“Oh goodness, look at my wrist!”
1. Received the DVD and soundtrack for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. The musical commentary kills me. Seriously, go buy this. Now.
2. Yara had her last shot this morning. It went astonishingly fine. No crying. No fussing. Nothing. She just sat right there. I wonder if she knows it’s the last shot?
3. Mail is surprisingly fast sometimes. People all over are emailing and calling and texting to say they’ve received packages and cards. Now, if I banked on this one day thing no one would get anything, right? Speaking of mail, look what Raechel gave me! <3
4. Classes are over. Okay, they’ve actually been over. But it’s only just dawning on me. Three weeks of free nights and weekends, baby! What ever will I do with all this excess time?
5. Tomorrow I have some last minute holiday-type errands to run. Ran out of wrapping paper (omg!) and have one more thing to drop off at the post office. Also need to pack. Gah!
My Special Helper
It’s been mentioned a fair few times on this website that Yara likes to watch things: me, people, birds, me, children, snow, me, squirrels, buses, and let’s not forget me. Patty described it best in her first letter to me when she called Yara a “supervisor” because that’s exactly what she does best. She isn’t content unless she can observe what’s going on at all times.
Anyway, as I’m the most important subject of observation she finds creative ways to make sure she’s in the thick of things. This photo is of her supervising the activity of me wrapping Christmas gifts. Yes, she is literally wrapped herself entirely around me and is holding me in place with her paw. It’s really very cute, though it does make for a bit of difficultly with movement.
December 20, 2008
Turns out my new Blackberry came with issues all unto itself. So, after a brief stop at the post office to mail gifts, Yara and I headed back to Crossgates. Thankfully, it wasn’t nearly as crowded as I’d expected. The rep at the Sprint Store told me that he’d hopefully have the phone working in about an hour and a half so we wandered the mall. I ended up buying a few more gifts for Dad and the family and some things for people at work as I found deals just too good to pass up. I also splurged a bit on myself and picked up a new pair of sneakers which I’ve been needing somewhat desperately for months now.
Unfortunately, nearly $500 and an hour and a half later, Sprint still hadn’t resolved the issue with my phone. Hopefully in another hour they said. “If I end up spending another $500 before you fix the phone, I’m billing you,” I joked, half seriously, to the rep.
By now the mall was really starting to fill up and my patience was quickly exhausted by the complete lack of respect and kindness from shoppers regarding Yara. One person loudly complained to her friend, quote: “I’m sick of it, if that dog touches me one more time!” Whatever. Seriously, people were just rude. No one was paying attention at all to where they were walking and when they’d walk into the dog or me, they’d get all bent out of shape like it was Yara’s fault entirely and she wasn’t behaving properly. Needless to say this aggravation made it easy to cease contributing to the economy because I was hardly willing to battle the crowd. We just walked the length of the mall and back a few times. Thankfully, Sprint had managed to fix the phone when we dropped by an hour lately and Yara and I practically ran to the exit to catch a bus home.
Not surprisingly the roads are a right mess from yesterday’s blizzard and it still took an inordinately long time to get back home. But after more than 15 miles¹ of walking, Yara and I are quite tuckered out. In fact Yara headed straight for her bed and passed out for about two hours before I coaxed her awake to eat dinner.
1. Crossgates is quite literally one mile from one end to the other. And yes, we looped it at least eight times today.
Cell Phones, Holiday Cards and Lots of Snow!
My Blackberry up and broke today! Seriously. Out of nowhere it just had a random error and ceased to function. Called Sprint, who were totally not helpful, and the verdict ended up that I’d probably need to do a hard reboot to get it working again. As this would cause me to loose my address book, it was advised I go to the Sprint Store at Crossgates and see if they could salvage any data. Left work early (see below) only to have the Sprint Store be unsuccessful in (a.) retrieving my address book and (b.) fixing my phone. I do, however, have a brand new Blackberry. Too bad I don’t have anyone’s phone numbers to call them!
Picked up my holiday cards! During my hour wait for my cell phone, I wandered the mall, bought myself a chocolate Fribble, and stopped by Penney’s to get my holiday cards. They are indeed adorable beyond words and I heart them greatly. After I am finished with this post and feed Yara, I shall be making them out and they will be mailed tomorrow morning. (As too shall the presents for the Chabot-Weingarts and Adamses!)
It’s snowing! In fact, it’s pretty much blizzarding, if that’s actually a verb. The forecast lead most to believe we’d have a small amount of snow before the afternoon when it was to pick up dramatically. And though the morning proved to have not a flake, come just after noon it started with quite a force! In fact right as it started there were people in my office headed out the door fearing the worst. By 1 P.M. it was snowing so hard it was literally a wall of white and I got permission to take off due to my need to get all the way across Albany to fix my phone. It took nearly an hour to get there and more than that to get back. I spent the majority of my time silently praying the buses would continue to run and I’m thankful they did and I’m not stranded at the mall a la 2003’s blackout!
“And a smile means friendship to everyone”
- Had dinner with Rachel at Peaches wherein I ate Chicken Florentine and it was good. Also went to the post office to get stamps and boxes, stood in the longest line of my life outside of an amusement park or midnight movie showing, and somehow spent $30 without even sending anything. Then went Christmas shopping which never ceases to put me in a good mood even though I spend the majority of the time dazed and/or annoyed.
- Have now fully wrapped and boxed up gifts for Raechel, James and their dogs and Patty, Tom and their dogs. Have yet to purchase gifts for pretty much anyone related to me. Am slightly panicked that I may never accomplish this. Am also horrified at how much money I’ve spent on gifts already and how little I have to show for it, though this may be at least partially due to the fact I keep forgetting that the entire amount I spent at the pet store last Friday was not solely on presents. Am to go shopping with Christina on Thursday. Doubtful I’ll finish then, but will be back at the mall Friday to pick up holiday cards so there is always time for more aiding of the economy.
- On a related note, I received the low-res proofs from the holiday cards and they are ludicrously cute. Must admit that I’m very saddened my grey hair is becoming severely obvious. I’d blame it on being a brunette, but truth is I’ve had greys since I was 16 and it’s pretty much a common thing on Dad’s side to be all grey/white by early 30s. Also there’s one shot where I quite literally have a “come hither” type smirk on my face and I’m not at all sure where that came from. No, seriously. Anyhoo, once I get the high-res copies, I shall post them tootsweet for you all. Unfortunately, this will most definitely be after the holidays; you’ll just have to cope.
- Will be attending the SED Holiday Reception tomorrow which promises to be an abundance of food and frivolity. Also there are prizes and choirs and decorated columns and puppies. Three to be exact. I don’t know why this excites me given I will be leash in hand with a certain GSD, but it does. I make no apology. Though, it should be noted that Yara is a full three rooms separated from me under the kitchen table and not, as per her habit, on her bedroom bed.¹
1. As opposed to her living room bed. And no I’m not talking about my furniture.