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March 29, 2006
wanna go for a ride?
the title arrived today, and i got the new car registered and kitted out with a legal license plate and all. i got her at lunch, drove the co-workers around a little, and went to mom's after work for dinner. mom insisted we had to have the top down on the way to dinner even though it was a bit too cold. whee!
the weather should be lovely for the next several days, except for maybe a spot of rain on saturday, so if you'd like to go for a ride, just let me know.
Posted by lisa at 09:37 PM
March 27, 2006
the goodbad news
so the new worry about the cat is that he's not eating. being scientific about it, i have determined that he eats fine but only so long as someone is in the house with him. if he's alone, say, all weekend, he doesn't eat. all weekend. this is not good.
also, it appears that the transdermal medication makes his ears all red and unhappy if applied enough times in a row. like, the number of times you would apply over a weekend. although they already look better this evening.
and at this point, my best case scenario for driving the new car legally to work is thursday. which would be great, because the weather will be top-down weather on thursday and friday.
gaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh.
Posted by lisa at 09:29 PM
iggy pop recommendation
i think at least one or two of my readers still remember "rock and roll" type music.
iggy pop songs that i like:
"The Passenger" (even though it has been used in like 90 commercials now)
"The Horse Song". This song came up during the drive home last night while the iPod was on random shuffle. Awesome. I want more!
Based on those two songs, can anyone recommend an Iggy Pop album that I should check out?
Posted by lisa at 09:11 AM
March 24, 2006
waiting waiting waiting wait... augh!
yes, i am waiting to be able to drive my new car. now don't get me wrong; it was extremely cool of steve to let me drive it down here on his tags so that i would not have to make two trips to complete the sale.
currently, i am waiting for the title to arrive at my credit union. once that happens, i can take the title down to the tag office, give them large wads of money (highway use tax for bringing in a car from out of state + registration fees + cost of tags) and get some kind of tag and registration for the car.
in 35 minutes, i will call the credit union and bug them. if the title is there, i'll have enough time to get it and get down to the tag office before COB today. then i can drive the car to virginia this weekend, and there will be flowers and butterflies and happy bunnies and rainbows and unicorns!
otherwise, i am driving the ever-more-pathetic spacepod to va. he needs a visit to MFM. and despite the fact that i made Actual Efforts this week to get him cleaned properly, he's still pretty dirty (the auto spa was inexplicably closed on a nice sunny day).
that nice young man that i visit offered to drive down here this weekend so that i could avoid taking S.P. up there, which was very sweet. but i want my monthly mini-vacation to Va, and that is that. the S.P will be fine.
UPDATE: no title today. maybe monday.
UP-UPDATE: steve, in his awesomeness, called the loan company and found out that they sent the title to him via regular postal mail. yay. again, in his awesomeness, steve is going to overnight it to me when it arrives. light... tunnel.. end...
Posted by lisa at 01:23 PM
March 23, 2006
OMFG!
there's a crime movie starring CLIVE OWEN, JODIE FOSTER, (and denzel), and directed by SPIKE LEE.
[squeal like a total fangirl!]
:|:
also, today at lunch i saw a woman wearing the most impossible shoes. the highest, thinnest stiletto heels, at least four inches, five would not be out of the question. the footbed was angled so sharply that it formed an "L". points so long they curled up like an elf's shoe. the woman attached to these highly improbable pieces of footwear was, naturally, petite, slender, impeccably groomed, and looked entirely out of place at Char-Grill. she shifted uncomfortably. you know what? i think they hurt.
Posted by lisa at 10:43 PM
March 22, 2006
Astounding Undergarments
I visited a very lonely JC Penney's yesterday. The thing I love about department stores is how old-fashioned they seem. Can you imagine getting your watch fixed at Wal-Mart? Your hair permed at Target? A proper fitting for, ahem, ladies undergarments at a K-Mart?
But places like JC Penney have all of that. Stepping into such a place can seem as if the 60's never happened, particularly in the lingerie department.
