Shit 'n' Stuff

So.  Been a while.  I’ve been really preoccupied with (a) a big project at work and (secondively) fretting over money at home.  There’s been plenty of stuff to write about; I just haven’t been able to get my brain to focus on things long enough to get a post done.  Here’s some bullets to get us caught up.

• My new kitten, Randy Mewman, is SO AWESOME.  Everyone in the house is in love with him, and he’s very fond of everyone right back.  Well, everyone except Fritz the dog.  He is trying to start a turf war; every night when Fritz comes in, Randy occupies Fritz’s bed and will not leave.  I lift him out and put him on the other side of the gate, and he jumps right back over & dives into the bed.  Fritz is too old to fight, but won’t lay down with Randy.  He waits for me to remove the cat in a more permanent fashion before he settles down for the night.  J is more enamored than he will usually admit, although he did say once that he’s happier since we got the cat (and he is – noticeably).  He persistently refers to him as “your cat”, which is just fine with me.  I’m glad they get along, but I want Randy to favor me.  And he does.  Nicole is my biggest competition.  When she comes over, he hangs out in her room.  But she’s only at the house a couple days at a time, so I can live with it.
• Crazy Bitch has sunk to a new low of despicableness.  I won’t go into it today, but I’m putting it here as a teaser & will post about it soon.  You’re not going to believe it.
• J is still unemployed.  Going on 8 months now.  Hence the fretting.
• I’m doing some travel for work, after well over 3 years of being stuck at home.  I used to visit our other offices fairly frequently but budget restrictions have kept me in Cleveland for a while now.
• Last week I was in New York, which is where one of my 2 favorite out-of-town co-workers is.  New York has Hot Bill, and DC has Gay Paul. 
• GP, HB, and I all like to go out drinking, so whenever 2 of us are in the same city it’s awesome.  And when all 3 of us are in the same city, it’s trouble (but oh, it’s the best kind of trouble).
• Anyway, I got to go out with HB last week, and it was one of those nights where you get the bill and you’re like “We had HOW MANY beers?” while still, you know that they didn’t even charge you for everything you drank, so you actually had HOW MANY plus about 4.
• I’m home now for a couple weeks, but GP is coming to Cleveland next week, so he & I will go out and he’ll tell me over drinks the things he would do to HB if he weren’t married.  You know, like all best girlfriends do.
• The week after that, HB is coming to town, so he & I will go out for drinks but the sticker shock will be somewhat milder than it is in Manhattan.  I already promised I’d take him to one of my neighborhood haunts, and J will probably join us, and I will just completely die from being surrounded by that much hottness.
• The last week of October I’m off to Shelly’s neck of the woods & I get to see her and Rizzo and I can’t freaking WAIT.  She’ll tell me all of the awesomeness I missed at the Blathering, and I will start a Blathering 2012 fund immediately.
• I’ll spend Halloween & the rest of that week back in New York, then it’s back home to let my liver recuperate.  At the end of November I'll be in Cincinnati, then in February I’ll have 2 weeks in Washington.
• After what seemed like an eternity of not being able to focus on a book long enough to enjoy it, I read 2 in a row that I really liked.  
• The Replacement, if you’re into YA paranormal stuff, was quite good.  It's not a vampire novel but 'd put it along the same lines.  I happened on it unexpectedly and was surprised how much I liked it, and how moved I was by one particular scene.  I recommended it to Erica who also liked it very much.  
• After that I read The Girl She Used To Be, which is about a woman who’s spent her life in the Witness Protection Program, and ends up being found by, and falling for, the son of the family she’s being protected from.  There are a few places where it gets fairly hokey, but overall it’s a nice easy read.  Plus, the main character/narrator is really into math, and on the second page she talks about how satisfying it is to write a geometric proof, and I was hooked.  (I used to LOVE writing proofs, especially in college.  That final step, where I could state “Hence, [conclusive statement]” was such a thrill.)
• Speaking of what a nerd I am, I saw They Might Be Giants in concert a couple weeks back and holy shit were they good.  I missed them last time they were in town; they sold out too fast for me.  This time, I bought my ticket 20 minutes after it went on sale, and carried it around in my wallet for something like 5 months, checking every other day to make sure I still had it on my person.  The day of the show I spent all day at the office nervously thinking about how I had to MAKE SURE I left on time so I could get home, change, and get to the venue.  I have a 25 minute ride home from the office, and a 30 minute drive to the venue.  For a 9PM show.  I don’t know.  Anyway, I ran home, changed, and drove straight to the club, planning to get some cash at the bank next door and grab something to eat in the area.  When I got there, the bank next door turned out to have closed 3 years ago, so all I had was the money in my wallet, which meant that for dinner that night I had one beer.  I would have tried to find another ATM, but instead I got in line to wait for the doors to open.  I stood there for like an hour, then when I got inside I grabbed my dinner and staked out a good spot for the show.  And didn’t move except once when I had to go to the bathroom & I asked the mom next to me to watch my spot (did I mention I was at the concert alone?  It’s for the better; I’m kind of embarrassing to be seen near at these things.  My nephew who was mortified by me at a Weird Al show will corroborate.). 
• I'm thinking of doing one of those accent vlogs that is all the rage these days.  Except I don't have a webcam.  So yeah.