neurotwitch

Thursday, January 08, 2009

coneheads

Finally, we were able to get Ruby and Bingo spayed and microchipped yesterday. I guess I didn’t really realize that spaying was such a major operation—it’s a hysterectomy. At any rate, they came through with flying colors, but we have to keep them quiet for 10-14 days.

When we picked them up at Strawberry Hill Animal Hospital (where Meredith Re, the best vet ever, did the operations), we had to wait a bit because they had to be fitted with cones because they immediately decided they’d remove their own stitches. And we’re supposed to keep the cones on for the entire recovery period. What do you think the pups think of their new headgear? See for yourself:

It was very difficult getting any sleep last night. Two very unhappy dogs with cones on the bed with us (plus an opportunistic cat—or is that redundant?), and it wasn’t like we could shove them around like we normally do because of their incisions. Ruby saved her poop for hours and then ran to the bathroom and just let it all out—took me 20 minutes to clean it up, poor thing. (Ruby, not me.) The Tramadol seems to be working (doggie pain meds) as they don’t seem to be in pain—they just hate the cones. Bingo managed to chew Ruby’s cone tie off—fortunately, Ruby didn’t return the favor.

Tomorrow, the kitties go in for the annual updates and checkups. Tonight, we’re headed to Pet Supplies Plus (because Jamie gave us a gift card to that pet store) to get a new collar for Ruby, who has pretty much trashed her current leather collar (pulling, mostly, we think). The vet’s office gave us training leashes so we can start doing some serious training, ala Cesar Millan, when they’re healed up. Then, maybe, we can walk them instead of vice versa.

posted by lee on 01/08/09 at 11:29 PM
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Sunday, January 04, 2009

well they did the research and ...

It’s a Good Thing, sleeping late. Stanley sent me a link to the Wired article entitled “3 Smart Things About Sleeping Late.”

First of all, it says, people really need ten hours of sleep—that’s what people averaged before the light bulb was invented. Or maybe it was the TV ... no, it was the light bulb. “Research by Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders Center found that people who slept eight hours and then claimed they were ‘well rested’ actually performed better and were more alert if they slept another two hours.” I’ll have to try that.

Night owls are creative thinkers, other studies say. I definitely fall into the owl category—I often joke that I’m on Vampire Standard Time. I rarely hit the zone during the day—usually it’s during the late evening and early morning hours. I get some of my best work done, and figure out some of the trickiest stuff, in the middle of the night. It’s really hard for me to function in the morning—I’ve tried many times to adjust to “normal” hours (clients, for some strange reason, seem to prefer normal hours). Other research says the way our biological clocks are set—running later for evening types and earlier for morning types—is probably genetic. So I guess there’s no resetting the bioclocks.

Third, stress hormones peak around 7 a.m.—so sleeping late avoids all that. Cortisol is lowest between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. I wonder if it’s cortisol that spikes when you discover your dog has eaten almost an entire stick of butter. As I just did. She keeps getting taller and we’re running out of places out of Bingo’s reach.

Between the butter and some frustration I’m having with installing Expression Engine, latest version, on our company website, I think I’m going to call it a night. We did have a relaxing night—kind of a break before we have some serious work to do tomorrow and this week. We watched 1408, Doomsday, and Slither, and of the three Doomsday sucked, 1408 was pretty interesting though a little long, and Slither was just plain fun.

posted by lee on 01/04/09 at 08:07 AM
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Friday, January 02, 2009

magical thinking

Last night, I didn’t scratch off my lottery ticket—it was still 2008 and I decided I’d have a better chance when the numbers changed to 2009. Makes no sense, I know. Last year was such a hard, sad year I needed something to use as a signal to start moving forward again. The ball dropping in Times Square was good, a New Year’s kiss from my husband was better.

I haven’t scratched the ticket yet—I’m in no hurry to be disappointed.

Stanley gave me a Flip Ultra video camcorder for Christmas—I was surprised. I’d mentioned I thought I would like to have one last spring, when David Pogue mentioned it in his column in the New York Times (but could in no way justify spending the money on it!)—I had no idea Stanley remembered.

