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By kilax, March 31, 2009 4:43 am

Data had his teeth cleaning operation yesterday. It went well. They didn’t even have to remove any teeth!

Of course, I worried about him all day. Even after Steven talked to the vet post cleaning, I still felt sad for Data.

I was really anxious to see him when I got home. He was waiting for me at the stairs by the front door, like always. But he was a bit… off. He was a bit… loopy. Can you tell he was loopy by the way his eyes look in the photo below?

Loopy eyed Data.

He kind of kept running into things. We had the dishwasher door open, because the dishes were air drying, and I think he ran into it 20 times.

He went through his nightly routine of “feed me more,” but silently. I think he was too tired to meow. (That was a nice change!)

He was being very cuddly and sweet. Aww.

I haven’t seen his newly cleaned teeth yet, since he hasn’t been opening his mouth to talk. I am anxious to see them! I am imagining them being all sparkly and white. Ha ha.

We have to give him some medicine daily for awhile, and we are going to get a little brush to brush his teeth once a week (ha ha ha, riiiight). I’ll let you know how that all goes…

Where they shaved his leg to give him anesthesia.

Comments (16)

By kilax, March 30, 2009 5:25 am

Steven and I took a gun safety course on Friday – a course we had been wanting to take for some time. We went to the shooting range twice last year. I hoped going would help me overcome my fear of guns, but I still felt pretty nervous when I was there, so we took this class.

The class was different than I thought it would be. I thought it would be pretty textbook – this is a gun, these are the parts, this is how you use it, blah blah blah. But I felt like the class was taught by the zen master of gun safety. He was all about being calm around the weapon – about finding an inner peace and balance. He talked a lot about anticipation, and how someone anticipating the weapon firing is what messes up their shot the most.

That is definitely what MY problem is. My hands are shaking before I even get the gun in the air. I feel like a million electrical currents are running through my blood. The whole time I am putting pressure on the trigger, I am just waiting, waiting… and I am still startled when it fires.

The instructor really helped with that. He talked a lot about mentality, and anticipation. I think he really helped me feel more calm and less fearful. He shared good techniques with us.

I think I could apply some of those techniques to my life OUTSIDE of the shooting range. I have been WAY TOO nervous and anxious lately. Way too impatient. I rush too much. I am always going from one thing to the next. I never really take time to relax. I’m all go go go ALL the time.

It’s time to find some inner focus.

I’ve been trying for some time already. Maybe now I can finally do it. Or at least get one step closer to being less… anxious all the time.

Maybe.

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By kilax, March 29, 2009 10:37 pm

Has anyone else seen Knowing?

Steven and I saw a preview for this when we went to see Taken. I turned over to him and said “That looks really good, but… Nicolas Cage is in it…” I had kind of written off Nicolas Cage movies as “immediately in the Netflix Queue” movies. As in, “not worth seeing in theater!”

But Ebert gave it 4 stars (like that means anything, I know), we love “the world’s coming to an end” movies, and had a free movie ticket*, so we decided to go.

Wow. I was completely shocked by this movie. We all know from the previews that the movie is about a sheet of paper with a bunch of numbers all over it. Nicolas Cage gets a hold of the paper and figures out the numbers correspond to dates of horrific events and the number of deaths. Pretty freaky already, right?

Well, I don’t want to give it away, but the movie is a little bit more complicated than that. It took on a much more different angle than I expected it to based on the preview. And it seriously creeped me out. As in, I was grabbing Steven’s arm in the theater, and will probably have nightmares.

I wish I could say more, but I don’t want to spoil it. If you were thinking about seeing it in the theater, I think it is worth it.

*We are signed up for the free rewards program at our theater, and they keep giving us free drinks, and popcorn and tickets! They gave us another ticket tonight! Sweet!!!

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By kilax, March 28, 2009 8:34 pm

Has anyone else noticed that all of the women’s exercise clothes this season seem to be pink or green?

Good thing I like pink and green!

I was at Kohl’s on Friday, and decided to buy some of their Nike workout clothes to try during my practice runs, in hopes I can wear them at the half marathon. I showed them to Steven tonight, and he had two comments – “White? You’re very brave,” and “That looks like a soccer uniform.”

Ha. I am not surprised about the last comment – that is what attracted me to the white and green tops in the first place – they reminded me of shopping for soccer jerseys. I played soccer for a few years in high school, and my friends (okay, FRIEND) and I were really into it. We loved to go to Scheels, our local sporting goods store, and look at all the cool soccer gear.

Maybe someday I’ll get back into soccer. Maybe there’s still hope that I could actually become good at it!

