Comments (18)

By kilax, March 29, 2017 10:57 am

Last night I saw Journey in Madison with my fellow 80s music lover, Rachel!

Oh! And let’s not forget that Asia opened for them. Ha. I had actually completely forgotten. Bonus?

Kind of… we all know one Asia song – “Heat of the Moment.” They saved that for the end, naturally, so I spent most of the time wondering what I was listening to (I did get “Sole Survivor” stuck in my head) and hoping Journey didn’t sound as bad as them (mostly just the set up… and a little bit of the singing, ha).

But Journey came on and sounded AMAZING! They opened with “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” (here’s the complete set list) and played all their hits and only one song (“Chain Reaction”) I’d never heard before.

I’m someone who enjoys concerts the most if I know the music* so seeing my favorite “older” bands is perfect for me! And I also like that it means that the audience is older, and people are less likely to be on their phones the whole time! It was nice to look down at the audience and see only a few people recording/taking pictures the whole time, compared to Milky Chance, where almost EVERYONE was, and the musicians asked people to stop. At this concert, they actually asked us to bring our phones out for “Lights,” to use our flashlights in place of lighters. Ha. That was fun.

The whole thing was fun! There were three screens so you could see close-ups of the musicians, which I appreciated during the guitar solos. They also had some wacky 80s graphics they would overlay with the musicians on the screens, too, which made me laugh! Journey puts on a great show, and I would totally see them again! Although I do imagine Rachel and I will be keeping an eye out for the next 80s band to come by…

*it’s rare I like a song after hearing it just once, but if I do, it means it’s one I will be obsessed with and play on repeat for awhile!

Comments (10)

By kilax, March 27, 2017 6:49 am

I’m feeling totes productive this morning! Before 6:30 am I:

• Swam
• Figured out the last of MANY April birthday presents and ordered it!
• Got a lot of work done on a newsletter I’m putting together

I am going to keep riding this high before I think about all the stuff I need to get done for my day job and my night job today…

No related picture, but here is one of Khali and Data almost sleeping together! Awwwww.

Comments (11)

By kilax, March 17, 2017 12:00 pm

Or should it be “tails”? Ha ha ha.

• Khali still lives inside. Could she go back outside? Yeah, she’s probably fully recovered now. Do I want her to go back outside? No, I love having her little fluffy butt inside. Would Snow immediately try to have relations with her if she went out? Yep. We’ve let her out a few times and witnessed this.

Khali & Data

Khali & Snow during a sweet, non R-rated moment

• Steven has been working on an AMAZING cat house and finished it last weekend! I need to do a full post on it, but here’s a sneak peek picture of it. And Snow started using it right away, yay!

• I forgot what it’s like to live with a cat who eats human food. Data doesn’t. Khali does. We forgot about this, and Steven left half an enchilada on the counter Tuesday night. Hmm, guess who took a bite out of it and had salsa verde on her whiskers? And guess who pulled an eggroll out of the takeout bag last night? Ha. Also: we need to start cooking more at home again. Also: yum, the Chinese food leftovers are going to be awesome at lunch today.

• Gah, Data had an epic barf accident on Tuesday. I heard him starting to throw up while he was on top of a floor vent under his tower of judgement. I didn’t want him to throw up on the vent, so I moved the tower and he freaked the hell out and ran in to the kitchen… barfing as he ran. His total barf trajectory was almost the complete length of the dining room. It was horrible to clean up, but also somewhat hilarious, so I took a photo to show Steven. Don’t worry, I won’t share it here!

Comments (5)

By kilax, March 11, 2017 5:40 pm

I’ve been to Kansas City every month this year! Craziness! In January we went to meet Baby William. In February I went with my parents and my maternal grandma, so my grandma could meet Baby William. And this month, we met Gina, Steve, and Luca there for the beginning of Luca’s spring break!

After all that, it feels odd not to have the next trip planned. Maybe we’ll go back for a Royals game this summer?!

We had a good mix of hanging out and being out and about on this trip. On Sunday, we went over to my snister’s to see her, Will, and William.

And on Monday and Tuesday, we played tourist! On Monday we rode the new streetcar,

and checked out the River Market, Crown Center, the Hallmark Visitor’s Center,

Showing off their Emmy for their show Steve & Steven

and Union Station. Luca loved the train exhibit at Union Station. And bonus – all of Monday’s activities were FREE! And surprisingly, after coming to Kansas City for years, I hadn’t been to any of them except the River Market.

Encouraging Luca to make the “honk” signal at the train conductors on Freight House Pedestrian Bridge

On Tuesday we went back downtown to go to the Liberty Memorial (there is a fee to go up in the tower),

View from the tower

to the Money Museum (free and they give out FREE (shredded) money),

and later in the day, to The Plaza.

We saw a lot! We also ate A LOT. A lot a lot. I think I should feel hungry again in a few weeks. Ha. Happily, we walked a lot when we were sightseeing, and we also went on walks from Steven’s dad’s house (where we all stayed), and went on a few runs. I was grateful to move so much – I feel like a slug if I sit around for too long!

