.:: Yolospat ::.

I went to the doctor today because I’m sick. I didn’t go to work.

A new nurse called me back to the maze of examination rooms, one I hadn’t seen before as I’m all to familiar by the usual wonderful nurse “Sandy” that does all the pre-exam stuff like taking your weight (seems I’ve lost weight) and blood pressure, etc. Always skeptical of new people I tried to feel this new young black nurse out.

By the time we got in the examination room she asked me what brought me in today.

Me: I have that crud that has been going around.
Her: Oh really? Did you go to the emergency room?
Me: No …
Her: Have you been officially diagnosed with The Crud?
Me: No … I just meant …
Her: The Crud is an official diagnosis now ….. blah blah blah blah .. trying to sound smart.
Me: It was just a phrase, I think I have a sinus/cold thing. I’m sorry, where is Sandy?
Her: She’s still here, she just takes phone calls. I’m new, I’ve been here 5 weeks.
Me: Oh, I see.

What’s the first thing I do when I get home? I look on wikipedia for so called “The Crud” and on Web MD and find no such slang diagnosis.

I’m not liking this humorless young nurse so much. I want my funny personable mom-like Sandy nurse back.

Hopefully the anti-biotics and decongestant start working.

There’s nothing like the fresh air of my Mother’s presence. Mom and Grandma Reba got in Saturday and after sitting in downtown rush hour traffic for 2 hours we were finally home. They still look the same, thank goodness. It always makes me sad when I don’t see someone for a while and the next time I see them they look older or more run down. Run down, such a phrase I’m using a lot lately.

Anyway, my spirits have been refilled and I’m basking in my Mother’s glow. I’ve also noticed that I’m extremely tired ever since they have gotten here which isn’t a bad thing. I’ve not been sleeping good lately due to stress, so my stress meter is obviously lowered because sleep is coming to me very easily.

They got a rental car today and they are driving up to Blairsville which is north of where I live to visit more family. My Grandmother is from Georgia so she has family that’s always been here. Mom is coming back later in the week to spend more time with me. Oh I love my Mother. She always makes things fun and exciting and she always makes me feel good about any given situation at any time.

Yesterday we went for a drive to the old copper furnace so they could see the countryside and area. I feel asleep in the car on the way home, and for me that’s nearly unheard of.

Mom always reminds me of the obvious. People are selfish and they take advantage of those who help. Don’t harden your heart. Just know you helped and move on to a place you’re appreciated again.

:: breaths in … breaths out ::

Thanks Mom. You are the best.

One of the talents I greatly lack is my ability to deal with stress. Pepper went back to the vets today because he managed to wiggle out of his cast. It was really do to him walking around and trying to jump up on things. It’s extremely difficult to keep a 3 month old kitten in one place let alone keeping him calm. All the movement was jarring the cast loose till it practically slipped off.

To the sound of $250 later (they had to give him anesthesia to re-cast) a very groggy Pepper came home. The vet said that Pepper needs to remain confined in a kennel and have as little movement as possible. So he’s in Jonah’s dog crate right now with the cone collar (so he doesn’t chew on the cast) crying his head off. Each time he cries my heart breaks because I want to scoop him up and cuddle him but I know this is best for him. My heart and logic don’t always speak the same language.

Between the constant crying, having less than 5 hours to get my 10 page report done for class, and trying to hold it together my stress level is skyrocketing. I think if I get one more punch in the gut or anything of the like I’m liable to exploded into a million tiny pieces.

It’s just perfect outside right now. A nice warm temp of 75 with a slight breeze. There isn’t a cloud in the sky and all the tree’s continue to blossom gorgeous white, pink and red flowers. It’s not too humid and at the same time not too dry. I’ve not even lived here a year yet but I have to admit that the best seasons, spring and fall, last and last. From growing up in Colorado springtime usually lasts a week or so until the dry beating sun punches you in the back of the head for 2-3 grueling months. Then it’s fall for maybe a week and the rest of the time the cold goes so deep into your bones that you never get warm.

