Live With The Nerds
Don't Be One
November 2000
Monday I picked up Cameo, and boy was she weak, she could barely walk around
the floor and had lost yet another lb at the vet's. The goal is to get her to eat
and she appears to be doing that, but poor Fila is really out of sorts, hissing and
batting at Cameo every chance he gets. Cameo appears to be getting stronger, at least
she's finally able to get up on her favorite chairs. Hopefully she'll be stronger
by thursday when I have to take her back to the vet again while I travel.
Monday also was the day I had to meet the inspectors at the townhouse, they found
some things but nothing major. Now I have to plan for the floors, paint and appliances.
Sounds like rates have gone down a bit too, I should see the numbers in the
next week or so.
Wednesday when I left the airport was a zoo, and I had to park at
a different lot than normal, hopefully my car will be in good shape
when I get back. Thankgiving was pretty fun, we had dinner at Barnabys
and then I went to see Sixth Day with Angel.
I was also doing the good landlord thing for my sister, put a new porch
light in, a new cover for the bbq, reset the timer for the spa, and
installed a new sink and faucet for the main bathroom. Only thing left
is a new toilet valve for the main bathroom.
Got to see a lot of bball too - when with Kent (in town to visit
Cheryl's family for turkey day) to the Sonics game (they won !!) and then
went to see the Husky Men's home opener at the new Bank of America
(nee Hec Ed Pavillion) which they won.
Saturday night it was bowling and karaoke with Angel, the bowling was ok
but I remember why I don't use my blue hammer anymore -- didn't bowl all
that well, but my thumb (the jammed one from bball) wasn't too bad
considering. Karaoke was very entertaining, the people there were
very friendly, and I might have made some business contacts, and there
was this cool woman named Kelly who was arm wrestling folks, as well
as belting out tunes. We were out late, an then we decided we were
hungry so Angel and I finished a whole crab at Sea Garden at 3:30am.
Sunday morning I managed get up early enough to make it to SMB for
some volleyball -- pretty fun, the open crowd (Ed, Tina, Joel, John and
Gary) was there and it was pretty fun. Got to play with Lo, John, Gary
and Kerry so it was pretty entertaining, especially when I had to hit
the ball. Slept most of the afternoon away watching the Seahawks lose
one in the rain.
Today I went to see Cameo at the vet, she is much perkier, even complained a bit
when I was there, but doesn't seem to be eating that much, probably due to the anti-biotics
she's being fed.
Started getting the paperwork for the townhouse, next are the inspections and reviewing
the home owners agreements. I've started getting contact info for floor work (I want
hardwood floors in the living room) and the interior paint (something bright) then
if possible converting the kitchen to gas.
That afternoon it was football time at Miyo's with the gang, it was nice
to see Ken, the Miyos, Lo and the rest again, even if it was only for
half a game (Huskies CRUSH the Cougs 51-3, rose bowl here we come).
Then it was off to see Kath and Mark's house -- its awesome, and there
were plenty of party gifts for Kath's 40th bday, I think the best was
the video her friends did for "over 40 soccer training".
With all of that, today turned out to be a pretty good day,
this morning my vet left a message saying that no news was good
news and that Cameo seemed perkier -- I'll know more monday after
the liver tests are done. I also got word late tonight that
my offer on the townhouse was accepted without counter, now I
just have to come up with the money, and the inspections --
hopefully I'll be in by feb. Looks like it'll be a pretty
good bday after all.
Had a nice dinner with Patty before the Sonics game. Went to Racha's
to catch up and what to my surprise but they've doubled the size of
the resturant. Things have really been changing while I've been gone
lots of companies and buildings are now missing. Dinner was fun, but
the Sonics sucked again, now I'm 0-2, and if it wasn't for their bad
record, I'd have to suspect that I'm the jinx. It was nice catching up
with Patty, but she's taken to being rather evasive about her
(possibly ex?) boyfriend -- in fact I'm surprised she even went out
with me since he usually doesn't encourage it.
Still no word on the townhouse, I guess the sellers don't have an
answering machine, and the broker won't be able to meet with them
until Sat morning -- hope they don't get to sticky with a counter since
they're already way late (and out of contract) with the decision. At
least I won't have to do the fax thing from seattle.
On the home front it sounds like I'm the top bid, but they can't get
ahold of the sellers so I still haven't heard if they're accepting or
countering my initial offer.
Played some bball today, first exercise in weeks where I felt fairly healthy, unfortunately
my legs were rubber, but I shot decently for once (if you don't count all the layups I
missed). Tonight I had dinner with Cheryl & Kent, to catch up on their travels
Europe for their honeymoon, and Hawaii for Randall and Lauree's wedding (boy those
stories were fun).
