docoflove1974

What a wonderfully busy day! Just the pictures alone are worth it! It reminds me of when I pretty much get stir crazy and go off on a wild chase in search of anything. I tend to point the car in a direction and go...it's amazing what one can see when they just let themselves go.

So here I am. I caved in. I am a weak individual who could not stand to be on the island anymore. Which island, you ask? The one where people refuse to purchase let alone use some sort of PDA. Yesterday I went into my cell-phone-carrier's store, wanting to ask some questions. After getting my answers, I also inquired about a notice on my account which declared that I was eligible for a big device upgrade. The guy looked up my account and, to his surprise, it was true. When I asked what I could get, he noted that I could get the most expensive devices for under $100. On top of that, I could turn in my old cell phone and get a credit. Now, I have been holding out on getting anything like a Blackberry for a long time, citing my lack of need. But increasingly I'm noticing how much easier it would be to have my ever-busy schedule at my fingertips. Or, say, be able to text people without wearing out the buttons on my number pad. Or check email while out. So I caved. As I type this from my crackberry, I'm on campus, staring at a gorgeous scene of the hills, the sun, and the fingers of fog which want to linger. And somehow, I'm ok with this.

The house I live in is 140 or so years old (I thought it was 120...I was mistaken!), and *supposedly* there are ghosts. Let's face it, the number of people who were born and/or have died in that place, well, odds are probably good, if you believe in that stuff. The only ghosts I have heard is the one upstairs...my neighbor, Hank, who at times goes thump in the night when he comes home late after a gig and has enjoyed himself a bit too much.

Hey, you never know! Lord knows that the letters and other documents that we go over now which were written hundreds, even thousands, of years ago, if the person who wrote/dictated them knew then that we'd be scrutinizing their spelling and grammar now, well, who knows what they would have done!

I'm at once envious and in awe...this is so cool! Keep up the pics, Klingan!

The Great Switch Off...yes, it was drummed up here, too. I didn't pay much mind. As for your future...yes, I do feel you could be someone of lore...someone who will be remembered for what he has done, and these stories will be exaggerated. After all, you have this blog! It's documentation in the first person of your good deeds! Yes! You will be famous, Mr. Caldrail! (Just not now... )

Sounds like a pretty good day to me! Hope the evening holds well, too!

There is that point. Of course, the question remains: what did these women look like? You know, people who live in glass houses, and all that.

Bravo, Aurelia! Sometimes you forget how funny certain people are...that's one!

Winner!

So many jokes...so many comments...must keep them to myself...no matter how much of a wanker he is...aw dammit...

Taking Bella to her yearly examinations is oh-so-much fun. Like many cats, she hates her carrier, hates car rides, and really hates the vet. Nevermind that her vet is very nice, gentle, and knows what she's doing. Nope, Bella will have none of it. She, um, always provides a fecal sample, shall we say? She's very clingy, and sheds all over the place. Nope, she's not a happy camper there. Due to a clerical error, Bella didn't get her annual vaccinations at her exam, so we scheduled them for this past Friday late in the afternoon. No worries...I got her in, they poked her, we went home. Routine so far. The normally nervous Nelly usually vomits a bit after, say in the 12-24 hours after the shots. When she didn't get sick on Friday night but did a bit on Saturday morning, I was concerned but only mildly so. After a couple of rounds and a 2 hour break, she seemed ok to leave, and I did...I had to meet up with friends for lunch. I came back in the afternoon, and as we were working together (well, I was working...she was on the bed resting), here comes another few rounds of upchucking. Oh fun. I was a bit more worried, but figured her body was still working things out. Then at 4ish she started to come down with a fever. I'm told. I mean, her ears were bright, deep pink and hot as hell. She wasn't moving much...a bit, but just wanted to sleep it off. I kept watch pretty closely, but she just slept. At 9ish the fever broke, and I figured the worst was over. In fact, she ate some last night and this morning, so I thought, ok, it's all done, she's fine now. Nope. This morning, after playing a bit and staring at the birdies outside, she started another round of puking. That's it...I hauled her into the vet again, and told them what all went down. "Oh, she's reacting to the vax, probably," the vet quipped...no worries. Some Benadryl and some cortisone for any inflammation and to calm her down, some kitty-Pepcid for her stomach. $65. Not bad. Oh, and you know they say that you're not really a parent until your kid pisses on you? Well, I must now be a real cat owner; Bella pooped on me in the vet's office. Yep, I've been christened. The rest of the day she's been comfortable. Not moving a ton, but every now and then. She's eating, but not vomiting...very good signs both. I get to go out tonight! Still...today hasn't been that great a day. Add to it that last night's storm blew in quick, and left us with a very cold, raw, blustery day (yet sunny...), Bella's had a worse day than I have; cat's hate the wind, even if they're snug and warm inside. But she's getting better, as is her day. Or so I keep telling her. (We won't tell her that she's going to the kennel in a couple of weeks while I go to Waikiki, right?)

