"There are starving kids in West Virginia."

Friday night I got home from work only to discover that my neighbor upstairs was throwing a Halloween party. Since she had told me that if I ever heard a party that I should feel free to come on up, I did. I arrived to discover an array of rums on display but not too many mixers. I returned with fresh mint, lime juice, and baker’s sugar. You know where this is going. Yep. Mojitos.

My head did not like me much on Saturday morning. And I had a hair appointment, or so I thought. It helps to check voicemail before leaving home. I was a few minutes from home when I heard my stylist's message. She was at the hospital because her son has an infection, possibly the new super-virus. (I know some of y’all are germophobes and do not need to hear this but for the rest of y’all, if you notice a suspicious looking cut or bump, get to the doctor’s quickly.) Normally I would have headed back home. But I needed food of certain type. But more about that later.

I was also in need of more dry cat food. So I chose to go to Pet Food Express because they were next to the restaurant from where I planned to get lunch. And now the explanation of the post title. I was talking to Marcia on the phone when I entered Pet Food Express. I began reading the names of the various flavors of canned food available. Her response? “You know there are starving children in West Virginia.” Uh huh.


New cat food flavors.

So I began “experimenting” on Boris and Natasha on Saturday night. Boris liked what Marcia dubbed as the “surf and turf” – chicken and lobster. Natasha took two or three bites and then walked away. On Sunday, I broke out the venison. Natasha sniffed and then left the kitchen. Boris sniffed and then gave me a questioning look. This happened several times. Finally I decided to change out the food on the plate. If Boris, who will normally eat just about anything that hits the plate, will not start eating something within a couple of minutes, it’s just not going to happen. I quickly replaced the venison with Tiki Cat’s ahi tuna on on rice with prawns. (The brand features wild-caught, human quality seafood. The prawns were little bay shrimp. Yes, they were recognizable in the food. And it indeed was all on a bed of rice.) Boris tore into it immediately. Natasha once more turned up her nose and walked off. Somehow she seems to prefer Friskies. I just don’t get it. Tonight tried out the organic turkey. Better response than the venison but not as enthusiastic as the other two. Duck tomorrow. The cool thing about Pet Food Express is that for every three cans you purchase, you get the fourth for free. And if I had bought more than one night's serving of these various flavors, I could return the ones that were not a hit. At least the new toys have been a hit; they haven't played with anything else since receiving the "mice."


Boris and Natasha checking out the new toys I picked up on Saturday.


Notice the white fluff around Boris. Yes, it is all over the carpet now. Silly me.

Enough about cats though. After the fun of shopping for cat food and , I headed across the parking lot to Everett and Jones -- except the location I go to is, of course, in Berkeley.


Two-way combo with links and ribs.


And Le Village beverages were on sale at Andronico's so I just had to try this one out.

While it was tasty, it was not quite satisfying. I realized on Sunday that what I had really wanted was a burger. I was trying to avoid the usual fast food spots so I headed over to Smokehouse. I haven’t been there since my aunt had her first surgery four years ago. (The hospital is nearby.) The main reason for choosing them over some of my other local burger choices is that they make a variety of shakes. I went with pineapple. I think that the next time I go there, I will try out the boysenberry.


Cheeseburger and fries.

My stomach and taste buds were quite happy. And I must remember to go back to Everett and Jones again soon. When my body really does want barbecue.

Eleven hours

B&N are slowly adjusting to the idea of my working once more. Last night Natasha howled at the front door. She's normally not very vocal. I am guessing that she was demonstrating what she did while I was gone during the day. Because Natasha now gets up every morning when I do. This from a creature who would sleep until 9 a.m. or later when I was home all day. And tonight I double-parked while waiting for parking. Boris was already stationed in the window. I assume he said something to Natasha because she joined him shortly. Once I got a space, they quickly disappeared from the window so that they could greet me at the door. I still find the whole thing kind of strange.

So. Eleven hours. That's how many hours of unviewed shows were sitting on my DVR when I got home from work tonight. That would be at 6 p.m. because thankfully my commute is only one hour each way. Trust me. One hour is good. Years ago I had a commute of an hour and a half -- and that was only if there weren't any accidents or other mishaps on the road. My favorite mishap to this day is when a sewage truck dumped raw sewage on the freeway. Ewwww! By then, I was well aware of my alternate routes and so it only took me two hours to get to work.

