I'm not going to lie - today isn't the most interesting day. Nothing awesome has really happened today, and that's fine. One thing that I have been doing (on and off cause I'm lazy and its not a priority for me) is moving stuff.
So I've temporarily rearranged my living room, placing the dining room table in it to store stuff by the door. So here is Leki, being lazy and enjoying the elevated view that he is afforded by sitting on the kitchen table in front of the open slider.
After this I promptly fell asleep trying to read my Torts homework... :/
So this year I started law school at the local school in GR, Cooley. At first I wasn't too crazy about attending there, but its grown on me. For one, it works out great with a work schedule - I take classes on weekends. For another, its local. I didn't have to relocate or swap jobs to go there and since I wasn't going to stop working to go to school, that worked out nicely.
Weekend classes are pretty small compared to weekday classes (so I hear). We usually only have just over 30 students in each class and its usually the same crew from class to class (and semester to semester at least in the beginning).
All in all I enjoy the work, although its time consuming and with three classes this semester it fills up almost the entire weekend leaving just weekdays for homework and not much time for an active social life.
So I've been playing around for awhile trying to get a new media server working. Previously I was using a modified xbox to stream media across the network. The problem is, the XBMC isnt too fond of certain file types and resolutions.
So I decided to attempt an upgrade after running across a really good deal on a ps3. I'd been searching on and off for awhile for the backwards compatible version and when I found it for cheap on ebay, I had to snag it.
First I tried TVersity, but ran into an issue with the PS3 and the media center not being recognized all the time or randomly disconnecting. For some reason when the PS3 would attempt to connect, it would reset the router and mess with the network. So I tried setting up static IPs, DMZ, etc etc. Then I read about this relatively small PS3 Media Server application. I've had no issues with recognition on either end and it seems to stream video and audio just fine across the network.
Now its time to move the xbox into the bedroom...
I'm a sucker for Italian dishes. I just am. And knowing I had the Marsala wine, and some mushrooms that needed to be eaten, I had the makings of a great concoction - Chicken Marsala.
Now I'm a little weird. Way back when I decided I needed more veggies in my diet and I started adding more than just mushrooms to the mix. It sounds weird, but I actually really like it with peas. Ideally I eat these with mash potatoes, but I was lazy and reused some cooked spaghetti noodles I had.
So here's a pic from my phone of me cooking the marsala, sans veggies. This time around I thought i'd cut the breasts up instead of leave them whole.
Cats and ferrets are inherently curious creatures. To that end the underside of a box spring is a very tempting place. Its dark under the bed, and there are usually dark crevices between boxes to weave in and out of. And the fabric above them is soft, easy to tear through. Because of this I've fortified the bottom of the new box spring with some plywood I had lying around. While its not as good as pegboard to use for it, it does the job. It prevents curious critters from digging their way in and stashing strange objects in the box spring.
So here is Leki, checking out the underside of the box spring, poking at the wood.
I usually dont do much for Memorial Day outside of act lazy and play video games. This weekend was especially active for me. Outside of two days of classes I shimmied down to metro Detroit for Sunday festivities and ended them with driving up to Townsend Park in Rockford this afternoon.
I met up with some cousins and my aunt and uncle for free food and laughs. Here are some of my relatives setting up and foolishly letting Nathan man the grill. :)
Slowly over the years I've developed a second family through my friend Kati. It just so happened that I had gone to school with her and a few of her cousins and before I moved out to Grand Rapids I was starting to see them more often than my own family (who lives in Bay City). The Dream Cruise, 4th of July, birthdays, etc.
So now that I live further away I try to make a real effort to come to everything they've got going on. This Memorial Day weekend Kati and family were having a BBQ at their new house. So here's a picture of Riley walking around with a plate of delicious food.
