Sailor Soldier of Love and Justice

Thanksgiving was spent all day in bed. I slept nearly the whole day.

Friday was also spent mostly in bed. Ben forced me out to dinner in the evening even though I was loaded up on cold medicine. I had barely eaten that day, so I was surprisingly hungry. Then we walked off dinner in the mall, where the nyquil dizziness made straight lines difficult. At least it wasn't very crowded.

Today I felt much better. I wasn't at 100%, but I was functional again.

Because I lack any sense of moderation, I decided today would be make-up Thanksgiving. I spent the entire day cooking.
Recipe verdicts:
- Wild rice stuffed squash - Ok, but would have been better without the squash. The rice mixture smelled nice and tasted good though. Luckily I have plenty of rice leftovers.
- Quino skillet bread - Still on the fence about this. Taste-wise, it was good. It tasted like cornbread but had a much dense texture that I'm not sure I liked. Plus the center had a weird thick cream portion that freaks me out a little. I wouldn't recommend this for anyone with food texture issues.
- Vegetarian Stuffing - Bland and dry. Hopefully I can come up with creative ways to use this stuff up. Even halving the recipe, I ended up with a ton.
- Baked asparagus with balsamic butter sauce - This one is an old tried and true for me. Double the balsamic vinegar though, or the soy sauce overwhelms the dish. I'm doing my best to leave the leftovers for ben, but I don't think I'm going to be able to hold out.
- Apple galette - Somewhere between a fruit tart and a pie, galettes are awesome because they are so easy and tasty. This was the highlight of the dinner, I think. I did reduce the walnuts slightly, because I am not a huge walnut fan. But ben had two slices after saying he would only have a little bit because he was full. (And later came back for a third.)

I skipped both the salad and the mashed potatoes. I can always make them another night as we work on the leftovers.

After dinner, ben ran out for mead to go with his third slice of apple galette and evening of skyrim. I will probably go to bed soon. I don't want to push myself too hard and get sick again.

My first week of work was crazy.

When I arrived on saturday, everyone told me how happy they were to see me. Then they threw a giant pile of work at my head. :P

So apparently my predecessor left rather abruptly with a package in the works but very far behind. And no one else knew what to do with it because the woman DID NOT WRITE ANYTHING DOWN. They gave me that package to get out the door. We're still not there, but we are a lot closer than we were before and I have been writing stuff down to make the whole process easier as we get to the end.

Among the problems I've had:
- No contact info for the artist
- No status on draft or reviews of the art
- No indication if the copy was even final
- Specs for the art did not match original specs in the mail plan
- Mail plan didn't have ask build info (telling me how much money we should ask for from donors)
- Data strategy included 3 times more online activists than real donors (online activists are the suckiest type of prospects. you want to only have a few in the mix if you want any at all)

Despite absolutely no orientation training beyond "this is how you log into your computer" I have managed to keep this disaster floating at least. I hope at some point I will be given some training.

Aside from that crazy situation, the place seems nice. They threw a big welcome lunch for me the first day. And everyone has been very helpful when I come panicking to them because something else in that horrible nightmare project has exploded.

I share an office with a woman fresh out of college. She doesn't know anything about marketing at all so they have had to train her every day on everything. I didn't require that sort of training, so I was told by multiple people on Friday that I was "a rockstar" for being able to jump into the project and hit the ground running.

My clients are African Wildlife Federation, Food and Water Watch, and Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. It's a good mix, I think. I was afraid of getting clients with goals I didn't agree with, but these are all pretty good. (I'd be happier if that last one wasn't religious, but you can't win all battles.)

The workload is a little stressful right now (I had to work late on the first day!) but hopefully once I get more stuff written down, the madness will abate. I can't believe the previous woman never wrote anything down. How did she get anything done?

Anyway, other than that, life goes on as usual. I took Noname to the vet today. She developed a rash. I thought it might be the same rash Maggie had a little while ago, but it didn't respond to the medicine I had leftover from Maggie's treatment (just a solution to wash the region) so I made an appointment to get it checked out.

The vet said it probably started like Maggie's rash, but because Noname was licking it all the time, she introduced even worse bacteria that for some reason was resistant to the old medicine. So now she has a bottle of antibiotics and a bottle of antihistamines. Between the two, the rash should clear up and Noname should stop licking it. However, they didn't have any medicine around the office small enough for my dog! So I have to break up tiny capsules and roll them in cheese or something similar to deliver the medication. The vet even had me do a practice run in the office to make sure I could do it correctly.

After that adventure, I returned home to help stain the deck. During the summer, we only applied one coat before the heat wave hit and we couldn't work outside at all. Then came the rain that didn't stop for a month. The single coat didn't hold up well to that abuse at all. So now we have to completely start over. Ben worked on the floor while I did the tiny stupid details on the railings. I didn't finish, but the railings were in much better condition than the floor. Ben is going to apply a second coat tomorrow. I will probably work on the railings as I have time in the coming weeks.

