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September, 2004

  1. We Need a Home

    September 30, 2004 by Gail

    [EDIT: Pictures no longer available on that server.]

    Their mum is looking for a home for them, so I thought I’d put the word out here, too, in case any readers in the Vancouver area are interested in taking home these lovely cats. I’d consider it, myself, except that my building has recently adopted a “no pets” policy.

    Kitty info, verbatim:

    They are all short-haired cats. I have 2 males and 1 female. I’d like to find a home for one of the males (gige, 6 yrs of age) and Sarah (female, 6 yrs of age) together because they’ve always been together and I actually got Sarah because Gige was lonely as a kitten :) Sarah is quiet and a very loyal follower and GigE has been my big baby since I got him — he’s very loving and loyal and has quite the personality (they love laps and love to sleep on your pillow).

    The other cat is named ACK and he is approximately 4 1/2 years of age, he absolutely loves to play and chat anyone up and also loves laps – he still has a kitten mentality that way.

    All 3 of them are extremely affectionate and love to play — Sarah in particular seems to take very very well to young children. All of them get along with other cats very well but unfortunately only Sarah seems to be intrigued by dogs.

    All of them are indoor cats and none are de-clawed — they use scratching posts/pads for their claws and need a trim once a month. Gige is the only cat who is on a special food and needs to continue eating it (he had a bladder infection jan of 2003 and male cats being more prone to urinary infections, I’ve left him on preventive food).

    I have 2 electric litterboxes that I am willing to give away with the adoptions and some soft kennels.

    I never thought I would have to find the 3 a home (especially gige) so I am looking for someone who is going to love them as much as I do and take good care of them.

    Calling All Cat Lovers — please contact me if you or anyone you know would like to provide a home for Sarah, Gige, or ACK.

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    Posted in Critters + Creatures | 5 Comments

  2. Twilight Zonish

    September 30, 2004 by Gail

    I used to LOVE the old show Twilight Zone. My brothers and I would watch the black and white version religiously and creep ourselves out.

    I just had a Twilight Zone moment. I went ’round to the optometrist’s to pick up a couple of boxes of contact lenses, and they weren’t there anymore. Instead, there was a travel agency. I stood there, looking around for a while, trying to figure out if I was on autopilot and ended up on the wrong street or block by mistake. Nope. I could’ve sworn I was only there in the last month — or has it been longer?? — and my optometrist gave me a box and told me to come back for more. He never mentioned he’d planned on moving — or did he just close down the business suddenly? Good thing he’s only up the street, but I wonder what happened? I could just phone the number and find out, but I am sick to death of the phone — and telecom in general — right now.

    I’d cut to the Telus story, but it’s a saga that must be told in its entirety, so I’ll leave it for tonight. There’s a bunch of things I have to do before I fly to New York tomorrow, so we’ll see if I can exercise some brevity this time.

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    Posted in Randomage | No Comments

  3. Questions that really need answers…

    September 30, 2004 by Gail

    If you’ve seen these before, just move along, eh? (–see, I threw in obligatory Canadian punctuation)

    Courtesy of Ashley in Austin, Texas:

    1. Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, “I think I’ll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?”
    2. Who was the first person to say, “See that chicken there? I’m gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it’s butt.”
    3. Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?
    4. If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?
    5. Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?
    6. Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don’t point to their crotch when they ask where the bathroom is?
    7. Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?
    8. Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They’re both dogs!
    9. If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that Acme crap, why didn’t he just buy dinner?
    10. If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
    11. If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?
    12. If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
    13. Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?
    14. Stop singing and read on……….
    15. Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
    16. Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?
    17. Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

    There were more, but I’m stopping here…

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    Posted in Humour, Randomage | 7 Comments

  4. PowerBook Geekfest

    September 30, 2004 by Gail

    Eliza put me on a geek timer… I had 10 minutes.

    “TIME’S UP, GAIL!”

    She’s getting out her major artillery:

    - nail polish remover
    - nail clippers (with built-in compartment)
    - nail file
    - cuticle remover
    - cuticle scissors
    - cuticle picker, edge-trimmer thingy (?)
    - nail buffer
    - some kind of cuticle pumice stone thingy

    That’s BEFORE the nail polish goes on!!!! I still have to exfoliate my hands, she says!!!!

