3/1/2005 08:03:00 PM|||Kismet|||I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Here's why:

Work - In January, I was offered a chance to do something completely different than what I've been doing for the past 3 years. Change is good, so I accepted the position and got what training I would need. I was all psyched up, and I had plans! The morning I was to start my new duties, I arrived ready to move into a different cubicle and begin my new reign. However, I was waylaid by one of the big bosses before I could even move a pen into the new cubicle. It seems the other big project my company is working on needed someone who has my extensive amount of knowledge in the subject area I've been handling forever. So, in the blink of an eye, my job duties changed for the second time in two weeks, and I moved downstairs. My new job responsibilities were somewhat similar to my original job, except that this time I had the word "Lead" in my title. Just when I started to figure out exactly what I should be doing in my new "lead" position, my job title and responsibilities changed...again! In my quest to define my boundaries as a "lead," I apparently asked enough insightful questions to land myself a spot working on design instead. Curiosity kills the cat...and can get you fun job title changes. Eventually, I will most likely shift back to implementing what I'm now currently designing. For now, I'm having a lot of fun refining what I already know, and making up the things I don't know.

Apartment searching - The lease in my current digs is up on April 10th, so Chris and I went apartment window-shopping a few weekends ago. The first apartment complex we went to was very nice, except that there were absolutely no apartments available till after my current lease expired. We also made a trip out to the country, or as close to the country as one can be in this area. Some guy was advertising a "cottage" located on "one of the last ranches in the area." On paper, it sounded great...nice 18 acre ranch with horses, cows, and ducks. In reality, the owners let the place get nasty. The so-called cottage was huge, but dirty. The owners wouldn't arrange for trash pick-up, so an entire corner of the yard was full of trash bags the custodian said had been there for over a year. There were around 60 cats running around free as well, according to the custodian. I love cats, and animals in general, but it can't be healthy to have that many running around loose in a relatively small area around a house. If the custodian had still owned the place, I think things would have been different. He was a neat fella...in his 70's, retired police dog trainer, still trains drug & bomb dogs and horses, very friendly. We got the impression he's probably a bit lonely and sad, despite his friendliness...he'd lived on that ranch for 27+ years and had to sell it when he got older and his wife got sick. So now he's just renting his former house, watching his wife die from cancer. The highlight of his existence seems to be when some lady comes out every third weekend so he can train her 2 chimps to ride ponies.

ANYWAY! After we left the ranch, we decided to stop by the apartment complex that our friends Craig & Amber and Gary & Sam live in. It turns out we were able to get a nice 2BR 2BA apartment, which we reserved the next day. We had incredible luck with the pricing as well...the leasing agent we spoke with was new, and she accidentally quoted us the 6 month special rate for a 12 month lease. The community manager decided to honor the quote, so our 12 month lease is $100 off the normal price each month. Yay.

Things seemed to be going well. I had all the utilities arranged, and the movers booked. Yesterday morning, the apartment office called to tell me there had been a mistake, and the apartment we were supposed to be signing a lease for on Friday isn't actually available until May. Yikes. It seems the current resident gave a short 30 day notice in January, and then a couple of days later, he changed his mind and opted for a longer move-out notice. Unfortunately, whoever received his later move-out notice didn't enter the new date into the computer system, so the apartment appeared on the availability printouts way too soon. The leasing agents tried to arrange another apartment of the same floorplan for the original move-in date this weekend, but I decided I really didn't want that one. It's a first floor apartment, and so far in Virginia, I've had no luck living on the first floor. I either end up with trash bags and beer bottles on the patio, or the wind kicks up all the mulching 3 feet from the patio door. Not to mention that even in our current "safe" complex, there have been reports of peeping toms. Right...no more first floor apartments, please! The leasing agents checked availability of the next floorplan size up, and luckily, there's one available for this weekend. At first I wasn't positive if I should do that, given that I had a wonderful rent rate locked in, and a bigger apartment would probably negate that. Indeed, the leasing agents even said that most likely, they would split the difference between our current rent quote and the bigger apartment's rate. However, that's a decision for the community manager to make, so they called to ask. When the situation was explained, the manager decided in our favor again! The bigger apartment is ours, for the nice $100 off per month rate...and it even has a fireplace! We came out really lucky. If I can find a proper address, I'm going to send the manager a thank-you, and sing praises for the current office staff who were trying really hard to fix mistakes they didn't make themselves.

Cats - We ended up taking in the grey cat. I'm such a sucker. Apparently so is Chris, since he didn't object. I finally took the grey cat to the vet to get an exam and shots, and the vet confirmed our suspicions that she was actually a she. We're still not positive she's been fixed yet, but the vet said it was likely, given that she's a pretty big girl (11 lbs!). Unfortunately, she's been having tummy troubles, so I had to take her and a baggie of her poo back to the vet. Fun. She isn't terribly sick though...the vet ended up giving me some medicine to help her tummy and fight any infection she might have that's causing it. She's been rather feisty since then. Administering yucky smelling liquid medicine to a cat has been a lot of fun the past few days. Just ask Chris to show you the scratches on his stomach from last night's dosage.

Oh, the grey cat's name is Ciara. I pronounce that KEE-ar-uh. I have no idea if that's right. It's from the Celtic word "ciar" which supposedly means "shade" or "dark." We figured it was appropriate given the amount of time she prefers to hide out under the bed, or sit in dark corners.

In other kitty news, it appears that Seamus is now having tummy troubles too. Tomorrow I get to take him and a baggie of his poo to the vet. I really need to find a vet to adopt into my honorary family so I can get discounts on kitty health care. I've had cats before, but I swear they didn't have health issues as long as they got worm powder once a month and flea collars. Of course, that was living out in the country in Mississippi, and all the cats were outdoors all the time. Maybe city living is just as bad for cats as it is for me.

Last bit of kitty news...there are more kitty pictures to look at.

Snow & Plagues - Mother Nature finally remembered it's supposed to snow in the Mid Atlantic. We had snow last Thursday, and then again yesterday. I took a few pictures from yesterday's blanket. Thanks to all the wishy-washy weather, some form of the plague has been going around the office. It made a round in January, and I managed to avoid it. The February round managed to catch up to me, so I spent the better part of a week with a nasty cold. When the general ickiness went away, it took another week to regain normal breathing capacity. In the meantime, poor Amber and Spyke and Sam seem to have had their own versions of the plague. Hopefully, warm weather will get here soon and these plagues will go away.

Belated happy birthdays to the following people - Amber, Matt K, Craig, Jason, and Chris Ross. I love you all, and I hope you had a wonderful birthday!|||110972876838587467|||Tempus Fugit