Free food was successfully achieved last night. And it was all tasty.

I got a little lost on the way to the event, which was mildly embarrassing. I wish I had a sense of direction. But I still made it to the cocktail hour so it was ok. I think that's called fashionably late.

The crowd was super fancy. I dined with world leaders and famous celebrities. Some of the people there included Jeff Corwin, Neko Case, Ed Asner, Madeleine Albright, and numerous house reps and senators. (All the congressmen has to leave early to do some congress work.)

Surprisingly, I had a good time. The food was good. I was sitting with people I knew. And most of the speeches were pretty funny.

After the dinner, Ben was sweet and picked me up at the metro station so I wouldn't have to wait in the dark for a bus. He is the best.

I am home today to get ready for vacation. I need to clean, do laundry, and pack. I'm a little nervous because rain is predicted for our entire trip, but I am sure I will still have fun. I won't be at work. :D

Had a doctor's appointment this morning. Just a regular check up so that the doctors will renew my prescription. I hate that. I think if a person is reasonably healthy and has good healthy habits, they shouldn't have to go in every year.

Anyway, I had a nice surprise. There was a change in my insurance and now well visits are free. Woo! That was especially good because I forgot to bring cash or my checkbook and my doctor doesn't accept cards. And it makes the forced annual visits more palatable.

The nurse was a little weird though. She thanked me for being healthy and not difficult. I guess she had had a tough morning with unhealthy, crazy people. They did the usual quick tests and then I was out the door. There really was no reason for me to be there except for them to bill the insurance company for the stupid useless visit.

After that, I walked down to the bus station and began my trip into the city. On the train, I lucked out and got a car with a totally insane guy. First he took off his shoes and tried to take a nap on the chairs. When that didn't work, he alternated between laughing and wailing for the rest of the ride. Occasionally he would stand up like a prairie dog searching for danger. But after a moment or two, he'd sit back down and go back to laughing/wailing. I was really glad when I got to my stop.

I'm a little annoyed though because I learned as soon as I got in that we can leave at 2:30 today. I wish I had known sooner! I wouldn't have bothered to come in at all. It took me 2 hours to get here. What a waste.

I can't leave early anyway because I rely on ben to pick me up from the bus stop. So I have to wait until he gets out of work.

I think I might do some shopping or go to a museum to kill time. Museums might be crowded though. Shopping might be the best option. Maggie keeps destroying my clothes and I have been afraid of buying new stuff thanks to the butt stabber on the loose.

Yesterday Ben and I went to Baltimore Comic-Con withe Rob and Dani. We had never been to a comic book convention before. It was an adventure!

It was very very crowded. I didn't expect there to be so many people! Luckily it wasn't so crowded that we couldn't do the things we wanted to do. Ben and I went to a panel on marvel comics. Then we bought stuff! Ben got 2 tpb for $5 each. Good deal! And the Rescue one shot for one $1. I found the person that made this picture so I got it in poster form. I'm going to proudly hang it in my house. Ben says I have an unhealthy fascination with propaganda.

After the convention we went out for indian food, which is the perfect sort of place to go when you have a mix of omnivores and vegetarians. Everyone was able to get something tasty. :D

Then we headed home because ben had to work that night. Poo. He left around 11 and didn't come back until 4am. Then he slept really late today.

I was productive this morning and mowed the backyard. I even trimmed the edges. Even though it was early, it was VERY hot because it was so humid. I had sweat dripping down into my eyes. Very gross. Halfway through, I had to go inside and take off my shirt and pants and lay down on the floor until I cooled down enough to move again. I thought I would pass out from overheating.

When I finally finished I took a badly needed shower and then ben and I went out to run errands. First we needed food so we got lunch at a build your own burger place. The original plan was salad but the salad place was closed! Madness!

While we ate, it started to pour so we were happy that we were inside and dry. My burger was tasty. I assume ben's was too because he ate the whole thing.

Then we went to the hardware store so I could get some fungicide. Now that I have a real garden, I am slowly learning about every single type of pest and disease that could possibly hit a crop. First I had the vine borers that killed my zucchini. Now I have some sort of mildew on my cucumbers. I can't tell if it's feathery or downy, so I got a fungicide that kills both. It also kills all aquatic life, so I want to use it sparingly.

After that, we stopped at the pet store and the food store because my husband and dogs keep eating. So now we are restocked on food for them.

Now we are back home. The husband and dogs are all sleeping. It's just me and the bird! How lonely! I guess I should get some chores done around the house. Poo...

