Bye bye cat… again…

Well, we finally convinced the rescue organization from whence she came to find a foster home for our cat Mischief. She moved out on Tuesday, and it’s been amazing the calm I’ve felt since she left.

I recognize that I can be a bit of a control freak about my home environment. Once I set foot in the outside world, I am pretty content to go with the flow and it doesn’t bother me that much of my life, from traffic to how many work hours I’ll get this week, is not under my control. But, at home, well… that’s another story.

I am not by any means a clean freak. It is common to find a bit of hay scattered around the house and shelves that are not dusted as regularly as perhaps they should be. But I am a little obsessed with the idea of having everything in its place. We have a lot of clutter, but it’s neatly stacked and I always know where everything is.

One of the wonderful things about rabbits is that they’re controllable. They live in their cages anytime they’re not under direct supervision, preventing destruction of property while I’m away at work and allowing me to contain them so I can get things done around the house. The cat liked to knock things off of our desk and shelves and had loads of fun clawing the blinds, Steve’s desk chair and our bedspread. There was nothing I could do to stop her from destroying things while I was away at work. She disrupted the order of things, which drove me nuts.

I think it’s best for all involved that she’s gone. I’m sure anyone who fosters cats is a “cat person” and will be much more sympathetic to her tendencies than I am, so I’m sure she’ll be happier. And, the order in our home restored, I am feeling much more relaxed already.

We actually left the house!

Last Friday night, Steve and I went to see Joel McHale at the Flint Center in Cupertino (for those of you who don’t know Northern California, it falls in the generic realm of “Bay Area”). Joel McHale is a stand-up comedian who hosts a show on the E! network called “The Soup.” The show basically pokes fun at pop culture. Primarily is mocks other TV shows, but it strays into celebrity news as well. It’s a good way to know what the kids these days are watching without having to actually watch any of it.

The show was a lot of fun. Steve and I were certainly in the nosebleed section… the very last (top) row of the highest balcony. But, hey, we were there to hear the man talk. We already know what he looks like.

His comedy style was a perfect match for both of us, especially Steve, since he relishes in saying things that make people uncomfortable. I won’t give an example, since I’m sure most of the readers of this blog don’t have quite the same sense of humor that we do, but it was quite crass and hilarious.

We had a wonderful time. Even getting there was easy because I accidentally ended up in the wrong lane coming in toward the Flint Center (which is on a college campus) and wound up following some students to a deserted parking lot with easy access to the center without waiting in line for half an hour to get into the overflowing parking structure.

It was great first comedy show for us. We have always enjoyed watching stand-up on Comedy Central, and after that positive experience, we will definitely go out and do it again.

The Beard Debate

Okay, so I’m opening this up for people to voice an opinion if they have one, but be warned that I’m likely going to exercise my wifely right to override any commentary and tell him to do what I want him to do.

Steve with Beard:

Steve without Beard:

It begins…

Well, since it’s December, it’s time for the Christmas decorations to go up. Steve and I have nowhere to put a tree or anything of that sort, so I did what I could to make things look festive.

Some ornaments on the curtain rod:

A Santa hat for a penguin:

Some tiny ornaments for this cool wire tree Steve got me:

CostCo wreath:

I was feeling pretty good about things until I went outside. This is the house across the street:

Overachievers.

The Marriage Business

Today, the local central coast television station KSBW aired their weekly editorial. It took my breath away. Not for brilliance, eloquence or anything like that. But because it was so refreshingly logical and agreed so closely with ideas I had been discussing with Steve in the time since Prop 8 passed.

I encourage those with the time (it’s short, I promise) to take a look at it: http://www.ksbw.com/asseenon/17982623/detail.html

Marriage seems to be a word loaded with religious connotations, though it is clearly not a religious union in the eyes of the government since atheists can easily get married. Maybe the solution is to take the word out of it. Let the religious keep the word “marriage” for themselves, and let consenting adults who want to form families have their rights.

That Darn Cat

The saga never ends. Our cat Mischief was given to a Santa Cruz local and I thought that would be the end of it. But the stupid feline refused, despite several months of attempted conditioning, to get along with the person’s other cats. So, she’s back at our house.

When I got the cat, I obviously didn’t know a couple things. First, three out of our six rabbits are terrified of cats. Second, I hate cats. I didn’t know the second thing because I didn’t grow up with cats. I seriously underestimated the annoyance factor. She meows quite a bit and gets her hair everywhere. I like rabbits; you can put them in cages and walk away when they’re annoying you. I am most definitely not a cat person.

