estacey
so let's see. today, i went to work. then i went to the beach, where i dozed for about an hour. then i did 90 minutes of exercising with the colonel. it was an especially hard workout, or certainly seemed so. maybe it's 'cause my legs were already sore and we did lots of squats and stuff. class was funny. we had two photographers snapping pics. and seeing as how there were so many (15-20) of us, lots of people stopped by to watch and take pictures. i felt like i was in a zoo.
after class, i took a breather as i still had a half-hour left of paid parking. i was reading through women's health, trying to decide on something for dinner. then i saw a recipe for quinoa! i had heard of it before, but just tasted it monday when the lovely lady kathy at work gave me a sample of hers. it's really good for you, and the recipe looked good, so i took it as a sign.
then i went to whole foods to get the quinoa, lime, sweet potato, and beans. also, salad fixins for the torts - this time around, they get watercress and dandelion greens as a salad base.
then i went to balu's client's house since he's out of town and ran faucets and watered plants.
then i stopped by to feed the strays and a possum, apparently. the cats don't seem to be too scared of him, so whatever. i think someone else is feeding them, too - i saw some food stuff in dish i use for their water. they live at an enterprise car rental place / under the shed at a little motel. poor things.
when i came home, it was 10:30. i called kamille, then set about making dinner. tried to clean up while i was waiting for things to soften up. discovered that the compost, even though it's under the sink and behind a cupboard door, had attracted an entire swarm of fruit flies.
anyway, dinner turned out good. really good. the lime was key, amazingly. i think next time i'll make it with raisins, and more quinoa (i think that sweet potato must've been especially large).
now i'm cooking for myself. i guess i am growin' up a little. sunday i made myself eggs, toast, and coffee. usually it's just cereal or something with my dunkin donuts coffee. then i cleaned the house. then i went, "hey, wait a minute. i'm acting suspiciously like an adult here." whoops.
i always get these great magazines that have workout plans and recipes. i've decided that, once a week, i'm going to do one of each. i also want to get to sunday morning pi-yo at the gym.
but for now, i think i'll just sleep.
Michael Rubin took Jasmine, a 6-month-old golden retriever, and his other dog, a border collie named Frisbee, on a run at a construction site near his home in Heron Bay. Rubin thought the area was far from the gators that prowl the nearby Everglades..."
2. my dive gear is in the car a full hour after i got home.
3. the fruit bowl is nearly empty.
4. i sang britney spears' "toxic" all day today. (this because i was free to listen to the radio as loud as i wanted while getting ready today, so stuck in britney's greatest hits.) by the way, this cracks me up.
5. i'm eating dinner not at the table, but here at the computer *btw, i highly recommend against smart dogs brand fake hot dogs. yuck. morningstar farms is much better.
6. i plan on watching law & order at 10.
If you can find a woman more LA than this, I will personally suckle your toes. She's got breast implants under a yellow tank top, a pink ipod, bleached blonde hair, and her pet in a JOGGING dog stroller, originally uploaded by Malingering.
make sure to note the picture's title
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The flower name ‘gladiola’ comes from the Latin for sword, gladius. Therefore, this name of pretty flower and the word gladiator come from the same place!
flickr to the rescue yet again: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=kelp+diving&s=int
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then, just in case i wasn't going to be sore enough already, i did a nice 30-minute run/lungefest and came home to do more jumping jacks and pushups in the backyard. alli came over and we went to azteca for dinner (mmmm, breaking my vegetarian diet to eat yummy little garlic-covered shrimp) and margaritas.
alli sang 'i touch myself' by the divinyls
then i sang a dixie chicks' favorite, goodbye earl.
AND STUFF YOU IN THE TRUNNNNNNK, EAARRRRRRRL! Hey!
then we went to this little bar down the street that balu used to insist was a strip club until, during a jog, i peeked my head inside. no strippers, just lots and lots of mexicans. so alli and i went there for a post-nightcap nightcap. i left her to go use the restroom once we got in for free despite the $10 cover.. she didn't want to come along, which i thought was really brave of her. when i came back out, she had, like, four little men surrounding her. we made our way to a table. the men followed. more men, more men. i remember what mexico was like, so i wasn't too surprised. "just be happy you're not getting your ass grabbed," i told alli, who seemed really disturbed by the whole thing. "i did, when you were in the bathroom." "oh." d'oh. i was up for a bit of dancing, thanks to the 1.5 margaritas and my absolute zero tolerance for alcohol anymore, whether it was with her or a roofer named juan, but she wanted to go home, so we did. it was really a pretty stressful darn 10 minutes in a bar.
this is alli and some guy that wanted me to make sure i got a good pic of the two of them. see how she's wearing a wedding ring? weird, huh? yep, she's mrs. oliveri now.
sunday we had a nice dive down in lbts. LOTS OF LITTLE CREATURES. also, some big ones. did i see a dolphin? a shark? i dunno. i did see tarpon. i did see lots of crabs. tiny fish. egg-carrying jawfish. it was great.
sunday night ed came over. he's leaving for san francisco to do the triathlon on thursday so i wanted to see him before to wish him luck. i'm really just so, so proud - of how much he's accomplished and how hard he's worked to get there. i made him spaghetti squash with pesto and fake chicken, which i gathered he wasn't too big a fan of. but that's ok, for he had kitten to torture.
he probably misses that.
today was work.
i got free stuff today by showing up, which rocked.
this is all organic stuff, if you can imagine.. and look at those boxes! they're full of 12 & 24 snack bars. how perfect & awesome!