Today, I put together a little movie, two of my first videoclips, took out the sound and added music by Fredo Viola. This is an experiment—fun to play with and it makes me want to get editing software. The quality is better in the original format, but I converted it to a Flash video to keep the file size low. Of course the puppies are first! The loading graphic isn’t working properly, at least not in Firefox—so just click the play button to watch it (I’ll fix it sooner or later).

The video stars Ruby and Bingo, Stanley, Tattoo, Kate and Maureen, Jeff, Jamie and Dad, Ben and Holly—more or less in order of first appearance. I couldn’t find the cats at the time, so they lost out. So it’s not Art—it was fun. I’ll get better at it. I hope.

Haven’t made any New Year’s resolutions yet, not really. Just a goal of getting most of the house under control within the next few days as it’s been badly neglected since mid November. I think I’ll start emerging from my fog when I finish decluttering my desk.

Happy New Year to everyone!

posted by lee on 01/02/09 at 12:45 AM
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Saturday, December 20, 2008

a blizzard of emotions

A nor’easter dumped about seven inches of snow today. It would’ve been enchanting, the first real snowstorm of the season, if we hadn’t seen a lot more of it last week in Oscoda. The puppies loved it, though I didn’t take photos. I framed the shots in my mind and thought about the angles and the light, but I’m just so enervated I didn’t get the camera out.

We buried my Mother on December 9. Visitation was the day before. I held it together through most of the Mass, but cried when the Ave Maria was sung and then again at Our Lady of Hope, which is where it really hit me that my beautiful, brilliant, wickedly funny mother is gone. I know I really lost her two Christmases ago when she didn’t notice the irises we had placed in her room when she and Dad came to visit or the wonderful glass artworks we have hanging in the windows—flowers and art have always been our bond. But this was so final: I’ll never hear her laugh at Stanley having to chase a cat or wait anxiously for her rating of the meal I cooked.

When I rode with my father, sisters, and brother in the limo on the way to the cemetery, I couldn’t help but think how amazing it is that my parents raised six kids who are, despite time and distance and the occasional disagreement, close and loving and who pull together and want to take care for each other and Dad despite our enormous pain.

And I am so grateful to Stanley, who pulled me through and held me up and helped me despite the pain he was going through at the loss of his brother just days before Mom died. His brother’s memorial service was the same day my mother died—I tried hard to be there for him but was so numb I don’t know how much support I was for him.

We boarded the cats and took the pups with us and stayed with my brother Scott in Wyandotte. We invaded, rather. We probably drove Scott crazy, but we felt so comfortable there it was a relief. It was also so good to see all my aunts and uncles and cousins, nieces and nephews, family friends. I didn’t get enough time with any of them and I hope we can all get together again for a happy event, like we did for Mom and Dad’s 50th anniversary party. (Maybe this spring with the birth of TWO great grandkids—I’ll be a great-aunt twice over!) We went with Dad to The Grind, a good coffeehouse on Biddle in downtown Wyandotte, and discovered it is the same storefront where Dad had a paint store in the late 1950s.

We went up to Oscoda to spend a couple of days with Dad and to begin sorting things out. Stanley got the flu, but was mostly better by the time we had to go home on Sunday (he won’t let me drive. Which is just as well because he is a maim-worthy passenger at best.) Then I got the flu on Monday. It was not pretty. I’m pretty much over it now. But we’re both just so tired—thinking about it, I realize it’s been three weeks since the first loss and no time to breathe since then. There are a lot of things I want to do, but recognize that I don’t have to do them right away.

It’s been really hard getting back into my work—I did get quite a bit done despite being sick, but I’ve been feeling like a stranger in a strange land. The loss sucker punches me at least a couple of times a day—Stanley said he went through this too when his mother died. Though I miss my mother, I am also glad that she didn’t have to suffer through the end states of frontotemporal dementia because she was so terrified of the indignity of it all after having watched her own mother’s terrible end from the same disease.

Dad is due in Natick in a few days—I am really happy we’ll get to see him this winter and I would worry way too much if he spent the winter in Oscoda. I think he’ll like spending time with Maureen and family and maybe even getting to know Boston well. Jamie is coming out with him—a chance for us to spend Christmas with her before she’s in the land of Grandmahood!

