Template broken

For some reason my template is broken and the sidebar content is appearing all the way at the bottom. I'm not sure what caused this or how long it's been broken. If you have any ideas let me know. Otherwise I'll get around to investigating at some point. I was kind of hoping it would heal itself...

Home sick

On Thursday Benjamin came down with a head cold. Friday he stayed home from work. Monday I came down with the same cold. Tuesday and today I stayed home from work. I even missed my boss' farewell dinner Tuesday night. :( I thought that constant nose-blowing would be especially unwelcome in a Moroccan restaurant where you eat with your hands. Time drags when you're sick and you can't sleep well. But I think I'm over the worst of it and I expect to go back to work tomorrow. It sucks that in our modern world we think we can't afford to take the time to get well so we pass the germs to each other when we valiantly return to work. I suppose there was never time since in other times it would have been working the fields or hunting and gathering. Life must go on. Germs be damned.

After sleeping a very long time (like last Friday), I went to a barbeque at my cousin Cindy's house. Here Cindy was taking photos of all the two year olds at the party. More photos.

Here is Maple in her pen in its new dog door adjacent location. Note the absence of newspapers! She still doesn't hesitate to go to the bathroom in the house, but she no longer goes in her pen since the dog door is right there. Yea!!!

This is my cute puppy napping on my cute husband. The three of us spent part of the evening watching TV together.

Miller was in town for a month and is returning to Cairo this weekend for 9 months (the school year). Other than Jenni's birthday we hadn't gotten to see her since she got home. Our schedules were complicated and incompatible so the only time the four of us coul get together was lunch on Tuesday. So Miller came to the east side and we all ate lunch at Wibbley's. Then we went to Computer Stop to get a wireless router for Miller's place in Cairo. You may notice that Miller's hair is very different. She recently had 10'+ of it cut off and gave it to Locks of Love.

Monday night I went to Jenni's birthday dinner at Il Forno on Capitol Hill. I couldn't go until after my hellerwork appointment so people were already starting to leave when I arrived, but I stayed and chatted for a while. Meghan (of Meghan & S. Ben) was there and she is 5.5 months pregnant!!! Apparently she forgot to include Benjamin and I on her announcement email so we were quite surprised when we saw her. She looks beautiful and seems very happy. It's really weird to have people in that circle starting to have kids. I still think the puppy is all I'm ready for right now, though...

On Monday, we had a baby shower for one of my coworkers. I did most of the shopping and got these cute Robeez shoes along with Robeez booties and two outfits. Shopping for baby stuff is fun, but Nordstrom is not the best place to do it.

Sunday afternoon my dad came over and put in Maple's new dog door. I helped, but he really did the work. It turned out to be a pain because our door is a piece of crap with a patch on the lower portion. But, he worked his handyman magic and now Maple has a great new puppy door!

I also got my hair cut on Saturday afternoon by Trista at Studio 229. This is a pretty crappy photo, but it's the best one I have of the cut so far. I think it looks better than this in person. I hope.

Saturday after we ate Indian food, Benjamin and I went to Capitol Hill and took Maple along. I recently lost my navel ring because the bead fell out (and later the ring feel out since there was no bead to keep it on). So we went to Laughing Buddha Tatoo and Body Piercing to get a new one. Unfortuntely in the style I wanted they only had one size thicker wire than I'd had before. They assured me it would be okay and that worse case they'd have to stretch the hole a little (uck). Well, I decided to do it and they did have to stretch it. And here we are a week later. And it is still irritated and possibly infected. I am pissed both at the people there who told me it would be no big deal and at myself for listening to them.When I originally got it pierced 11 years ago it was infected for 6 months and I had to take antibiotics 3 times. I forget that my body really is more sensitive than most. Sigh. The stupid jewelry was expensive and can't be returned, but I am sorely tempted to take it out. :-(

Last Saturday night Benjamin and I went to Ola's birthday dinner at Bonsai in Pioneer Square.