It worked out that Steven’s brother, Andrew, got to hang out with us quite a bit on this trip, which was fun! And Steven’s dad was able to join us for everything (in case you were wondering who that guy was in the pictures, ha ha)! I love how our families blend together!

And I love spending time with my otra familia (Gina, Steve, and Luca). I’m happy they took time out of Luca’s break to go to Kansas City! Hopefully we’ll see them next month in Texas for Luca’s birthday!

Comments (12)

By kilax, February 22, 2017 11:02 am

Steven took Khaleesi to the veterinarian on Saturday. She had an infection around her incision but they gave her antibiotics and she’s already off them, and hasn’t had any issues since Saturday!*

The master of RBF

I was asking Steven more details about the vet visit when I got back from my Kansas City trip.

“Well, Dr. M said he was talking about Khaleesi the other day!”

“Oh, really?! Why?!”

“Because another cat came in with the calicivirus.”

Sigh.

So when we took Khali in the first time, they knew her name was from Game of Thrones. But they also informed me that Khaleesi is pronounced the same way as a feline virus – calici. So there I was, thinking the doctor was randomly thinking about Khaleesi, and maybe how sweet she is. But no. He thought of her because WE NAMED HER AFTER A VIRUS.

Ha ha.

I am not sure we’re going to want her to go back outside! She’s such a sweetie! Data has been teaching her the ways of the inside cat, including crying for food at 4:45 am. Good work, Data.

*Interestingly, they told Steven the earliest he should let Khali back outside was ten days after the surgery. We were going to let her out that weekend – good thing they told him!

Comments (14)

By kilax, February 16, 2017 6:23 am

• Khali is recovering well! But she is anxious to go back outside. We figured we should at least wait until she is off her medication (last pill is tomorrow) to let her out. A lot of people ask me how Data reacts to her – he’s fine! He lets her approach, then usually walks away. I did see him hiding behind boxes and swatting at her when she walked by yesterday, but I think he was being playful (???).

• What boxes was Data hiding behind? Oh, this load of stuff (sentimental stuff, a few games, kitchen boxes, etc.) we’ve had stored at the warehouse (for about one and a half years) since we started clearing out our townhome to sell it, and just brought home! We still have garage stuff and most of our books at the warehouse. Slowly but surely, we’ll get it here! (It’s obviously not a rush, since we’ve been without these items for one and a half years! Although, I do miss a few books, and Steven definitely misses his garage stuff!)

• Another, “yeah, figures” article – “Scientific Proof That No One Wants to Hear Your Vacation Stories” (pdf here), but actually, not for the reason I thought. The article says people would rather hear stories they can relate to, rather than stories about experiences they’ve never had. Makes sense – wouldn’t it be more enjoyable to relate and connect with someone? But the reason we prefer relatable stories (according to this article, anyway) is because most people are crappy storytellers. “Human speech is riddled with informational gaps, and familiar stories allow listeners to use their own knowledge to fill in those gaps.” Hmm!
• I know I’m a horrible storyteller. So let me try to tell you a story about a recent Target trip, ha. A lady and I were both trying to jockey our carts around the same section of the chocolate aisle. So I said to her “Looks like we both need our chocolate!” as I picked up the peanut butter cups I was there for. She starts asking me about the peanut butter cups and I tell her what I like about them. She picks up a bag to look at, and I finish my reasons of why I am buying them with “and they’re vegan!” and… she puts them back immediately. Ha, maybe I should have left the vegan part off?

• I’ve been actually paying attention to the extra stuff my Garmin tracks, like sleep (to try to figure out how to sleep better) and steps. Last year I whined about how our work was going to have a steps competition but only walking steps counted, not running. At the time I thought it was major BS, but now that I actually pay attention to my steps, and realize I would rarely break 3,000 without running, I kind of see their point.
• Work pet peeve – people who sent you pdf files but don’t look to see if they are properly oriented! I review a lot of drawings, and people send me the pdf rotated ninety degrees in the wrong direction, constantly. What does that tell me? You didn’t open the pdf after you made it to make sure it was correct. Sigh.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 127

Comments (19)

By kilax, February 14, 2017 6:29 pm

Even though our veterinarian is fantastic, I was anxious about Khaleesi (Khali) getting spayed today. I’m nervous when they put them under to operate!

But, the vet technicians and assistants made me feel at ease – they called and sent text updates (with pictures!) throughout the day to let me know how things were going. Khali came home late this afternoon.

We’re supposed to monitor her activity for fourteen days to make sure she doesn’t jump or play too much! Ha! We’ll give her a few days inside* and see how that goes. I completely emptied out the downstairs bathroom so it’s all hers.

She found a comfy spot right away…

And I’ve been in here, monitoring her since she got back. I’ve learned she is a snorer! She’s being completely sweet and purring (and snoring) A LOT. I wonder if she’ll even want to go back outside… (I am guessing yes – she loves killing things).