I want to thank my friends, too, for your cards and emails and phone calls of support—all with such compassion and each of you with the uncanny ability to use the words I most need to hear at just the right time.

posted by lee on 12/20/08 at 04:59 AM
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Friday, December 05, 2008

Alice Fleming, August 25, 1934 - December 5, 2008

Alice Fleming, taken by James Fleming, on May 10, 2008. (click to enlarge)

Mom died this morning. She got up at some point while Dad was still sleeping and left the house, wandering outside in the snow in 10-degree weather. By the time Dad found her, she had collapsed. They tried to revive her in the ER, but it was too late. We’ll never know why she left the house like that because she was never a wanderer like so many dementia patients are and even before her dementia rarely left the house and would never have thought of walking up the road.

Stanley and I are going to Michigan tomorrow morning. I don’t yet know what the arrangements are. I am so numb.

Update: Visitation will be on Monday at Czopek Funeral Home, 2157 Oak Street, Wyandotte, Michigan 48192. Mom’s funeral will be on Tuesday morning at St. Patrick’s in Wyandotte. Burial will be at Our Lady of Hope Cemetery in Brownstown, where her parents are buried.

posted by lee on 12/05/08 at 07:46 PM
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Thursday, December 04, 2008

she’s only 4.5 months old and already ... !

Ruby is a sweet, sweet dog with, so far, only one significant problem: she likes to explore. It wouldn’t be so bad if she came back when we call her, but she’s not there yet. You can work her back, but it takes a lot of time. Definitely needs her leash or a fenced-in area. She’s very strong and beautiful and loves to cuddle and loves Slink, who finally tolerates her licks.

Bingo, on the other hand, is a sweet puppy too but she’s a character already. She’s bossy. She tattles when Ruby escapes the gate or if Stanley leaves the room—she’s only happy when all of her sheep are together, even the cats. She steals things she knows she’s not supposed to have—she swiped a piece of bread from the counter, for example, and took off with it. She steals the rocks out of my plants (to protect them from The Very Bad Cat Slink) and we find them all over the house. She is ripping the linoleum tile off the mudroom floor (to be honest, I’m glad—the tile is so old, crappy, and ugly I’ve wanted it replaced for years now). She rips up her pee pads, steals my shoes, and has a sock fetish. She has gutted most of the cats’ toy mice. She walks Ruby, which makes Ruby crazy, so they end up tangled together fighting and they forget they’re walking. Bingo also regularly tackles the cats—Slink loves rolling on the floor with her, but Twitch will only put up with about 30 seconds of her nonsense before he yowls to get away or swats her, claws out.

But just when I’ve seen it all, there’s more:

Bingo climbed on top of her crate and got into the big window! (click to enlarge)

Of course, once she got up there she couldn’t figure out how to get down—only way down was forward. She managed to munch on a few leaves along the way, but at least she didn’t tear the curtains down like Slink usually does. (click to enlarge)

I just hope she doesn’t try it when she gets even bigger—and besides, the cats have claimed that window (at least on sunny afternoons). We spent Thanksgiving weekend in Natick with Maureen, Jeff, Kate, and Ben. Good food, good conversations. And we helped work on getting the house ready for my parents’ stay—Stanley did repairs in the bathroom and I sanded and helped clean stuff up and other odds and ends. It’s so exciting seeing more rooms coming to life in that house! We took the pups and both cats. Slink only came out when everyone else was asleep and, of course, didn’t allow Tattoo near him until the very last day. The dogs had a blast. Bingo, of course, tried to boss Tattoo around, but Tattoo was having none of it though he did play with the puppies once in a while instead of growling at Bingo. Ruby bit Tattoo, but he didn’t seem to mind. It was definite role reversal, as Ginger used to act exactly the same way towards Tattoo!

Worked hard, played hard, slept hard. Ruby is keeping watch over Stanley, probably hoping I’d give her a cookie for being so good. Bingo was just snoring away along with Stanley. (click to enlarge)

Sleeping in a full-size bed is interesting. As you can see, Bingo likes to tuck in. That’s Twitch walking over Stanley’s head to get some cat treats. We had to fight for every inch. (click to enlarge)

The pups got to spend a lot of time outside, more than we intended (see the first paragraph ... ) Bingo just loves it outside.