Its been YEARS since I've owned a bed. For the last several years I've alternated between a futon and my comfy couch. I tried in vain to make that futon comfortable - adding padding, putting it on the floor, on the frame, etc. Nothing. Probably because I had purchased a cheap mattress years ago, thinking I would never really use the stupid thing. Boy was I wrong.
So today the bed I've been dreading shopping for was delivered. And the whole experience was pretty good. The guy was super nice and helpful. I'm sure he thought I was weird with all of my pet related questions regarding the warranty, but I had to ask them!
So I've got me a soft queen bed, and I am so excited to sleep tonight!
There were quite a bit of things that went on today that I guess I could have taken pictures of. It could have been the people I met up with at the bar to catch up with, or the arrival of packages, or setting up my bedroom for a new bed coming tomorrow. Instead, however, through sheer laziness or awe, I snapped some shots of clouds instead as the sun was starting to set.
So every morning for the past several weeks after I get up and take the dog for a walk I try to do a little Wii Fit. I have no idea why this resonates more with me than actual exercise in a gym - probably because a video game console is involved.
Anyway, here I am being a dork trying to do Yoga. I suck at it because I have no balance, and I'm not terribly flexible. I totally used the pic with the bad lighting too on purpose. :P
And yes I'm in my work clothes cause I totally got ready to go and forgot about the wii fit. And yes, that's a lonely elliptical machine in the back bedroom.... I use it! Just not lately now that its gotten warmer. I try to do walks instead, especially now that I have the dog as an excuse.
Today I hung with Dan and Sherry and embarked on a little adventure. First we ventured over to a house they'd found online they'd like to check out - which was pretty cool looking. It made me miss looking for a house a little bit, until I remembered how frustrating it got after several months...
After that Sherry was interested in seeing what all the fuss was about Sonic. Its a fast food chain that just opened up one of their restaurants in the GR area. They remind me of some place I've seen in Berkley, but I cant remember the name. Anyway, its basically got a drive up location that you order your food and the waitstaff roller skates it out to ya. Or you can choose the drive thru, which is what we did. Either way since the location is new (1mo old?) there is a line. Like traffic is directed to drive AROUND the restaurant and go through an "overflow" line. Being that we choose drive thru, we didnt wait long. Those people who wanted to drive and park their cars in the hot sun to eat in them, however, had a wait.
I never did understand the appeal of the drive up service in those sorts of joints...
Anyway, seeing as how I'm incapable of finishing the ice cream blizzard wanna be thing I ordered there, here it is chilling in my freezer waiting till I get the munchies. I'm weird like that...
Call it what you will - delusion, overactive imagination, crazy - but every time I see the moon like this in the morning I think of the Death Star in Star Wars.
I have no idea why. I should probably be struck by the beauty of the scene, or be at peace but NO, I think of the Empire and their ability to destroy stars with a crazy moon-shaped battle station.
Maybe this is what happens to all those crazy cat ladies? Maybe this is the first step down that path? If so, I'm totally going to love it.
Today is the day I promised Dayzee a long, long walk. The weather was nice, the sun was out, and I was going to walk her! So this afternoon we wandered over to Ken-O-Sha park and walked the trail.
We saw a lot of cool stuff - snakes, deer, even kitty cats!
Little did I know, however, that this particular trail did not appear to loop back on itself. I hadn't seen any trail maps along the way, or at the beginning, so i assumed that it was small. Wrong!
Dayzee and I continued on for quite some time until suddenly the path stopped - all that was before us was a dirt trail. Too stubborn to turn back, she and I walked on. Not long after we were deposited out into suburbia.
Now I've always been stubborn and insisted that I had at least a somewhat decent sense of direction. Ok mom and dad, you're right. I dont. You win. I had no idea where I was and I wasnt so sure I could navigate the random maze of trails back.
So I took out my trusty cell phone, complete with GPS and had it look up my location. I was almost two miles away from where I had started - by car.
So through suburbia Dayzee and I walked, all the way from Union Ct SE back to 32nd and KZ (approx 1.8 miles). It took awhile, and Dayzee was exhausted, but we got back.
