WARNING: gross post below

STOP HERE if you have any of the following:
- weak stomach
- fear of cats
- cat allergies (ok, just kidding on this one...)

I have a terribly funny, but really gross cat story to tell. I debated as to whether to post it or not for fear of grossing people out -but I figured the warnings were sufficient enough.

Tuesday night I was home alone with the animals since D was out of town. Ususally when D is home my "little baby cat" Ries is not allowed on the bed. Ok, so he gets up there but is kicked off faster than when D's is gone. (I should note here that his other nickname is "puker cat" - self explanatory...)

So Tuesday, when Reis realized D wasn't home he decided to grace me with his presence at 3am. Instead of going to my feet and laying down like a good kitty he decides to walk around, thus completely waking me up.

Finally at 3:30am, when he decided my head was very dirty and needed a washing, I started to yell at him to get down. He steps over my head as I open my eyes to see if he's moved. His butt is right in my face. Yuck - I close my eyes (becuase by this time I'm really wanting to fall back asleep) and take my hand to push the back of his legs to prompt him to get off the bed.

No sooner had my wrist touched the back of his legs something wet squirts onto my face - just missing my mouth.

My first thought: how did the cat gleek on me? (which is exactly what it felt like, but really warm...)

Second thought: did that cat just pee on me??!!!!

I laid there with my eyes closed thinking the longer I didn't open my eyes the more likely this whole incidnet would go away.

Finally, I carefully took my hand and wiped my cheek. It wasn't pee.

So, at 3:30 Tuesday morning I was in the bathroom scrubbing my hands and face with antibacterial soap - thoroughly grossed out.

I never did get back to sleep. And now every time Ries jumps on the bed I'm afraid to touch him - especially when his butt is right in my face. (and for those of you with a cat you know they get some sort of perverse satisfaction by sticking their butt in your face...)

His nickname is now "squirt".

Nikki Joan

Today my little Nicole Joan had surgery. She had a fatty tumor removed from her chest - a big one too! It was about the size of a racquetball. It had been tested on several occasions before and didn't show anything abnormal but the vet thought it best to remove it due to its size.
Plus - she was due to a good teeth scrubbin' as well!

I will be leaving to pick her up from post op here in a few mintues. I'm staying home with her tomorrow (David's out of town...) It'll be just us girls sacked out on the sofa (ok David - just me on the sofa - Nikki on her doggy bed) watchin' TV all day. (ok, anyone reading form work - I will have my computer with me and will probably check it AT LEAST once... ; )

Which brings me to downer news. Our fabulous vet, Emily Duggan, is leaving Syracuse. I'm very sad to see her go. I know I speak for the rest of the SIX animals of ours that she treated that they will miss her terribly. Man - a good vet is hard to find these days (evidenced by us moving vets around once we moved here.)

Now - I'm not too particularly worried about a replacement vet- our hosptial is an AAHA certified hospital and they have two other great vets - one actually that did Nikki's surgery today. I'm sure we'll still be in good hands - just will have to spend time getting to know a new vet.

Help me wish Dr. Duggan and her hubby good luck in southwestern NY, even if it is with a sniff, sniff and a tear, tear.....

I almost forgot! the first hole....

Remember when I said I hadn't played golf since 2001? I should note here that even then (and now) I only play with irons 5 and 7, a putter, a sandwedge and a pitching wedge. That's it. No woods or drivers... I haven't yet learned how to use them. After you read this you'll know why I'm not ready to "graduate" to them...

We rented clubs (and carts, of course) for this whole 18 hole debacle. As I mentioned before, Doug was driving our cart for the two of us. We tee off at the first hole. I don't remember it - I must not have done anything impressive. I dont' think Doug did either. We jump in the cart, follow the next strokes onto the green. As we pull up to the green Corey and Jon are telling us to just bring our sand wedge and putter - that's all we'll need. So I go in the back and start rumaging through my clubs.

me out loud to everyone: is the "S" for sand wedge?
everyone else close to the green, only half listening: yes
me: out loud again, to everyone: is the "P" for putter?
everyone else close to the green only half listening: yes

I bring my S and P and we all take turns whacking at the ball in the sand. Someone, not me, gets it close to the hole. We all get ready to putt. As I'm waiting my turn I'm "practicing" my putt to the side. Something doesn't seem right. But it's the first hole I've played in 6 or so years so I can't immediately figure out what's wrong. I walk up to the ball to try my hand at putting and as I'm lining up my boss walks over, laughing of course, takes my club away from me and says "try this - it's a putter. you can't putt with a pitching wedge."