And speaking of work. Yes, I am working as a temp. I like where I'm working. And more importantly, they seem to like me as well. The agency explained to me that this job had the potential of becoming a regular (Never use the word "permanent." Permanent implies a contract. And California is an at-will state.) position. After three days, I want to say, "Yes," but I think that I should give it some more time so that I can be sure. Of course, I am sure that even after some more time, I will have the same feeling.

Yesterday my mother asked me how I was sure that they liked me. I was told on my first day that the other temp had to go because she was a bit too "abrasive" at times. Apparently my valley girl voice isn't because my boss then stated that he didn't see that happening with me because already I sounded much more pleasant. Yesterday I think I discovered the definition of abrasive. I speak with the assistant for the president of the company on a daily basis. Yesterday she made it clear that she did not like the last temp. From what I've heard the woman acted in a way that was rather contrary. Tell her one thing and be assured that she would do the exact opposite. But I knew that I had already won folks over when the assistant asked me why I was temping. I explained to her that I was temping while looking for a regular position. She then said, "We have open positions here, including the job that you are doing currently. The other open position is as my assistant. I'm going to retire in three to four years. At that time, my assistant would take over my job. Do you have a resume? You should give it to me so that I can set up a meeting for you with the president." So yeah, I think they like me.

I wouldn't want that position though. The group for whom I work are pretty chill. Yes, they work hard but all that they expect from me is that I do what is required in a timely manner. So what if there is occasional downtime? Right now I have been spending it understanding the work and processes better. And trying to create systems so that we can all work more efficiently.

And so now I'm feeling OK because when I left tonight, they all said, "See you on Monday."

I'm up and dressed

Well, not quite dressed yet but I will be soon. I'm just trying to prolong the PJ time. Yes, I am usually up at this hour. Today is different because I now have a temp job. Yep, back to work.

I keep wondering how the cats are going to cope in my absence. I mean have been home for four months now. I think they have gotten used to my daily presence at this point.

The worst part is that it's a job that involves driving to reach it. Across the bridge. Because it's in one of those locations that isn't accessible by public transit. Damn it.

Wish me luck.

A little habit

I watch a great deal of TV. I have tried to live in denial of the fact but I do. I think it started when I was in high school. This is when I started sleeping four to six hours a night. Under the right conditions, the TV could lull me back to sleep.

I watch a lot of the network stuff. But I have this one secret pleasure. Sometimes I like to watch the History Channel. I like the stuff about groups of people. It started with a history of the Klan. I tried to turn away but I couldn't. This morning I was thrilled to find a program on the Hippies that will be followed by one on the Hell's Angels. The coolest part of the show on the Hippies was the end in which they discussed the movement's continuing effects on our world today. This included an interview with a guy who thought that it was important to get computers in the hands of the people in order to empower them -- or something like that. And another cool guy who wanted to get information into the hands of the people, or at least that's how they put it on the show. (By the way, I still miss the Whole Earth Access store.)

Sometimes I think to myself, "What strange viewing choices." But I've always been fascinated by what makes people tick. Perhaps it is not a mistake that I share my birthday with Alfred Kinsey. Whatever the reason, it is a welcome change from being sucked in by those movies on Lifetime. You know the ones.

Pants on fire

Last week I told myself that it was time to start clearing the freezer as there was no room left in there. This was compounded by my mother's departure last week. I now understand why I have so many condiments. At least once a year, my mother leaves town and I get the contents of her fridge and freezer.

So it all started innocently. I was just going to get some avocados to go with the mahi-mahi I already had. (Oh, and m, couscous does go wonderfully with the fish.) And then a little voice told me that it would be OK to cruise past the seafood counter. Where there were shrimp on sale. So I just had to get some. But what to do with them? I wasn't quite in the mood for jambalaya. After a little searching, I came up with this.


Gingered shrimp with Asian noodles.

I'm not sure if I would go with the noodles again, but I loved the flavors of the shrimp. Also what you see on the platter is supposed to be two servings. Once more I must ask, "Who are these people?"