Me, Backwards

Daisy actually took okay to the injection of fluids sub-cutaneously.  The vet tech was, of course, smoother at it than I was, but after a couple false starts, I was able to try it out myself.  We’ll see how I do alone on Friday!  So, we’re trying that plus food for cats with kidney disease.  Since Daisy’s so mad for “special” food, I got the wet version rather than the dry, so I can feed it to her as a “treat.”  She scarfed up the first serving, so that’s a good sign that she’ll deal well with the food.

This morning I moved one of the litter boxes into the dining room (where she’d been doing her business).  She’s been excellent about using it all day, which is such a relief.  Sure, I’d rather have both litter boxes back in the bathroom, but a litter box is a heck of a lot easier to clean up than pee-stained carpet.

For the last six weeks or so, one of my two cats was occasionally doing its business in the dining room.  It took me until late last week to pinpoint the culprit: Daisy.  Over the weekend I worked hard to clean up the carpet in the dining room and hoped that if the smell went away, she’d go back to using the litter box in the bathroom.  Alas, this wasn’t the case, and in fact it seemed that she was deliberately using the dining room in front of me.  So… time for the vet, and they were great enough to squeeze me in on Monday afternoon. (more…)

I like my new dentist quite a bit, but I’m really looking forward to not setting foot in that office for a while.  Today was the 5th time there in less than 2 months.  When my dental insurance kicked in on December 1, I got a cleaning and exam, and he confirmed that I really did need to do the two crowns my old dentist in Seattle had recommended, as well as a third.  He was able to squeeze one in before the end of the year so I could take advantage of 2008 benefits, then we did the other two this year.  So, that involved three visits - one for crown #1 (temp), one for crown #1 (perm) and crowns #2&3 (temp), and one for crowns #2&3 (perm).  That last visit was Wednesday and I thought I was done, but once the anesthesia wore off, it was clear to me that they weren’t sitting quite right and I’d have to go in for one more visit.  Did that this morning - in and out in 10 minutes, and all my teeth are happy.

My body, on the other hand, is not so happy.  I’ve discovered a new FLA* - DOMS.**  Sure enough, after feeling energetic and only mildly sore all day Tuesday, when I woke up Wednesday I felt like an old woman.  Thursday’s training session was, in some ways, harder than Tuesday’s since I still had soreness from the first session, and I added new soreness on top of it.  Yesterday was a sore day, but today’s feeling somewhat better, and I expect I’ll feel even better tomorrow.  Weather’s crap for skydiving, but I’m hoping to get out and about and walk or hike or something.  And I’m still looking forward to next week’s sessions!

*Four-letter acronym
**Delayed onset muscle soreness

The new man in my life is abusive, and I can’t wait to go back.  Well, not exactly abusive, but he does make me work hard and feel some pain.  His name is Noah, and he’s my new personal trainer.  Although I really dislike the concept of New Year’s Resolutions, putting on my pants for work the first day of the new year I was forced to recognize that I needed to kick my ass a bit.

So I spent the next week interviewing personal trainers, and chose one… and promptly got sick.  But today was my first day, and I plan to continue with twice-weekly sessions for the foreseeable future.  Eventually I’d like to work my way up to his “boot camp” classes, which would be a less-expensive option, but for now, I’m just excited to have so much energy and enthusiasm after working out.

As I lay in bed last night thinking about the historic juxtaposition of MLK Day and Obama’s inauguration, I also got to thinking back to previous inaugurations - Clinton’s first, to be exact.  Prior to that election I maintained only a peripheral interest in the elections and the inaugurations, despite living in the Washington DC area.  I engaged to a limited extent, but since I wasn’t old enough to vote in a presidential election until 1992 (I missed 1988 by three lousy weeks!), it was the first election that I really took an interest in, and I was truly excited to see Clinton get elected. (more…)

Sean and I decided to spend the weekend at Lodi, with our friend Scott (who flew down from Washington) in tow.  A few wingsuiters were getting together, so it was the perfect weekend for them to take advantage of the still-beautiful weather.  Unfortunately, my energy level is still down from being sick, so I didn’t get quite as much out of the weekend, but it was still a good time. (more…)

Tonight was Sean’s birthday (he’s old enough that we don’t mention the year anymore). For his primary gift, I’d had a special piece of art commissioned from an artist/illustrator in Seattle. I’d first noticed Matthew Porter’s work when I saw a notice that he would be doing a book reading at the Ballard Library. Noticing it was all monkey-themed (Sean’s nickname since childhood has been Monkey), I was intrigued.  I was even more intrigued when I noticed that you can commission a piece.   So, back in November, I did.  I sent the artist a couple of photos, and asked for a skydiver monkey.  Above is the result - pretty cool, huh?  I also gave Sean his membership in POPS - the Parachutists Over Phorty Society (which he became eligble for last year). (more…)

Nah, no black lung for me, though it’s felt like that over the last couple of days when I get into coughing fits.  I’ll be fine one minute (just a little sniffly) and the next minute I’m trying hard to hack up a lung.  I had an appointment with my doctor today on an unrelated topic, and asked him about it and he diagnosed it as “the stuff that’s going around.”  So, I continue to manage it with Robitussin, decongestants, and hot beverages.

I’ve done my coworkers a favor by working from home these first two days, though I do need to be back in the office tomorrow.  I am hopeful that this will have cleared my system by the weekend so I can take advantage of another unusually warm weekend to skydive.

All week, I looked forward to the weekend weather forecast, as it was to be in the mid-high 60s and sunny, and there was lots of fun stuff going on at the various dropzones.  Skydive Sacramento was moving over to its permanent landing area, and our friend Phil was doing his 1000th jump, so we decided that was the place to go.  We even packed up everything in preparation of staying overnight. (more…)

It’s been an interesting few days in Oakland.  The day we came back from Florida (New Year’s Day), early that morning (as a spillover of New Year’s Eve activities) a man was shot and killed by a BART police officer at the Fruitvale BART station.  In this age of instant media, it was captured on video (mostly cell phone video) by a number of folks and the video has been picked up everywhere. (more…)