Ah ha - that's what the "P" stands for.....

The second half of the trip...

So I got my butt to San Antonio for our managers meeting. I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but our "team building" event was for all of us to play golf. Did I mention not all of us play golf?? Yeah - what team building, eh?

Ok, so all of us had played golf at some point in our lives - just not necessarily recently.

Brett - BIG golfer. and a good one too (read as "competitive")
Dom - I think he plays now and then but enjoys it when he's playing with "fun" people.
Janet - used to play but hasn't in many years (like 5 or 10 or something...)
Jon - my boss - loves golf, not as good as Brett
Corey - great golfer, would be even better if he played more often. I think he only gets out a few times a year
Doug - last played golf in 1989. need I say more?
me - took a summer of lessons in 2001 and only played that year. that's it.

Ok - so Brett, Dom and Janet were on a team. As I understand it Brett and Dom were "really" playing and Janet was scrambling off of them. Jon, Corey, Doug and I were on the other team and we were doing a scramble. Thank god.... Long story short - my team beat Brett's. He wasn't too excited about it but was a very good sport - especially seeing as it was his b-day...

I have to admit I did lots better than I thought I would - which isn't saying much. But I did have a few strokes of mine we played from. Dad called me at the 11th hole and asked how I was doing.

dad: (laughing) how's it going?
me: well, ok, I guess. we're on the 11th hole.
dad: sounds to me like you need more beer!
me: Great advice!!!
after I hung up Doung and I promptly flagged down the beer girl and got another one. (I lost count at this point. I have no idea how many we'd had but apparently, according to dad, it wasn't enough.)

Sure enough that did it!! We had a par 3 on the 13th and I was the only one who got on the green - and close to the hole too! Man, it was a pretty shot, if I do say so myself.

Things I learned from this golf outing:
1 - Dad is always right.
2 - when in doubt have another beer
3 - my new lucky number is 13. (I'm not kidding. It was that good of a shot.)

Being the good girl I am I put sunscreen on my face. Did I mention it was a bit chilly when we started and I had a long sleeve on? I ended up playing the whole time without it. Ok - I had short sleeve shirt under it... Did I mention that I forgot to put sunscreen on my arms?? Yeah - my right arm (Doug was driving our cart and I was sitting shotgun) got a "little" pink... (like as in medium rare...) and with a full fledged farmers tan. First sun of the season and I get a freakin' farmers tan!!! figures....

But I have to say the course was GORGEOUS!

That's Corey and Jon on the 18th.

This is Jon teeing off. Hole 14... Corey and Doug standing off to the side.

This is the green for the 14th. It was beautiful.

I stand corrected.

Last night I was on the phone for a total 3:15:06… most of that on hold. Finally – when I was able to talk with a human (see previous post) I reminded myself “this is not her fault – be nice.”

First of all I want to apologize - I DIDN’T get the NWA agents name!!! Northwest, if you’re reading this look through your records and find her because she deserves a commendation!!! And I forgot to get her name!!!! She was very friendly, mind you. I expect she wasn’t feeling very friendly deep down due to the million calls she’d been getting…

I had a small problem and explained it to her. I go into the involved explanation of unique circumstances which I won’t bore you with here. The gist being that I can’t get on the first part of my itinerary tomorrow because I can’t get home due to weather to get on that plane. But I need the other 2 flights on the itinerary to stay the same and not be cancelled. By the way – I already bought a ticket – on NW, and first class! - because that’s the only way I could get where I needed to be at the right time!!!

The agent was very friendly and apologized for having to put me on hold again. She would need to clear it with a supervisor. Every few minutes she would come back on the phone to let me know she hadn’t forgotten about me but she was still on hold too waiting for the supervisor. I told her not to worry. I was sitting at a friend’s house, playing solitaire on my computer with my cell phone plugged in beside me (because it almost ran out of juice during the previous 2 hours of wait) with it on speakerphone. I’m cool. I can wait longer – not going anywhere.