tonight, i tagged along with ed for one of his ocean swims. he looks great. really, just stop-and-stare (and smile) great. (yes, i'll be that middle-aged lady groping the male stripper at la bare in a few years. blame it on repression.) we're a full year post breakup now, so i think it's okay for me to talk like that about him. i can now sexually harass him in a friendly way, right? if that's not possible, then matt hoe has some 'splainin' to do.
anyway, it was really nice - the water was calm and gorgeous. we saw a stingray and a barracuda, which was cool. it felt awesome. but, my god, am i ever out of swimming shape. i had my dive fins on and still couldn't even sort of keep up with ed, who was going bare footed. i was a mile behind the whole time. i had to keep switching to swimming on my back so i could gasp in air like a goddamn fish on the deck of a boat. but we swam a mile and something..
then we walked up to las olas to check up on the monday night beach boot camp class.
have a seat!
i got to see the spinning guy.
he was spinning for an hour that we witnessed. he has a little walkman and just spins and spins. he's sort of a beach fixture, from what i gather.
then the sun finished its setting routine and i came home.
it's great that florida is the way it is - a monday night, so lovely and perfect.
that's the recap of my last couple of days! now it's time to go do a run to feed my little motel strays! :) ¶ 8:25 PM 0 comments
looked horribly bright on my camera, but looks good on the monitor.
anyway, i had to get a pic of kitten in balu's bed. she follows me everywhere, including to the bathroom. every night when i get out of the shower, she's sitting and staring at the door. last night, both cats were there. :)
since i use the computer in balu's room, she ends up following me here too. balu doesn't seem to mind too much (as long as she doesn't sleep on his sheets!). this pic was so that he could rest and relax well on his vacation knowing that kitten is happy.
how cute is she?
oh yeah, i can get her to do the paw thing from ACROSS THE ROOM NOW, just by talking to her. she may be a bum cat, but she sure does like me. :)
i heard a MUNCH! MUNCH! MUNCH! noise the other day. i thought maybe another wild animal was in the house ('coons and possums eat so loud), but i found it was just elliot, eating styrofoam. mmhmm.
this looked good on my camera, but looks super dark on this monitor, so i hope it showed up okay.
see the blood on his beak and feathers? quite sad. hopefully he got through it, though!
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that i've taken over the past few weeks. there aren't many, but they're there. this is elliot when he climbed the tree to hide from the dog we were sitting.
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baby highhats? baby spotted drums? i dunno. but we see these guys all the time too. they're just tiny! :)
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we see these all the time on dives. it's kinda like looking at an ultrasound, isn't it?
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what a great morning! did the workout.. i was 10 minutes late - and i usually time my arrivals pretty well, so that was disappointing. i never have a "should i go or shouldn't i go?" argument with myself in the a.m., but i certainly do convince myself i can get from bed to my car in five minutes.. so while i have to leave ideally at 7:35, i end up getting out of bed at 7:30. ah well, at least i made it.
the sea cadets, some group of 12-17-year-olds were there. that was a hoot! these kids with their resistance bands that were approximately as big around as they were. the teenage girls honestly made me laugh out loud, all concerned about their makeup and how they looked and "ew, a bug!" was i ever like that? i wonder.. it was hard to set aside my inner mom during the class, though. some kids seemed like jerks, others seemed to get picked on.. like they say, kids can be so cruel.
the ocean was completely flat. ahh, a good day for diving! but, yeah, too much to do today so diving will be tomorrow instead. and, my, the humidity - everyone was soaked at the workout, myself included. i have to laugh that, when i started working out years ago, i was always so proud to actually break a sweat. i don't do that all too easily. i should've gotten a picture today of my red, wet face...
i've got lots of stuff i want to do today before alli comes over this evening to spend the night. we may hit las panteras, a bar down the street that i think is patronized strictly by mexicans. 50 5'5" mexican men and two tall blondes? it should be a good mix. at least it'd be a good place to practice my spanish! and it's in walking distance!
i got the lizard out! he was on my dashboard this morning when i went to leave for work. i had to wrestle with him a bit (luckily he didn't drop his tail off in sacrifice!) and then got to set him out in the yard. :)
the weather is ugly here. i don't mind so much, but elliot is pacing the house whining. he'll come back in here twice before i'm through with this post to make sure i know he's still miserable. he cries so quietly you can hardly hear him.. which makes it even more pathetic.
today at whole foods, i bought some organic valley soymilk! it so warms my heart to see "la farge, wis." on the label of a product i bought in south florida. i almost bought some cheese too, but decided that eating something fatty just to support the farmers back home was kinda silly. they already got $.50 extra for the soymilk (but i'm guessing it's wholesome & yummy enough to make up for it). fyi - organic valley also does meat. if you're going to eat meat, go organic or, at the very least, natural. just because you can't give meat up in your diet doesn't excuse you from eating mindfully and responsibly, ya dig?
thanks to my job, i've had the opportunity this past week to talk to some local farmers and business folks. it's surprising me how much it warms me; after browsing their websites and talking to them, i'm really quite.. touched. and want them to do well. i love that folks out there still get to do what they have a passion for, even in our crazy world of big brands and big business.
balu is gone to europe until june. anyone wanna party, give me a call. of course, by "party" i mean watch TV in the living room. :D
beach bootcamp workout in the a.m... i wish i had one of those things every damn day. i really enjoy them. if i could just get my ass in gear, i could be more regular about running & gyming it.. i try. but sometimes, i just need a nap.
