Life, she has gotten better since 5PM...

What a day!

I'll put this in Cliff's Notes.

Problem with database access being open to the world. Problem fixed. Students ticked off. Royally. I send email to notify students. Email server gets special and sends this email to students 50 times (not exaggerating). I get "mailbox not delivered, full" over 7,000 times in my email. That's right, people. SEVEN THOUSAND TIMES. I have to respond to the over 20 emails and phone calls this morning dealing with this database problem as well as the email server problem. Student hangs up the telephone on me.

Go out for drinks with Jules at Rock Bottom in Yorktown. We drink and plot and scheme. Day gets magnificently better. (Also the warm pretzel, Pomtini and fried calamari did help.)

Will have to fill you in about the interviewing schedule tomorrow. Life is crazy and so is my husband. Crazy in LOVE that is. *teehee*

*hearts* <3

All hearts now. Good night.

When is the last time you asked yourself,

"Self, when is Bootsy going to put out a Christmas album?"

Well ask no more, my pretties.



Tear the roof off the mutha, sucka.

Hooray for Christmas!

I'm so excited this time of year. I think it is more of the Christmas lights and anticipation of everyone's happiness.

Christmas cards are going out soon. That is also exciting.

Work is kicking my butt, but it's okay. We'll hopefully hire my boss soon.

Going Christmas shopping tomorrow night at Oak Brook.

Had a ham and cheese sandwich for dinner. It was sooooo delicious. Medium chedda and delicious Krakus ham. So.not.Kosher. So.delicious.

Thoughts???

Beep Beep, Your Ass!

Two reasons I need to post this: one, I remember my mom having a t-shirt that stated the title with the Roadrunner from the Looney Toons characters on it. Secondly, the stupid smoke alarm has gone off twice in the past 20 hours and it's all been from my cooking capabilities (or incapabilities).


Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... off to bed now...

Wedding Song by Naguib Mahfouz

Naguib Mahfouz is a favorite author of mine. His Arabic tails base themselves on real living in Egypt. Sadly, this nobel prize laureate has recently passed away on August 30, 2006. But his words live on.

Wedding Song is a wonderfully quick read, but designed with characters described so that you could imagine meeting them on the street. The story is broken up into four sections. Each section is told by a different character of the story, from his/her perspective. The setting is Egypt, at an actor's theatre. What is interesting is how a person's point of view changes the reader's perception. The wedding song is about the son of two actors of the theatre marrying an older actress of the theatre and the lives that are affected because of it. (An Arabic man marrying an older woman is considered a huge faux pas.) Masterfully crafted, this story is sad, to be sure, and not a typical 'wedding song' one recently married would recommend as a 'pick-me-up'. But Mahfouz's stories are hardly any one should pass up.

Whine and Wine

So, I'm back from AZ and have been trying to figure out what my major malfunction is. Physically, I have sinus headaches. But I am crying for no apparent reason. Everything is making me sad. And no, I'm not pregnant.

My husband, who graciously agreed to stay home with my broken self today and listen to my sobbing and talking, has diagnosed what ails me: work. He pointed out how I am doing two people's jobs right now and how it's wearing me out. My freetime is spent thinking over things at work. My dreams are work-related. I have stress in my neck, shoulders and back.

(The muscle stress could be from raking leaves this weekend. We got the yard done in about 4 hours! Good job, honey.)

Anyways, I need a vacation and badly. And I need to stop doing two people's jobs.

Thank you for letting me rant. I had a glass of wine as 'dessert'. It was delicious. I bought the mini bottles of riesling, so I can enjoy one glass at a time.

Now I know how the moon feels...

On my plane ride back to IL, I had a window seat. It was really nice because my side of the plane had the sunshine. But what I found, once we were up in the atmosphere, is that the 'sunny side of my body' (head, right arm, etc,) was all warm, but my backside, feet, etc. never saw the sun.

Now I know how the moon feels...

Arizona, Arizona

Here I am, in sunny AZ!

I sat by the most interesting man. He used to be a wedding singer! He guessed my age at 24 (I think he was being nice.) We chatted only at the end, since we were sleeping in-between beverage service rounds.

Anyway, I'm tired and have to finish the day here. Tomorrow is going to be interesting...

Nauseous super naus...

I have the Mr. Grinch song stuck in my head, hence the title.

