Miscellany of a Cheshire Cat

Wednesday… half way through the week! HURRAY!

This quilt caught my eye because it was quilted with metallic thread and the whole piece really worked. I love little vines like that and the flowers are beautifully done. The dragonflies or butterflies are lovely - not so cute as to detract from the fantasy feel of the quilt as a whole. Plus the detail-work on the dragonflies is just amazing. I’m apparently a sucker for tiny stitches, especially if I didn’t have to sew them myself!

This evening I spent about an hour taming one little corner of the garden. (And it wore me out!) 2 little shrubs and 1 big, flowering, tree-like thing are now more under control. I had meant to turn the beds as I want to add a little topsoil and plant my peppers and herbs out that way… however that didn’t quite work out. I got distracted by the big, flowering, tree-like thing - it always wants a lot of pruning and has tons of dead branch bits. Now it has significantly fewer dead bits and is less intrusive on the yard.

I also pulled the latest crop of ivy off the side of the house. I always feel slightly sinister pulling ivy off the house - I have pure hatred for the horrible vine that can do much damage to the stone walls. Okay, maybe I feel more than “slightly” sinister. It feels so odd to hate something so green and lively. But the ivy wants to consume my house so it must be stopped.

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll find some time to turn the beds and run out to pick up a couple bags of topsoil to cut the clay a bit. I wonder if this weekend is too soon to put the seedlings in the ground… I’ll have to ask my Dad about that. They’re still pretty short, except the chives - the chives are ready to take over the world I think.

I’m having a remarkably productive week at work so far too. Yes, I’m startled by this myself. I think the vacation was well timed. We have a lot of big status meetings to prep project managers for in the next month. It’ll be crazy. I wonder how long this fabulous focus and mental energy will last. Luckily, today Tennyson has stayed off my conference calls as well as my computers. He’s snoozing comfortably in his bed on the corner of my desk right now. Very cute, very non-hazardous in his current state!

And I just now noticed that the rainbow-maker is not on the window… I’ll have to see if it fell.

tags: chicago, gardening, international quilt show, quilts, yard work

That’s his style - all innocent yet relentless. Perhaps if he were smaller, lighter and easier to throw these midnight conversations would be shorter. However, there’s not much you can do to defend yourself when there’s a 17 pound cat pinning your blankets such that you can barely move.

More comics at: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

tags: cats, comics, monster cat, silly, tennyson

So far this morning, Mr. Tennyson has been in the way quite a bit. He “helped” me by being in the way at the beginning of a conference call. Trying to move him while juggling my phone resulted in spilling my coffee (TRAGIC) all over my to-do list (not so tragic though it ruined the pad of paper) and a card slyppi sent me (TRAGIC). Then, during the call, he decided to help again by leaning on the keyboard while I was running through a presentation. The status in the presentation is now “G6y6″ instead of “G”. *sigh*

Oh and he’s been incredibly vocal this week. He tries to participate in every conference call. It’s going to be a long week… and a longer week next week when I’m gone again. Poor kitty!

tags: coffee, damage report, meetings, tennyson

Apparently I’m all post-o-matic today.

I promised more quilt photos so… here we go. I had a series of “favorite” quilts as I went through the show. This quilt was one of my early favorites when I walked into the show. I love the different prints used and the lines… and the colors… and yeah. It’s a very striking quilt - traditional without being all country and flowery. There were some beautiful traditional and flowery quilts as well, but this one is far more to my taste. The sheer variety of the quilts on display was staggering.

Stamps going up: By the way, if you haven’t heard, the cost of a first class stamp is going up next week by 1¢ to 42¢. That means if you buy a Forever Stamp right now, it will gain value almost immediately. If only I didn’t love the variety of stamps out there… I’d buy a ton of Forever Stamps! But alas, I love putting different cartoons, flowers, cars and animals on my envelops depending on my mood.

tags: chicago, international quilt show, quilts

There are many fabulous and horrible things about rain.

Let’s focus on the fabulous things about rain manifesting today… primarily: Rain washes away the pollen.