Tomorrow I'm leaving for Seattle again, but first I have to take Fila in for another
checkup to make sure he's still not diabetic. I think I'm going to take Cameo in too
cuz she's been acting kinda wierd, very sluggish, not eating much, actually had an
accident on the floor (usually very, very good about the litter box). And when I
picked her up to pet her, there was some kind of discharge from her rear end -- must've
been going on for a while since her breath was really bad. Hopefully its nothing major
since I'll be gone for a bit.
Health news: starting to feel sorta well, still a bit of a sore throat, and my bp is up
(160/99 even after bball) I think the stress of the house offer and the kittys and travel
are taking its toll.
Sunday was nap time, then I went out to see Chuck at the SF (San Mateo) Motorcycle show,
I really need to buy a place so I can store a bike, I'm missing riding, and he almost
talked me into buying a Suzuki SV650S right then and there.
Monday I went back out to look at that townhouse right around the corner from
my apartment -- its right next to Central Expressway so its a bit noisy, and the
owners haven't kept it up all that well, but it has a lot of space (~2000 sq ft) and
is priced pretty reasonably (if anything in this area can be considered reasonable).
So today we did paperwork to make an offer -- I should know if we got the place tomorrow
when all the bids are opened -- but I'll probably still be on jury duty, hopefully
they'll just dismiss me since I found out that I only get paid for 5 days, and the rest
is leave without pay. Four months of that would probably bankrupt me.
The next few weeks are going to be really busy travel-wise since I'm in seattle
for a lot of the weekends, hopefully the kittys won't be too upset.
In any case I booked my two holiday flights, thanksgiving and new years in seattle, one
was pretty cheap on american, the other I used a free travel voucher from being bumped,
not bad at this late of a date.
Friday night it was late dinner (Sea Garden noodles) with Angel. Saturday was my haircut
and dim sum with Tira, Leslie and Angel, pretty fun time. Afterwards I swung by the
Alderwood Mall Bon's to pick up my new suit and sport coat from Matt (Tira's husband) the
sportcoat fit, but the suit still needed a bit of work (probably cuz I gained weight).
That night I finally checked out my new sonics seats, pretty good, and especially interesting
was that before the game started Dave Roast and Curtis Beck came by to sit next to us
I guess Kim (Dave's wife) owns those seats -- so chances are good that I'll see them
more often now.
Sunday was rev-coed 4's at Sound Mind and Body, lots of people, pretty fun, and I even
was hitting decently. The only surprise was seeing Marisa kinda on the round side
(she's due in Jan) and hearing that she and Chuck were planning a June/July wedding. Lunch
was with Carey and Jo for Carey's 41st bday, but on the way there I was rear-ended by a
van who was skidding to a stop while I was waiting to turn left (gee, rain in seattle ?? ;)
there wasn't much damage to the car cuz he was going really slow by the time he hit me
so I just let it go, after all the car is really old and it wasn't worth the trouble.
Later I tried to pick up my skis but the shop was closed so I'll have to get them next
time -- but the weekend wasn't a total shopping bust since I did decide to buy a new
cell phone, a Nokia 8260, and what a deal I got too -- it was $199, but I got $40 off
for doing a phone upgrade, $50 rebate for buying the phone at all, and $75 credit for
extending my service contract for another year -- all in all the phone will cost me
$34 -- and its really cool too, about 1.5 times the size of my pager and just as light.
The battery only lasts about 3/4 as long as my Nokia 6162, but that should still be
4-5 days worth. Also cool is that I can now send emails and messages *FROM* my phone
to other places -- and it has predictive messaging, meaning I don't have to type
every single letter, it'll guess the most common words. Lastly I found that I can
download custom ringtones and images from the internet -- you pick one, give your
phone number, and they message it right into you phone, very cool.
This week's plans are mostly on hold, as I waited for jury duty, I managed
to go see a few townhouses today, but nothing really special -- I finally got
called to duty tomorrow at 3pm, strange though, didn't think that they held
court that late.
I'm still trying to shake some kind of bug, nothing really bad, but the cold
rainy weather and travel didn't help it at all -- hopefully it'll be gone soon
especially since I have a tourny this coming weekend.
Almost forgot to mention my "blast from the past" incident, while picking up
to-go food at Yea's Wok by Angel's place, I heard a "hi Steve", and it was Shu-Fen
from years ago -- I first met her when she was in high-school at one of the UW
sports days -- and we used to keep in pretty good touch, until she wandered off
to college down in Tacoma -- it must've been over 5 years since I've seen or heard
from her last, and there she was having dinner, in a resturant that I rarely (if ever)
frequent. Well now she has my email address and this website address, maybe she'll
keep in touch more now.
Today was even shorter had to leave early to get Fila to the vet, boy he wasn't happy, but
at least his weight is up (10.9 lbs) and his blood sugar is down (65) they're gonna
lower his dosage, and I left him there for the weekend since I'm gonna be out of town.
