Tuesday, November 29, 2005

and so we return

Alex and I have safely returned from Mexico. We are feeling lighter and unburdened... because our big old bag with all our clothes never made it San Francisco. There's nothing like waiting at the luggage-go-round and watching everyone happily snatch their bags off the twirly silver monster and then realizing that you are the last person standing there and the only thing left going around and around is a sorry, beat up piece of wood stating "LAST BAG." I tried not to cry, but we had already been traveling for 15 hours and I hadn't eaten or slept much, so I became THAT lady in the airport. You know the one - looking helpless and forlorn while tears well up in her eyes and you wonder if she's in town for a funeral or if she's just crazy. This lady was just crazy.

Our bag will probably show up today (fingers crossed, please)on another flight from Miami, but until then I will long for and think fondly of all my favorite things, including every comfortable pair of shoes I own except for a lone pair of boots. Alex and I have convinced ourselves that because we barely made it onto the plane from Miami to SFO yesterday, the bag was probably seconds behind and was just too lazy to make those last 10 minutes count. I always knew that bag was no good.

Our flight from Cancun to Miami was delayed by over an hour (and no one ever said why), so it turned our original, gracious 2 hour and 42 minute layover into a 63 minute layover. Usually I would think that would be plenty of time, but it really isn't when you have to de-board the plane from all the way in the back, walk briskly for 20 minutes to get to immigration, clear immigration, wait for your checked bag, navigate your bag through a throng of other anxious and angry passengers, clear customs, re-check your bag with the airline, go through the giant security line that does not move, figure out what gate your going to and then jog in a frenzied and delirious state for another 15 minutes to your gate. All that made me sick to my stomach, but then I finally got to the gate and saw that it was a flight going to Atlanta. Alex was pretty far behind me at that point because he was carrying most of the bags, so I figured it was best to wait for him there. I walked up to the people working at the gate and tried to remain calm as I sputtered the words "Atlanta? What? But San Francisco?" which fell to deaf ears at the counter. I caught my breath and attempted to be polite as I clenched my fists and asked if someone could please help me find the flight to San Francisco. A woman at a computer finally tilted her head up ever so slightly and glared at me over her bifocals. She spoke to me so quietly that I was forced to stand closer to the counter, then she acted as if I should have known that the flight for San Francisco had been moved 9 more gates down. I waited for Alex, told him where we were going and proceeded to run some more. We actually had about 10 minutes to spare by the time we got to the actual gate, but those minutes were all spent waiting in line to board the plane. In a perfect world, those minutes were meant to be used getting some dinner, but instead we had to buy food on the plane, which made me furious. They messed up my layover and were surly and unhelpful, the least they could do was buy me a freakin sandwich, or at least some crackers and cheese. Did you ever have to buy food on an airplane? 5 bucks for a sandwich and you don't even get any chips. What has this world come to?

The funniest part of the whole ordeal was clearing customs, which I thought would be the hardest part, but it was actually a breeze. The guy we gave our stamped papers to was on his cell phone, obviously getting the best quotes for his insurance. I could have handed him a piece of paper that said "Douchebag McFuckyou and friend are now entering your country. We are currently carrying 79 million pesos, 4 tons of silver and 2 suitcases full of blow" and he still would have let us through. It's good to know that airport security is still working hard to keep us all safe.
Do you think because I just wrote that I may never get my bag back?

I would like to end this post on a happy note, since I still have no news about the suitcase.
Here's the part where you ask me if I got to see any monkeys while I was in Mexico. My response to you would be Hell, yeah!

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Playa del Carmen makes me sad

however it has free (and slow) wi-fi at Ah Cocao, so Alex and I will remain here for just a few more minutes... in this place... which slowly sucks out our souls.

I posted a few pictures posted on Flickr (with many more to come). Click on these kick ass skulls if you're dying for more. get it? Mexico makes me funny.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

this has gone too far

Zach had himself a hypoglycemic episode last night; after playing with Ollie for about 45 minutes he got up, tried to walk away and ended up doing this weird body slam into the stove. Then he staggered around the apartment like Tara Reid on spring break. I was pretty unaware of what was going on because I was on the phone with my friend Rachel, but what I was aware of was Zach eating non-diabetic food. Instead of asking Alex (who was clearly monitoring Zach eat this food) why he was letting Zach get a carb heavy dinner I showed my super sensitive side and blurted out "Zach shouldn't be eating this!" as I snatched nourishment away from my almost comatose cat. Alex tried to explain to me what was going on, but in an act of true douchebaggery I was still on the phone and not really paying attention. It was then that I noticed Zach veering into walls and falling all over himself. I got off the phone (sorry Rachel) and immediately felt like crap for having taken Zach's sugar supply away. Alex and I then quickly combined forces, kind of like the Wonder Twins, and made a concoction of wet food and honey to give Zach the sugar and stability he was looking for. It was pretty scary and prompted a discussion about purchasing a blood glucose meter for the cat. That's right, it's not enough for us to shoot him up twice a day... now we would like to take his blood.

