productivity

After living in this apartment for almost a year, somehow in the past week or so I saw it fit to finally unpack my last few boxes. ...well, most of them, at least. I need some photo albums or something, I've got a box full of photos with no home. This fit was part of a massive spring cleaning initiative I randomly took on one afternoon, and now I'm amid a lovely, clean, comfortable room. With very bare walls.

So I hiked over to Ikea (which I LOVE) and bought a shoe rack, a laundry hamper, a duvet cover, and little square mirrors for the wall. I arranged them in a checkerboard pattern, and it looks great. Next stop is a craft store for a little glass paint, and we'll have stained glass mirrors (something I had back in NY, which worked to great effect)!

My building now has three condos for sale here -- one of which has been on the market for nearly six months now. They've reduced the price again, to $95K. Its a really nice one bedroom, with columns, brand new appliances, and a front porch. My roommate worked out the mortgage -- for 10% down on a 30 year lease, it'd be less than $600 a month, less than what I paid in rent in NYC.

I have never really rolled the prospect of buying around in my head (nor am I going to act on this) but if I had the 10% readily at my disposal right now I might seriously consider it. With the way the property values in this neighborhood are generally on the rise (a momentary backslide right now, granted) -- even if I'm only there for a short time, a tidy profit could be made.

But really? Homeowner? Perish the thought. But I look at this and see something achievable, something to aim toward. And how it might not be so difficult after all.

This growing up thing scares me.

the name was apt

I named my cat Satine, after the whore in Moulin Rouge. She's stunningly beautiful, LOVES attention, and will snuggle up next to anyone if the price is right. Generally, the price is a scritch on the head or a thorough brushing.

She's had a persistent upper respiratory thing -- lots of cat boogers and sneezing -- on and off for the past three years or so. I took her to a vet over the summer, who prescribed some pills. They worked, but a few weeks later she was plugged back up. And I found little pills that had been coughed back up under the bed and behind various pieces of furniture. So the antibiotic course wasn't completed and she was her old snotty self again.

Back to the vet -- same clinic, different doctor. He listened to the symptoms, checked her breathing...

Herpes.

Feline herpes. Its a viral infection that doesn't have a cure. Satine will be snotty, that is that. He did give me a goopy gel that smells like maple syrup, which should at least reduce her symptoms.

My poor little courtesan kitty.

UPDATE: She's been taking her meds and it seems to be doing the trick. She's not wheezing nearly as much as she was. There's still a little but but she's definitely more energetic and kittylike.

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Other news, the weather has been lovely, so I've been biking again. The 11 mile run up to the gym is completely exhausting -- steep hills the whole way. I love it and hate it all at once. I'm tired, but I feel good.

taxing

My taxes are always a fairly easy affair. I don't have major investments or any massive deductions, so it's mostly a enter-the-W2-and-go kinda thing. Last year was the only exception, where due to my move to GA and an error by one of my temp companies in processing my W4 (they took out toooo much), I was entitled to a nearly $1000 refund. That money went directly to moving to my new apartment, where I live now, and what was left funded a lovely July vacation.

This year, its back to the regular routine. Filed last night, took about 20 minutes -- I'm getting back about $200. Nothing truly amazing can be done with that, but the good news is I'm not really lacking for anything right now. Instead, I'm snagging a few things that have gone neglected for a while -- I bought some new shoes yesterday. Taking the kitty to the vet this week. Fixing my bike seat. Getting my hair trimmed. Having my leather jacket mended. And my roommate's half-birthday gift -- tickets to see Molly Ringwald in Sweet Charity. It's going to be terrible; I'm going to love it.

In the meantime, though, it's brisk and sunny outside. I'm going to go walk in the park.

silence of the lamb

There's really nothing to say right now. Everything is on pause. I'm keeping a very low profile.

Its not a bad thing, just makes for a boring blog. I have a friend, Duncan, who writes about how he keeps kicking the power cord out of his computer, and his solution was to move his chair. Somehow, its fascinating, but in my own life, that kind of stuff is just way, way, way too trivial to merit writing about.

I'm not moving to my new location right away because there are some other, more pressing staff changes there that need to be made first. No word from the theatre company yet; I'm not expecting one either. CEO of my company did write me though responding to my thoughts of AIDS Life Cycle.

"Impressive story of dedication! Keep it up!"

Somehow, I think he missed the point.

awake

I slept in very late yesterday -- not sure why, maybe I needed to catch up. In doing so, though, its messed with my body clock. It resulted in staying awake all night -- just didn't get tired, and now it's 8 am and I'm still going strong. I forgot how nice mornings can be. Working the night shift generally puts me squarely asleep until 10 or 11. It makes me wish for a more human schedule.

I'm not worried about the implications of pulling an all nighter -- I'm off today and don't have any necessity of productivity. I'll probably conk out for a nap in a few hours and then go to bed early tonight. Meanwhile, I'll do some laundry and straighten up my room a bit. I've been in this apartment for almost a year now, perhaps I should unpack those last few boxes.

The CEO of my company sent out a mass email asking people about their fitness pursuits and how the company can become involved in order to expand our brand recognition -- i.e. sponsoring employees involved in competitive sports, fitness modeling, extreme sports and the like. I responded saying I didn't really have any professional aspirations for competitive sports, but that I've always wanted to take part in one of those multi-day benefit bike tours. The AIDS Life Cycle is in June, running from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and while training myself up to do a 7-day 545 mile tour and raising the $2,500 minimum pledges in little more than three months is more than a little daunting, a corporate sponsorship would certainly kick me square in the butt to do it. LA and SF are two of our major markets, too, so the exposure would certainly be beneficial -- and there are few causes more worthy than AIDS research. I don't do my fair share of charitable acts; this is probably a great place to start. I can only hope the bossman agrees.