That doesn’t happen in Georgia. Everything is rich and green and lush with so many different kinds of tree’s and flowers grow out of the soil without having to be replanted and landscapes come alive with no human effort. The foliage around my house reminds me of the secret garden where you can get lost in a magical dream. It’s the first time seeing a Georgia spring and I hope it lasts forever.

I think Pepper is finally on the mend. His accident couldn’t have happened at a worse time with made my stress bubble explode in a million pieces. He’s hobbling pretty good now like he’s had a huge cast on his leg forever. Of course that isn’t going to stop a 3 week kitten. I’m still very protective of him because it killed me to see his tiny broken leg and the pain he went through. His limitations have brought out the cuddle bug in him and it makes my heart melt. When I get home he will hobble over to me and I’ll pick him up and his purring motor will start going full volume as he licks my nose with his sand paper tongue. It’s amazing how fast one gets attached. I’m especially bad. More pictures and video to come since I’m learning Final Cut Studio 2 (you know, when I’m supposed to be sleeping in my many many hours of spare time.

My Mother and Grandmother are flying from Colorado on Saturday to spend time with us! I’m so excited. I miss my Mom so much and I haven’t seen my Grandmother in about 4 years. Mom just retired so she finally has some free time. I can’t wait for her to see a Kennesaw Spring.

There’s more, but it’s nearly time to go home …

A few weeks ago I was promoted to Raid Leader by the Guild Master. This was after attempting Kara and not being able to get to a single boss and me telling everyone on vent to stop, take a break and get organized. However proud of my new title, I was nervous and anxious about it too. I’ve never been a Raid Leader before. I’ve been on an insane amount of raids with my priest, but my job was fairly simple. Just stand in the back and heal.

Last night my guild went to Kara for the second time. I’m always shy talking on vent at first, but I know the mobs and bosses and I have a decent understanding from experience on what everyone needs to do. It was such a pleasant feeling to see Raid Leader status handed over to me. I marked the targets, explained the fights, assigned classes on what to do and we did swimmingly. We downed Moroes, The Huntsman and the Maiden of Virtue.

I had lots of whispers from the officers telling me I was doing a good job which only encouraged me more. Something I was afraid of became such a good time. I just needed a little encouragement.

How I’m managing work, school and WoW I will never know. I never thought I would be able to have WoW in my school schedule, but I’m doing it.

My mage is sporting a new Tier 4 helm now and is decked out in more purples than blues. Ah, such a good feeling of progress.

We have Pepper home. He’s normal ol Pepper, slightly stoned and frustrated about this big ol green thing that seems to have replaced what used to be his leg. He’ll swat at it and growl at it then go about with playing with his little catnip ball. I’m keeping such a close watch on him right now so that he doesn’t tear up his splint and that he has everything he needs. His belly is full of kitten food and he got a few licks of milk. Poor little guy. I’ve never had an animal that has had a broken leg before. Even in his half drunken stooper he knew who his mommy was right away and started purring when I kissed his little forehead.

Goddamn. I hate for animals to hurt and to be in pain. He’s sleeping right now .. he’s had a long day full of pain and uncomfortableness, and people he didn’t know so good. He left there with many hugs and kisses however. I think I counted at least 2 different vet tech’s tell him they loved him. He’s in his bed right now with his teddy bear dozing … and purring. When he wakes up I’m going to take him to the little box and maybe give him a little tuna. I have pain medicine for him for tonight. It’s the injectable stuff but the vet said to just give it to him orally inbetween his cheek and gums. I wish Chriss were here to give him the actual shots. I would attempt it if I knew I would do it right every single time. 

He has to be in the splint for the next 2 weeks and then we’ll take him in for more xrays to see if it’s healing or not. If it’s not healing, then they would have to do surgery (and talking about a $2,500 price tag) .. but if it IS healing, than they will change the splint out and put a new one on him for the next 4 weeks. I hope because he is young that it starts healing and that he won’t need surgery. The vet did have to put him under anthethia for about 20 minutes while they took the straight legged xray and they put the splint on him and he did fine which is a relief especially with his heart murmur. His splint goes all the way up past his hip bone, and the vet said she made sure to leave his privates out, altho they are sort of being pushed off to one side. Poor Pepper. I wish I knew what he was doing when this happened. Playing super-kitteh or something.