Alex picked up an Accu-chek today and we spent hours trying to figure out the fucking thing. The only blood it got was mine. We had to test it out to see how it worked before we tortured the cat, so I volunteered. It only took 3 tries to get enough blood from my finger. If only it had been that easy on the cat. Zach was patient and tried his best to stay still, but getting blood from a cat's ear is unpleasant for all involved and obviously takes lots of practice. Half a can of tuna helped to soothe Zach and absolve our guilt for stabbing him over 10 times... unsuccessfully.
I can't believe I'm doing all this for my cat. I told myself I would never be one of these kind of people. *sigh*

Monday, November 14, 2005

winding down from moving

and getting ready for a trip to Mexico.

There are still plenty of unpacked boxes in the apartment, but we've run out of steam and that's what the guest room is for anyways (now that my mom is gone). I can't locate any tape, envelopes and some of my CDs, but I'm able to sleep at night, so everything is okay in my book.

The move was not fun at all. Hiring movers was a good idea. Hiring the movers that we used was a bad idea. First of all they gave us a window of 4 hours for their arrival time, right then we should have known it was going to be bad. The next clue came when they couldn't find our apartment and Alex had to run around the University Village listening for truck sounds to track them down. As they were parking the truck Alex came back in and said "I think there are more wheels on the truck than teeth in the movers" and he was close to correct. Three guys moved all our stuff - Melvin, the driver and man in charge of the Nextel had the least amount of teeth, but always had a smile on his face. Reggie was a younger guy with scar that ran from the bottom of his jaw to the nape of his neck and a positive attitude (because he wanted to finish in time to listen to the Raiders game). Sunday, or Sun as the other members of the crew called him, was an older and somewhat bitter man who wore a thick gold chain. It only took them an hour to get everything out of our old apartment, but it took them about 4 hours to move it into the new one. I think some of it had to do with the fact that we are now on the 19th floor and the elevators aren't very fast, but a lot of it was probably because of the weed they smoked on their break. I wasn't aware of the break-time activities until I had to sign the paperwork, but I can tell you that they didn't smell like coffee. Everything made it up here in one piece, and only a few things were scratched and dented, so all it all it wasn't that bad. But I did learn that when my momma said "you get what you pay for" she was right.

We did a pretty good job of throwing the place into order before my mom came for her visit. Having a house guest stay with you right after you move is a powerful motivating force. The down side to that is that we put everything away so quickly I'm having some trouble finding things now and I'm pretty sure that I didn't chose the right cabinets for things in the kitchen in terms of efficiency. I would change it, but I'm really, really lazy.

Now that we've enjoyed our apartment for a month, Alex and I head off to Mexico in a few days for a wedding and a vacation all rolled up into one 9 day extravaganza. I'm very excited to be leaving for a little while because I have to stop obsessing about boxes I have no intention of unpacking. I tried to train the cats to put things away but Ollie is still a kitten and Zach keeps playing up his whole cancer and diabetes thing. That cat will do anything to get out of work.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Saturday, November 05, 2005

view at sunrise

I was up at sunrise this morning, so I went out on my balcony and took these photos then stitched them together. I also spied on Alex while he was sleeping. Our balcony allows you to be sneaky; you can leave out one side of the apartment and enter through the other side. It's pretty fun, even though I've already had the bejeezus scared out of me more than once.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

blog, interrupted

Obviously, I don't need to point out that it's been almost 3 weeks since my last post. Between the move, my mom visiting and finding out that Zach has diabetes it's been a mean October.
I don't have time to get into details now because Mom and I are about to eat ice cream while we wait in suspense to see how this episode of Law and Order will wrap up. It's only our third episode today, but I think I'm catching on to this formula. (perhaps this gives you some sort of idea of how the visit with Mom is going)
As long as I'm stealing these precious family moments to post, I figure I'll show off my last two entries for Photo Friday.
Here's what I had going on for "vintage"
and this is my entry for "delicate"
And now I shall watch the surprising twist ending of Law and Order. I won't give the plot away... even though Mom already saw this one and let me in on the secret.
The boxes are almost unpacked, I successfully learned how to shoot up my cat with insulin and Mom leaves on Friday. I can feel my heart rate slowing down already.