In our old garage rental, we were able to separate the rabbits and the cat using a tall precision pen and draping sheets to block the cat from staring at them. In the new place, we have had to confine her to the bedroom to keep her away from the rabbits, which is doing horrible things for Steve’s allergies. Apparently, in the old garage, the allergens were more spread out and not as heavily concentrated near the bed, or something.

Anyway, so I get to spend the foreseeable future trying to find her a new home. She’s posted on a rescue website (http://www.animalfriendsrescue.org/) and http://www.petfinder.org/ and I’m going to put some fliers up at the local pet food stores. I will also try to take her to some local adoption fairs, but she’s so timid in the face of chaos, I have no idea how that’ll work. Sadly, the rescue can’t put her in their cat adoption centers because she can’t be caged. Of all things, she’s claustrophobic. She actually foams at the mouth and freaks out when put in a cage or carrier.

I suppose life really is a serious of lessons you learn the hard way. I get to spend however long it takes being involved in all things cat to pound in the lesson: I don’t like cats!

Halloween 2008

Steve and I didn’t do anything for Halloween. Downtown Santa Cruz is known as a popular place to go and is usually jammed with people, so I naturally elect not to go there. Also, it was raining pretty hard.

A few days before Halloween, however, we attended a “craft party” with the grad students Steve works with. We made hot dog mummies, pumpkin bread, cider and apple pie apples. Apple pie apples are caramel apples dipped in white chocolate and covered in cinnamon sugar. They are pretty difficult to eat off of the stick, so Steve cut them up for everybody.

We did some pumpkin carving, spurred on by one of the grad student’s desire to win an Obama pumpkin carving contest. The results were pretty good, I thought.

My pumpkin is a little goblin-looking thing on the bottom right eating a letter “W.” It’s a very political goblin. Or has a thing against latter-alphabet consonants.

Apocalyptica

Steve and I went with a group of friends to an Apocalyptica concert several years ago and just loved it. So, when we heard they were touring in the bay area again, Steve and I decided to go last Monday.

The club this time was probably twice the size of the previous one. And there was an amusing demographic shift in the audience. At the first show we attended, we were some of the youngest people there. Apocalyptica had a fairly impressive following among late 20-somethings up through middle age folks. At this show, we were some of the oldest people there. Much of the group appeared to be high school or college kids. As the band has become more well known, their appeal seems to have expanded to the younger set.

Steve and I enjoyed the first concert more, but we did have a great time at this one. The younger crowd was a little more rowdy than we liked and the band played less of their classic Metallica covers and more of their original music, which while good, was not as much fun as shouting Metallica lyrics along while they play. Also, during the few covers that they did play, much of the crowd got the words wrong! Kids these days.

The Living Desert

Steve and I spent the end of last week in Palm Springs. We had some great food, enjoyed the game room and pool at the time share, and went to The Living Desert.

When I went to The Living Desert as a kid, I remember it being a lot of fun to see all the native animals and plants, and I was excited to share it with Steve. But a lot has changed since I was a kid. In the past decade or so, they have managed to bring Africa to the California desert.

We took at least 80 pictures, but I’ll just post the best here.

Barrel Cactus Garden

Black-Crowned Night Heron (I just thought it was really beautiful)

Steve gets a hug from a Cactus

East African Crowned Crane

Fluffy Flowers (we don’t know what they were, but they look nice)

Leopard

We hang in the Cactus Garden

I hang with a Warthog (the real one is in the background)

An Ostrich Poses

Poison Dart Frog

Baby Giraffe

Roadrunner on top of Shade Umbrella

Steve with African Ocotillo in the Madagascar Garden

Sushi!

Well, sort of. I was trying to think of something to do with the tempura shrimp languishing in our freezer. Then I remembered the wonderful Corvallis rolls we had at a sushi place in Oregon. So, in a strangely ambitious move for me, I went out and bought some seaweed wrap and cucumber.


The resulting rolls contained tempura shrimp, cucumber, white rice and cream cheese. I was really nervous serving them to Steve, but he insisted that they were great. Of course, that may just have been to try and build my confidence in food preparation in the hope that I might occasionally prepare dinner… but I’ll just assume that it was actually tasty.

When Steve gets a new toy…

… it inevitably leads to big mess.