in other news, i can't find this one picture that i want to, but here's a consolation:
the other one shows the baby (zahara) sleeping on brad's shoulder. it's true; there's really nothing cuter than a man with an itty-bitty baby, esp. if that man is big and yummy. find it in this week's OK! magazine if you want. :) grocery lines gotta pay off somehow, right? ¶ 5:50 PM 0 comments
when i went to my car at lunchtime, i had a little anole sitting on my dashboard. lucky for him, the weather is very mild right now and i was parked in a covered garage.
since i didn't want to release him in a cement parking garage, i figured i'd wait until we got in the open air to try to wrangle him out of the car.
once i got to some open greenery, i stopped my car and pulled the emergency brake, which the anole responded to by jumping down the air vent things on the dashboard. he stuck his head out - it was really cute! too bad i wasn't quick enough with the camera. then went back down. i now have no way of getting him out.
woooonderful. this means i'll have to keep my windows deeply cracked until i know he's out. in the meantime, i have a car lizard. not everyone can say that. :) ¶ 2:20 PM 0 comments
- rapunzel. i just noticed yesterday, with some surprise, that my hair is about three inches from the top of my jeans. now i'm wondering - at what length, exactly, does hair reach the too-long stage? i know there is one, and i'm pretty certain mine isn't there yet, but i'm wondering where it starts. opinions? i don't want to become one of those horse-hair women without realizing it..
- no comment. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9206
- omg. the laws of the old testament - in legos! http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/index.html. very creative.
- omg, take 2. newly-hatched tortoise: http://news.yahoo.com/photo/060523/ids_photos_wl/r181564935.jpg. thanks, katie!
- greener grass. ahh, being single. it sure is nice. i can say yes to any plans, with anyone i want, say no to any plans, make plans, not make plans.. my time is as occupied or as unoccupied as i want it to be. i meet a new cute guy? i can start formulating a crush and a little fantasy that maybe he is crushing back.. well, until i find out about his girlfriend. but, wow, are there things i miss. the kissing, the sharing of my bed with something other than the small stack of books and magazines that get tossed aside as i fall asleep at night.. and other things that i've rarely ever had, like mutual warmth. it seems like those things are often unbalanced, at least to some degree. anyway, i guess it's something to think about, and a nice thing to wish for myself someday. unfortunately, i don't feel like any of that is something i'll seek out, or something i even want to surrender to; it just doesn't seem worth it anymore. i know it sounds cynical, but it just seems like an invitation for ruin, and seeing as how i feel pretty happy now (despite a few things that i miss dearly, but thankfully the japanese were thinking of me), it's a ain't-broke-don't-fix type of situation. but, agh, this has become something i have to remind myself of a lot, and sometimes reminding myself to think rationally (read: negatively) is a downer.
on top of that, i've made a very stubborn resolution: my next kiss (hopefully it will be unlike the last one and be delivered by someone who is not engaged to my good friend), if it's supposed to mean anything, will neither be initiated by myself nor accepted under any degree of inebriation in either party. i'm tired of having to do the dirty work -- honestly, aren't the guys supposed to do that? i am totally over it. and as for liquid courage.. that's the wimpy way out. really, if you didn't have the balls, in the parlance of our times, to do it before those three vodka & cranberries, you shouldn't be doing it after. well, maybe you should, but it doesn't say much for your feelings or your honesty about them. sadly, if history is anything to plan my future by, i'll probably have to take a moment to remove my dentures before my next kiss. but, hey, at least i'll have my walker right there in case it's one of those kisses that makes me swoon.. - phew. i'll be attending my first workweek beach bootcamp workout tonight. it's not until 7 and it's pretty close to the office, so it gives me a good excuse to read for a couple of hours. :)
- the doors. i hate them. i really do.
We went to John U. Lloyd State Park and discovered that the access parking lot is at present closed, so had to pay double the parking to go to Dania Beach. Then it was gear-up, drink a liter of water in 15 seconds (fucking migraines), and head out to the beach. We saw the aerojack on the beach, which is set due west of where the aerojacks are underwater, and started walking. I huffed as far as I could, then gave into my wimpy comrades' request (kidding!) to take it in the water. Walk, walk, walk. Then we started to swim northeast. Swim, swim, swim. The aerojack was still painfully far away. We just kept going and going and it didn't seem to get any bigger. I started to feel like Sisyphus, eternally doomed to kick to the aerojack I'd never reach...
Then, whatdya know, I stuck my head underwater and there was a starfish. Just to the north of the starfish was..... THE AEROJACKS! Woo! Trouble was, Roy was still pretty far away. Balu and I bobbed around waiting for him.. When he reached us, we looked down and - nada. Look up, the aerojack on the shore is further north again. AGGGH! We had drifted south, away from the aerojacks. Without even noticing. Forehead smack!
It was around this time that Paul showed up in his boat. That was a surprise! I wasn't expecting to look up offshore and see a familiar face. Apparently he got my voicemail and decided to join us.
I kept swimming north, towards the aerojack, and noted, a bit pissily, that my buddies were still pretty far south of me.. How this happened, I don't know, but I felt pretty determined to find those damn jacks again. And I did, despite the fact that the sun was now on the horizon at exactly the spot we needed to see the beach aerojack. Talk about frustration. Anyway, at that point, I noted that the boys were nowhere near me so yelled "Found 'em! Find me by my flag, I'm goin' down!" And I descended.
I dunno who Mike is, but this is him at the Aerojacks.
A few minutes later, I saw Paul coming down with his spear. The profile of a man with a spear is a horribly menacing view underwater. Anyway, Balu and Roy soon joined us. A little bit into the dive, Paul came over and pointed to the writing on his slate: Fucked up, forgot lite. Bye!
