. These supposedly included the crown of thorns and a piece of the true cross. If all this were true (and even if it weren't), Sainte Chappelle was the perfectly built place to house them. My God, it was GORGEOUS!!! The entire main floor (the second) is lined with huge windows, and when the sunlight pours through them, it's like being in heaven. So what if Louis took liberties with his chronology of the Bible notated in the windows! Anyway, I tried to upload a couple of my pictures, but they were too big (and you'd have to turn your monitor sideways to see them). So if you wanna see it, here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Chapelle.

After all that beautifulness, we wandered though a french nursery on the Ile de la Cite looking for bean seeds. Long story--don't ask. It was sooooooooo crowded and fruitless (no pun intended), and we gave up quickly. We wandered back to the hotel slowly to get ready for dinner. On the way, we passed the entrance to the Orsay. Holy crap! The French take their free entrance to museums on the first Sunday of the month seriously. The line was so totally long! I'm glad we went the day before. Too many people make me nervous.

And finally, our last meal in Paris. We went to a restuarant called Au Petit Tonneau strictly on the word of a book my mother read. I had the girolle fricasse (girolles=chanterelles) with garlic and butter (what's not fantastic with lots of garlic?), sole muniere, and the prune (actually plum) clafoutis. Mother started with the rosette de lyon (fancy name for salami platter) followed by veal with mustard sauce. We kinda shared the dessert. To top it all off, we had a lovely bottle of something red. As we walked back to the hotel, the Eiffel tower did its sparkly thing again. Ah, Paris!

day three

Wow, did Mother and I ever sleep late today. I think she called me close to 11am. Some people may think we slept our vacation away; I say it's vacation--do what you want! If we both hadn't been to Paris before, it may be different, but we've already seen all the typical tourist sites. Anywho, we finally ventured out of the hotel about 11:30am for our day of wandering.

Just as we stepped out the door of Hotel Bourgogne et Montana (http://www.bourgogne-montana.com/), we both immediately noticed how sore we were from walking the 3762 miles from the day before with Michael. It became "take it easy day" which we did. Let's see, this was Saturday so we started by going to the Rodin museum. We saw tons of his castings in bronze, some sculpture in marble and plaster, and some of his personal art collection (which included Van Gogh and Monet). His house alone was quite spectacularly huge. It was unusual for an artist to be popular in his own time, but Rodin obviously was. I didn't know that his "friend" (read lover) was an artist in his own right until I saw some of his stuff displayed in the house as well. The gardens were dotted with bronzes including, of course, The Thinker. It was nice, but I don't think it was his best work. That I believe was The Gates of Hell--uber creepy!

After that it was time (or past time in Mother's opinion) for lunch. We found was a quaint little Italian place. We each had the sliced salami appetizer (some sorta "misto" something); Mother followed with pasta and meatballs while I had penne with wild mushrooms. Man was it tasty!

Now sated, we wandered around for a bit then headed to the Musee d'Orsay. It was our quest to find the painting we call "homosexual Jesus." (No, I don't think Jesus was gay, nor do I think that Dan Brown had it right with him ending up in the South of France married to Mary Magdalene with a kid.) What it is is a painting of some guy (named Jean Delville--which is very similar to "devil" if you think about it...) that looks like every other painting you've ever seen of Jesus surrounded by twelve naked dudes. It's technically called L'Ecole de Platon (or The School of Plato), but c'mon! Decide for yourselves.

After wandering the 3 floors of the Orsay looking for that hideously magnificent painting, our legs and backs and feet told us to call it quits. He headed back to the hotel and stopped at a street side bistro around the corner from the hotel. While Mother had some wine, I had an Orangina (you can't not have it while in France! http://www.supdorangina.com/). We were under the awning, but the sun was right on my back. It felt so good--I felt like a cat in a sun spot. That is until I realized my neck got burned. Stupid French sun!

For dinner that night, we went to Le P'tit Troquet--a family favorite. I started with the mushroom risotto (OMG, soooooo good), had the guinea hen for my main course, and finished off with a lemon tarte. Mom had a chevre tart appetizer, some yummy lamb dish as the main course, and the creme brulee for dessert. She practically drooled over the creme brulee, and she's super picky about that particular dessert. As we walked home, we could look over our shoulders at the Eiffel Tower which was sparkling the night away (like mini strobe lights were placed all over it). Perfect end to a lovely day!

more Parisian posting

Day two:

We woke up about 8:30ish and went across the street to a tea house and patisserie. We each had a marvelous pot of tea, and I had the flakiest, butteriest, yummiest croissant ever. We then met our tour guide for the day (a man named Michael Osmond--I only u his real name because he was the BEST DAMNED TOUR GUIDE EVER!!!). He showed us around the Louvre, the Mairie de Paris, and many places in between. He was so knowledgeable about random little facts and showed Mother and me places we would have never seen on our own (the holocaust museum, original city wall, and even the gay area of town...). He even took us to a great The Salon ("the" being the french word for tea), Mariage Frere. Yes, I bought tea there, and I'm drinking it now. Not only was he super knowledgeable, he was hilariously funny and witty as well. I wish he lived here so I could see him again. During this day of walking, I swear we walked at least 6 miles but probably more. I wasn't too tired by the end of the day (at 4:45pm I thought it was closer to 2:00), but my legs, feet, and back were killing me the next day. I think it had to be the most walking Mother had done at one time in years. Bless her heart!