Steve’s receiver, well… melted or something and was no longer functional. Though he would have loved to replace the entire system and get the newest and greatest, he showed restraint and just purchased a new receiver similar to the old one. Now, the trick is to install it.

Steve notes the predicament he’s in.

I’m sure these all go… somewhere…

Beware of trees…

… and helping in-laws with household chores.

While chopping up a large branch last Sunday which had fallen on to Ed & Tiff’s roof, the thickest part of the branch jumped up after being stepped on and smacked me just below and beside my knee. It hurt a lot at the time, but I was unprepared for the aftermath.

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Today:

Yes, I know it’s gross, but it was just so darned impressive, I couldn’t resist posting it. I apologize to anyone who was reading this shortly before or after eating.

Ballotpedia

As Steve is planning to vote for the first time in this election, and I will most likely vote also, we have been discussing the ads we see on TV. Well… “discussing” is a nice word. I tend to yell at the TV a lot. I know that it does no good, but it’s kinda therapeutic.

Anyway…

I wanted to look up some information regarding Prop 4 and found ballotpedia.org. It lists ballot propositions from 1912 through the upcoming November election. I found it to have a pleasant synopsis that seemed fairly unbiased. It gives an explanation of what the proposition will do if passed, arguments for and against as well as donors who have contributed to either side.

Of interest to my LDS readership, under Prop 8 Donors it notes that $6.4 million has been donated to the yes on 8 campaign by individual Mormons. I’m not going to comment on that other than to say that I hope we find that money to be profoundly wasted once the ballots are counted. Sadly, I am not optimistic, but I can always hope.

Personally, I resent laws that try to tell me how to live my life on matters which do not impact other people’s lives. I have heard no argument put forth that convinced me that a girl getting an abortion without notifying her parents or a gay couple marrying has any impact on me whatsoever. It seems extremely arrogant for anyone to think that they know what’s best for another person. And to legislate values… wow… I can’t think of a better word than arrogant.

What a Weekend!

Steve and I have been keeping busy. We went down to Southern California this past weekend to visit with my grandparents, see my brother’s new apartment and attend Kristi’s wedding.

My brother has started his new job in Oxnard and got an awesome apartment right near the harbor and, more importantly, the local fish-n-chips place. He’s working for a naval contractor doing materials testing.

Here we are in his apartment this weekend:

From Oxnard, we drove to Santa Barbara to the gorgeous Four Seasons Biltmore hotel for Kristi’s wedding. The weather was just perfect, warm and sunny with a nice breeze. The hotel is right at the beach. It was just beautiful. They performed the ceremony in one of the hotel’s gardens and then we had a fabulous meal in a great little dining room.

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: she looked just gorgeous.

We were pretty exhausted when we got in after midnight on Sunday night, but it was worth it. We had a great time.

The VMA’s…

… a.k.a. the “Video Music Awards” on MTV are something that I couldn’t possibly care less about if I tried. As comedian Lewis Black put it “MTV is to music as KFC is to chicken.” In case you’re a KFC fan and are confused, it was meant as an insult… that both have taken something great (music and chicken, respectively) and created the most junky unhealthy version of it possible.

But a derogatory comment by the host of the VMA’s about promise rings got talked about to the point of absurdity on the news circuit. For those of you who don’t know, promise rings are given out by Christian groups and proponents of abstinence-only education. By wearing it, the person is promising to save sex for marriage.

I am a big proponent of self-determination, living your life as you see fit (without infringing on the rights of others to do the same, of course). So I certainly don’t look down on those who save sex for marriage or those who choose not to. It’s a personal choice. So after all of the vapid coverage of the issue, I was pleased to read an opinion piece on MSN music that really encapsulated my thoughts. For those of you with time to kill: http://music.msn.com/music/opinion/in-defense-of-losing-your-virginity/?GT1=BUZZ1

Like so many things in this world, it seems that the polarized in opinion get the most attention. I would like to think that most people are somewhere in the middle of abstinence-only and free-condoms-at-every-child’s-desk. I mean, what’s wrong with teaching that abstinence is the only way to be 100% sure that you don’t contract an STD or get pregnant, but also how to protect yourself as best as possible if you do happen to engage in sexual activity? Seems logical to me. I can’t imagine that any parent would want a child who made a foolish decision one night to pay for it for the rest of their lives with disease or an unwanted child.

Bunnies Everywhere

Sometimes as I’m sitting on my couch relaxing I have a moment of clarity where I realize what a strange life Steve and I lead. Do we really have 6 rabbits in our living room… and often on our couch?