Of course, by this point, it had been, oh, 45 minutes or so since we left the beach. The sun was quickly growing weaker and clock quickly nearing the 8:03 meter run-out time. So, we checked out the jacks.. I saw a big porcupinefish, a blue angelfish, lots of weird flattened-out crabs, the TINIEST LITTLE BLENNY EVERRRRRR (seriously, it took me about 30 seconds to even figure out that it was a fish) , some gorgeous starfish, amusing little (and big) hermit crabs, and a dying little grunt that I tucked under a ledge in hopes he could die in peace and not become live sushi. I saw that happening once in a Wal*Mart fish tank and it was horrible. I also saw one of the prettiest pink-purple conch shell and it was empty, but I decided to leave it for some house-hunting hermit crab looking to move on up.
We only got to spend about 40 minutes actually diving, and then I started dolphin-swimming west (sooo sore). Then we cut it southwest and made it to shore, just as the sun was setting and the sky was oozing shades of pink and blue. Awesome.
Anyway, less than a perfect dive experience, but certainly a lesson-teacher. I'm going to be all drill-sergeant next time about staying close together on the swim out, a bit more generous with feeding the meter, and bring a dive light, even if I didn't expect in a million years that it would turn into a night dive when we started out the whole endeavor at 4:30.
On another note, it sure is nice to be able to not start dreading your Monday return to work on Saturday. I don't mind work now. I'd rather be doing something outside, of course, but as far as Working for the Man goes, I got it alright. :)
Also, when I got home today, Kitten rubbed against my legs. That is an absolute first for her. I'm tellin' y'all, I'll get her to be a good cat one of these days. Years. Whatever. (It'll be two years since I found her on 6/14!)
Deep-sea fish stocks 'plundered'; Fish stocks in international waters are being plundered to the point of extinction, a leading conservationist group has said.
BBC News
May 19, 2006
Illegal fishing and bottom-trawling in deep waters are to blame, according to a report from WWF.
It says the current system of regional fishing regulation is failing to tackle the problem, with not enough being done to enforce quotas or replenish stocks. It says species under severe threat include tuna and the orange roughy.
The orange roughy is targeted by bottom-trawlers, which drag heavy rollers over the ocean floor, destroying coral and other ecosystems. "Given the perilous overall state of marine fisheries resources and the continuing threats posed to the marine environment from over-fishing and damaging fishing activity, the need for action is immediate," Simon Cripps, director of WWF's global marine programme, said.
Illegal fishing "by highly mobile fleets under the control of multinational companies" was identified as one of the worst threats to marine life. But the report also attacked governments for over fishing.
"Vast over-capacity in authorised fleets, over-fishing of stocks... the virtual absence of robust rebuilding strategies... and a lack of precaution where information is lacking or uncertain are all characteristic of the management regimes currently in place," it said.
No enforcement
The report was released ahead of a
BBC science reporter Matt McGrath says that on the high seas - away from the protection of national quotas - fish stocks are at their most vulnerable. The regulation of fishing in these international waters is the responsibility of regional fishing management organisations - made up of countries with a vested interest in the area. According to WWF, most are failing to manage fish stocks in a sustainable way.
Decision-making is poor, it says, and the regional organisations are powerless to control the activities of countries who ignore regulations. This backs up the conclusions of an analysis last year from the conservation group BirdLife International, which concluded that a majority of the regional fisheries organisations are failing to take their responsibilities seriously.
The authors are calling on the United Nations to review fishing on the high seas and strengthen the resolve of regional authorities to deal with states that flout agreements.
"It's got to stop, we've got to do it quickly," Mr Cripps said. "There is hope, if we can get management put in place."
today i went out for breakfast with the health colonel as he wanted to discuss a project he has on the table that he may want my help with; after discovering my blog because of you kind folks visiting his site from here, it turns out that he likes my writing. how nice! :) and i never argue a chance to hang with with folks that are uplifting, enthusiastic, and look good in tight shirts, so of course i'm in.
now i must go because balu, roy, whoever else shows up, and i are going to try to find the aerojacks (see july 6). oh, how i love living in florida.. :) :) :) ¶ 2:05 PM 0 comments
i've seen a racoon come in our house a couple of times now to eat the catfood. i got a picture the once!
last night, balu & i went out for some yummy italian food and, when we got home, i had laundry to do but was too tired to actually DO it, so instead layed on the floor in front of the sliding glass door with my feet up on the couch. a few minutes later, elliot walked over to do the door, looked out, and ran away looking a bit concerned. two seconds later, a racoon head popped in.
he came in, used his little hands to swipe some of the catfood, and took it back to the doorway to eat it. he was all of three feet from me and completely unconcerned. cute little guy - the way they use their hands is really amusing. i'll try to get a better pic one of these nights. :)
it's a kitten for adoption at the shelter. i'm still doing my fluffy checks. weekly now, rather than daily, but i still do them. i still wish that little bugger would come home. i still always hope that the rustling i hear in the bushes is him. usually, though, it's elliot. grr.
anyway, i got to do something good yesterday! i got out of work early so did some shopping at the whole foods and then headed home. i saw an all-white pigeon on one of the lanes next to me. i always am concerned about these birds, usually picking at something in the road, but they always seem to fly away JUST in time to not become roadkill. well, my light turned green and a car came from behind in the lane to the right of the bird, whizzing past and sending the bird into a flutter of confusion. then another car sped through the bird's lane, going right over the bird. he was hit, but i wasn't sure how bad.. all i could see was that he was flailing around in the road.
