Tidings of Good Cheer

I know that November is not yet over, but Thanksgiving IS. And that means it’s not crazy that I went out and bought a fake tree at Target yesterday.

But this year Christmas comes early for my loyal readers. For you select few, a gift of song may be enjoyed here (for the hard of hearing, lyrics).


Hi, my name is Braaaaaaak!

Tiny Oscar

Look at me! I am brown and fuzzy and the size of a small food bowl!

Much to my mother's dismay, I rescued a dumpster kitten on Friday night (with the help of the visiting Matt Stersic) and am currently keeping him quarantined in my downstairs bathroom (one of the few disadvantages to having a loft is that there are no real rooms aside from the bathrooms and the laundry room).


Seriously, I am so glad I drove all the way from Savannah to spend my Saturday doing this!

Below are some of the fun activities that have taken place since plucking said kitten up from in front of our complex trash compactor:

1) Kitty's first bath. We used baby shampoo and warm water and were quite disturbed to see what looked like blood running off of the kitten. We were not able to find any cuts, but he had tons of fleas, so Matt guessed that it might be from the flea bites. As it turns out, it DID have to do with the fleas, but it was actually flea excrement, which is mostly blood. EW. Trash kitty also smelled pretty foul, so this was instrumental in increasing his kitten-y cuteness factor, which is essential for kitten survival among humans. Just kidding. But it was easier to hold him when he didn't have little green cartoon vapors rising off his body.

2) Kitty's first flea treatment. We used some stuff we found at Kroger (this was after pet stores had closed) that you could spray on a towel and then wrap around the kitten. It did seem to work a bit, except that many of the fleas seemed to congregate on his head instead, which we had to leave exposed.

3) Kitty's first car ride. This was to go to the Humane Society, but they ended up not having any room for a kitten. Between the shelter and the vet we ended up going to (Pets are People, Too), he both peed and pooped in his make-shift carrier (a liquor box- nice, I know!), so he was ripe and ready when we walked into the vet's office.

4) Kitty's first vet visit. This was actually quite good and not incredibly cheap. We got rid of the fleas and the earmites and started him on medication for worms, some other parasite, and his kitty kold (sorry, I could resist. He has an upper respiratory infection). Our vet was Amy Smith from the future, and she was very excited about everything.

5) Worms. Gross. Gross gross gross.

6) Giving kitty his pill. I have not really been too successful in getting one of these quartered pills into the kitten's mouth yet. He spits them back out, and they end up kind of crumbled and smeared on my fingers and on his tiny lips. Then, when I try to wash down the crumbs with water, it just foams up on his lips and gives him a tiny little foam beard. Fortunately, this is just the antihistimine. The antibiotics are in liquid form, although he did spit some of that out today while shaking his head and managed to get it in my eye. Good times!

7) Managing a jealous, healthy cat. My first lady, Mona, has been meowing and eyeing me suspiciously as I enter and exit the quarantined area. I have a baby gate up barring off the back of the downstairs, and she hasn't tried to jump it yet. However, as the trash kitty is getting better, he is getting nosier and more playful, which means he may soon directly attract her attention. This is not something I am looking forward to.

8) Finding a new home for kitty. Amy Salley- you are my girl. As of today, the kitten (henceforth to be known as "Oscar") most likely has a new mommy. Yay!


How can you say no to the Don King fur?

I Can Tell The World

I am officially wireless! Huzzah! The day is mine!


My internet connectivity looks exactly like this right now, except that it's not incredibly tacky and it does not have a bowl cut

A Buffy for All Seasons

Look at us! We are so funny! Look how hard we are laughing!

At some point early enough in my primary schooling days that I really don’t remember it, my parents laid down the “no TV on school nights” law. I assume that my inclusion in the edict had a lot to do with being fair to my older brother and very little to do with any possibility of me having tons of homework in first or second or whatever grade that was being put aside in favor of the goggle-eyed goodness. Needless to say, as a result, I missed that whole canon of 80’s and 90’s TV shows that continue to re-run nowadays on TBS, WB, Fox, and other stations: 90210, Friends, Seinfeld, X-Files- even the early years of The Simpsons.


It's the evil hand of an average to below-average GPA! Nooooo!

