And the kitties got high, got high, got high....

I've been neglecting the three furballs lately and well did I pay Friday night. It's been a grind for me at work and my personal life has been kind of in overdrive too.
So I get home... and there is a mess of catnip all over the kitchen rug... All three cats chewed through a bag of organic catnip (that must of fell from a bureau) and whoa! talk about some majorly stoned cats.

I was up making jewelry for a show and well, they were all crazed and chasing each other until at least 3 a.m. And damn, if it was one more mess that I really didn't have the time or energy to clean up at Casa "Hurricane" Liz.

Serves me right for not hiding the kitty ganga.

And on a more (selfishly) positive note...

I did end up going through with Weight Watchers and ... drumroll... I'm 10-pounds lighter!!!! Whohoo! My good friend Alma has also joined and other friends have been really supportive -- less drinking time, more gym time!

So the clothes are getting looser -- is it a good sign when you can pull your pants off without unbuttoning -- and I feel better.

Now onto conquering that awful nail-biting habit I've been trying to break for 20 years.

And these are sad times...

Life is too short or so it seems these days. Got a pretty sad e-mail from a friend in Detroit, saying two former colleagues had passed away over the weekend -- both just two days apart and from apparent heart attacks. Both worked in the sports department and as weird and goofy as that department is -- working with all them was never a dull moment.

Dave was 35 -- quiet, reserved but man, get him going on Kiss or any heavy metal band and he talked your ear off. I always had to smile when he started rattling off Kiss' greatest hits -- it was so out of place... this larger-than-life black dude rhapsodizing on which was better -- Kiss with or without the make-up (make-up all the way was his thought!)

And then Paul -- sweet, kind, a little akward with women -- but always patient with the prep free-lancers. He took care of both of his parents until the end at 54 -- and he always worried about what would happen if one of them outlived him (his mother has.)

So with heavy heart -- I grieve with with my former colleagues. That department has had its far share of ups and downs the last two years. Several of us bailed when the paper was going through a transition -- and now we are scattered throughout the U.S. They also lost their slot less than six months ago to an unfortunate incident. So they diligently put out a section with a skelton crew -- all shocked, saddened and a little jaded as to why this keeps happening to them.

As we grow older, death seems to come a lot quicker. Another former colleague at the News died from complications of cebral palsy only a few weeks ago. And a Michigan acquaintance also lost his life at 54 from a massive heart attack on Easter Sunday.

With each hour, it makes me think -- Seize the moment, savor the memories and wish for the best.

Shoddy customer service

Well strike Blockbuster off my list of places I'll patronize. For the last year and a half, they've been linking my account to some Florida woman. And then the staff tried to say that their blockbuster card id is better than my driver's license. Nice.... as if it was my fault.

Also Enterprise Car rental is wearing on my last nerve. I'm having some tuneups done to my car and the dealership put me in a rental for the day... well, they give me one that (as soon as you close the car doors) REEKS of cigarette smoke. And upon further inspection, as I got to work, I noticed ash spray all over the console and stick shift area. I pretty much just used it to go to work and home cause after I spent 10 minutes in the car, I was completely nauseated. This is the second car I've gotten from them in the last 4 months and both have been substandard. (Dirty interiors, stained seats, etc.) It is not as if I haven't rented cars in recent months from other companies. They were more than up to par and most had upgraded the class of service. I guess I should have insisted on switching -- to another car. Part my fault, part theirs. It is equivalent to us not finishing the metro section or inserting the sports section into the newspaper.

Hello, My Name is ... Sucker

As usual, I was running a little late for work today. As I hurried to get to work, this Cherokee starts flashing its lights and honking its horn at me. Thinking something is wrong with my car-- I've left the back door open, flat tire, dragging something -- I pull over.

And, boy, was THAT a mistake. Turns out the guy stopped me because (sob story and it was a long one) he's left his wallet at home, needs to get back to Rockwall and can he borrow some money? I'm in a hurry, I'm already late so I thust the five from my jeans pocket that's leftover from my grocery store run and say have a nice day.

He offers to give me his info so he can mail it back to me -- and he had asked for $10. I just didn't feel comfortable reaching down into my wallet and pulling out more money. He's got an elderly woman in the car so I do feel bad about not giving him more.

Which begs the question: Can they spot me a mile away? I dealt with begging all the time in Detroit, and here it seems that most people won't ask a woman if she's with a guy (they'll follow by the side of the guy).

I guess sometimes you have to have faith in people -- he went as far as to say I could check his mileage gauge to see that he had been driving for a long time.

Oh, well -- chaulk one up for a creativity story.

It being Easter and all -- I just hope he can return the favor to someone else someday.

You can't get there from here

So I spent some of my evening searching the web for a flight to get me from Nepal (Kathmandu) back to Hong Kong at the end of my upcoming trip. And I came across Royal Nepal Air (which has an ontime rate of like 20%) and most people gave it a 2 out of 5 star rating -- uh, next option.

So I google for flights. And pretty much everyone who can get me there wants $1,500 to 1,800 (one way or round trip) and I have to spend almost 24 hours in the air and layovers to get back. At this rate, I may as well have Dave meet me in Bangkok or Chengdu so I can see him.

As Karen (my step-gram) and I have discovered in planning this trip is how much we take North American (i.e. USA and Canada) flight patterns for granted. So much of this trip we have planned down to the days to get maximum impact from the three weeks we will be there that I think it is both starting to drive us a little route crazy. I think I'm even dreaming in my sleep now about flight timetables and possible paths to get where we need to go.

The 21st century may be here but man, it sure hasn't reached parts of Asia yet.

Sigh... the search continues.

White Easter?

So I thought I had escaped the Midwest and its crazy last hurrah of snow in the first week of April.

But there have been reports today as close as Cedar Hill and just south of us in Waxahatchie (at the Scarborough Festival) there was snow this morning and afternoon. It is not sticking but damn, I already packed away my "winter Dallas" clothes... sheesh...

Maybe I need to move to Tijuana...