MadMup.com

I stole this from my friends Brandy and Felicia and they totally don't even know!

(In other news, this is a filler entry!)

Four Jobs You Have Had In Your Life
1. Hardware store salesman
2. Custodian at a leather-cleaning place
3. Director of student activities at a college
4. Computer tech

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over
1. Batman
2. Ghostbusters
3. Star Wars
4. Men in Black

Four Places You Have Lived
1. Cambridge, WI
2. Ft. Atkinson, WI
3. Watertown, WI
4. Lafayette, IN

As it turns out, those are the only four places I've lived.

Four TV Shows You Love(d) to Watch
1. Seinfeld
2. Star Trek (TOS and TNG)
3. Scrubs
4. Arrested Development

Four Places You Have Been on Vacation
1. Treasure Island, FL
2. England
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Gatlinburg, TN

Four Places You Want to Visit
1. The Grand Canyon
2. Las Vegas (I don't know why!)
3. The last few states I've never been to (AK, AZ, HI, NM, NV, OK)
4. Your house

Four Websites You Visit Daily
1. The THorum
2. Google
3. Get Fuzzy
4. Pearls Before Swine

Four of Your Favorite Foods
1. Pasta with alfredo sauce
2. Baked potatoes
3. Cereal
4. Dark chocolate

Four Things Currently on the Floor in Your Car
1. Floor mats
2. A spare tire
3. Ice scrapers (2)
4. Uh... little rocks?

Go ahead! Steal it from me for your blog!

Labels: Seinfeld

2 comments

So right after I announce I'm going to do a 13-part series of blog entries, I disappear from sight. What's the deal?

I'm not really sure. Generally when I've disappeared from my blog it's because I can't muster up the gumption. That's ... pretty much the deal here, too. I can't point to anything specific, but I've just not felt like I could write anything.

I still don't, really.

I'd like to blame SAD, that seasonal thing that affects people because of lack of sunlight, but I never get much sun, so I don't think it applies. I've just been more antisocial than usual and really tired and all the other stuff that goes with it. Nothing holds my interest and it's hard work to interact with people.

"Classic signs of depression," you say. Maybe. I don't care.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be back some time. Usually a "everything is bleah" post loosens the cork, but I don't know.

Be well, friends.

Labels: meta

5 comments

I had an idea the other day for a series of blog posts - specifically, a series of 13 blog posts - with memories I have particular to each year of school, K-12.

I'm not sure how interesting this will be to others, but I think it might serve as a handy way for me to remember some things. My memory gets worse every day, so I imagine there'll come a point when I've forgotten pretty much everything.

I don't know that I'll do all 13 right in a row (though it's certainly possible), but I think I'm going to embark on this little journey. You're welcome to come along.

I'm not sure how it'll go, and I might not have a memory for every year, but I've not been able to shake the idea to do this, so I think I'm going to do it.

Consider yourself well and duly warned. 5 comments

My mom and dad had to put their kitty to sleep over the weekend. His name was Zumba, though he allowed family members and close friends to spell it "Zoomba," which it's pronounced as anyway.

He was about six years old and an all-around good cat. He was friendly and playful and had a good, thick tail. He was starting to get used to my niece and nephew, or at least learning how to deal with them. He walked a little like a bulldog - his front legs kind of bowed in a bit.

The last couple of times I've been home he's been extra sweet to me, even sleeping on the bed with me, which he never used to do. He purred at the slightest touch, which was unusual for him. Looking back it's easy to wonder if he was saying goodbye, though that's giving a lot of credit to a creature with a brain the size of a walnut. Sometimes, though, it seems like animals just know, you know?

A few weeks ago he started having seizure-like episodes where he would get really agitated and bite his tail, often making it bloody. They got worse and more frequent and the vet ran every test she could but was unable to find anything. After a particularly bad couple of days, my parents made the tough decision.

Zumba's buried out back near the trees, next to Shadow and Charlie, two other particularly-loved pets in the family history. Shadow was the cat we had the longest - 9 years - until he gave in to diabetes. Mom gave him insulin shots every morning for two years. I had to do it a couple of times, and it was hard. He got used to it and didn't fight it, but it was still hard. Charlie was the one dog we ever had. He was friendly and nice, but his friendliness was a little scary to us boys when we were young and small. In later years, Mom took walks with him until his hips got so bad he couldn't walk anymore.

Dad wouldn't ever admit it to you, I'm sure, but he liked Zumba. Every so often you'd catch Dad petting him. Zumba was Mom's cat, though, and I'm sure this is hitting her the hardest. Heck, I'm sitting here tearing up and I only saw him a couple of times a year.

I'm going to include the text of a Garrison Keillor poem entitled "In Memory of Our Cat, Ralph." If you're not a "cat person" or a "pet person" it'll seem silly to you, but to those of you who are, well, you'll understand.

In Memory of Our Cat, Ralph
by Garrison Keillor

When we got home, it was almost dark
Our neighbor waited on the walk.
"I'm sorry, I have bad news," he said.
"Your cat, the grey-black one, is dead.
I found him by the garage an hour ago."
"Thank you, " I said, "for letting us know."

We dug a hole in the flower bed,
The lilac bushes overhead,
Where this cat loved to lie in the spring
And roll in the dirt and eat the green
Delicious first spring buds,
And laid him down and covered him up,
Wrapped in a piece of tablecloth,
Our good old cat laid in the earth.

We quickly turned and went inside
The empty house and sat and cried
Softly in the dark some tears
For that familiar voice, that fur,
That soft weight missing from our laps,
That we had loved too well perhaps
And mourned from weakness of the heart,
A childish weakness, to regard
An animal whose life is brief
With such affection and such grief.

If this is foolish, so it be.
He was good company,
And we miss his gift
Of cat affection while he lived,
The sweet nature
Of that shy creature
Who gave the pleasure of himself;
The memory of our cat, Ralph.

Rest in peace, Zumba. You were a good cat. 3 comments

I finally got around to making a way to browse my webcam picture archives. I basically set up another blog on Blogger's servers and made a blog entry for each pic. The first few are just guesses on the date but I started putting dates on the pic so those were easier to pinpoint.

I've been wanting to do this for a long time, mostly for my benefit. Feel free to enjoy them or mock them or whatever, and feel free to comment on them as well.

Just click on the webcam pic to the right and you'll be on your way!

Labels: meta

5 comments