Beach Train

My parents were in town this past weekend to visit our new place and spend a little time in Santa Cruz. After all, if all goes well, we won’t be living here next summer.

When Steve’s parents were in town, they went on the beach train during the week and we weren’t able to go with them, so we were excited to check one more thing off of our “we should really do this at least once since we live here” list.

I really enjoyed the train. It starts in the town of Felton in the Santa Cruz Mountains and takes about 45 minutes or so to trek through the mountains down to the beach boardwalk. Trains are a very relaxing way to enjoy the scenery and a welcome change from driving everywhere we go.

Not all of the train trip is scenic, however. At one point it passes through an industrial area best known as the location of the Santa Cruz CostCo. That was the natural place to get a shot of us, since we seem to be there all the time.

When the train stopped at the boardwalk, we wandered around a bit, had a snack and went on the carousel… yet another thing on my to-do list that we had never gotten around to.

What on earth do you do with peppers?

‘Tis the season for peppers in our veggie boxes. We have received a variety of peppers of varying sizes and colors and have been at a loss of what to do with them. If a recipe requires more than 3 ingredients and maybe 5 minutes prep time max, I’m not interested. Steve does what he can, but he’s not that into cooking either.

So, we’ve done pepper pizzas twice…

… and stuffed peppers once.

We got more peppers this week (we haven’t finished the ones from last week!) that we have to find something to do with that requires little to no effort. I don’t even like peppers that much, but I suppose they’re probably good for me. They are green, after all.

Buster

Due to popular demand (okay, just from my parents, but whatever), more rabbit pictures:

Buster is the rabbit we got as a baby. He is five now and is quite the attention hog. While watching the Olympics last night, he decided that he wanted attention and would nip me if I tried to stop petting him. What a bratty little rabbit I’ve raised… hopefully that doesn’t say anything about my potential future parenting skills. Maybe I should stick to rabbits.

Eight years ago…

… there was a horrible movie released called “Bless the Child.” It was bad. It was really really bad. But Steve and I went anyway, on our first date. August 13, 2000.

This is the first picture that I’m aware of that was ever taken of us as a couple. It was taken at our friend Melissa’s 18th birthday party the following month.

And here we are now.

I suppose as time passes, maybe these milestones will seem less exciting. Maybe we’re a little silly for celebrating our first date. But it’s fun anyway.

Fundamental Rights

With the upcoming medical challenges Carolyn is going to be facing, I have been thinking about health care a lot lately (for those who don’t know, Steve’s mother Carolyn has been diagnosed with stomach cancer – you can see updates on Steve’s father’s blog at too-old-to-know-better.blogspot.com). Arriving home early from work, I caught the end of an Oprah show today about health care in America, primarily talking about Michael Moore’s movie “Sicko.”

A question posed by the movie and show that I find to be an interesting intellectual exercise is: what are our fundamental rights as human beings? Where is the line between basic right and luxury privilege? Our society has determined many things to be basic rights beyond that which is covered in the Bill of Rights. We have determined that people deserve firefighters, police, education through high school and the like regardless of their economic status. The government provides these things. Of course you can argue that the quality of these services vary widely and may correlate with the wealth of the surrounding area, but I’m looking at an overview of ideals here.

It seems that, as the preamble to the U.S. Constitution indicates, that we should be interested in promoting the general welfare of our people. It’s extremely scary to think that if any of us became seriously ill and were not insured or under-insured that we could end up drowning in debt. I heard a statistic that half of bankruptcy filings are due to medical bills. That’s a frightening thought. That all you worked for could be taken away by a freak disease or injury.

A Canadian they spoke to on the Oprah show said that their system is not perfect by any stretch, but since she married an American and moved to the U.S. she feels a general sense of unease, a fear that if something happened that her American insurance doesn’t completely cover that she would be in a dire situation. At least in Canada, she said, she knows that if something happened to her, she’d be covered.

Somebody’s Getting Married!

No, it’s not me… been there, done that. My friend Kristi, who I’ve known since we were in 1st grade is getting married in September. I attended her bridal shower this past weekend. It was a lovely party, with great food and drinks. It was quite enjoyable to visit with friends of Kristi’s, some who I had known in school but hadn’t seen in years.

Congratulations, Kristi, and I hope the next twenty years of friendship bring even more wonderful events for both of us than the first.