Gonzai Gallery

I've spent much of yesterday and today binge-watching 'The Pacific' (on Ep 9 now). I think the dogs are planning a mutiny. The rats might help.

Sorry, critters, but war movies are hell.

It occurred to me that as a Baltimore resident, I probably ought to mention that I'm on the opposite end of town from most of the trouble, and I have no reason to go into the city, so me and mine are safe. Although it was weird to watch 'American Crime' last week, ending as it did with a protest march turned violent, and then have it happen for real in my own town less than 48 hours later.

Speakimg of me and mine, my little 'family' has grown since I was here last. I rescued 3 dumbo rats last summer, unfortunately my favorite, Paige, passed away on Easter. Neither I nor the vet have any idea what was wrong. The other two, Piper & Phoebe, seem to actually be a little happier now, maybe it's more room in the cage. The other addition is in my icon - that's Mosely, who I rescued in February through the rescue I do transports for. He's an absolute love bug, but CJ is still not on board. She's getting better, especially now that I've been walking them together around the neighbor. The truce is uneasy but at least it exists.

Oh yeah - the Daredevil binging? Watched the whole thing twice and a couple eps more than that. Digging through Charlie Cox's filmography next.

One thing I've definitely not kept up on: posting here. Yikes.

1 Not a damn thing. No exercise and eating terribly.  I'm eating lunch every day but that's the only improvement that's stuck.

2 No cleaning projects done, but nothing badly regressing. Meanwhile, I've collected plenty of organizing, financial and similar such apps for the Kindle, and as a result I've got life-type things organized to a goodly extent.

3 Kept up with the TV shows, and while I've only seen a few movies on the list, I've watched a lot of movies I've wanted to see. Still not where I want to be on music but I've listened to a lot of samples & previews. Slowed down a bit on books, just half of 'Feast of Crows', but caught up on a few magazines.

4 Survived the month of presents and conventions and things with my bank account in reasonable shape. I have got to get the car tuned up (one of the organizing apps is dutifully nagging me about this) and it's hard to schedule with constant medical appointments for both me and Mom. But, for a rare occasion, money is not an immediate concern.

5 Still working but the boss is getting testy again. A junior attorney clicked on a questionable e-mail and got the whole office infected with a whopper of a virus, and the boss is ticked at me instead of him. And the lack of work for me. Yippee. But Mom means another job is tricky.

My goal was to finish 'A Storm Of Swords' by the premiere of GoT. Whoops. Six days late. But I got out ahead of the tv show at least. For 24 hours. Since they decided to throw in some stuff from book 4 or 5 (the Theon stuff). But I was familiar with that storyline, at least, and I knew the rest of it. On to 'Under The Dome' now, try to finish that before it hits TV.

Reviewing them with myself won't work unless I actually do it, right?

1 Gym - Really screwed this pooch. I actually cancelled my gym membership today. Haven't been there since December, which amounts to throwing $200 in a hole, so I cancelled. Trying to walk CJ a few times a week for now.

2 Cleaning - Got the computer room completely cleaned up; this weekend, it's sort and put away all the papers and DVDs sitting around. Assuming I actually do it, plus one for me.

3 Media - Caught up on TV (finally finished the last season of Sarah Jane Adventures) and the movie thing is progressing in a timely manner. Still having trouble with music (headphones broke, but I wasn't being good before that happened) and behind on reading, although 'Storm of Swords' is coming along. I may finish it before GoT comes back.

4 Money - The car is paid off and I have the title from the bank. It needs to be re-titled to just me (which apparently isn't cheap) but otherwise all good. Tax refunds are in the bank. CJ goes to the vet next week, hoping to get myself to the dentist the week after, then glasses and fixing up the car.

5 2013 - Not so hot. Mom continues to decline and I have now fully taken over all paperwork and bills from her, my health isn't improving to include a new assortment of GI issues (already saw the doctor, tests being run this month), and I'm amazed I'm still employed. I'm bored stiff at work and my hands are killing me, but still there. I have lost a few pounds, surprisingly, and I'm eating a bit more healthy, but that's about it.

So, walking the dog, continue gradual cleanup, stay on top of TV and movies, do something with the music, keep getting things done for myself and Mom until caught up. Mission assigned.

I didn't really( make resolutions this year, ) ore like self guidelines. And it would probably work better if I checked in on them monthly instead of waiting for December. That said...

1. The gym. I haven't been there. Not once. I have walked at every opportunity, but that's it. Renewing this plan, because I have absolutely got to.

2. Cleaning. Kinda haven't done much of that, either. Did clean up a section of my bedroom, and this weekend the computer room is getting cleaned, period. Guests for Superbowl and Mom's bridge upcoming, it's got to be cleaned.