    Eliza’s tools of the trade are out, and she’s telling me to hurry up and exfoliate already, because the process takes at least an hour. With my inexperience, it is going to drag on for more than an hour…

    “Concentrate, Gail!” Eliza said sternly*. I kept screwing up the polish, but I have the excuse of having much less practice. After all, Eliza does this at least 52 times per year, 51 x more often than I do…

    * Disclaimer: Eliza isn’t actually a Nail Nazi.

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    Posted in Unabashed Geekiness | 3 Comments

  5. Telus Screwed Up My Account AGAIN

    September 29, 2004 by Gail

    It’s Tuesday, and Telus decided Tuesday, September 28, was Take Gail Down Day. I’m still mad, and it is as of yet unresolved, so I’m not going to say more about it until the situation is rectified — which MUST be Wednesday. Because, UNTIL IT IS, I am an IRATE CUSTOMER.

    IRATE. CUSTOMER.

    Irate Customer is also thinking of new means of compensation for this monumental blunder on Telus’ part.

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    Posted in Rants | 4 Comments

  6. Different FedEx Guy…

    September 27, 2004 by Gail

    … who delivered my spare Powerbook battery this afternoon, the last item on my Apple order. I guess there’s an afternoon guy and a morning guy. No flirtin’ with this one. I’ll tell you why later.

    ADDENDUM (for Muckdog et al):

    The second FedEx guy was, I’m guessing, Filipino. I can spot ‘em a mile away. (If he’s not Filipino, I’ll eat my, er, proverbial shorts.)

    I have nothing against the Filipino guys, but there’s this curious phenomenon in Filipino culture whereby familial ties are not kept track of and thus everyone is considered potential “family”… for example, the titles people are given such as granny or uncle are based on people’s ages, not specific kinship. Families who are close but not actually related will appear no less related than true blood relations to the average observer. What this means for the young people is that often for the second- or third-generation Filipino whose family has emigrated to a Western country where family ties are treated more specifically, actually meeting another Filipino is like meeting family. They remind you of your family to such an extent that it kills any possible attraction to this person. It would be like dating your cousin.

    Technically, I’m an immigrant myself, but I arrived in Canada before I was three years old. I’m Filipino-born, but Canadian-bred. I have little to zero contact with Filipinos outside of my immediate family. This is not intentional, I just don’t seem to frequent their stomping grounds — I live in the city in an apartment, not a house in the ‘burbs. I’m not in nursing, or any capacity relating to care (sounds like I don’t care, but you know what I mean…). I’m isolated from cultural contact such as Filipino groups or associations. Cultural contact would have to be pursued on my part if I want it to develop.

    The last time I saw a large gathering of Filipinos was at a festival in the park in front of the MoMA in San Francisco two years ago, on Labour Day weekend. Before that, I couldn’t even tell you. When I see a Filipino, I always wonder where s/he is from, how long s/he’s been here, etc. I’m curious, but my curiosity is not based on the individual, it’s culturally-motivated. I know I’m not the only one who thinks this way. A Filipina with a similar background to mine said to me, “it feels incestuous to have a crush on a Filipino guy…” I agree, but it’s also strange: what other cultures exhibit this phenomenon? I’ve never heard a Czech person say, “oh she’s cute, but she reminds me of my sister.”

    This second FedEx guy didn’t remind me of either of my brothers or any of my cousins, but I couldn’t view him in any context other than “the Filipino FedEx guy”…

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    Posted in Culture + Society, Rants | 4 Comments

  7. For the TV Addict

    September 27, 2004 by Gail

    TV fridge

    Yep, that’s a TV on the fridge. Isn’t it crazy? We saw this fridge at Fry’s Electronics in Renton (we were there two days in a row) for $3,000!! You’d have to be a real TV addict to get this in your kitchen. If you love TV that much, you’re better off mounting a TV on a wall bracket or arm extension that you can pivot for maximum viewing possibilities, not a static unit. Does the ice maker have a MUTE so you don’t miss anything on the morning news broadcast while you load up your cup? Does the TV have a DVD player?? (Doesn’t look like it.)