Long story short, when she gets the situation “cleared” she gets back on the phone. I leave it on speaker phone. I’m on the sofa, playing solitaire with a gin and tonic in my hand, Christy is sitting on the footstool with a glass of Cab and Ann is in her leather chair with some pure-liquor drink – not sure what it was…. When the agent gets to the punch line “Yes, you’ll be able to keep the other two flights without boarding your original flight in Syracuse tomorrow” Christy and Ann break out in yeah’s. Since the agent is on speakerphone she can hear all of it and starts to laugh.

“Are those your friends??” she asks. Of course they are!! I have very supportive friends! Then, as she’s still laughing, she says “sounds like a bottle of wine is involved!” MAN – she’s quite astute!! She REALLY deserves an award. She can solve my problems AND she telepathic… or something….

Rarely do you get this kind of customer service anymore – especially from an airline – ESPECIALLY when they’re overwhelmed due to weather cancellations or some other huge delay issue. I truly appreciated not only her help but her attitude. Now I’m kicking myself for having that second gin and tonic and thereby forgetting to get her name so I could give her props to her boss!

NWA agent – If you’re out there you did a great job!!! You were helpful AND funny – a rare combination! Take care – and I stand corrected about NWA!

yea haw!

I swear, I should have posted earlier!! No longer did I hit the publish button than I actually got my phone call answered by a human! Yeah humans!!

Well, she just put me back on hold - again, due to the unique-ness and complicated nature of my situation. Maybe I should reserve judgement of the situation until after she's taken care of my issues....

Boycott Norhtwest!!

As I've complained before, Northwest sucks. I know this because David flies them to Detriot and he's always having problems. (remember the phone call in the middle of the night saying they landed... in Rochester?? not Syracuse...) Well, now I'm going thru my own personal hell.

I'll spare you the details but let's just say I couldn't get home to Syracuse from LA becuase they cancelled my flight due to weather in the East. I've spent all day at Christy and Ann's trying to get things straightened out. Kicker is - since I can't get home tonight to Syracuse I'm actually not going to go home at all. I was supposed to catch an early flight out to San Antonio tomorrow AM so now I've screwed everything. Change of plans - going straight from LA to San Antonio for next week... I swear there's a guy that lives at my house but I haven't seen him in so long I can't for the life of me remember his name.

Again - I'll save you more details, but I have now been on hold with Northwest for, let's see - 2:29:55 as I'm writting this. I still have to talk to a human. Orbitz couldn't help me due to the unique-ness of my situation but I'll give them credit - they tried....

So, I'll not go off and bitch and complain - I've done enough of that already. Let's just say I'm tired and pissed that I'm not going to get home - even if it was going to be for less than 12 hours..... And to make matters worse - I'm going to San Antonio for our managers meeting where I'm being forced to play golf. (see previous post) UGH!!!!!

I wanna go home.....

Weekly updates??

Ok, so being on the road so much is definitely interfering with my blogging. Sometimes it's hit or miss with internet connections or I might not get back to my room until really late - in which case I'm NOT staying up any later than I have to in order to post... Sorry - I love you guys but you know how cranky I get on a less-than-full-night of sleep.

So.... Let me update you on what's been going on here. Last week I started out with our rep in DC. Nice guy. Vaguely resembles Bob Dole. I'm not kidding.... Nothing exceptionallly exciting to report.

But I would appreciate some advice on something that did happen... We went to visit one of his accounts - the director is a good guy. I gave the director my card and he jokingly said (good thing he was a nice guy or he might have gotten a snotty retort...) "Product Manager, huh? How did you get to be a Product Manager? What are you? 18? 19 years old?" Ok, I should take it as a compliment - but it still irritates me because I'm trying to come off as an authority on my products.

I know, you're wanting to know what I did say, right? I immediately shot out "no, I'm 31!" Even I know this wasn't a good answer... which is why I'm asking for advice.... so next time someone makes a comment about my age I am prepared. (this has happened a few times already but I never have a good response....)