Now for the important stuff: food that day! Lunch was at a little sidewalk bistro on the Seine that Michael knew. I had a croque monsieur with frites and a green salad. Mother had the same. For dessert, I had a molten chocolate cake. Numnumnumnum!!! Mother had the tarte tatin (apple tart) with a local vanilla ice cream (which was AMAZING). Dinner was at a little place called La Fontaine de Mars (129, rue St-Dominique--a straight walk from our hotel down one street). Mom had something she loved, I think the duck confit. I had the typical green salad (I can't pass up a good salad) followed by steak frites with a fantastic shallot and red wine reduction sauce. There was even a "chunk" of bone marrow on top of my steak. Honestly, I had no clue what it was; I had to ask the waiter. It creeped me out, but, like my daring nature, I tried it. Ya, I don't have to do that again. Yes, I know it's a gastronomique delight, but to me it was the equivalent of eating Crisco. Greasy, not a lot of taste, and kinda icky. Because of that, I don't remember my dessert. Whatever it was, it was good as was the wine.

So that's day two. More to follow. Now I gotta get some sleep. Stupid recycled plane air made me sick with a stupid sinus infection. Do you now how hard it is to sleep when you can't breathe? That and I think I've produced more snot today than is humanly possible. I should call Guinness.

stupid jet lag

Okay, I've been awake since ~4am. I gave up and got up at 5 figuring I can use the extra time to catch up on the Parisian blogging. I'll start at the beginning.

The plane ride: Good Lord, I hate to fly. It's not like I'm afraid of it or anything, it's just so boring. I consider it a necessary evil. Ten hours of uncomfortable recycled air in order to enjoy one's self in a beautiful foreign land. It would be better if I didn't suffer from the affliction of "Unabletosleeponaplaneopathy." My mother got her ticket waaaaaay earlier than mine, so she was lucky enough to use miles to upgrade to business class. I was in steerage in a seat that didn't recline. Oh, and I was right next to the lavatory--occasionally stinky. And my headphones broke rendering my iPod useless. Arrgh! At least I had a super sweet girl sitting next to me. After hours of chatting (she can't sleep on planes either) about her singing and songwriting career, I found out she is one of the daughters of Hank Williams, Jr. True! My brush with fame in an uncomfortable airplane seat.

Then we land. Remember, we left DFW at 5:15pm and arrived at CDG at 9:30am. Where did the night go? We flew through it. This is the worst possible of days--trying to stay awake. Mother and I got our ride to the hotel, freshened up a bit, and head out for lunch. We walked and walked and walked and...well, you get it...until we found the place she had picked out for lunch. It was a place she's been to before and is known for its souffles. She had a fan-freaking-tastic Gorgonzola souffle whereas (in my sleep deprived state) I thought it would be wise to try something different. I ordered the haddock and spinach souffle. It could've been good, but it wasn't. Way too much fish. I decided it would've been better if they'd added a good hard cheese like parmesan or asiago, but they didn't. I couldn't even finish it because it nauseated me. That's when we decided that I was in no state to purchase anything--who knows what I would've bought in that state of mind! We spent a lot of the rest of the afternoon just wandering around the 7th arrondisement trying to stay awake. When we found ourselves back at the hotel, we look a nap and then got up for dinner.

Ah, dinner on the first night. It was so unbelievably magnificent I wanted to marry all 3 courses I ate and have their children. The restaurant is called Le Florimond ("19 Ave de la Matte-Picquet, 75007, Paris Traditional Cuisine, served with passion"). Here's what I had: (A) lobster ravioli in some sorta fantastic sauce, (MC) a leg of lamb stew with fresh basil, carrots, potatoes, and golden raisins, and (D) chocolate profiteroles filled with dark chocolate cream and surrounded with a passion fruit sauce and sorbet. *angels singing heavenly tunes*

Now I'm hungry. My Yunnan tea that I bought at the Mariage Freres tea shop just isn't cutting the hunger. It is, however, making my scorchingly raw and painful throat feel much better. Damn recycled airplane air. I knew I should've gotten that Airborn stuff. At least I have to see Dr. B today for something completely different. I'll make him fix me. ;-)

also sprach zarathustra

I've joined the 21st century. I have successfully connected myself to the internet! Yay for not having to pay the $150 for someone to come do it for me. I realize I've got some serious Parisian posting to do, but I've spent the past couple hours dealing with the hooking up of internetness and checking email. I promise to get to that soon. In the meantime, here's a picture of the City of Lights.

I don't like Mondays

To quote The Boomtown Rats....

There was much difficulty rousing myself this morning. I've been having a devil of a time sleeping lately, so I specifically did not take a nap yesterday afternoon even though I really wanted to. I thought that would help the night time sleepiness (or lack thereof). Nope. At 10:30 I was w-i-d-e awake and watching Jurassic Park for the umpteenth time. I gave up and took a couple benedryl and a couple aleve (pain in the neck) and begged for sleep. While I eventually did fall sound asleep, I had my recurring problem of hitting snooze a lot (1 hour and 20 minutes this morning). Luckily, I had a premonition and set the alarm like 45 minutes early. I still made it to work on time, but I look like someone ran over me with a steamroller. I'm glad the poop can't comment on my looks. The other coworkers, that's another story.