with the way traffic is on sunrise blvd., i didn't think going back would do much of anything other than to confirm the bird was dead, but i decided to do that just in case. the thought of a bird laying dying on a busy street is just too sad for me. so i did a u-turn and, when i came to the bird, pulled over into the turning lane and hopped out of my car. just in time to see another car fly over the bird. luckily, the rest of the cars going the other direction saw me and stopped so i could run out and scoop up the bird. he was bleeding from his mouth and wing. i figured, at this point, i'd just be giving him a less-scary place to die.
well, he didn't die. i really was expecting him to expire a few moments after getting into the car. i wrapped him in a towel and watched him. his eyes were droopy, and they looked red too. i kept expecting him to die.
i started to worry what i would do with him. he sure wasn't well enough to release, but *i* didn't know what to do with a pigeon with what would probably be a fatal injury. find a vet and ask them to put him down for me? take him home?
wildlife care center!
so i drove there instead. on the way, the bird seemed to perk up a couple of times, so i had to set him on my lap so he wouldn't try to fly. by the time i got him to the WCC, i started to have hope that he'd be okay. the intake woman said that they'd do a crop test to see if he'd need to be put to sleep or not, but that he looked pretty perky, so that it certainly wasn't a definite thing. i asked them to email me if they could to update me. we'll see if they do. :)
anyway, i got a pic or two of him that i need to upload.
other than that.. job is going great. it turns out maybe marketing IS a good field for me; i certainly am finding this interesting.
i just got home from a morning workout on the beach.. it was a really good one, and i felt good the first time. yay - the first of these classes where i didn't have to stop mid-bicep-curl to let a wave of nausea pass by. after that, i just HAD to go in the ocean.. it was all calm and cool. i don't let no lack of swimsuit hold me back, neither - i went in my shorts and sportsbra. :D so it was a fabulous morning.
anyway, i'm tired. i think it's time for a nap on the hammock. :)
When you start opening your eyes to it, you find that there are a lot of strays around.
For example, I saw a Craigslist post about a stray mamacat with her two kittens living by a warehouse. Turns out, she’s right up my street (Peters & 441 for you locals).. Along with two or three (that I saw) adult cats. How I missed them before, I don’t know.
Anyway, I saw them first the night before last. I stopped by again after work yesterday to check out the situation. I found one girl calico kitty (not the Mama) leaning into a garbage can where someone had thrown their lunch remains. I swear, that scene made me sick to my stomach. She’s just this tiny girl cat, so small that her ears are disproportionate to her body, looking for some scraps to fill her belly. Thankfully, I am a crazy cat lady and had a whole thing of cat food cans in the trunk of my car (meant for the harbor cats, which have all disappeared save for two or three), so the girl and her healthier-looking boyfriend both got a good meal.
Then I had to find the Mamacat and her two kittens, which it turns out are living in a vacant lot and taking shelter under a shed raised off the ground. I only saw one kitten this time. It’s still really small, maybe two or so months old. They’re all very scared of Big Scary Folks, like me, so if I want to get the Mamacat fixed, it’ll have to be with a trap. I have to figure out this weekend where I can get one.
In the meantime, I have a little pride of street cats to buy some dry food for. It absolutely breaks my heart that no one else is doing that, which I assume because the two girl cats I saw are so small, scrawny, and hungry. It’s tantamount to seeing a child on the street, starving, and not offering them the $0.25 worth of food that would give them a healthy meal for the day. And in
Pleasure to eyes., originally uploaded by 小辣子3.
So the weather certainly has sucked here in South Florida this week. Rain, rain, rain. Actually, I think the sun peeked out for a few minutes today, but I was at work so it really doesn't matter.
Of course, this is also appreciated because I don't have to spend my time wondering how limp the plants have gotten outside nor do I want to cry when I get in my ghetto, no-A/C-havin' car.
I've been a bit down this week. This is strange because I really am enjoying my new job. But once I get home, I have only wanted to hug my cats hello and then get straight into the pajamas. Maybe it's the rain.
I've watched more TV this week than I have in the past few months, I think. This includes that show 'Grey's Anatomy' which had a TWO-HOUR season finale the other night. It made me cry twice. It probably had lots more sad stuff, but I find myself constantly distracted by how skinny and unhealthy-looking Ellen Pompeo, the main star, is.
She is supposed to be a stressed-out, overworked resident. But still.. Ick.
Speaking of eating disorders (not really, but I have no other segues), I think half the reason I've been so moody is because, as oft-bitched about on here, I still don't fit into my regular clothes. And now I have a job where I can wear mostly whatever I want.. But nothing fits! Seems stupid that a reaction to that is get sad and lay on the couch, I know. Ah well. Soon enough. If I keep getting frustrated, eventually I will get motivated! Either that or someone I know well enough to want me in their wedding better get engaged; it's what worked last time. :) In the meantime, I'm trying to run and be faithful about my weekend workouts. The gym routine has been left behind the past couple of weeks, but.. well, I'll get back there.
I have been eating pretty well, though. I've been good about bringing my lunch rather than buying it, making my coffee at home in the morning (with a little bit of sugar) rather than buying my beloved Dunkin Donuts sugar bombs, and continuing to eat healthy once I get home. Now if I could just get my water intake up to where it should be.. Constant battle, I tell ya.
Anyway, since I haven't had much time to write to anyone this weekend: the job is going well. I'm still so happy that I got the job. I work with great people. I am learning interesting things. I'm enjoying myself. Even the things that in the past have been my necessary-but-evil job duties (e.g. copying, filing) have been done happily and with pride - I understand why they're being done. None of it feels like time filler, at all. It's just so different and so great. Yay. :)
spotted drums? highhats? not sure.. but they sure were cute.
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that I mentioned a few weeks ago. Wow, huh?