Saturday was Maggie's 12 week trip to the vet. She didn't like the car ride. She kept trying to squeeze to the front seats, getting herself stuck between the chair and the door. Poor puppy. But she was super excited when she got to the vet. As soon as she saw the woman at the desk, she exploded with excitement. I can't believe Maggie was able to remember her after two weeks! She jumped out of my arms, ran across the desk, and leaped into the arms of the woman at the desk to furiously lick her face. It was unbelievable cute.

Once she calmed down a bit, we were taken to the examination room. Maggie gained about 2.5 lbs since last time. She's getting so big! And then she was given another booster shot. She didn't cry this time. She's such a good girl.

After that, Maggie was a little tired so I let her sleep in the front seat. I brought her inside and she slept the rest of the afternoon.

Sunday was the night we had ticked to see Wicked. It was an extremely good evening. I got dressed up and everything. We had no trouble finding parking at the metro and we only had to wait about 5-10 minutes for a train.

We had an early dinner at Tonic, which was very tasty. I had an heirloom tomato salad and stole some of ben's tater tots. The restaurant was also a short walk away from the shuttle to the theater, so it was really perfect.

The shuttle was waiting for us after we finished dinner. It was a nice short ride. Everyone else was also there for Wicked and were also very excited. We arrived at the Kennedy Center just as the doors were about to open. Very good timing.

I thought our seats were perfect until an extremely tall woman sat in front of me. Tall people should be forced to slouch in theaters.

The show itself was very good. The first act was fairly similar to the first half of the book. A few changes to simplify the plot. They made Elphaba a bit more innocent and Galinda a bit less intelligent. I thought the actress for Elphaba was very very good. She made my inner teenage nerd cry out for her. If I had seen this show in grade school, I would have OBSESSED over it. Galinda was the understudy. I thought she did a good job of being ditsy.

My only major complaint is that act 1 ended so epically that act 2 felt weak and lost. Defying Gravity was just incredibly emotionally climatic. How could anything compare with that?

Act 2 is nothing like the book at all. Nearly everything was changed. I'm ok with that though because it had a happy ending! I hated the sad ending in the book. I like believing that Elphaba lived happily ever after.

One other small thing I noticed and really liked was the glasses at the emerald city. Most people forget that in the original Wonderful Wizard of Oz, all visitors were required to wear sunglasses in the emerald city supposedly to protect their eyes from all the glitter and glimmer, but in actuality to make the city LOOK green. Since the wizard was a humbug, he couldn't actually build an emerald city. So when Elphaba had the glasses on and was saying how wonderful it was that no one was looking at her oddly, I had a little giggle to myself.

It really was a very good evening. Good company, good dinner, and a good show. I went to sleep very happy that evening.

Too bad it's Monday now. Work always gets in the way of my fun!

The puppy is slowly getting smarter! Yay! She doesn't have accidents nearly as often. And isn't nearly as bitey. Though she does still pee and bite and awful lot....

Oh! And last night I told her it was bed time and she went into her cage without any trouble at all! I was so proud of her!

Noname is slowly warming up to her too. Last night, they cuddled in the same bed for nearly two minutes! It was awesome.

Speaking of awesome, Ben knew I have been pretty stressed out lately, so he helped me make dinner last night. Then we watched a movie together. Although he hates old movies, he watched the 1959 version of Journey to the Center of the Earth. I have extremely fond memories of it as a child. It was as good as I remembered. Plus, it has a duck!


Also, yesterday I bought TMBG's newest album: Join Us. I think the best song on it is Can't Keep Johnny Down.

For the record, Maggie is not a fan of me taking pictures of her all day. She'd much rather I put the camera down and play with her.



But I still managed to get a couple of cute shots.

Yesterday was a cleaning day for the most part. I got up early and started making the house ready for the puppy.

Then I took a break to go to the farmers market. The person selling strawberries and cherries was brilliant. She sliced up a bunch of fruit and let the wind take their smell all the way across the market. By the time I got to her booth, I HAD TO HAVE a box of cherries. They were as good as they smelled!

I also picked up cucumbers, which I brought home and turned into pickles. They will be tasty on burgers next weekend.

After that, ben and I finally finished applying the first coat of seal to the deck. We'll work on the second coat after the 4th of july. One coat is good enough for now. It was so hot, the stuff was drying almost instantly. It was a bit hard to work with.

We were starving after all that work, so we went out for fast food burritos. It was energy food! I felt much better after that.

When we got home, ben mowed the lawn and I continued my war with the weeds growing in our front garden. Some of the weeds are practically trees. Slowly I am cutting them all down and reclaiming the garden as my own.

I took a short nap after that. Then got up and did some more cleaning. Aside from a few heavy boxes I need ben to carry, I think the house has been fairly puppy proofed. Yay!

And then I took a couple minutes to give noname a bath because she was rolling in something awful smelling in the yard. She gets so adorably super hyper after a bath. She was running all over the house, flipping over and wiggling on every patch of carpet.

And then the day was over! Just like that! It went far too fast. I miss the weekend already.