Comments (20)

By kilax, March 27, 2009 8:10 am

Do you “brown-bag” your lunch or a lunch for your kids/family members? How often?

A little blurb in the April issue of Marie Claire made me think about this. They had a little chart that compared the cost of making a sandwich at home, to buying one at Subway. They concluded that the cost was so close ($5.01 vs. $5.59), it might not even be worth the effort to make the sandwich at home.

Hmm.

I bring my lunch to work every day of the week, unless I have a planned lunch date. I usually only have one lunch date a week (with my favorite lunch buddy, diane), but this week, I had THREE lunch dates – one every single day I was at work!

It’s expensive to eat out downtown every day. But some people do. I know people at my old office who did. And I am sure there are people at my new office who do as well. I’d rather have it be a treat, then do it every day. Three days in a row was too much this week.

Comments (17)

By kilax, March 26, 2009 5:55 pm

My poor little baby Data-Lore has an appointment with the veterinarian on Monday to get his teeth cleaned, and probably some removed.

Who, me?

Yes, you. (My special little kitty who likes to chew on our grocery bags. And has rotten breath.)

I’m kind of freaked out, because he’ll be at the vet ALL DAY. And he has to go under anesthesia. Steven is going to be the one dropping him off and picking him up. I am just not emotionally strong enough to do that – leave him there. I have to look away now when the vet gives him shots. I even had to look away when they took his temperature! I don’t like to see his sad little face.

One time, while working on the cat shelter in Rome, I had to feed a cat with a broken jaw. We put soft food in a little plastic syringe and then would squeeze it into its mouth. Well, I accidentally squeezed it all over the cat’s face, and just starting crying.

So… I suck at stuff like this. I’ll have to keep myself very distracted on Monday so I don’t start to worry about him.

Hey, do real parents, of humans, get annoyed when people call their pets their “babies”? Tell me the truth! Muah ha ha! Because I’ve got to be honest with you, at home, Steven’s “daddy,” I’m “mommy” and Data’s “son” (and on special occasions, “shitbox”).

Comments (24)

By kilax, March 25, 2009 5:24 am

For the first time in my life, I find myself without an appetite. Food seems to be of no interest to me. The only reason I am eating is to fuel my body.

Eating has been becoming more and more about “fueling my body” for some time now. But I was still looking forward to eating. Since Friday, coinciding with becoming sick, food seems to have become a big nuisance. A pain in the butt. A chore.

Yesterday, I took my entire regular food stash with me to work, plus some extra, hoping I would find my appetite. But all I ended up eating during the day, unwillingly, was instant oatmeal, two bites of a banana, soup and a roll, and a homemade granola bar.

Then I got home and ran 4 miles.

That felt wonderful.

NOT.

So. It’s time to force myself to eat. I know this may be a common phenomenon for people when they are sick, but it’s not for me. I love to eat. I always want to eat. I would get out of bed at 3:00 am if it was for a legitimate, scheduled meal.

I know my appetite will come back when I get better, but right now, I can’t taste anything. The thought of food makes me feel sick.

Blah blah blah. Wah wah wah. I’m sick. Boring post. Boo. Sorry. Something better tomorrow.

Off topic, but making me crazy: Has anyone else’s google reader been re-marking things “unread” after you’ve marked them “read”? Mine has been doing this for a few days and it’s making me crazy. Sometimes it sticks, and sometimes it flashes for awhile then goes away.

Comments (17)

By kilax, March 24, 2009 5:13 am

For your entertainment, here is a blog post I wrote about being sick while I was sick. Yeah… it kind of doesn’t make any sense.

My exhaustion finally caught up with me.

On Thursday I developed a small cough in the afternoon. On Friday, it was deeper, but I felt well enough to go to work. But by lunch time I started to feel weak. I had aches in my legs and couldn’t walk very fast. I left early and the aches spread to my hips and lower back. We had tickets to a comedy club with friends that night and were supposed to meet them for dinner first. Instead, I laid in bed all night, as the aches moved to my chest. Wonderful wife I am. $50 down the drain.

On Saturday, surprisingly, I felt somewhat better. Still weak, but not coughing as much, and not achy. We took Sir Data Lor to the vet, and cleaned the house a bit for friends to come over. I was terrified I would have to cancel our get together* with Kevin, Katie, Diane, E and Tori, but I felt great all day. Until about 9:00 pm, when they probably noticed me continually getting up from playing Wii Trivial Pursuit** to blow my nose, cough, and wash my hands in the bathroom.