However, as all 1-2 of my loyal readers know, my only true missed TV calling was as a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Überanhänger. Who cares about the rest of that stuff, anyway? And may I just say- thank goodness for the advent of the DVD television series boxed set and, more importantly, Netflix! Through good planning (screw cable- buy a DVD player!) and some unexpected free time (Rival Season 2), I was able to watch the entire series from start to finish in the comfort of my comfy chair. Buffy eventually led to Angel and then a few purchases (Buffy seasons 1-3 . . . sigh . . .) and then I happily discovered the short-lived Firefly on DVD.


I am cute and witty and a positive role model for young girls- be my friend!

But after plowing through the Joss Whedon catalogue, I was left feeling a bit empty. What else can I watch (let's just assume we are in a vacuum where "books" do not exist)? Aren’t there other truly great television shows out there? Am I doomed to vegetate in front of Everybody Loves Raymond re-runs from 6:00 p.m. until I start drooling on my cat each night? “No!” you say? But how?

Ladies and gentlemen, meet Veronica Mars.


But wait! I, too, am a cute, witty, positive whatnot and so on. Like me!

So technically I am not watching this show religiously or in real time. But- I caught a few of the last episodes of Season 1 earlier in the year and got hooked. Now I’m working my way through Season 1 (thanks again, Netflix!) while Season 2 happens under our very noses. And honestly, I feel a bit Jackie Harvey Outside Scoop lauding a show that has already received some notable acclaim. But honestly, most of the folks I have mentioned the show to haven’t heard of it- maybe because it’s on UPN. So the word is clearly still in need of serious spread-age. More importantly, the world needs to know that Miss Mars is at last the young female protaganist we (yes, you, too!) have been waiting for to fill the huge, gaping void left (in my humble opinion) when the Hellmouth was turned into . . . well . . . a huge, gaping void.

I certainly would not be the first person to see similarities between the characters of Buffy and Veronica, but let’s just take a gander anyway:

1) Both are former popular girls who are now alienated from the in-crowd as a result of a difficult choice (at least for VM Season 1)
2) Both have intensely loyal and generally unpopular friends instead
3) Both rely on said friends for general help and research assistance (it is interesting to note that the return for these favors on Buffy is often that the world is saved, meaning that the research buddies don’t end up dead (usually). There is often very little return for Veronica’s friend Wallace, though, and I believe this is currently coming to a head in season 2)
4) Both are in recently single-parent homes and are only children (at least for the high school years on Buffy)
5) Both are blond California girls
6) Both tend to schedule late night patrols and apparently only require 3 to 4 hours of sleep every night
7) Both are an endless source of witty comebacks and cultural references (Buffy: “The girl makes Godot look punctual.” Veronica: “Be cool, Sodapop.”)
8) Most importantly, unlike most stilted TV characters, both are girls I would actually want to hang out with if they were people in real life

Ok, so what this is really about is how much I want to be best friends with Buffy and Veronica. You got me. Nonetheless, the message is still “watch Veronica Mars.” And, if you haven't already, perhaps "Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer" as well.

It will improve your circulation, which leads to better skin, a fuller head of hair, and a skinnier waistline. Dig.

A Civilization Without Insanity

And now, for my OTHER Halloween costume:


My acting ability is better than ever, and I finally feel great about ME!

Out of Step

I am the only person on the second floor of our building (which currently houses some of our management team and our engineering/development team) who does not drive a Honda. I am, of course, exaggerating a bit. But not really.

Moreover, we have a disproportionate number of red Honda Accords and Civics (some faded red at this point, as we all know people who drive their Hondas into the ground) in our company lot.

Thus, feeling left out (although I love my car, it is not a Honda), I decided to dress up as a Honda for Halloween. Unfortunately, due to a lot of fine print on the American Express gift card that was supposed to be the prize for “best costume” at the company Halloween party, no contest ensued. I surely would have won had there been one, though, and I take great pride in that.

Furthermore, it is very clear to me that I have finally earned the much deserved respect of our overwhelmingly Honda-driving engineers. All day long they’ve been walking by my desk saying “Awesome costume yesterday, KQ” and “I still laugh so hard I piss myself every time I think of you in that costume, KQ” and “You should really come over to our side and start coding, KQ” and stuff.

That last part is a lie. But a few of them did actually laugh yesterday. Everyone else just thought that my headlights were funny (no, not THAT kind of headlight. See below for reference, moron) until I got complaints that they were hurting people’s eyes.


The front-ish


The back (I actually thought my butt was way, way bigger than that- hooray!)


Detail of the headlights