So, I think I'm getting ahead of everyone by grocery shopping at Jewel at 9AM this morning. Worked out pretty well. Got tons of groceries, got home, put them all in the cupboards in less than an hour and a half. Then I start making the lasagna. Now I was just putting it together for later, mind you. Well, Mr.Nosey comes downstairs and 'inspects' my browning of the meat. Lo and behold, although I had hidden the evidence, the ground turkey had not browned enough to cover my evidence. So he knows ahead of time that it is indeed turkey meat in the lasagna, not ground beef. Trying to be tricky...

Also, on my way out the door right at lunchtime to visit with the rest of the Man clan (well, the women anyways), I forget my cell phone. As I make my way back into the house, here is Mr. Catman making himself a fine lunchy of chicken fingers and french fries. CAUGHT! He is a trickster, but I think we're even now.

Christmas is a-coming

Yes, I know we have Thanksgiving first, but something about going and buying my James Taylor at Christmas CD made me very excited. And I bought Love Actually as well because it's a beautiful movie and I was in a sappy mood.

Now that I think about the CD, I'm wondering if I need to start buying things MP3 style. I wonder what the majority of people are doing right now. And no, I don't think the husband will buy me an i-Pod. He's anti-Mac. *teehee*

The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan

This work of nonfiction describes two different perspectives of the same historical place.

One history, that of Bashir Khairi, is one of a lost memory when his family is forced out of their home by Israeli occupation forces. It continues through his life and his struggles to get back to his homeland, which his ancestors have owned for centuries.

The second history is that of Dalia Eshkenazi, a Bulgarian Jew. She and her parents moved from Bulgaria into the house of Bashir's family. Dalia's life is forever changed when she opens her door to 26 year-old Bashir wanting to revisit his home.

The author makes sure to note the common symbolic element--a lemon tree, which is planted in the backyard of the home.

The story is of both people's history and gives great detail of the accounts that give life to the Middle East conflicts that most Americans pass over. I must admit I had many "Aha!" moments that helped me better understand the conflict, frustration and actions of both histories.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone, especially our age, who has not been taught the history of the creation of Israel and the consequences

Yeah, they come to snuff the Rooster...

Went for a walk this morning. It was nice to walk while it was light outside. While walking, a couple of older ladies walking their dog (certainly a Beagle mix of some sort) approached. Since the dog was friendly, they let him on his rope to greet me. So I put out my hand so said dog could smell me. And what does he do? He JUMPS ON ME. Um, what? If your dog jumps, shouldn't you keep him tighter on his leash? Anyways, all the dog's owner said was, "Down Rooster!" So a Beagle mix named Rooster? Cute. A Beagle mix named Rooster that jumps? Not so good.

I also saw Thunder out for a walk this morning. This extra hour that we got yesterday seems lucrative to most. ;)

Panic in the kitchen...

So....

I made a very nice meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green bean dinner last night for Mr.Catman. And he had oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert.

We have a rule: the person cooking does not have to clean up. So, Mr. Catman was working on hand-washing dishes while I was making cookies. Of course, he does not want to get his wedding band dirty, so he places his shiny ring on our black potholders in order to wear the ring when he finishes.

Well, Mrs.Catman needs the potholders. So she quietly relocates his wedding band to a safer edge of the counter where her rings are. So they can 'be together.' Catman finishes, then proceeds to the television, to watch the World Series. After about 5 minutes he rushes to the kitchen, all in a panic, trying to find his ring that is no longer on the potholders that were being used.

"Um,where's my ring? I set it right here on the potholder."

(Panic, panic)

"I relocated it to a safer place next to mine."

You should've seen the relief in his face. Just another reason why I love this man. He was so sincere. (Insert mushy, mushy sounds.)

Pumpkin, pumpkin, round and fat...

Mrs. Catman's Blog!

So, I've moved on, now that I'm all married and such. Welcome to Mrs. Catman's blog!

Today I just handed off an assignment that I was too busy to do. And it completely felt like Christina Applegate in Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead where she hands off all of the GPS reports to an accountant who takes care of the accounting aspects for her while she is busy designing clothes. It felt great to just assign it to someone else.

P.S. I'm making a home-cooked meal for the Catman tonight. He is getting meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans and oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. *hearts*