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saturday, balu, roy (his friend), & i went on a shore dive off of palm avenue in lauderdale-by-the-sea.. completely amazing. it really surprised me how much we managed to see - hamlets, yellow-tail snappers, goatfish.. all things i typically don't see on shore dives. it was awesome!
i saw one of these - it's a baby of the yellowtail damselfish.
read more about them here.
then it was home for a nap! sunday, hm, what did i do? well, all that last-minute stuff i had to do before i went back to work. and our diving buddy bill came over for dinner before he had to pick his wife up at the airport, so we had an excuse to make a nice dinner - spaghetti squash with pesto. bill brought apple pie & ice cream. :)
today was the first day at the new job. the drive this morning wasn't as bad as i thought it'd be, so that's happy news. the new boss (or team leader, i guess i should call her) took me and the three nice ladies i'll mostly be working with out for lunch at sublime. it's been there for years and i hadn't yet been there, so it was a nice treat. what a change - a restaurant where i can order ANYTHING I WANT. honestly, deciding was a bit hard.
work was as i expected it - the folks there are really nice and it seems like a good environment. we'll be expanding into an office space they're presently remodeling for us, so in the fall i'll be working in a 50ish-person office instead of the 10ish one i'm in now. i'm just getting settled in, but am excited about what i'll be doing there.
i had a job a couple of years ago that, honestly, when i walked in the door on the first day, i had a bad feeling. the whole place.. you could just tell that the people who worked there weren't happy. and it turned out to be valid - it was a horrible place to work. so i was relieved to get none of those vibes today.
other than that, all quiet on the southeastern front. the cats are settling down - the big oaf dog left yesterday. i really liked having a dog around, even if he made me feel guilty by sleeping in the hallway outside our bedroom doors at night.
ok, tired, must go lounge and watch seinfeld. ¶ 5:23 PM 1 comments
Family pharmacy to close business after more than 100 years.
That's so sad. Dahl's is where we always got our prescriptions. My aunt Loretta worked there for, like, 20 years or something. She hooked me up with the promo display for Debbie Gibson's perfume, Electric Blue. Dahl's is where we used to walk to for $.01 tootsie rolls and magazines.
It's just sad that anyplace with any character has to close to make way for the chains. You can't tell me that Walgreens is going to have a fish tank with ridiculously large goldfish to watch while you're waiting for your prescription. Sadness.
Ah well, I guess this is what I get for daring to google (news) my hometown.
Huh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viroqua,_Wisconsin ¶ 7:32 PM 1 comments
balu is dogsitting. needless to say, the cats are horrified. i had to fetch elliot from a tree earlier today and the dog seems to want to use the tortoises as a chew toy. also, kitten gave the poor dog a really good scratch.
orientation for the new gig starts thursday. i went in today to fill out the paperwork, get the little guide to working there.. what a great company. :)
ok, melting, must sign off ¶ 7:43 PM 0 comments
dawny posted these old pics she found on flickr of us. (that pic is me & nikki, tho, not me & dawny.) i am absolutely shocked at how bad i look in them. i was ghastly white, overweight(er), had really bad skin.. my poor 18-year-old self was just a mess.
now, i realize i'm no model or anything now either, but i certainly have improved.
sadly, because this is a public and google-able forum, i can't be just flowing and honest about this. but i'm thinking about it and want to get it out, in some form.
basically, lately i've been getting compliments - a "you're gorgeous" here or a phone number request there. from a construction worker on young circle, i can laugh and say, "thank you, sir!" but in mixed company, it makes me a bit embarassed. old issues, i suppose.
seeing these pictures, i remember how hard growing up was on my self-esteem. due to the natural whitish hue of my pre-florida skin, i was tagged with the nicknames "whitey" and "ghost" in school. i remember my sisters and their friends making jokes about my weight and how i heartbreakingly never got the jokes until it was too late. i remember in 8th grade or so, the boy who i had had a crush on since the 2nd grade (and who would eventually become my first boyfriend), told me one day, "you know, whitey, you wouldn't be so ugly if it weren't for your teeth." [my teeth are now less imperfect, after having braces to move my canines down to the general area where teeth are supposed to be. this is only after breaking down to my mother about the above comment some time later.] i remember constantly having to answer questions about my pretty sister's romantic status and feeling quite invisible, or something worse, while doing so.
i guess it's just occured to me that it seems very unfair that something you can't help either gets you treated badly or gets you treated well; it makes you feel invisible or it makes you feel special. it's unfair that people with the best insides are looked over in favor of people with more pleasing outsides. and while i'm sure we all appreciate compliments and being told we're attractive (after hearing "ugly" one too many times as a kid, having it refuted, however confounding, is somehow satisfying), i can't help my knee-jerk reaction of worrying that someone in earshot is left feeling overlooked, when none of us deserve to be.
these are the squat anemone shrimp that i saw the other day.
so yesterday was the air & sea show with my friends, in celebration of alex's birthday. again. he started planning this beach bbq thing after we had decided to do a surprise party/dive, so that means he got two parties!
it was fun.. lovely laura made food just for me, so i got to eat some yummy thai food with tofu.. i brought tres leches.. there were plenty of drinks.. very nice. sadly, the water got so rough that we couldn't go diving as planned. the rough water did make swimming fun, though.
then we took the party back to alex's place (a block from the beach), where we succeeded in scaring his friend chris away. really. "where'd chris go? did we scare him away?" i asked. "you almost scared me away," alex answered. we made sure alex got more vodka.