Bingo watching the neighbor boys play football with the goldiedoodle down the road; Ruby just wants to figure out how to get up there and look too. (click to enlarge)

Bingo did find every single “lost” sock in the house. Bet she can’t wait to go back and find more. Ruby fell in love with Ben and Ben’s girlfriend Holly—she was kind of mopey on Monday because he wasn’t here. She’ll see him again this weekend, I think.

NOVEMBER ROSE

Stanley brought this rose in around November 20—it smelled wonderful, and made the whole office smell lovely. It lasted for two or three days until Slink discovered it and tried to eat it. (click to enlarge)

posted by lee on 12/04/08 at 07:26 PM
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

the first 100 days

Here is an interesting chart of what presidents from FDR to W have done during their first 100 days in office, from Good:
Good Sheet: the First 100 Days

Now, I don’t know how accurate this is, or if the events mentioned per prez were the ONLY things they did, or what qualifies them as significant, or even the politics of the person(s) compiling this chart. But it is interesting as a starting point.

I took a look at some of the other articles and blog entries on Good. My impression is that the stories are mostly earnest, unbalanced, and naive. They stake out a position and don’t let facts get in the way, or they drink the Kool Aid of the latest entrepreneur who strikes their fancy and claims to be green without bothering with a real analysis (such as “New Crop”), or they parrot what other greenie sites are saying and have to rely on people who comment to provide the balance, critique, or fact checking (such as the blog entry “Greenwashing”). Whomever edits this magazine, or whatever it is, if there even is an editor, mistakes cleverness for wisdom. I’m not saying other publications and bloggers are not guilty of this—not by a long shot. It would just be so nice to be able to read about these topics in a publication that is edited by grownups, or at least people able to see that there is more than one side to every story and that there are many, many shades of gray.

The funniest bit is an article about blocking ads with a Firefox plugin that replaces ads with pictures of works of art (allegedly)—first it’s funny because Good is supported by ads. Second, it’s funny because it’s clear the author has no concept whatsoever of the economics of publishing (or of anything else, it seems). Just the same dreary theme of kiddies (teens, young adults) demanding something for nothing as an entitlement. I wonder how the author pays his rent, or maybe someone else pays his rent and utility bills.

Life is short—I’m not going to bother to bookmark Good.

posted by lee on 11/18/08 at 05:41 PM
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pies so good you want to weep

Last summer, I read about Michele’s Pies somewhere, how good they are and all that. So we decided to stop by and pick up a pie or two to take home to Michigan on our annual trek. But, alas, Michele’s Pies had gone on vacation. We had to wait.

We had to “settle” for pies and oatmeal raisin cookies from Judy’s Famous Pies in Linwood, Michigan. The oatmeal cookies are the best I’ve ever had in my whole life—even better than home made. The pies are wonderful, too, especially the strawberry rhubarb and the apple crumb pies.

But I digress. As luck would have it, we ended up at the Westport Farmer’s Market one Sunday afternoon. We usually don’t go there because the vendors jack up the prices because it’s Westport and instead try to go to the farmer’s market at Fodor Farm in Norwalk, but Fodor’s was closed, so we ended up in Westport. Michele’s Pies had a booth there, and Stanley and I bought some pecan pie. Oh damn it was so good.

So, on Sunday, we were out with Helene (happy birthday Helene!) looking for SoNo Bakery so she could get some of their olive bread, which she loves. Only, she didn’t remember where it was. We wandered around South Norwalk and found it on Water Street, but she said it didn’t look like the place she remembered going with her son-in-law (she said she talked to him and didn’t pay attention to where they were) so didn’t want to go in (it is SoNo Bakery, but maybe it was another bakery—it happens). So we decided to give all of Main Street another look and as we were approaching Wilton, I suggested we try Michele’s Pies and see if they were open.

We did. They were! We picked out some of the little pies rather than the big ones so we could taste a variety. The chocolate walnut pie is amazing. The key lime pie is wonderful, though it needs to be eaten the same day you buy it as the leftover pie doesn’t hold up very well. The apple cranberry crumb pie, ohmygod. But that chocolate walnut pie ... I never ate anything so slowly! I really like the crusts, too—I’ve never in my life have been able to make a decent pie crust, it’s magic, I think, and they know the trick to making terrific pie crust.

Also, I spotted some pumpkin-looking things. Pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting. I absolutely love pumpkin anything (except eating pumpkin like squash), so I got some. They are so good.