On Sunday my cousin Cindy did the Danskin triathalon. I'm super impressed! This is Cindy after the race.

Saturday morning I took Maple to the vet for her final puppy shots. She weighed in at 10 pounds, 1.5 ounces. Afterward we went to the pet store and bought Maple a new harness since she'd outgrown her other one. We ordered Indian takeout for lunch from Cedars on Brooklyn and walked around (the outside of) the University Farmer's Market (no dogs allowed).

Friday night Benjamin and I went to bed at 8PM for a long sleep. At 3:45AM Maple decided she'd slept long enough and started crying. I got up and took her outside an d spent 30 minutes wI took her out again and took this early morning moon photo. After another hour with the puppy I went back to bed once again for a couple more hours. I think we were tired.

Who's cute?

I think the original design placing the eject button below the CD tray was an oversight. But I can see no reason why this design flaw persists in every CD and DVD drive to this day. Has no one noticed that it's difficult to reach the button when the tray is open? Just pushing on the tray to close it wears out the drive more quickly than using the button.

When we gave Maple baths in the sink she was quite unhappy about it. But now we've tried taking her in the shower with us and she loves it. She hangs out while we get ready in the morning and now she'll cry sometimes to be let into the shower. The bottle on the edge of the bathtub is her doggie shampoo (diluted).

Maple has developed a strong predilection for digging holes. Her goal appers to be consumption of roots and worms. This is a picture of Maple sporting a dirt-covered muzzle.

I got and posted a bunch of photos of Benjamin, Rob, et al, at the Camlann Medieval Faire.

I just posted more photos from my visit to Claire & Erik's house.

On Saturday (the 13th) Davonna used the Christmas gift certificate we gave her for a Cufley family photo shoot. Harvey sent me all the photos to post for the Cufley's review. Many of them are great. They're in the photo gallery.

Life-saving antibiotics are losing their effectiveness because they are overused, especially in chicken and pork production. That's why a groundbreaking policy from Compass Group - the largest food service provider in the Americas - is big news for your health. With help from Environmental Defense, Compass Group will only buy chicken and pork from companies that curb antibiotic use. Send an email thanking Compass for their landmark move. And after a five-year battle, the FDA finally banned Cipro-like antibiotics for use in poultry. These drugs, like Bayer's Baytril, are used in people to treat food poisoning and bacterial infections. Overuse of the drugs in poultry makes them less effective in people. This is the first time that FDA has banned an agricultural antibiotic because of concerns about human health.

Great customer service: Eagle Creek

Since I periodically bitch about companies with terrible service, I should also tell you about the ones with great service. Eagle Creek gets a gold star. I have one of ther convertible bags (backpack/shoulder bag) that I bought about 6 years ago and have used daily ever since. The material and general condition is still very good. However, one of the metal clips for the backpack strap wore down and wouldn't hold anymore. Sadly this caused my bag to plummet to the pavement with a Tablet PC inside, but to my relief the tablet survived. Anyway, I called Eagle Creek recently and asked about it. They immediately offered to repair it and look it over to fix any other things that might be worn. I didn't want to send it in since I use it all the time so they willingly mailed me two new straps to replace both the backpack straps and clips. They also mailed me replacements for the other clips on the bag in case I ever have trouble with them. It was all free. I got them in the mail after a couple of weeks and put them on (pretty easy). Now my bag is back to its happy backpack incarnation. Yea Eagle Creek!

On Sunday afternoon Maple and I went to Claire & Erik's house to hang out with them and Amelia. They made a delicious lunch and we hung out on their back patio and in their house. Maple didn't even pee on their floor! Amelia politely napped while we ate lunch.

Saturday afternoon I met my sister-in-law at In the Beginning quilt shop on Lake City Way. We picked out the starting fabric for the quilt she's making us as a belated wedding gift. We're making that quilt in a red wine color scheme. These are the fabrics we're starting with. The light colored one on the left would be the border fabric.