My car is green at the moment, its proper color. Yesterday it was yellow. My eyes are not actually burning like I’m getting sick or I’ve just had a hard crying jag. I can breathe, through both nostrils, at the same time. Last week I discovered the joys of computerized pharmacy systems and got my Flonase refilled down in South Carolina. Last night I dug out my patenol (eye drops my eye doctor prescribed) because my eyes were stinging so much.

I’m on 3 allergy medications and yet still consider myself lucky that my allergies aren’t worse. Sure, they’re annoying and I hate them and firmly believe that if I moved back to New England they’d be much better… but I can breathe and sleep, mostly, if I time my doses right. Still, I fondly remember how well I slept before I started taking Zyrtec.

tags: allergies, pollen, rain

Yes, I’m running late with today’s Monster Cat. First day back from vacation is a bit busy. The day has been remarkably productive, especially considering how fuzzy and full of cobwebs my brain feels. Plus, Mr. Paw has been laying all over my desk, my keyboard, my notebook and my lap. Apparently he missed me. Aww….

More comics at: The Chronicles of Monster Cat

tags: cats, comics, monster cat, silly, tennyson

Vacation is over.

I am not awake though I’ve been up for almost 2 hours.

That is all.

tags: sleep, vacation

So, the day before we left on vacation I dumped about a half cup of water into my Kensington Trackball. After drying it out a bit, it still pointed but wouldn’t click. I unplugged it (which I really should have done immediately, but didn’t… yes, I know…), inverted it and left it that way for a week. Yesterday I was too tired to deal with the prospect of buying a new trackball so I didn’t check it to see if it worked. This morning, my annoyance with my mouse reached the point where it was time to determine if I needed to go shopping for a new one. I plugged it in and HURRAY! It’s working!!! Sometimes it’s the little things that make me happiest on gray Sundays.

Yes, isn’t it amazing when I take my own advice about fixing tech problems and it actually works? Of course, my keyboard is still sticking, but that’s from the coffee I spilled in it not the water.

And then there’s my cat. The mountain of gray cat has been in and out of my lap all morning, purring up a storm. I am wearing a gray shirt today specifically because I might as well embrace the fact that I’m going to be shed on. A lot. Don’t tell him I’m only home for a week because I’m traveling the first week of May for work. There are some things that are best left to the Monster Cat to discover for himself. Less guilt that way…

tags: cats, technology, tennyson, trackballs, travel, water

We are home. Now, I will indulge in the ramblings of a tired traveler.

I think I’m becoming too cranky about air travel. Insert the usual rant about TSA here… I’ll throw in some nice comments about the airport experience today for balance.

Today: I watched an older TSA agent assist an older passenger repack her carry-on bag and put all her toiletries in a zip-top bag, and he did this politely and respectfully. I had my computer backpack (without the computer in it of course) sent through the x-ray twice because apparently all the loose change I throw in one of the pockets was a problem along with the “tons of change and overlapping gadgets”. (Well, I throw the change in there because I have to go through a metal detector and my gadgets were actually quite well distributed throughout the bag, really!) The nice TSA x-ray operator was very gentle with my bag because she saw that I had a sand dollar packed in there carefully!

But does anyone really feel safer taking off their shoes?[1] I watched several less flexible people struggle with that step of security - both taking off their shoes and getting them back on again. TSA used the metal detector wands on another couple of people I suspect because they saw it would be faster and better for all involved to wand the passengers rather than have a nice little old lady take off her very light-weight zip sweater, shoes, medical alert bracelets, thick glasses and who knows what else. The TSA agent was still very thorough with the wands - in fact, much more thorough than I’ve seen them be in larger airports.

Of course, they also did a bag search because a man had a flashlight in the bottom of his bag… They knew it was a flashlight when they saw it on the x-ray yet still needed to search the bag. I guess what was clearly a flashlight on x-ray might have been something more sinister upon closer examination.

The anxiety of it all: I admit that I not only hate the unloading of laptops and stripping off of my coat, sweater and shoes, I also get anxious about it, especially in crowded airports. I am nervous about someone swiping one of my laptops while I’m trying to balance on one foot while slipping on a shoe. I worry that I’m going to drop something along the way. I probably frustrate a lot of people in line behind me because I need 4 bins and still have to put my bags on the belt too. I travel alone most of the time, so it’s just me looking out for my stuff! I have, in fact, left a computer at security by accident before - I was late for a flight and luckily guy behind me in line ran to catch up with me to return it to me. I have been nearly pushed over while trying to put a slip-on shoe back on.