On Sunday I felt miserable. I kept getting hot and cold, hot and cold. I would be shivering under the sheets, then they would be wet from me sweating too much. I had to go to Target to pick up a prescription. You know what the pharmacist*** said to me? “You look tired.” You know what it means when people say that to  you? “You look like crap.” I DID look like crap. I laid in bed all day.

I thought I may go to work on Monday, but decided not to. It’s a good thing I didn’t. I could barely stand up when I was trying to make myself oatmeal in the morning – I felt too weak and dizzy. I had aches during the day again. Felt too weak to get out of bed most of the time. But the coughing had gone down. Hurrah.

On Tuesday, I think I’ll go into the office. What the hell. Should be fun.

You know what? I have been PISSED OFF this whole time I’ve been sick. I’m angry. This stupid sickness is putting a serious hamper in my exercise plans. Taking four days off is making me crazy. And I don’t feel like I should be sick. I eat well and I exercise. I’m healthy!

I know what you’re thinking, “Um, Kim, maybe it’s because you don’t get enough sleep?” Yeah, that has got to be it. From now on, I am going to recommit to getting 7 hours of sleep a night. I will set a timer for 10:00 or whatever, and when it goes off, I’ll stop what I’m doing, and go to bed, as often as possible. If that doesn’t happen, I am going to start sleeping on the train again.

I’ll do whatever it takes to get healthy.

And yeah, that includes finally going to the doctor. I’m working on that one.

*We had such a wonderful time having everyone over on Saturday night. We rarely get to spend time with friends, so it was a real treat. And I love that blogging has given me so many “real life” friends. I never thought that would happen when I started this blog! And I must say – I have a very real blogger crush on Tori. She’s even more awesome in person.
**I sucked at Wii Trivial Pursuit just as much as the tangible board game. What a surprise! Not!
***My pharmacist is pretty funny. The last time I was there, she was so excited to enter my new government insurance info in the computer because of the “awesome low prices!”
BONUS FOR MAKING IT THIS FAR: Anyone sick of me using asterisks all the time? Muah ha ha! Blame it on diane! I copied her’s! I love it when she adds little tidbits!

Comments (24)

By kilax, March 20, 2009 5:47 am

Are you more likely to exercise if doing so with a friend or family member?

For the past two weeks, I’ve gotten up extra early (4:30) so that I can leave work a bit earlier to exercise with a coworker* in the office gym. I’ve looked forward to these days so far. Yeah, it’s a hassle to wake up earlier, take a gym bag, shower at work, and get home more than an hour later, but it’s a fun detour from my normal schedule. It’s something different. And it’s fun to chat while working out.

This coworker is also participating in the Biggest Loser Challenge. She was telling me that she hasn’t been successful, so I suggested we exercise together once a week, and surprisingly… she agreed. This made me think, maybe SHE is the type of person who is more likely to work out if she is doing it with someone else.

I think I’m different. I start by doing it for me. I’ll always be doing it for me. Seeing someone else work out isn’t going to make me do it. Steven worked out during the entire holiday season and I would just look at him and think, “Meh!” then go back to wrapping presents and eating sugar cookies.

I am more likely to meet someone to work out if I’ve already promised I would, but I wouldn’t be making that promise if I wasn’t already invested in exercise. Does that make sense? I need to make the commitment to ME, not to someone else.

I think other people may be different though. Are you?

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By kilax, March 19, 2009 6:03 pm

Yesterday was my First Quarterly Panel review (the event for which I was writing the dreaded report).

Guess what? I ended up dreading the review in the same way I dreaded writing the panel report. I don’t get nervous about presenting things or talking to people, but this was just something I wasn’t looking forward to. A lot of emphasis is put on the importance of the presentation, so I was under a lot of stress and pressure, along with my other HUGE work load.

But, it went extremely well. I presented to 7 people, talked about what I’ve been doing and learning for the last three months, for about 2o-25 minutes, then they asked me a series of questions.

You know what? I actually enjoyed being up there, talking to everyone about my projects, and what I like about working for the company. One member of the audience asked me if there was anything I dislike and would like changed, and I honestly could not think of one thing*.

Everyone told me I did a great job, and one person told me he liked how energetic I am. My team leader stopped at my desk after the presentation (I got to my desk first, because they sit in the conference room after you leave to talk about you!) and told me I made her feel “very proud.”

I think I’ll actually look forward to my next panel report – that was a pretty good day.

But work’s still kicking my ass.

Do you have to do presentations at your office? Do you dread them or love to share with other people? I wonder if part of me is just craving some human interaction. I’ve been buzzing off of it lately.

*Oh sure, I have daily gripes and can bitch and cuss, but that would be at ANY job. I love my company and the way it’s set up.