Hope he survives, the kennel was pretty noisy.
Played bball, the back was tight but not sore, the floor has been slippary lately
and it causes me some calf cramps, which also results in sloppy ankle movements so
the spurs in my left ankle are starting to act up -- good thing I have a massage
appointment with Larry, the stretching specialist tomorrow, hopefully he'll get
me back into shape.
Bad news on the house front, my offer wasn't in the top 2 (out of 6) strange, my broker
said that there were 5/6 asian buyers, probably because of the school district -- we won't
find out how close we might have been until the counters to the top 2 are settled and
and the sale closes. Oh well, its back to house hunting mode, at least the money will
stay in the bank for a bit gathering interest.
Health news: bp is 133/80 3 hours after playing bball and having dinner, not too bad
considering the day was frustrating and I didn't get the townhouse.
After napping Sunday I had a very nice time out with Laura, we had dinner
at Salute's, went to see Charlie's Angels, and then dessert at B & O, just
like old times.
Busy times, was just in town long enought to check on cameo -- she's
much stronger now but still isn't eating all that well, friday they
put her on a different appetite enhancer (valium) and now she's eating
ok, but is very drowsy. Hopefully I'll be able to take her home when I
get back on monday.
Shopping mania for my birthday -- managed to go to Christmas in Seattle with Kat, and
then Best of the Northwest later that day before heading out to dinner with the family.
Bought some pretty cool stuff, mostly knick-knacks, but may be able to decorate
my new place with them.
Long day, lots of errands, picked up my boots and old skis from the
shop and my new skis from Angel. Next I went to the Buddhist Church
craft fair for some little knick-knacks. Then it was up to Alderwood Mall
to shop a bit and then pick up my suit (it fits !!) from Matt. I also
finally managed to satisfy my Taco Time craving (none in the bay area)
Spent the day at the hospital with Angel, even managed to get
quite a bit of work in as the waiting room had lots of phone lines.
Got good news about Cameo at least -- no tumor, but they had to
take cells out of her liver to test (with a needle ugh) and it sounds
like she's at least eating now.
In seattle on a slow link, bad news, cameo had dropped over a lb
since the last time she'd been in, and shes was showing signs of
jaundice so Dr Paul (the vet) thought maybe a liver problem, or
maybe hyper-thyroidism. I had to leave her there for tests, and I
guess the x-rays showed a small kidney and a lump by her liver --
it could be pretty bad, they're going to do an ultrasound tomorrow
and then give me a call. I think she's on an iv feeding to keep
her strength up, but I'm sure she doesn't like being kenneled.
Well, got dismissed from jury duty early, probably since I actually filled out
their questionaire truthfully (especially the part about relatives in the legal system)
No word from the townhouse offer yet, however the prospects sound good, since it appears
that there was only one other offer on the place.
Still was a bit under the weather but Saturday was tourny time, Kenny, Destry, and Janny were
in from Seattle, Jack sub'd for Daryl who hurt his knee before the tourny and didn't
make the trip. We did ok, not great, took 2nd in the pool of four and then lost in the
first round to the eventual champs. It was a long day trip out to Vallajo and back just
for a 4 team pool tourny, but at least Ken (and I) got to catch up with Miki and Jack
at dinner (Frankie, Jonny's and Luigi too)
Ok had to go to jury duty, only they said it was a death penalty case that could
last for up to 3-4 months ugh, I filled out a rather long questionaire and we
all have to go back next week for jury selection -- hopefully they'll just skip
me during selection. Its a pretty high profile case (mass murder) and I vaguely remembered
the names (they asked in the questionaire) so when I got home I did a bit of research
its a bizarre case, some of the bodies are still missing.
Busy, busy weekend, it didn't help that I was slightly under the weather.
Friday I took Fila to the vet to be boarded, and his blood sugar was 65, they
thought about reducing his insulin, but then decided just to stop and monitor him
over the weekend -- by monday his blood sugar was up to 200+ up but still marginal
so the vet said to leave him off the insulin and see how he responds later this week.
In any case, Fila was very happy to be back at home after the 3 days at the vet's,
although I think he smells funny cuz Cameo won't let him within 2 feet of him without
hissing.
short days, had meetings, then was off to the massuse yesterday -- this is the sports
guy, lots more stretching, and feeling pretty good, even though I think a cold is coming
on -- it could be the new sinus medicine I'm trying though, it has a bunch of stuff in it
and is supposed to be more "holistic" I got it (Sinu-aid) from my chiropractor -- we'll have
to see if it works.
Got nothing done at work, my machine was down most of the day, but Kiz (that cute
soccer playing IT woman) was working on it so it wasn't all bad. I couldn't even read
or answer most of my email.
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