And I am one of those people who has to at least partially repack right there on the belt after the x-ray machine. I simply do not have enough arms to hold everything that they make me pull out of my bags for the x-ray machine. That’s why I carry all that stuff in bags![2]

Okay, the Security dance is something that makes me anxious - and I’m a business traveler who flies regularly, knows the drill, is in good health and has no particularly impeding conditions other than too many electronics which I’d never put in my checked luggage anyway.[3]

What if… Today I tried to imagine doing all that with a frail body and all the other accessories that come with being age 75. Granted, I doubt there are many 75 year olds flying with 2 laptops, but it’s still daunting to think of the increased difficulty and obstacles involved. I’ll probably have serious back problems and possibly knee problems by then. My hands will be weak from arthritis. Would my liquid medication all fit in the silly zip-top bag? Will my feet swell making it difficult to get in and out of my specially-fitted orthopedic shoes? If the metal detector is more sensitive than usual will I even be able to get my rings off my fingers for the first time in ages or did my knuckles swell up too? Hopefully I won’t slip walking around in my stocking feet.

TSA agents: The TSA agents I interacted with today were respectful, kind and considerate - they were also located at a small airport dealing a low volume of travelers in an affluent region. They are an exceptionally positive example of the TSA agents I’ve interacted with. More often than not the agents I see in larger airports (and most airports are larger than the one we flew out of today) are abrasive, disrespectful and, in some cases, inattentive to their actual duties. Apparently it’s fine to berate someone for not being able to move very quickly or very far because her cane is in the x-ray machine. It’s also an option to belittle and lecture people regularly for any little infraction.

All this to give foolish Americans a false sense of security. I sigh in the general direction of Washington, DC which apparently banks on the lowest-common-denominator when it comes to public security policy. I realize there is some necessity for inconvenience when it comes to air travel - I concede that taking my computers out of the backpack probably speeds up the x-ray examination - however so much of the effort is being expended in vain. We all might agree that making a determined domestic or international terrorist take off his shoes is not going to stop him.

TSA is becoming more responsive to the “market” I think - the solid state drives on the MacBook Air laptop threw them for a loop but now photos of what the SSDs look like have been distributed. The TSA agents have little blue lights and magnifying glasses now that help them authenticate IDs better and faster. 18 explosive-detecting canine units have been trained and more puppies are at bomb-school according to the latest TSA blog post. The super-scanner which uses millimeter waves to achieve whole-body imaging is popping up in more airports.

Balance: I’ve heard it called a balancing act between speed and security. Well we haven’t found a balance point yet - we’re not even at the point where policies are implemented consistently from airport to airport. I wouldn’t mind if it were effective security instead of silly hoops to jump through, even if those hoops were put up in response to a past terrorist threat. I could even deal with security taking a little longer. Even at Ben Gurion airport in Israel where security is considered to be among the best in the world[4] and check-in can take multiple hours, travelers leave their shoes on.

Notes:
[1]I know. I harp on this quite a bit. But remember Shoe-bomber Richer Reid couldn’t actually get his shoe-bomb lit in the air. That detail always makes me giggle.
[2]I love bags.
[3]Checking a bag just means I don’t need to pull out my zip-top Freedom Bag of tiny toiletries for all the world to see. I’m sure the man behind me in line was curious what brand of deodorant I use.
[4]By the way, some techniques employed by airport security in Israel are explicitly illegal in the U.S. (racial profiling for example). Security routinely takes multiple hours and passengers go through security, including x-ray for all luggage, before checking their bags.

tags: airport secuirty, airports, rants, travel, tsa

Penny Arcade today is awesome, at least it’s awesome according to the little Mario Kart addict in my head. Flying home tomorrow. My little DS is charging in the corner so that I can play Mario Kart all the way home. *giggle*

And that’s about all I have to say. I’m on vacation still. I believe this week offers evidence that while I may post more when I’m busy and slammed with work, the converse is also true: I do tend to post less when I’m lazing about doing very little productive.

tags: mario kart, penny arcade, travel, vacation