Sigh. Poor guy.

Spring is in the air! I woke up to my front yard rocking hard with brilliant colors. I had to take a picture before I quickly ran to the car so I wouldn’t be any later to work then I already was. I am looking forward to my Mother and Grandmother’s visit so they can see everything in it’s full color.

I was playing around with iMovie last night and for once I was disappointed in Mac software. I’ve used Movie Maker on Windows Vista once and was able to edit my Driving Home video. While I was playing with iMovie last night, being very impressed with how easy it was to crop, add sound and transitions I was looking for more effects. I didn’t find any. One effect in particular I was looking for was the ability to do slow motion on a clip. How can iMovie not have this without installing a 3rd party application? The other Apple solution to this is Final Cut Studio 2 with a hefty price tag of $1,299.00. I’m sure Final Cut Studio 2 is worth it, but for people like me who don’t have an extra $1,200 hanging loose in their pocket what is one to do? Anyone have a suggestion?

This is the coolest thing I’ve seen for a while, besides Flickr finally announcing they added Video.

Found through a feed I’ve recently subscribe to, it’s Super Mario in 14k Java.

Seriously, play it. It’s fast and zippy. It’s the the whole game and there are parts missing (like that first mushroom you go for on the first golden ? box ) but it’s pretty darn neat.

This is my first spring in Georgia and boy did I get a wake up call. So many of the tree’s here bloom before they grow leaves. The flowers that blossom come in colors from dark red to vibrant pink to white. It’s very beautiful to say the least, but all those pretty blossoms create a substantial amount of pollen. The pollen is so thick in the morning that vehicles left out over night are covered in it. Our back deck is covered in it like a thin layer of snow. What looks like dust storms in the sky are really pollen clouds. Those with bad allergies are not having fun I’m sure. Mine have been under control somewhat, so I’m not too bad off. My asthma flares up once and a while altho I thought it would be worse. I’ll have to take pictures of that to share

Just when I thought it was going to be a good day, I come to work and my happy cloud is blown away. Sigh.

Well, the good news is the WordPress update went very well. The admin console is completely different from the old interface. I’ve been playing around with more themes lately too just to change it up a bit.

There is one thing that looks odd to me tho. This ugly orange line across the top. Maybe it’s not rendering well on a mac but it’s annoying. Good thing I don’t use the dashboard often.

Yes, it’s true. I did say that Pepper and Neves have been doing some cuddling. I have pictures and video to prove it now. 

I love April fools day! Here are the April Fools jokes of 2008

Google

YouTube - Click on any featured video

I’ll update this as I find more ..

I think I’ve known this for a long long time, but today it’s been present in every way possible. I’m ready for a career change. No no, I’m still a geek and the computer industry will always be my passion. I’ve been doing tech support since 1998 and at this point in the game, I’m completely burnt out. It’s just not what I want to be doing. My focus in IT has always been development and programming and with school I’m making the necessary steps to get to that point but more then ever I want to find an entry-level position in that field. Something to get my foot in the door, and eventually my life long dream of being a Software Engineer at Google.

So, I’m going to start looking for something. The tricky part is the time in between paychecks that might be hard, but at the same time, we just got our tax money back and we threw that into savings and paid off our credit card.

Baby steps are always hard for me. I always want every thing to happen fast but like anything big, it’s a slow process especially to work toward the end goal.

I have the next week off from school which is a nice change but I’ve been filling up my extra time with WoW which might not be the best idea.

I was going to have a BBQ this Friday with all the people from work, but I’m starting to second guess that and since I haven’t advertised it I might just forget it all together. I overheard a work friend today putting tech support down and it just put a bad taste in my mouth since he’s been a friend for years. In fact, I’m the one that trained him when he first came to the company. I guess you can’t always trust every one.

Well, our little guy is growing up. Pepper (who used to be Penny when we thought he was a girl and soon found out he wasn’t) had his second vet appointment today. He still has a slight heart murmur but he’s otherwise a healthy 4 pound kitten. He did very good getting his temp taken (last time, he protested in the most vocal way).

Going to be making some blog changes today, by updating WordPress and getting the theme changed. Working on my other sites too to get them up to par.