Ok: if you're going to be squeamish about it, you can just stop reading here. Yes, I'm going to discuss underwear. But not my underwear. My underwear isn't anywhere near as extraordinary as what I'm about to show you. Oh no.
In the lingerie department lurks a woman who has had passed down to her the Old Knowledge. The lore of those things that make the women in the old movies and TV shows look strangely precise, like a line drawing.
They don't only know how to fit you for one of those conical, put-your-eye-out bras, but for things that might cover almost your entire body.
We'll start simply, with what is called a long-line bra:
They say that the support is supposed to come from below, from the band. This carries that principle to its logical extreme, while simultaneously guaranteeing that the wearer will be unable to breathe unless she possess an hourglass figure.
Rising up to meet the long line is the "Body Briefer":
This extraordinary undergarment is supposed to provide back support, correct posture, and "tummy control".
If that doesn't cover quite enough of you, there is a wide array of body briefers that cover ever-increasing amounts of you:
Now– imagine a North Carolina summer. Imagine wearing such a thing. Imagine wearing a layer of clothing over it as well. Oops, I just passed out from heat exhaustion.
You can see where this is going. Yes, they have girdles:
But I think you didn't see this one coming...
Its purpose is quite the opposite of a girdle.
Posted by lisa at 10:49 PM
Cooperative Extension Calendar for March
Oh, how I wish I'd been smart enough to look for this when I first moved into my house. The NC Cooperative Extension has a calendar for the Triangle area that tells you what to do each month. For gardening morons like me, this is a great "words of one syllable" guide.
Looks like I need to table my impulses to salt the earth of my back yard so i can establish a lawn that is actually composed of grass. They really emphasize planting fescue lawns, which are planted in the fall.
Posted by lisa at 10:40 PM
March 21, 2006
WAL-MART to carry emergency contraception
I haven't bothered to google for more sources on this, but I just got an e-mail from NARAL with this surprising news:
"On March 3, Wal-Mart announced that it would begin to carry emergency contraception at all of its retail stores nationwide starting yesterday, March 20."
Posted by lisa at 10:34 PM
March 20, 2006
which Big O character are you?
Which Big O character are you?
Posted by lisa at 11:13 PM
March 18, 2006
top down car!
"top down car" is what my brothers called my stepfather's '67 galaxie 500 convertible when they were little kids. so now i always think of convertibles as top down cars.
i'm exhausted. christa drove me up to northern va to pick up the car today. we had lunch and hung out for a while with my friend steve, the original owner of the car, and then went down to ikea where we spent two hours and many dollars. and then i drove home, and now there are two beetles sitting in my driveway.
driving a gas-powered car again is very weird. it's too quiet, too smooth. driving a beetle other thans spacepod is very weird. spacepod and i are a team, you know? we've been so many places together.
it's supposed to be kinda cold this week, but steve said that with the windows up and the wind screen in place, you can drive with the top down in fairly cold weather and it's nice, there's basically no wind chill.
anyway. top down car!
Posted by lisa at 11:52 PM
March 17, 2006
helping is a tricky thing...
MORE...Posted by lisa at 08:22 PM
!!!!!!!
tomorrow, if all goes as planned, i'll spend the evening driving home from Virginia in MY NEW CAR.
i'm EXCITED!
i'm not going to tell you any more about it until it's sitting in my driveway. i'm funny that way about cars. i always think i'm going to jinx it.
this car will be my new daily driver, but i am keeping spacepod. mainly because i'm too attached to him to ever part with him, but also because there are some practical reasons to keep him. his blue book value is not really high enough, anyway, to make it worth selling him.
the thing with beetles is that they don't hold their value very well. that's fine with me; it means there's a whole world of affordable used beetles out there for me to buy.
if you're considering a diesel vehicle because of the great fuel mileage and because you can run it on FREE vegetable oil, consider a beetle. it's probably more practical than you think, and it'll cost less than a jetta, or even a golf.
heck, i should open a used beetle dealership. that would put my enthusiasm and beetle nerd knowledge to good use.