All in all I think she enjoyed it - and I know I should do this sort of exercising more so...
I took Dayzee out after I got out of class today, thinking it would be a nice day for a walk. Sure the wind was blowing, but what did I care? The sun was shining.
Then I tried walking Dayzee. Her ears in that picture - yeah thats the wind blowing them back. Seriously.
We didnt walk for too long...
Unfortunately because it looks so nice she really just wants to lay out in the sun and I dont have a yard...
Today was the first day ever (EVER!) I have golfed. Its not really my cup of tea, and I never thought very highly of the "sport" personally. However I've started a new job and was invited to a company outing.
We started around noon, and ended a little before five, playing 18 holes. It was a scramble, so luckily I didnt drag anyone down too much.
On one of the holes several families of geese were just camping out. Probably because it was near water. In the picture here is a set with the youngest family - little babies with yellow fuzz still.
They were pretty good for the most part, herding their children away from the fairway when we arrived. Unfortunately they didn't quite move fast enough and, I, being inexperienced and unable to whack a ball with any sort of force, smacked one in the butt. Not sure if it was the mom or the dad, since there were two of them between the babies, but regardless the goose just brushed it off, flapped wings in annoyance, and herded the babies faster.
The dear little ferret I own, Peppy, has a recurrent skin infection under her arm. A few months ago she was on some antibiotics for just over a week and it cleared up. Somehow though, its back. And with the recurrence comes a stronger, longer dosage of antibiotics to clear it up.
In addition I've taken to removing a few things from her cage (that have been there for years but...) that may or may not be causing the problem. After that if it continues to come back the next step is, undoubtedly, blood work to rule out any other, nastier issues.
Despite the twice daily torture I subject her to with the dosages, she's in high spirits and relatively active for a 4 1/2 year old.
(pic forthcoming)
I had a fun day Sunday, and Monday. So that means the rest of the week is pretty much going to look like this for me in the evenings.
I have a lot of homework, and a little time. So last night was Torts, and tonight is Torts and Contracts and tomorrow will probably be Contracts and Civil Procedure...with more Civ Pro and review on Friday. Interesting right? Ok maybe not really.
The pets have been chilling with me in here. Dayzee in her crate and Leki on his mandatory desk blanket.
Well, I guess I should get back to briefing cases....
Tuesday. Its day two of the work week (and the second day of my new job). So many things are falling into repetition quickly. Waking up early, walking the dog, showering, actually eating breakfast BEFORE I go to work, etc. Coming home at noon to walk the dog again, then giving her a third walk after I get home for the day.
Then, sometime after I get home I see this dude again. Virtually everything today has been the same as it was yesterday and this turkey is simply the reinforcement that I'm suck in groundhogs day.
I guess the only slightly different thing is the fact that the bunny was totally mowing down ignoring him. The turkey spent a good 45 minutes pacing back in forth behind my apartment, clucking and getting closer and farther from the slider. I'm not sure what he wanted, but I kept my distance. Those things are way more powerful than they look and I dont own a gun. I'm I'm not breaking my camera clobbering it...
Today, after my first day of a new job and Dayzee's 3rd walk (?!) I was putting her in the crate to head over to my cousin's house and what do I see but this Turkey just walking by.
I'm not sure what he was doing or why he was back behind my apartment, but as soon as he saw me trying to snap photos of him he started to book it. Still, I managed to get a few photos....
So today is Mother's Day - which means after I got out of my morning class I shimmied on down to Detroit to hang with my mom. This year my grandmother (mom's mom) was visiting so it was nice to spend some time with her.
Rather than go out to eat, which is too busy and, quite frankly I never understood the tradition (what if mom doesnt cook, no one else can?!) we ate in. My dad cooked up some Swedish meatballs, black morels, yummy salad and more. To top it off - chocolate ice cream. Its been ages since I've had just regular ice cream.