Because the Italian cardinals told him it was a good idea!

Sad, but so very true.

Spring has hit fully here in lovely California! Baseball is in the final tuning before the season starts, March Madness has hit the populace (and, yes, I got my brackets in...my normal one on Yahoo and another that I got dragged into). Hockey and basketball have hit their home stretches...and the playoff-bound teams are trying to jockey for position while the others are just trying to finish the season on a non-negative note. For a sports nut like me, this is one of the best times ever. And to boot, the weather is cooperative; it makes me want to go outside more and more. Even Bella has gotten into the spirit of things...about this time, when the birds start to twitter outside incessantly, she starts pacing the apartment, wanting to go outside and 'play' with them...of course, her idea of playing is to stalk, catch, toss and gnaw. Somehow I don't think the birds will like that much. _________________________________________________ While I was wasting time before my hair appointment last week, I perused the used book store nearby. Among my mini-nuggets of gold I found a well-loved copy of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, his memoirs of being, as he puts it, a football obsessive. I was extremely relieved to start reading it, and to find out it has nothing in common at all with the atrocious movie of the same name. Instead, Hornby really does chronicle how it came to be that he has memorized so many details of his beloved Arsenal, and attempts to understand why it is that footie (and the Gunners in particular) makes him so miserable...yet he can't tear himself away from it. I've just read the first part of the book, which more-or-less goes over his childhood until he hits 18. Ok, so I'm not a huge footie fan, but I am a big time sports fan...but not quite an 'obsessive'. I don't recall my first baseball game--I probably was 4 or so, and have been to literally so many since that, well, they're all a blur. In fact, there's really only a handful of games of any sport--in my life--that I recall with great clarity. On the other hand, I do love to have sports on at all times; often it's the 'background noise' when I'm grading or farting around the place. Why put on a crappy tv show when you could have a game on? But I do understand the draw to the sport. It's a true reality show...this is really happening...there is no set of producers and writers who are pulling the strings behind the curtain. It's drama. And yet...I can find myself dispassionate overall. I used to watch basketball all the time...now I can barely stand to have it on. Much of this has to do with the fact that my Kings suck...um...well, the phrase I would like to use here isn't exactly polite, so I'll refrain, but to put it mildly, they are bottom-feeders. But it's more than that...I've seen many games live, and I guess I just don't get the same thrill on tv. This is totally different with football and hockey...ok, you don't get the same thrill at home over the tube, granted, but since I can't really afford the tickets, well, that's all I'm left to. Baseball, however, has bleacher seats...and often has specials on those seats. I can afford a couple of games per season, maybe as many as 5, and still have change left over. Ok, I admit it, I'm a bleacher bum. __________________________________________________________ In the TMI department...we started a new chapter today in one of my classes, one where the vocabulary had a lot of names of animals. I asked my students to work in pairs on a few questions which utilize the new words, one of which being to name the animal that best represents them, and why. Two students, both being Middle College students* and good friends, snickered. KB said he'd be a falcon, as it represents a liberty that he feels he possesses. JJ said he would be a monkey...and giggled. Uh, ok, why the giggling. "Because I'd throw poop at my brother," was the response. Yes, it was a fecicious answer, but still...dude...

Despite the advice from Hamster!? Sheesh...and it was such a thorough race...er...testing.

Nah, I'm not easily fooled! By the by, they just showed the episode of Top Gear when London's beloved mayor, Boris Johnson, goes for a spin. Wow. Just...wow.

All quiet on the southern front? I don't know why, but Gordon Brown struck me being of the same ilk as a car salesman. Too slick, but in the 'humble' British mold. That is to say, he comes off as a bit quiet, but then has that glint in his eye, like he just sold another lemon to another sucker. Maybe that's just my impression from a few thousand miles away.

Outstanding! Have a wonderful trip!

Happy birthday, MPC! Hope you enjoyed your day!

This latest find, if it really holds water, will just add to the seemingly eternal debate over the ancestry, and by proxy the appearance, of Cleopatra BBC News: Cleopatra was 'of African descent'.

That would be the 'white trash' here...mostly. Don't forget the tv set outside that doesn't work and all the plastic lawn ornaments, you know, that will somehow make a hovel into a palace.

As much as I love spring, it does tend to have one nasty consequence: allergies. And I do truly love living in a tree-lined area--it makes you forget that you live in a city of 1 million people--but now my car is yellow and my sinuses are attempting to balk. Saline solution to the rescue! Still...it's a lovely day!

Aaaaaaaah, that explains the knowledge on Portuguese! I am only partially fluent in it...I'll work on it a bit in my research, but don't feel nearly as comfortable discussing it as I do Spanish and Italian. Welcome aboard!

That very well could be. On Monday I'll check Corominas for the Spanish explanation, as I suspect it would be the same. No worries on the language v. dialect thing. What linguistic areas did you specialize in?