Posted by lisa at 08:27 AM
March 14, 2006
all cars need a red-covered switch
The interior of the Spyker Peking-to-Paris just blows me away. Here's the ejector switch.
Just kidding. I'm sure that's not an ejector switch. I'd sure as hell love to know what it is, though.
Maybe one day when i grow up, i'll get to design really amazing car interiors. For cars with names like "Peking-to-Paris".
Posted by lisa at 09:10 PM
March 13, 2006
Scirocco
Which VW Are You?
Maybe because I chose "unpredictable" as the word or phrase that best describes me. There's a reason that even I haven't ever put the Scirroco on the Short List of VW's I Want To Own.
Speaking of that list, today I spotted a diesel caddy-- the small pickup truck that VW made in the 80's. Now that bad boy is on the short list and has been for some time.. And I love the diesel logo that appears on this VW and no other. Sadly, this one's logo had fallen off, leaving just an outline in the paint. But the "Got 50 MPG?" sticker would have been enough to clue me in to the engine type.
Posted by lisa at 11:51 PM
just what he needed, perhaps.
the boys came to visit this weekend, which meant that moses spent saturday afternoon through sunday evening in the back bedroom. we did let the dog and cat have a little quality time together when the dog first arrived, but it looked as if it was going to be a mexican standoff with no end, with moses in the characteristic hunch of a threatened feline, sideways posture, ears slighly down, tail and back bristling, and a low, moaning sound emanating.
the dog, of course, probably just wants to play, but the cat is having none of it.
now, neither of us likes having moses segragated from the rest of the pack all weekend, but oddly, moses seemed very happy. he had an open window, a very soft, sleeping bag covered sofa, ample food and water, and visits from his people periodically. every time i'd visit, he seemed deeply content.
one of the possible side effects of the hyperthyroid medication is skin irritation, and moses was having a real problem with that about a week ago. his ears, which became very irritated while we were using the transdermal medication, wouldn't clear up, and it seemed as if every time i looked at his face, a new scabby sore had appeared. i called the vet and he told me to bump the medication down by half.
i could tell a difference almost immediately-- the next morning, moses woke me up at our usual time rather than me having to wake him up. he talked to me while i prepared his breakfast. and the sores stopped appearing.
his ears just wouldn't clear up, though. they were red and irritated all week. by saturday, i was starting to worry.
sunday morning, they were all clear. it was as if spending eighteen hours alone in a quiet place was just what he needed.
it's hard to say if the sores are healing, but i know they're not getting worse. he's lost some fur on his face, too. poor guy. i feel guardedly hopeful, however, that the lower dose will allow these side effects to subside, and he'll be able to tolerate the medication over the long term.
i've become irritated with my vet, however. he should have told me to bump the dosage down a week ago when we did a blood test to see how effective the medication was, not wait until i called freaking out about sores appearing all over the cat's face to mention that rather salient fact. and i feel as if he keeps pushing the radiation treatment, while failing to give me real facts about the safety of that treatment. you can't just say, "It's very safe," over and over again and expect me to magically start believing you if you repeat it enough times.
so if the medication continues to have intolerable side effects, i'll schedule consultations with some of the vets who come highly recommended in this area, and the boy, who is quite handy with google, has offered to do some online research.
:|:
aside from the moses follies, we had a lovely weekend. on sunday we went to raleigh and visited the nc museum of natural sciences, which i'd not been to since i was a child, had a sandwich outside in cameron village, then visited the farmer's market which didn't seem to have much to offer yet.
next weekend, if all goes well, i'll be taking delivery on a new (to me) car.
Posted by lisa at 08:05 AM
March 09, 2006
the best tv shows ever, according to me
An attempt at ordering has been made.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Best. Show. Ever.
- Twin Peaks
- Sandbaggers
- The Simpsons
- Dead Like Me
- Sex and the City
- Pee-Wee's Playhouse.
Runners Up:
(Those what find themselves in this category should take heart. You're in good company.)