Saturday afternoon Benjamin and I went to brunch at Glo's on Capitol Hill. It was pretty yummy. We also sold some books at Half Price Books and Benjamin got his hair cut at the barber shop. I wanted to get a hair cut too but the salons were booked and I wasn't comfortable getting a real cut at the barber shop.

My cute little pup is growing like a weed.

Tuesday morning we got up and checked out of the hotel. Before leaving town we stopped for a late breakfast at Sweet Lorette & Cyndee's. It was really yummy and they had this menu item that made me laugh. After that I bought a $5 bouquet from the flower shop next door and we headed to Tacoma to retrieve our little pup. In my photo gallery you can see more photos of our trip.

Monday we slept late, had our tea & coffee at the same breakfast place, and then wandered around. We shopped at various little stores and then ate my dinner leftovers for lunch. In the evening we went to dinner at the famed Silverwater Cafe. It was fine, but nothing to write home about. Benjamin's lamb was quite good but my pasta was just okay. After that we watched a DVD of A Love Song for Bobby Long on Benjamin's Powerbook.

After Piper's wedding last Sunday (the 6th), Benjamin & Maple and I stayed over in Port Townsend at the Bishop Victorian hotel. The next morning we had breakfast with my mom & Rich and then Maple went home with them and Benjamin and I stayed on in PT.

Seattle ranked most overpriced city in the US

It's the cost of housing that really kills us. Most Overpriced Places In The U.S. 2005.

Microsoft Appoints Wal-Mart executive as COO

Press release: Microsoft Appoints Kevin Turner as Chief Operating Officer.

Man dies after 50 hours of computer games

"A South Korean man who played computer games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet cafe..." Read the full story from the BBC.

Last night I went to my friend Piper's wedding to her long-time partner Eric. It was a fabulous event with a beautiful bride and bridesmaids, delictable food, abundant dancing, and many old friends. I have lots more pictures and videos and will post them soon. This photo is of Piper dancing with her father Danny. It was awesome. Our girl is one of a kind!

Tuesday I usedmy lunchtime to go shopping at the Packaging Specialties near work. I bought a bunch of little stuff for the wedding present I was creating for Piper.

It's been really hot lately so I made a "Kongsicle" for Maple. The chicken broth was messy (wet) as it melted and I probably should have used more solids, but Maple dug it and got into the Kong toy for the first time. More puppy photos from Sunday.

On Saturday Benjamin and I went to see the new John Cusack movie Must Love Dogs. It was a cute, funny romantic comedy. We watched it at the Guild theater in Wallingford and it was surprisingly empty for opening weekend of a big-name movie at prime time on a Saturday night. I hope they don't go out of business. The theater could use some improvements but overall it is nice and well maintained.

I brought home a penis drink stir stick from Piper's bachelorette party and Mapl has decided it is good to chew on. It makes me giggle when I find her nibbling on a pink plastic penis. Though I don't have the same eraction when she's chomping on a bully stickl. :-|

The irritating fence contractor left cigarette butts around our yard and Maple eats them if she finds them before I do. I am not fond of cigarette breath on anyone, but especially not my puppy.

Amelia Lynn is online

My friend Claire now has a blog. Or maybe I should say that her adorable baby, Amelia Lynn, has a blog and Claire is writing it. ;-)

Add an In Case of Emergency (ICE) contact in your cell phone

There's a new campaign to add an In Case of Emergency (ICE) contact into your mobile phone so paramedics know who to call if there's ever a need. It sounds like a pretty good idea to me (the girl who once carried a wallet card with all her medical details and emergency contact info). You can learn more about it from the ICE Contact website and from Snopes. Note there is a false rumor that doing this somehow causes a cell phone virus. Go to the Snopes link to find out more about that hoax.

I'm sorry, but I actually think this is cute. :)