So - moving on. I then had to drive to London, Ontario Thursday and Friday. Not much to say about that trip. I mean it was only Cananda.... ; )

Now I'm currently in LA (or there abouts) for a sales training session. I flew in last night and had dinner with Christy and Ann. Got a chance to see the pups and kitties. Avey Bear has a stylish new cut. I'll try and snap a picture before I leave and post a before and after. It's quite striking! : )

Did I mention that we have our managers meeting next week in San Antonio? Well, not usually something I'd write about but I have just been informed that I will be playing golf. I'm not happy about it. And I have no choice in the matter. Not a good situation. Why am I not happy? Let's see.... FIRST - At last years meeting Janet and I (the only women) weren'teven asked to play golf and we got to spend the afternoon at the spa!! SECOND - When I lived in CO I took lessons and played a few rounds of 9 one summer. And I haven't played since. That means I have not played golf in 5-6 years and even when I did play it was only for ONE SEASON. This translates into "I SUCK". This wouldn't be so bad except I have to play with a bunch of serious golfers. What's worse is that I dont' think we're playing a scramble. It's team A against team B - all scores counted. I feel bad for the team that gets me.....

As promised!

Cousin Patrick was good to his word and sent me the few pics that were taken on our night on the town in "Ft. Liquordale". I'm not sure if they call it that due to all the bars to because it has a high gay population. Maybe if Patrick reads this he can clear that up for us... ; )

So here's the first picture of the evening, before the festivaties began. Looks innocent enough. Don't ask me why I have my left arm all bent nack like I'm trying to stick my boobs out. Looks goofy, doens't it?

So here's me and crazy Joe as we make it back to drop me off at my hotel. Doesn't he look like a nut???!!!! Funny guy...

So here's the piture that Joe took of Patrick and I before they left. I think this proves Joe had a little too much to drink... I kid you not - no editing was done to this picture....

Where do I begin?????

Ok, so I've been slack for a month. What can I say? Let's see, what's happened in the past month?

David got home from China safely. He suffered NO JETLAG!!! I go to San Fran for 3 days and come back with jetlag. He goes to China for 2 weeks, comes home (tired, yes) but that night he sleeps fine and is functioning normally the next day. Am I jealous?? You sure as hell bet I am!!!!

The day after he got back was my b-day. We went to Lemon Grass- a FABULOUS Thai place. yummy!! And he did bring me back my mahjong set I asked for as well as a tea set and ebony chopsticks for my b-day. He rocks!

The next few weeks I worked as usual. I was to go work with our NC/SC rep and I flew down early to spend a few days with dad. Unfortunately on my way down there dad's mom died. Change of plans - cancelled working with rep and instead drove to WV with dad and Justin. Now I remember why I haven't gon e on a "family" road trip in forever....
Saw relatives I don't remember and met cousins/ second cousins I didn't know I had. How 'bout that?!

I just got back last night from working in Ft Lauderdale with our rep down in FL. Had a great time - although very busy. I did get a chance to see my cousin Patrick and his crazy friend Joe. I'll post a pic as soon as Patrick emails it to me. We spent the evening at Georgie's - fab gay bar. I think I was one of 5 girls in the whole place. The other 4 were definitely together - in some fashion.... Although I easily could have passed. I had on my jeans and a t with my wallet in my back pocket.... Drank WAY TOO much. (happy hour was 11AM to 9PM - bogo. I'm not shittin' ya!) Had to get up at 5 the next morning to the road with Ryan (rep). As many of you know - I've never been a late night kind of girl. And although we left at 10:30 - all the beer and the appletini did NOT contribute to a good night's sleep. I was the walking dead the next day. Somehow I managed not to collapse - but I know I yawned more than a few times when we were meeting with customers..... (I tried to hide it. but everyone knows when you're hiding a yawn....)

So now I'm home, looking forward (insert sarcasm here) to the rest of my VERY busy travel schedule over the next month. Let's see - next week I'm in DC, and then have to drive to London, ON. Week after that I'm in LA, home on Fri. at 9:30pm and have to catch another plane at 9AM the next morning to go to TX for all the next week. Yes - I admit it. When I get bumped to first class (becuase I've FINALLY gotten status on USAir) I immediately get a bloody mary. I don't give a damn what time it is. Ok, on the way back form FL I didn't get one on the first fligth because I felt guilty getting a drink at 7am. But by the next flight, and 15 screaming kids later, I broke down and got one on the way home - at the appropriate drinking hour of 9:30am. Hey, it's 5 o'clock somewhere!!!