- Battlestar Galactica (the new version)
- Angel
- The Prisoner
- MI-5
- Ultraviolet (yes, it was a tv show)
- The L Word
- Queer as Folk
- Lost
- The X-Files
- Alias
- Jeeves and Wooster
- Monarch of the Glen
- Second Sight
---
ps, comments will work on this and future entries.
Posted by lisa at 10:15 PM
March 08, 2006
comments temporarily asswich
due to an annoying spammer.
Posted by lisa at 07:06 PM
March 07, 2006
here's my favorite part.
When Is an Abortion Not an Abortion? — Time Magazine online edition
Because, Hunt says, once more citing the findings of the task force, “she may be dealing with a lot of pressure, from family, boyfriend, husband. We have a situation in which the woman may be getting so much pressure she’s not thinking clearly.”
(Hunt = Representative Roger Hunt, the main sponsor of HB 1215, the bill that made abortion illegal in South Dakota.)
this is, essentially, saying that pregnant women cannot be trusted to make important decisions. you know what? i'd like to know who better to make an important decision that will profoundly affect her life and that of her family.
next thing, they'll say that we can't be trusted to vote, or hold political office, or run corporations. give me a fucking break.
my hope is that a full frontal attack on roe v. wade will turn out to be the first real mistake the pro-lifers make during the bush regime.
Posted by lisa at 08:49 PM
March 05, 2006
many various things of varying levels of interest, variously.
1. i went to an actual rock show last night. i went to the cradle and saw the wedding present. it rocked the hell out. smoke free venues are fantastic.
2. although it's not officially spring, i am acting like it is. i pulled the crap out of the closet where the fancypants new vacuum cleaner will live. 90% of the crap will be going into the trash. 9.9% will be recycled. .1% will actually be kept.
3. i did actual yard work yesterday AND today. i transplanted day lillies from the raised bed in the back (where i want to plant vegetables) to a bed in the front that needs some filling out. i also removed the peonies, which i hate, and those suckers are destined to become mulch. hah. i found my pruning shears which i apparently left on the a/c compressor some months ago, and used them to prune back the shrubbery in the front.
4. i modified one of my gutter downspouts such that water will be directed away from the foundation (i hope) but i won't have an extension right in my walkway, and i don't have to do any digging. it involved a wacky vinyl thing that rolls itself up when it's dry, and unrolls when it's full of water.
5. THEY ARE IN RARE FORM TODAY. THEY ARE UNC FANS. THEY HAVE OUT OF TOWN GUESTS. OH. MY. GOD.
Posted by lisa at 04:12 PM
March 04, 2006
SUPER MO BROWN!
mo had a checkup today. his blood pressure is way down, which means that the hyperthyroid medicine is working!
unfortunately, over the last couple of days he's developed an allergic reaction on his ears. that means we have to stop using the transdermal medication for now, and switch to pills.
my vet is going to research this and see if the carrier could be the problem. he said he's never heard of a cat having an allergic reaction to the transdermal medication before.
i'm hopeful that we can still use the transdermal at least when i'm out of town and someone else is taking care of him.
Posted by lisa at 02:05 PM
March 02, 2006
street legal, jet powered new beetle
Ron Patrick's Street-Legal Jet Powered VW Beetle
picked this up from the newbug list... two things i like (besides the whole idea of a jet powered beetle): the fact that it's an automatic, which cracks me up, but i guess with that kind of power, it just doesn't matter if you have a manual transmission or not, and the way he installed the gauges. i've seen a lot of beetles with gauges added, and i think this comes closest to respecting the original design of the interior of all that i have seen. of course, the exposed back would need to be covered to really get it right aesthetically, but he's got the right idea by creating an additional concentric circle.
Posted by lisa at 08:54 AM
fucking brutal
that's what NC weather has become. 80 degrees in March. Pollen attacking the sinuses. acts of god global warming ravaging the coast.
this year, i'm ready. i'm fighting it head on. pool: check. open-air car: soon. screw you summer, i'm going to enjoy you whether you like it or not.
seriously, if i weren't so attached to this area, i'd be planning a move to the pacific northwest.
Posted by lisa at 08:48 AM