at one point, alex freaked out at me for licking the salt from my fingers, then reaching back into the bag for more potato chips. i was 1. confused and 2. insulted. a few minutes later, alex needed me to hold his drink for a moment. so i licked it. and now this is why i love my friends: i held the glass out to laura and to alli and each of them knew exactly what i wanted: lick, lick.
the party went on late for us old folks, and alex had a fish id class to teach today, so once he started to look worn down, i herded us all out to the bar down the street. luis went to sleep in the car instead, though. i'm proud of myself - i never go out anymore. i certainly never stay out late anymore. i did both last night! kinda! (if you can count talking at an outside table at a beach bar while sipping alli's diet coke as "going out".)
yep, good times. now today it's gorgeous again - this is no surprise since it is relentlessly gorgeous in florida. every day. *knock on wood* but the air & sea show is still going on, so the only place i can dive is at the pier (too much boat traffic out where we usually do our shore dives).. ahh, i'll figure it out. maybe i'll hang out and do laundry today and nap some more. :) ¶ 10:51 AM 0 comments
"This crab will hide on the reef under its sponge if sponge is not readily available, it has also been seen with rubber thongs ("flip- flops") on its back in areas like Kaanapali beach where tourists can lose their shoes in the surf."
anyway, i've had a spot of fun on my little vacation so far. spent yesterday regaining equilibrium after waking up in the midst of an awful dream, then greeting the day to a dead starling. it's amazing how having a really shitty first 30 seconds of your day will just make you feel like spending the day in bed. so anyway, instead i sat outside for a bit and watched the bees and the lizards and the butterflies. then i scooped kitten up out from under a chair and she actually let me hold her. for like 10-15 minutes. honestly, i think it was a first. i laid her down on my lap just as she had been laying under the chair and supported her head with my hand and she just sat there and purred. wow. :)
then yesterday i went with balu to help one of his clients out. basically, he needed me to stay around there as to not leave the place unattended while unlocked. so, i watered all the plants, read, and took a dip in the pool. and fed a little iguana some hibiscus flowers. he had a tough time swallowing the stem: mental note next time to de-stem it before i toss it over.
today i went on a dive. by myself! the conditions were good and it was just a shore dive. i figure the only way i'm going to gain skills like navigation is if i either go with someone less experienced than me or go alone. so i did the latter. got myself a little flag and kicked out. it was quite nice. i saw an eel right off the bat. a pretty anemone with itty bitty tiny shrimp around it (so itty bitty i couldn't really tell if they were fish or shrimp, only watching them for a bit led me to believe they were shrimp). saw a grouper (i sure wish the fishermen would give those guys a break). a school of spadefish. baby french angelfish. and
i came across two cleaning stations. to those of you who do not dive or watch nature specials, the cleaning station is just the neatest thing ever. basically, fish get plagued with tiny little parasites. since evolution left them without opposable thumbs.. or even arms.. they can't get the pesky creatures off themselves. so they enter what is called a cleaning station. it's just a little area inhabited by little shrimp or gobies (or any other fish, really) that will happily vacuum all those little bugs off the big guys.
turtle at a cleaning station, being tended to by surgeonfish
the cool part is that a truce is called in the whole predator-prey relationship during a cleaning. a tiny fish will enter the MOUTH of a fish that would normally swallow it up in a heartbeat, knowing that it's safe. the big fish know to not take that easy meal because they know how important, and seemingly pleasureable, the cleanings are, and therefore how necessary it is to maintain this matter of trust.
a diver gets in on the action - see the antennae coming out of his mouth? the shrimp do the exact same thing to animals that normally eat them. i think it's just amazing!
Now I'm just dying to get this book: Reef Fish Behavior. Haha, they show a fish being cleaned on the cover. I love to take things slow underwater so I can catch glimpses of the daily life of the reef, instead of just doing a driveby of "pretty fish, another pretty fish, etc." Like when I saw the spadefish taking turns rubbing their bodies in the sand, presumably to exfoliate off the parasites. Or when we did a reverse night dive and were witnesses to damselfish mating rituals.
So anyway, yeah, the dive went well. I managed to navigate myself right back to where I started out, had some air to spare, and had a nice, relaxing time. Then I went two blocks north where I met the gang to surprise Alex for a birthday dive/party. I skipped the dive, along with about half of us, and instead went and bought sangria and pie for the party. I just got home. :) ¶ 12:40 AM 0 comments
The starling died overnight. He was going to the Wildlife Care Center today.
Also, the crab died, um, last weekend?
I'm getting kind of sick of the critters dying on me. :(
The identification book doesn't say that they're in Florida. Rather, it gives its location as "Uncommon Caribbean" - but it looks just like it. And nothing else bears a resemblance.
What cemented this identification is the fact that it says, "May secrete sulfuric acid when disturbed."
The whole bright-orange thing should've screamed, "Do not touch!" to me. Sadly, it didn't. Like I said before, ah well -- another lesson learned. :) ¶ 7:23 PM 0 comments
We tried to dive the Ancient Mariner, a wreck at about 70 feet. I'd done it before and was excited to see it at night without a boatload of students threatening to kick me in the face. Sadly, I jumped off the back of the boat into a very strong current and had to fight my way just staying where I was; getting to the front of the boat to the anchor line was out of the question. KICK-KICK-KICK - nothing. Aggh. This is the first time I'd experienced something like that, so I'm glad I did; now I know it's possible! I'm also glad Paul was still on the boat, saw me struggling, and came in to help me, throwing the line to me, pulling me in, and coming to make sure I safely got back on the boat. I was relieved when he said we should just try a different location, something less challenging on a night with current; I offered to sit out while they did a dive at the Mariner, but was happy to actually get to go under. So we went to the ledges. This time, we planned our entrance into the water to be within a few seconds of each other and in close proximity. It went off without a hitch. Phew.