After all that I dognapped Dayzee for a few weeks while my parents will be traveling. I'm sure she's excited to spend time with me and dreading any time with the resident cat... Here's a pic of Dayzee having her affection bought with tasty treats shortly before I left.
Today marks the beginning of a new semester of classes. I've got three classes now, 2 on Sat and 1 on Sun. Pictured here are the texts for my three different classes (minus one required text for the contracts class).
Its only been two weeks since I've had to sit basically from 9-5 in the class, but it was exhausting. Maybe its because for that time frame I was off of work as well.
This next week will be interesting - three classes worth of homework, a new job starting, and a trip to Detroit for Mother's Day to top it off. I've already got the next week and a half filled with activities (that center mostly on making sure I do my homework and dont get lazy). Its great to be busy as opposed to not, but I fear my hobbies will suffer. ;)
Today marks the official first day of the landscaping production. Its a slow start, as I was waiting for extra funds and items to get shipped to me, but its finally underway.
Here we have simply the grass being glued onto some wood. The step will incorporate some extra styrofoam and newspaper I have lying around that will be molded into hills and the like.
This glue dries SOOO slowly!
Eventually my plan is to have a pretty landscape (think model trains) in which I will have little figures I have wage an epic war - complete with blood and shiny swords!
Maybe I need to get out more....
So today I was at the Detroit Zoo, hanging with some friends. While looking at one of the exhibits, and discussing with John the zombie craze that has taken over video games as of late, he suddenly realized that some serious protection could be had if one owned a vulture.
Now seriously, hear me out. Nearly every movie or depiction of zombies you see it only affects humans (yes yes, there are exceptions like 28 Days Later, but stop ruining my fun!). Well zombies are just dead (albeit reanimated) flesh. Vultures eat dead flesh. So, vultures + zombies = escape!
I officially have a plan B in case of zombie attack. Thanks John!
Kudos to this little guy for finally figuring out how to get onto the bird feeder. I've seen squirrels for months trying to figure out a way to get up there - even going so far as to climb the screen in a desperate attempt.
The image is a little dark as I didnt want to use a flash and spook the guy. Bravo little dude. Now lets see if you can do it twice...
The last time I was at Pickerel Lake Park it started raining and I wasn't really able to get any good photographs. Well this time I could get a little closer to the swans I saw last time. Unfortunately, this was as close as I could get still. :/ And the zoom on my camera apparently isnt strong enough....
Still, you can make out the male and female (on the pile) hanging by their nest.
This morning when I got up I kept hearing this strange honking noise. I knew it was from geese, and I figured the slider had to be cracked open a bit or something. So imagine my surprise when I walked out and saw these two geese chilling on the porch. They just kept wandering around, honking and looking for food. Usually I leave corn out and there is the bird feeder to entertain the cat...but I never feed the geese specifically. Heck, they hardly ever come back here!
As soon as they spotted me through the glass they started honking louder and knocking on the glass...hence the darkness... I didnt need them catching a glimpse of me again...
At least Leki was able to enjoy them from a loftier position.
I promised Leki back in March that if I got a job, I'd buy him a cat toy. Well, yes, I know he's a cat, not a child and therefore isnt going to know, much less remember, that I made said promise. But a promise is a promise. So, when I got a job I bought him a kitty tree. Now, this one is a little larger than I would have gone, but it was like $10 more than the small one....so its pretty big for one cat...
Still, he seems somewhat interested, albeit a little hesistant to explore all levels of it. Leki isnt the most agile of cats...
So today is a day for muffins! Ok not really but I finally got around to making the banana muffins I had been intending to. Now I know that my stove runs a little hot and cooks stuff faster than it should but seriously, those muffins were in for like 25 minutes and some of them still got burned... :( Still, they're edible. And what wasnt the squirrels will love.
i also made that awesome buffalo chicken dip Kati turned me on to as well.... Its so not good for you, but so yummy....