3. Media. Kept up with the TV, but didn't make much headway on the backlog. Kept up with the movies and saw A Clockwork Orange, Raging Bull, M, Midnight Cowboy, Forrest Gump, plus downloaded the films that are public domain. TCM will get me a long way on the plan in February, or would if I wasn't going to be home most weekends in February. The goal for music was one recording per work day, did more like half that. Note to self, maybe a variety of artists instead of a dozen by one artists would help on that. Books - DIdn't expect to get through more than one a month, considering I'm on the A Song of Ice & Fire series. Almost finished A Clash of Kings, a week early. So, acceptable but could be better.

4. Wow. Things are looking up. 1.5 car payments left now. When Mom & I were at the bank last week, the banker kept pestering me to get a credit card, which she assured was fee-free. I finally said yes, and she gave me a card - with a $10K limit. !!! The one I have is, uh, a lot less than that. Then she sent me a copy of my credit score, which I haven't seen in years. It's...about 200 points higher than I expected. Add the new card and the paid off card and yikes, I'll have a credit score to brag about. Never thought that would happen. Meanwhile, I've already done my taxes, and I'm getting a fair amount back. I thought I'd owe the State, but I'm getting some back there, too. In the mail tomorrow. So optimistic in this area.

5. So far, the year has not been particularly good or bad. My health sucks, but Mom's health seems to have levelled off. The money situation is better, but work is dicey still, with very little for me to do and money problems there. Not great, but not disastrous.

Back at the end of February...

Who would have thought the best thing Person of Interest could add was a dog? And not just because I'm an animal person, Bear is the perfect addition to the show.

Quote of the week, from Bob Costas on Sunday Night Football, after noting the Steelers would be wearing 1933 throwback uniforms: "As if the Depression wasn't bad enough."

Grimm had the world's best cliffhanger ending, ever, last week. (Not a spoiler) Fade to black, "to be continued", and then... "Sorry." Awesome.

Last Resort was cancelled. However, ABC is going to let them wrap up the show's storyline. Why can't all networks do that?

Haven. Lucas Bryant is damn fine. If he gained 10 pounds I'd have to...never mind. Meanwhile,




Boardwalk Empire.



Treme.

I've spent much of the week trying to find the source of a beeping sound in the house. Doesn't matter what room you're in, it sounds like in it's in another one. Originally it beeped a couple times a day, but by today it was up to every ten minutes. I thought it might be the smoke alarm, but I changed the battery in it and that had no effect. Still beeping. Today I tried, for the heck of it, installing a new battery backup on the computer. The old one wasn't beeping...not when I was near it...but there hasn't been a beep since then. Fingers crossed.

Because now I have a new, much more annoying problem. The TV's volume has a 50 point scale. Usually we have it between 20 and 30, depending on the show, etc. Well, tonight the volume started going up, rapidly, by itself. No one anywhere near the TV or the remote, sometimes it jumped to 35, sometimes 50, sometimes...100. Besides being really loud, we don't know how it managed to go to double what we thought it could do. Also, to drop it back to normal, I have to press the button once per number. 70 times is a lot. This started during the football game and by the time OUAT came on, it was doing it every minute. I took the batteries out of the remote, but that didn't help. I think the TV is possessed.

At the moment the Ravens are soaring...people are cheering for the refs (take a good look, it'll never happen again)...The spread is 12 points, so I'm probably going nowhere fantasy-wise...I wish I could watch the game from my bedroom, but I don't have cable up there and the TV isn't HD-ready...might lose the electric soon anyway, with the storms coming through. Ah well.

ETA no sooner do I post this, than the crowd starts booing the refs on an iffy call. Welcome back guys.

Lessee...

I checked the Emmys a couple times but hit a commercial every time. However, I see the Emmy voters were both astute and Baltimore homers. Astute, because Homeland was the best freakin' thing on TV last season (and there was a lot of great stuff to choose from) but I never expected it to win Best Drama. Best Actor for Damian Lewis? He deserves it, but I'm pleasantly floored by it. Meanwhile, other winners were Julie Bowen (from Baltimore), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (filmed in Baltimore) and Game Change (filmed in Baltimore, I drove through the set at one point.) Very cool.

Also cool, buried by emotion category: the Ravens' Torrey Smith is playing tonight - and has scored two touchdowns - a few hours after the death of his younger brother. Wow. Just one of the crazy things going on this game. And by the way, can we please, please, PLEASE have the real refs back? Gack.

ETA - Holy crap. We won.

Not cool at all...anyone want a dog? I don't know how, but CJ managed to get a hold of a leather art portfolio five feet away from and above her crate. She completed shredded the $200 portfolio, along with a few pieces of original artwork and dozens of copies of art that I had sold. She never got outside the crate, but somehow dragged the portfolio into the crate. I don't know what to do other than to attach wire mesh to the sides and front of the crate, but I don't have any left here and I don't know if Home Depot would have such stuff or if they can cut it to size, as I don't have the equipment to cut heavy wire. Ay-yi-yi.