It as an awesome dive. About 110 minutes long, deepest we went was.. oh, darn, I forget. Water was 79 degrees. I surfaced with over 1,000 PSI. I'm pretty normal on air now; it's a relief.
I found my first octopus, unless you count the one I spotted tucked into a rock of which I could only see its vent. (I had seen octopuses before - Alex found me a couple little guys. This was the first I found on my own, I mean.) This was a little guy- his body was about fist-sized or a bit smaller. He was sprawled out on a rock, so I was able to get a good, close look. Then he flashed purple and glided into a crevice. Awesome.
This is pretty much what my guy looked like.
I also saw a bit of an eel tail sticking out from under a little ledge. When I got into the sand to check him out, I realized he.. she? was sitting in there with a bunch of four or so white egg cases containing five or small white eggs. They hung down from the top of the ledge, like I've seen octopus eggs before (in pictures). I'm not sure how eels reproduce, so don't know if they were her eggs or not, but it was very cool.
I also spotted a bright orange, um, sea hare? A small one. I motioned for Balu to come over and see it. By the time he got there, it had tucked itself in a rock. I reached out to see if I could get him to come back out a bit. Mistake. My fingers, where I touched its jello-like body, felt funny and itchy for the next half hour or so. Another lesson learned. Saw a nice sting ray. Fishies. I shooed away a hogfish as Paul was carrying a net for the dive. He saw me but didn't yell at me afterwards, so we can continue to dive together. :) I'll let him be himself, but I gotta be myself too, which means helping the little guy out when I can.
We got in late, even with Balu & I being too cold to do a second dive. Despite the late hour, and since we were chilled to the bone, we took Paul up on his offer to thaw out in the hot tub. (Yes, this guy has quite the bachelor pad.) This means we got home at, oh, 2:30 a.m.? In bed at 3:30. OY! ¶ 12:55 PM 3 comments
I'm so impressed! ¶ 11:08 AM 0 comments
Last night while rinsing gear outside at 2:30 a.m., I heard an awful noise coming from the bushes. Since I already had to intervene in Elliot catching a toad twice, my first thought was that he had caught something bigger. I ran over and, sure enough, Elliot emerged from the bushes chasing a little hopping bird.
The bird ran under the grill, Balu helped me to keep Elliot at bay, and I was able to catch it. It calmed down immediately and latched onto my fingers. I dried him off with paper towels, which showed he was bleeding, so dabbed his wounds with iodine and put him in a leftover bird cage I have with some bread and water.
He's still fine today and has even eaten the bread. I left him Special K when I went to work today. I'm pretty sure he'd appreciate some insects on the side, but hey, I ain't runnin' no bird cafeteria.
Since I am worse at bird ID than I am at fish ID, I had to look him up in my bird guide. He's a plain ol' starling. Grown-up. Boy. Quite cute up close, though. To read more about starlings, check here: http://www.wbu.com/edu/starling.htm - and for a very different "about starlings" page, check out: http://www.pestcontrol-products.com/starling.htm
Sadly, something is wrong with one of his wings, which I'm thinking is the reason Elliot was able to catch him in the first place. It may just need time to heal and re-grow some feathers. Lucky for me, the Wildlife Care Center (http://www.wildcare.org) said they would take care of him if I brought him there. I was worried -- since they have a policy against re-introducing non-native species (which starlings are to all of North America), they couldn't rehabilitate him for release.. And, you know, starlings have a pretty bad reputation. I was worried maybe they'd just put him down. But nope - they'll find someone to take care of him. Oh, how I love those folks. :)
After reading five recipes (one said cook stovetop, one said bake whole, one said halve it first), I decided on a cut-in-half, scoop-out-seeds, bake-hollow-sides-up for 40 minutes-at-360-degrees method. It came out awesome! They best way to tell it's done is by piercing the outer skin with a fork; if you need a knife to do it, it's not done. I started forking it out and thought, "This is never going to feed two people," and started contemplating what I had that could accompany it. But it just kept coming, kept coming.. So it was two full plates full of spaghetti-looking stuff. I simply covered it with spaghetti sauce (chunky vegetable style) and - yum! Dinner! :) Now, it doesn't taste just like spaghetti. It's one of those soymilk things - use it as milk, but it's not just like milk. This is a bit crunchy, more crisp than spaghetti, but very good.
Spaghetti Squash
So it's yummy and it's really good for you.
Here's a recipe: http://www.fabulousfoods.com/features/featuring/spagsquash.html ¶ 11:27 AM 0 comments
Native lizards being devoured by little 'T-Rex ' throughout South Florida
it makes me sad to see these cute little buggers are wreaking havoc on the local native lizards. i see them all the time in lauderdale-by-the-sea (where i used to live, where i used to work, where i now dive) and they always make me smile. see how cute they are? like tiny dinosaurs. cute, cute. they're really quite brave for their size, too; you have to be pretty obviously approaching them before they take cover.
i wish cats were more trainable. unfortunately, you cannot even get them to come to you, even if it means they walk two whole feet. so i don't think training them to attack just curly-tail lizards would be very successful.
matt wrote me the other day from iowa to tell me that, after 12 hours in iowa, his argentinian wife, andrea, asked, "why does everyone here look like stacey?"
that better not have been a set-up for showing me this picture. ha ha ha.
Gotta make this quick.
Saturday: sailing.
Stayed up too late. Cleaning. Woo.
Sunday: lounge day. Got a new plant. Woo.
I'm a wild, wild girl.
