That is a "barbecue sword" he's wielding. The mask came with it. And you can clearly see the dogs are in awe of the sheer dudeliness.

My lovely and romantic husband made me a new lj icon! And it's awesome! He took the images from one of our favorite bits of phd comics history, then changed the base color to suit my needs (i.e. everything must be green) and the hair colors to look more like me (yes, though only a few of you have actually seen it, my hair was at one point brown). WAY better than stinky flowers, and a close second to anything involving chocolate.

Now, off to Dittmers to grab reubens, then to Spamalot! It's a rough life, lemme tell you.

I finally bit the bullet and took a chance on a non-fancy haircut place. I do love the internet though-- through extensive use of Yelp, I found a place just a few blocks from my apartment that was highly HIGHLY recommended.

I'm always nervous before haircuts, but I managed to calm myself down a bit this time-- I mean, I haven't gotten a truly BAD haircut in probably decades, so it's not like I'm going to have to shave it all off or wear a hat or something. Even if it's not what I had in mind, it'll be fine, I figured. I'm lousy at explaining what I want anyway. And really, the point of today's cut was "remove a year's worth of split ends."

It went really well. The haircut even came with a scalp/neck massage, and you know what a sucker I am for those-- it was actually better than the scalp massage I had at the spa a couple times! The woman was very nice, especially given that I'm not very talkative during these things (I'm usually fascinated by what's going on). AND it was only $35! Ridiculous! I did like going to Artisan in Livermore, but between the expense and the drive it's just not practical. Anyway, picture below the fold (warning: it's a crappy Photo Booth picture-- i.e. not professionally lit to make my eye-bags go away)

( away we go! )

I'm alive, but I've had my head down lately-- nasty Cell worm-genetics paper for journal club ate any free time I might have had. Sorry if I haven't replied or posted or otherwise acknowledged the existence of the outside world.

But we just got back from the city and Mom's Christmas present. I got a new shirt ::grin::



And some new icons. It's a really good show and I love it more each time so I'm being obsessive now. I hope they film a performance someday (NOT make a movie version, Mom and I agree that would be disastrous).

Oh yes, in fact, yes there is!

Grats to petefred on a successful Ph.D. defense this morning!

Numfar, do the dance of awesome!



Well, 'grats' doesn't really begin to cover it, but it'll have to do for a text post :p

It's not daily, nor consistently weekly, so I'm going with "sporadic." It's a good word, if nothing else. And most people my age (particularly women) learned it from the movie Clueless.

Anyway, more pictures up at my Picasa page. A teaser:


The cat boys were very, ahem, helpful, during the last stages of editing my paper.

When we got home, the commander-in-chief's ball was in full swing, covered by Rachel Maddow and MSNBC. President (!) Obama gave a very good small speech that was very military-focused (so I was kind of hoping my Obama-dubious soon-to-be-marine-wife sister caught it, it might make her a little more comfortable?) and had a satellite feed to some soldiers from the Chicago area serving in Afghanistan (the president was chagrined to find that all but one of them were Cubs fans, rather than White Sox fans). Then he introduced his wife, to much applause. After a pause, he turned around and said "I think I might have been stood up..." just as Michelle came out in a really beautiful white one-shouldered dress. And they started to dance. To "At Last." It was just a really wonderful, blub-inducing moment. Made me think of Peter and Sara, who danced to that song first at their wedding.

As Her Dark Majesty put it over AIM: "Where do they get off being so damned adorable? They're the presidential version of your kitties."

Indeed.

In the interests of my sanity (hah!) I spent most of yesterday and today finally watching Arrested Development (I'm halfway through season 2 now), playing with the kitties, tidying the apartment and messing around with my paper's figures and organization. Today I had my cute circuits blown not once, but twice. First, earlier this afternoon I went looking for the little crepuscular beasties, and eventually flipped up the couch cover to find this:



Gah! With the cuddling! And the tango arms! Yes, I know I should have let them be, and not flashed the flash at them (a few times) but... really, what am I supposed to do?! Again, the squinting has more to do with the flash than with the irritation that I admit is pretty clear on their faces. I think.

Then later I was folding laundry on the bed, where Charm had been napping, when Strange hopped up and went to bother his brother. There was mutual grooming and I think the pitch of my squeal probably isn't even audible for dogs. It's ridiculous. I said "Sal, you must get in here right now!" And the second he sticks his head in the doorway, both cats look up at him with this clear "what? we didn't do anything!" look, and all I could say was "you jerks." Strange eventually flopped down rather unceremoniously half on top of Charm and both went back to sleep.

Anyway, to bed. Throat still hasn't gotten any better and now for some reason the insides of my ears itch, which may be the most infuriating thing I can think of. Gr.

I know, it's been entirely too long since I provided fodder for your cute fix. In penance, I first offer this scientific study, which in recent days has proved uncomfortably true. What is it that forces me to talk in a stupid voice whenever I get within range of the boys? Yeesh.


Next, more pictures are up at the cat depository.




Nothing really to report, other than they're fuzzy and adorable. And feeling much healthier, so stampedes are more frequent. How can two tiny fuzzballs sound like galloping elephants? Also, Sal has been admiring my range of not-at-all-cute nicknames for the beasts. I started calling them snot monsters while they were sick, and I haven't stopped. Also booger-head. Because booger is a fun word to say. And poop-factory (because boy howdy are they). These nicknames have a general bodily-secretion theme.

Also: these are probably the best cats ever. They actually scratch on their scratching posts! And not once on our furniture (yet, knock on wood). Though once on Sal's pant leg, that was kind of funny.