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    Posted in Tales of the Absurd | 7 Comments

  8. Karl, Post-Tri

    September 26, 2004 by Gail

    Karl got back from his tri, and I snapped photos of him and all his gear before he hit the shower. We were going to make avatars for this week and next — it’s “Bathing Suit Week” right now, then “Tattoo Week” — so I tried to get his number tattoo before he washed it off. Dunno if we’ll use it, but Karl’s still getting used to so many photos being taken of him!

    We’re meeting Francesca later today before heading back to Vancouver, but before we shove off, we’re sharing music and photos. Karl just gave me a copy of his music collection on DVD, and he’s downloading photos I took of yesterday. Yay for lots of storage space!

    Tee hee! At times like this, I wish I had the Image Stabilizer feature that’s on the Canon IS… I was laughing too much to hold still.

    napping

    That’s Heather in there. Heather and I both loved this gigantic beanbag chair in Karl’s living room. It swallowed Heather whole! Technically, it’s not a beanbag chair — it’s a polymorphic chair, Karl says. Regardless, it is the only piece of furniture in his living room until he decides what furniture to buy, so it is rather imposing. Once in a while I’d hear a voice coming from it, otherwise I was oblivious to Heather napping in there.

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    Posted in Friends | 1 Comment

  9. Fun With Digital

    September 26, 2004 by Gail

    Heather and I are watching a DVD at Karl’s place right now: Before Sunrise, with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, the film before Before Sunset, which I watched not long ago and posted about. What a lazy weekend — we’re kicking back in front of Karl’s home theatre, while he’s driving back from his triathlon!!

    Karl’s been a great host. We arrived late on Friday night, he fed us Thai food and we geeked out on the computers until late into the night. Everyone slept in until late yesterday morning: I went to bed around 7am like the nocturnal diehard that I am, Heather had been up nearly 24 hours, so she crashed hard around 4 o’clock, and Karl not long later. I chatted with Breigh, installed programs, configured settings, and played around with the PowerBook. Then the Saturday sun appeared and told me to go to bed, already!

    Yesterday morning was, in a word, leisurely. We dossed around for a while and headed out to Snoqualmie Falls after a very late brunch while the weather was good. Karl informed us that’s where certain episodes of that old show Twin Peaks was filmed, so in keeping with the bizarro theme of the show, I set up this ‘peering over the fence’ shot to the left. We took a trail from the observation deck down to the bottom of the Falls, which wasn’t far, but a bit steep in places.

    At the bottom of the Falls, contemplating whether to jump the fence or not. I decided against it, because I didn’t have decent shoes for scrambling around the rocks. I figured we could come back to the Falls on a different day to explore it properly.

    (My hair is looking very RED in this photo!!)

    After the Falls, we headed to Fry’s Electronics to buy some stuff — I wanted to get a case for my Powerbook, a notebook stand, and some other things — before heading out for dinner. I’d never been to Fry’s and — holy crap! — the parking lot was the size of the IKEA’s in Coquitlam, like an airplane hangar! You’d need a GPS just to find your car again!

    By the time we finished up at Fry’s, half a dozen purchases later, I suggested we go to an African restaurant. We have them in Vancouver, but we don’t have nearly as many of them as does Seattle, so that was my vote, which seemed to go over well with the others. I hadn’t been to an Ethiopian restaurant in years, since my friend Sergio lived in Seattle — back in 1999?? (Wow, it’s been ages.) We stuffed ourselves silly, but we managed to find some room for coffee and dessert a few blocks over on Broadway at a place called Dilettante Chocolates, which was hopping with patrons. Dessert was great, but between the rich chocolate in the cheesecake and mousse, drinking rich liquid chocolate was sending us into major sugar overdose.

    Heather and I had planned on staying downtown, but we’d abandoned that idea since it was based on the premise that we’d be out on the town late and the fact that Karl had a triathlon in the morning. Heather was fading fast, and Karl wanted to take us to west Seattle to see the city from across the water, so I called to cancel our booking and free up a couple of beds there, and we headed back to Karl’s place after taking a bunch of pictures of the night skyline.

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    Posted in Friends, Travel | No Comments

  10. Seattle skyline

    September 26, 2004 by Gail

    Seattle skyline

    A pic I took late in the evening, when Karl took us to west Seattle, for a view of the skyline.

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    Posted in Photography, Travel | 1 Comment

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