Fingers crossed recovery goes well!

(Gah, I had the weirdest déjà vu writing this post. Does that ever happen to you?)

*Edited to add: I am happy it’s so oddly warm outside right now, so that Snow is not too cold, sleeping outside, without his sister’s body heat!

Comments (34)

By kilax, February 9, 2017 6:23 am

• William turned a month old on Tuesday! I get to see him next weekend. Yay!

• My mom mentioned she is doing a challenge at work to exercise a certain amount of minutes a set amount of days a week. I texted her the day after she told me to ask how her workout was, and she responded with “Wow you have a great memory” (then told me about the workout). My brain is programmed to remember stuff like that – I told her it’s my job to harass people about working out!
• Just say no to… lunch time meetings! I understand lunch time meetings are sometimes necessary because of time zone differences, but I swear, some people seem to prefer them and schedule them over and over, despite me politely (???) asking if we can have them before or after. Wah wah wah. (I know I’ve complained about this before. I wanted to again.)
• We came up with a name for the opossum – Littlefinger. Thankfully, there are lots of Games of Thrones characters so we should never run out of names for the critters. Now we need to name the two raccoons.

• This guy does NOT have a Game of Thrones name. I was chatting with my neighbor yesterday and she said her daughter named the stray white cat Puff. Puff, it is!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 126

Comments (21)

By kilax, February 2, 2017 6:23 am

• The race I am doing in Iowa in April does expanded age group awards for larger divisions. My age group goes six awards deep! I wonder what color (or metal?) the awards are after bronze? I entered the Athena division, which is what I did the last time I did this race (and won it).

• This week, I learned something new and exciting about the car I have been driving for almost ten years – there’s rear windshield wiper fluid! I can clean off the back window from INSIDE the car! Ha ha. How I missed this over ten years, no idea. I am thankful Steven reminded me of it. Now is the time of year to use it.
• I’ve been on and off Instagram for years. I couldn’t find a way to make it work for me – to be interesting and not just another social media thing that makes me stabby. But I figured it out – to mostly follow people I know, and only a few businesses and celebrities. There are a few things I don’t get though – why am I getting so many follow requests from people I don’t know (why do they want to follow me when my page is set as private and they can’t see anything I post?)? And why do people post the exact same thing on Instagram and Facebook (maximum exposure? and for people who aren’t on both? (like me, since I only started using it again late last year, ha ha!))?
• Gina is doing a trail race in two weeks, so I ordered her some Dirty Girl Gaiters. When I was checking out, I didn’t see where I could mark it as a gift or say it was from me, so in the special instructions area, I asked if they could write a note for me, and they did! And it was hand-written and they even put a little heart by my name! Stuff like this is simple and easy for business to do, but it really makes clients like me happy that they took the time to read my request and accommodate it.

• I keep having dreams that I wake up past the time I am supposed to be teaching a class. I will forever be paranoid about being on time!
• We rarely see animated movies in the theater – not our thing. But, I do like to watch them at home, when they come to Netflix. I watched Zootopia last week and thought it was cute, and even downloaded the theme song!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 125

Comments (17)

By kilax, February 1, 2017 7:53 am

Looks like it’s shaping up to be a week of lists and bullet points. That’s about all my brain can handle! I feel so distracted lately!

1. Continuing to write a weekly training plan for a friend. It brings me so much joy to see a friend work hard and make progress, and feel good because of those efforts.
2. Training hard on my bike! I’m starting to do some indoor incline training to get ready for RAGBRAI, but I also want to work on my speed – I am doing the bike leg of a triathlon relay in June!
3. Teaching indoor cycling! I am teaching it twice this month, and I work hard on my playlist and the class sequence to make it fun (but also challenging MUAH HA HA) for my students.
4. Seeing this guy!!! And family!
   
5. Meeting our friends’ newest baby! Some of our friends here had their second son in December and we get to meet him this weekend.
6. Saving money! I opened my first savings account as an adult (I know, I know, we won’t get in to why I didn’t have one until now) and plan to put my part-time job money in it.
7. Having a new 5K to focus on (the race is April 1). Normally, I’d be putting Frosty on a list of things I am excited about in February, but I don’t even know if I’ll go. What a clusterf*ck.
8. Celebrating our one year anniversary of closing on the house! It’s this weekend! We took January off from house projects, but I think we are picking them back up this month. We are going to do some work in the basement – clean up the ceiling (it used to be finished, then was flooded, and a lot of old ceiling structure needs to be cleaned up) and set up an area for Steven to put an Olympic weight set.
9. Date nights with friends. Nothing planned yet… but I know we’ll get a few things going! And hopefully some date nights with Steven. I have some movie theater gift cards burning a hole in my pocket.
10. Strengthening my swimming. I want to get better at breathing on my left side without it feeling like I am drowning myself!