Strange was not happy with us this evening. We wouldn't let him up on the table during dinner, even though he kept jumping on people's laps and trying to sniff at our falafel. Then it was medicine time again, and mister squirmy managed to get away after only half the medicine was dispensed. So I had to track him down *again* and pin him down *again* to get the remaining pink goop in his mouth. After that he pretty much hid under the sofa all night.

Until a package arrived from Aunt Sara and Uncle Peter containing gifts for the boys. And there were even more toys inside the box! (Though the box was the primary object of Charm's interest at first.) The first is a collapse-able tube made of material that makes a lovely crinkly sound, and the second is a puff ball on a spring for batting at. Charm immediately began sniffing around, particularly interested in the loose tie-strings on the ends of the tube. But as you can see from the picture, our little lurker had his interest piqued...


(that's Charm in the tube, and Strange emerging from under the couch to take a look)

And mere minutes later, mister lethargic had lept into action. As you can see here.... So thanks for the toys, Auntie and Uncle-- they're a huge hit :)

More pictures up here. Explanation of title reference here.

Because let's face it, I wouldn't mind being 'Liss when I grow up (and thanks to Andrea's suggestion, and because who *doesn't* need more fuzziness in their life?)....



As Willow says of Miss Kitty Fantastico in Season 4 of Buffy: "I keep thinking 'Okay, that's the cutest thing ever.' And then she does something cuter and completely resets the whole scale."

Strange has been a bit antisocial yesterday and today, which we think is due to his cold getting worse. We took the boys to the vet this evening (though I think I was more freaked out than they were), and I hope that one day they may forgive us for causing their temperatures to be taken. The vet was very nice, and asked if we were physicists. He said most rescue cats come with the same upper respiratory virus, and they should get over it in a week or two. However, Strange's nose may have a secondary bacterial infection (mucus is pretty cloudy) so the vet prescribed a week of amoxicillin. The bottle says for veterinary use only, but it smells like bubble gum, so I think it's the same stuff that Shelby used to take all the time when she was little. The problem is that when Strange is already feeling a bit timid, and kind of skittish after the vet (particularly with regards to being held) and THEN we pin him down and squirt bubblegum down his throat.... He does seem to be a bit more active after a couple hours downtime (of course, right before bed) but as I found out cats are obligate nose-breathers I can't imagine he's having much fun with all the snot.

Charm, on the other hand, is having all the fun. His two favorite games are ribbon-on-a-stick and flop-over-onto-people-and-look-cute. The former is hilarious because he'll actually play tug-of-war like my sisters pit bull mix, and just like cousin Tommy, when he "wins" he drags the toy on a victory lap and then to his lair under the bed. The latter is just plain adorable. He jumped up next to me on the couch and flopped over on his side, and only avoided falling off because I caught him. It's still a bit odd to me to pet a cat's belly, but he seems to love it. Anyway, that's the source of the picture. And it was so cute I *almost* forgot that the beasties woke me up at 6 by sneezing in my face....

Also, as usual, the pic site has been updated. And let me know if I'm being irritating/gloaty, I can make a filtered list for the squee-ers among us so as not to annoy anyone!

More pictures up here


There. Killed that for you.


strange likes tall things


The lurkers below (the couch)

Meet the new Trujillos:

kitty1, known for now as Rudolfo:

(Do ignore the "first time father shell-shock" look on Sal's face-- we had just been in the car 4 hours to get home from Redding, having left at 8am and he was tired. And admittedly, we were both a teensy bit overwhelmed.)

kitty2, known for now as Nevada:

The Cat Rescue volunteers, who had stepped out of the room to allow us time to discuss, but were spying on us through the door in the window, all burst out laughing when I took this picture-- it's not zoomed at all, Nevada was quite happy to have his picture taken.


( non-photographic details below the cut )

(and check it, di is our own flash-type speedster there in the upper left!)

happiest of happy wishes for karen and jason on the day of their wedding!

more cat pictures


must remember to print it out and put it up over my desk. should be good for a couple advisor-bafflings, and would really add to the ambiance. or something.

we've been a little bogged down (there was a free-shipping deal on shutterfly so we had to figure out which pictures we wanted printed, like, NOW) but i will try to post more pictures soonish. for now, here's some of my favorites of me and sal.




i have the dorkiest marriage. it's awesome :)

oh the pretty art, it makes my eyes so happy!

first, this "women of DC" poster made its appearance at new york comicon and though it spawned a few "is this sexist" discussions, the general consensus among fangirls seems to be *drool*



further, comic book resource reports that dark horse plans to release a buffy-themed tarot deck in august. now, okay. that probably sounds kind of lame. but first of all (and it occurs to me i havent really mentioned this) i've been learning to read tarot DISCLAIMER: no, not in any sort of serious, predicting-the-future/guiding-my-actions/the-cards-have-power type of way, more in the way that reading the symbols on the cards and how they relate to each other and more importantly how my brain wants to interpret them is really interesting in a self-reflective kind of way. second, the art on the buffy deck is faithful to the traditional rider-waite deck. third, the art is gorgeous. seriously, start here and click "next"-- there are four sample cards in all.

okay, chronologically.

first of all, i am scum (lookie how i open myself to celebratory snarking, joseph) and forgot to click "repeat yearly" on my ical for joe's birthday. even though it's the same day as peter's. so here i am, all "whee lookit peter he's old and stuff" while ignoring poor put-upon little joe. let the mockery commence.

second, there were no less than THREE birthdays while we were gone (hmm our birthdays all seem to concentrate in spring and fall, but not summer and winter): kern, brett, and my "hot cheerleading sister" (in joe's roommates parlance).

so make with the pictures already!

i've been such a martyr, with all the hatred spewed in my direction because of my awesomely awesome vacation. so i think it's time for me to dish a little back out.

i really hate em for this:


(i apologize for the high-res picture, it's the one em sent me to gloat, so go blame her!)