I'll try not to be so delinquent from now on. I want to thank those of you that contacted me to make sure I hadn't died or something. I have a wine and cheese party/ fundraiser tonight. Maybe something interesting will happen that I can write about! Surely some crew mom will drink too much and I can pass on her exploits. But I'll have to change names, of course. Wouldn't do good in the event one of D's rowers found my blog... (highly unlikely, but just in case... )

Some fun

How spoiled am I??
You Are 24% Spoiled
You're barely spoiled. You may have some nice things, but you never let them go to your head.You appreciate each gift you're given - and you don't dwell on what you "deserve" to have.
Ok, I have to agree with that....


Where does your inner Californian belong??
You Belong in San Francisco
You crave an eclectic, urban environment. You're half California, half NYC.You're open minded, tolerant, and secretly think you're the best.People may dismiss you as a hippie, but you're also progressive, interesting, and rich!
All right!! Apparently I'm rich but no one wanted to tell me!! I agree - I'd move to San Fran the same day I win the Powerball jackpot.... I was just there last week. It is beautiful... but not for $1M+ real estate...

Smoggy Shanghi

Well, David said he was going to post on my blog. Sorry to get you all excited about China.... Although here's an email and pics he sent me:

Take a look at these that I took on our walk during lunch on Thursday. And the haze you see doesn't go away. They even have smog over here, although in a city of roughly 20 million people, are you surprised?

In the first picture we are looking northwest down Century Avenue,
and you can see the famous Orient Pearl tower. This serves as a television
transmitter as well as a tourist attraction. You can go to the top and take a
tour for 100 RMB. The conversion is roughly 8 RMB to $1, so it costs about $13.

The second picture shows the view looking the other way down Century Avenue. You can just barely see our office building (called the Pufa Tower) all the way to the right. It is not the big tall one, but a smaller 34 story
building right next to it.

The building being constructed in the picture is called
the Shanghai World Financial Center and will be the second tallest building in the world when it is complete in 2008 at roughly 492 meters (1614 feet). See this website to see what it will look like:
http://www.skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=7609. It will be shorter only to Taipei 101 (located in Taipei, Taiwan) which is 16 meters taller at 508 meters (1667 feet). Oh, and the other building you can see in this picture creeping in on the right is the famous Jin Mao Tower, which is right across the street and happens to currently be the fifth tallest building in the world at 421 meters (1381 feet). They like their buildings big over here.

We can see this construction from our office window, although when I took the picture I was on the sidewalk out in front of the construction site. And there are 6 other buildings under construction here in Pudong that will be over 75 stories tall when done. Yes, I said 6. The joke is that the construction tower crane is the national bird of China.

DC

Don't be alarmed!

The hubby finally made it to China safely. There is the chance that he may hijack my blog in order to easily chronicle his exploits while in Asia. Don't be alarmed. I'm not in Shanghi - but David is!

Well, it finally snowed. If you've been following the news/ weather you'll know that we've had the most mild December on record! Not anymore!

David was up and plowing the driveway early this morning. Conditions were almost whiteout on my communte into town. Days like this I'm glad I didn't get rid fo the Explorer....

Here are some pictures from my office window. Great view, eh?

Nĭnhăo!

Did I mention the hubby is going to China? He leaves this weekend and will be going to Shanghi for 2 weeks. This is his first official trip out of the country. (Ok, he's been to Canada a million times - but who really counts that as leaving the US??) He's going to train their new Shanghi office people on how to use the engineering portion of their design software.

Passport - check
Chinese visa - check
Shanghi travel guide (x-mas present from wifey) - check
Quick Chinese language guide (another gift from wifey) - check (I know - Mandarin or Cantonese - but they only had "Chinese")

Up until now he's been focusing on getting his training ready. Apparently he's now going through and giving a few spare minutes in his day to reviewing the language. I have now been IM'd a few times with these weird, phonetic spellings of chinese words. or so he says....

Nĭ hăo ma? "How are you?"

Năr yŏu cèsuŏ? "Where's the bathroom?" David thinks this will be his most used phrase the 2 weeks he's there... that and...

Wŏ bù dŏng Zhngwén. "I don't speak Chinese..."

You know how much Chinese I spoke when I went to Hong Kong? None.
This is why the French hate Americans....