Both Hands

And They Say Tacoma Is Bad or This Is What Happens When I Leave My Hair Down

Yesterday I left Tacoma in the late afternoon for an appointment in Everett. I was happy because there would be little traffic and it would be a relatively peaceful, short drive where I listen to NPR and think about what would be happening later in the evening.

Until I got to the Boeing Field area.

Traffic started to get a bit sticky due to a Mariners double-header taking place. I wasn't particularly bothered, figuring that things would clear up once I was past the south end of Seattle. Then a large Dodge truck pulled up next to me on the passenger's side.

I glanced over, taking note of my surrounding as I usually do, and was surprised to see a man about the age of my father (late 50s) making kissing motions at me. I immediately started laughing, which seemed to encourage him. Whoops - wrong reaction. Since were were in slow traffic, his vehicle was stuck next to mine and he had numerous opportunities to continue the kissing, waving, and other mime that indicated that he'd like to get to know me better. I held up my left hand and pointed at my wedding ring while saying "married" which received a shrug and "so what?" in return.

I tried to ignore him, but it's hard to stare straight ahead while someone has rolled down their window and is screaming, "I LOVE YOU!" at the top of their lungs at you. It's flattering and all, but it's pretty distracting. I finally called Frinklin to tell him about my not-so-secret admirer, and seeing me on my phone seemed to freak him out. The window went up and the kissing motions stopped.

We finally hit the express lanes in Seattle and he was about to follow me onto those express lanes when I made an executive decision to sit in traffic for a while and pulled back onto the regular freeway. He ended up in the express and I lost him. Thank God. I had visions of him following me all the way to Everett and harassing me at work. That would be awkward while I'm trying to meet with people at an appointment and he's screaming, "I LOVE YOU!" in the background.

At the appointment I was chatting with someone about their jewelry and mentioned that the store The Seven Muses carried some beautiful pieces similar to what she was wearing. We laughed at the fact that Tacoma had a bad reputation, but she said she was trying to broaden her horizons.

All I could think was, "Hey - in Tacoma I don't get creepy older men leering at me in cars for several miles!"

Arrrr!

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day! Shiver me timbers!

I'm totally exhausted from my trip down to San Diego. My Mom flew back with me last night for a week's vacation in the PNW and our flight was a good hour late last night, finally landing at 11PM.

I wish I had more to add, but it will have to wait until later in the week when I've washed some clothes and caught up on sleep.

So nice to be back where it's not a million degrees outside!

Classic

I'll be traveling back to San Diego on Thursday to visit my family and take a trip up to Los Angeles to see their ongoing production of Wicked. Since I've been traveling quite often for work and pleasure, I figured with this most recent release of upgraded iPods it was time to move up in the world and get something other than my old-school blue 4GB Mini.

Originally I had purchased the Mini for Frinklin several years ago when it was the cutting edge of cool. It was the first iPod in our family and for a couple of years things were just fine. Then Frinklin's parents bought him an 80GB black video iPod just after they were released. And, lo - there was much rejoicing over the color screen and the video capabilities. The mini became my iPod, and although I coveted Frinklin's color screen and everything else my tiny iPod couldn't do, I got along pretty well. I thought about getting a Nano when they first came out, but didn't want to spend the money just for a color screen.

And then - I saw the NEW Nanos! With VIDEO! And COLOR! And EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED! I was ready to buy! buy! buy!

Since this week is jam packed for time I planned a trip after work yesterday to the closest Apple store near my house, the SouthCenter Mall in Tukwila, a good 25 minute drive or so away. I played with the Nanos, which were very cool, but finally decided on a silver 80GB iPod Classic, which holds 100 hours of video compared to only 5 hours of video on the Nano. Big difference for only $100 in price, plus the screen is larger on the Classic.

Of course, the store was sold out.

"Just head up to Bell Square," said the sales clerk, "It's only a 10 minute drive this time of night."

It ended up taking us about an hour once were were all said and done. Up to Bellevue, find parking, find the store, got the Classic, find our way out, back down the freeway (dodge the line of cars on their way to the Daughtry show at the Puyallup Fair). We missed meeting friends for dinner at The Red Hot (Sorry Kevin and Steve - so wanted hot dogs!).

The Classic is very cool. I haven't even had a chance to listen to it. It'll be broken in on the plane ride on Thursday morning. It has been synced up - all the music is loaded and videos will be added tomorrow. Cover Flow is very cool - it's something that I've had in iTunes for some time and having it on the 'Pod is sweet! I'm psyched to use it to start listening to some audio books as well!

Thumbs

There is a new kitty in the Ensie-Frinklin household. There was no misadvised adoption this time. This feline came to us via Frinklin's parents. She was a birthday gift from us to Frinklin's Mother 5 years ago and never adjusted to the move from California to the Pacific Northwest. Or rather, never adjusted to the two Westies that Frinklin's Father owns. She started refusing to use the litter box due to stress and despite undergoing every medical test, trying every brand of litter in existence, changing foods, using every trick, and even using prescriptions, no solution worked.

Frinklin's parents are installing new carpet this week and the cat pee damage is so bad that they need to do work on the concrete pad before they can install the new stuff (my parents had to rip out some drywall in our rental house due to cat pee damage - it's serious stuff). They tried to send their kitty to the Humane Society, but were told that cats with litter box problems are not accepted and that they would need to either find her a new home on their own or put her to sleep.

After discussing it, Frinklin and I offered to take Sadie in. She's very sweet and even though our house isn't exactly calm, a new situation may remedy her litter box issues. The last 48 hours have been smooth sailing as far as the litter box is concerned. There has been a lot of hissing and growling whenever the other cats spot each other. The boys don't know what to do with her.

Every time we reach an equilibrium in the household we add something/one else to throw everything off.

And did I mention that Sadie's nickname is "Thumbs"? She is a polydactyl cat (she gots extra toes). It makes her look like she is walking around on little mittens.

Sweet little Sadie:

Thumbs!