At any rate, Michele’s Pies (Michele Albano is the genius’s name) is one of the four finalists in Good Morning America’s “GMA Weekend Best Slice Challenge Recipe”—for their Chocolate Pecan Bourbon Pie. You can find the recipe and vote for Michele’s pie on the GMA website. Maybe I’ll try the recipe, sans bourbon—or maybe we should just go back there and get more pie ... writing this makes me hungry for the chocolate walnut pie, I have one quarter left and I’m saving for tonight ... for tonight, I swear!

Fortunately, the puppies are demanding a trip outside.

posted by lee on 11/18/08 at 02:24 PM
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Friday, November 14, 2008

followed a link

Read Paul Krugman’s blog entry this morning and followed a link to this: Labor Arts.

I’m not sure what the ultimate objective is, but it is a virtual museum of the art and artifacts of the labor movement. It’s an interesting starting collection, but there is so little there!

I was a union organizer during the early 1980s and really wish I would’ve kept the flyers and newsletters I created back then (we organized the clerical staff at Columbia University—I started out as a clerical worker who joined the union movement and was later tapped as a union staff organizer)—a lot of them drew upon the literature and images of the New York City labor movement from the 1950s through the early 80s. I was pretty good at it.

Of course, it wasn’t hard to appeal to the clerical workers at Columbia because, like the clerical staff at most universities, we were paid shameful wages, crap benefits, and even those benefits that might have helped the most, such as reduced tuition, we could rarely take advantage of. The clerical staff kept Columbia running, yet we were treated like peons if we were even noticed at all. And Columbia is a particularly exploitative university—not just of its staff and graduate students (I was a grad student before I worked as a clerical worker), but the surrounding community as well. I don’t thinks it’s changed much.

I wonder if there is a broader collection of labor movement artifacts somewhere else, such as in the Smithsonian collections? I’ll have to do a little research later.

WE ARE NOT CENTRISTS
Meanwhile, I’m beginning to believe that things might start to change in this country. I’m not naive enough to think that Obama can get much done in the first couple of years—he has to fix the economy first—but I’m starting to think that maybe, just maybe, governing will once again be about the American people and not about business deals and the super rich. And a glimmer of hope that Obama might actually get us out of Iraq and stop wasting our soldiers and treasury on that mess.

What I’m getting mighty sick of is the punditocracy nattering that the United States is a centrist country so Obama needs to be careful. Bullshit. Now’s the time to go bold and really fix what needs fixing. We’ve said we want change—and centrist crap is not change, it’s status quo half-ass measures that will prolong our agony. The Dems got a very clear set of marching orders: fix the economy, get everyone affordable health care, get us the hell out of Iraq, get us energy independent. Not in any specific order, but all of it, beginning January 20. It’ll be interesting to see the Cabinet he pulls together—I hope he doesn’t loot the Senate of the people we need to have in place to make this all work.

posted by lee on 11/14/08 at 06:52 PM
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Tuesday, November 04, 2008

we voted. i’m nervous.

We went to vote at Nathan Hale MS around noon today. There were a lot of people there, but no line at that time. It was pretty efficient—we got there, checked in, got our ballots, filled in the dots, submitted them, stopped at the bake sale (Stanley got some Joe Biden Oatmeal Cookies). We met a beautiful rottweiler on our way to the school (a whole half a block away), what a sweetheart dog! I voted “no” on the constitutional convention proposition (if the Catholic Church wants it, I don’t ... there’s only one reason they’d want it and that’s to change our state constitution to ban gay marriage) and “yes” to let kids who are going to be 18 by election day vote in the primaries. And straight Democratic—including telling Chris Shays (R) it’s time for him to go.

I’m going to be nervous about the outcome unless it’s very clear that O won, no challenges. Ideally, it’ll be a landslide. In the Senate, too.

BOOK REVIEW
The puppies reviewed Dog-Friendly Dog Training by Andrea Arden. They peed on it.

The housebreaking is going slow. About 90% where they’re supposed to go—so it’s improving a lot. They’re piddling outside a lot more now, but about 50% of the time, they wait until they get inside to go poop. Maddening!

WORK
It’s hard to get any work done today. Very hard to concentrate. I’m impatient for results to start coming in.

posted by lee on 11/04/08 at 08:46 PM
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